“What’s going to happen,” Jay says, “is you’re moving in here, you’re going to be a big help, I’m going to die, and it’s all going to be pretty much okay.”
There’s no reason in the world to doubt him. In the dark horizon, eight soft lights hang, nestled symmetrically, looking better than science. I believe I’m seeing a thing no one could ever identify or explain.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Stories in this collection have appeared, in earlier and altered versions, in the following:
“The Kite Trick” in Granta; “Honouring Honey” in Event, and Best Canadian Stories; “The Night Window” in Malahat Review, and Best Canadian Stories; “The Walk” in Exile, and broadcast on CBC’s Between the Covers; “Forms in Winter” in Prairie Fire; “The Beast Waters His Garden of a Summer’s Eve” in Malahat Review; “Freedom” in Fiddlehead; “Work-in-Progress” in Canadian Fiction Magazine; “The Green House” in Fiddlehead.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Bill Gaston is the author of several much-praised story collections and novels, including Sex is Red, The Good Body, The Cameraman, and Sointula. He is the recipient of numerous prizes and accolades, including nominations for the Governor General’s Literary award (Gargoyles), the Giller Prize (Mount Appetite), the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize (Mount Appetite, Sointula, Gargoyles), and the Timothy Findley Award, presented by the Writers’ Trust of Canada. Gaston lives with his family in Victoria, British Columbia, where he teaches at the University of Victoria. His next novel, The Order of Good Cheer, will be published by House of Anansi in 2008.
Anansi offers complimentary reading guides that can be used with this novel and others.
Ideal for people who love talking about books as much as they love reading them, each reading guide contains in-depth questions about the book that you can use to stimulate interesting discussion at your reading group gathering.
Visit www.anansi.ca to download guides for the following titles:
Gargoyles
Bill Gaston
The Law of Dreams
Peter Behrens
978-0-88784-774-5 • 0-88784-774-9
The Tracey Fragments
Maureen Medved
978-0-88784-768-4 • 0-88784-768-4
Atonement
Gaétan Soucy
978-0-88784-780-6 • 0-88784-780-3
The Immaculate Conception
Gaétan Soucy
The Little Girl Who Was Too Fond of Matches
Gaétan Soucy
978-0-88784-781-3 • 0-88784-781-1
Vaudeville!
Gaétan Soucy
978-0-88784-782-0 • 0-88784-782-X
Returning to Earth
Jim Harrison
978-0-88784-786-8 • 0-88784-786-2
True North
Jim Harrison
Paradise
A. L. Kennedy
978-0-88784-738-7 • 0-88784-738-2
The Big Why
Michael Winter
978-0-88784-734-9 • 0-88784-734-X