Murder, climate mayhem, mythology, marital woes. Yes, it’s all happening right here, at least in the delightful fiction collected in the recently published “Short Stories of Bainbridge Island.” 

The small paperback features 11 stories by seven local authors. The authors say on the back cover that “any resemblance to actual Bainbridge Islanders is purely coincidental – and yet, likely inevitable.”

I haven’t lived here long enough to pick up on those possible coincidences, but I have been here long enough to enjoy reading about places I walk through and know. Two goddesses enjoy a bottle of red at Eleven Winery Tasting Room, billboard quotes from Green Light Garage break up one narrative, a man strolls through Bloedel Reserve where the reflecting pool “ripples gently,” people ride on the ferry and shop at Town & Country, someone drives too fast up Sunrise Drive.

“The stories are all so different, but it’s fun to see them have the common thread of physical aspects of Bainbridge Island like the nature,” says Jessica Dubey, one of the authors. “Some of the stories are about the physical geological aspects of the Pacific Northwest and some are about the social idiosyncrasies of the island community that people can relate to that live here and hopefully find the humor in it.”

The authors, known as the Oyster Seed Salon, formed a writers’ group that meets weekly after meeting each other through the Bainbridge Artisan Resource Network (BARN) and writing workshops. The book is the second edition of their stories and features some included in the 2018 collection. All are in one way or another about Bainbridge Island and successfully capture its special vibe.

“It’s about having a sense of the community here, the quirks and idiosyncrasies and the dynamics and the beauty and wonder of it,” says Dubey, who has lived on Bainbridge two decades and is the writing lead for BARN. “I personally think there is a magical quality to this place. I may have certain criticisms of it, but it really is a very tight and vibrant community.”

The book, self-published by the Oyster Seed Salon, features stories by Dubey, Ulla Solberg, Diane Walker, Abigail Hamilton, Joan Piper, Laura M. Kemp and Starre Julia Vartan and is edited by Julie Stipe. As they state in their introduction: “We see this project as having limitless potential to infuse the rich and a varied experiences of life on Bainbridge Island into fiction writing. We hope these stories engage our readers, deepen love for our community (with a tiny touch of tough love), and inspire other local writers to add to the project in the years to come as island life inevitably evolves.”

As Dubey says: “if someone wants to write and to share why do you live on that little island, give them this book.”

I would add, give the book to anyone who wonders why you live on Bainbridge Island despite ferry frustrations and continuing threats of quakes and tsunamis. Even in the stories featuring murder or climate catastrophe or relationship disasters, you’ll find themes of resilience and self-reliance and love and hope that will remind you of why you embrace life on this island.

If, as Mark Twain famously said, “Truth is stranger than fiction,” then you might understandably begin to wonder what’s really happening on Bainbridge Island if these short stories are harbingers of that reality.