My flash fiction story, Banshee, published by Jersey Devil Press

I'm super excited to finally have a piece accepted by Jersey Devil Press.

My flash fiction, Banshee, was published in Issue #132 April 2026 on May 17, 2026.

The Editor’s Note on this issue strikes a chord with me. Laura Garrison says “This combination of unexpected proportions and angles infuses the space with a slight uncanniness, a sense of being someplace that is an imperfect imitation of reality.”

Folklore, Mythology and Horror tend to be the subjects I write about and try sometimes to apply to modern life. I visualize it as an Otherhere, some place (or places really) that is near our reality but not quite right and perhaps unsettling.

In this short piece, a banshee is a singer in an indie rock band. I mean what could be more fitting?

a little snapshot I took - imagine if this was a real being, pretty fabulous, don’t you think?

A little background on the evolution of my story, Banshee:

I’ve been submitting to Jersey Devil Press since 2013. I had submitted 6 other pieces before getting Banshee accepted there.

I have been submitting and working on Banshee since 2014 and have submitted it 15 times with the 15th time being the charm as well as multiple revisions. It's a flash fiction piece although it's on the shorter side, being under 500 words (487 words).

It used to be a much shorter piece hovering under 300 words for a long time as recently as May 2025. By submitting and re-reading, I found a way in to expand the protagonist's story. And this last revision was the one that succeeded.

I write this to let you know and remind myself to never give up. The road is long but the "finished" piece is worth it.

(I put "finished" in quotes because who knows if anything is ever truly finished. :)

Additional note:

With the acceleration of people using AI to write and obtain writing prizes, it is all the more pressing to support and read actual human created stories. It saddens (and perplexes) me that anyone would discard revising and even the creation of their stories, poems, etc. in favor of AI writing /revising something for them. What is the point of writing if you’re not the one doing it? Where is the joy of completion if you did not complete it? Weird.

I’m so thrilled to be in this issue with these amazing writers. The cover art for this issue is “Woman,” by Enrique Meseguer.

Thank you Jersey Devil Press for accepting my little story.

Archive copy for posterity.

Look up, look up - you never know what you will see. Also I’m obsessed with the Apple silvertone filter

Mara published in Bowery Gothic

My piece Mara was published in Bowery Gothic on September 1st in their Summer Ghosts Edition VII.

This story was inspired by the original nightmare known as Mara and other names in Time Life’s The Enchanted World’s Night Creatures fable. These were books I inherited from my Welsh grandfather. He had such a wonderful odd library, inspiration galore.

Here is a recent article from Atlas Obscura:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/original-nightmare-demon-suffocation-night-terror

I enjoy telling stories from the perspective of the monsters and having the monsters win.

The Nightmare, Henry Fuseli, 1781. JOHN HENRY FUSELI

 Please check out the entire issue!

A little about Bowery Gothic

Inspired by a reading series at a haunted bar on the Bowery, Bowery Gothic is a literary journal seeking to publish the highest quality literature and art. We look for stories—both real and imagined—that exist in that liminal space: between the seen and unseen; between entertainment and fear. We are excited by work that stands at the threshold and looks into the unknown. We are excited by the sublimity of terror.

We are not interested in gore, violence, or perversion. Instead, send us literary work that transcends genre, that scares us and makes us think: Damn, that was fresh. We are drawn to literature that conjures up tales told by our favorite writers—from Henry James to Kelly Link; Shirley Jackson to Octavia E. Butler—stories that entice, amaze, terrify.