Two friends are inexplicably drawn to a carnival-like -orchid garden. A man works obsessively on restoring a mansion he has inherited. An urban dweller is haunted by the echo of cries in the night. A traveler is lured by highway signs directing him to a place that he has always known.
The stories in
Home
, the follow-up to Mark Macdonald’s acclaimed novel Flat, feature characters searching for truth and clarity in a world that is sometimes deceptive, usually miraculous, and often inescapable. Full of dark compulsions and seemingly irrational tendencies, Home is a place where all is not as it seems: authority figures defy reality, and fate takes charge as life and death become mere observances.
Informed by terminal illness and a trust in the wonders of the world, these stories are about anxiety, foreboding, and a sense of calm resignation and peace with matters beyond our control.
"An inventive, sometimes startling, work of fiction from a writer of formidable ability."—
Globe & Mail
"These stories have the power to slip in and engrave lingering afterimages in the mind."—
Quill & Quire
Praise for
Flat
:
"Uncanny. . . . With a deadpan worthy of Kafka, and the eye of a satellite camera."—
Lambda Book Report
"It’s wonderful to read a novel and get such piercing insights from little things, described concisely."—
Toronto Star
Mark Macdonald
is the book buyer for Little Sister’s, Vancouver’s legendary gay and lesbian bookstore. His work has appeared in numerous anthologies and publications, including
Quickies 2
and
Carnal Nation
.