5EATMRES 6 Ths AppmnGeashlp 01 Paul Guarrlnglon. One 01 Canada’s ‘10 best young writers’ seeks 10 make the ordinary seem exlraordlnary. By Barbara Wads Bose 7 Ths Top Tsn. A new list introdwxs lhe best writers 01 Lbe ‘posl+dwwd generalion.’ bul not everyone is likely lo agree 11 Thhd ImpressIons. The Gnal bwk in Gertrude Story’s trilogy is incomprohenslbte wkboul having read the llrst two. By Gary Fwn 20 CrGlcal N01Icos. Brie1 reviews of recent Gclion. non-flction. and poetry 25 Fsychsd Gut. Two books about the human mind lndicdle lhat science Is best left lo lbe scll)ntlsls. By Keith Malllard REVIEWS 12 Mr. Spalktr: Ths Man In tha llddls. by James Jermne 12 85: G&?l Cmudlan Stmlsr and Coming Allractlonr 3. ediled by David Helwig and Sandra Martin 15 Tha Entmpransws: Tha Story 01 Gsndlr Inc.. by Albs” 0. Cohen: Thn Money Ruslbrs: Sall-Mads Mllllonalns 01 the New Was,, by Paul Grescoe and Oavld Cruiss: Pansy Makers: Ths Secrets of Canada’s Most Succastlul Enlnpronaurs. by Ksnneth Barnes and Evorstt Banning 16 The Gsgansrstors: Social CrGiclrm In Ma Vlclorian English Canada. by Ramsay Cook 16 Ths Glass Air: Sslsclud Poams. by P.K. Page 17 Tha Sslsctsd Jmwnalr of L.M. Monlaomw. Volums I: lGE9-1910. edited by Mary Rubio and Elizabeth Waters1011 19 ThP Pundlr. b” Llovd Ta,aryn L&w land. by Sasthia Bra&: The Walls 01 India. by George Wwdmck 1. by Palrlcla Pkrce I~ hu George Faludy: Gab 1 and Gab 2. by Bnberl Zend is 01 Allm Grossman. by Peter Oliver: “Honart Enough to 8s Bold”: The Llls and Tlmss 01 Sk James Ally VVhHtiny. by Chariss W. Humphdes 32 Canada and ths Arab Wortd. edited by Tamp Y. tsmael; Canada and tB Birth 01 Ismal: A Study in Canadian Forslgn F0Gcy. by David J. BMcwOn 33 Upeoasl Summon. by B&Hill 35 Gackmbms: A Stary of Polltler. by Colln Thatcher: Uany Deny Dany: Ths Rlss and Fall 01 Colln Thatchor, by Garrett W&on and Lesley Wllwn 35 Yllfe 01 . An Irmaron, Accounl ti Uh In WashIngIon. by Sandra Gollieb DEPA#BIMEhYIUs 3 Uold NDlss 40 LaGerr 5 EngUsh. Our English. by Bob Blackburn 42 Gocommended 36 Plrsl NowIs, by Uouglas Glov-er 42 Roceivsd 38 Intewlsw with Aoberl Harlw by Geoll Hancud 42 CanWG ND. 109 ~ONTRIElUlU~RtSJ Jack Baton is at work on a book about ludgss. Bob Blackburn is pmprielar 01 On-Line Ediling. Claim Gmvmsmmba is a fnelance wile1 with a special inlerost In s&flee and nature. Wands Btynn Csmpbsll is the author of The Promise (Pulp Press). Gob Carrkk is a freelance writer In ThornhIll. 0111. Gavid CollmoG~. 1 former federal cabIna mlnlslw. is secretary-general 01 lhs Liberal Party 01 Canada. Gregory M. Cook Is lhl) author 01 Love in Fllghl (Ragweed Press). Valsris ds Monllgny Is a fmreslanm writer In Tou&e. Uue. Shsmn Gnchs wdter for the Jerusalem Posl and other publlcatlons. Lmns Ellarchuk operates CELE Books in Kilchener. Ont. Caty hgan Is the proprietor of Bhaw Street Pmss. Rq Rtlp’s Grst collBEtlon of shorl slories Is to be publishsd shodly by Guernica Edilionr. and gouglss Glow’s second c~Gectl~~ has just been releassd by Talanbaokr. Phtl HIS’S most recent bwk is WhyI Hawn’l Wrillen (Grlck Bwkr). Gogor Hall Is wllaboraling on a book about Ihe 19thCentury Canadian photographer Willlam Notman. GsoG Hancock Is edilor 01 Canadian Fiction Magazine. V&Is Kalkr is a lrsslance wrilsr In St. Albert. Alla. Myron Low Is a Winnipeg jo!mwGsl and researcher. Ann LukGs. also in Winnipeg. writes lrequsntly about health malters. Kotth Malllard (The Knllein My Hands. Musson) is a Vancouver novelist. Douglas Mateotm is a Toronto film librarian and suspensa-liction bull. Judy Marg~lB is editor of CA Magazine Gnbm Hahn8 is a lmelanca critic In Montreal. Slsvs MeCabo. whose drawings appear throughout the Issue. is B Toronto arGs1. S.A. Nwman reviews bwks in Picker- Iq. Ont. Paul Grnnstaln’s photographs 01 litsrany penonalities appear lrequanlly in these pages. I.M. Gvmn is a freelance critic. as is Sharln Fnsssorskl. SrucO Men Fmw Is I l~rmer political organlrar lor Lsster Pearson. Ksv,n Gob&i’s most recsnl book Is Pkking Ike Morning Cofaur (Oolichsn Books). Barbara Wads GosO Is a Toronto joumallst. Stllla SandshI teaches Hlndi at ths Uniwslty 01 Toronto. Grant Gavld Shilllq is a Vancouver lreelance wrltor. Mary Mntlls SmGb. who r&iews children’s books for BDoxs in Canada. Is I dwoted reader 01 L.M. Monlgomery. Volksr Strunk &achns at York University and cooks at hams. Gomk Guchwd. a lomwr soldlsr. IS edilDr 01 Tomnfa Business. Allan Welsr will have his l&x to Canadian Sk&l Sfodes published Ihls fall by ECW Press. Nancl WTdls is a freelanes edltor and eDmmunicaGons teacher. Janet Wlndslar writes lielion and teaches piano. EDITOR 0 Michael Smith MANAGING EDITOR 0 Fraser Sutherland ART DIRECTOR 0 Mary Lu Toms $ GENERAL MANAGER and ADVERTISING MANAGER 0 Susan Traer CIRCULATION MANAGER a Susan Aihoshi CONSULTANTS 0 Robert Farrelly 0 Jack Jensen Desert song More than simply a meeting place, Mexico’s mysterious Zone of Silence provides unique insplratlon for a trilingual group of wrlters and artists Cl.ASS*CAL country scene of it got its name, the area was a sacred Jeanne MacDonald Pokier, a M&is spruce woods and snowy fields place For native shamans. who some- poet From Quebec, Found a meditation surrounds me as 1 write. Logging times travelled long diitances to perform spot hiih on a hill, where she could look trucks rumble by en mute to the rituals and healing ceremonies. We were out over miles of desert. Although she nearby Rouge Matawl” provincial the first’ organ&d group of artists to wrote several short poems. she produced Forest reserve. I hear chainsaws. make the pilgrimage. most of her work back home. several blue jays. This is Lac Macaza, We came in early December with our months later. Vancouver writer/poet Que. tents, sleeping bags, and equipment, and Norbert Ruebsaar recorded interviews A little more than a year ago I settled in among the stones and dust with all of us, which he later edited For was 3,000 miles away, giving a near a watering hole known as radio, but the poetry that came atit of sunset reading in a” abandoned Mohdvano, one of three oases in the the desert experle”ce didn’t begin .to gravayard in a remote north- region. Apart From the shade of a hand- flow until he to” had been home For a “ester” Mexlca” desert known m the ful of mesquite trees, our only protee while. Zone of Silence. I hadn’t bathed For a tlon From the desert sun came Fmm the To me, it seemed ridiculous to wield a couple of weeks and no longer eve” tried straw or Felt hats that we all wore so pm when so many beautiful stone, to get a comb through my hair. My’ rellglllwly that I can still clearly recall Fossils, armwheads, and other treasures clothes held so much dust that they each person’s hat. The rattlesnakes, offered themselves to my fwers. Get- appeared to be snmlderl”g as I walked tarantulas, and scorpions were mostly ting the desert down on paph would - back and Forth among the Fallen wooden holed up For the winter, but cactus did - come later. It still does. I can’t cmsses readI”g first l” Spanish, then I” doesn’t hibernate and there were several toss a log into my woodstove without French, and Finally in 6nglish. billion spines to deal with. Once we recalling the little gnarled cactus roots The audiam I Faced was as sparse as learned the rules of relationship with that I prized so highly For my cooU the desert landscape around us. But Clod these stubborn, st_oic. heroic plants, they fke4 in the Zone. seemed to be handling the special became a source of inspiration. They One opportunity the project offered effects. The sky brought out all its best ended up witing a prominent place in was the chance For various artists to colours. and the wind gathered a troupe almost everyone’s axstive work. watch each other wotk. At best, the of clouds For a brief, speclacular petfor- 0” an average day, we were up shortly writers I know have superficial notions manee. Meanwhile nearly half my au- after dawn. Atker breakfast around the about the art world. Artists suiTa From dience was moving about photographing campfire, we were off into the desert, the san~e isolation (although I know me, taping me, fhing me in video and occaslonalIy in ‘pain or teams, but more artists who read novels tha” in Super-8. Tc&her we were par- usually alone. The artists worked o” In- novelists who look at art). tlclpating in the Zone of Silence project, nallation pieces at Four different sites. I recall a” exchange I had with Be”- a month-long gathek%g of Canadian The muslclans experimented with plants, jamin Medal just after the project. He and Mexkx” sculptors. writers, mpsi- stones, and other objects to discover burst beam& From his video studio in clans, film-“mkets. pholographers, per- their musical potential. The film-makers Durango, Mexico, to tell ma that the formance artists, a compdser, eve” a trailed us to record our activities. bnages he had filmed at my reading were historian, as well as kids and dogs. For the writers, it was not a place to so good that he planned to let them The Zone of Silenceis not a” ordinary stand alone, without the recording of my desert.