Published Work

MY PUBLICATIONS:

NEW:

"The Captive in the Tower," the latest adventure of knight-errant Ursula and sorceress Isabeau, concerns a rescue mission that's not quite what it seems. The story was published in Sword & Sorceress 34 in November 2019.

EPIC:

The Eye of Night (Bantam Spectra 2002), an epic fantasy novel in which a disillusioned ex-priest, a prophet, and a fool travel into the heart of trouble with a talisman of chaos and new life. Finalist for Compton Crook Award and Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Award.

SHORTER FICTION:

"Wrestling the Ocean," in which my damsels-errant, Ursula the knight and Isabeau the Enchantress, go to the beach and find a war, appears in Sword & Sorceress 33 (November 2018).

"Women's Work," appears in Sword & Sorceress 32 (November 2017). What an indignity for a rising knight-errant! After the men have killed the dragon, they think Ursula and her sorceress sidekick can clean up the mess. Little do they know how much of the job is left to do!

"Human Child," inspired by a Yeats poem, appears in Abyss and Apex 61: First Quarter 2017. "Come away, oh human child/ To the woods and waters wild/ With a fairy hand in hand./ For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand." SFRevu has some good things to say about the issue.

"Unicorn Heart," Sword & Sorceress 31, ed. Elisabeth Waters (Marion Zimmer Bradley Literary Works Trust, 2016). If you liked "The Damsel in the Garden" (Sword & Sorceress 28) and "Liars' Tournament," (Sword & Sorceress 30), come see what the Maiden of Revie (Ursula) and the Damsel of the Garden of Delights (Isabeau) are up to next.

"A Good Hoard," a humorous dragon story, appears in Mysterion, an anthology of Christian-themed speculative fiction edited by Donald S. Crankshaw and Kristin Janz (Enigmatic Mirror Press, August 2016).

"Wisdom of Winds," a weird dragon story first published in Sword and Sorceress XXVI, was reprinted in Fantastic Stories Present The Dragon Super Pack, ed. Warren Lapine (Wilder Publications, August 2016).

"How Time Learned to Be Bedtime," Just So Stories (18th Wall Productions, May 2016). Kipling's original Just So Stories delighted me when I first read them in fourth grade. It was great fun to rediscover them and try to imitate his style for this anthology.

"Surplus Army," my trash story (literally, trash talks), is the lead story in It's Come To Our Attention or Scratching the Surface, a collection of stories released by Third Flatiron Anthologies in February 2016. As an environmentalist (and as a pack rat), I'm very conscious about all the things we throw away. What would those things say about us? The anthology is available in ebook or paperback from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords. You can hear a free podcast of my story at Third Flatiron Podcasts.

"Liars' Tournament," Sword & Sorceress 30, ed. Elisabeth Waters (Marion Zimmer Bradley Literary Works Trust, 2015).

"All Else," Sword and Sorceress XXIX, ed. Elisabeth Waters (Marion Zimmer Bradley Literary Works Trust, 2014). In some stories, wizards are born magical; in others, they learn magic. In this story, the road to magic is both simpler than wizards' school and much, much more difficult.

"Slowpoke," a tale of road rage, appears in Trafficking in Magic/Magicking in Traffic, edited by Sarah Avery and David Sklar (2014).

"The Damsel in the Garden," Sword and Sorceress XXVIII, ed. Elisabeth Waters (Marion Zimmer Bradley Literary Works Trust, 2013). You've fought the dragon...you've crossed the Bridge of Blades and Flame...now what? A narration of this story by talented voice actor Katherine Inskip is featured in Far Fetched Fables 82 at District of Wonders (www.districtofwonders.com).

"The Rising," Sword and Sorceress XXVII, ed. Elisabeth Waters (Marion Zimmer Bradley Literary Works Trust, 2012). A story of famine and yeast magic.

"Concerning the Awkward Affair of the Cape and the Nightgown," a wolf's-eye-view version of Little Red Riding Hood, appeared in the Fractured Fairy Tales issue of Penumbra e-zine in May 2012. Click here for my blog post about the process of writing this story: In Praise of Imperfection.

"Wisdom of Winds," Sword and Sorceress XXVI, ed. Elisabeth Waters (Norilana Press, 2011). When the old magic doesn't work any more, sometimes you have to go back to the source. For an interview on this story, click here.

"No Tale for Troubadours," Realms of Fantasy (February 2011); reprinted in Fantasy Scroll Magazine #7 (June 2015). In her days of knight-errantry, Lady Ursula was better known as the Maiden of Revie, but with four kids, she's no longer qualified for that title -- and she's tired of fighting. When the parson of a beleaguered village begs her to come to the rescue, the Maiden grudgingly girds on her sword once again, dragging along her equally unwilling sorceress sidekick.

"The Sorceress's Apprentice." A different view of the classic tale of magic gone haywire. (Note: contrary to popular belief, Disney did not invent the story of the Sorcerer's Apprentice. If he borrowed from Goethe, so can I.) Sword and Sorceress XXV, ed. Elisabeth Waters (Norilana Press, 2010).

“Honey, I’m Home.” What did Penelope really say when Odysseus got home from Troy?Resourceful Odysseus, sacker of cities, loser of the way home. . . read the scene missing from Homer's epic in The Trouble with Heroes, ed. Denise Little (DAW 2009). Click here for a review.

"After the Revolution," my space opera novellette. If we'd lost the war, we could have been immortal on placards--but we won, so now what? Abyss & Apex #29, First Quarter 2009.

“Daughters of Brightshield.” When raiders attack a fishing village, the men are out at sea--but the women have a plan. Sword and Sorceress XXIII, ed. Elisabeth Waters (Norilana Press, 2008). Click here for an interview about this story.

“Homecoming Crone.” At a magnet high school for witches, two misfits band together against a truly wicked clique. Witch High, ed. Denise Little (DAW, 2008). Click here for a review.

“The Perfect Man.” Is there such a thing as a date who's too perfect? Mystery Date, ed. Denise Little (DAW, 2008).

“Home for the Holidays.” Santa Claus's latchkey kid mouths off about Dad and Christmas. Rotten Relations, ed. Denise Little (DAW, 2004). Click here for a review.

“Raven Wings on the Snow.” This romantic fantasy story won a second-place Sapphire Award. Sword & Sorceress XVIII, ed. Marion Zimmer Bradley (DAW, 2001).

“Heartless.” Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Fantasy Magazine 22 (Winter 1994) 60-62.

POETRY

“Muirgan, the ‘Sea-Born.’” [poem] A Round Table of Contemporary Arthurian Poetry, ed. Barbara Tepa Lupack and Alan Lupack (Round Table Publications, 1993) 29.

“Icarus.” [poem] Pandora 29 (1993) 63.

NONFICTION:

Letter to the editor: “How to reform welfare reform,” New York Times, June 23, 2016.

“Take light rail bound for boom town.” [co-authored with DeWain Feller] Rochester Democrat and Chronicle June 7, 1999, 5A.

“Ofermod and Hygeleast: an Anglo-Saxon Psychology of Sin in Genesis B.” Proceedings of the Medieval Association of the Midwest 4 (1997) 80-94.

“Saints and False Teeth: Robertson Davies’ The Cunning Man.” [review] Cross Currents, Summer 1995, 273-4.

My unpublished dissertation in Old English was "From Curiosity to Canon: Nineteenth-Century Translations of Beowulf."