Rod Moody-Corbett

Wayne Grady makes no bones about his literary inheritance. Each of the eight “cover stories” in The Cartel reconceives a canonical work in a more or less contemporary vein. Appended to every adaptation is a brief essay in which Grady dutifully acknowledges his source material, supplying readers with insights into his artistic aims. Certainly the short story lends itself well to interpretive…

The Mordecai Richler archive at the University of Calgary spans thirty-five metres, or roughly “two plus two” Albertosauruses, as Jacob Two‑Two might tally it. Acquired in 1974, the collection lives in the Taylor Family High Density Library on the Spy Hill Campus, home to several veterinary medicine buildings and the University Weather Research Station. Across the street are the Calgary Correctional…

The title of Michael Eddy’s smart, sprawling, and very funny first novel refers to a jewel. Plucked from a ten-year-old maharaja during the British annexation of Punjab, couriered to England by Lord Dalhousie — whose father founded the Nova Scotia university — the Koh‑i‑Noor eventually worms its way inside the cross pattée of various crowns made for British…

Early in David Bergen’s Days of Feasting and Rejoicing, a murderer-to‑be rehearses her metamorphosis. The American expat Esther Maile is visiting Bali with Christine, a Canadian with whom she shares a duplex in Thailand. One evening, while her friend is out dancing, Esther, who dreams of inhabiting another self, “a different body,” steps into her underwear: “Very…