Watch the September 2016 Winning Short Story Reading.

Reading performed by Erynn Brook

The Stage  by Rae Niehaus

Get to know the winning writer: 

What is your 1pg Short Story about?

“The Stage” mainly focuses on the most extreme potential outcome of mixing boredom and thwarted career ambitions with an easily identifiable scapegoat.

What genres would you say this short story is in?

Commercial fiction? Plain “weird” is probably more appropriate.

How would you describe this story in two words?

Cathartic confession.

What movie have you seen the most in your life?

Disney’s “Sleeping Beauty.”

How long have you been working on this story?

I wrote this in about an hour, I think. Edited it within three hours on a separate day. All in all, probably a total of four hours, give or take.

Do you have an all-time favorite novel?

Haruki Murakami’s “Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the…