Book excerpt: Caroline Adderson's imaginings are about as far from bad as imaginings can get. The stories in her debut collection are powerfully conceived, subtly constructed, and amazingly diverse in tone. Adopting the perspectives of a wildly eclectic group of characters, her prose is always fresh: Adderson is as comfortable in the boots of a 19th-century gold miner as she is in the crocheted slippers of a sad and embittered grandmother. And despite some very poignant moments, she is never sentimental. ... A finalist for the Governor General's Award, "Bad Imaginings" is the work of a young writer with confidence and style.'