I started querying literary agents for my novel. It feels a little insane and ghoulish to be trying to market myself right now, but I know that the entire industry is probably in the same mental space. We’re all confined to our homes, hoping our loved ones don’t die, and simultaneously trying to pretend like everything is normal and go about our daily lives, all while wearing face-masks, plastic gloves, and enough hand sanitizer to kill an ant farm. I’ve had some good response so far, getting several requests to read my full manuscript, so at least that is something to be hopeful about.

My flash story “First Kiss at the End of the World” comes out on April 23rd. It’s about love and climate crisis, but as you can tell from the title, it’s probably going to feel topical.

The H.P. Lovecraft Literary Podcast released the episode I narrated for them, where they discuss C.L. Moore’s story “Shambleau.” The piece is about a medusa-like character, a monster I’ve always felt a certain affinity for. This episode is not one of their freebies, so you will need to be a Patreon subscriber to listen.

Next Saturday I’ll be reading at a StoryStudio event at the Book Cellar in Lincoln Square. If you live in Chicago, please come check it out. There is a Facebook event page here.

I was also contacted this week by Rob Paul, the man behind Read with Audrey, a service that pairs people together to read aloud to each other. Audrey will be featuring my story “A Thousand Butterflies” as part of their reading material, and I’m damn flattered.

My story “Bottle Rocket” will be published in the next issue of Last Exit, so please stay tuned for that. I’ve been a fan of editors Julia Dixon Evans and Ryan Bradford for quite some time now, so I’m thrilled to be associated with them and their magazine.