Miranda Hill

The 2013 edition of the Journey Prize brings together twelve of the best stories published in the past year in literary journals or magazines in Canada. As ever, the range is fabulous. There are stories set in the post-apocalyptic future, the Mauritanian past, and mid-70s Windsor, Ontario. There are stories with teen hipster Chinese-Canadians in Vancouver, elderly women in Japan, comic book store workers. Some of the stories are confidently straight-ahead, while others challenge the short story form itself in daring ways.

There were no stories here that did not deserve to be found in this volume. Which makes it very hard to select a favourite. However, I’ll limit myself to singling out “Sleep World” by Zoey Leigh Peterson, which subtly challenges the base elements of story-telling and then answers that challenge beautifully. Remarkable.… (mer)

The nine stories that make up Sleeping Funny are never less than competent. Some are excellent, and one or two perhaps give a hint of great things to come. As with any first collection, there is quite a range. Early in one’s career, I imagine, a writer is trying out different styles or writing personas. So we have Hill’s Alice Munro story, “Because of Geraldine”, or her Helen Humphreys story, “Rise: A Requiem”. These are nonetheless fine stories in themselves, but Hill is much more interesting when her writing begins to move into a voice which, for want of a better label, we might call her own. Certainly the reader hears that voice in the excellent “Petitions to St. Chronic” or the title story, “Sleeping Funny”, though the latter feels the weight of Munro as well perhaps.

I very much enjoyed the surprising “Apple” though perhaps it is more of a one-off. And without doubt the opening story, “The Variance”, reveals that Hill has the potential to rise above the particular and the personal to approach the political. In all, a lot of good reading here and plenty of potential for some truly excellent writing to come. One to watch, I think.… (mer)