What They Don't Know: Selected Fiction

These 18 stories probe the lies and secrets, the "fictions" in the lives of of parents and children, siblings, Germans and Jews, confused adolescents, and elderly lovers. "The actors in these beautiful, often sad stories carry with them complex histories of desire and pain, often longing for what they can't or shouldn't have. You've met them, fathers and mothers, daughters, sisters, uncles, lovers, presented here with humor and dignity, with a keen and dispassionate eye, reminiscent of another great Canadian storyteller, Rosen's cast will surprise you, instant by instant.”– Daniel Coshnear, Occupy & Other Love Stories

“In Rosen's book, amidst gorgeous imagery, people we care about stumble through attraction and betrayal. And move over Portnoy, with your raw liver in a milk bottle. Let a girl show you how it's done. The title story contains the most imaginative portrayal of self-pleasuring you'll ever read.”– Norma Watkins, The Last Resort: Taking the Mississippi Cure

“A young woman prepares to declare her independence from her parents only to discover that her mother is secretly struggling for her own autonomy; a free-spirited bartender deftly plays off the two women who try to hold him; an elderly husband tries to protect a favorite vacation spot from the encroachments of youth and time. Each situation opens a window onto another universal aspect of human character. Children, young people and the aged all have a voice here, and almost every one of them either hides a secret or uncovers someone else’s. Rosen’s writing is crisp and precise. Without a single excess word she paints a series of varied pictures ranging from the German countryside, a working-class Toronto neighborhood, or the American open road. Each story is a pleasure to read, and the collection as a whole demonstrates Rosen’s talent in a dazzling variety of times, places and themes.”– Ruhama Veltfort, Strange Attractors

Jo-Anne Rosen’s stories, from long to flash fiction, have been published in print and online journals in Canada and the U.S., including The Florida Review, Other Voices, Summerset Review, Prick of the Spindle, Pithead Chapel, Flashquake and others. This is her first collection. A self-employed book and web designer and small press publisher in Petaluma, California, she established Wordrunner Publishing Services in the 80s, a print chapbook service in the 90s, and the literary zine Wordrunner eChapbooks (www.echapbook.com) in 2008. Presently she is co-editor of the Sonoma County Literary Update.