CONGRATULATIONS GOES to Bruce Randolph Tizes from Mississippi, U.S. His drabble “Still Life” has been chosen as the Drabble of the Month for June. Bruce writes about grief as infrastructure. He has won a cash prize of CAD$25 (though he has generously donated the prize money back to CommuterLit). The donation will be used to keep the contest afloat. Read his winning drabble below.

“Still Life”
by Bruce Randolph Tizes

They told each other everything. Fourteen years: 2am confessions, tachycardias, the night she lost count at 23, finished sentences. Then MDMA-assisted couples therapy — seven weekly sessions, a licensed room. They ate standing, separate counters. Divorce.

Saturday, a decade on. Jean-Talon Market. Vendors yell in French, Haitian Creole. Produce, abundance.

She sensed him 11 stalls back — the particular weight of his attention, the same as always. She pressed a warm peach, thumb on the soft spot. Put it down. Felt the crowd shift as he passed her thigh. She did not turn. Pressed her breastbone, lightly. Then chose a different peach.

The Sense of Place in Stories

by Nancy Kay Clark,
CommuterLit editor

If you’re a Canada-based genre fiction writer, chances are you’ve been told more than once that if you want to tap into that big market to the south (or in deed farther afield), you have to set your romance/mystery/thriller somewhere in the U.S. The argument being, I suppose, that Americans only read American stories and that nobody else in the world (except other Canadians) are interested in Canada.

I’ve never understood that argument. Perhaps it was true at one time and presumably some marketing executive way-back-when had the statistics to back it up. But things have changed. Netflix and other streaming services have widened people’s appetites for international content. And given the world-wide success and fame of Maple-leaf drenched books like Rachel Reid’s Heated Rivalry and Louise Penny’s Three Pines mystery series (to name just two examples), can we Canadians just admit that the world does want to read Canadian stories?

Now, there might be other reasons why you don’t want to set your stories in your own backyard. Family members and the neighbours might get upset and run you out of town. And yes, there are fabulous researchers out there who can convincing pull-off a story set in a place they’ve never seen. But I still think there’s something gritty and authentic transferred to the page when you write about your own world and the people you know so well. Because place is not just about geographical descriptions. It’s about the way people talk and think and feel and the words they use and those tiny details of daily life.

What do you think? Let me know by dropping me a line at admin-at-commuterlit-dot-com or by leaving a comment below.

Our Flash Fiction Week 2026 Contest Is Now Closed

Thank you to all those who entered the contest. Hang tight. We are now deliberating. Our First-place, Second-place and three Runners Up will be announced on Monday, June 15, and the top five will be posted throughout that week.