Wendy is the fictional narrative of a young woman living in an urban centre, whose dreams of contemporary art stardom are perpetually derailed by the temptations of punk music, drugs, alcohol, parties, and boys. She is also Hazlitt's Montreal Scene Reporter.

In politics as in business, mediocrity is the order of the day—William H. Gass's Middle C reminds us. But can you blame people for keeping their heads down? Yes, but only eventually.

This is our seventh installment of Tabloid Fiction, in which an author chooses from the trashiest, most lurid, or just bizarre stories of the moment and writes a short story inspired by same.