CYNTHIA ROBINSON’s stories have appeared in Opium.com and the First Thrills anthology. Nominated for the Best New American Voices award, she lives in San Francisco.

Cynthia lives with her husband, Mark Riepling, a translator of French, Spanish, and Catalan. Their son is an aspiring writer — which means he's worked as a cook, video game clerk, butcher, and hairdresser. Cynthia often gets the feeling she is being shadowed by a small, Peter Lorre-ish figure. This, nearly always, turns out to be her pug, Suzie.