Hard Ol’ Spot: An Anthology of Atlantic Canadian Fiction

Certainly you don’t have to look far to find darkness and hardship in Atlantic Canadian fiction. But that’s not enough. As Kathleen Winter suggests in the forward for Hard Ol’ Spot, writers must also ask the darkness: “How long do you endure?”… “Is there redemption?”

In the fourteen stories collected by Mike Heffernan, the majority of which are from Newfoundland, redemption and hope aren’t always easy to spot. These are broken people, trapped by circumstances, lineage and geographic lines. If there is hope, it’s fleeting, a deserved moment of relief.

Gerard Collins sets the tone with “Break, Break, Break,” as a teenage girl deals with the tragedy of a broken heart on a stormy Valentine’s Day, while she waits for her father to return from the Ocean Ranger, safe thanks to the oil rig’s “protective shield” that she prays into existence. In Sarah Tilley’s “Her Adolescence,” thirteen-year-old overworked Eva fears that her wish—the death of her terminally ill mother—will actually come true, after it’s revealed in tea leaves by the local mystic.  

Ghost-story writer Steve Vernon bares fists in “A Hole Full of Nothing,” as young men plan for an ultimate street fight, fuelled by anger, testosterone and a touch of stupidity, leading towards its inevitably tragic end. Gratefully, Elizabeth Blanchard provides cautious hope for a life changed in the parking lot of “Drive-Thru.”

Heffernan chose these stories well, there isn’t a clunker among them. It’s also a treat to discover new writers in the region, all skilled in the short story craft. However, by the end of the collection, there’s a certain heart-heavy sameness to these stories that dulls their impact, with their rickety buildings, the lingering taste of blood and cheap alcohol. As tempting as it is, Hard Ol’ Spot isn’t a one-sit read. But Heffernan wisely ends with Ramona Dearing’s shocker, “An Apology,” told from the perspective of a priest, on trial for sexual abuse and facing his abusers. It’s a gutsy move, and Dearing’s monster of a man and his lack of redemption, leaves chills long after the last page is turned. —Sue Carter Flinn