Dance the Rocks Ashore [Paperback]

“As refreshing and unpredictable as those Atlantic waves he’s so fond of riding.” — Macleans

“By turns impish, poignant, and forceful.” — Saturday Night

Lesley Choyce writes rings around most Canadian authors. Even so, the most recent of his five books of stories came out in 1988, and most are out of print. It’s time for a new collection and here it is — Dance the Rocks Ashore or, as one might say, choice Choyce. Dance the Rocks Ashore contains substantial new stories including “Dance the Rocks Ashore,” a bittersweet account of an elderly couple’s decline; the hilarious and bizarre “My Father Was a Book Reviewer” “The Third or Fourth Happiest Man in Nova Scotia,*#148 with a peculiar hero reminiscent of Noah; and “The Wreck of the Sister Theresa,*#148 in which spring fever hits like “a handshake in hell.” Favourite stories from previous books include “Losing Ground,” the pivotal chapter in Choyce’s acclaimed 1989 novel The Second Season of Jonas MacPherson,as well as “The Cure,” “Dancing the Night Away,” and the complex and disturbing “Conventional Emotions.” (20120504)

Dance the Rocks Ashore, a milestone in Lesley Choyce’s leaps-and-bounds career, attests to almost twenty years of continuous inventiveness and craftsmanship in the art of the short story. It’s a powerful mix: 15 of the best stories from seven earlier books, plus four stories so new they’ve never been published until now. The title story, “Dance the Rocks Ashore,” is a bittersweet account of an elderly couple’s decline. “The Third or Fourth Happiest Man in Nova Scotia” features a peculiar hero reminiscent of Noah. In “The Wreck of the Sister Theresa,” spring fever hits like “a handshake in hell.” Fanciful or realistic, poetic or comical, literary or homespun, each story shines with Choyce’s unique take on the world.

No one has a clearer view of Atlantic Canada’s literary endeavours over the past twenty years than Lesley Choyce. He is the founder of the literary journal Pottersfield Portfolio, and the publisher of Pottersfield Press. He has edited several fiction anthologies and has been the in-house editor of many books from Pottersfield Press including Making Waves, a collection of stories by emerging authors from Atlantic Canada. He is the author of more than fifty books in genres ranging from poetry and essays to autobiography, history and fiction for adults, young adults, and children. Among his recent books are the novels The Republic of Nothing, World Enough, and Cold Clear Morning, and the story collection Dance the Rocks Ashore. Choyce is the writer, host, and co-producer of the popular literary show television program, Off the Page with Lesley Choyce, which is broadcast across the country on Vision TV. He also teaches in the English department of Dalhousie University in Halifax and is leader of the rock band The Surf Poets.