Pilot Pocket Book, Number Two
edited by Reuben McLaughlin, Lee Sheppard, and Bryan Belanger
Pilot, 2007
Reviewed by Joanna M. Weston
This book does indeed fit in a pocket which
doubles its attraction for the traveler. The
stories range widely, from Craig Morrison’s
engaging ‘Archeology’, a tale of an
eight-year-old’s classic error in swatting his
friend and knocking him out, to Kathleen
MacFarlane’s crowded ‘LukeLukeLuke’ with its
well-built tension and indications of a sexual
predator.
Bryan Belanger’s postcard story, ‘Under the
Blazing Sun on a Long Cedar Dock’, makes a good
comment, well-told, on the generation-gap. It is
succinct and clear with an excellent punch-line.
‘Grandpa’s Squirrel’, by Nik Dudukovic, captures
attention with clear writing and strong images.
Grandpa was staring at Carlisle with his one good
eye. The other one was buried under folds of
fallen eyelid, but his good eye blazed with enough
vehemence to hypnotize the boy like a cobra might
hypnotize a chick. (p.54)
The reader is drawn in to discover more about
this strange partnership to which two squirrels,
one long-dead and one living, with two other
characters, are added. There are possibly too many
similies but they are varied and apt:
Carlisle had become accustomed to Grandpa’s
resolute crotchetiness and endured him with the
patience of a cool Vegas wheeler staring out a
craps table and waiting for his break. (p.55)
Carlisle’s patience is one of anticipation of an
unknown excitement and that anticipation is drawn
out with dialogue and background, but never
elaborated on to the point of boredom. Just enough
is told to paint the picture and detail the story
to it’s conclusion.
In view of the prevalence of cancer in our
society a short story on the subject is a given.
Hal Niedzviecki’s ‘Feel Better, Baby’, the one in
this collection, combines cancer with wife-abuse
and homelessness in an unexpected way. There are,
however, odd comparisons made: ‘… it’s all
shadows and the suggestion of decay. Dora doesn’t
mind the apartment so much, though she finds it
repulsive and humiliating.’ (p.98) To find it
‘repulsive and humiliating’ is surely to ‘mind’ it
very much. The depiction of the sick woman is
convincing and sympathetic.
Jack Ludwig’s ‘Einstein’s Apprentice’, has a
diffused energy that needs to be harnessed to the
story which could be clearer and more succinct.
Reuben Mclaughlin’s ‘Hold the dogs’ has excellent
dialogue and maintains focus, but could be clearer
in the first half. Kathleen Phillips’ ‘My dad’
describes a father through a child’s eyes and ends
on a surprisingly wry and wistful note, almost one
of envy. Craig Pyette’s ‘Head Over Heels’ works a
bike accident and the reaction to it through a
failing relationship. Bleak imagery gives an added
sense of bitterness to the story.
The few poems in this collection are
uncomplicated and comfortable for the
light-hearted reader. Rhya Tamasuaskas’ ‘Excerpts
from The Legend of Bobbie-May’ leaves a sense of
unfinished story, and a desire to know the end.
I can hear the thumping between the walls,
A muffled bass.
I know she is shouting without moving her mouth,
The sound is from the beast inside her chest,
Which is rabid and angry at the universe.
(p.47)
Taylor Graham’s ‘Haystacks’ opens possibilities as in
She walked around the corner of the barn
and was never seen again. And so
she began writing a mystery
in every mind. …
(p.87)
What happened to her? Where did she go? His other
three poems also leave the reader wandering in a
field of the imagination.
The illustrations in the collection are as varied
as the writings. Sarah Cullen’s ‘Maps’ entrance
with their sense of distorted place, of being lost
in the various cities she traverses. She
elucidates a sense of wonder and expectation –
that the city maybe as scattered or ethereal as
she depicts.
Overall, the Pilot Pocket Book Number Two offers
opportunity to escape into other worlds.
Joanna M. Weston
A SUMMER FATHER - poetry - Frontenac House
2006 ISBN: 1-89718105-1 $15.95
THOSE BLUE SHOES for ages 7-12
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