Published Short Work

Last update: 1/2024

To see all published stories from 2023, check out my award eligibility post.

Fiction

Whatever Takes Us– horror fairy tale about revenge in the New Jersey woods. (Nightmare Magazine)

Whatever takes us began long before we knew what to call it. Back then, it was just the thing that came at night. I try not to think about it or the carcasses of kids it’s left behind.

Building Blocks– science fiction fantasy about magical home construction and our feelings about home. (Interzone Magazine)

‘So,’ Drake said, ‘What’s it like for people like you? Do you just not feel anything?’
On the rune marked half-finished patio, Versa took a moment to
gather themselves enough to say, ‘Well, I don’t feel anything for you.’

How I Creak for You– science fiction horror story about a serial killer’s smart house and the relationships it forms with both the killer and his latest victim. (Monstrous Futures)

You press a sponge into the red splash of blood on my cement floor. And all I want to do is open wide for you. Show you the world how I see it through my blinds.

You Who Does Not Exist– speculative fiction story about an elderly woman getting back into the dating scene after losing her partner. (Baffling Magazine)

It’s hard to start when you start late, Zyn’s voice quietly reminds Helen as she steps into the bar and takes a deep breath. So, this is the dating scene here.

To Carve Home in Your Bones 2023 Ignyte Award Finalist– dark fantasy about a shipwrecked swim team trying to make a home on a dangerous and terrifying island in a world where trauma monsters burst from your skin whenever you’re injured and afraid. (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction)

A red sun burns me awake, sprawled out on an unknown beach, soft with sand. One of the other passengers’ screams wakes me fully.

The Black and White– dark fantasy about emotional vampire sisters on a road trip to kill their dad. (Fantasy Magazine)

She wasn’t at his funeral, so I took the van around to where I knew she was staying while she was in town. He always taught us to stick close to our home.

It Came Gently– science fiction flash first contact story about a world gone dry and saved by a mysterious aquafer that moves and changes. (Lightspeed Magazine)

When it came, I remember I washed my hair in a cracked tub on the side of the road. You could walk miles out into the wastes, dig a hole, and wait. The water would rise soon enough.

A Crisis– science fiction story that reflects on the difficulties of the future and self. (Vice)

When I was a girl, my father used to read me war stories to put me to sleep.

I’m in the Demo-Repub of Congo soaked through down to my skives. The rising sun lights the jail yard’s grid making it reflect yellow like a thousand gallons of spilled piss.

Pew Pew– dark gay sci-fi story about two friends who play video games as a way of coping. (The Ghostlight Theater)

Dee stopped keeping track of who invited who weeks ago. The only thing that mattered to him was that one of them accepted it night after night. In the end, gaming is what broke them. In the aftermath, though, it’s all that kept them together, kept Dee together.

Dead Children Stop Playing for Ungrateful Audiences- horror story written like a news article reporting on a haunting. (NIGHTLIGHT)

A summer ferry on its way home to the coastal town of Mer Pointe sank beneath the waves of the Atlantic on the night of July 20th, taking with it the community’s entire pep squad. No one noticed that their children did not return from their concert performance until the morning.

Lucky Number 8– dark science fiction story about a young man searching for the ghost of his dead brother in the stars while battling racism and homophobia in 1950s New Jersey. (Beyond Ballyhoo: Carnival Themed Speculative Fiction)

Just before the carnival rolled into town, the Klan did. They just marched in, shouted some words at some white folks, and marched out.

“Ain’t none of them boys left,” Billy’s older brother said.

Select Nonfiction

The Perfect Escape: What Goes into Designing Cozy Life Sim Games– Article on the mechanics and art of cozy life sim games and their effects on players. (The Washington Post)

Book Review of Premee Mohamed’s Annual Migration of Clouds– I’m a reviewer for Lightspeed Magazine and had the pleasure of reading this wonderful novella about leaving and home. (Lightspeed Magazine)

Cozy Management Games Remind Us How to Care– a reported article with interviews from narrative designers and an art director behind several triple A games, asking and answering the question what is it about cozy management games and their ability to teach us how to care. (WIRED)

The 20 Best True Crime Podcasts– socially conscious true crime podcasts. (Discover Pods)

Using Dialogue to Show Character Growth– tutorial on how to show character development through dialogue. (Writer’s Digest)

Getting Out of the Slush Pile– tips from my work as an editor and judge of how to get out of the slush pile for fiction writers. (The Writer)

The Heartbeat of Horror– an interview with horror writer Cass Khaw. (Tor Nightfire)

Does She Make You Scream?– a write up of the term horror babe and what it means for the horror genre. (Tor Nightfire)

Cracking the Code– writing craft article about what I learned about story from designing my first game. (The Writer)

Your Guide to Africanfuturist Science Fiction– a primer for the africanfuturist literature published in Tordotcom. (Tor.com)

A Complete Self-Editing Guide for the Successful Writer– an in-depth guide to self-editing fiction and nonfiction novels for professional publication. (Better Humans)

What Communities Can Do– my experience finding community within the speculative fiction writing community and the benefits of it. (SFWA Blog)

Editing

The Sing-along Killing and Silent Death of Malakine, the Horse Whisperer By Abhilash Jayachandra (Strange Horizons)

Undog by Eugenia Triantafyllou (Strange Horizons)

Death Comes for the Sworn Virgins by Avra Margariti (Strange Horizons)

Here All Week by Natasha King (Strange Horizons)

City Grown from Seed by Diana Dima (Strange Horizons)

Of Heirlooms and Teeth by Kaitlin Tremblay (Strange Horizons)

Sprouting God by Ezra Pilar Rodriguez (Strange Horizons)

Up in the Hills, She Dreams of Her Daughter Deep in the Ground by Karlo Yeager Rodriguez (Strange Horizons)

Four Steps to Hunt a God by Athar Fikry (Strange Horizons)

Colors of the Sea by Katherine Nabity (Strange Horizons)

Fire and Ice by Anya Markov (Strange Horizons)

The Sing-Along Killing and Silent Death of Malakine, The Horse Whisperer by Abhilash Jayachandra (Strange Horizons)

Here All Week by Natasha King– (Strange Horizons)

Death Comes for the Sworn Virgins by Avra Margariti– (Strange Horizons)

Has Anyone Actually Had Any Success Saging Their Home? By T. Takeda Wise– someone tries to clear themselves of a haunting. (Strange Horizons)

Our Heartstrings Howl the Moon by Eleanna Castroianni– child abductions during wartime and how they band together to survive. (Strange Horizons)

A Love Letter Written at the Heat Death of the Universe by Aimee Ogden– flash story from one entity to another during a universe’s last moments. (Strange Horizons)

Born from the Drowning Forest by James Rowland– a woman finds her daughter from another universe in a forest being slowly swallowed by rising water. (Strange Horizons)

12 Things a Trini Should Know Before Travelling to a Back in Times Fete™ by R. S. A. Garcia– time traveling list story. (Strange Horizons)

Heavy Possessions by Seoung Kim– story about a fake shaman who ends up getting possessed by a real spirit and helps them move on. (Strange Horizons)

Objects of Value by AnaMaria Curtis– story about a woman who can transfer memories from object to object having to leave her home as it falls out of the sky. (Strange Horizons)

Bonesoup by Eugenia Triantafyllou– cannibal short story about a woman who must use her grandmother’s magic to save her. (Strange Horizons)

Spirochete by Anneke Schwob– possession short story about a woman watching her girlfriend slowly become possessed by a demon. (Strange Horizons)

The Poltergeist Rose: An Instructional by J.G. Lynas Guide– flash fiction in list form of how to create a poltergeist rose. (Strange Horizons)

Apparition Literary Magazine: Contamination Issue– I served as guest editor on a themed issue featuring both stories and poems

What Anger Builds and Breaks by Devin Miller– story about queer found family and using a storm built of anger to rescue dead love. (Strange Horizons)

Annunciation by P. Akasaka– story about a woman becoming pregnant with a language. (Strange Horizons)

NIGHTLIGHT Horror Podcast– work as an associate editor selecting stories for publication

Fireside Fiction January 2022– I served as guest editor on an issue featuring both stories and poems

Fireside Fiction February 2022– I served as guest editor on an issue featuring both stories and poems

Fireside Fiction March 2022– I served as guest editor on an issue featuring both stories and poems