Book Cover Design

Gritty urban landscapes and small town suburbia are backdrops to disparate characters, where isolation, anxiety and degradation infect lives that are served no easy-baked solutions.

Twenty of the twenty-two stories in the collection have been published in respected magazines and journals including The Antigonish Review, The Fiddlehead, Joyland, Necessary Fiction, PANK, and Prairie Fire.

As a work-in-progress, Men and the Drink received three Ontario Arts Council grants.

Black Bile Press published the title story in a chapbook series. Editor Matthew Firth said, “Men and the Drink marks the arrival of a strong voice in underground Canadian fiction. McArthur lays it all down with courage, conviction and compassion.”

Award-winning author Richard Scarsbrook says, “Julie McArthur is a star on the rise. Her work manages to be gritty, sensitive, strong and vulnerable all at the same time.” 

Men and the Drink is under consideration at several publishers.