Body Breakdowns is a collection of true tales about brushes with mortality and the medical establishment. Some are serious, some are funny; all are about illnesses, both minor and major.

The pieces are all related to aging and are told in strong, engaging, and authentic voices. They are about people suddenly discovering they're vulnerable and the different ways they come to terms with that, as well as how they deal with the health professionals whose job it is to provide care for our bodies. They are also about how people who have physically suffered learn to find words for and, thus, shape the new world they find themselves in.

These stories remind us that everything can change in a moment. And that we're all in these aging bodies together.

Body Breakdowns features writing from: Brad Zembic, Emma Kivisild, Grant Buday, Susan Olding, Bob Wakulich, Adrienne Mercer, Alan Girling, Beverley A. Feather, Jane Silcott, Kim Clark, Denise Halpern, Bonnie Bowman, Melody Hessing, Stephen Osborne, Luanne Armstrong, Dennis E. Bolen, J. Cates, Ruth Murdoch, Doreen Colmer, Crystal Hurdle, and Janis Harper.

Praise for Body Breakdowns:

Reader's Digest Book Choice (2010)

Editor's Pick, Shared Vision Magazine

"These twenty-one lives are all different except for one thing. Each life is temporary, and come to think of it, so is mine and yours. Yet, when a person has a heart attack or news about cancer, she can feel private and alone on her voyage. Janis Harper wanted those travellers to know how many other people are on this road. The stories they tell here are filled with terror, humour, panic, wit, frustration, and wisdom - and they are the truest stories in the world." (George Bowering, Canada's first Poet Laureate and author of over 100 books of fiction and nonfiction)

"21 contemplative essays on the slow creep toward mortality and the illnesses that threaten to push us closer to its edge. In this almost uniformly rewarding collection, British Columbia writers (along with 2 Ontario imports) offer deeply personal accounts, at times as frightening as they are confident or meditative ... " (Prairie Fire)

"uplifting... invariably enlightening." (BC BookWorld)

Janis Harper is a college and university English instructor, a Vancouver actor, and singer-songwriter. She has co-founded two local periodicals and published journalism and scholarship. Her poetry and prose have appeared in Canadian literary journals, including Room of One's Own, Contemporary Verse 2, and Tessera, and in the international fiction anthology, Lost on Purpose: Women in the City.

Janis Harper's profile page