The High-Rise in Fort Fierce

by Paul Carlucci

Finalist, Ottawa Book Award for Fiction 2019
Long-Shortlisted, 2019 ReLit Award (Short Story Category)
Drugs. Violence. Racism. Despair. The tiny, northern town of Fort Fierce has issues in spades, and most of them fester in the high-rise by the lake. In this visceral, emotionally raw, and completely absorbing collection, Carlucci takes his readers through the ravaged history of Franklin Place, from its construction during the Cold War to its demolition decades later. We meet the Franklins themselves, three generations of landlords, each more paranoid and alienated than the last. And we meet their a drug dealer, a lonely bigot, a political activist, a struggling father, a wandering sex offender, a woman who refuses to give into it all. They wander in and out of each other's lives, with little in common but the building and the mould behind its walls. In The High-Rise in Fort Fierce , Carlucci immerses us in a dim yet eerily familiar world. Love and death, conflict and compromise, fear, determination, and the tense relations between indigenous and settler populations thread the warp and weft of his dark and irrepressible tapestry. We cannot look away.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction

224 pages, Paperback

Published September 11, 2018

About the author

Paul Carlucci is the author of one novel, The Voyageur, and three story collections, The High-Rise in Fort Fierce, A Plea for Constant Motion, and The Secret Life of Fission. He won the Danuta Gleed Literary Award and has been shortlisted for an Ottawa Book Award and two ReLit Awards. Individually, a little more than twenty of his stories have been published in print and online journals and magazines, including The New Quarterly, The Malahat Review, Grain, and Apocalypse Confidential.

Reviews

[Jim Fisher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Five stars for a stellar example of contemporary creative fiction. Reading this book was like binge-watching 5 seasons of a TV show on Netflix. It is simply marvellous how Mr. Carlucci weaves each story into a cohesive perspective on life in a small NWT town and its lone high-rise that shelters all manner of left of normal types. Humorous and sad, raw and honest, this book will satisfy those who enjoy good contemporary fiction.

[Lisa Nikolits · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book! If you ask me, it’s got ReLit Winner written all over it! Kudos Paul Carlucci for chiseled prose that breaks your heart and makes your eyes bleed! This is the new noir at its finest!

[Devon · Rating 4 out of 5]

An engaging and grotesque look at a high-rise in northern Canada and its sordid inhabitants, from a amateur astronomer with a three-legged dog, a girl who wants to spin like the carousel horses, to the unhinged landlord with a secret underground bunker, whose lives intersect and intertwine in morbid and mysterious ways.

[isaacq · Rating 4 out of 5]

never been to the North West Territories or Yukon myself, although my cousin lives there and has a very happy life. that being said, my cousin is upper-middle-class, and the people who populate this book are mostly poor as dirt. The High-Rise in Fort Fierce features some very ugly humanity, a lot of casual racism, and towards the end an increasing amount of bloodshed.

i got a soft spot for these crazy-bleak short story collections set in one location — where all the lives are breaking or broke a long time ago. when they're well-written, there's always a glimmer of hope that makes reading the collection almost like a super-depressive sporting event. you can pick your favourites, the ones you want to see come out on top, and then see if you backed the right players. i was usually way off with my picks.

[Zoom · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting collection of nine interrelated short stories set in a high-rise in the NWT. The high-rise is a pretty grim place inhabited by mostly pretty grim people. With grueling poverty, addictions and misery encompassing them, they struggle through their days and welcome short-term relief in whatever form it's available. Mostly they're just trying not to make their lives any worse than they already are.

The high-rise itself is the only character appearing in every story. It clutches its own secrets, including toxic mold bulging behind its walls, and something festering in the basement.

My favourite stories in this collection are:
*Horses in Circles
*There Goes the Dog Star
*As of Right Now

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set in Northwest Territories town of Fort Fierce; the first part of book is the chronological story of the building from start to finish, through the 3 generations of landlords.

The second part tells stories of individuals, their lives overlapping briefly from time to time, and told from both characters' points of view when they do.

One of those books that I wanted to turn over and immediately reread. Except I'm not sure I could take the story of the man, disabled in an accident, and his three-legged dog. Such pain, with such understatement.

Warning: Profanity. Would otherwise have rated 5 stars.

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm having lousy luck choosing books lately. On paper, this looks like a book right up my alley, but in reality it is full of a cast of characters that range from sad to pathetic to grotesque...and most of them lead such depressing, lousy lives that it became harder and harder to finish this book. Just not my thing.

[John Jantunen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A remarkable collection about a side of Canada rarely encountered within our fiction.

[Kayren mosurinjohn · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 1/2 stars for this salty baby. Full of dirt and a flickering of tenderness. You’ll want to read it in one long sitting, perhaps in the bath with a drink.