Stories

Short stories

TEN TOES

A 1,500-word flash fiction in which a spider in a pantry observes the doings of the human occupant who lets him live there. (Submitting to online contests and publishers.)
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Currently seeking representation

THE FRONT RANGE (87K, Book 1 of the Great Divide)

Ellie’s job studying mountain lions in Colorado just crashed and burned in spectacular fashion. Wealthy landowner Don Halford, claiming that the burgeoning Suburbia leaves no room for dangerous predators, has put Ellie’s study species – and her job – on the gallows. For Ellie, nearly 30, single, and practically a cougar herself, it’s a cruel finale to a career riddled with failure.

To clear her head, she runs to her favorite counselor: the Idaho wilderness. And two days in, cougars become the least of her worries.

After a freak accident involving fire, flood, and a frightfully inebriated stranger, she’s stumbled into the last remnant of Earth as it used to be. It is Cyvnos, pristine and beautiful, hidden away for 1500 years. The people here will do whatever it takes to protect it, including killing Ellie for trespassing. And the jerk who accidentally dragged her here, Jeremy, is one of them.

The more time Ellie spends trying to escape, however, the more she feels drawn to this incredible place with its mysterious people – and to coarse, brooding Jeremy, who can’t bring himself to kill her and is as full of secrets as Cyvnos itself. Ellie sees something in them that's undeniably tied to her world – some force, some magic, something preserved in her memories of the broken place she left behind. That’s why, if she can escape with her life, her next move is clear: she must return to Colorado and fight for whatever dying magic still survives in the wildlife she loves, even if it means risking her career – and possibly her life – to stand up to Don Halford.

There’s more at stake than cougars. Cyvnos may have fanned Ellie’s ebbing hope back to life, but if the lions die, that hope dies with them. 

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Works in progress

THE BITTERROOTS (80K, Book 2 of the Great Divide; completed but being revised)

Now that Ellie Shandon knows about Cyvnos and the Anadel, she's struggling to convince Jeremy to let her help protect it. A lobbyist named Richard Kohler has succeeded in removing the federal protection from the wilderness that keeps Cyvnos safe, but all Jeremy does is leave Ellie at a visitor's center in eastern Idaho to lead tours and garner public opposition to Kohler.

When the leaders of Cyvnos decide to take matters into their own hands, Jeremy knows he must stop them. Exposure risks getting Cyvnos annihilated once and for all, but stopping them means betraying his own people and risking revealing his deepest secret - and, worst of all, putting Ellie in the crossfire.

THE RIVER OF NO RETURN (Book 3 of the Great Divide, 85K and nearing completion)

(So many spoilers!) Jeremy's secret is out. Ellie teeters on the brink of death. Kohler still threatens. And time is running out to heal the Great Divide.

M.O.D.

An Adult romantic mystery. The spy in Rachel's best-selling book is the man of her dreams - until he shows up at her door. She blew his cover. Now he's pissed.

SPLENDID QUETZALS

A YA magical realism tale based on my 7-week expedition to Cusuco National Park in Honduras. Jungles, venomous snakes, Mayan folklore, spiders in the outhouse, and - to make matters worse - a bunch of high schoolers thrown together in a remote base camp.