In 2018, Patricia Q. Bidar, at the age of fifty-eight, published her first pieces of flash fiction. More than seven years later she has published over a hundred stories in literary magazines, many of which appear in her debut collection of flash, Pardon Me for Moonwalking (Unsolicited Press, December 2025). In the book, Bidar depicts characters in moments of transition or heightened comedy, such as driving to the country while tripping on mushrooms or skinny-dipping at a barbecue hosted by an ex. With vivid, biting images and telling details, Bidar gestures at the deeper currents guiding her characters’ lives: the loneliness they feel in long relationships, the awkward excitement of young romance, the pressures of holding down a job. The stories resist resolution and instead illustrate how characters negotiate, as Bidar writes, “the day-to-day push and pull of vulnerability and strength.” {read}