Nonfiction
The Sun Still Shines on the Worst Day of Your Life
Published in Under the Sun: a journal of creative nonfiction
Alida Winternheimer’s “The Sun Still Shines on the Worst Day of Your Life” is one of the most honest and moving essays I have ever read, and one of the best-written, word-for-word and sentence-by-sentence. I will return to it and continue to learn from it and be sharing it. Thank you, Alida.
~Rick Kempa in the “Current Issue” comments at Under the Sun.
Listed as a Notable Essay in 2022 Best American Essays. Nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net.
Listen to Alida read the essay and her interview on the Under the Sun Podcast.
Fiction
The Herd
Published in Water~Stone Review, vol 16
Part of collection of linked stories – all set in the Upper Midwest, all gothic – “The Herd” is inspired by actual events on the St. Croix River.
Nominated for the Pushcart Prize.
Creatures
Published in Midwestern Gothic, vol 10
“Creatures” is a sister story to “The Herd.” The villian of one is the protagonist in the other. This story explores the ordinary life of the person we all fear.
God’s Mirror
Published in Confluence, vol 16.1
“God’s Mirror” is an excerpt from my historical work-in-progress of the same title. This novel is inspired by the French, medeival Christian mystic who was burned at the stake for heresy in Paris in 1310.
Marguerite is a girl, embarking on a pilgrimage in this excerpt.
Winner of the Confluence Prize.
Wild Animal
Published in Storm Cellar Quarterly, vol 2
“Wild Animal” is a fable set in one of those small, regional zoos that has been around for ages. The question our narrator keeps asking himself is, “Who is in and who is out?”
Nominated for the Pushcart Prize.
Lover
Published in Melusine, vol 3
“Lover” is an exploration of the meaning of the word and a woman who comes to despise stories about tragic lovers.
