Brent van Staalduinen

During a sweltering summer, Dills must come to terms with a horrific crime and the parent he loves who committed it. Dills and his mom have returned to Hamilton, her hometown, hoping to leave the horrors of Wilkson behind. But it’s impossible to really run from tragedy, and trouble always follows trouble. When Dills hurts a new classmate, it comes out in court that he was in the Wilkson Collegiate library when the shooter came in. But he won’t talk about what he saw, what he still sees whenever he closes his eyes. He can’t. He definitely can’t tell anyone that the Wilkson Shooter is his stepfather Jesse, that Jesse can speak into his mind from hundreds of kilometres away, and that Dills still loves him even though he committed an unspeakable crime.

Nothing but Life

Life might have other plans for Boy Cornelius McVeigh, as he discovers in this magic-tinged, coming-of-age novel about future plans conflicting with a complicated past and the inescapable present. Boy’s final year of high school is unraveling. Fast. He had it all worked out, from crushing his final exams to military school to a career in the air force. But his family’s tragic past and its complicated present have caught up to him, and his marks are slipping, jeopardizing all of his plans. When Boy befriends Mara, a homeless man who can seemingly stop and restart time at will, he has to weigh his family’s needs and his own conscience against the potential contained within Mara’s mysterious and powerful gift. But he soon realizes that the past can’t be undone, memories are as fragile as moments, and the future rarely turns out like we think it will.

Bristol Short Story Prize Anthology Volume 8

During a sweltering summer, Dills must come to terms with a horrific crime and the parent he loves who committed it. Dills and his mom have returned to Hamilton, her hometown, hoping to leave the horrors of Windsor behind. But it’s impossible to escape the echoes of tragedy, and trouble always follows trouble. When Dills hurts a new classmate, it comes out in court that he was in the Windsor High library when the shooter came in. But he won’t talk about what he saw, what he still sees whenever he closes his eyes. He can’t. He definitely can’t tell anyone that the Windsor Shooter is his stepfather, Jesse, that Jesse can speak into his mind from hundreds of kilometres away, and that Dills still loves him even though he committed an unspeakable crime.

Brent van Staalduinen

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