Following on the heels of her critically acclaimed first collection Hot Town and Other Stories, an examination of relationships within communities continues in this new collection of short fiction, Something’s Burning. The twenty-first century speeds ahead with fast-changing ideas about culture and identity, and a new choir of voices are telling their long-suppressed stories. Outdated belief systems are challenged. Society norms and hierarchies crumble. But fresh ideas cause tension between generations, sexes, races and neighbours. The population is at odds about the revised script. Is it the end of misogyny, or the end of men? Is it the end of social injustice or the end of loyalty? Is it the end of discrimination or the end of common sense? Some characters in these stories are oblivious to social change. Some are committed to stopping it. Some are invested in promoting their agendas at all cost. The bumper stickers on pick up trucks in the Foodland parking lot warn you that conflict awaits in the cereal aisle. The spacious landscapes where these stories take place are big enough for many opinions, but small enough to fall back on nostalgic principles. They represent the spectrum of joy and loss, and the author’s enduring love for those who can find a balance between them.

JANET TRULL is a freelance writer with a regular column in the Haliburton County Echo. Her personal essays, professional writing in the education field, and short stories have appeared in The Globe and Mail, Canadian Living Magazine, Prairie Fire, The New Quarterly and subTerrain Magazine, among others. She won the CBC Canada Writes challenge, Close Encounters with Science, in 2013 and was nominated for a Western Magazine Award in the short fiction category in 2014. Her first collection of short fiction titled, Hot Town and Other Stories, was released (2016) by At Bay Press to unanimous critical acclaim.

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