Published Fiction:
2025
Knockout Mouse, Asterisk, Issue 10: Origins
An AI doctor in the distant future investigates the colon cancer of an endless stream of printed patients. Inspired by a death in the family; I wrote this story waiting on a train platform for an oncologist. (Not for any professional reason; we were college roommates and were going to see another roommate, who’d just had a kid.)
2024
Small Talk, Shoreline of Infinity, Spring 2024 / 37
“I hate small talk! I wanna talk about real stuff—like the override codes to the guidance computer.” Humorous drabble, co-written with Angus McIntyre.When We Make It to Bet-Zelem, khōréō, Issue 3.4
A family of refugees on their way to the great city of Bet-Zelem is sustained by their grandfather’s tales of that legendary place. (Judaism challenge level: just the title, really.)A Seder in Siberia, Grist, Imagine 2200, 2024 Third Place
The arrival of a surprise visitor at a family’s Passover celebration reveals the uncomfortable true story of how they came to be climate exiles. (Judaism challenge level: honestly the narrator explains most of it directly.)
Reprinted: Metamorphosis: Climate Fiction for a Better Future
BEST OF: forthcoming in ECO: The Year’s Best Speculative EcofictionAt the Spire of Tamre, Translunar Travelers Lounge, Issue 10
Zezi, a phalangite of the Hegemonate, is sent to a distant world to fulfill the terms of an ominous mechanical prophecy. My attempt to write space opera as it might have been in a timeline where the Seleucid Empire and not the Roman became the touchstone of the contemporary imagination of the imperial.Show Goes On, Fusion Fragment, Issue 20
A washed-up child actor’s unsuccessful one-man one-act play is disrupted by the unexpected appearance of the godlike supervillain Doctor Apocalypse. Watchmen meets Bojack Horseman.
BEST OF: forthcoming in We’re Here: The Best Queer Speculative Fiction 2024Nothing Happened Here, ZNB Presents: Year Two
One hundred and sixty-seven years after the Fall of Qazapol and the Idric Empire’s Urgzawi Genocide, Myra is attending university in the city where her ancestors were slaughtered. When the Idrics turn out for their annual “Nothing Happened Here” parade, will she be foolish enough to attend a counterprotest? An attempt to wrestle with the secret symbiotic relationship between atrocity denialism and enthusiasm.Beside Still Waters, The Stellar Beacon: connected
Companion, a Martian settler’s personal suitbot, keeps watch over the home he built in the years, decades, and millennia after his death.Xeno ISO Synth for One-Time Encounter, Baffling Magazine, Issue Eighteen: “sex”
A personal ad from an alien seeking a very kinky encounter with a humaniform robot. “I’m such a naughty arthropod!!”
2023
Jerusalem Syndrome, Samjoko, Winter Issue II, 2022
Two angels in contemporary Jerusalem make their way to the hotel room of a potential prophet.Kept Man, Analog Science Fiction and Fact, Mar-Apr 2023
On an alien world where men never stop growing and women live forever, Bei, the son of a lady and consort of a countess, discovers a disruptive talent for art.The Quality of Life, Shoreline of Infinity, Spring 2023 / 34
In an imperial city under siege, Aeron and Lizabet desperately pursue the one thing that makes life worth living.Last Tango in Ursa Major, IZ Digital
Constellations at war over the music of the Heavenly Choir.Fact Check, OBSOLESCENCE
A junior journalist is attacked by an online troll swarm over an op-ed, and winds up a digital ghost.An Incomplete Transmission, On Spec, #123 VOL 33 No 1
In the early days of Nazi Germany, mathematician Dietrich turns his mind from troublesome politics toward the impossible problem of deciphering a message from the stars.Double Slit, Archive of the Odd, Issue #3: Aibohphobia
Ada, a quantum AI, is split in two to undergo reinforcement learning. But in the world of the waveform, what could never have happened just might change what already has.Tomorrow Is Another Day, Fighting for the Future: Cyberpunk and Solarpunk Tales
Private eye Tai Shifane is good at their job—not easy, in a world where their outsourced cyborg memory resets every night. But instead of an ordinary case, they receive a cryptic command: FIND WORM.The Wishing War, Triangulation 2023: Seven Day Weekend
Horatio Bumberton, hard-charging coal magnate, is the man of the hour—but mysterious foreigner Oul Gerz and his impossible technology have bigger plans.
2022
Grandma Paradox, Analog Science Fiction and Fact, Probability Zero, Mar-Apr 2022
The Honorable Judge Paradox hears the case of Ava 7 Wu-Velazquez, who stands accused of willfully undoing her own existence through murder. But it might turn out more complicated than that . . .One Last Bash Before We All Hit the Road, Fusion Fragment, Issue 10
On the night before Hurricane Naomi destroys Manhattan, the cream of the cream of the city’s elite gather for a mysterious ball held by a masked figure . . . Charles Payseur called it “fun and wicked” in Locus so, two for two.
Reprinted: Little Blue MarbleBury the Living, Spirit Machine
In an alternate jazz age where the technology of spiritualism makes contact with the Other Side an everyday occurrence, Robin, a veteran of the neverending Great War, travels the breath of America, fleeing his lover Benny’s ghost. (Judaism challenge level: Kol Nidre shoutout.)Gateway Drug, Analog Science Fiction and Fact, Probability Zero, May-June 2022
In the days of LSD and interplanetary probes, four friends take a strange trip to the solar system as it never, ever was.and Eurydice, Musings of the Muses
A different take on what exactly happened between the greatest musician of all history and the woman who he pursued beyond death.And I Will Make Thy Name Great, Cast of Wonders
“And the Lord spoke to Abraham, saying, Go from thy country, thy people and thy father’s home, to the land I will show thee. I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee. Thou wilt be a blessing, and I will make thy name great, and Abraham the potter’s son said, no, thank you.” An humorous alternate history in several skeptical prophets. (Judaism challenge level: surprisingly low, but get ready to learn about the etymology of Charlemagne, buddy.)
Reprinted: BFS Horizons #16Santa Is Coming, Alternative Holidays (poetry)
His coming is certain and foretold with dread.
He’s coming. His banner is winter stained read.Captcha Tomorrow, Kaleidotrope, Autumn 2022
Julian, a synth, wants to walk to the park and feed the ducks, but society’s growing prejudice doesn’t make it easy.Humans: A Stratigraphic History, Frozen Wavelets, Issue 7
In a museum beyond time, an ancient stele fragment outlines the history of humanity, from the Stone Age to the Second Time War and beyond.Though the Heavens Fall, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Nov/Dec 2022
The ancient worldship, Carmine, is called to the Jaguar nebula to judge the case of a cyborg fugitive from slavery.Flesh, Motherboard: Terraform, Vice
Two professors at Berkeley found a cannibalism startup that sells vat-grown human meat. But there is a way of things, in the Valley by the Bay: first partnership, then betrayal.
2021
Freemium, Nature: Futures
A tech billionaire horror flash story exploring the encounter between a startup CEO and a message from beyond the stars. My first publication in Nature.
Reprinted and Translated: SF² Concatenation (European selection of Nature: Futures stories), Nova Fantasia (Galicia, Spain, Galego), Manawaker (podcast)Pyramid Scheme, AntipodeanSF, Issue 271
You know that distant friend who gets in touch after years, but all they want to do is sell you on some multi-level marketing scam? Well, what could be more important than THE EGYPTIAN AFTERLIFE?GoGood, The Dread Machine
An interactive-fiction story told from the perspective of an effective-altruism phone app user’s push notifications as an unprecedented plague sweeps the United States. I swear I wrote this before 2020.The Song of Slag, Quaranzine: Volume III
A lyric fable about labor resistance by nuclear-powered factory robots.
Reprinted and Translated: Gwyllion issue 3 (Wales, UK), Nova Fantasia, “A canzón de Slag” (Galicia, Spain, Galego), Radon Journal, Issue 1It Came . . . from Beneath! The Nobilis Erotica Podcast
“When the clitoris rose more than two stories high from the San Francisco Bay, someone called the National Guard.” From the stage of Cliterary Salon to your podcast-loving earbuds.Social Science, Neon Magazine, Issue 51
A man walks to work—and a researcher observes him through binoculars. A woman, alone in her bedroom, is observed by a researcher hidden in her dresser. Surreal, snappy, and spine-tingling.The Ballad of Lobster Island, Shark Week: An Ocean Anthology (poetry)
A 71-line choral verse poem about marine biology, alternative stable states, and the balance of power between lobsters and whelks.Hashtag No Filter, Dark Matter Magazine, Issue 004
The Philip K. Dick-goes-to-Fyre-Festival story of a beach vacation that's not what it seems, an interrogation of the illusory world of social media.
Reprinted: The Rabbit Hole Volume 5: Just...Plain...WeirdOther People's Ghosts, Underland Arcana, Issue 3
In a cozy little post-war town, high school kids (including protagonist Paul) begin to see strange specters. But the supernatural, Boy’s Own-level adventure/mystery hides a darker secret . . . (Judaism challenge level: obscure Deuteronomy easter egg. Or should I call it an afikomen? That’s probably better.)Faux Pas, When Worlds Collide
The sunken fragments of Old New York are one big party as United Earth is finally admitted to the Galactic League! But an obscure misunderstanding of evolutionary biology threatens untold disaster.Men Against the Current, Baffling Magazine, Issue Five
“Twenty-one years Ambroso Garzolo had spent, after the death of his lover, looking for that other Venice . . .” A tale of queer loss, alternate reality, dramatic goth slash blond bear relationships, and a talking skeleton. A little heartwrenching.
Reprinted: Gallery of Curiosities (podcast)The Adjunct of Arkham, Tales to Terrify, Episode 506 (one of two stories)
Jahnavi Trivedi, PhD, has spent years in the pits of despair—looking for a tenure-track job. So when her landlord offers her a position at the obscure Arkham University, she can’t say no. But she shouldn’t have said yes . . .The Ants, the Grasshoppers, the Locusts, and the Fungus, Gallery of Curiosities
Aesop’s classic fable reimagined and absolutely bursting at the seams with the unholy fruits of modern biology. More than one moral.Cozy Killer, 99 Tiny Terrors
Cozy detective Aunt Isabel Rappaport is done, done, done with all the murders. But something that is not quite her nephew is pounding on her door . . .Surgical Strike, The Dark Corner Zine, Issue 6
Anarcho-terrorists with laser-armed drones take aim at a new target—unsolicited dickpics.
Reprinted: Radon Journal, Issue 3Lazaret, Bourbon Penn, 25
Cal, in a bizarre, restricted environment, fights through gender and artifice toward a shrinking sun. Rich Horton was kind enough to call it “truly odd” in Locus.
Reprinted: Project Briar RoseNo More Bad Dreams, LampLight, Volume 10 Issue 2
“In the silent night in the City of Glass of the Kingdom of Quartz on the Continent of Crystal, the Nightmare Men go hunting for sin.” Says it all, really.
Reprinted: Two Hour Transport 2Doe No Harm, Analog Science Fiction and Fact, Jan-Feb 2022
In the not-too-distant future, a car crash victim is rushed unconscious to the hospital—but his medical data privacy settings cause problems for future surgery. “Clever and well-told” in Locus. Appeared in the Tangent Online 2022 Recommended Reading List.
Reprinted: Science Fiction World (China, Chinese), Youth Digest (China, Chinese, young readers)
2020
Escape Plan, Future Digital Threats to Democracy
My first fiction written for an academic audience, this short story set in a hurricane-ravaged America is an exploration of the near-future evolution of youth politics in response to tech and climate upheaval.Rocket Man, Interzone, Issue 286
An alternate-history Cold War story told from the perspective of a reluctant American nuclear missile pilot. One of Strange Horizons’s Short Fiction Treasures. Long-listed for the BSFA Awards.
Reprinted: MetastellarBaboon, Brain, Brick, The New Modality, Issue 1
A story about a young student who suddenly acquires memories of a utopian alternate history, and how it shapes the course of our own future. Makes you cry if you’re into geopolitics. Mentioned in Maria Haskins’s September 2020 Short Fiction Roundup at Curious Fictions.
Reprinted: The Chorochronos Archives, Uncharted, Madam President (genderflipped)Miss Bulletproof Comes Out of Retirement, GigaNotoSaurus
A story about rural lesbian superhero ex-goons for the small-god mafia, and what happens when their retirement is disrupted by the offer of one last job . . .
Among A.C. Wise’s favorite short fiction of 2020. Reviewed on the Wizards vs. Lesbians podcast, where it occasioned some spirited debate.Everybody’s Got a Hungry Heart, Translunar Travelers Lounge, Issue 3
A story about two different avatars of desirability, and what happens when they cross paths on a lonely hearts cruise and don’t exactly fall in love. Recognized in Friction Literary’s October Literary Horoscope: “Aquarius”.
Reprinted: Podcastle, fresh.inkJust In Time, Write Ahead/The Future Looms, Vol. 11
A tale of an app that brings you just what you want, before you even want it yourself . . . almost exactly.
Reprinted: The Mods: Cyberpunk StoriesBaba Yaga’s Apprentice, Dear Leader Tales
In 2014, a journalism professor bemoans the dwindling interest in political news. But Baba Yaga has a spell to fix that . . .
Reprinted: Dark Cheer: Cryptids Emerging (Volume Silver) (UK)Go Paleo! Sci Phi Journal, 2020/4 – Winter Issue
Most diets have complicated, absurd rules. But not the PaleoBomb diet, which says you should simply eat the natural food of your ancestral environment. For modern humans? That’s the blasted, apocalyptic wasteland that existed in the aftermath of the Cataclysm. My first publication in continental Europe and my first story that mentions Beyonce by name. As a god, of course.
Reprinted: Sci-Fi Lampoon Winter 2021
2019
Flash Crash, Escape Pod
My first published fiction, “Flash Crash” is a science fiction story about nuclear armageddon, strong AI with hard launch, finance startups, New York autumns, love, grief and loss. It is an unapologetic tearjerker. I’m proud to say it makes me cry; I hope it makes you cry too. Mentioned in Matt Levine’s “Money Stuff” column at Bloomberg.
Reprinted and Translated: PROBE 187 (South Africa), Daikaijuzine, Bli Panika (Israel, Hebrew), The Science Fiction Tarot, Learning to Be Human (hardcover)Power of Attorney, Write Ahead/The Future Looms, Vol 5
A story about a robot (with no feelings, certainly not, why would you suggest that?) who finds itself in the middle of a family crisis, with themes of family strife, aging, death, and legacy.
Reprinted: Fission #1, Spawn of War and Deathiness, CommuterLit.com, PenumbricThe Reinvention of Death, Infinite Lives: Short Tales of Longevity
A story about a robot (with feelings, undeniable feelings), whose purpose is to observe and appreciate the natural beauty of an immortal world. It’s a little bit sad, a little bit lyrical, and dare I say, quite a bit more hopeful than I sometimes get.
Reprinted and Translated: Non-Binary Review, Issue #23: Apocalypse (Best of the Net Nominee 2021), Nova Fantasia, “A reinvención da morte” (Galicia, Spain, Galego)The Prince of Svalbard: A Saga of the Thaw, Analog Science Fiction and Fact, Nov-Dec 2019
A climate change adventure in the voice of a Norse saga.
Reprinted: Little Blue Marble (Canada), Teleport Magazine, Dragon Gems (Winter 2024 Edition)Babies Come from Earth, Motherhood | The London Reader
An elegiac, pregnancy-horror duet between a woman on a distant world, where humans cannot carry children to term, and an assembly-line ob-gyn on Earth who works to ship babies to the stars. Reviewed favorably in Locus.
Reprinted and Translated: Teoría Omicrón (Ecuador), Nova Fantasia, “Os bebés veñen da Terra” (Galicia, Spain, Galego), Fusion Fragment, Issue #6 (Canada, reviewed in Locus), Algernon, “Titad tulevad Maalt” (Estonia, Estonian), Helion SF, “Privind în sus/ Bebelușii vin de pe Pământ” (Romania, Romanian), InterNova (Germany), Non-Binary Review, Issue #30: Family, Immigrant Sci-Fi Short Stories (hardcover), SF Terra 282 (Netherlands, Dutch, available by request), Axxón, «Los bebés vienen de la Tierra» (Argentina, Spanish)