kristjanagunnarswritings

Aside from The Axe’s Edge in the West-Icelandic collection, Gunnars has authored two other collections of short stories.  One is set in the dual world of the diasporic experience, and the other is set on the Sunshine Coast of B.C.

A new format for short fiction is also appearing beginning in 2019, which is microfiction or flash fiction, consisting of very short, one-page maximum, condensed fictions that resemble prose poems. 

Here is a selection of individual short stories that have appeared in various literary journals:

"The Believer."  Prairie Fire Magazine 40, Special Edition.  Winnipeg: Summer, 2018.

"Winter Gales." The Capilano Review 2.30 (2000): 88-97.

"Zoo." Threshold: An Anthology of Contemporary Writing from Alberta. Ed. Srdja Pavlovic. Edmonton: U of Alberta P, 1999. 169-176.

"Insomnia." Unexpected Fictions: New Icelandic Canadian Writing. Ed. Kristjana Gunnars. Turnstone P, 1989. 43-52. Reprinted in Gunnars, The Guest House 87-96. Reprinted in Icelandic translation by Sigurður A. Magnússon, in Jón á Bægisá 1 (1997): 81-85.

"Forged Letters." Inter-Plays: Works and Words of Writers and Critics. Eds. Rolf Althof, Rurick von Antropoff and Klaus Peter Muller. St. John's: Breakwater, 1994. 215-219.

"Night Flight." Exile 18.1 (1994): 67-82.

"Dreamwoman." Boundless Alberta: An Anthology of Alberta Writing. Ed. Aritha Van Herk. Edmonton: NeWest Press, 1993. 387-398.

"The Falls." Prairie Schooner 67.4 (1993): 126-133.

"Postcards." Canadian Fiction Magazine 82 (1993): 34-43.

"Sorrow Cow." North Dakota Quarterly (1993): 86-89. Reprinted in Gunnars, The Guest House 49-56.

"Mass and a Dance." Out of Place. Eds. Ven Begamudré and Judith Krause. Coteau Books, 1991. 49-55. Reprinted in Gunnars, The Guest House 73-86. Reprinted in Pens of Many Colors. Eds. Eva C. Karpinski and Ian Lea. Toronto: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1993. 352-359.  Also translated into Chinese 1994.

"Cocoon." Hard Times: A New Fiction Anthology. Ed. Beverly Daurio. Stratford: The Mercury Press, 1990. 86-90.

"The Empty Schoolroom." Canadian Forum 71.783 (Oct. 1990): 23-6. Reprinted in Gunnars, The Guest House 33-48.

"Water." Massachusetts Review 31.1-2 (1990): 144-152. Reprinted in Gunnars, The Guest House 19-32.

"Guest House." Canadian Fiction Magazine 70 (1990): 33-41. Reprinted in Gunnars, The Guest House 1-18.

"Rain." Secrets from the Orange Couch 3.1 (1990): 25-27.

"Pall Johansson, Fatalist." Puzzle. Winnipeg: Peguis Publishers, 1986. 65-73. Reprinted in Vol. 3 of Pieces of the Jigsaw / Puzzle: A Multicultural Anthology for Young Readers. 3 Vols. 1986.

"Tomas Jonasson, Jazz." Arts Manitoba 3.1 (1982): 65-69. Reprinted in Gunnars, The Axe’s Edge 77-84.

"Holiday, My Bone." Lögberg-Heimskringla 3 Dec. 1982: 4-5, 8. Reprinted in Gunnars, The Axe’s Edge 85-93.

"The Song of the Reindeer." Icelandic Writing Today Sept. 1982: 34-36. Reprinted in Gunnars, The Guest House 97-112.  Published in Icelandic as "Söngur hreindýrssins," translation by Garðar Baldvinsson in Íslandslag, Íslensk-kanadískar  bókmenntir frá 1870 til nútímans, 2006, 333-39.

"Sveinborg Sigfusdottir, Grasses." Lögberg-Heimskringla 14 May 1982: 6, 8. Reprinted in Gunnars, The Axe’s Edge 61-68.

"Petúr Árnason, Roundup." Lögborg-Heimskringla 9 Oct. 1981: 5-6. Reprinted in Gunnars, The Axe’s Edge 17-22.

"Tíminn og Vindurinn." Translated into Icelandic by Kristján Jónsson. Lesbók Morgunblaðsins 39, 5 Dec. 1981.

"Halfdán Sigmundsson, Guest." Canadian Fiction Magazine 36 / 37 (1980): 39-45. Reprinted in Gunnars, The Axe’s Edge 37-46.

"Kolla, Ticks." NeWest Review 5.6 (1980): 8-9. Reprinted in Sundogs: Stories from Saskatchewan. Ed. Robert Kroetsch. Regina: Coteau Books, 1981. 49-54. Reprinted in Gunnars, The Axe’s Edge 69-76. Reprinted in The Last Map is the Heart. Eds. G. Sorestand, P. O'Rourke and A. Forrie Saskatoon: Thistledown P, 1989. 88-93.

"Friðrik Sviensson, Mice." The Canadian Forum 59.694 (Nov. 1979): 20-22. Reprinted in Gunnars, The Axe’s Edge 29-36. Reprinted as "Mice" in Manitoba Heritage Review 1.1 (1984): 14-17.

titles of short story collections:

Any Day But This.  Calgary: Red Deer Press, 2005.

The Guest House and Other Stories. Concord: House of Anansi Press, 1992. 

Here is the beginning of a selected list of microfictions published in anthologies and journals.

"the piano plauyer."  release any words stuck inside of you.  Ed. Nicle Holdou[is, Geoff Pevlin.  Applebeard Editions, 2019.