“Scott Randall, an Ottawa-based literary writer, whose first collection of short stories was highly regarded by critics, has now produced a second. In Character Actor, published by the Winnipeg house Signature Editions, Randall's strengths are apparent and immediate.... Randall makes the reader believe that everyone has a story worth telling, not as a cliché, but as an act of faith. His directness, simplicity and ability to make us both recognize and empathize with his characters from children to the elderly, with special attention paid to those in late adolescence, is sustained and, in the case of a few stories, masterly.

Take But His Face Rings a Bell. It is narrated by a university dropout who hangs around the university library, taking part in pointless research questionnaires, making enough to get by, and becoming more isolated each day from his already narrow world. One day he reads about the history secretary whose accident caused him to lose his short-term memory. This makes an impression: "Why this memory should have stayed with me as strongly as it did, I am unsure." Later he takes part in a recognition experiment and doesn't do well. The researcher tells him she is doing a dissertation on "associative memories." "It had to do with the ability to recall meaningful memories versus the ability to recall insignificant details. I nodded as if I understood and no further explanation was necessary."

This is at the heart of Randall's work. Each story deals with how memory shapes our emotional life, and our relationships, both close and casual.”

— The Winnipeg Free Press