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Short Accounts of Tragic Occurrences

By (author): Nicholas McArthur

Funny, smart and sharply composed, Nick McArthur’s debut book is just what the title suggests – a tome on brevity and heartbreak, – an all-out exploration of weirdness. At its heart, Short Accounts of Tragic Occurrences is a full account of failure, and an inventory of loss. The trials and deprivations probed in McArthur’s fiction are of the direst variety: a promising sandwich goes completely uneaten; in another, an elderly woman devolves into a ball of flesh; a high-ranking government official falls madly in love with his fax machine, only to find that his love unrequited. With a wry manner and quick gait, Short Accounts of Tragic Occurrences is a bold gambit from a unique voice in Canadian writing.

AUTHOR

Nicholas McArthur

Nick McArthur grew up in Newcastle, Ontario, and currently makes his home in Montreal. His work has appeared in Matrix, Pistol, and Headlight 8, and he is a regular contributor to Xtranormal.

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Excerpts & Samples ×

The ugliest man in Soviet Russia hosts his first and only ‘game show.’ The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles prompt a young man to kill himself. A game of beer-pong results in the end of civilization. Nick McArthur’s debut book is just what the title suggests – a one-off tome on brevity and heartbreak and an all-out exploration of weirdness. At its piecemeal heart, Short Accounts of Tragic Occurrences is an examination of failure, an inventory of loss, and a study of monstrosity. The trials and deprivations which it probes are of the direst variety: in one galvanizing tale, a promising sandwich goes completely uneaten; in another, an elderly woman devolves into a ball of flesh, and in yet another, a high-ranking government official falls madly in love with his fax machine, only to find that his love is unrequited. Despite the obvious differences, these stories are alike in both form and theme, and they share a single, impossible universe. Each of these tales inhabits a world that is at once strange and recognizable, fantastical and dull, warmly inviting and cruelly grotesque. Each of these stories is odd. Each of them is funny. And each is at least a little on the tragic side.

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Details

Dimensions:

145 Pages
9in * 6in * 1in
1lb

Published:

March 15, 2009

Country of Publication:

CA

Publisher:

DC Books

ISBN:

9781897190500

Book Subjects:

FICTION / General

Featured In:

All Books

Language:

eng

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