Fiction

You know that distant friend who gets in touch after years, but all they want to do is sell you on some multi-level marketing scam? Well, what could be more important than THE AFTERLIFE?

An interactive-fiction story told from the perspective of an effective-altruism phone app user’s push notifications as an unprecedented plague sweeps the United States. I swear I wrote this before 2020.

A lyric fable about labor resistance by nuclear-powered factory robots.

“When the clitoris rose more than two stories high from the San Francisco Bay, someone called the National Guard.” From the stage of Cliterary Salon to your podcast-loving earbuds.

A man walks to walk—and a researcher observes him through binoculars. A woman, alone in her bedroom, is observed by a researcher hidden in her dresser. Surreal, snappy, and spine-tingling.

A 71-line choral verse poem about marine biology, alternative stable states, and the balance of power between lobsters and whelks.

The Philip K. Dick-goes-to-Fyre-Festival story of a beach vacation that's not what it seems, an interrogation of the illusory world of social media.

In a cozy little post-war town, high school kids (including protagonist Paul) begin to see strange specters. But the supernatural, Boy’s Own-level adventure/mystery hides a darker secret . . .
(Judaism challenge level: obscure Deuteronomy easter egg. Afikomen? That’s probably better.)

The sunken fragments of Old New York are a party as United Earth is finally admitted to the Galactic League! But an obscure misunderstanding of evolutionary biology threatens untold disaster.

“Twenty-one years Ambroso Garzolo had spent, after the death of his lover, looking for that other Venice . . .” A tale of queer loss, alternate reality, dramatic goth slash blond bear relationships, and a talking skeleton. May produce feels.

Jahnavi Trivedi, PhD, has spent years in the pits of despair—looking for a tenure-track job. So when her landlord offers her a position at the obscure Arkham University, she’s

An alternate-history Cold War story told from the perspective of a reluctant American nuclear missile pilot. One of Strange Horizons’s Short Fiction Treasures. Sci-fi awards nominators: read it here.

A story about a young man who suddenly acquires memories of a utopian alternate history, and how it shapes the course of our own. Mentioned in Maria Haskins’s September Short Fiction Roundup at Curious Fictions.

A story about rural lesbian superhero ex-goons for the small-god mafia, and what happens when their retirement is disrupted by the offer of one last job . . .
Among A.C. Wise’s favorite short fiction of 2020.

A story about two different avatars of desirability, and what happens when they cross paths on a lonely hearts cruise and don’t exactly fall in love. Recognized in Friction Literary’s October Literary Horoscope: “Aquarius”.

A tale of an app that brings you just what you want, before you even want it yourself . . . almost exactly.

In 2014, a journalism professor bemoans the dwindling interest in political news. But Baba Yaga has a spell to fix that . . .

Most diets have complicated, absurd rules. But not the PaleoBomb diet, which says you should simply eat the natural food of your ancestral environment. For modern humans? That’s the blasted, apocalyptic wasteland that existed in the aftermath of the Cataclysm. My first publication in Continental Europe and my first story that mentions Beyonce by name. As a god, of course.

Reprinted:

NonBinary Review #23: Apocalypse
Alphanumeric podcast
Zoetic Press
March and April, 2021

Alphanumeric “Best of the Net” nominee

Reprinted:

Probe 187
Science Fiction & Fantasy South Africa
March, 2021

Daikaijuzine, Release #006: Anguirus: “Flash Crash”
July, 2021

Reprinted:

The Chorochronos Archives
JayHenge Publishing
April, 2021

Reprinted:

Teoria Omicron: “Babies Come From Earth”
April, 2021

Nova Fantasia: “Os bebés veñen da Terra”
In Galician translation—my first publication in translation
April, 2021

Fusion Fragment, Issue #6
Recommended by Rich Horton in Locus Magazine
May, 2021

Algernon: “Titad tulevad Maalt”
In Estonian translation
December, 2021

Helion SF: “Privind în sus/ Bebelușii vin de pe Pământ”
In Romanian translation
January, 2022

Reprinted:

Metastellar: “Rocket Man”
May, 2021

Reprinted:

Sci-Fi Lampoon Winter 2021
June, 2021

Reprinted:

Little Blue Marble: “The Prince of Svalbard”
August, 2021

Reprinted:

Podcastle, Episode 693
August, 2021

fresh.ink: “Everybody’s Got a Hungry Heart”
November, 2021

Reprinted:

Fission #1
August, 2021

Spawn of War and Deathiness
B Cubed Press
November, 2021

Reprinted:

Gwyllion issue 3
October, 2021

Nova Fantasia: “A canzón de Slag”
In Galician translation
December, 2021