A few years back, I attended the Tin House Summer Writers Workshop as a guest. This was one of the perks associated with being a reader for the magazine, but I’ll admit, I felt like an interloper, sitting in on the craft talks and lectures among those submitting their work for review by the Authors of Great Renown–moreover, attending the … Read More
The Story Behind the Story: Dead Man’s Revival
Like many of the chapters of my novel, Hot Season, the epilogue started off as a short story. “Dead Man’s Revival” was a story within a story, built around the sort of thing I think of as a traveler’s tale. A traveler’s tale is an anecdote of a certain strangeness, a certain staying power, told by a person either currently … Read More
The Story Behind the Story: In Blackwater Woods
This month, I’m writing a spooky new YA short story, “In Blackwater Woods,” just in time for Halloween. The story has some things in common with the Netflix series Stranger Things, but I swear I wrote it before the show came out! Call it the zeitgeist–or writers of a certain age waxing nostalgic in dark fantasy. Those of you who know … Read More
The Story Behind the Story: Concentric
Have you ever thought back to when you were a teenager and wondered where you thought you’d be at the age you are now? And if so, what do you recall? The short story I’m releasing this month to my Patreon subscribers, “Concentric,” is about a woman the age that I am now (late thirties). I wrote it when I … Read More
