Jessica Westhead: 5 books

The Lesson presents a self-absorbed wedding DJ as the newest addition to Jessica Westhead’s trademark cast of offbeat protagonists. This posturing narrator is showing a new recruit the ropes, but what begins as a monologue full of blue-collar bravado grows more menacing over the course of the night....

The office cat lady understands better than the rest what it means to be a people person. The kleptomaniac steals because no one can give her what she really needs. And the unemplyed carpenter? He doesn't need the spotlight - he's just happy to make the stage. These are the unlikely stars of And Also...

In Michael Bryson's Survival, a couple sit in a lakeside Toronto condo, trapped by a crazed, mysterious sniper. The Lesson presents a self-absorbed wedding DJ as the newest addition to Jessica Westheads trademark cast of offbeat protagonists. In Laure Baudot's In the Afternoon, a babysitter's...

Brian Lembeck – ‘Pulpy’ – takes life slow and steady. He likes his office job, and he likes his gentle, figurine-collecting boss, Al. He even likes the bitter receptionist, though he’s the only one who does. He likes his wife, Midge, too, and their ice-dancing lessons. Midge works as a candle-party...

This short story anthology showcases the first place winner and runners-up of Sarah Selecky's Little Bird Fiction Writing Contest. The first prize - mentorship, instruction and publication - is awarded annually to an exciting new writer of distinction, chosen by new editors every year. The trick?...