COMING ATTRACTIONS Edited by Maggie Helwig and Bronwen Wallace Ottawa, Oberon Press, 1989. 160pp, paper, ISBN 0-88750-767-0 (cloth) $25.95, 0-88750-768-9 (paper) $12.95 Post-secondary/Adult Reviewed by Esther Hutchinson. Volume 18 Number 2 1990 March This is the latest in a series of an­thologies, which presents short stories by promising new writers. The tone of most of the stories ranges from sombre to disturbing. In "You Must Remember This," Brian Burke deals with the reunion of family members, who separately deal with dark memories of an absent sister and the "secret" of abuse they had hidden over the years. In his second story, his protagonist is the parent of a murdered child who is obsessively seeking revenge. In the third, a single father and his daughter disagree over his romances, as she tries to persuade him to commit himself to a lasting relationship. Michelle Heinemann's disquieting stories create an illusional sensibility. "Looking for Carey" has a mystic quality. Her other two pieces show us glimpses of two disturbing lives. Jan Rysstad's are the most realistic and optimistic of the pieces. In "Singing in the Dark," a young mother finds renewal at a writer's retreat and is able to empathize with the daughter in whom she sees many of her early fears. The cover and format are attractive. A brief, uninformative introduction pro­vides little information about the writers, beyond the fact that one is from Calgary and the other two are from Vancouver. While the concept of encouraging new writers is important, the limited popular appeal of such anthologies suggests that this collection be consid­ered primarily as additional material for the Canadian short story collection. Esther Hutchinson, Spruce Grove, Alta.