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End Times

  • Publication Date: May 1, 2023
  • ISBN: 9781990601286 / 1990601286
  • 256 pages; 5½" x 8½"

Finalist for the Quebec Writers’ Federation Concordia University First Book Prize

End Times is an astounding debut collection of stories about evangelical culture, ideological polarization, and the messiness and mysteries of humanity.

A Vancouver mother convinces her opioid-addicted son to attend church, and sparks her own personal emergency. A jet-setting consultant tries to help a rural fundamentalist teen, while her own secular life unravels in Toronto, Davos, and beyond. An atheist doctor attempts to expose a hipster megachurch pastor as a closeted hypocrite.

At a time when the end feels nigh for many, End Times brings together an expansive cast of the devout and the dissenting, the elderly and the young, immigrants, elites, the burned-out, and the lonely, exploring our hidden anxieties and longings.

“These emotionally and intellectually powerful stories have me riveted. Michelle Syba probes the depths (and limits) of belief with exquisite style and aplomb.” SARAH SELECKY Giller-nominated author of This Cake Is for the Party and Radiant Shimmering Light

“In these beautiful, bewildering stories, Michelle Syba extends to her characters an extraordinary grace. Though the pen feels secular, Syba’s meditations on faith are suffused with mystery. They carve a space between certainty and humility, where orthodoxies secular and sacred are laid bare. And, when we least expect it, they burst into moments of revelation.” EMER O’TOOLE author of Girls Will Be Girls

“Michelle Syba’s stories are like vessels of precious metal, their beauty and capaciousness slyly concealing the fact that they were refined in fire. It’s rare to encounter the drama of faith and its aftermath rendered with such humanity, ferocity, and grace.” MEGHAN O’GIEBLYN author of Interior States and God, Human, Animal, Machine

“[C]ompulsively readable . . .” LITERARY REVIEW OF CANADA

“[T]he stories in End Times . . . carry a universal quality that allows the reader to reflect on their own lived experiences.” MONTREAL REVIEW OF BOOKS

“. . . a thrilling first collection . . .” CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY FIRST BOOK PRIZE JURORS

Quebec Writers’ Federation Concordia University First Book Prize, 2023 (short-listed)

News & Events

Michelle Syba on the Get Lit podcast
End Times reviewed in the Miramichi Reader
Michelle Syba on How I Wrote This
End Times shortlisted for the Concordia University First Book Prize
Montreal Review of Books: End Times by Michelle Syba
Literary Review of Canada reviews End Times
End Times on Librairie Drawn + Quarterly's Summer Reads 2023
Steven W. Beattie on End Times
Poignant Assholes: A recommended reading list from Michelle Syba
49th Shelf's Most Anticipated: Spring 2023 Fiction Preview
05/04/23: Michelle Syba Book Launch for End Times
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