The Lost Year

The Spokesman-Review's annual short fiction series returns with "The Lost Year." While the prompt was inspired by life during COVID, the brief for our writers was simple: You could explore the pandemic or not. It was up to them. Through Labor Day, 10 of the region's most talented writers will explore the real, the fantastic, and everywhere in between. Follow along Sunday in print or online.

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Latest Stories

‘Home Safe’

By Shawn Vestal

Naturally, it was surprising to wake up the way we did, with the clocks and calendars wrong, and the direction of the sunsets and sunrises switched, but soon enough the unthinkable became routine, as it always does.
‘Pandemic’

By Shann Ray

John watched a blackbird light on the window sill. Feeling numb, he looked away and further berated himself. “He’s so self-enclosed,” he overheard Samantha tell their oldest. “He doesn’t hear me.” The children knew and didn’t know. They moved in his presence like worlds in orbit to …
‘Oblivion’

By Polly Buckingham

When her daughter comes in wearing a mask, Margery thinks she’s dreaming. She thinks this isn’t the real world. The ghosts in the walls knock. The cockroaches fall out of the cupboards. “Listen, Dad. I really need you to come with us to the new house. It’s …
‘How I’ve Missed You Lately”

By Ian Pisarcik

Apple squinted out the window at the 10-acre field that hadn’t been mowed in more than a year. Tall, uneven grass. Oxeye daisies, cowslips and orchids.

“We came out last June,” the man said. “And then we came out this July and again in August.

The last …
‘TLY’

By Trent Reedy

Aidan Baker didn’t know everything about the world, but he was pretty sure senior prom wasn’t supposed to smell faintly of manure.
‘The Incredible Shrinking (Lakota) Woman’

By Tiffany Midge

We waited in line at the tribal casino for our COVID-19 shots. Well, just me, that is. Jon tagged along so I could get my shot. He wasn’t eligible on account of being a white dude.

He pointed out the National Guardsmen lining the entrances and exits. …
‘POTATOE?’

By Eli Francovich

Langston stared at the microwave’s tiny digital interface.

“EAT A POTATOE.”

The green block letters flashed across the display again.

He shook his head. Put the packet of Top Ramen, his 15th of the week, on the counter. Blinked. Closed one eye. Then the other. Looked away. …
‘Nothing Lost’

By Kris Dinnison

In January, I lost my motivation. That didn’t seem so weird. It always happens in January. First, I make the resolution, then I lose the motivation. It’s an annual thing, like those swallows at Capistrano or how everyone is suddenly Irish in March.
‘Spider Island’

By Simeon Mills

After three years on the island, I stepped off the ferry, back onto the mainland and was greeted by the cruel sound of children eating ice cream. There had been no such treats on the island. No children. I would see my own son tonight at 8 …
‘Flight’

By Kim Barnes

We hadn’t yet left the house when the first harbinger hit. It was late May and almost two years since Wife No. 5’s departure (my mother was No. 1 and would have left my father like the other four if she hadn’t had a stroke first).

I …