 I'm excited to have a short story about baking and magical animals in a new Canadian anthology, A Quiet Afternoon! The anthology includes 13 speculative fiction stories that go perfectly with a cup of coffee or tea on a rainy day (or any quarantine day). It's available as an ebook for $7.50 (less in U.S. dollars), and the publisher, Grace and Victory Publications, is donating 50 percent of the proceeds to Black Lives Matter-Canada.
"Karina dreamed of freshly baked limpa bread made with dark rye flour, flavoured with orange peel and caraway and anise. She dreamed of fluffy cardamom buns filled with whipped cream. She dreamed of gingerbread cookies laced with spices and molasses, saffron Lucia buns curled into the shape of the letter S, sticky bites of flourless chocolate cake, and thin oatmeal cookies that crunched between the teeth before a delicate layer of chocolate melted onto the tongue." Happy reading! And thank you to the editors who made this possible.  Photo: Oriol Portell/Unsplash I have a new poem published at PANK, titled "Two Women in the Underworld":
"I hear they started a band called The Pomegranate Seeds / with Eurydice on drums and Persephone playing guitar / They are teaching Cerberus to howl in three-part harmony" I'm also excited to have a short story in the Canadian anthology A Quiet Afternoon, a collection of speculative fiction published by Grace & Victory Publications. It will be available as an ebook on July 1, and 50 percent of the profits will be donated to Black Lives Matter - Canada. These are calm, cozy stories you can read with a cup of coffee or tea on a rainy day—no fairy tale gore like many of my other stories have!
 My new flash fiction piece published today at Okay Donkey asks this pressing question. It's one of the silliest stories I've ever written, but to tell you the truth, I also earnestly relate to the jackalope a fair bit. Thank you to the editors at Okay Donkey!
"The jackalope fantasized that she and Nessie would hit it off. They probably had a lot of things in common besides being cryptids. For example, the jackalope’s favorite drink was whiskey, and Scotland was known for excellent Scotch." After writing this story, I was excited to find this mural of a jackalope and Nessie (plus Bigfoot, a werewolf, and a UFO) outside Ha Ha Pizza in Yellow Springs, Ohio.  I'm happy to have a short essay published in a new coffee table book called Closet Cases: Queers on What We Wear. Published by Et Alia Press, it's a gorgeous compilation of photographs paired with poems and essays about LGBTQ+ identity and self-expression. You can order it here.  Photo by Jonathan Daniels/Unsplash Thanks to Malasaña for publishing my new short story "Wendy the Fire-Eater," the third piece I've published that was inspired by Coney Island. "The carnival lights scattered rainbows in Wendy’s black hair, and her tattooed skin smelled like paraffin fuel." The Coney Island Circus Sideshow puts on a live sideshow every year, April through September, with acts like contortionists, sword-swallowers, fire-eaters, human blockheads, and performers who lie on beds of nails. Go see the show if you live in New York or plan to visit (as long as you're not squeamish about swords and nails)!  Photo by Luxim766/Flickr CC Many thanks to the editors at Juked for publishing my short story "The Mimosa Tree." It's a dark, dreamy fairy tale featuring hummingbirds, a vengeful owl, cannibalism, and the moon.
It was inspired by the "The Juniper Tree," a slightly lesser-known fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm. "During her pregnancy, she craved fiddleheads and wild leeks and mushrooms that grew from damp earth under the brightest moonlight. She walked the woods on those spring nights, searching for them...By day, she gathered silvery feathers dropped by herons and doves, and she tied them with a ribbon over the headboard of her bed. In her garden she grew artemisia, yarrow, lamb’s ears, all the pale flowers and herbs that reminded her of moonshine...."  Photo by Uriel Soberanes/Unsplash I'm excited to have a new flash fiction piece up at Jellyfish Review, a magazine I've admired for several years! It's a short story featuring bellybutton piercing, ‘90s music, and a girl crush at the mall. It’s also very silly and written in the style of the Nativity story.
"And it came to pass in the year 1999, that there went out a decree from the National Retail Association that all the world should do their Christmas and Hanukkah and Kwanzaa shopping." You can read the full story over at Jellyfish Review.  Photo by Kimberly Farmer/Unsplash I've submitted to more literary journals and magazines than ever before in 2019, with the support of an amazing online group of women and gender non-conforming writers. This has led to more than 100 rejections just this year, and a crop of published pieces I'm proud of. The New York Times published my essay "A Funeral for Two Birds" about mortality, hummingbirds, and the Vermont woods: "The summer I turned 11, we buried two wild birds and we did not bury my great-grandmother. We did not bury my great-grandmother because she had donated her body to science." The Offing published my poem "Seven Ways To Be Sick" about living in a chronically ill body:
"I am spinning on a carousel tied to the back of a wooden horse with its teeth maniacally bared. I am falling through the heart of a dying star." Catapult published my essay "A Heathen's Love Affair With Churches" about Unitarian churches, bisexual crushes, and the search for belonging: “The first time I sneaked into a bell tower, I was fourteen years old.” Fourteen Hills published my flash fiction "The Wonder Wheel" about Coney Island, amnesia, and how far compassion can go: “Since his surgery, Dad remembered numbers, historical facts, the name of my prom date, where he and Mom went on vacation in 1979, but he couldn't remember anything that had happened in the last year.” Hippocampus published my short essay "The Broken Bird" about city birds and falling in love in New York: “On the day you kissed me for the first time, a sparrow ate from my hand in the green respite of Central Park.” Cheap Pop published my flash fiction "Convenience Store Prayer," an ode to the self-destructive allure of convenience stores in the middle of the night: “And lo, my neon lamps will burn as bright as rubies. They will burn 24/7/365. I am the refuge of all exiles, welcoming you with doors that swing open at your touch.” Fiction Southeast published my fantasy-horror flash fiction "Carve This Flesh From Off My Bones": “Memory is all we have left—our crops withered, our goats long dead, the village surrounded by a desert like an open mouth.” And The Belladonna published my humor piece "20 Love Songs That Are Truly Terrifying Once You Know Their Original Title": "I Only Have Eyes For You (Sorry, I Was in a Rush and That's All I Could Get at the Morgue)" Lastly, I'm excited to have a flash fiction piece coming out in Jellyfish Review next month. I'm so grateful to the editors and readers--most of them volunteers--who make these magazines, journals, and other publications possible! |
