Singing and Sighing – Collected Stories Vol. 1

I love how short all these stories are, how succinctly Dan always moves towards his point. Despite the joy in language he never dilly-dallies, never descends into self-indulgence. He understands the privilege of being listened to, the need never to show off. In 'Ophelia', he spreads his literary wings, and we begin to see the true expanse of vision and ability of the writer we have put ourselves into the care of. Of course he will dash us on the rocks of drama, but needless to say he will jump in himself shortly afterwards. We are in terrifying, but exhilarating hands. All bets are off as to where he'll take us next. His subject is the nostalgia and wistfulness of lost childhood, but he finds the way to express it without, paradoxically, subjecting us to any nostalgia.

—Douglas Thompson