"The Drive" in the Adroit Journal & 2025 Veasna So Fiction Scholar

Thank you Adroit Journal for making me one of the 2025 Veasna So Fiction Scholars, and for publishing "The Drive!" Read here.

This story starts in DC the night of the 2016 U.S. elections and ends a decade later in Iceland.

I was inspired by the marriage of Clara Immerwahr and Fritz Haber. Haber had invented both the synthesis of ammonia which saved countless people from famine, and gas warfare in WWI. Clara was one of the first women to receive a doctorate in chemistry, but had devoted herself to supporting her husband's career, and was known as a pacifist. I tried to imagine what that relationship would look like today, with all its collisions, comforts and misunderstandings.

Finally, you can watch a reading of the Fiction Scholars on YouTube.

Unfortunately, I had connectivity issues joining from China, so I didn't quite finish what I intended to read, but luckily it's all available to read online, both the story in Adroit and "How to Catch the Sun" which first appeared in Wigleaf.

Story "It Was A Watermelon Love" in The Boiler!

New story about young love, old regrets and lots of bad-good art now out with The Boiler ! What would you do if you had a chance to see a past love after decades? Would you meet them or run the other way so that you can freeze those perfect memories? Would you even recognize each other?

Inspired by sunny days in Provence and lots of tipsy gallery openings in NYC, this story took me a year to perfect... and it's less than 5 minutes to read! Don't know about you but sounds like a good deal to me.

Story "The Rooms of the Day" in Summerset Review!

 

A mountain chalet. A distant couple sharing small spaces. Mysterious backpacks and burning brussels sprouts. My new story, "The Rooms of the Day," is out now with Summerset Review!

Four years ago, I got that finger-ends buzzing inspiration at a gallery opening in Zurich where this artist's sketches of the rooms in his house covered an entire wall. Since then, I've re-written it three times, workshopped it twice. Some stories are triple-barrel scotch. Others are Beaujolais. All taste great but this one needed the ageing/editing.

Thank you to Joseph Levens, editor of Summerset Review! Read the story here.

Story in "Forward: 21st Century Flash Fiction"

My story "How to Catch a Sun" is now out in a new anthology, Forward: 21st-Century Flash Fiction. This story about a woman blinded by a solar eclipse and how she lived through two wars and one revolution first appeared in my favorite flash fiction journal, Wigleaf.

Great to see this story sandwiched between the work of so many brilliant fiction writers of color. The anthology is available to order here.

Want to hear my serious just-getting-over-a-cold voice reading "How to Catch a Sun"? Of course you do! Listen on Soundcloud.

Story "The Lady Clock" Nominated for Best Small Fictions 2018

Must be writers nomination season because here's another from Decomp Magazine for "The Lady Clock" - a story about a boy, a girl and a bouncing orchid in Geneva. OK now I can go home, eat a whole bag of chips AND chocolate almond bar, and dance like I've been drinking. Wait, I am drinking.

Read at: http://www.decompmagazine.com/theladyclock.htm

Story "How to Catch a Sun" in Wigleaf & Nominated for Pushcart!

My story “How to Catch a Sun” about life after an eclipse is now out with Wigleaf Journal. Bonus: it’s nominated for the Pushcart Prize! It follows one woman's life across six decades, a couple of wars and two continents - all in about 800 words.

When I first got the yes from Wigleaf, I was visiting a lighthouse in Provincetown, and started jumping up and down, then ran over to Norman Mailer’s grave to jump some more. Why was I jumping? I’ve been addicted to their perfect little bundles of fiction for years, and they’re all perfect because of Scott Garson' sharp editorial eye.

Double bonus: they’ve included a delirious postcard written on the plane on my way back from Nigeria.

Story "The Sudden" in Wigleaf's 2017 Longlist

Last night I had the writerly blues. After a whole day of being at a standstill with my novel, feeling like I didn’t know anything about anything, and couldn’t write a single sentence worth a damn - I ended up binge watching Forensic Files on Netflix because there’s nothing like disturbing true crime stories to make you feel even worse. Then this morning, woke up to surprising better-than-bacon news: my Icelandic short story “The Sudden” made it on this year’s Wigleaf Longlist!

When it was first published with apt Magazine, it was already a joy to be alongside such beautiful and brilliant work, plus Carissa and Randolph are two of the loveliest, most compassionate and dedicated writers/editors/justice-fighters you’ll ever meet. I’m lucky that my bout of creative pessimism was disproved so quickly (thank you Wigleaf!) but it’s a nice reminder to work through the darkness,  to withhold judgment while holding yourself to a high standard. And make your Netflix choices wisely.

Congratulations to all the Wigleaf Top 50 winners!

My Icelandic short story "The Sudden" in apt Magazine

My short story set in Reykjavik has just come out with apt Magazine! I wrote this after visiting Harpa Concert Hall a year ago and was struck by the beehive architecture. Read here.

Harpa Concert Hall, Reykjavik

Actually, I dare anyone to go to dark magical light-filled Iceland and NOT feel compelled to write a story.

"The Water Map" featured in Lonely Whale Anthology

Some great reading and company for all the lonely whales out there thanks to Chatsworth Press. Check out The Lonely Whale Memoir here!

So happy that my short story "The Water Map" could be a part of such a gorgeous gorgeous book.