Costs of Living

As the saying goes, the devil is in the details. This aphorism reveals its many sides in Dead Writers, a collaborative project of four novellas by Jean Marc Ah‑Sen, Michael LaPointe, Cassidy McFadzean, and Naben Ruthnum. Each author puts a unique spin on the concept of the bargain. The result is a collection of intimately told stories in which characters wrestle with seemingly innocent deals and the ethical and emotional fallouts that follow.

To start with the strongest piece, Ruthnum’s “Placeless Delights” opens in the aftermath of the death by suicide of Mushtaq Kabir, a failed novelist whose only book read like “an incel’s picaresque.” Katherine Faber, a successful author in her own right and family friend, reluctantly agrees to work on Mushtaq’s biography at the behest of his mother, Reham. The gig sounds like every writer’s dream: a steady salary, a working space in the Kabirs’ Vancouver mansion, and no obligation to deliver an actual manuscript. All...