If you were looking for a collection of short stories with a somewhat dizzying array of themes, characters and styles, you could do a lot worse than take a look at Daniel Mason’s “A Registry of My Passage Upon the Earth”.
Thanks to the variety in the nine stories offered us, it is actually very difficult to categorise the collection overall. It is certainly ‘modern’; though having said that, the style in which one or two of the tales are written might challenge that assertion – as does their location in time. They are international in scope and setting, and vary in terms of first/third person, male/female central character. A number – including the title story – are undoubtedly highly inventive.
And yet, having said all of that, I’m not certain exactly how much I liked them… Perhaps I admire Mason’s stories more as a ‘writer’ than a ‘reader’ – but I don’t know. I think I’m going to have to try one his novels…
Ian Gouge - Writer 