Russell Smith

Confidence: Stories Russell Smith

Marc Notes: Short stories.; Issued also in electronic format. Review Quotes: Praise for "Confidence" "Darkly hilarious Russell Smith continues his assault on what he sees as the tame sensibility of Canadian literary fiction "Confidence" finds Smith at the top of his game."Morley Walker, "The Winnipeg Free Press" "In the world of these stories, love is a game, secrets pile up, needs go unmet, compromises and negotiations are constantly being made [Yet the final pieces] soften the book s unflinching tone and deliver, finally, emotional resonance by hinting at vulnerable humanity and the truest, simplest desires behind the exhaustive chase of pleasure."Carla Gillis, "Quill & Quire" Praise for Russell Smith "Smith writes some of the most luminous prose in Canadian fiction He mines and refines the best of what has come before on the way to making it his own. Also, Smith is entirely credible when writing female characters One catches quiet echoes of Katherine Mansfield and Virginia Woolf." "The Montreal Gazette" [Russell Smith is] something of a literary heir to Margaret Atwood. "The Toronto Star""Biographical Note: Russell Smith is one of Canada s funniest and nastiest writers. His previous novels, including "How Insensitive" and "Girl Crazy," are records of urban frenzy and exciting underworlds. He writes a provocative weekly column on the arts in the national "Globe and Mail," and teaches in the MFA program at the University of Guelph. He hates folk music."Review Quotes: Praise for "Confidence""Smith, a long-time Globe and Mail columnist, is a gifted anthropologist of the urbane. Those gifts are on full display throughout Confidence." "The Globe and Mail""Darkly hilarious Russell Smith continues his assault on what he sees as the tame sensibility of Canadian literary fiction "Confidence" finds Smith at the top of his game."Morley Walker, "The Winnipeg Free Press" Thankfully, Russell Smith has no interest in the prevailing wheat germ ethos of CanLit. Here, finally, is fiction we can swallow for taste, not nutrition Here, finally, is a Canadian fiction writer who admits that humans, even Canadians, have sex hard-wired into the DNA "The Star""In the world of these stories, love is a game, secrets pile up, needs go unmet, compromises and negotiations are constantly being made [Yet the final pieces] soften the book s unflinching tone and deliver, finally, emotional resonance by hinting at vulnerable humanity and the truest, simplest desires behind the exhaustive chase of pleasure."Carla Gillis, "Quill & Quire" When I pick up a book by Russell Smith I ve come to expect to read about sex, and ambition, and a city that can be exciting and superficial, and glitters with the promise that it doesn t always deliver. There is all that in his new collection of short stories. Shelagh Rogers, CBC Radio One's "The Next Chapter" Darkly funny, "Confidence" skewers modern relationships with just enough hope and romance left at the bottom of Pandora's box to remind us why we suffer through the tribulations of loveThis is not the stodgy CanLit you were assigned in school Russell Smith's writing is sharp and sultry "W Dish" It s a delicious darkness that pervades Russell Smith s latest short store collection, "Confidence" Unflinchingly honest reading. "THIS Magazine"Praise for Russell Smith"Smith writes some of the most luminous prose in Canadian fiction He mines and refines the best of what has come before on the way to making it his own. Also, Smith is entirely credible when writing female characters One catches quiet echoes of Katherine Mansfield and Virginia Woolf." "The Montreal Gazette" [Russell Smith is] something of a literary heir to Margaret Atwood. "The Toronto Star""Publisher Marketing:"A poisonously funny portrait of the so-hip-it-hurts fashion, food, and bar scene.""Maclean's"In the stories of "Confidence," there are ecstasy-taking PhD students, financial traders desperate for husbands, owners of failing sex stores, violent and unremovable tenants, aggressive raccoons, seedy massage parlors, experimental filmmakers who record every second of their day, and wives who blog insults directed at their husbands. There are cheating husbands. There are private clubs, crowded restaurants, psychiatric wards. There is one magic cinema and everyone has a secret of some kind. Russell Smith is the author of "Girl Crazy" and "How Insensitive." "Confidence," recently longlisted for the 2015 Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, is his US debut." Review Citations:

Quill & Quire 04/01/2015 pg. 39 (EAN 9781771960151, Paperback)

Publishers Weekly 05/25/2015 (EAN 9781771960151, Paperback)

Contributor Bio:  Smith, Russell Russell Smith, born in South Africa and raised in Halifax, is a writer of wide acclaim. His debut novel, How Insensitive, was a finalist for the Governor General's Award. Both his short story collection, Young Men, and his novel Muriella Pent were shortlisted for the Toronto Book Award. He is also the author of Noise; The Princess and the Whiskheads (a fable); Diana: A Diary in the Second Person; and the style guide Men's Style. Smith works regularly with the CBC and The Globe and Mail.