Rotary Club

As the cover art of David Carpenter’s collection of seven short stories and two novellas suggests, the telephone — usually an older model, the kind attached to places, not people — is a recurring symbol. It advances plot, conveys how humans can be distanced even when in communication, and represents the past catching up with the present. The outdoors also plays a central role for Hello’s characters, who reside in spectacular but challenging environments across Alberta, British Columbia, and Saskatchewan, places that have shaped them.

Jasper is one such setting. Several entries read as a tribute to the fire-gutted community, including the novella “Gordon’s Idea,” which contends with our faulty memories. Sixty-four-year-old Gordon Carter reconnects with his friend Richard, who proposes a fly-fishing trip, a ritual excursion of their youth. Both men had left Alberta decades earlier; Gordon went to Saskatchewan to teach high school, while Richard headed for...