Curiosity is often a marker of a good writer and Edmonton based short-story writer and U of A employee Astrid Blodgett is no exception. With one ear always to the ground, her inspiration often stems from the simplest of things that grab her attention and her interest in finding out why. Her new book entitled This is How you Start to Disappear , published by University of Alberta Press, was inspired by observing people in everyday life and considering how their relationships and communication unfold.
A collection of engaging, tension-filled short stories, This Is How You Start to Disappear is interested in the ways we misunderstand each other and how we respond to one another, especially in the midst of change and uncertainty.
“They are realist stories about everyday people and everyday lives,” Blodgett explains. “Something usually goes awry and how do we cope when things don’t go as expected? When life throws us a curveball, what do we do?”
An understandable concept, because when does anything go exactly as we expect it to.
While the 12 short stories Blodgett has crafted are all fictional, they’re nothing if not relatable. With the stories primarily set in Alberta, she says much of her inspiration comes from things that catch her attention in some way. “I need to feel some emotion and have a sense of a person and what they’re feeling before I start writing,” she explains.
One of the stories is about a woman whose brother comes to town a few days before their father’s funeral. He suggests that they return to the place where they used to spend time when they were kids, but they soon discover going back dredges up memories of a pivotal event from when they were young.
Another is about a woman and her adult daughters who are about to celebrate a granddaughter’s birthday. The grandmother is attempting to tell her daughters something, but no one understands what she’s trying to say.
Overall, the stories explore the consequences of grief, denial and those central and critical moments that can change perceptions, lives and attachments forever.
Like many writers, Blodgettt has been telling stories for as long as she can remember. Having grown up in a creative home – her mother was a raku potter and her father a poet – it seems inevitable that Blodgett herself would follow the creative path. “My mother used to say that I’ve been writing ever since I could hold a pencil,” she says.
From being a child making up stories, to writing poetry in her 20s, Blodgett went on to study writing at university. Graduating with an MA in English from the University of Alberta in 1996, her creative thesis was also a collection of short stories, some of which eventually formed part of her first book, You Haven’t Changed a Bit. Another collection of realist, contemporary short stories, her first book centers around the ironic phrase you hear so often after reconnecting with someone from long ago.
“My stories are about matters of the heart. Things that get us and things that matter to me and hopefully to other people too,” she says.
Ten years in the making, Blodgett says it took her a long time to feel that her newest book was suitably finished. She likens this collection of stories to grown children that have lived at home just a little too long – she’s ready for the next chapter.
Find This is How You Start to Disappear and other available titles through University of Alberta Press .
About Astrid
Astrid Blodgett, editor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, is a short story writer from Edmonton. 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.