Christian McPherson: First words on "The Cube People"

Sunday, October 24, 2010

First words on "The Cube People"

By Edgar Dunning, The Delta Optimist October 23, 2010

If the number of books waiting for review is an indication, Christmas must be just around the corner. Here's a sample of what is offered:

The Cube People by Christian McPherson, published by Nightwood Editions through Harbour Publishing, is an extraordinary tale about a common situation. Colin MacDonald finds himself in the suffocating atmosphere of the Ministry of Revenue Collection when all he wants to do is write science fiction horror novels.

Between donning a pizza costume on behalf of the Refrigerator Committee, coping with mental health issues of his fellow workers and finding a human finger in a red high-heeled shoe, Colin finds time to take care of his family.

While the writing is consistently hilarious, it is also candid about the absurdity of white-collar culture. Through his efforts to make a path for himself in writing he communicates his hope for redemption and the possibility of a happy ending.

© Copyright (c) Delta Optimist

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Praise for Saving Her

"Fans of psychological thrillers like Stephen King's will clamour for this book" - All Lit Up's Super Secret Festival of Lit: Mysteries & Thrillers

"I have often purchased at book stores or downloaded from the internet a novel about which the advertisers and the reviewers say “You can’t put it down.” Once in a while, rarely for me, the description and my personal experience as a reader are a match. Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl was a match for me. Saving Her is another." - Rem Westland, Apt613

"With the taut pace of a thriller, it's a story about an accomplished woman going off the rails and striving to save herself and others. I itched to be reading this slim volume when I had to put it down, driven by a fast-moving plot and the suggestion that it could unravel in many different directions." - Hattie Klotz, Ottawa Magazine

Praise for The Cube People

What’s really distinctive about the book is just how funny it is. The sex scenes and masturbatory scenes are side-splitting; the bizarre, labyrinthine governmental logic is richly, darkly comic; the failures of the struggling writer are, in their sad-sack way, laughalong. McPherson has many ways to make the reader laugh, from the more energetic and obvious to the more sophisticated – Shane Neilson, The Fiddlehead

The life-among-the-bean-counters part of McPherson's book is well managed and entertaining ... the comic evocation of domestic routines makes for an interesting counterpoint to the rest of the book. What ties everything together is the character of Colin, a well-meaning, dutiful type who acts as a pivot of sanity for the chaos to swirl around. And despite the raw moments, the conclusion is a good-natured affirmation of his core family values.
—Alex Good, Quill & Quire

[The] Cube People is a sardonic and acerbic tale of one man’s daily grind as a faceless underling in a federal office. Outside of the office he works on his own novel (we get the plot within the plot), and desperately tries to get his wife — anxious and impatient for children — pregnant. It’s a funny and clever book, and it could deservedly become a sleeper hit for the writer.
—Peter Simpson, Ottawa Citizen (The Cube People was also Simpson’s pick as his critic’s top choice!)

Christian McPherson’s The Cube People is a cocktail of genre work that has something for every reader to enjoy. Though the novel follows in the footsteps of novelists interested in exploring the angst of white collar workers (the kind of novel now diligently studied in Am Lit graduate seminars), it also ventures into the campy worlds of science fiction, blood-and-guts schlock horror, and a certain kind of fantasy, all the while sustaining the episodic carnival with a sincerely touching family narrative that is honest, funny, relatable, and very loving.
—Amanda Trip, Maple Tree Literary Supplement

There is something to be said about a book that can keep you so deeply immersed you finish it in a single day … between his book’s rejections, his baby-obsessed wife and horrible day job, Colin becomes the everyman for anyone who has been constantly beaten down and hoped for salvation.
―The Charlatan

What people are saying:

"McPherson’s writing is never boring . . . McPherson is a writer to watch." - Naomi Lewis, SEE Magazine

“Christian McPherson’s barfly madrigals are smoky and complex, shadowy tales from a shadowy planet, some so afflicted they’ll give you a rash.” —Mark Anthony Jarman

". . . he knows how to create an atmosphere of suspense in a debut full of realistic tales of petty crime and sad suburban obsessions." - Alex Good, Guelph Mercury

“...genuinely hilarious moments... McPherson is at his best when the threatening potential for deviancy, dishonesty, or violence remains spectre instead of spectacle... it is in the book's subtleties that the writing and storytelling is most accomplished.”—Owen Percy, Canadian Literature

“In his debut collection, McPherson conjures a gritty and colourful Ottawa, populated by addicts and losers, obsessives and gawky teens. ... McPherson’s endings, like the pool hustles, drug deals and long afternoon shags of these stories, have a nice way of leaving things open to the unexpected.”—The Dominion

“The characters who haunt Six Ways to Sunday are prisoners of their own passions, desires, addictions. When they cannot break out of the misery of their own creation, McPherson offers redemption through small acts of bravery, miracles of love large and small. A fascinating debut.”—Byrna Barclay

"Just picked up "rats" and was astonished. I'm ashamed I haven't seen your work before. Great stuff. Simply great. Did you just pop out fully formed or have you been studying how to be an excellent human poet in some sort of strange monastery where they let you watch movies? Whoosh. Loved these poems." - Michael Dennis

“It will be interesting to see how McPherson’s obvious talent as a truly entertaining writer will develop as he begins to produce more work.” —Deanne Beattie, The Peak

Pages

Sunday, October 24, 2010

First words on "The Cube People"

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