Achlys published in Carmina Magazine on September 22, 2026

My flash fiction, Achlys, was published in Carmina Magazine on September 22nd in their September 2026 issue.

Photo by Mike Oug on Unsplash

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!

Archived PDF 😊

Circling the Void published in Carmina Magazine on 9/16/23

My short story Circling the Void was published in Carmina Magazine on 9/16/23.

Photo by Samuel PASTEUR-FOSSE on Unsplash

I am very excited about this. It’s an example of finding a way back to a story and revising and expanding.

I really started to work on this story, which I only had a kernel for one of Molotov Cocktail’s awesome contests. And then significantly expanded it after getting a close but no cigar from them. So it’s all about revision and persistence and finding the right home and Carmina Magazine’s mission inspired and encouraged me.

This story is also an example of songwriting and fiction coming together since the character Fancy first appeared in MAKAR’s song Fancy Hercules.

I delve into the inspiration and creation of this story in fuller detail in my author note at the end of my story.

http://carminamagazine.com/sept-2023.html

My poem – Rape Kits – was published in Timeless Tales Magazine’s Pandora Box Issue 8/15/19

I am honored that my poem Rape Kits was published in the 3rd edition of Pandora’s Box in Timeless Tales Magazine.

This poem was inspired by the HBO documentary - I am evidence and the appalling reality of the rape kit backlog remaining untested in the hundreds of thousands. I was horrified by the idea of these boxes in a warehouse where birds were actually making nests of the evidence, of these women’s bodies and pain, evidence that could put the rapists behind bars. And who better to open the boxes than Pandora?

Pandora opening the box is frequently seen as cataclysmic but in this case, she’s a warrior, doing what is necessary for justice. All the emotions from the collective violations released giving the victims hope.

A word about the moths – in some versions of the myth, the “bad” things released are described as moths and I thought what if these moths were avenging goddesses and in my internet sleuthing came across Theodore D. Sargent’s invaluable Working Paper of Attributes - Goddesses – Moths. I have always thought that moths were underrated.

Downloadable PDF

About Timeless Tales Magazine
Timeless Tales is a digital magazine exclusively publishing retellings of fairy tales and classic myths since 2013. Please be sure follow them on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest.

My other stories published by Timeless Tales - Home is Where the Bone is and The World is Inside.

Goofing around in Queens Botanical Gardens