First Fiction Fridays: Vandal Confession by Mitchell Gauvin

What:Vandal Confession (Now or Never, 2015)Who:Mitchell Gauvin’s fiction, non-fiction and poetry have appeared in a variety of publications including NEST by Gutterbird, The Sudbury Star, The Varsity, Feathertale, and CanCulture Magazine. He lives and works in Sudbury, Ontario.Why you need to read this now:Vandal Confession is the manuscript of Xavier Bernard, an average, mundane and altogether unexceptional author who has attempted to claw back his lackluster life story by writing it himself. Free to invent the facts and improve on truth, he will stop at nothing to get the ending he desires. But when his closest friend begins to separate truth from fiction, spotting mysterious gaps and overlaps in the storyline, it becomes a race against the clock to decipher just what sort of ending Xavier plans to write.For a first novel, this is extremely polished, hilarious prose. Maclean’ssaid, “As satiric parody, a barrage of sharpened one-liners, or an oddly poignant view of masculine display, Vandal Confession amuses and entertains, even as its tenor gradually darkens.”* * *Thank you to Now or Never, especially Chris Needham, for sharing Vandal Confession with us. If you love discovering new authors, check out our previous First Fiction Friday picks.