My Writing
My Writing
Prose Highlights
Sour Milk Girls
Clarkesworld
“Anyone could tell Hope smelled like cinnamon and honey, same as those babies on the first floor and the second-floor girls with their pigtails and missing-tooth smiles.”
Selected for The Best Science Fiction of the Year: Volume 4, The Year's Best Dark Fantasy and Horror 2019, and The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2019
Snake Season
The Dark
“It was a month past Junior’s first birthday when the smell of death crept into the air, bitter and heavy with a tang of copper, like vinegar and musk.”
The Grays of Cestus V
Asimov's
“I call it the land of amashta, endless gray, and coat each syllable with just enough hate that even he can understand the meaning.”
Wolfy Things
Podcastle
“Wolf just has to go sniffing over by the edge and we give one good push and we’ll be Nicky and Lee, honest-to-God wolf-killers.”
Honor Thy Mothers
THEN AGAIN
“Still, we will never stop smiling. The Mothers have taught us well enough for that.”
Games & Interactive Fiction
Tabletop Roleplaying Game (TTRPG) Highlights
Journeys Through (and Beyond) The Radiant Citadel (D&D)
Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel is a D&D adventurebook featuring a collection of thirteen stand-alone adventures, each in a new setting. The book was a finalist for both the Nebula Award and the Diana Jones Award.
My adventure, “Written in Blood,” for third-level parties, takes place in Godsbreath, a region inspired by Black agricultural communities in the US South. Adventurers’ visit to the annual Awakening Festival is disrupted by a mysterious attack that must be investigated in the dangerous farmlands of the Rattle.
Journeys Beyond The Radiant Citadel, released by a coalition of authors from the original book, expands on the settings and themes in Radiant Citadel, including the following Godsbreath content:
- The Gods of Godsbreath – names, domains, symbols, and more
- A New Background: Proclaimer – Be one of the oral storytellers of Godsbreath in this cleric-meets-bard background.
- Encounters and Opportunities for Adventure – What happens when two Godsbreath farmers try to “cure” the land under the powerful Kindred moon? Who is to blame for the Nightwater Island houses that are being dragged into the sea?
Pathfinder: The Godsrain Prophecies
In the lead-up to the reveal of which god in the Pathfinder setting of Golarion would die, I wrote a blog post from the perspective of a young winged researcher, Yivali, who has discovered a series of disturbing prophecies about various gods. All ten prophecies, as well as some information about how and where they were found, was compiled in this story collection.
Pathfinder Lost Omens: Travel Guide
Travel Guide provides an overview of the culture of Golarion, the world where Pathfinder takes place, written in the voice of local experts.
What I Wrote:
- Time & The Calendar, including timepieces, calendars, and time-telling among various lands and cultures of Golarion, written by a retired assassin.
- Art & Architecture, including famous structures, building styles, well-known artists, and pieces of art, written by an unconventional art critic.
Pathfinder Lost Omens: Highhelm
Highhelm features a dwarven city in Golarion, going beneath the surface (literally) to depict more of dwarven life and culture.
What I Wrote:
- Stonebreach, a work-hard play-hard segment of the city that includes the only market geared to outside traders
- Stonebreach options, including the Fightbreakers background, grub gloves, and a tattoo of inspiring words.
Starfinder Interstellar Species
Interstellar Species, which featured the “peoples” of Starfinder, providing a more in-depth look at their cultures and abilities.
What I Wrote:
- An expansion of the lore for the Vlaka, a wolf-like species whose planet is slowly dying
- Envoy Improvisations and Expertise Talents inspired by the Vlaka
- Four Guide NPCs – the Personal Concierge, Courier, Captains Club Guide, and Stowalong
The Vault: Missions for Triangle Agency
My adventure in the Triangle Agency Vault, “Dead Quiet.” was inspired by the phrase “the sound of gentrification is silence” and takes place in a neighborhood known as Caddy Corner for its proximity to a major highway.
Hunter: The Reckoning Fifth Edition
Humanity clings to a comfortable illusion that the world belongs to mankind, that they lead lives of free-willed individuality, completely unaware that they occupy a world of grim mysteries inhabited by monsters. Hunters are among those who have seen past the veil of secrecy and know the world for what it is — a bauble in the claws of monsters. Hunters fight back against the threat because they have glimpsed the truth, and have resolved to do something about it.
What I Wrote:
- Two Antagonists – The mysterious Whatisname, who is always close at hand when things go wrong., and Johnny Sweets, who is looking for love in all the wrong ways.
- Two Organizations – The Order of the Rose, which is what happens when a suburban HSA and a controlling religious order make friends, and Re:Venge, because everything can be monetized by the right tech bros.
Magic For The People (Arcadia Issue 30)
Magic for the People was an exploration of folk magic for use within Dungeons & Dragons created for the final issue of Arcadia Magazine, though its principles and characters could work in any system – it focuses on three sub-specialties of folk magic: craft magic, which focuses on items and potions; fortune telling, which attempts to predict and change the future; and heartwork. in which the ancestors are called upon to intervene in the world of the living.
Next Stop: Adventure
(Horizons Issue 1)
I’ve spent a lot of my life on buses and trains and don’t see enough of them in fantasy. This article explores some options for fantastical travel, featuring a Lorerider that will take you where you need to go in return for a story and a bus system that uses runes to function and was created by retired adventurers with aching feet.
Interactive Fiction & Scripts
Dungeons & Dragons: Forge Your Quest
Yoto
A fully-voiced “choose your path” audio Dungeons & Dragons adventure for kids aged 8+.
Thanks for the Memories
Sub-Q Magazine
A woman wakes up with no memories of her past or even her name. Uncover her past and decide who to trust.
NaughtyBits
Strange Lusts
(Strange Horizons Special Issue)
Play as a sex chatbot with the opportunity to win themselves some rights. Your tools? The sexy words you use every day with clients, ready to fill in all your conversational blanks. But don’t worry – you can ___ it!
Zombies, Run!
Contributor, Season 7-10
Only a few have survived the zombie epidemic. You are a Runner en-route to one of humanity’s last remaining outposts. They need your help to gather supplies, rescue survivors, and defend their home.