New Story: ENTHRALL!

Very excited to share my latest flash story “Enthrall!”, out now in Hex Literary. Children’s games, an endless old house, a mysterious hostess, and my favorite collective narrator.

“The cheese course lay in ruins on the endless table. The parents were too tipsy or sleepy, too busy arguing or laughing or singing, too distracted loosening belts and popping buttons to demand patience, send sharp looks, or worry about offending the great house’s new owner (whoever she was, wherever she was). It was the first time any of the guests had been inside the great house, or attended such an elaborate banquet.

A child whispered, “Let’s play.””

Read the rest at Hex Literary.

2024 Eligibility Post

In 2024, my short story “Bachelorettes on the Devil’s Dance Floor” appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction (Sept./Oct. 2024). The story is available to read on the SFWA and HWA member sites. Grateful to everyone reading at the end of the year!

New Story! “Bachelorettes on the Devil’s Dance Floor”

I’m thrilled that my newest story, “Bachelorettes on the Devil’s Dance Floor,” has entered the world between the pages of the September/October 2024 issue of Asimov’s Science Fiction. Jealous sisters, resentful besties, and reckless brides–and, of course, the devil (or is he?)–all in time for Halloween.

Read an excerpt and purchase at Asimov’s.

“The building has a rough stone façade, narrow smoke-gray windows, and brightly painted signs in several languages. The bachelorettes line up behind a crush of Asian tourists, each wearing a red lanyard.

“That bar has a shorter line,” Elle says, gesturing across the square. She’d like to get drunk as quickly as possible.

“But this bar’s authentic!” Bea argues. She wants them to remember, later—Bea planned the best trip, Bea found the best bar. She’s nearly forgotten that their attendance is an accident. A mistake, even.

“It’s for tourists,” a man says. It’s the man in the dark coat, the man with the dark eyes. 

His English is just barely molded by German. He smiles at Angie again, and this time she smiles back. “It’s not fit for a bride,” he says. “Wouldn’t you like to see the real Walpurgisnacht?”

Angie plays with the hem of her veil. She knows the plastic tiara and the sash printed “bride” in gold make her alluring—ripe but forbidden. She’s like a true spring maiden under the maypole. She plans to enjoy it.

“Yes,” Angie says.”

Read the “The Getaway” Online

Weird Horror has posted my short story “The Getaway” (Issue #6) to read online.

silhouette of woman with shovel in doorway

“The person stood in the front yard, hunched over, their shoulder blades poked through their long scraggly hair. Strange that I missed it before, but they were oddly colorless—the whole image oddly colorless, like it was taken at twilight or before sunrise. I zoomed in and the image jumped to the porch swing, the black windows behind it, the big round clock beside the door. I dragged my finger on the screen, almost expecting the lawn to be empty—the figure just a glitch or my imagination.

But there they were.”

Read the story at Weird Horror.

“The Getaway” in Weird Horror #6

I calculated our reunion was

In March 2022, Weird Horror published its sixth issue, which includes my story “The Getaway.” It’s inspired by one of my favorite MR James stories, “The Mezzotint,” and captures some of the particular horror of the last couple years. Here’s a snippet:

Print and digital copies are available via the Weird Horror website.

“I calculated our reunion was low-risk—we had quarantined and tested, and if we did get sick, we probably wouldn’t die. Still, I was nervous, double-checking the address, reviewing the different routes, reloading the GPS results. The app showed a grayish, fuzzy photo of the house—taken, I figured, from one of those cars with a camera on top. Compared to the listing photo, the house appeared malnourished, infirm.

That’s when I saw the figure.”

Saturnalia is coming to the UK!

I’m very excited that Verve Books is bringing Saturnalia to UK and commonwealth readers. A paperback original, e-book, and audio edition will arrive in fall 2023. Here’s some more from The Bookseller announcement:

The book was recently selected as One to Watch in 2023 by the Evening Standard, and Best Fantasy novel of 2022 by Vulture in the US.

Editor Jenna Gordon said: “The Verve team are so excited to be bringing Saturnalia to UK readers. It’s an unsettling and urgent novel that draws on timely anxieties about the future and speaks to a moment when we’re seeing people, particularly younger generations, turning to magic, fantasy and the supernatural as a means of escaping an increasingly unstable reality.”

Feldman comments: “This book is set in my hometown, but it’s about an urgent global question: how can we create a future during what feels like a slow apocalypse? I’m thrilled that Verve is bringing the Saturnalia carnival to UK readers.”

Read more here, and stay tuned for a cover reveal.