Hello, Horse

by Richard Kelly Kemick

Taut, stylish stories take on big moral questions from surprising perspectives.

A teenager’s job mucking stalls at a dog track takes a strange turn when his co-worker finds a new religion at odds with winning streaks. Two brothers set out in search of fame upon the frozen waters of a subarctic lake. After her mother's death, a high school student tries to make rent by winning the Unitarian Church’s Annual Young Writer’s Short Story Competition. An incarcerated man considers the nature of justice between shifts with his fellow inmates at Nations at War, the ultimate live-action experience for tourists eager to learn about the Canadian Civil War.

Spanning states and provinces, and featuring an apocalypse, a coterie of ghosts, nuns on ice, and an above-average number of dogs, the stories in Hello, Horse consider the mirage of authenticity and the impact of decisions we make—for better and for worse.

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories

241 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 6, 2024

About the author

Richard Kelly Kemick’s poetry, prose, and criticism have been published in magazines and journals across Canada and the United States, including the Fiddlehead, the New Quarterly, and Tin House (Open Bar).

He has won the poetry prizes of both Grain magazine and Echolocation. He lives in Calgary.

Reviews

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

A handful of excellent stories in a diverse (in terms of topics, length, and ... well, pretty much everything) collection of (very) nicely crafted pieces.

Full disclosure: this isn't happiness and light fare. Rather, to my mind, it listed heavily towards dystopia, poverty, chaos, despair, and loss.

With a never-ending reading (or to-read) list, I rarely just pick something up on a whim, but ... there I was, at my (most excellent, incredibly well run) public library, where the (mind-blowingly efficient) reserve shelving is located just past the New Fiction shelves, and someone had displayed this ... and there was a bicycle on the cover (and, no, it's not really a book about cycling) ... and the small number of folks on GR (granted, potentially, a small enough number that, not only would it not be representative, but it could be skewed by friends, family, and publishers) who'd read it seemed to like it ... so I picked it up.

I can't say I'll be rushing off to read the author's other stuff, but I don't regret reading this, and, again, for me, the best stories (yeah, a few were five stars for me) fully justified the time invested.

[Ian Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story about great slave lake was great, as was 'Gravity' the dirtbag Alberta one. The one about teachers in Cuba was also very funny and accurate to what I've heard about teaching, although not super profound.

These three made me really want to love the rest of the collection, but unfortunately everything else felt like it was missing something. Not bad stories (except for the magician one, which didn't go anywhere), but just coming very close to clicking and missing the target.

I hope Richard writes more fiction. A novel in the voice of one of the better stories here would be great.

[Stephanie Borin · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you like dark and dystopian short stories with a Canadian setting, this is for you. Personally, I found this book a bit too disturbing and depressing, but to each their own.

Half of the stories had intriguing concepts, but some I just couldn't get into.

The last story Satellite will be hard to forget.

Would I read this again? No. But I would be open to reading more from Kemick depending on the content.

[Amy Huske · Rating 3 out of 5]

definitely a little darker than my usual short story collections but gripping! a few i got so into and were so unique that i wanted a loooong one (satellite, overland offensive, the story the girl in the young writers competition was writing) and a few i was fine with ending (perfection, gravity, sea change) and the old dog in patron saints made me cryyy

[Michelle Chan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, that was fun.

[Niyah · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 (the extra .5 is purely for “the unitarian church’s annual young writer’s short story competition” and “satellite”)

[Evelyn O. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Holy shit, this is the best short story collection I've ever read.

[Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

What Descends When the Lake Thaws, Ghost Town, and Satellite — all 10/10s