Hello.
My name is Jaclyn. I hold a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and Cinema Studies from the University of Toronto. I am a writer of prose and criticism. My work has appeared in a variety of outlets, including Acta Victoriana and FreeFall Magazine. I was selected as the winner of the Lorne Tepperman Prize in Public Writing in 2022. I was an editor of the literary magazine Hart House Review from 2020 until 2024. My debut novella, Sweet Crude, is slated for publication by Beaumont House Press in fall, 2026.
Quicksilver narration binds postmodernist critique to metaphysical lament in J. Pahl's debut novel, Sweet Crude.
Myra is an adjunct professor at the City University of New York. She is writing an article on Wittgenstein's notion of the inexpressible but cannot finish it. She would conclude her argument if it were not for a sad, strange form of silence that seems to emanate from her late father, Peter, who died while working in the Alberta sands. Driven by the unrelenting sound, Myra departs for the province and soon finds that travelling north is like being transported into the past. Alberta is a mythical terrain, where the Rubicon must be crossed, pawnbrokers are saints, and the flesh is capable of dramatic transmogrification. Her consciousness unfurling with the road, Myra slips into lyric time. Layered and incisive, Sweet Crude gestures to the frenetic works of the Beat generation even as it marks a turning point in literature, lending a uniquely powerful mythology to the rural Canadian landscape.
Available for pre-order on July 1st, 2026: beaumonthousepress.com.