“Swallowed by the sea,” she sang, her voice a warm bath. She strummed a honey-colored ukulele on her lap. The words weren’t mine nor were they hers, and I didn’t know if she was singing about Japan or my father, but it didn’t matter. The sun was shining and then it stopped. The crystals on […]
Blog
Big Rock, Brown Snake – Part 2
One of our Peruvian rituals centered around a psychedelic experience with cactus juice. It’s supposed to give you insights about yourself, and many participants have a vision of looking into the jaws of a serpent. I think someone said the serpent represents the kundalini energy that lies coiled at the base of your spine, but […]
2011 Tusculum Review Prize Award
My story Badass was selected by judge Aimee Bender as the winner of the 2011 Tusculum Review Fiction Prize. Prize is $1000 and publication in the upcoming issue of The Tusculum Review. It’s printed out of the University at Tusculum in Greeneville, Tennessee. I love the landing page of their website, although it hasn’t yet […]
Big Rock, Brown Snake – Part 1
A few years back, I spent a week in Peru with a bunch of other people from LA looking to experience spiritual encounters of the shamanic kind. We traveled in a small bus on narrow roads that switchbacked across the craggy peaks above Cuzco. We marveled at the massive umbrella of sky above peaks jagged […]
Art from Art Anthology
My story Call It A Hat will appear in the upcoming Anthology Art from Art, edited by Stephen Soucy. Selected stories are works based on other works of art. My story is about a woman considering a marriage proposal. My favorite sentence: If Alistair spoke, she would have no choice but to listen, for beneath […]
Quiddity Intl Literary Journal
My story Gneiss will be published in Quiddity, an International Literary Journal and Public-Radio Program out of Benedictine University at Springfield, IL. I thought I should probably learn what “quiddity means,” since it might have something to do with the kinds of stories they publish, so here it is: the real nature or essence of […]