Short Fiction

Everybody Prefers Iceberg Lettuce

Published in Literally Stories

Everybody prefers iceberg lettuce. That’s always been true, but these days it’s bougie to admit it. Before, if someone told you they favored romaine, or worse yet kale, they were lying, but at least it revealed their rank. I’m not white trash, they’d tell themselves. Iceberg is what you eat if you live in a trailer park, it’s what they put in gas station sandwiches.

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Fire with Fire

Short story prequel to novel – Published in Gone Fishin’: Crime Takes a Holiday, The Eighth Guppy Anthology of Sisters in Crime

The smoke descends into the valley like a raging river and Livia Sinclair must decide—evacuate, as she’s been directed, or stay to find the missing man. Her mask is hardly taking the edge off and her eyes sting. The first lick of flames crests Copper Mountain. If the wind shifts to an easterly, Sea-to-Sky Park will be next on the fire’s agenda to burn down BC’s coastal mountains.

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Chosen to Leave

Published in Roots to Branches Volume 3: Federation of British Columbia Writers 2023 Anthology

It’s my turn to sacrifice a neighbourhood boy. Once I’ve done my duty, Maggie and I can try for a daughter. The Authority won’t let us keep Isaac unless we produce a breeder.

One Family, One Girl.

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Secondhand Emotion

Published in Flash Fiction Magazine, third-place winner

“Mom, do you seriously need another chamber pot?”

“Don’t start.”

Mom took her sweet time removing her royal blue apron and said her long goodbyes to the other aproned ladies at the till. That passive-aggressive move was her M.O. ever since Dad left 14 years ago. She refused to let a man tell her what to do—and I was a man.

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Resurrected: Mammoths Were Only the Beginning

Published in WIRED Magazine, winner of six-word story prompt “Documentary in the year 2100.”

To Do: Be There

Published in Friday Flash Fiction

Empty dishwasher. CHECK

Wipe crumbs of life off counter. CHECK

Make dentist appointment. CHECK

Walk around block and call it exercise. CHECK

Take scorching bath to work up to the call. CHECK

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Relive, Live Again

Published in 101 Words

I don’t leave Dunkin’ Donuts at 3:14. I don’t ignore Google Maps to check the progress on the new high-rise. At the four-way on 5th and Elm, I don’t come to a full stop—who does that anyway.

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We Can Sleep Our Way Out of This Situation

Published in 42 Stories Anthology Presents: Book of 422

To get out alive we need clues from our dreams. We must sleep. We pool pills from purse bottoms. We sing lullabies from simpler times. Post-coital slumber proves elusive. Sleep doesn’t come. Blindfolds mimic the night. So we don’t see death approaching.

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