Pardon Our Monsters

Andrew Hood’s debut collection heralds a young talent with an irresistible style and merciless eye. These unapologetic stories deal with an assortment of foolish self-destructive small town anti-heroes. They are unlikely odes and elegies for human shabbiness.A newly-wed conjures a ghost in an attempt to contact her absent husband. A seventeen year old is blackmailed into buying drugs for his English teacher. A tumescent young Blue Jay’s fan and his tumor-addled sister are swept up in the tempest of the Blue Jay’s 1989 run for the World Series. An estranged stepmother and stepson embark on a pilgrimage to the Michael Jackson trial.Hood’s cleverly wrought lyrical prose is the perfect foil for a prevailing lack of forgiveness, which becomes the overriding monstrosity of each story. Every character wants only to be pardoned, but will not, themselves, grant it.

Reviews

Praise for Christopher Patton’s poetry:

“His work will become indispensable.” –Times Literary Supplement

“A formal style reminiscent of Marianne Moore’s syllabic verse…. The pleasure of reading Patton’s language is so great that it’s easy at first to miss the subtle spirituality of what he is doing.” –poetryreviews.ca