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Swallows Playing Chicken
In the random and weaved stories of "Swallows Playing Chicken," Menear surveys the world around him with an eye for the selfish motivations of the human heart. His character portraits can be dark, funny, smart, and uncomfortably sexual in the space of a few pages; what holds them together is the unflinching honesty of their presentation. This is truth-telling as a potent, explosive force.
150 pages, Paperback
First published November 19, 2019
2 people are currently reading
13 people want to read
About the author
David Menear
5 books10 followersMenear is most often described as an edgy, urgent, gritty and sometimes ‘transgressive’ short story writer with a soft heart and a sense of humour. You find him at that place where Salinger meets Cormac McCarthy for tea and cookies.
Most Anticipated - 49th Shelf
2019 ReLit Awards finalist - Shortlisted in the short fiction category
2020 ReLit Awards finalist - Shortlisted in the short fiction category
“Your command of language is mesmerizing and I mean this as high praise when I say you write like a poet. I can see your craft choices happening at the sentence and even syllabic level, I notice the way you use sound and rhythm and I applaud that.”
Margo LaPierre, Acclaimed Poet, Author and Editor
"David Menear is one hell of a writer. We at HOOD, among the filth and infuriated beauty around us, laud him for his cutting edge and knifey work. He is a fearless, limit-crushing purveyor of high art pulp...A truly gifted writer" -Lynn Crosbie
David has spent most of his life between Toronto and Montreal, but has also lived in London, U.K. & Divonne, France. He studied art in NYC at SVA. Currently, he is back in Toronto at ‘The Beach’, writing hard and playing tennis with terrifying enthusiasm and mediocrity.
Menear is most often described as an edgy, urgent, gritty and sometimes ‘transgressive’ short story writer with a soft heart and a sense of humour. You find him at that place where Salinger meets Cormac McCarthy for tea and cookies.
David has been published in a great many publications and anthologies including Freefall, Carte Blanche, Exile, Urban Graffiti and The Danforth Review.
His recently published collection Swallows Playing Chicken was a 2019 & 2020 ReLit Awards finalist - Shortlisted in the short fiction category.
"I’m very excited & pleased to publish David’s chapbook. He covers taboo subjects with humour & daring."-Amanda Earl / DevilHouse Press
" Excellent writing is excellent writing...In these tight, sexy fictions that make up One Dead Tree, David Menear’s stories and characters uncover hitherto unexplored aspects of the Canadian urban experience. Kudos to Amanda Earl for bringing these transgressive stories to print under the DevilHouse imprint." - Urban Graffiti-Mark McCawley
Publishing History
'This Will Only Take a Minute'
(flash fiction)
Guernica Editions
Toronto 2022
'Swallows Playing Chicken'
(short story collection)
Mansfield Press
Toronto 2019
'Molten Bone'
Flash Fiction Anthology
This Will Only Take a Minute
Guernica Editions 2023
2019 & 2020 ReLit Awards finalist - Shortlisted in the short fiction category
'Tentative Brushstrokes'
(short story fiction)
Things That Matter Anthology
Toronto September 2018
'Ragged White Ice'
(short story fiction)
Danforth Review
Toronto September 2017
'Some Devils Dirty Laundry'
(short story fiction)
CommuterLit
Toronto May 2016
'Painted Turtle'
(short story/novel excerpt)
CommuterLit - Toronto April 2016
'Happy Trails'
(Flash)
One Thing
Amanda Earl Blog-Ottawa September 2015
'Some Devils Dirty Laundry'
(short story fiction)
Hood
Lynn Crosbie's Blog-Toronto May 2015
'Fern Leaves Unfurling In the Dark-Green Shade'
(short story anthology)
The Exile Book of New Canadian Noir
Exile Editions -Toronto March 2015
'River Water'
(literary short story fiction)
FreeFall Magazine – Calgary Fall 2014
'One Dead Tree'
(short story collection)
DevilHouse/AngelHouse Press – Ottawa June 2014
'Best of 2014-Sensitive Skin Magazine
'Flatline'
(literary short story fiction)
Urban Graffiti Magazine – Calgary
May 2014
'Picasso's In Prison'
(literary short story fiction)
The Danforth Review – Toronto December 2013
'Blood Runs Deep'
(literary short story fiction)
CBC Canada Writes-Toronto November 2013
'Some Devils Dirty Laundry'
(literary short story fiction)
QWF/Carte Blanche – Montreal September 2013
Poetry published in
Most Anticipated - 49th Shelf
2019 ReLit Awards finalist - Shortlisted in the short fiction category
2020 ReLit Awards finalist - Shortlisted in the short fiction category
“Your command of language is mesmerizing and I mean this as high praise when I say you write like a poet. I can see your craft choices happening at the sentence and even syllabic level, I notice the way you use sound and rhythm and I applaud that.”
Margo LaPierre, Acclaimed Poet, Author and Editor
"David Menear is one hell of a writer. We at HOOD, among the filth and infuriated beauty around us, laud him for his cutting edge and knifey work. He is a fearless, limit-crushing purveyor of high art pulp...A truly gifted writer" -Lynn Crosbie
David has spent most of his life between Toronto and Montreal, but has also lived in London, U.K. & Divonne, France. He studied art in NYC at SVA. Currently, he is back in Toronto at ‘The Beach’, writing hard and playing tennis with terrifying enthusiasm and mediocrity.
Menear is most often described as an edgy, urgent, gritty and sometimes ‘transgressive’ short story writer with a soft heart and a sense of humour. You find him at that place where Salinger meets Cormac McCarthy for tea and cookies.
David has been published in a great many publications and anthologies including Freefall, Carte Blanche, Exile, Urban Graffiti and The Danforth Review.
His recently published collection Swallows Playing Chicken was a 2019 & 2020 ReLit Awards finalist - Shortlisted in the short fiction category.
"I’m very excited & pleased to publish David’s chapbook. He covers taboo subjects with humour & daring."-Amanda Earl / DevilHouse Press
" Excellent writing is excellent writing...In these tight, sexy fictions that make up One Dead Tree, David Menear’s stories and characters uncover hitherto unexplored aspects of the Canadian urban experience. Kudos to Amanda Earl for bringing these transgressive stories to print under the DevilHouse imprint." - Urban Graffiti-Mark McCawley
Publishing History
'This Will Only Take a Minute'
(flash fiction)
Guernica Editions
Toronto 2022
'Swallows Playing Chicken'
(short story collection)
Mansfield Press
Toronto 2019
'Molten Bone'
Flash Fiction Anthology
This Will Only Take a Minute
Guernica Editions 2023
2019 & 2020 ReLit Awards finalist - Shortlisted in the short fiction category
'Tentative Brushstrokes'
(short story fiction)
Things That Matter Anthology
Toronto September 2018
'Ragged White Ice'
(short story fiction)
Danforth Review
Toronto September 2017
'Some Devils Dirty Laundry'
(short story fiction)
CommuterLit
Toronto May 2016
'Painted Turtle'
(short story/novel excerpt)
CommuterLit - Toronto April 2016
'Happy Trails'
(Flash)
One Thing
Amanda Earl Blog-Ottawa September 2015
'Some Devils Dirty Laundry'
(short story fiction)
Hood
Lynn Crosbie's Blog-Toronto May 2015
'Fern Leaves Unfurling In the Dark-Green Shade'
(short story anthology)
The Exile Book of New Canadian Noir
Exile Editions -Toronto March 2015
'River Water'
(literary short story fiction)
FreeFall Magazine – Calgary Fall 2014
'One Dead Tree'
(short story collection)
DevilHouse/AngelHouse Press – Ottawa June 2014
'Best of 2014-Sensitive Skin Magazine
'Flatline'
(literary short story fiction)
Urban Graffiti Magazine – Calgary
May 2014
'Picasso's In Prison'
(literary short story fiction)
The Danforth Review – Toronto December 2013
'Blood Runs Deep'
(literary short story fiction)
CBC Canada Writes-Toronto November 2013
'Some Devils Dirty Laundry'
(literary short story fiction)
QWF/Carte Blanche – Montreal September 2013
Poetry published in
Ratings & Reviews
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Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
April 20, 2020
From the first salvo, David Menear grabs his readers by the groin and never lets go. From story to story, he leads us on a thoughtful and gritty journey through innocence lost, existential scores settled, and a life most thoroughly lived. A poetic treasure of ontological pain held firmly around the throat by love’s potential to redeem. “Swallows Playing Chicken” is a gem of uneasy and boastful proportions that offers us deep insight into the beautiful and often ugly complexities of the human condition ... “babbling happy and fragile, but unafraid”.
Read
April 22, 2020"I am very, very impressed. The boy can write...really write. I was intrigued, entertained and yes - as you veered into content outside my comfort zone - uncomfortable. But that's what artists are supposed to do."
Bill Gillespie - CBC ex-pat
Bill Gillespie - CBC ex-pat
March 6, 2020
David’s ability to convey vivid description of characters and events engages readers and allows them to not only enjoy the prose but experience the subtlety of peotry in his prose! A really great read!!
December 18, 2019
I love this book! I highly recommend it! Five stars.
December 17, 2019
Good read, great job David!
December 28, 2020
Swallows are the fastest and most agile of songbirds. Their ability to evade one another is mindboggling. But the results of a mid-air collision would be like two bullets meeting, probably resulting in a tangled wreckage of bones and blood and feathers. And if the bird they are playing it against is their own reflection in a window, their death is blunt and assured; the impact always devastating.
I, for one, am glad that David Menear was there to scrape together the messy results into this fascinating and always riveting little collection. 22 minimalist stories, each with a single burst of sensory detail leading up to or away from a tragedy that took place in the blink of an eye. It is the readers job to be the forensic investigator – subconsciously pulling apart the tiny remains in search of meaning.
I, for one, am glad that David Menear was there to scrape together the messy results into this fascinating and always riveting little collection. 22 minimalist stories, each with a single burst of sensory detail leading up to or away from a tragedy that took place in the blink of an eye. It is the readers job to be the forensic investigator – subconsciously pulling apart the tiny remains in search of meaning.
May 16, 2020
A gritty narrative of short stories, of impressionable characters, depicts the reality of the lives of many impoverished children on welfare. Do not settle into David Menear with your morning sunny side up eggs or suggest that during COVID 19 that this is the book to read to your lover before drift off to sleep. Menear calls a spade a spade as he described being 'salivia' sprayed by a huge, hairy, crumpled bloated middle aged Mexican fella during a showdown on a sunny tropical beach; my mind returning to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's references to talking moistly.... should David Menear be speech writing for Justin Trudeau.... absolutely! Swallows Playing Chicken is bold, unsettling and definitely, a recommended read. Thank you David!
December 24, 2020
Swallows Playing Chicken
Short Stories by David Menear
Reviewed by Brian Van Norman
More a fan of novels, I find few collections of short stories capable of keeping my attention. I just don’t change tracks easily. This collection, however, I read in two days. It is stylistically exceptional and the stories themselves leave you wanting to know more of each world they create. Varying from amusing to droll to deeply thoughtful, each story enables a reader’s imagination. They leave one wanting to know even more about characters or backstories or the environs evinced in each one. I would recommend this collection to anyone… even those who thought they only loved novels.
Short Stories by David Menear
Reviewed by Brian Van Norman
More a fan of novels, I find few collections of short stories capable of keeping my attention. I just don’t change tracks easily. This collection, however, I read in two days. It is stylistically exceptional and the stories themselves leave you wanting to know more of each world they create. Varying from amusing to droll to deeply thoughtful, each story enables a reader’s imagination. They leave one wanting to know even more about characters or backstories or the environs evinced in each one. I would recommend this collection to anyone… even those who thought they only loved novels.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews