Anecdotes by Kathryn Mockler

With dreamlike stories and dark humour, Anecdotes is a hybrid collection in four parts examining the pressing realities of sexual violence, abuse, and environmental collapse.

Absurdist flash fictions in "The Boy is Dead" depict characters such as a park that hates hippies, squirrels, and unhappy parents; a woman lamenting a stolen laptop the day the world ends; and birds slamming into glass buildings.

"This Isn't a Conversation" shares one-liners from overheard conversations, found texts, diary entries and random thoughts: many are responses to the absurdity and pain of the current political and environmental climate.

"We're Not Here to Talk About Aliens" gathers autofictions that follow a young protagonist from childhood to early 20s, through the murky undercurrent of potential violence amidst sexual awakening; from first periods to flashers; sticker books to maxi pad art; acid trips to blackouts; creepy professors to close calls.

In "The Dream House," The Past and The Future are personified as various incarnations in relationships to one another (lovers, a parent and child, siblings, friends), all engaged in ongoing conflict.

These varied, immersive works bristle with truth in the face of unprecedented change. They are playful forms for serious times. (From Book*Hug Press)

• 5 Canadian authors shortlisted for $10K Danuta Gleed Literary Award for best debut short story collection

Kathryn Mockler is the author of five books of poetry. She co-edited the print anthologyWatch Your Head: Writers and Artists Respond to the Climate Crisisand is the publisher of the Watch Your Head website. She runs Send My Love to Anyone, a literary newsletter, and is an Assistant Professor at the University of Victoria where she teaches screenwriting and fiction. Mockler waslonglisted for the 2012 CBC Poetry Prizefor a collection of poems titledIce Fishing, Neighbours, Stones, Looking for Crayfishas well as in 2009 forOnion Man.