"Less is More in These Sparkling Stories"

Over at the Globe & Mail, Jim Bartley reviews Daniel Griffin's Stopping for Strangers :

It only takes a page or two to conclude that Daniel Griffin values precision – a precision not of meticulous detail, but of economy, of the extraneous shorn away until a vital core is reached: a core of character, of an exchange of words, of a scene, a story. He gets, as many a new writer does not, that the less an author says, the more the reader can enter, must enter, the process of imagining. Rather than being told what is, you collaborate in its discovery.

To listen to Daniel read the title story of his collection visit his website.

Robert Wiersema reviews Stopping for Strangers

"Stopping for Strangers is a collection unified in quality, but eclectic in approach. There are echoes of other writers here (Promise for example will remind readers of the gritty minimalism of the late Raymond Carver, while The Last Great Works of Alvin Cale is reminiscent of Alice Munro), but Griffin is resolutely and clearly his own writer...Stopping for Strangers is the finest debut collection of short fiction I have read since Alexander MacLeod’s Light Lifting in 2010: My praise doesn’t get any higher than that.”

—Robert Wiersema in the Victoria Times-Colonist

Advanced Praise for Daniel Griffin's Debut

Stopping for Strangers, Daniel Griffin's short story collection is due this Fall, under the Esplanade imprint. Griffin's story, The Last Great works of Alvin Cale, was a finalist for the Journey Prize in 2009; and he was published in Coming Attractions 08. His debut collection has garnered some high wattage advanced praise:

"This fine fine collection evokes echoes of the plain and piercing voice of Raymond Carver. These stories upended me: they are strong, surprising and full of heart. The size of the soul looms large in Daniel Griffin’s writing." — David Bergen

"Griffin’s at his best when he explores the intricacies and heartaches of family relationship and crisis. Here, in Stopping for Strangers, I believe we’re witnessing the emergence of a future master. " —Gail Dargatz Anderson