cover image Side Show: 1995 Annual Anthology of Contemporary Fiction

Side Show: 1995 Annual Anthology of Contemporary Fiction

. Somersault Press, $12.5 (308pp) ISBN 978-0-9630563-3-7

A remarkable number of memorable stories appear in this annual anthology of short fiction by largely unknown authors, chosen from author submissions. The editors have awarded prizes and honorable mentions, but the talent shown throughout the collection makes such ranking unnecessary and even unwelcome. Cliched scenarios, settings, and voices, though not entirely absent, are rare. More often these writers have chosen intriguing, unusual voices and visions-a paraplegic woman making a desperate play for attention on a public bus; a young Amerasian opera lover who plots to make a friend. Throughout the anthology runs the powerful theme of identity newly discovered: a man becomes a father, a woman faces the mysticism of her husband's Native American family. The editors chose to include a portion of a play about Simone Weil by Dorothy Bryant, an entry undermined by its overt didacticism. But stories like ``Can of Coke,'' Colleen Crangle's subtle account of how a young South African man discovers his capacity for revenge, more than make up for the weaker selections. This fine collection and the authors it introduces deserve attention. (Jan.)