The only highlight for me in this issue of Exile was a long piece by Patrick Roscoe called “Phantom Children.” This strange story follows a family in Brale, Manitoba. It starts off a bit slow, there is a lot of back story that needn’t have been so drawn out, but once it gets going it wraps the reader up in this weird little town, with the climax of the story occurring during a record heat wave. Roscoe creates a really believable small town, without making every character seem cartoonish or cliché. Some of the most enjoyable parts are when he describes what the townspeople do to escape the heat. The only trouble I had with this story was toward the end when one of the sisters, Lena, begins to have startling dreams about her lack of children. I felt these dreams were too much and made the story melodramatic; I would have preferred something subtler. On the whole though, this story made the rest of the magazine worthwhile. (Gillian Best)
litzine, Vol.26, #4, 157 pages, Barry, $12, 134 Eastbourne Avenue, Toronto ON, M5P 2G6