Many years ago, when I was a new writer, I needed to have the final scene clear in my mind, if not actually on paper: a goal to work toward, even if the path itself wasn’t immediately visible. But about seven books in, I somehow forgot to choose my ending before I began to write.…

Lockdown (June 13!) is set in a middle school’s Career Day, when a spectrum of professionals are coming to talk about their work. The school’s entrance archway is a mural of tiles and splintered objects that make for a history of the school, and there’s a brief scene where the principal stands looking at it,…

Last year a Chicago gent by the name of Fidencio Sanchez made the news by selling frozen juice bars—paletas—from his hand-pushed cart at the age of 89. His story, and the story of the Wisconsin restaurateur who thought Sr. Sanchez ought to be enjoying his retirement, is here. In the late nineties, my friend Lia…

Some years ago, I started writing a series of short stories that appeared in various anthologies. There was no apparent connection between them. They are set in New Guinea or in coastal California, in the 1980s and modern times. The characters are a young missionary confronting an enigmatic Brit; a man who sold ice creams…