Published in 2020
224 pages
Katherine Fawcett was born in Montreal, raised in Calgary, and has lived in Japan, Canmore AB, Yellowknife NT and Pemberton BC. She now lives, writes, works and plays in Squamish, as a musician, a teacher, a dedicated yogi and outdoor enthusiast. She is a graduate of the University of Calgary and is currently part of the Simon Fraser University Writer’s Studio community.
What is this book about?
Blending banalities of everyday human routines and dilemmas with elements of fairy tales, magic, the macabre and the downright inventive, Katherine Fawcett’s fiction is anything but predictable.
In this collection, reimagined folktales appear alongside stories entirely new, serving to defamiliarize us from the undeniably odd tales we continue to pass down generation after generation, and lend a vague familiarity to the stories of Fawcett’s invention.
One of the three little pigs launches a line of high-end, easy-to-prepare, wolf broth–based meals. The Devil is on a mission to steal a child’s soul, but is distracted when he develops a massive crush on the day-care worker. A man stands in the shower contemplating his future when he discovers tiny mushrooms growing in his body’s various nooks and crannies.
Fawcett’s wry humour and prodigious imagination are an addictive mix. The weird becomes normal, and the normal, fascinating. Subverting expectations at every turn, her matter-of-fact style and narrative skill make this collection a must-read for any lover of short fiction.
