No Strangers to Pain - Twenty-one short stories, both flash fiction and longer stories, narrate tales of characters who’ve made mistakes and have regrets, men and women with pasts they’re reluctant to share, fostering secrets, and memories that haunt them. They are ordinary people—teenagers, young adults, older adults—who’ve been dealt a bad hand or have made bad choices or are just trying to muddle through life. These characters grapple with how to make peace with their families and find their way in the world. Themes include loss, transitions, addiction, and loneliness.

Bonnie E. Carlson is the author of a novel Radical Acceptance (2019). Her short fiction has been published in literary magazines such as The Normal School, Broadkill Review, Foliate Oak, Down in the Dirt, Across the Margin, and Blue Lake Review. Now she lives with her husband, dog and too many cats in Scottsdale, AZ and writes fiction and hikes to her heart’s content in the beautiful Sonoran Desert.