This Is How You Start to Disappear

These twelve new short stories from Astrid Blodgett explore the consequences of grief and denial and single moments that change perceptions, lives, and attachments forever. Crisp prose and unexpected plot twists move relatable characters through vivid outdoor settings and interior depths. A child negotiates adult behaviour when an injured dog is put down. An older sister bribes a younger one to go on her first date. A family canoe trip launches from Disaster Point. A woman wants to hurl her granddaughter's birthday cake out the window. This Is How You Start to Disappear shows all the heartbreaking ways we evolve when coping with change or trauma. "After a while, they'll stop talking about her, the way they don't talk about Bri. This is how you start to disappear, she thought." Tension-filled short stories that show all the heartbreaking ways we evolve when coping with change or trauma. Astrid Blodgett is a short story writer from Edmonton / amiskwaciwâskahikan. Her work has appeared in The Journey Prize Anthology, Meltwater: Fiction and Poetry from the Banff Centre for the Arts, and many Canadian literary magazines. She was short-listed for the Writers' Guild of Alberta Howard O'Hagan Award for Short Story, and her first collection, You Haven't Changed a Bit, was long-listed for a ReLit Award, a runner up for the Danuta Gleed Literary Award, and a finalist for the High Plains Book Award for Short Stories. ""New Summer Dresses" … begins as a piece of straightforward naturalism about two girls on summer vacation, only to take a sharp detour into much darker and creepier territory in its climactic stages. Blodgett effectively seeds the ground in the course of the story, while still ensuring that the final pages retain a significant punch. Like the best stories in the collection - "Zero Recall," "Tattletale" - "New Summer Dresses" features a strong narrative line and an undercurrent of astringent irony that results in a propulsive reading experience." from The National Post "Rarely does one encounter such an even collection of beautifully rendered short stories, but such is the case with Astrid Blodgett's fine group of thirteen [You Haven't Changed a Bit]. Although her debut book, the writing is clearly that of a master/mistress of the short story craft. Each is a jewel in its own right." Resource Links magazine "You Haven't Changed a Bit has the complexity and texture you'd expect from a well-established short fiction writer. The fact that this is a debut collection is a remarkable achievement…" The Winnipeg Review "Highly recommended." Dave Jenkinson, editor, CM magazine "Astrid Blodgett's first book of fiction short stories is a bravado performance coming at the beginning of the writer's career, rather than at the end. It speaks of more great things to come." St. Albert Gazette "…each of the stories in You Haven't Changed A Bit is a pitch-perfect gem, characterized by truly graceful and insightful writing…" Brett Lockwood, O' Canada blog Tension-filled short stories that show all the heartbreaking ways we evolve when coping with change or trauma. "This Is How You Start to Disappear is for readers who revel in stories told with both skill and passion, stories with twists, stories without ready resolutions." Rona Altrows, author of At This Juncture "In these precisely paced and deceptively dark stories, Astrid Blodgett sweeps out the dust bunnies of contempt and devastation from the junk drawers of her characters' family homes. These stories do what short stories do best: every word flexes its muscles, every detail teeters on an iceberg of deeper meaning. This Is How You Start To Disappear is a complex and satisfying compilation of unsteady bridge crossings between our childhood and adult selves." Susan Sanford Blades, author of Fake It So Real "This collection is an intimate embrace of the moments and memories that define us. With pitch pe