Sandie Bass’s short stories have appeared in Fiction, The Southern California Review, descant, Juked, and Pembroke Magazine. She’s a Chicagoan at heart, but lives in LA so she can hike, bike, and paddle year-round. Sandie is currently putting the finishing touches on her first novel.
SHORT STORIES
ALL THE TINY LIGHTS
"Lucy had mentioned Charlotte a few times, telling Melinda that there was a woman at work who seemed lonely. Hard to get to know, but nice. When Lucy brought up the idea of inviting Charlotte [to the cabin], Melinda said 'Great idea—we should have a party.'
'I don’t know about a party, I was just thinking Charlotte.'
'But why?'
It was a good question, and made Lucy feel exposed. What had started months ago as a mild curiosity about Charlotte had turned into something that felt like obsession."
NO MATTER WHAT THEY TELL YOU
"Inside, she was welcomed by the familiar smell of freshly sanitized floors and the sterile fluorescence of the lighting. She ran a hand over her hair to smooth it and tried not to look for the young Indian man who managed the front of the store. With her eyes focused on the candy aisle, she walked with purpose. If he happened to intercept her on the way, so be it, but she wouldn’t search for him."
INMATE YOVENKO
“'Olenka Yovenko?' a man said.
He’d used her married name, sounding it out slowly, so she knew immediately it was a call from the prison. Her first instinct was to hang up, but instead, she said, 'Speaking.'
'Inmate Yovenko’s petition was approved,' he told her.
'What petition?'
The man was chewing gum, and she could hear it smacking between his teeth. In the background, it sounded like men were fighting.
'To die at home.'
The words landed as both a surprise and not. She’d been waiting twelve years for a call like this."
HUNGRY
"Most of the doctors who arrived in Budapest that week came through the airport, were picked up in shiny limousines and taken to large, elegant hotels in Buda. He, however, because of poor last-minute planning and a stop in Sofia to visit a retired colleague, found himself in a rather unlucky situation. After disembarking the 7pm train, the tourism office informed him that all of the accommodations in the city were full. It was then that he and my mother crossed paths, and he was convinced to follow her home."
THE CHILDREN
"The first one who came was Candice. I was told to lock my bedroom door when I went to sleep, but not to be afraid. We were just taking precautions. Candice was angry, Carole said, and sometimes when people are angry they do things they don’t mean."
NOVEL IN PROGRESS
OLENKA
Based on the short story published in descant in 2018
Olenka is on the precipice of losing her freedom. Over the past twelve years, she’s built a successful dog grooming business in Los Angeles and has managed to amass almost enough savings for retirement. Now though, her husband, Viktor, a brilliant thief and master manipulator, is returning from prison on compassionate release. But Olenka doesn’t believe he’s dying. More likely, he’s conned his way out to claim her money, and maybe her life.
Spanning decades, OLENKA is the story of a marriage, traveling along the fragile borders between love, hope, and self-delusion. It begins in the cramped, communal apartments of Soviet Ukraine where nineteen-year-old Olenka meets Viktor, the charming, older, enigmatic star of the Lviv circus, and dizzy with passion, she ignores his small manipulations and rushes into marriage. It will end, one way or another, in a tiny, crumbling house in Los Angeles where Viktor lies in her spare bedroom like a ticking bomb. To save herself, Olenka must confront what’s really holding her captive.