Stories Published This Spring

The pandemic spring, when time moved strangely and everyone swam through a dark dream, until reality shone a floodlight on us all.
It felt like I did nothing this spring. I often berated myself for doing so little. But I taught a few classes and I wrote a few stories.

“Paul’s Room,” The Write-In (National Flash Fiction Day), June 7, 2020
Since when do you have a ferret, I said, because not a boy in that family had ever been able to keep even a cactus plant alive.
What it is: Micro flash inspired by a Write-In acrostic prompt and three bonus words
Where it came from: I did this exercise with my May-June Art of Flash workshop students

“Church on the Hill,” The Write-In (National Flash Fiction Day), June 7, 2020
It makes me think of the news, back when there still was news, a constant crawl of panic. It was a relief when all the satellites went down, and nothing worked.
What it is: An excerpt from a work in progress, All I’ll Carry
Where it came from: A Meg Pokrass novella-in-flash workshop

“Follow It Down,” Flash Flood, June 6, 2020
He only likes me in the dark.
What it is: Dream-inspired flash fiction
Where it came from: Woke up with the first line in my head and worked on the rest in my writing group

“Devil’s Breath,” 100 Word Story, May 24, 2020
Some days there wasn’t enough starch in the world.
What it is: A photo story, inspired by a picture prompt in 100 Word Story and by my great-grandmother, Jessie Sharp Drake Walker Willis Ethier
Where it came from: We worked on this as a group in my winter 2020 flash fiction workshop for IWWG

“Knock,” Women’s Studies Quarterly, May 2020
You imagined that car, parked outside, startling the sensible black Fords and tan Studebakers of Tiogue Avenue with its pale-green  glamour, like a visiting luna moth. But he didn’t offer, yet, to take you for a ride. He knew the power of the pause.
What it is: Flash fiction piece with a mid-century gothic sensibility
Where it came from: Woke up with the first five lines in my head and worked on it in a Kathy Fish Fast Flash workshop

“After Wings of Desire,” Milk Candy Review, April 23, 2020
You belong to the past, like nips of peppermint schnapps at the vampire girl’s grave.
What it is: Ekphrastic flash inspired by the film Wings of Desire and the words past, future, and silence
Where it came from: A Meg Pokrass prompt workshop