Among the contributors are national-bestselling author Pam Houston, Flannery O'Connor Award recipient Dianne Nelson, Mormon Letters Best Book winner Pauline Mortensen, and nationally-published Katharine Coles and Patricia McConnel.

Houston tells of a young woman who finds that she "doesn't have any true memories of her parents touching each other" and what this means to the situation she finds herself in. Nelson's story is set in southern Utah where a family is caught in the unexpected fallout from a nuclear-test blast. Mortensen's protagonist is a single mother of six; Coles writes about a woman trapped in a small town where ranchers and environmentalists battle for turf; and McConnel's character is a recluse living in the high desert.

All of these stories contain something of the authors' own experiences and worldview. Sharing a commitment to tell the truth in fiction--to write honestly--their tales are both entertaining and surprisingly profound.

Ellen Fagg is the editor of The Way We Live: Stories by Utah Women. She was formerly the editor of Salt Lake City magazine, a Deseret News staff reporter, and a founding member of Women in News--a caucus of Utah journalists. She is currently pursuing an M.F.A. degree at the University of Iowa.