Additional information
by Melody Mansfield (Author)
A Bug Collection is not for the squeamish. These stories about love, death, and the webby, tenuous intersections between the two take a humorous and heartbreaking look at the complexities of human life through the compound eyes of bugs. When a lone mayfly has a painful revelation about the ephemerality of her own existence, it sets in motion a chain of revelations by more bugs: a honey bee who struggles against a paralyzing depression; a katydid who comes to terms with a life-altering disability; a water strider who offers proof of reincarnation; a tribe of ants who must confront their individual and collective powerlessness in the face of a catastrophic event; a tumbling flower beetle who falls for an abusive mate; an earthworm who gains a Buddhist-like understanding of his place in the universe; and a host of other bugs who force us to consider what it means to be fully alive in a world of dung.
Author Biography
Melody Mansfield's first novel, The Life Stone of Singing Bird, was published by Faber and Faber, Inc. to favorable reviews from The New York Times Book Review, Booklist, and others. Her short fiction, essays, and poetry have appeared in a variety of literary, academic, and commercial publications including Thought Magazine, Inside English, and Parent's Magazine. She is currently at work on a number of longer projects, including a semi-autobiographical account of her years as a ballet dancer in NYC. She lives in Los Angeles with her writer/professor husband, Jerry Mansfield, and is the Director of Creative Writing at Milken Community High School.
