Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Award for Imaginative Fiction

Featured Image: Mary Shelley Original Drawing by CaitlinMcCarthyArt .

After nearly two years, I am finally getting two short stories published, and I am beyond thrilled! One of them is “Nova’s Burial Club” which will be published in Rosebud Magazine, a print magazine that has seen the words of Stephen King, Ray Bradbury, Ursula K. Le Guin, Sam Shepard, and more grace its pages!

I am the winner of the Mary Shelley Award for Imaginative Fiction and will also receive a $1000 prize in addition to my publication. The story will be published in Rosebud #62 this December, and is available at many Barnes & Noble stores (I am also buying several of the issues, so if you’d like one, please let me know!).

“Nova’s Burial Club” came about as I was deep into my Victorian studies during an online Oxford course. Without giving the story away, one of the early instances of insurance-like ‘clubs’ of the Victorian Era, which served to ensure that each member could afford a proper burial for their ailing or recently departed family member, serves as the backbone for this story. I also drew inspiration from the Victorian fascination with (often poisonous) ‘medical’ tinctures and historical beliefs about teratology, or birth defects. It is a rather strange tale, and the uncanny art of Max Ernst helped me to visualize some of the images I wished to create with my words:

I am curious to see what you all will think ❤

The second story of mine is forthcoming in an anthology – more details soon!