From Here

Overview

From Here is a collection of twenty-two short stories exploring the lives of people who battle a range of psychiatric disorders as they search for empathy and understanding in a complex and little understood world. 

The collection opens with a frightened homeless man who meets a well-intentioned social worker. In another story, a woman explains why she amputated her hand. A teenaged girl fights anorexia, and a young man tries to care for his incarcerated mother. The last story returns to the characters in the first, examining their encounter from the social worker’s point of view.

With compassion, respect and a sense of humor, From Here seeks to describe what it means to be touched by mental illness, and how the experience can completely alter one’s path in unexpected and powerful ways. 

Author Biography

Born in Nuremberg, Germany, and raised in Omaha, Nebraska, Zan Bockes studied creative writing and psychology at the University of Iowa, then graduated with a BA in English and a BFA in creative writing from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. She earned an MFA, also in creative writing, from the University of Montana, publishing widely in magazines and anthologies, including The Sun, The Awakenings Review and Cutbank. She received four Pushcart Prize nominations. Her first poetry collection, Caught in Passing, was released in 2013 from Turning Point Press (an imprint of WordTech Communications). A second collection, Alibi for Stolen Light, appeared in 2018 from FootHills Press. She continues to thrive in Missoula, Montana.