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Stories; FIC 029000
April 2004
224 pages
ISBN 0-88984-239-6
$18.95
Contrary Angel
Mike Barnes
In stories of stark passion and haunting trauma, Contrary Angel finds an
acute clarity in those moments when human desires meet the sorcery of the
world. The stories are exuberantly diverse in both subject matter and
technique, as evidenced by a few of their titles: `Urchipelago', `Karaoke
Mon Amour', `Cogagwee', `Do Not Stand Outside the Grande Restaurant.' They
take us from the brilliant career of the runner Tom Longboat to the comic
machinations of a peeping Tom landlord. The final four-story sequence,
`Doctors', follows an Egypt-obsessed girl from a savage childhood incident
through her `running' years as an athlete, traveller, wife and doctor,
culminating in a devastating encounter in an operating room in the middle of
the night.
Stories from Contrary Angel have appeared twice in The Journey Anthology,
twice in Best Canadian Stories, and won the Silver Medal at the
National Magazine Awards.
`Barnes's fiction combines stark realism with a surrealist edge. He
paints the zany underside of working life through the development of
off-the-wall yet highly believable characters. His lucid prose brings to
mind Poe's Gothic horror, Hunter S. Thompson's strangeness (without the
drug-craze), William Burroughs's ellipsis (without the disintegration).
But it is perhaps closest to Roald Dahl's intimate exploration of human
oddity and use of surprise in Switch Bitch. For instance, Barnes
writes, "A sharp-faced old woman peered out from behind the chain lock.
Her chin jutted out beyond a toothless mouth, making her face seem to be
collapsing on itself" (Don and Ron). ...
Though rooted in the real, these stories explore how what is unexpected
seeps from the depths of consciousness and makes its way into the
fiction as dark-edged surrealism. It would be a mistake to pass up this
provocative, imaginative book from a rising talent.' `... every now and then we come across what we call a ``yes'' story,
a story that we know we will publish no matter what else is in the
batch, a story we don't even need to discuss, though we often do, if only for
the pleasure of trotting out its virtues and congratulating ourselves on our
great good fortune that the author thought to send it to us and not some
other magazine.... Mike Barnes's ``Don and Ron'' was one such story.' `... when we read his four-story sequence "Doctors," we knew we had to
feature it. Besides satisfying those of you who've wanted more work by one
writer without its being a whole special issue, this publication should also
go some way towards proving my claim: regardless of whether or not it
becomes The Next Big Thing, the work of Mike Barnes is the real
thing.' `Throughout both sections of Contrary Angel Mike Barnes
demonstrates an in-depth understanding of the world we live in, presenting
characters that prove to the reader that we all come with warts,
that they're hideous, but the blemishes will never go away. Barnes
knows his characters, he knows their problems and he has no qualms
in presenting them to his readers in a style that is forthright and evocative. ...
As a two-for-one deal, Contrary Angel can't miss.' `Mike Barnes' "Scribe" turns ER into passion and poetry in a
breath-taking, life-and-death operating-room drama (complete with a scene in
which the female surgeon has sex in a linen closet with an anonymous male
nurse).' `Mike Barnes writes beautifully. His short stories are concise and
beautifully constructed. The characters are real and multi-faceted. In this collection
the stories are all different but engrossing and memorable.' `That people are fallible, confusing, and above all worthwhile,
whether janitor or doctor, is a basic thread through Barnes' stories.
Contrary Angel looks at the human condition with searing
honesty, tempered by compassion. Barnes's eloquence is palpable.
Short stories don't get much better than these.'
-- Joshua Auerbach, the Globe & Mail
- Kim Jernigan, The New Quarterly
-- Andris Taskans, Prairie Fire
-- Robert Leblanc, the Ultimate Hallucination
-- Douglas Glover, Best Canadian Stories O3
-- Connie O'Brien, Independently Reviewed
-- Candace Fertile, the Malahat Review
Photo by Heather R. Simcoe