BOOKS
Charity Starts at Home
Young Adult Suspense, 79k words
Ruth "Nia" Martin has carved out a place in the elite Kenter High by making stellar grades and playing down her type 1 diabetes. Junior year, her main goals are to explore her sexuality with the adorable nonbinary new kid and to keep as much distance from her mother’s “DiaMom influencer” persona as possible. Everything fractures with the shocking death of her brother, Noah. Drugs, the police say, and their parents quietly decline an autopsy, not knowing Nia saw him (totally sober) an hour ago.
Then someone anonymously mails her Noah’s keyring, with a series of keys she doesn’t recognize. As Nia digs into her brother’s social circle, she has more and more questions about what Noah was up to in his final days, what happened that terrible night, and why her parents are lying about it—especially because they’re talking about adopting another sick kid, one too young to say no to the camera.
This manuscript draws from the author's nearly 30 years of experience with type 1 diabetes. He worked on it at Tin House YA 2022, Key West Literary Seminar 2022, and Tin House Spring Seminar 2023.
Comps: YA suspense and thriller authors (think Kara Thomas, Marieke Nijkamp, Vincent Ralph), with the emotional core of dark YA contemporary (Nina LaCour, Amber Smith, Faith Gardner).
Images courtesy of Famous Psychic Mediums, mvnicx, Halloween Found, Sugar Medical, Urban General Store, Raveyard, Stephen Hassler, and IFTTT.
Further: A Novella and Stories
Short Fiction, 47k words
In the titular novella, eighteen-year-old runaway Chloe Grey has a new career (waiting tables), a new love (who also happens to be her landlord), and even a new name (which is the same as her estranged sister's, but only because it sounds cool). Still, she is plagued by memories of her violent mother and a growing sense of unease with her living arrangement. When she runs into someone from her old life, everything starts to unravel.
Shortlisted for the 2016 William Faulkner - Wisdom Award in the Novella category.
Other stories in this collection feature a futuristic fad diet through the eyes of a budding radical, an undervalued detective in crisis situations, and tourist traps both sinister and maudlin. Equally concerned with grim realism and speculative omens, Further: A Novella and Stories dives deep into the loneliness and absurdity of young adulthood. Thirteen of this manuscript's fifteen short stories have appeared in magazines or anthologies; eight have won or placed in contests.
Young Adult Suspense, 79k words
Ruth "Nia" Martin has carved out a place in the elite Kenter High by making stellar grades and playing down her type 1 diabetes. Junior year, her main goals are to explore her sexuality with the adorable nonbinary new kid and to keep as much distance from her mother’s “DiaMom influencer” persona as possible. Everything fractures with the shocking death of her brother, Noah. Drugs, the police say, and their parents quietly decline an autopsy, not knowing Nia saw him (totally sober) an hour ago.
Then someone anonymously mails her Noah’s keyring, with a series of keys she doesn’t recognize. As Nia digs into her brother’s social circle, she has more and more questions about what Noah was up to in his final days, what happened that terrible night, and why her parents are lying about it—especially because they’re talking about adopting another sick kid, one too young to say no to the camera.
This manuscript draws from the author's nearly 30 years of experience with type 1 diabetes. He worked on it at Tin House YA 2022, Key West Literary Seminar 2022, and Tin House Spring Seminar 2023.
Comps: YA suspense and thriller authors (think Kara Thomas, Marieke Nijkamp, Vincent Ralph), with the emotional core of dark YA contemporary (Nina LaCour, Amber Smith, Faith Gardner).
Images courtesy of Famous Psychic Mediums, mvnicx, Halloween Found, Sugar Medical, Urban General Store, Raveyard, Stephen Hassler, and IFTTT.
Further: A Novella and Stories
Short Fiction, 47k words
In the titular novella, eighteen-year-old runaway Chloe Grey has a new career (waiting tables), a new love (who also happens to be her landlord), and even a new name (which is the same as her estranged sister's, but only because it sounds cool). Still, she is plagued by memories of her violent mother and a growing sense of unease with her living arrangement. When she runs into someone from her old life, everything starts to unravel.
Shortlisted for the 2016 William Faulkner - Wisdom Award in the Novella category.
Other stories in this collection feature a futuristic fad diet through the eyes of a budding radical, an undervalued detective in crisis situations, and tourist traps both sinister and maudlin. Equally concerned with grim realism and speculative omens, Further: A Novella and Stories dives deep into the loneliness and absurdity of young adulthood. Thirteen of this manuscript's fifteen short stories have appeared in magazines or anthologies; eight have won or placed in contests.
SHORT STORIES
Just Because You're Paranoid
Flash Suspense, 1000 words
Two aimless college graduates piss off a dangerous customer at work. Honorable Mention for the 2022 New Millennium Writing Award in Flash Fiction.
Smoke Tree
Flash Paranormal, 1000 words
A human/ghost community wants to grow its numbers, but every stranger is also a potential threat.
Overnight Famous
Adult Contemporary, 2000 words
A smarmy comedian tries to steal his ex's spot in a stand-up tournament.
The Death Party
Short Suspense, 2500 words
An eccentric author with a terrible secret is found dead. Her sister suspects murder and has reason to believe the killer's not done.
Flash Suspense, 1000 words
Two aimless college graduates piss off a dangerous customer at work. Honorable Mention for the 2022 New Millennium Writing Award in Flash Fiction.
Smoke Tree
Flash Paranormal, 1000 words
A human/ghost community wants to grow its numbers, but every stranger is also a potential threat.
Overnight Famous
Adult Contemporary, 2000 words
A smarmy comedian tries to steal his ex's spot in a stand-up tournament.
The Death Party
Short Suspense, 2500 words
An eccentric author with a terrible secret is found dead. Her sister suspects murder and has reason to believe the killer's not done.