One of the Lies I Tell My Children

December 5, 2019

In two flash fiction pieces by Ruth Joffre, the Seattle author explores the fears and anxieties surrounding raising children–and the lies and narratives we spin out to cope with introducing them to a complicated world. Accompanying artwork by Seattle artist and illustrator Clare Johnson. Read more

Ruth Joffre

Ninety Days

June 18, 2019

“How to explain the thought of someone not wanting you anymore? How to describe someone erasing you with the same pencil that drew you, leaving only your paws?” Seattle-based writer Corinne Manning’s slyly funny work of fiction observes the disorientation and emotional chaos that follows a difficult breakup. Read more

Corinne Manning

Three-Minute Zone

April 3, 2019

“If you’re at the county hospital parked in the three-minute pull-out by that new clinic building, and the employee you’re picking up doesn’t come out, you see an opera. Verismo.” Flash fiction by Seattle-based writer Valerie Trueblood. Read more

Valerie Trueblood

Interloper

September 13, 2018

In this short story by Matt Briggs, a man living in his Honda Accord appears outside the home of Maureen Hough, a teenager whose father works a blue-collar job and pays a mortgage on a home not far from Pacific Highway South. A timely story as Seattle faces a critical housing crisis it can’t ignore. Read more

Matt Briggs

My Sister Who Flew Away

February 14, 2018

“My mother never really read my sister’s diary – she only skimmed it, so that she got names and dates wrong. I know. Because I read it thoroughly, even made edits occasionally, inserting commas in my sister’s life.” New short fiction by Seattle-based writer Donna Miscolta. Read more

Donna Miscolta

Scrolling through the feed

January 30, 2018

“Every day I think I’ve done the wrong thing. It’s an exhausting way to live. One time, I was walking down Cherry Street to get some Thai for dinner, and this white guy in a polo shirt came running toward me. He looked worried. I slipped to the side. Maybe he was trying to catch a bus, I thought. A minute later another white guy in a gray t-shirt came after him with a big smile and a steak knife.” Read more

Anca Szilágyi

Fiction That Builds Kick-Ass Neurons

October 30, 2017

A few years ago, a news story made the rounds about how scientists had discovered that reading fiction makes you more empathetic. And in fact, those lab technicians in white coats holding clipboards discovered it was literary fiction that made you especially sympathetic to the lives of others. You can’t… Read more

Andrew Engelson