prose /prōz/
In both fiction and nonfiction, I love exploring elements of the transgressive and political, particularly through the lenses of queer seuxality and religion.
My inspirations include Ocean Vuong, Kazuo Ishiguro, Sally Rooney, Madeline Miller, Donal Ryan, Amal El-Mohtar, Mary Oliver, and Anaïs Nin.
published & awarded
01
Lesbian Communion
Blending sexual desire and Catholic symbolism through lyrical prose, this flash fiction piece explores queer love and religious trauma. It was awarded 2nd place in Charlotte Lit's "Lit/South" awards and published in the inaugural edition of Litmosphere Magazine (Spring 2022). It was also a finalist in Women on Writing's Flash Fiction Contest (Fall 2021), and a contender in the top 10% of The Lascaux Review's prize for flash fiction.
Click image to read.
02
The Writer
An eerie novella inspired by the concept of liminality, "The Writer" was published in the November 2020 issue of "The Write Launch."
Click image to read.
03
Letter Writing
A piece of sapphic flash-fiction written in 2020, "Letter Writing" was published in Flash Fiction North.
Click image to read.
(cmd+f: Kress)
currently on submission
01
TAKE ME APART
An investigative journalist wakes up in a sprawling compound, with no memories and no name. Nothing but a note from himself that he’s been given exclusive access to a world-changing story.
Supposedly, the deal he made was simple: he gets to break the news of a company spearheading a groundbreaking technology. He’ll spend a few weeks in their compound, and then when he turns in a draft, he’ll get his memories back—and lose any memory of his time there. The company’s privacy will be protected, and his career will be made.
The company, Ouroboros, is buying bodies—corpses—and reanimating them with AI. Need a maid or a mindless soldier? Buy their cheapest model. Need an assassin—or a wife? Consider A106: their top model, a literally flawless woman, who can meet your every need: killing, [redacted], and even feeling.
As the journalist, a trans man, gets to know A106, he finds himself drawn to the irresistible fantasy of her—yet he also can’t resist peering into the strange underbelly of the company and its mysterious origins.
But A106 begins insinuating that he, too, is a corpse, only allowed to think he’s real for the sake of an experiment. In a desperate ploy to assure his place amongst the powerful men who run the company—not the female bodies on which it thrives—he finds himself becoming increasingly more complicit in the horrors of Ouroboros.
SEVERANCE meets hints of TENDER IS THE FLESH and POOR THINGS, in this queer speculative fiction best described as NEVER LET ME GO for a post-Roe world or as “Ex Machina” if it was directed by Emerald Fennell. Exploring the inherently violent, violatory, and voyeuristic nature of womanhood—and the power dynamics of both gender and class—TAKE ME APART is complete at 70,000 words.
02
SUGAR CHICKEN DAY
A memoir likely to appeal to fans of Donal Ryan's QUEEN OF DIRT ISLAND and Glennon Doyle’s UNTAMED, this tongue-in-cheek, narrative nonfiction chronicles the life of a blended family in Appalachia. It includes both my mother's story and my own -- each rife with abusive relationships, battles (and sometimes tragic failure) to save loved ones from substance abuse, incredibly strange paths to true love, beautiful moments, and ultimately an immense joy in all the messiness of life. It is best described as a real-life, far stranger, funnier, and more female (and queer) version of DEMON COPPERHEAD.
I am currently working with my professional mentor, New York Times bestselling author Alex Kotlowitz, to refine a memoir proposal.
03
Short Fiction
"The Billboard," Short Story, 2,500 words:
An explicit billboard erected on main-street shapes the culture of a rural town, and the futures of its young inhabitants.
"Red Thread," Short Story, 3,100 words:
A child learns of the red yarn that will forever connect her, and the women around her, to the man who was her assailant.
"My Terrible First Kiss and Trump's Second Election," Narrative Nonfiction, 3,600 words:
Part personal essay and part op-ed, this piece explores coming-of-age in a politically fraught landscape.
"The Day it Came," Flash Fiction, 440 words:
Nuclear fallout comes when a queer couple least expect it.
works in progress
01
THE BURNING
Best described as a sapphic retelling of Wuthering Heights, THE BURNING follows two girls in old-time Appalachia – displaced Cherokee youth, Helena, and cold-hearted folk witch, Catalina – whose lives have been entwined since childhood. Equally vicious and resilient, the women fight through lives of disempowerment – and find special solace in each other, as well as something far more dangerous…
02
SECOND COMING
When a trans and queer couple miraculously conceive and decide to keep a child, their peaceful life together becomes the impetus for a political and religious coup. Told in a love letter from one member of the couple to her unborn child the night before her forced birth and execution, SECOND COMING is best described as Nawal El Saadawi’s WOMAN AT POINT ZERO meets Agustina Bazterrica’s THE UNWORTHY.
03
THE PEOPLE SHALL CALL ME REX
A gender-bend retelling of the story of Brutus as a power-hungry queer woman in an ancient society–on a tragic path towards being forced to betray and slay her brother–THE PEOPLE SHALL CALL ME REX is a literary historical fiction that fits in the vein of Madeline Miller’s CIRCE and THE SONG OF ACHILLES.
04
INFLUENCE
It’s time for the yearly OutReach Awards, a tiered system of prizes for female influencers using their platforms for good. Twenty-four political baddies, education queens, health goddesses, and more are selected to come stay at a multi-million dollar AirBnB in the desert outside of LA and #collab while they’re eliminated in each round of awards. When mangled animal carcasses start showing up in the infinity pool and a few pagan altars are discovered, @marxxxist.barbie dismisses it as beauty rituals gone a bit too far. But when one of the frontrunners, @venus.thirst.trap, goes missing, it starts to become clear that something isn’t right… the girls anticipated being under surveillance, but now it seems like someone is about to make the ultimate statement. Best described as DUNGEON CRAWLER CARL meets “Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen,” INFLUENCE is a social commentary thriller likely to appeal to fans of YESTERYEAR and GIRL DINNER.
04
GOD'S FAVORITE [REDACTED]
In the tiny Appalachian town of Lacuna, everything centers around church. From the time Judith is born, strange miracles surround her; as she grows, she becomes an honorary saint of the rural community, with tokens like locks of her hair becoming sacred relics. But as she struggles with the weight of her divine burden, Judith turns to increasingly dark means of trying to save her town from poverty and desperation. Best described as Ethel Cain’s “Preacher’s Daughter” album meets “MaXXXine,” GOD’S FAVORITE [redacted] is a literary thriller likely to appeal to fans of Otessa Moshfegh.
more
For information on shelved novels, samples of any of the above works, and more, please reach out via the email below.