I’m delighted to share that Not the Apocalypse I Was Hoping For has been shortlisted for a High Plains Book Award.
These awards honour authors from the states of Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska, Colorado, and Kansas, and the provinces of Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan. I’ve followed the prizes for years and am moved to be part of this tremendous list of writers. I look forward to travelling to Billings, MT in October for the prize celebrations.
Read the story here.
I’m honoured and thrilled to see this glowing review of Not the Apocalypse I Was Hoping For in the wonderful Alberta Views magazine:
“This time the subject Greentree tackles head-on is death: the death of human connection, the death of meaning, the death of life as we have known it. Miraculously, these pages full of literal and metaphorical deaths are also full of humour and charm … Kurt Vonnegut said that laughing and crying are essentially the same response. They’re what we do when we don’t know what else to do. In the prelude to our own apocalypse—coming too fast for us to fix—Greentree offers us both laughter and tears.”
Read the full review here.
In this episode of the Crow Reads podcast, Rayanne speaks with author Leslie Greentree about character vs. plot-driven stories; about how short story and novel writing are shaped; writing flawed characters and controversial stories; and about career longevity in an increasingly competitive market.
“Leslie Greentree’s short story collection, Not the Apocalypse I was Hoping For, is a masterful collection that shapeshifts through her characters’ lives. It’s a not-so-subtle commentary on current politics, the pervasiveness of social media and our obsession with having or holding a platform, and the fallacy of human nature.”
Listen to the podcast here.
Leslie was delighted to be featured in this interview and book review in the Winter 2022 edition of Prairie Books Now.
“As her writing career progresses, Greentree finds herself taking some narrative and artistic risks. ‘The longer I write, the freer I feel to be playful in my writing,’ she says. ‘In this collection, that might come across in terms of the addition of Gothic elements to some of the stories, or the satirical bent to others, but also in terms of my willingness to take on more overtly political topics.’
“And the span of topics in the stories collected in Not the Apocalypse I Was Hoping For is impressive … (The) fallible, often difficult characters are perhaps the most standout element of the collection as a whole.”
Read the full review here.
The October 22, 2022 edition of the Winnipeg Free Press has this to say about Not the Apocalypse I Was Hoping For:
“Alberta writer Leslie Greentree won an award for her first collection of short stories. Considering the excellence of this second collection, that’s no surprise … It is a world haunted by death, and the resonances from the dead gripping the living.
“Most people in the middle-class society she depicts are now in the grip of social media, the cellphone as master of their lives — their reality mediated by being seen on a screen, indeed created for the screen. Take the powerful title story, Not the apocalypse I was hoping for. Its protagonist charts, via social media, his activity as he goes through a fire engulfing a city. He wants to be seen as a hero, but his arrogance matches his recklessness. His main concern is how he is viewed by those watching in real time, and he doesn’t come off well in the end to his equally unlikable “subscribers.” He does free a dog, who promptly deserts him, leaving him alone to wander back to the relentless fire and his angry, disappointed self.
“Even stronger in showing social media’s creepy dominance is Mystery barista. Told expertly in the second person, which is often tried with less success by many writers, the story tells of a barista who notices she has become the obsession of a patron. He tweets his version of her life at work, this mystery barista, as followers grow online. Rather than being upset by such obvious creepy behaviour, she quietly embraces it, and starts to control it through changes of behaviour. Who controls whom? Does it matter? What counts is the following on social media. If the story is not about death, it at least postulates a death of personality.
“The dead haunting the living is rivetingly seen in the collection’s best story, The room of pickled foods.
“This collection reveals an already major writer in command of her craft.”
You can read the full review here by creating a free account with the Winnipeg Free Press.
The Ottawa Citizen and Edmonton Journal both recently featured this short review of Not the Apocalypse I Was Hoping For:
“Poet, actor, playwright, fine-art photographer – Leslie Greentree has many talents. Imbued with droll wit, the 14 full-bodied stories in this collection benefit from her experience as an artist and observer of human nature.
“All the world’s a stage for a barista who discovers she’s a customer’s muse on social media. A young boy fools around at a funeral and finds out quickly that funny practical jokes can quickly seem like mean pranks.”
Read the review here.
So pleased to have a short review of Not the Apocalypse I Was Hoping For in the October 2022 print publication The Literary Review of Canada.
“Leslie Greentree’s bold and beleaguered creations run the gamut from apathy to anger. Characters drink too much, misread scenarios, interrupt each other, blurt out home truths, hide behind humour, and generally grapple with the divide between intentions and perception …
“Greentree is at her strongest when she builds to the agony of a sudden loss of control. Some characters turn to art to make sense of their disillusionment, others pop open another beer …
“Yet the center holds. The world keeps spinning. Within these fourteen tales, the fight for meaning and honesty continues.”
What could be better than a fall Sunday evening at a neighbourhood pub, in the company of three different but equally fun writers? Leslie (Not the Apocalypse I Was Hoping For) is joined by Thomas Trofimuk (The Elephant On Karluv Bridge) and Jeanette Lynes (The Apothecary’s Garden). 6:30 PM: doors & drinks. 7 PM: readings. Book sales & signing will follow the readings. Admission is free, including a tasty range of hot and cold appetizers sponsored by the good humans at Leslie’s publishing house, the University of Calgary Press. Cash bar. Find the details here.
On Friday, October 21 at 7 PM, Leslie joins friends and fellow writers Jenna Butler, Joan Crate and Rod Schumacher at a reading celebrating the 20th anniversary of RDP Library. The place has special meaning for Leslie; she’s read there many times and formed deep friendships with other writers at Library events there. She’s excited to bring the Apocalypse to such a beloved setting and to be reunited with such talented colleagues. Free admission, snacks, and cash bar. Reserve your spot here.
Leslie is thrilled to launch Not the Apocalypse I Was Hoping For alongside her friend, the brilliant poet Patrick Horner, at Shelf Life Books in Calgary on Tuesday, Oct. 11 at 7 PM. Pat’s poetry collection, Refugia, is a deeply serious and simultaneously playful collection that explores the tension between the human need to categorize and the impossibility of doing so, between the measurable and the immeasurable, between bear and mouse. Join us! Reserve your free spot here.
