Mountains, Malbec, and Men

Allyn Thompson thrives by setting and accomplishing goals. Engineering degree? Check. Home ownership? Check. Husband? Check and uncheck. Baby? In progress. After another negative pregnancy test following her third IUI (intrauterine insemination) round, Allyn wonders if the universe thinks she’s unfit for motherhood. Given her mom, ex-husband, and ex-boyfriend discouraged pregnancy, maybe she should abandon her quest.

Allyn confides in her therapist that she’s spiraling, not knowing if she should continue fighting against her diminishing fertility odds. Her therapist encourages her to take a trekking trip because it has helped Allyn find clarity in the past. Hiking is her haven despite her family’s insistence that a Black woman alone in the woods is weird and dangerous.

But then the pandemic closes trails and shutters Allyn’s ability to resolve her baby goals. When the shutdown ends, Allyn is confronted with crowded trails and a culturally changing America. And just when she figures out what her next steps are for motherhood, a close friend asks to be her partner and father her child. Instead of delight, Allyn has gnawing doubts—about him as a partner, about him as a father, and about the America her child would inherit.

Sever (Novella)

In the near future, the VEIL renders democratic governments obsolete. The Council controls the largest technology network, and they have deemed it compulsory to have the VEIL, an ocular bio-tech implant installed at birth. 

But not everyone agrees with what has become of the VEIL. Samantha flees The Council’s network, harboring a secret. A pregnant Ramsey doesn’t want her unborn child VEILed. Her husband has her committed for re-programming. A young Emilie removes her VEIL, a crime, and is recruited to join Verdade—an organization whose mission is to destroy the monopoly the VEIL has on human life. Severed from VEILed society, these three women must contend with how to survive in a world that eradicates free thought.

By the Blood Moon (Novel)

Description forthcoming.

Sweet Charlotte (Short Story)

When Vic and her boyfriend Rafe take a trip to his hometown in Southern Georgia, she’s worried that his parents haven’t warmed up to her but believes a marriage proposal is imminent. While visiting, she learns his hometown is obsessed with the origins of a new fruit - black watermelon. She too becomes enthralled as she tries to decipher if its sweetness is sinister.