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FICTION & Essays

Greyhounds: Stories

From “Allies / Strangers”

…Entering a casino on the outskirts of Las Vegas, they could smell the Prime Rib Special, see grandmother hookers in neon tracksuits finger the collars of gray old men, and swipe their claws over the brims of truck drivers' caps. They used the bathrooms in that casino (it was the reason, they had both agreed, the only reason to stop)—bathrooms that smelled like citrus cleaner and cigarillos.

They stood some distance away from each other, in awe of that ugliness, smeared like mascara across the desert. Simultaneously they beheld the slot machines, surveillance video cameras, orange and royal-blue carpet patterns, blister-faced security guards. They peered over their shoulders as if their lives might be watching, and found themselves alone.

Between their fingers, they rubbed dollar bills together, exchanged them for tokens. They decided to play. They pulled down on the greasy metal levers, hoping for everything in the world. They had become allied strangers, pedestrians on the same street corner, waiting for the signal to proceed. They watched them—lemon, cherry, watermelon, apple, banana, pear—fly by, landing: cherry, cherry, cherry, bing, bing, bing, bing.

Read excerpt in BOMB Magazine

The Australian: A Novel

"This city is a simulacrum,” says Luc, ignoring the Australian’s hand and tossing his skinned apple into a nearby trash bin. "It is an artificial representation of an idea, a nightmare that we pretend is a memory—that we tell ourselves is a reality. A copy of a copy of a thing that never existed. Tell me something." He finally looks at the Australian. "Do you think this city should be here? Would you cry if it burned to the ground?"
The Australian isn’t sure what is expected of him, but he nods vigorously.
"Of course you would, " Luc continues. "You would cry, you would weep like a child whose ice cream fell into the sand on a hot summer day at the beach. That does not surprise me, not at all. Do you know why you would cry?"
"Because it would be a huge tragedy?" He senses he is over his head. But although Luc terrifies him, he is eager for him to proceed.
"No," says Luc, staring off into the distance, where a swatch of city skyline rises up beyond the trees. "You would cry because you believe in this city—the buildings, the subways, this fence, that jungle gym. When you see a water fountain, you think, ‘That is something I must walk around.’ When you see a parking meter, you think, ‘That is something I need to avoid.’ Do you know what that makes you?"
"No," says the Australian, suddenly very self-conscious about his spandex shorts and considering the possibility that he is in the presence of genius.
"It makes you part of the simulacrum," says Luc. "That is what I’m here to fix."

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Anthologies

“Let This Be Familiar,” Against Death: 35 Essays on Living (Ed. Elee Kraljii Gardiner)

  • Anvil Press, 2019

  • Buy: Paperback

  • Also available from your favorite independent bookstore, bookshop.org, Powell’s online, Amazon, etc.

“The Sun,” Not That Bad: Dispatches From Rape Culture (Ed. Roxane Gay)

  • Harper Collins, 2018

  • Buy: Paperback ~ Audiobook ~ Ebook

  • Also available from your favorite independent bookstore, bookshop.,org, Powell’s online, Amazon, Audible, etc.

Selected Short Fiction

Selected Essays & Memoir