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Finding the Enemy
168 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 1998
2 people want to read
About the author
Mary Soderstrom
25 books79 followersMary Soderstrom is a Montreal-based writer of fiction and non-fiction whose next book--her 19th--Before We Forget: How Remembering Will Get Us Through the Next 75 Years will be published by Dundurn Press in March 2026. It follows in the footsteps of Against the Seas: Saving Civilizations from Rising Waters (Dundurn, 2023) and Concrete: From Ancient Origins to a Problematic Future {October 2020. University of Regina Press.}
In 2019 the UofRegina Press published her Frenemy Nations: Love and Hate between Neighbo(u)ring States which is an examination of why ten pairs of political entities--ranging from the formerly two Vietnams, through Haiti and the Dominican Republic and Vermont and New Hampshire to the US and Canada--are so similar in some respects, yet so different.
As Katia Grubisic writes about it in the Montreal Review of Books: "Soderstrom is interesting because she is interested... Her frequent asides – musings on language, geology, genetics, twins, what have you – are sharp and illuminating, sparking reflection and lightening the informational load."
Her Road through Time: The Story of Humanity on the Move (University of Regina Press) was published in 2017 to laudatory reviews in Quill & Quire, Publishers' Weekly and The Library Journal which called it "a must-read for all interested in society, past and present."
Her most recent work of fiction is River Music, a novel published by Cormorant Book in May 2015. In fall 2013 Oberon Press brought out her collection of short stories, Desire Lines: Stories of Love and Geography. Her last non-fiction book was Making Waves: The Continuing Portuguese Adventure (Véhicule Press, 2010) . Cormorant published her novel The Violets of Usambara in 2008. About a Canadian politician who is kidnapped in the Great Lakes Region of Africa, it is particularly relevant now in an era of terrorism around the world.
Her blog about books draws on her decades of reading, writing, reviewing and discussing: Not So Solitary a Pleasure (http://notsosolitaryapleasure.blogspo...) And for nearly a decade she has maintained an eclectic chronicle about politics, nature, cities and life, Recreating Eden (http://marysoderstrom.blogspot.com)
In 2019 the UofRegina Press published her Frenemy Nations: Love and Hate between Neighbo(u)ring States which is an examination of why ten pairs of political entities--ranging from the formerly two Vietnams, through Haiti and the Dominican Republic and Vermont and New Hampshire to the US and Canada--are so similar in some respects, yet so different.
As Katia Grubisic writes about it in the Montreal Review of Books: "Soderstrom is interesting because she is interested... Her frequent asides – musings on language, geology, genetics, twins, what have you – are sharp and illuminating, sparking reflection and lightening the informational load."
Her Road through Time: The Story of Humanity on the Move (University of Regina Press) was published in 2017 to laudatory reviews in Quill & Quire, Publishers' Weekly and The Library Journal which called it "a must-read for all interested in society, past and present."
Her most recent work of fiction is River Music, a novel published by Cormorant Book in May 2015. In fall 2013 Oberon Press brought out her collection of short stories, Desire Lines: Stories of Love and Geography. Her last non-fiction book was Making Waves: The Continuing Portuguese Adventure (Véhicule Press, 2010) . Cormorant published her novel The Violets of Usambara in 2008. About a Canadian politician who is kidnapped in the Great Lakes Region of Africa, it is particularly relevant now in an era of terrorism around the world.
Her blog about books draws on her decades of reading, writing, reviewing and discussing: Not So Solitary a Pleasure (http://notsosolitaryapleasure.blogspo...) And for nearly a decade she has maintained an eclectic chronicle about politics, nature, cities and life, Recreating Eden (http://marysoderstrom.blogspot.com)
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 24, 2023
A delightful stroke of serendipity. I loved the minimalist prose and the profound one-liners. In just 164 pages, the author skillfully guides readers to unravel layers between the lines. It's like looking at life through a kaleidoscope—a perfect blend of mundane and profound.
July 17, 2013
The First Atom Bomb Test: "Now I Am Become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds"
Today is the 68th anniversary of the first Atom Bomb test in New Mexico. At the time the US had made enough fissionable material for three bombs: the test one, and two to drop on Japan.
When I was a teenager I had a friend whose father worked on the project in the utmost secrecy. The scientists--mostly very young--brought their wives and children to a Los Alamos, a small town that officially didn't exist. They couldn't say what they working on, but my friend's father told his wife on July night in 1945 to take the kids in the car and drive on this heading and that heading so they could witness a world-changing event.
I don't know if she did, but the story haunted me for years. It became the jumping off point for my first book of short stories Finding the Enemy, published by Oberon Press in 1997. To mark the sad occasion of the test anniversary, I posted the story today on my book blog: Not So Solitary a Pleasure: http://notsosolitaryapleasure.blogspo... (If the story doesn't display properly, click on each page for an enlargement.)
The "enemy" in question in the title, BTW, comes from the comic strip Pogo who famously said, "We have met the enemy and he is us."
The book is still available from Oberon, I think, and I have a lot of copies in my basement, should anyone want one.
And Oberon, I'm glad to report, will be publishing my new book of short stories Desire Lines: Stories of Love and Geography this fall.
Today is the 68th anniversary of the first Atom Bomb test in New Mexico. At the time the US had made enough fissionable material for three bombs: the test one, and two to drop on Japan.
When I was a teenager I had a friend whose father worked on the project in the utmost secrecy. The scientists--mostly very young--brought their wives and children to a Los Alamos, a small town that officially didn't exist. They couldn't say what they working on, but my friend's father told his wife on July night in 1945 to take the kids in the car and drive on this heading and that heading so they could witness a world-changing event.
I don't know if she did, but the story haunted me for years. It became the jumping off point for my first book of short stories Finding the Enemy, published by Oberon Press in 1997. To mark the sad occasion of the test anniversary, I posted the story today on my book blog: Not So Solitary a Pleasure: http://notsosolitaryapleasure.blogspo... (If the story doesn't display properly, click on each page for an enlargement.)
The "enemy" in question in the title, BTW, comes from the comic strip Pogo who famously said, "We have met the enemy and he is us."
The book is still available from Oberon, I think, and I have a lot of copies in my basement, should anyone want one.
And Oberon, I'm glad to report, will be publishing my new book of short stories Desire Lines: Stories of Love and Geography this fall.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews