Publications

Fiction

  • Forthcoming:  “The Dancer’s Body at Rest,” Abyss & Apex. Wendy S. Delmater, ed. (2024)
  • Forthcoming:  “In Defense of Plant Life,” On Spec. Diane Walton, ed. The Copper Pig Writers Society. (2023)
  • “The Galapagos Widows,” LatineLit, Vol. 2, Issue 2, Spring 2023. Russ López, ed. (April 2023)
    • Excerpt:  “Early one morning, as my grandfather approached the building to start his workday, a chilling sound met his ears. Wailing—faint at first, like the humid mist drifting over the Guayas, clouding his perception, then growing louder. A dark throng moved into view…”
  • “The Sauce Packet King of the West Hills,” MYRIAD, Remnant issue. Jordan Hirsch and JW Stebner, eds. Hexagon SF Magazine. (January 2023)
    • Excerpt:  “I met the young woman in the remains of Forest Heights, among the crumbling mansions with views of the deep blue evergreens and the silent highway and light rail tracks far below us…”
  • “Until It Has Your Reflection,” Nightmare Magazine, Issue 124. Wendy N. Wagner, ed. Audio read by Justine Eyre. Adamant Press. (January 2023)
    • Excerpt:  “I hold the crayon to the mirror, ready to swipe it across my reflection’s neck just as my husband, Tomas, instructed. Make a quick horizontal line, then break the crayon against the glass. Snap it like you would your reflection’s neck…”
  • “Midnight for Clementine,” Christmas Gothic Short Stories. Catherine Taylor, Gillian Whitaker, Josie Karani, and Taylor Bentley, eds. Flame Tree Publishing. (October 2022)
    • Excerpt:  “I watched the ornaments blink around, confused by the eerie, unfamiliar glow. My seven sisters, the other Christmas dolls, scratched their yarn hair and rubbed their porcelain faces with porcelain hands. Cloth met cloth as Clementine’s rag arm nudged my torso…”
  • “A Petrified Heart,” Wyngraf, Issue 1. Nathaniel Webb, ed. (May 2022)
    • Excerpt:  “ ‘It has to be done,’ he said. / ‘Why?’ I whispered. / ‘Because curses are not smoothed over, they are broken…’ ”
  • “The Locket and the Thinning Veil,” Page & Spine, Outta This World. N.K. Wagner, ed. (April 2022)
  • “Tree Eyes,” Frost Zone Zine, Issue 6, Spring 2022, Celebrating Women in Horror. M.M. MacLeod, ed. Frost Zone Press. (March 2022)
    • Excerpt:  “Aren’t monsters supposed to hide behind doors? I didn’t expect to have to protect him from the doors themselves…”
  • “Song of the Balsa Wood Bird,” Fireside Magazine, Issue 99. Aigner Loren Wilson, ed. Fireside Fiction Company, LLC. (January 2022)
    • Excerpt:  “He blinked at me with eyes as dark and precious as black coral. Finally, he opened his beak…”
  • “When You Wake, You’ll Have Cake,” Rune Bear, Summer 2021 Quarterly Contest winner, Inner Worlds theme. Desmond White, ed. (September 2021)
  • “Discount Night at the Haunted Eco Lodge,” Triangulation: Habitats. John Thompson and Diane Turnshek, eds. Parsec Ink. (August 2021)
    • Excerpt:  “Everything looked too bright and rustic and vacationy for a haunting. For the first time on this trip, doubt crept into my belly…”
  • “Hell-ium Balloon,” Last Girls Club, Spring issue, Strange Births edition. Eda Obey, ed. Rabbit Moon Media Services. (March 2021)
    • Excerpt:  “Air had seeped from it with painstaking slowness, deepening its crinkles. Strange how something that used to swell and take up so much space, once hollowed, could attract more attention with the depressions that formed…”
    • Reprinted in Night to Dawn 43. Barbara Custer, ed. Night to Dawn Magazine & Books LLC. (January 2023)
  • “Riddle Hatch,” Page & Spine, Outta This World. N.K. Wagner, ed. (January 2021)
  • “New Hire Announcement: Senior Plant Geneticist,” Page & Spine, Outta This World. N.K. Wagner, ed. (January 2021)
  • “Desert Locks,” GigaNotoSaurus. LaShawn M. Wanak, ed. (May 2020)
    • Excerpt:  “Through the fine mesh of my mask, I studied the woman strolling through the marketplace and wondered if she knew where I could find one of my people.  Her bald head reminded me of a brown hen’s egg.  Her face resembled those of the gleaners all around us, eyes lost in an expanse of forehead without eyebrows to anchor them…”
    • Reprinted in Best Indie Speculative Fiction, Volume IV. Julie Ann Dawson, ed. Bards and Sages Publishing. (December 2021)
  • Two-sentence horror stories, Nano Nightmares, Shirley Dee, Arthur M. Doweyko, and Charles Remington, eds. Trivia Mundi Ltd. (March 2020)
  • “The Menagerie Machine,” Short Édition’s Short Circuit #01, Lane Proctor, ed.  Available in print from Short Édition Short Story Dispensers. (February 2020)
    • Excerpt:  “Of all the carousel steeds, only Sea Horse boasted such fine aquamarine paint, not our bland neutrals.  From my spot behind the bench next to him, I strained to watch his half laughing, half snarling face…”
    • Reprinted in Draw Down the Moon. Elizabeth Bridges and Lori Michelle Hawks, eds. Propertius Press. (August 2022)
  • “DEZLON-182-D’s Scrapbook,” Harbinger Press Flash Fiction Fridays, B.C. Palmer and Marie Robinson, eds. Harbinger Press. (January 2020)
    • Excerpt:  “ ‘What do you think of my project?’  Her eye-bulbs shone brighter than usual.  She folded her gray hands expectantly…”
  • “Warren,” 87 Bedford, Lichen Han and Jane Luo, eds. (December 2019)
  • “Fellscorpe and the Wishing Well,” Heroic Fantasy Quarterly, Issue 42. Adrian Simmons, David Farney, William Ledbetter, James Frederick William Rowe, Barbara Barrett, and Arien Skiba, eds. (November 2019)
    • Excerpt:  “I’ve faced rivals including sorcerers on a rampage and armored beasts as thick as ten knights.  But I don’t recall my heart racing quite like this…”
    • Reprinted in The Wandering Tavern podcast, episode 6, Will Smith, ed. Read by Will Smith. (September 2020)
  • “Bone Chill of a Too-Wide Smile,” Thrilling Words, Eric Kimball, Jason Stawsburg, and Daniel Hoagland, eds. (October 2019)
    • Excerpt:  “This newcomer’s emerald and ebon checkers, from tights to cap, blended in so well with the quilt that one could hardly tell where the bed ended and the fool began…”
  • “Neck of the Woods,” Thrilling Words, Eric Kimball, Jason Stawsburg, and Daniel Hoagland, eds. (October 2019)
    • Excerpt:  “Cara lifted the mushroom cap and stared at its underside.  Innumerous indentations faced her like long, skinny, stretched mouths, row upon row, dangerous as shark teeth…”
    • Read by Black Women Are Scary podcast during Awareness-A-Thon hosted by Victims and Villains. (August 2021)
    • Reprinted in Black Women Are Scary podcast, Flash Fiction Friday: Episode 4, Wi-Moto Nyoka, ed. Dusky Projects. Read by Wi-Moto Nyoka and Abby Brenker. (December 2021)
  • “Sasha’s Pattern, Sonia’s Edge,” Apparition Literary Magazine, Issue 6: Ambition. Tacoma Tomilson, Rebecca Bennett, Clarke Doty, and Amy Henry Robinson, eds. (April 2019)
    • Excerpt:  “I thought of the cute indentations in my fingertips from certain game pieces after I moved them across a board. And Sasha’s laughter as I clumsily shuffled cards. I wanted to be at the forefront of the science bringing those details to the virtual gaming world…”
  • “Origin Story,” Story Seed Vault, Alex Massey, ed. (February 2019)
  • “Exchange (A Coral Study),” originally published as “Exchange” in Factor Four Magazine, Issue 3, Richard Flores IV, ed. (October 2018)
    • Excerpt:  “I flung my backpack onto his bed and stepped back as it bobbed on the mattress.  A waterbed.  Then I noticed the teal plastic seaweed scattered among his bookshelves like houseplants…”
  • “My Little Sugar Plum,” Nothing’s Sacred Vol. 4, Nathon Allen Balka, ed. Jack of No Trades Productions. (October 2018)
    • Excerpt:  “ ‘For why else,’ I called, ‘do children come to my candy house unless they want some sweets?  Unless, of course, they mean to throw rocks at my candy house.’  I knew the third reason they came…”
    • Reprinted in Thirteen horror podcast Patreon, Lizz Walker, ed. Read by Brooke Jennett. Imaginary Comma. (May 2021)
  • “Little Seed,” Triangulation: Appetites, Frank Oreto and Douglas Gwilym, eds. Parsec Ink. (July 2017)
    • Excerpt:  “I had to sit next to a man on the barge yesterday whose aura glowed a deep red and tasted bitter…”
  • “Venom in the Cloud Forest,” Myriad Lands: Volume 2: Beyond the Edge, David Stokes, ed. Guardbridge Books. (July 2016)
    • Excerpt:  “Now Acoti knelt, dug his fingers into the soggy dirt, and yelled, ‘I never poisoned anyone!’  His voice echoed off the mountainside.  The cloud forest around him rustled in apparent mockery.  The constant mist at this altitude sent beads of water sliding down the tree trunks and pooling on the orchids, like his sweat from the poison fever…”
    • Reprinted in Pioneers & Pathfinders. Jessica Augustsson, ed. JayHenge Publishing. (August 2019)
    • Reprinted in After Dinner Conversation. Kolby Granville, ed. (June 2020)
    • Reprinted in After Dinner Conversation – Season Two. Kolby Granville, ed. (July 2020)
  • “Eyes Met and Unmeeting,” Santa Clara Review. (Fall/Winter 2002-2003)
    • Excerpt:  “I’ve been sitting here for the past ten minutes at least, thinking about my wife, and he’s been waiting patiently across from me, barely making a sound.  Almost no sound at all.  It’s not the sound that distracts me, though.  It’s the way he keeps brushing his thumb across his lip as he studies me …”

Poetry

  • Forthcoming:  The Inca Weaver’s Tales, New Cosmologies mini-chapbook series. Monica Robinson, Kay Allen, Naseem Jamnia, and Jessie Ulmer, eds. Sword & Kettle Press. (2023)
  • Forthcoming:  “Fragrances of the Night-Blooming Space Garden,” Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine. Sheila Williams and Emily Hockaday, eds.
  • Forthcoming:  “The Llamacorn Herd,” The Sprawl Mag, Volume 1.2. Mahaila Smith and Libby Graham, eds.
  • Forthcoming:  “A Whirlwind Tour of Nightopia,” Wind Guide You. Álvaro Mielgo Gallego, ed. Sadwrn Press. (2023)
  • Forthcoming:  “Time Loops in Hyrule and Termina,” Games in Action by decomp journal, e-zine 6. Chris Patterson, ed. Social Justice Institute at the University of British Columbia.
  • Forthcoming:  “At the Video Game Symphony (A Villanelle),” Games in Action by decomp journal, e-zine 6. Chris Patterson, ed. Social Justice Institute at the University of British Columbia.
  • Forthcoming:  “The Universe’s Edge,” Anterior Skies, Volume 1. C. F. Page, ed. Strange Elf Press. (June 2023)
  • “The Game of Castle Adventure,” TOWER Magazine, Vol. 1: END. Róisín Byrne and James Hudson, eds. (May 2023)
  • “La Iglesia of the Stone Creatures,” Lucky Jefferson, Issue 10: Sonder. NaBeela Washington and Kyra Jee, eds. (November 2022)
  • “Chill,” Plum Tree Tavern, Autumn Moon edition. Russell Streur, ed. (November 2022)
  • “Kintsugi Master Pieces,” Sonnet Collection Series, Volume 5. Melissa Ashley Hernandez, ed. The Minison Project. (November 2022)
    • 1st Honorable Mention, Helen Schaible International Sonnet Contest, Traditional Sonnet category, 2020
  • “O Sweet Child, When Titania Speaks Thy Name,” Sonnet Collection Series, Volume 5. Melissa Ashley Hernandez, ed. The Minison Project. (November 2022)
  • “The Middle of the World,” Pilgrimage, Volume 43, Issue 2: Edges and Borders, Juan Morales, ed. Pilgrimage Press. (November 2022)
  • “Pumpkin Ash and Cypress Knees,” Boudin by The McNeese Review, It Came From the Swamp issue. Abbie Skinner, Rachel Pittman, Michael Horner, Taylor Mahone, and Mayank Manchanda, eds. The College of Liberal Arts at McNeese State University. (October 2022)
    • Nominated for the 2023 Rhysling Award for Best Short Poem
  • “Backward Compatibility (Quinceañera on a Generation Ship),” Apparition Literary Magazine, Issue 20: Nostalgia. Sabrina Vourvoulias, Tacoma Tomilson, Rebecca Bennett, Clarke Doty, Amy Henry Robinson, and Maria Schrater, eds. (October 2022)
    • Nominated for the Pushcart Prize
  • “Where in the Zoo Is Carmen Sandiego?”, Sidequest. Melissa Brinks, Maddi Butler, Zainabb Hull, and Zora Gilbert, eds. (October 2022)
  • “A Piece of Lake Came Loose,” The Collidescope. George Salis and Nicole Melchionda, eds. (September 2022)
  • “Bedtime Routine,” The Collidescope. George Salis and Nicole Melchionda, eds. (September 2022)
  • “Harvesters,” Triangulation: Energy. John Thompson and Storm Walden, eds. Parsec Ink. (July 2022)
  • “Lanterns at Dusk,” Kingdoms in the Wild. N.L. Shompole, L. Naisula, Lydia Shompole, and Rhony Bhopla, eds. (March 2022)
    • Reprinted in The Hyacinth Review. Terri Pinyerd and Ariel K. Moniz, eds. (January 2023)
  • “Trial of the Will-o’-Wisp (A Triolet),” Eye to the Telescope, Issue 43: Light. Jordan Hirsch, ed. Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association. (January 2022)
  • “The Bowsprit Mermaid and the Stemhead Dragon,” Heroic Fantasy Quarterly, Issue 50. Adrian Simmons, David Farney, William Ledbetter, James Frederick William Rowe, Barbara Barrett, and Arien Skiba, eds. (November 2021)
  • “Merfolk in the Ghost Net,” Seaborne Magazine, Issue 2: Storms, Omens & Monsters. Adriana Ciontea and Kevin Woodley, eds. (October 2021)
    • Reprinted in the tide rises, the tide falls. wyeth renwick, ed. (June 2022)
  • “The Kraken’s Bight,” Seaborne Magazine, Issue 2: Storms, Omens & Monsters. Adriana Ciontea and Kevin Woodley, eds. (October 2021)
  • “The Devil with the Golden Hairs Earns His Sleep,” Analogies & Allegories Literary Magazine, Issue 6: Magic. Mollie Williamson and Megan Bonilla, eds. (October 2021)
  • “Dancer Summons,” The Common Tongue Magazine, Issue #5. Kade Freeland, Emma Johnson-Rivard, and Louise Hall, eds. Sourcery Publishing. (October 2021)
  • “Sea Grass Supplication,” The Curator Magazine. Chris Davidson, Jolene Nolte, and David Wright, eds. (October 2021)
    • Reprinted in The Hyacinth Review, Flora theme. Terri Pinyerd and Ariel K. Moniz, eds. (April 2022)
  • “Restoring Order to a World Hooked on Strangeness,” Sidequest, Melissa Brinks, Naseem Jamnia, Zora Gilbert, Zainabb Hull, and Maddi Butler, eds. (September 2021)
  • “The Fabulous, Interconnected Living Root Bridges of the Fairies,” Into the Glen: Into the Light, Cyndi Snow-Pilcher and Patricia Harris, eds. Fae Corps Inc Publishing. (August 2021)
    • Reprinted in The Hyacinth Review, Flora theme. Terri Pinyerd and Ariel K. Moniz, eds. (June 2022)
  • “Ariadne Goes to Knitting Group,” The Periodical, Forlorn, Volume I, Issue VI, Mythos Reborn. Katherine Emily and Brett Salter, eds. Input/Output Enterprises. (August 2021)
  • “A Pixie Built a Human House,” Pastel Pastoral Magazine, Issue 1, Roxie Geering, ed. (July 2021)
  • “The Drama of Raindrops,” The Rail, Jo Longley, Cassandra Baim, and Kate Hatcher, eds. Derailleur Press. (June 2021)
  • “Sonnet of the South American Sphinx,” Honeyguide Literary Magazine, Issue 2, Mythical Creatures and Speculative Fiction, Amanda Marrero, ed. (June 2021)
    • Nominated for the 2022 Rhysling Award for Best Short Poem
    • Reprinted in Latinx Lit Mag podcast, Teresa Douglas, ed. Read by Katherine Quevedo. (March 2022)
    • Reprinted in The 2022 Rhysling Anthology, F. J. Bergmann and Brian U. Garrison, eds. Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association. (March 2022)
  • “The Ichthyocentaur Beyond Marginalia,” Honeyguide Literary Magazine, Issue 2, Mythical Creatures and Speculative Fiction, Amanda Marrero, ed. (June 2021)
    • Reprinted in The Hyacinth Review. Terri Pinyerd and Ariel K. Moniz, eds. (February 2023)
  • “The Banquet at the Center of the Maze,” Coffin Bell, Labyrinths issue, Volume 4, Issue No. 2. Tamara Burross Grisanti, Ray Ball, Hannah Emadian, Desmond White, and Jessica Drake-Thomas, eds. (May 2021)
    • Nominated for the Pushcart Prize
    • Reprinted in the Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association’s (SFPA) 2021 Halloween Reading, Angela Yuriko Smith, ed. Read by Katherine Quevedo. (October 2021)
  • “Hooves on Gravel, Like Teeth on Bones,” Coffin Bell, Labyrinths issue, Volume 4, Issue No. 2. Tamara Burross Grisanti, Ray Ball, Hannah Emadian, Desmond White, and Jessica Drake-Thomas, eds. (May 2021)
  • “GLaDOS and the Vortex Queen at the Supermarket,” Sidequest, Melissa Brinks, Naseem Jamnia, and Zora Gilbert, eds. (December 2020)
  • “Oregon Trail Triolet,” Sidequest, Melissa Brinks, Naseem Jamnia, and Zora Gilbert, eds. (November 2020)
  • “The Deku Butler’s Son,” Sidequest, Melissa Brinks, Naseem Jamnia, and Zora Gilbert, eds. (November 2020)
  • “Nightmarens,” Sidequest, Melissa Brinks, Naseem Jamnia, and Zora Gilbert, eds. (October 2020)
    • Reprinted in the Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association’s (SFPA) 2022 Halloween Reading, Miguel O. Mitchell, ed. Read by Katherine Quevedo. (October 2022)
  • “On Shining in the Darkness,” Sidequest, Melissa Brinks, Naseem Jamnia, and Zora Gilbert, eds. (October 2020)
  • “Lava Reef Cooldown,” Sidequest, Melissa Brinks, Naseem Jamnia, and Zora Gilbert, eds. (October 2020)
  • “That One Time I Drank the Potion from Super Mario Bros. 2,” Sidequest, Melissa Brinks, Naseem Jamnia, and Zora Gilbert, eds. (September 2020)
  • “Ode on Keats’s ‘Ode on Indolence’,” The Decadent Review, Dimitri Kaufman, ed. (April 2020)
  • “Calypso, Riddled,” NonBinary Review Issue #22 (The Odyssey) and Alphanumeric podcast, Lise Quintana and Kolleen Carney Hoepfner, eds. Zoetic Press. Read by Lise Quintana. (September 2019)
  • “The Geologist Speaks,” Songs of Eretz Poetry Review, Science & Science Fiction issue, James Frederick William Rowe, ed. (June/July 2019)
  • “Crocodilian,” Civilized Beasts Vol. III, Laura Govednik and Vincent Corbeau, eds. Weasel Press. (September 2018)
  • “To the Hillslope,” Santa Clara Review. (Spring/Summer 2004)
    • Reprinted in Extreme Sonnets, Beth Houston, ed. Rhizome Press. (December 2020)
  • “Anthem for the Autumn,” Santa Clara Review. (Fall/Winter 2003-2004)
  • “Last Night a Hundred Verse Reigned Free,” Santa Clara Review. (Fall/Winter 2002-2003)
  • “Fluctuate (The Darkest Sol),” Santa Clara Review. (Fall/Winter 2001-2002)

Non-Fiction