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A Fast Horse Never Brings Good News
Multiple award–winning author Cary Fagan displays his extraordinary range and talent in this propulsive new story collection that is by turns sensitive, surprising, and outrageously funny.
A disgruntled border in 1970s London watches an affair develop between his landlady and a young Canadian student. A woman recalls the family that lived in a lovely tree in her backyard. A fifteen-year-old girl steals a book from a bookstore and sets in motion a remarkable whirlwind journey through New York City. Three turn-of-the-century musicians cross into Saskatchewan to escape an angry gunslinger. A couple decides to separate, only to find that their cat and their dog have a lot to say on the matter.
With witty dialogue, compelling characters, and superb writing, each of the five exquisite stories in A Fast Horse Never Brings Good News differs vastly from the next, yet together conjure a world fuelled by the power of our wildest imaginings.
A disgruntled border in 1970s London watches an affair develop between his landlady and a young Canadian student. A woman recalls the family that lived in a lovely tree in her backyard. A fifteen-year-old girl steals a book from a bookstore and sets in motion a remarkable whirlwind journey through New York City. Three turn-of-the-century musicians cross into Saskatchewan to escape an angry gunslinger. A couple decides to separate, only to find that their cat and their dog have a lot to say on the matter.
With witty dialogue, compelling characters, and superb writing, each of the five exquisite stories in A Fast Horse Never Brings Good News differs vastly from the next, yet together conjure a world fuelled by the power of our wildest imaginings.
- GenresFictionShort Stories
218 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 14, 2025
2 people are currently reading
37 people want to read
About the author
Cary Fagan
72 books73 followersCary Fagan has written numerous books for children, including What Are You Doing, Benny?, Little Blue Chair and Mr. Zinger's Hat, which was awarded the Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award and the IODE Jean Throop Award. He has also won the Vicky Metcalf Award for Literature for Young People for his body of work. Cary was born and raised in Toronto, where he continues to live with his family.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
November 11, 2025
I stumbled upon this collection of short stories similarly to how a character in "Higher and Higher" may have stumbled across "The Animals". I had forgotten my book at home, so I turned to Netgalley's "short stories" section.
I really like the word "sonder", and I love reading stories that delve into the lives of strangers and connect each person to the next, which is what "Higher and Higher" did. I checked out a copy of "The Animals" from the library afterwards because I liked the idea of reading the same book that all these characters did. This story was such a neat concept to me and I'd never read anything like it.
When I found myself frustrated by some of the stories' ambiguous endings, I was reminded of a point made in a podcast I like called Book Riot. The hosts have talked about how in fiction nowadays there can be this trend of authors outright telling you the meaning of the story. Ambiguity can allow a reader to make up their own minds, which is harder, but good and special. On the other hand, I've read other strange books and felt annoyed with how the author seemed to be trying to be ambiguous just for the sake of it, but this didn't feel that way for me. I didn't have a knee-jerk, eye-roll, "oh-my-god-just-SAY-IT" moment. I felt pleasantly uncomfortable, intrigued, and challenged.
Thank you to Netgalley and the Literary Press Group for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
I really like the word "sonder", and I love reading stories that delve into the lives of strangers and connect each person to the next, which is what "Higher and Higher" did. I checked out a copy of "The Animals" from the library afterwards because I liked the idea of reading the same book that all these characters did. This story was such a neat concept to me and I'd never read anything like it.
When I found myself frustrated by some of the stories' ambiguous endings, I was reminded of a point made in a podcast I like called Book Riot. The hosts have talked about how in fiction nowadays there can be this trend of authors outright telling you the meaning of the story. Ambiguity can allow a reader to make up their own minds, which is harder, but good and special. On the other hand, I've read other strange books and felt annoyed with how the author seemed to be trying to be ambiguous just for the sake of it, but this didn't feel that way for me. I didn't have a knee-jerk, eye-roll, "oh-my-god-just-SAY-IT" moment. I felt pleasantly uncomfortable, intrigued, and challenged.
Thank you to Netgalley and the Literary Press Group for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
November 25, 2025
I am more familiar with Cary Fagan’s books for children than his works for an adult audience, but I’m always interested in what he is up to. His is an unusual sensibility: observant, sometimes philosophical, tending toward the zany, absurd, and unexpected—basically off-kilter. In this collection of five stories—unlike My Life Among the Apes (a more conventional work of short fiction, which I read years ago but didn’t review)—Fagan’s quirky, playful side is in full swing.
The first piece, my favourite, “The Big Story” focuses on a group of five businesspeople (some known to each other, some not) dining together in a restaurant. The main topic over dinner is “the big story,” a matter which everyone’s posting about on social media. One of the diners explains to the uninformed but curious narrator: It’s “a theory that’s going around”—some regard it as a “truth”—that every person has a story from childhood which explains him in the deepest most essential way. Of course, people can have childhood anecdotes, but the big story is different because it explains why individuals have grown into the adults they are.
The unnamed narrator is skeptical. She finds the idea simplistic—a single story?—and asks the most ardent proponent of the theory to tell her big story. That person does, as do two of the others seated at the table. (The fourth claims he has no such story and is dismissed as lacking the requisite self-reflectiveness.)
The stories told are believed by the tellers to explain their psychological makeup—whether it be a deep fear of abandonment, an overall sense of confidence and safety in the face of tribulation, a decision to never again play the musical instrument that was once so passionately loved. However, even after hearing all these tales, the narrator remains doubtful. Asked to offer her own big story, she tells a fanciful tale of something that happened when she was eight The narrator declines to explain the life-changing impact of the “event,” leaving the dinner guests and the reader to speculate. Is the story testimony to the power of imagination in childhood? Was it playfully invented at the dinner table to underscore the absurdity of the idea that a single story can offer a key to understanding a whole life? Perhaps the narrator was testing the gullibility of her audience. Maybe it was told with some other purpose entirely. Whatever the case, walking away from the restaurant, the narrator reflects, “Doesn’t every story change something?” One wonders if the teller changed any of the minds of the listeners. I have to say it got me thinking about explanatory stories, and I had an interesting conversation with a family member who also weighed in with a few tales of formative experiences.
The other four stories in Fagan’s collection match the first in creativity and playfulness. “Indivisible Property” concerns a young couple splitting up after three years of living together. Their pets, a dog and a cat, will stay with the original owners. Once settled in their new lodgings with their respective companion animals, both the man and the woman wonder if they’re going mad when their pets begin to speak to them, often saucily or sharply, in English. This is a light, fun story with a delightful twist.
The third story, “Higher and Higher,” follows the journey of a book (Fagan’s own folktale-like novel, The Animals, from 2022) as it passes through the hands of several people in New York City, until the wind itself seizes and scatters the pages. In “Muswell Hill,” set in a London suburb in 1978, an eccentric and persnickety boarder—with a very little life—takes excessive interest in his thirty-five-year-old landlady’s adulterous carryings-on with another of her boarders, a Canadian student.
For me, “The Musicianers,” the final and longest story, was the least satisfying of the lot. Set in southern Saskatchewan in the late nineteenth century, it concerns three musical brothers on the run after committing a crime in their hometown of Asheville, North Carolina. Starving, one of them kills a Swedish farmer’s prized milk cow. To pay off their debt, the brothers work for the Shakespeare-quoting Scandinavian immigrant and each takes a fancy to one of his three daughters: Desdemona, Juliet, and Cordelia. Yes, the tale is inventive and clever at times (I loved the Shakespeare!), but I’m afraid I mostly found it silly, a little too “Three Stooges” for my taste, and very long.
Overall, I enjoyed Fagan’s recent offering and found it a pleasant diversion from the more somber literary fare I’ve recently read.
Rating: 3.5 rounded down
The first piece, my favourite, “The Big Story” focuses on a group of five businesspeople (some known to each other, some not) dining together in a restaurant. The main topic over dinner is “the big story,” a matter which everyone’s posting about on social media. One of the diners explains to the uninformed but curious narrator: It’s “a theory that’s going around”—some regard it as a “truth”—that every person has a story from childhood which explains him in the deepest most essential way. Of course, people can have childhood anecdotes, but the big story is different because it explains why individuals have grown into the adults they are.
The unnamed narrator is skeptical. She finds the idea simplistic—a single story?—and asks the most ardent proponent of the theory to tell her big story. That person does, as do two of the others seated at the table. (The fourth claims he has no such story and is dismissed as lacking the requisite self-reflectiveness.)
The stories told are believed by the tellers to explain their psychological makeup—whether it be a deep fear of abandonment, an overall sense of confidence and safety in the face of tribulation, a decision to never again play the musical instrument that was once so passionately loved. However, even after hearing all these tales, the narrator remains doubtful. Asked to offer her own big story, she tells a fanciful tale of something that happened when she was eight The narrator declines to explain the life-changing impact of the “event,” leaving the dinner guests and the reader to speculate. Is the story testimony to the power of imagination in childhood? Was it playfully invented at the dinner table to underscore the absurdity of the idea that a single story can offer a key to understanding a whole life? Perhaps the narrator was testing the gullibility of her audience. Maybe it was told with some other purpose entirely. Whatever the case, walking away from the restaurant, the narrator reflects, “Doesn’t every story change something?” One wonders if the teller changed any of the minds of the listeners. I have to say it got me thinking about explanatory stories, and I had an interesting conversation with a family member who also weighed in with a few tales of formative experiences.
The other four stories in Fagan’s collection match the first in creativity and playfulness. “Indivisible Property” concerns a young couple splitting up after three years of living together. Their pets, a dog and a cat, will stay with the original owners. Once settled in their new lodgings with their respective companion animals, both the man and the woman wonder if they’re going mad when their pets begin to speak to them, often saucily or sharply, in English. This is a light, fun story with a delightful twist.
The third story, “Higher and Higher,” follows the journey of a book (Fagan’s own folktale-like novel, The Animals, from 2022) as it passes through the hands of several people in New York City, until the wind itself seizes and scatters the pages. In “Muswell Hill,” set in a London suburb in 1978, an eccentric and persnickety boarder—with a very little life—takes excessive interest in his thirty-five-year-old landlady’s adulterous carryings-on with another of her boarders, a Canadian student.
For me, “The Musicianers,” the final and longest story, was the least satisfying of the lot. Set in southern Saskatchewan in the late nineteenth century, it concerns three musical brothers on the run after committing a crime in their hometown of Asheville, North Carolina. Starving, one of them kills a Swedish farmer’s prized milk cow. To pay off their debt, the brothers work for the Shakespeare-quoting Scandinavian immigrant and each takes a fancy to one of his three daughters: Desdemona, Juliet, and Cordelia. Yes, the tale is inventive and clever at times (I loved the Shakespeare!), but I’m afraid I mostly found it silly, a little too “Three Stooges” for my taste, and very long.
Overall, I enjoyed Fagan’s recent offering and found it a pleasant diversion from the more somber literary fare I’ve recently read.
Rating: 3.5 rounded down
November 1, 2025
DNF at ~70%
I think this short story collection would appeal to other people more than it did to me. Unfortunately, the magical realism/fantastical elements of the first two stories didn't really work for me. Particularly in the first story, The Big Story, it felt a bit unnecessary and took the story in what was for me a less interesting direction. I found the third story, Higher and Higher, to be the most interesting and readable. Muswell Hill was also decent, but I struggled to grip onto any of the characters and wasn't particularly invested. I DNFed shortly into the last story, which I could pretty quickly tell was not going to appeal to me. Additionally, I felt most of the stories that I read jumped around a bit excessively, which I think contributed to my inability to connect with the characters.
Thanks to NetGalley and the Literary Press Group of Canada for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I think this short story collection would appeal to other people more than it did to me. Unfortunately, the magical realism/fantastical elements of the first two stories didn't really work for me. Particularly in the first story, The Big Story, it felt a bit unnecessary and took the story in what was for me a less interesting direction. I found the third story, Higher and Higher, to be the most interesting and readable. Muswell Hill was also decent, but I struggled to grip onto any of the characters and wasn't particularly invested. I DNFed shortly into the last story, which I could pretty quickly tell was not going to appeal to me. Additionally, I felt most of the stories that I read jumped around a bit excessively, which I think contributed to my inability to connect with the characters.
Thanks to NetGalley and the Literary Press Group of Canada for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Read
December 21, 2025This collection is “classically Cary” - especially in that animals figure so prominently and admittedly surprisingly.
I really quite enjoyed this - until I didn’t. The first three stories were quite delightful - captivating, engaging… and different.
Then I hit the fourth story - Muswell hill - and that was that tanked the entire lot for me. It was the death knell - no point reading any further. This story was such a ponderous read and just went on and on and on. I kept touching to bottom of my screen to pull up the page index to see how much more of this there was to suffer through. Eventually I skimmed the last quarter - of a short story!! I could easily have not bothered - indeed I should have not bothered. It most definitely wasn’t worth the point he was making in the end
I also really dislike the nudge nudge wink wink reference to one of his own earlier titles - The Animals
DNF
I really quite enjoyed this - until I didn’t. The first three stories were quite delightful - captivating, engaging… and different.
Then I hit the fourth story - Muswell hill - and that was that tanked the entire lot for me. It was the death knell - no point reading any further. This story was such a ponderous read and just went on and on and on. I kept touching to bottom of my screen to pull up the page index to see how much more of this there was to suffer through. Eventually I skimmed the last quarter - of a short story!! I could easily have not bothered - indeed I should have not bothered. It most definitely wasn’t worth the point he was making in the end
I also really dislike the nudge nudge wink wink reference to one of his own earlier titles - The Animals
DNF
October 19, 2025
I DNF'd this book at about 40%. The stories in here have somewhat interesting premises, but they feel soulless, like the author is more enamored by what he thinks he's doing with the story than anything else.
Also, one of the short stories has the premise where the author's book The Animals changes multiple hands throughout New York City. That's such a self-absorbed premise; I really couldn't believe it the author wrote a whole story about a bunch of people reading HIS book. You can tell that Fagan thinks he's so clever and cosmopolitan, celebrating the heterogeneity of New York City, when really he's just writing a bunch of "diverse" perspectives poorly and in service of stroking his own ego.
Thank you to Netgalley and the Literary Press Group for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.
Also, one of the short stories has the premise where the author's book The Animals changes multiple hands throughout New York City. That's such a self-absorbed premise; I really couldn't believe it the author wrote a whole story about a bunch of people reading HIS book. You can tell that Fagan thinks he's so clever and cosmopolitan, celebrating the heterogeneity of New York City, when really he's just writing a bunch of "diverse" perspectives poorly and in service of stroking his own ego.
Thank you to Netgalley and the Literary Press Group for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.
October 5, 2025
This short story collection is seriously brilliant in its wildest moments. The author has this amazing ability to create genuinely funny, almost surreal scenarios; I mean, a couple's cat and dog getting involved in their separation? I had a few stories that had me laughing. However, I just had a really hard time getting into the flow of the writing. It felt quite experimental and a little "all over the place," which honestly kept me at arm's length. I definitely admired the prose and the ideas but the specific style just didn't connect with me as deeply as I wanted it to.
If you love literary fiction that leans way into the witty and absurd, this is definitely one for your list. I still enjoyed it.
★★★★☆ 3.5 stars
If you love literary fiction that leans way into the witty and absurd, this is definitely one for your list. I still enjoyed it.
★★★★☆ 3.5 stars
October 8, 2025
Quiet, sharp, and slightly off-kilter, A Fast Horse Never Brings Good News by Cary Fagan is praised for its elegant, understated prose and calm storytelling. I don’t read many short stories, so I was curious about the experience—but I must admit I felt a bit underwhelmed. The tone flows gently, like water, and while I can see the beauty in its simplicity, I found myself wishing to feel a bit more. Perhaps I’m simply not the right audience for this kind of quiet, reflective storytelling.
Thank you NetGalley and Literary Press Group of Canada for the ARC!
Thank you NetGalley and Literary Press Group of Canada for the ARC!
October 12, 2025
Brilliantly written with interesting characters. Each story is seemingly mundane, until it shifts toward off-kilter. As all collections of short stories, some stick with you longer than others. For me it was Higher and Higher. Something about the life of book that keeps getting passed from person to person and what they get from it just kinda stuck.
Thank you Net Galley for the eARC.
Thank you Net Galley for the eARC.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews