Cock-Eyed Voice: Stories (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781775138952)

Collected short stories representing nearly fifty years of publication by author Barry Grills, including 'A Game With Adonis' ..."so successful the reader squirms in self-recognition" (Books in Canada, 1980).A past chair of the Writers' Union of Canada, Barry Grills is an experienced journalist, biographer and novelist who has been writing with uninterrupted dedication for more than fifty-five years. This short story collection is a concoction of anecdotal memoir and nine short stories published during the 1970s, 1980s and in the first decade of the new millennium. Let's face it-fifty years is half a century. Barry has written a great deal since then. And a great deal has happened to the writing business during that period. The brief introductory anecdotes catalogue the adversity of the writing business, what has been lost, what has been gained, and the choice a writer has in getting into print. The need to write does not guarantee the economic success of writing as a profession. With 10 books to his credit, including 4 bestselling musical biographies on the lives of Celine Dion (A New Day Dawns (with Jim Brown) and Falling Into You), Alanis Morissette (Ironic), and Anne Murray (Snowbird; all by Quarry Press), Barry Grills has done all right. He's met some interesting people along the way, and fifty years of published writing means fifty years of editors, publishers and other writers--W.J. Barnes, Al Purdy, Caroline Heath, George Bowering, Gail Fox, Myrna and John Metcalf, Clark Blaise, Alistair MacLeod--all of whom had a role in the changing nature of how writing got published then or gets published now. The writing process probably hasn't changed much, historically speaking, but getting it into print has changed a great deal. Barry's introductions to the stories in this volume offer a personal and historic view of how the writing business has changed, and his nine finely-crafted stories appeared alongside accomplished authors such as Matt Cohen, John Newlove, Alice Munro, Hugh Hood, Joyce Carol Oates, Kent Thompson, Elizabeth Spencer, Hugh Garner, Mordecai Richler, Morley Callaghan, Andreas Schroeder, Dave Godfrey, David Helwig, and others. Also by Barry Grills: Too Late the Hunter - "Psychological thriller about the interweaving of the lives of three men ... Grills writes masterful description! His phrases gave me goosebumps more than once ... a bingeworthy novel!" (Author Marla J. Hayes).I And You, And Me And Her - "Stories about men in love with women they can't have ... very detailed and vivid" (BookLife Prize, 2018).Roadkill - "Set in a compelling dystopian future ... the story develops greater urgency as it progresses. Writing in fluid, lyrical sentences, Grills demonstrates a clear facility with language and tone ... alluring descriptions ... striking prose and an enticing premise allow this novel to stand out within the larger category of dystopian fiction" (BookLife Prize, 2018).Shortlisted for the 2018 Whistler Independent Book Awards; 2018 Next Generation Indie Book Awards FinalistEvery Wolf's Howl - "An accomplished author of stories, ... Barry Grills ... in his first memoir ... [writes] a moving story of friendship and transformation, and anyone who has ever longed to companionate with wild creatures will be transfixed" (Winnipeg Free Press, 2012).

Author: Barry Grills
ISBN-10: 177513895X
ISBN-13: 9781775138952
Publisher: Fluid Grouse Enterprises
Language: English
Published: 06/29/2020
Pages: 164
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.43lbs
Size: 8.50h x 5.51w x 0.35d