From the author of the bestselling novel, Stanley Park, a dazzling collection of short fiction to debut in our new Vintage Tales series. Taylor, whose writing possesses an astonishing range and depth, first came to national attention with his short story writing. This collection includes, among others, his Journey Prize-winning story, “Doves of Townsend,” for which he also won a Silver National Magazine Award, and two other stories from the fall 2000 Journey Prize Anthology.

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NOMINEE 2003 - Danuta Gleed Literary Award

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The short story is a famously difficult form. The young writer is routinely warned: This is much harder than it looks. Which is fair enough. Tales resist compression. We tend, as a species (and surely writers especially) to inefficiency. And yet, difficult and unnatural as it may be, the short story offers a singular freedom. Let me dwell, speaking as a writer, and only for a moment, on this under-celebrated quality. It cannot be denied that the conception and writing of a novel, even in rough first draft, is an undertaking that exceeds in scope what is possible to accomplish in any single period of wakefulness. (I exclude 24-hour novel-writing contests as well as On the Road and other writing projects involving the use of benzedrine.) Short stories, by contrast, may be conceived and, if not drafted, then mentally framed, all in the instant. In the unpredictable internal silences that suspend the ordinary day. In the time it takes to cross town by bus when traffic is slowed by a hail storm. In the time it takes to finish a bowl of katsu don when a task is being avoided. In the time it takes your heartbeat to slow after hearing bad news by phone. These moments, wherein the self is momentarily blank, are sometimes all that is required to bring a short story to life. Salman Rushdie has written: “literature is the art least subject to external control, because it is made in private.” He was speaking, quite rightly, about the power and freedom of the novel. The same might be said of the short story, only more so in the sense that, while it too comes to life in private, it may well evade even your own controls.

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“The stories collected in Silent Cruise crackle with intellectual energy and symbols and feature an impressive range of characters in up-to-the-moment settings.” -- Quill & Quire, Best Books of 2002, February 2003

“Timothy Taylor exploded onto the literary scene in Canada last year with his novel, Stanley Park, but his real strengths lie in short fiction. Silent Cruise, a collection of eight previously published short stories and one new novella, demonstrates Taylor’s diversity of subject and ease with language…. If you’ve already read all eight stories in the various literary journals, then you may think it’s not worth buying the collection. Wrong. The book is worth it simply for the novella, “Newstart 2.0 ™”…. Silent Cruise is a chunky collection, packed with dense and complicated stories. Flaws are minimal, and they are the result of trying something big. The rarified narrative level that Taylor inhabits is a delight to explore in this collection.” -- Monday Magazine, May 2002

“An intriguing collection of short fiction [from] a master stylist…. Taylor’s use of language is exact. He has a gift for choosing exactly the right word to express an idea or an emotion, giving his writing a feeling of strength and precision. Each character rings true, enabling the reader to become engrossed in the stories. Silent Cruise is excellent writing and enjoyably hypnotic.” -- Hamilton Spectator, May 2002

“There can be little doubt that Taylor is one of Canada’s best short-story writers…. Taylor rises to the challenge Northrop Frye set for the poet: he shows us the world completely absorbed and possessed by the human mind.” -- Quill & Quire, March 2002

“Seeking solace, people turn to self-help gurus and superficial notions of God. Some of us, though, have discovered something akin to hope and meaning via art and intellect…. Silent Cruise. It’s a good thing for those of us who appreciate well-crafted, perfectly pitched, intellectually mature, quietly poetic, and frequently funny stories that Timothy Taylor … came to his sense and quit his day job to write…. Taylor writes with the wonder and joy of a kid who has had his nose pressed to the candy-store window and all of a sudden finds himself inside, with one cautious eye glancing back over his shoulder.” -- The Georgia Straight, May 2002

“Intelligen[t] and rich…. A work of baroque elegance and inventiveness … Timothy Taylor [is] a writer to seek and savour.” -- Annabel Lyon, National Post

" ... few demonstrate the density, intellectual range and originality that Timothy Taylor does in Silent Cruise.... sharply honed brilliance.... Overarching questions of consumption and pleasure, loss and hunger, marble these stories with intricate flavour.... Demanding and complex, the passions unveiled in these explorations are inescapable. Timothy Taylor is the only writer ever to have three stories published in The Journey Prize Anthology in one year. It is easy to understand why. This is a dazzling collection.” -- Aritha van Herk, The Ottawa Citizen, May 2002

“… Timothy Taylor is a gifted writer who successfully catches the neurotic (and creative) zeitgeist of our times…. both amusing and thought provoking…. In Silent Cruise, Taylor treads the subtle border territory separating outright parody from the strange truths and beauty of our time¯this is a fine collection, and Timothy Taylor is a major talent who continues to make his mark on the Canadaina literary scene.” -- Times Colonist, May 2002

“An eclectic collection….” The Edmonton Journal, June 2002

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Visit Timothy Taylor's website.

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Timothy Taylor is the recent recipient of a National Magazine Award Gold Medal and the only writer ever to have three stories selected and published simultaneously in the Journey Prize Anthology. His short fiction has appeared in Canada’s leading literary magazines and has been anthologized in such publications as Best Canadian Stories, Coming Attractions and Islands West. His novel, Stanley Park, was a national bestseller and a finalist for The Giller Prize. He lives in Vancouver.

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