This is the Inaugural Anthology of the Saigon Writers Club.
Eight people who live in Ho Chi Minh City (four Vietnamese, two Americans, a Brit, and a Korean) signed up for a creative writing class with the very specific goal of completing their own short story. Over eight weeks and 10 sessions, they covered all the mechanics of fiction writing such as character development, setting, narrative, dialogue, plot, and so on. Some students already had a story idea burning inside of them. Others were totally winging it. Each week, they shared ideas, characters, word choices, and short and long sentences and in the end told some compelling stories. Writers write, and that’s what they did.
The stories on the following pages have been written by writers. From 1960s Vietnam to 1970s England to the contemporary and challenging lives and loves of the modern world, these stories accomplish what good fiction is supposed to do. Spark the imagination. Paint a picture. Narrate a compelling voice for the soul. Make you think. Make you cry. Make you remember. And make you believe.