Mother Margaret and the Rhinoceros Café: 2003 Canadian Cross-cultural Stories

Critically acclaimed by writers and gurus alike, this kaleidoscope book of stories deeply probes cross-cultural conflict in Canadian society. In one story, a Dene settlement springs to life around one mesmerizing character with nothing more than voice and desire, and magic happens. In another, points of view clash on "infidels," "a good marriage," lust, love, office politics and elitist power. Would-be Canadians play a psychological endgame in the sinister and shadowy world of illegal immigrants and false papers. A dysfunctional family story set in another First Nations settlement shows how love triumphs as a bright kid struggles against drugs and evil. One of the stories about hate and love pits Afro-Canadians against each other. In another, a house is sold, and the neighbours speculate about the new owner: "I picture a family with eleven kids. Hells Angels. A Mormon with three wives."

"Abe" turns cross-cultural conflict on its head by testing the stamina of a central Asian man in a Canadian construction site in winter. Two white ex-Winnipeggers in exotic Bombay figure in a richly layered story of old love, rejection and survival, benevolence and antagonism. "Inca's Return" presents images of the interdependence of the human and the natural. "Swearing at the Queen" rounds off the collection with a delightful romp through political correctness and prejudice in a courtroom.

Of interest to reader of romance, mystery-crime-suspense and general fiction and to all readers who love a good yarn, plus students and professionals such as educators, political officials, public servants and researchers in Canadian Studies, International Development, Psychology, Religion, Sociology, Cultural/Social Anthropology, Canadian Literature, Geopolitics, Government Policy and programs--any field in which cultural matters are key. This book reflects the increasing cultural plurality of Canadian society and literature. It brings new perspectives on the poor and the developing world--to some an exotic, strange geo-world existing partly right here at home, in our own North and in out cities.