The Beast Of Primordial Fire

 I am very proud to announce that my story, The Beast Of Primordial Fire, is now available in Out Of The Darkness, an anthology with proceeds going to the American Foundation For Suicide Prevention.

My story is what I've been calling prehistoric mythology. It's fantastical and features a personified version of an abstract concept to explain why things are the way they are. I imagine it's the kind of story the main character and her descendants will tell around the campfire for years to come, exaggerating or forgetting details as is the way with oral tradition, until no one remembers what actually happened but everyone knows the moral of the story.

And, since I am me, the moral of the story could be condensed into "Life Finds A Way."

It's about evolution, not just in the sense that a species evolves, but the evolution of language and art and society as well. It's also about personal evolution, being scared and feeling small and helpless but letting yourself try to do great things anyway.

Content warnings include offscreen death, fear, and the hunting and killing of a mythological creature.

All I Want For Christmas Is UFO

 When I was little, we used to stay at my friend Amanda's for Christmas. One year, when I was maybe six or seven, I heard a big THUNK on the roof.

I wasn't even close to being asleep, no one else heard it, and if it was one of her parents or aunts and uncles trying to get us kids to believe it was Santa, they would not have been so subtle. So I don't know what it was, but to this day I still swear I heard something.

Which brings me to my story, All I Want For Christmas Is UFO, available now in Humor Me’s Christmas issue!

It’s the story of a little girl who decides it’s up to her to remind an amnesiac Santa about the magic of Christmas. There’s just one problem: it’s not Santa, it’s an alien who’s come to destroy Earth.

I wrote this story… gosh, I don’t even know when. At least six years ago, before I ever had a story published. And I never submitted it anywhere in all those years.

I liked it. I just knew it wasn’t ready, something was off.

When I finally went to edit it this year, I realized that the story was good, but I didn’t have a great grasp on the humor I was trying to use. Now that I’m more comfortable writing in “my style” of humor, I was able to make the story really feel like I originally wanted:

An outrageously ridiculous concept written as if the main character is oblivious to the inanity, with sarcastic comments from the slightly Douglas-Adams-inspired narrator with an oddly heartwarming message.

So happy holidays or lack thereof, and I hope you enjoy.

If That Cowbird Don't Sing

 My story If That Cowbird Don't Sing is now available in Penumbric!

It's about being autistic and magical, growing up knowing you don't belong, and realizing the one person you're supposed to rely on is unreliable.

And from the time I thought of the idea until I submitted the final story, it was less than 12 hours.

It was for an anthology originally, although the project was canceled. On the day submissions closed, I had a story mostly finished. And then I realized it was supposed to be a horror story and my story… was not.

So I figured I wouldn't have a story to submit.

… and then around noon, I had an idea. I wrote nonstop, I had coffee with dinner so I could stay awake to finish it. And even though the anthology was it actually canceled, they did originally want my story. That will always be a huge accomplishment for me, going from blank page to finished and publishable in less than 12 hours.

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The story itself is based on brood parasitism—in which birds trick other species into raising their offspring (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brood_parasite)—, the Carly Simon song Mockingbird, and my experiences growing up with an abusive mother who did not understand my autism.