Santa Maria Sun / Special Issue

55 Fiction 2020

55 Fiction 2020

It doesn’t sound like much, but writers can do a lot with 55 words. They can kill someone, love someone, and surprise someone. And this year, yes, people from around the world submitted stories about the Trump administration, discrimination, and COVID-19. Some were cheesy, some were mushy, and some were dark. But only a select few wrote stories good enough to get published! Each year, New Times and the Sun bring you the best reader-submitted stories for our annual 55 Fiction contest, which is now three-decades strong. Our 2020 judges include Associate Editor Andrea Rooks and Senior Staff Writer Glen Starkey. So get ready for tales with surprise endings, lots of laughs, and a death or two.

—Camillia Lanham