Articles By: Susie Finkbeiner

Susie Finkbeiner lives in West Michigan with her husband and three kids. She writes and edits fiction for Unbound Magazine, blogs at www.susiefinkbeiner.com and www.ourcircleoffriends.org. Her debut novel, "Paint Chips" will be released, Spring of 2013 (WhiteFire Publishing).

Excerpt From “Paint Chips”, a Novel By Susie Finkbeiner

Burnside Fiction Editor, Susie Finkbeiner is set to release her debut novel “Paint Chips” as an e-book on January 15 through WhiteFire Publishing. The paperback edition will release on April 15 and is available for pre-order. Today, she shares an excerpt from the first few chapters of the...

January 4th, 2013 | Fiction | Read More

Robert Frost’s Bloom

My Granddad planted a tree when my mom was born. He transplanted the sapling from his childhood home across the state. It was just a normal, average oak tree. But he loved that tree. “When I get to feeling hopeless, I just take a look outside at that old tree,” Granddad would say. “And...

October 26th, 2012 | Fiction | Read More

Five Kisses

My grandpa’s room was on a high-up floor of a hospital in Lansing, Michigan. Walking down the hall, we could see the State Capitol building through a window. I walked back and forth across that window, looking at the white peaked building. The strange thing that I remember is that the closer to the...

October 18th, 2012 | Essays, Family | Read More

Big I, little i

My four year old son got hurt this week. The poor guy fell on a rock. He bled. He cried. But it didn’t bleed that much. And he didn’t cry that hard. So, I waited. Didn’t take him right in. My husband (who has suffered many gaping wounds of his own) decided that my son did need to get checked out. And...

August 27th, 2012 | Featured | Read More

Drought

The sun-scorched grass prickled on her bare feet. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. As she walked across the yard. Just a couple steps to the fence. To the shady spot under the old tree. She never could remember what kind of tree it was. Just knew it was big. And that when it stormed she feared it would...

August 4th, 2012 | Fiction | Read More

Bag Lady

The woman pulled the red stocking hat down over her ears. The wind whipping through the alley singed her skin with cold. She held the collar of her coat under her chin. Wished she had a scarf. “It’s worth the cold,” she thought out loud. “What’s in the food box is worth anything.” She...

July 21st, 2012 | Fiction | Read More

Just Gotta Love ‘Em

This piece was first featured on www.susiefinkbeiner.com Tonight I visited a friend in a psychiatric ward. Nothing dramatic happened. No violence or smelly rooms or scary people. Very little “One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest” stuff going on there. The halls were clean and brightly lit. The...

July 9th, 2012 | Essays, Featured | Read More

Love

I leave the hospital room. The gasping breath and wasting body of my daughter stay in my mind as I close the door. It’s been two days since I’ve been home. My old body needs a good night’s sleep. The hallway of the ICU is all lit up even though it’s pretty late into the night. Spending...

July 7th, 2012 | Fiction | Read More

The Suicide Watch

A nurse walked past me with a bedpan full of human waste. It just added to the smell of urine and sweat and rotten teeth. The other smell was the disinfectant that some nurse aide was obsessively squirting on her hands. It seemed that the stink in the hallway made her feel contaminated. I hated to admit...

June 9th, 2012 | Fiction | Read More