On life, loss and new beginnings

Short Story Contest authors unleash their creativity to uncover truths in worlds both strange and familiar

In a stroke of serendipity, the first-place winners of this year's Palo Alto Weekly Short Story Contest all tackled one of life's most inevitable human experiences: loss. From the death of a family member to the perplexity of dearly loved items gone missing, the authors explore the ripple effects of sudden absence — the choices that people must make, the emotional hurdles they confront, the relationships they turn to as they try to move forward.

Other themes emerged in the works chosen by the contest's esteemed panel of judges, themselves celebrated authors, for second and third place. Writers imagined stories of revenge, unexpected kinship, true friendship and freedom. They sketched out detailed worlds: In one, relentless machine beings stamp out the remnants of human expression; in another, a high-powered San Francisco stock broker navigates the world he created for himself. One story — set in a school that could be in Anytown, USA — eerily mirrors recent news headlines. But no matter the stories' settings, the authors have skillfully guided their characters past fear and ultimately toward love, truth and courage.

The Palo Alto Weekly would like to thank the talented writers who submitted work to the contest, now in its 32nd year; the readers, Danielle Truppi and Sharon Levin, who selected the top entries in each category for the judges to consider; the judges for the Adult and Young Adult categories, Debbie Duncan, Nancy Packer and Tom Parker; and the Teen category judges, Nancy Etchemendy, Marjorie Sayer and Caryn Huberman Yacowitz. The Weekly also would like to thank the contest co-sponsors, Bell's Books of Palo Alto, Kepler's Books of Menlo Park and Linden Tree Books of Los Altos.