Craig Boyko

Novelists, the third collection of short fiction by C.P. Boyko gathered around a unifying theme, is the work of a writer whose feverish approach to storytelling takes him on astounding flights of fancy. Each story features a writer (or writers) whose attitudes and behaviour are influenced by a personality tic of a sort that the reader will associate with the creative temperament. The humour is broad and derives mostly from the silly names he gives his characters, exaggerated action and overstatement of fact, and the total implausibility of much of what happens. It is possible that some readers will happily adjust their expectations and settle comfortably in to read because Boyko’s descriptive skills and powers of invention are undeniable. But there is something missing. For all their vitality and narrative momentum, the stories in Novelists often fall flat because the comic conceit upon which the story is based becomes tiresome long before the author realizes it. After a few pages the eccentric and obsessive behaviour of his characters starts to seem irrational, and we grow impatient when we realize their problems are wholly self-inflicted and would be easily solved with a bit of common sense. Boyko’s stories are action-driven, and a lot of forward motion can distract the reader into thinking the story is going somewhere. But too much of what happens seems arbitrary, with the result that you reach the end of the story feeling that you haven't got anywhere at all. Boyko is writing about the esoteric interests and selfish anxieties that occupy the artist in pursuit of his or her art, which has lots of comic potential. Unfortunately in Novelists much of that potential remains unrealized.… (meer)