Emperor of the Air: Stories

This is one of the best short story collections I've ever read, docking just below the likes of Ernest Hemingway and Raymond Carver as the most crafted collections of stories in my experience. -- Reviewed by Jonathan Stephens

...because now I'll never see it again. Stated simply, this is a work of art. The stories are inspired, and the characters are handled with such compassion and subtle understanding that it is difficult to believe that this is Canin's first published work. I agree with the critics that it is also his best. Having read _Of Kings and Planets_ recently, I feel that his artistic integrity may be suffering the pressure of compromise coming from his book deal, but it may also be that his subject matter is exhausted. I thought that _Blue River_ was all right, though it was certainly outshined by this gem. I agree with the other reviewers that "We are Nighttime Travellers" and "Star Food" are the kind of stories that stop time dead in its tracks. If he never writes a good book again, Canin should still be regarded as an exceptional success.

I read this collection of stories by Ethan Canin 10 years ago, and continue to recommend it as an absolute must for anyone who enjoys fiction. The writing is straightforward and evocotive, and the plots are about real experiences that it seems almost everyone, regardless of age, race or class, will find almost eerily familiar. I agree with the reviewer who loved "We Are Nighttime Travelers." I was 29 when I read it, but my reaction was completely visceral. "Star Food" and "Where We Are Now" have the power to be classics as well. My former literature professors might send me out of class if they heard me say this, but I honestly feel these stories are very different from much of the "literary" fiction we read these days. Canin never writes over our heads. He never tells stories that appeal only to intellectual minds or to an inside group of reader/writers who have all spent time at the same fellowship programs and writers colonies. He respects his readers and has the courage to go straight for the heart. Every good story should be suspenseful, and Canin creates an irrestible sense of "what will happen now?" from the very first line. He gives us stories with beginnings, middles and ends that linger in the mind for years. Obviously, I just can't say enough. . .

Though Ethan Canin was only in his late 20s when he wrote this book of short stories, it is the work of a great thinker and an unusual writer. It has become one of my favorite books and I'm not ashamed of saying it ranges along with Steinbeck, Auster and Kundera's as one of this century's great works.

Ethan Canin wrote these when absurdly young, in his early to mid- 20s, I think. In spite of his youth, this extraordinary collection of short stories is indispensable for those interested in short fiction. It includes "We are Nighttime Travelers," which I've probably read ten times and still marvel at the grace and nuance