Touch and Go: A Short Story Collection

Two artists discuss pain, revealing more about themselves than they expected. A broken couple discuss their commitment issues while trapped on a ferris wheel. A video game designer deals with her “anxiety fairy,” who won’t stop insisting she’s already peaked at nineteen.Touch and Go is a collection of short stories Christina Bagni wrote between the ages of eighteen and twenty-three, while overcoming fears of inadequacy and crippling anxiety about her future. The emotions captured in these stories are ones every reader can relate to, but Bagni’s precise clarity and startling authenticity cut through the fog of her characters’ dread to deliver a truly poignant collection of heart-gripping short stories.This symphony of dysfunctional relationships, overwhelming anxiety, and near-constant fear crescendoes in the final story into a lasting note of bright hope–something reflected in the author’s own transformative young adulthood.Through the branches of the dark forest, there are always hiding stars.