Imagine you're given the startling news that your body is only capable of having six more orgasms. "It's either buck up or fuck up," decides Mel in "Six Degrees of Altered Sensation," adding this new restraint to the perplexity of single life with progressive Multiple Sclerosis. In "Flickering," Francis becomes a pyromaniac in order to give her grown sons the opportunity to become heroes. Mundane directions for propane use parallel a brief sizzling affair in "Dick & Jane & the Barbecue and No, It's Not a Love Story."

Altered and twisted realities make the impossible possible for Clark's characters. Lillian, an arthritic senior in "Solitaire," discovers the rejuvenating properties of the bones of her lively, new young neighbour. Looming dementia is replaced by ravenous desire. In "Split Ends" a woman finds a book that contains her own memories, but it is written by a stranger with the same name; in "No U's," a woman slips away through the mail slot to escape her stagnant life.

Ranging from micro-fiction to near maxi-fiction, the stories in Attemptations are peopled by women, often physically challenged women—darkly humourous, feisty, sexy, manic, persevering, observant, contemplative women. These characters will snag you and hold you there 'til they're good and done.

Kim Clark lives on Vancouver Island. Disease and desire, mothering and the mundane propel her ongoing journey between poetry and prose. Kim's work can be found in Body Breakdowns (Anvil Press), the Malahat Review, e-zines and other publications in Canada and the US. She was a 2010 winner in the scratch Poetry and Fiction Contests and was short-listed in the Malahat Review 2010 Novella Contest. Kim holds a BA in Creative Writing from Vancouver Island University and has edited for Artistry and Portal. Her first book was Attemptations (Caitlin, 2011).

Kim Clark's profile page

The writing is refreshing and far from ordinary even while describing ordinary events. Clark, who is also a poet, appears to delight in her own word wizardry and readers get to share in that delight. … Quirky, darkly humorous and not quickly forgotten.

Story Circle Book Reviews