Forever Young

Another good review of Terence Young's latest collection of short fiction, The End of the Ice Age, this one from Montreal's The Rover.

Contrary to the codes of cliché, there’s more to men at midlife than Ferraris and pharmaceuticals. In his fifth book, the excellent short story collection The End of the Ice Age, Terence Young trains his sharp eye on the tricky state of being between young and old. His meaningful stories catalogue an array of possible experiences that reach beyond the platitudes so heavily relied upon by lazy advertisers, and reveal more nuance than can be expressed in 30 seconds.

Not every man has a so-called crisis, not every man acts out upon reaching a certain age. Some don’t even notice they are aging at all. In the book’s title story, an unnamed he is informed by his lover, an unnamed she, “Your problem is you still don’t think you’re old.” Indeed, he observes, he does feel like he’s younger than everyone else, even those who are officially younger, but he’s perplexed as to why he should consider it a problem. With this character who feels immune to getting older, as if he alone is capable of resisting the march of time, Young alludes to our tendency to feel self-important. He shows, however, that the clock is undeniably ticking, unstoppable, literally and figuratively. The lover is too absorbed in her compulsive reading to ever check the time. Instead, she repeatedly asks Mr. Ageless to check for her. Even if he doesn’t get the message, the reader does. And with a deft switch to the present tense for the last sentence of the story, Young reminds us time stops for no one, not even his own characters.

For the rest of the review please go here.

The End of the Ice Age

It has taken far too long for this collection to get its first review. Disappointing, because it is such a strong collection. Mark Anthony Jarman has said, of Young's first collection, that Young "assembles the silhouettes of a loopy suburb nation. He is our seeing-eye dog." He could just as easily have said the same of this one. Yet, for my money -- and I suppose it was that -- this is a far stronger collection than Rhymes with Useless. Taut, mature, merciless -- yes, Terence, merciless -- memorable. You should pick up a copy today.

So at least the first review of the book is bordering on a rave. From the Victoria Times Colonist:

The End of the Ice Age is a collection for adults, by which I mean that these characters have usually lived long enough to know -- though not to behave -- better. ... Call the stories summer reading for those who haven't forgotten the winter. ... In this world, speech is a dangerous substance, both vulnerable and volatile. Dialogue usually signals conflict... Flirting is sparring. ... The best stores in Ice Age maintain Young's mordant gaze, but their humour becomes something more profound than self-laceration. It is a way to point to, if not always to reach, the possibility of intimacy. ... In any case, the short stories in The End of the Ice Age are the perfect length. In 10 to 15 pages, there is space for everything a story needs to do, if you know how to do it as Terence Young does.

Patricia and Terence Young at the UBC Bookstore

Thanks to Zach Wells for posting a reading over at CLM of Biblioasis authors -- current and future -- Patricia and Terence Young. We've published a couple of excellent books by Patricia, her first collection of short fiction the Metcalf-Rooke Award winning Airstream, and her last collection of poetry, from which she reads here, Here Come the Moonbathers. We'll be publishing a new collection of short fiction from Terence, likely Spring '10.

You can check out the reading here. A bit of background noise, so you'll need to turn up the volume, but well worth a listen.