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"Dead Things in the Garden"
Speculative Fiction (Sci Fi), 330 words
Read online at Thanatos Review (April 2023)
Story Description:
This is a micro-fiction story in a death-positive magazine, which means matters around death are accepted and celebrated as a natural part of life. The story is about someone working in a garden and speaking to their deceased spouse. It's a near future sci-fi glimpse about how we might handle death and burial differently than we do today.
"The Witch in the Woods Who Sold the Spark"
Speculative Fiction, 1400 words
Story Description:
This story has foxes and magic and eggs and, of course, a witch living in the woods. It's also a tale about family, loss, and trauma. I had the kernel of idea for the main character of this story (the witch in the woods) and it developed over time with a splash of inspiration from Baba Yaga folklore.
"Feathers and Ash"
Speculative Fiction (Fantasy), 3000 words
from Cloaked Press (December 2022)
Buy the book here: Amazon paperback or Kindle version
Story Description:
This fantasy story was inspired by the mythical phoenix and images from a dream I had of a gray bird being reborn in a tarpit rather than a fire. The story features a rebellious bird who fights to escape a torturous life under their oppressors and reclaim their natural affinity for fire.
"Ponte Selvaggio"
Speculative Fiction (Eco Sci Fi), 4600 words
in Tree and Stone Magazine
Read online at Tree and Stone (October 2022)
Story Description:
This is an eco-sci-fi story about a couple trying to survive in a near future world ravaged by climate change.
This story started from an image in a dream: a red convertible car speeding across an aqueduct-style land bridge while the waves of a chaotic sea threatened to crash over the precarious structure. With the help of many critique partners, the idea evolved over the years into a story about sea levels rising, food insecurity, and a sapphic couple trying to stay together through all the stress. The title translated from Italian is "Wild Bridge" inspired by the Mediterranean vibe and my year of Italian language classes in college.
"Raspberried"
Fiction, 101 words
Story Description:
This story is exactly 101 words long! It originally started as a poem. But as I was practicing flash fiction and micro fiction, I decided to turn the poem into a teeny tiny story. "Raspberried" is not as speculative as my other fiction stories. It deals with reflections on life and death and, of course, raspberries. My early title for it was "Bury Me With Raspberries" and I use the made-up word 'raspberried' at the end to convey this idea of the homonyms 'berry' and 'bury' that intrigued me.
"Born in the Watchmaker's Garden"
Speculative Fiction (Steampunk), 4000 words
Buy the full eBook issue here:
Read online here:
Story Description:
In the workshop of a watchmaker, a mechanical fairy is born. Vinnie and the other clockwork fairy creations work in an orchid garden for the Maker. Learning to fly brings Vinnie more joy than taking care of the precious flowers, so she begins to test the boundaries of her freedom. My Clock-Punk fairy story was inspired by the true history of radioactive material used in watchmaking in the early 20th century, which I mixed with my love of rebellious characters. This is one of the first short stories I finished after deciding in 2016 that I would try writing fiction seriously. It's been through many, many iterations, workshops, and revisions. I'm thrilled that it found a home at HyphenPunk Magazine.
"The Tale of Starling"
Fantasy (Fairy Tale), 2300 words
in Issue 1: The Blue Door from Pumpernickel House (May 2022)
Buy the book here: Amazon paperback or Kindle version
Story Description:
After a seamstress dies, her orphaned teenage daughter gains a bothersome magical ability to summon twigs from her hands. She is forced to deal with the never-ending pile of branches and her growing fears of the outside world. This story originated from Round 1 of NYC Midnight's Short Story Challenge of 2022. I was assigned the genre 'fairy tale' with the subject prompt 'nidification' (which means 'nest-building') and 'a shut-in' for the character prompt. The story received 1st place from the NYC Midnight judges out of the 28 fairy tales in the group.
"Dental Hygiene on Orbital Station #57"
Science Fiction (Solarpunk), 250 words
Read online at Solarpunk Magazine (May 2022)
Story Description:
This is a story I literally started writing while brushing my teeth one night. It's also a story for everyone who loves caring for animals and knows the grief when pets are gone. I wrote it specifically with Solarpunk Magazine's Micro Fiction Contest in mind.
"Luna Britannia"
Science Fiction (Alternate History), 4100 words
in Issue 1: New Beginnings from For Page & Screen Magazine (Jan 2022)
The inaugural issue of the magazine is free to read online here: For Page & Screen Magazine
Story Description:
This alternate history sci-fi tale follows newlyweds Millie and Oscar as they journey into the unknown--towards a lunar colony and new understandings of each other. I originally wrote this as an origin story for the character of Millie, a young wife living in a British lunar colony at the turn of the 20th century. I envisioned her becoming an amateur sleuth, like a young Miss Marple. Someday, I might come back to her life on the moon with a possible mystery novella.
“Yoko and the Sunbeam Garden”
YA Fantasy, 2900 words
All proceeds from the eBook & paperback sale of this collection will be donated to the Young People's Trust for the Environment. Check them out here: https://ypte.org.uk/
Buy the book here: Amazon paperback or Kindle version
Story Description:
While looking at modern Japanese art, I had a vision of a young girl in a large concrete city, longing for nature and seeing the buildings as different types of flowers. I turned that mysterious image into the speculative fiction short story “Yoko and the Sunbeam Garden.” In my Intermediate Creative Writing: Fiction class, we were encouraged to experiment with the form of a story. I felt that the unconventional format I used in the story--starting each paragraph with the same word--played off of the unusual personality of the main character, Yoko, a girl with verbal limitations and magical abilities.
Unpublished Work
"The Bright Side"
Science Fiction (unfinished)
Story Description:
“The Bright Side” is a look into the prequel events that happen long before my work-in-progress novel, The May Queen’s Daughter. This excerpt began as a writing exercise for my Creative Writing Workshop: Fiction course. The story sets up some of the science fiction elements that lead to the world-building of the far future novel. I have strong interest in science fiction related to pandemics and genetic engineering. These themes are central to the world of the novel I am currently writing.
Novel in Progress
Title: The May Queen’s Daughter
Genre: Science Fiction novel
Pitch: In a medically advanced future, Willow
has to balance her duties as a religious figurehead
with her desire to be a mother, which is forbidden.
