My flash fiction, Achlys, was published in Carmina Magazine on September 22nd in their September 2026 issue.
I love Carmina Magazine and look forward to consuming the entire awesome issue. I am so thrilled to have another piece accepted by them. (Circling the Void about Hercules was the first.)
Carmina asked for an author note about my inspiration which is included at the end of my story. I have always loved folklore and mythology. I find these oft told tales (and some stories more obscure) provide a unique prism to see today’s world through. It also helps me as a fly by my seat of my pants writer to add structure to my house of cards stories.
I submitted this to only one other publication, The Molotov Cocktail (another fav publication of mine) for their elemental flash contest back in 2021. Their elemental flash contest inspired me to write it. Contests are great to spark a piece you may have never written otherwise. (Also, a new piece created from nothing takes the sting out of rejection.)
I revised Achlys a bunch over the ensuing years and submitted it to Carmina. And voila it found a home. Most of my pieces travel much more circuitous routes.
Please check out Clarabelle Miray Fields’s writing (she’s the founder and editor-in-chief of Carmina. Her poem Penelope, the truth is a stunner.
Keep being inspired and write!