Wednesday October 30th Montreal Review of Books Fall Launch Join us for readings by Arjun Basu (The Reeds), Amal Elsana Alh’jooj (Hope is a Woman) and Jacob Wren (Dry Your Tears to Perfect Your Aim). at P’tit Ours (formerly Ursa - 5589 Park Ave) Doors at 6:30, readings at 7:00pm

The Reeds: A Novel

I'm floored by this shout-out on Arjun Basu's Facebook page. And I'm more than a little flabbergasted by the mention on page 17 of Alex D'Arcy's CV. Crazy town. It's always hard for me to believe that what I'm putting out there is truly being put Out There, that is to say, in That Place where people can and do actually read, receive, and reflect upon it.

Congratulations to all four finalists! Great submissions all around--although I have to admit surprise at the results. I preferred runner-up Jason Carlin's

She hoped the stain would come out of the dress. A small part of her hoped it never would. #canadawrites

to winner Navin Vaswani's

He poured himself another scotch. He'd promised to stop drinking on weeknights, but the Leafs were playing. She'd understand. #canadawrites

which, I felt, was judged to be superior for its Canadianness rather than its literary merit or "storyness" (to borrow judge Todd Babiak's term). To his credit, however, Vaswani did write a great underlying conflict: He's alcoholism, She's broken trust, and the implicit dissolution of Their relationship as a result. It's all there, it just wasn't my favourite. I liked better the simplicity of Carlin's story, beautifully understated and achingly honest. Carlin's She is a character in flux, in contrast with Vaswani's He, up to his old tricks. I suppose it's a matter of accessibility: given my current slice of post-grad life, I relate more to the crossroads of Carlin's She, the push and pull of her past and non-past, the subtle yet nagging regret she battles; perhaps Vaswani's hockey-referencing He is more relatable to others. Folks, that's subjectivity for you!

Kudos to Babiak, anyhow, for he did select a deserving winner. I simply felt that there were many deserving winners. (Ah, the indecision. I will probably, wisely, never judge a literary competition.) And kudos to him especially for parsing through so many entries--1,340 separate stories! An absurdly high number, indeed. I do hope the CBC continues to organize literary contests of a similar nature; this Twitter Challenge has evinced the talent and enthusiasm of Canada's writers. The ones that use Twitter, anyway...

Incidentally, I submitted entries of my own. Merely on a whim, I wrote two stories as a fun exercise in concision, an experiment with negative space, and a deeper exploration of Basu's Twisters. I had no intention of competing seriously.

Fresh off the heels of my post on Arjun Basu's Twisters, CBC Books's inaugural Canada Writes Twitter Challenge opened at 10 a.m. this morning, and will close at 10 p.m. tonight. At times beautiful, comical, scary, and downright absurd, the submissions thus far have showcased a diverse range of homegrown talent and a breadth of literary genres. They're pouring in quickly and in high volume. I can't wait to read the winning entries, to be announced this Thursday.

Earlier today, guest judge Todd Babiak provided as inspiration a piece by Hemingway, which I'm loving fiercely:

For sale: baby shoes, never worn.