Life is weird. Life is funny. I write about it.
I’ve lived in six cities. I’ve been a morning show host and radio commercial copywriter, a stand-up comic, an improviser, a political sketch writer, an audience-participation murder-mystery playwright, an animation voice actor, and a speech/dialects teacher in professional training programs across the country including The Second City Training Center, The American Academy of Dramatic Arts (Hollywood) and Stella Adler (Hollywood). Now I live in Oregon with my composer husband, animator son, and cat familiar. Life is weird. Life is funny. I write about it.
Flash Fiction/Short Stories and Articles
Most of my published work is availabe to read for free. Just CLICK HERE.
Flash Fiction is one of my favorite forms—packs a punch in as few words as possible. Like Hemingway, if Hemingway was funny. Pieces range from 800 to 2000 words, just long enough to drink a cup of coffee. My flash and short stories have appeared in dozens of publications including Amazing Stories, Flash Fiction Magazine, Sci Fi Shorts, 365 Tomorrows, Twisting Turning Timeshifts Anthology and more.
Awards and Stuff:
Evolution of Madness won the 2026 Cyber-Maji award for Best First Chapter.
Charlie and The Theory of Everything (coming soon to Amazing Stories) won the 2026 Cyber-Maji award for Most Powerful Ending.
Preservation, won the Amazing Stories Quarterly Reader’s Choice Award and was published in Amazing Stories Best of 2025 Anthology.
The Watchmaker’s Wife won 2nd place in the Globe Soup July 2025 Micro Fiction Contest.
Tick Tock (later published in Flash Fiction Magazine)and Tiny Windows were both long listed in the Furious Fiction contest.
Articles, Blog and Non-Fiction
Life is hard sometimes. It’s OK to laugh—and easier to laugh at someone else. Laugh with me, or at me. I don’t mind.
Yes. I have a Substack. Get on my mailing list to get updates on new stories.
Check out my adventures in homeschooling my autistic son at https://weauttobeathome.blogspot.com/
A craft article on improvisation for writers was featured in the Artisanal Writer and an essay entitled “The Ought in Autism” appeared in the The Humanist. I also contributed a tale of longing for my favorite IPA, Bunny With A Chainsaw for Final Gravity: A Beer Zine.
In my past life, as a voice actor and speech coach, I wrote a few articles. The voice over advice is fun from a historical perspective. It really shows how times have changed. If you want to look behind the scenes of my previous life as a voice actor, have at it here.
Appearances and Interviews
Listen to an interview conducted by Linda Gould from the Kaidankai Podcast, where we discuss the intersection of horror and comedy here.
Thanks to everyone who came out to the book launch in Pittsburgh at Space Bar and at WorldCon forTales from a Space Bar: A Collection of Stories Overheard Among the Stars created by Dale Vaughn and anchored by Mary Robinette Kowal. In case you couldn’t make it to the signing, you can still get a copy here and I’ll sign it for you the next time I see you!
Rose City Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers: Wintercon, Sellwood Community House, January 23 2027. If you are in Portland, be sure to stop by this free convention with workshops, readings and books by local writers. Check here to find out what’s on the schedule for this year.
Pacific Northwest Writer’s Association Conference (virtual)
I’ll be teaching How to Write Stories to Prompts like an Improvisor on Whose Line is it Anyway at the PNWA Conference in October (dates TBA).
You can see my affiliations here.
Yes, I’m that Deborah Sale-Butler. Check out my old voice-over site here.
Deborah Sale-Butler/Writer 