Publications

Water the Color of Slate novel, 2023. Available October 19, 2023.

Choeofplerin Press “Snorkeling in the Street” March 2023 issue

Military Experience and the Arts, “Four Wars” Nominated for the Pushcart Prize

Hannah’s Eyes middle-grade novel, 2023. Available from me, any independent bookstore, Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and blackrosewriting.com/sales. Summary: When Hannah steals her grumpy grandfather’s glass eye, she is transported into Green World, a fairy world where Queen Tatiana and King Oberon are locked in a deadly feud, resulting in problems that could destroy both fairyland and the human world.  Hannah manages to escape, and recruits her best friend, Meg, to go back, hoping the two of them together can fix everything.  Before the girls can do more than talk with the queen, the king kidnaps Meg!  First, Hannah must find, and then bargain with, the king to get Meg back, before she can persuade the king and queen to reconcile.  Will Hannah be able to save her best friend, as well as save both the fairy world and the human world?

A Handful of Pearls novel, 2022. Available from me! Or any independent bookstore, Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and blackrosewriting.com/sales. Summary: Spanning three generations, A Handful of Pearls embraces love, family, loss and hope.  Unable to communicate, Betty, 84, silently watches her middle-aged daughter struggle.  Hoping for salvation, Betty finally shares a written chronicle of her own ordeals, a journal given later to her granddaughter, clinching a bond across the years.

Dash Literary Journal (USC-Fullerton), 2022. Short story “Online Book Club”

Pure Slush‘s journal on cows! “Kitchen Cow” about the cow sink strainer

Pure Slush‘s Lifespan series: Vol. 5, Work. Poem “Civil Engineers”

Poems in Pure Slush‘s Lifespan series: “Beginning a Book,” “My Friend’s Pond,” and short story “Napkins: A Love Story”

To Know Her 2021. Available at your indie bookstore as well as online. Summary: Who is Juliana, truly?  While their teenage daughter, Juliana, lies in a coma as a result of a car accident, Will and Susan Talbot are given her belongings.  From that, they discover a daughter different from the one they thought they knew.  Letters, notebooks, cell phone, and odd items, such as a miniature liquor bottle and a condom, serve to comfort or confound them.  In addition, Will and Susan are in deep conflict over whether to withdraw life support.  Meanwhile, Michael, Juliana’s boyfriend and driver, blames himself for everything, and Juliana’s best friend, Katie, shares his grief at the possibility of losing Juliana.  The stories behind each item found by her parents, and the people connected to them, are revealed in flashbacks from Juliana’s point of view, stories of tough choices, love relationships, and crucial friendships.