Books
Forthcoming in 2026 from Cornerstone Press, Gutshots and Second Thoughts--a collection of eighteen stories showcasing characters often cursed to bring on their own defeat.
"Trash Fish," (Fatal Flaw, 2024) Molly lied to her lover Tuffy—an untrained pseudo-scientist desperate for validation—about the new fish species he thinks he discovered at the Pacific trash patch. She loves him, and she wanted him to know what it felt like to be right. But the longer her lie lingers, the sharper the truth is going to feel when she finally tells him. And what if that changes his mind about her? What if that’s enough for him to fall out of love with her?
"No One Will Miss the Alphas," (BULL, 2023) Gus is buying himself new colors of nail polish much to the chagrin of another customer ahead in line at the self-checkout. Gus is no fighter, but he has only recently discovered the joy of painting his toenails. He has no intention of letting that joy be taken from him.
"Somehow, I'm the Asshole," (Black Fork Review, 2023) In this short creative nonfiction piece, three vignettes—one at the end of a marriage, one amongst a group of anti-abortion zealots outside a grocery store, and one at the death and funeral of the author’s mother—seek to figure out how the author, despite the evidence at hand, is somehow the villain in each scenario.
"Resist Such Wickedness," (Scarlet Leaf Review, 2019) Leonard, an artist and curator in Sedona, Arizona, has forgiven his wife, Virginia, for her previous indiscretion. Years on now, though, he can feel the edges of their relationship fraying again. Virginia has strayed before, so perhaps Leonard can give her a small push in the right direction and then position himself to be the understanding husband whose forgiving nature brings her close to him once more. But first she must be made to wander before she can find her way back to him.
"Cookie Jar People," (Reckon Review, 2021) Dixie is alone as she has ever been. Her husband divorced her, and her own daughter has no time for her. But Mr. Wendell was kind enough to give her this job cleaning his funeral parlor after hours. But not all who come through the Wendell Funeral Home get returned to where they belong, and Dixie can only imagine how lonely each of them must be waiting—unclaimed—in those horrible little jars. Dixie knows what it is to be abandoned, and she will not leave these people to such a fate.
From Main Street Rag Press, Flat Water (2023) is the story of Monty Marinnis who, at the request of his newly engaged younger sister, is returning home to California for the first time since leaving for Nebraska almost a decade previous. Max, the eldest Marinnis sibling, was killed in a shark attack when Monty was only fifteen, and he has never confronted that trauma. His obsession with knowing everything he can about sharks has even led him to hallucinate; Monty sees people in his life as shark-headed monstrosities. These episodes--which he keeps a closely guarded secret from all, including his wife--and his propensity for self-sabotage intensify in California as he struggles to be what he thinks he should be as a brother, son, and husband. The harder he tries to control his own fractured, spinning world, the more damage he inflicts on those he loves—and himself. Ultimately, if there is redemption for Monty to find in this place he swore to himself he’d never return to, it will be with his family and in the shark waters of the Pacific Ocean.
