Shortlisted for the prestigious Alistair MacLeod Prize for Short Fiction, the jury had this to say about Benjamin's collection: "In Boy With A Problem, Chris Benjamin parses some of the major political issues of our times through the flawed, driven, often lonely characters he inhabits. They discover that nothing is ever as ethically easy as it appears. In many of these dozen stories of messy morality and questionable action, characters unravel their own motivations, learn the impossibility of escaping the past and face the very human costs of justice. They become intimate with the light that death sheds on life in their efforts to live it at all, if not well." In her review for The Fiddlehead, novelist Carol Bruneau adds: "[These] stories unpack the layers and consequences of traumas small and large that daily journalism can rarely touch." These 13 short stories by award-winning author Chris Benjamin are about love, loss, failure and acceptance. As Jon Tattrie wrote of Benjamin in Atlantic Books Today magazine, he is a "…giant storytelling talent unleashed.” In sharp, insightful prose, Boy With a Problem taps into the heart of our deeply human fear of failing to truly connect with others. The fissures that erupt between us, how quickly they widen from cracks to chasms—this is the thread running through these wise, raw, and tender stories: The daughter of an alcoholic desperate to be loved. A father reliving a failed dream though his teenaged son. A struggling immigrant surprised to discover that money does not buy happiness. A creative boy struggling to please his dead father. An eco-warrior defying her entire town for what she believes is right. A father unable to reconcile the assault of his daughter with the world he raised her to believe in. A gay pastor in self-imposed exile from church and family. A stranger in a Santa suit dispensing fatherly advice. A granddaughter who must end the life of the woman who raised her. A survivor of a small-town drug addict determined to save her cousin from terrifying dreams. An anxiety sufferer who finds refuge in sadomasochism. A university student looking for love in all the wrong animal liberation schemes.