Published in 2019
224 pages
Kris Bertin is a writer of from Halifax, NS. His first book of short stories, Bad Things Happen, won the Writers’ Union of Canada’s 2017 Danuta Gleed Award and the ReLit Award for short fiction. Kris’s graphic novel (illustrated by Alexander Forbes) The Case of the Missing Men, published in 2017, was nominated for a Doug Wright Award.
What is this book about?
A woman becomes obsessed with a story about her family from 1890—when a naked, mute girl stumbled onto their property—and whether or not it really happened. A self-help guru and his chief strategist take their most affluent and unstable clients on a harrowing nature hike that destroys their company. A young convict in a prison creative writing class chronicles the rise and fall of his cellblock’s resident peacemaker. A rural neighbourhood becomes obsessed by the coming of a strange and powerful new homeowner who is in the middle of reinventing herself.
The stories of Use Your Imagination! are about stories, about the way we define and give shape to ourselves through all kinds of narratives, true or not. In seven long stories, Kris Bertin examines the complex labyrinth of lies, delusions, compromise, and fabrication that makes up our personal history and mythology. Sometimes funny, strange, or frightening, these stories represent Bertin’s follow-up to his critically acclaimed, award-winning debut, Bad Things Happen.
