Bad Imaginings

by Caroline Adderson

In these ten short stories, Caroline Adderson adopts a brilliant array of perspectives ranging from that of a nineteenth-century prospector, to a chambermaid in WWI Victoria, to two long-time friends trying to sort out the eighties. The intensity of these deeply imagined stories is stunning.

Genres: Short Stories, Canada, Literary Fiction, Fiction

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Caroline Adderson grew up in Alberta. After traveling around Canada, she moved to B.C. to go to university and has mostly lived there ever since. She started writing seriously after university, eventually going on to write two internationally published novels (A History of Forgetting and Sitting Practice) and two collections of short stories for adults (Bad Imaginings and Pleased To Meet You). When her son was five, she began writing seriously unserious books for young readers (Very Serious Children; I, Bruno;and Bruno For Real). Her contribution to the Single Voice series is her first really serious book for young readers and her first book for teens.

Caroline’s work has received numerous prize nominations including the Scotiabank Giller Prize longlist, the Governor General’s Literary Award, the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, and the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. A two-time Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize and three-time CBC Literary Award winner, Caroline was also the recipient of the 2006 Marian Engel Award, given annually to an outstanding female writer in mid-career in recognition of her body of work. She also won the 2009 Diamond Willow Award—voted on by lots of nice kids in Saskatchewan—for her children’s novel Very Serious Children.

Caroline keeps writing for readers of all ages every day. She also does a little teaching at Simon Fraser University and hangs out with her husband, a filmmaker, their 10-year-old son, and their naughty dog, Mickey, a Jack Russell terrier who is very lucky to be cute or she would never get away with all she does. Caroline’s advice to young writers is to read, read, read and write, write, write, and never get a Jack Russell terrier.

Reviews

[Lori Bamber · Rating 3 out of 5]

If there were a scale of 1 to 10 on which 1 was "definitely not my cup of tea" and 10 was "definitely my cup of tea" the stories in this book would range from 1 to 12. One I found unreadable, and gave up 8 pages in - but it still came back to me in dreams, unpleasantly.

But the writing in this book is marvelous, and makes it well worth picking up. Certain phrases just leap off the page, and many of the characters left me feeling sorry I'd never meet them in my neighborhood.

So, I'm giving this book a three, because honestly, I'm not sure where to put it.

[Diana Stevan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved the writing in this book. Every story had a unique voice.