novels, short fiction, flash ... some poetry

My little flash story about a farewell kiss on the circus midway was a finalist for the Not Quite Write Prize. So much fun! It was read aloud on the podcast and included in the print anthology.

Two of my poems (about writing poems) will be featured in the next issue of Scavengers Literary Magazine, a publication of Querencia Press! 

My story "The Best of Everything" will appear this summer in Allium, the award-winning publication of the English & Creative Writing department at Columbia College Chicago. This story asks, when is it okay to lie to those we love?

I am beyond thrilled that my story "Let's Make Them Birds" was nominated for a Pushcart Prize by Apricity Press, a beautiful online publication featuring the written word, visual art, and dance. Such an honor!

"At the precise moment when the bailiff removed his handcuffs, just as the judge pronounced him a free man, the little fragments of eggshell shot forward across the floor of the courtroom, like metal filings drawn to a magnet, and stopped at Carl Hemsley’s feet." 

" Soon the music is a wall of sound, at war with itself, falling apart and coming together  again. A calculated confusion of drums and brass. The crowd is shouting, stomping and  swaying. It’s the waggle dance of bees drunk on nectar, Roy thinks, full of that same  urgency and joy. 

" It is discovered that there are tiny black catfish in the cenote. The girl sees them first. Arms flung lavishly around her father’s neck, she pauses and says, matter-of-factly, “Daddy, there are lots of little fishes in here.”