WRITING
poetry & prose
IN THE GREAT QUIET
spring 2026 from Lake Union - read more here
A sweeping, atmospheric historical novel in the tradition of
Cold Mountain and The Four Winds, following a tenacious pioneer's race into the unknown and based on the author's ancestor.
PREORDER MAGIC CITY BOOKS via BOOKSHOP.ORG
Amazon Bestseller!
LAURA'S WRITING
Laura writes historical fiction, fabulism (magical realism), poetry, and speculative fiction that fits in the upmarket or bookclub space. Her writing has the immersive worldbuilding, lyrical prose, and ecofiction of Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy with the feminist, revisionist history of The Women by Kristin Hannah. Other comparable works would be Charles Frazier's Cold Mountain, Emily St. John Mandel's Sea of Tranquility, Adrienne Young's The Unmaking of June Farrow, and Delia Owen's Where the Crawdads Sing.
Her stories typically include a strong female protagonist & an exploration of the dynamic connection between women through time. There's also typically adventure, folklore or mythology, and a slow-burn romance.
She is represented by Catherine Cho of Paper Literary.
BLUE BEYOND THE SEA
a short story, forthcoming as a free ebook gift for newsletter subscribers
previously published by Bottlecap Press
Something calls from the wilderness, but
we must choose to answer.
Bavaria, 1108. Edigna flees an arranged marriage and creates a home in the hollow of a linden tree. She illuminates manuscripts for a nearby abbey, and as she becomes a legendary story told round fires, she begins to lose her grip on the physical world. She doesn’t want to be only a story: she wants to be a body too.
A magical short story that reimagines the medieval legend of Edigna of Puch as the original Rapunzel, for fans of V. E. Schwab’s Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, Naomi Novik’s Uprooted, and Susanna Clarke’s Piranesi. Inspired by the surprising blue fragments of lapis lazuli found by archeologists in the remains of a medieval woman’s teeth, Blue Beyond the Sea is a rewrite of the history of women
in art.
Novelette, 8,500 words - Historical Fiction, Fabulist, Literary
"The Lost Colors" in Pleiades: Literature in Context, in spring 2024 issue
"hey, we're in the hospital again" in Fourteen Hills, in summer 2024 issue
"Folklore of Past Lives" in South Carolina Review, in spring 2024 issue
"the other day, a woman" in Enchanted Living Magazine, autumn 2023 issue, available at Barnes & Noble
"weight" in Rust & Moth, summer 2023 issue
"atmospheric instability (noun)" in Chapter House Journal, winter 2023 issue
"Smallflower Desert Chicory: an Auguring," forthcoming in Calla Press, spring 2025
"Modernday Mythologies" in 3Elements Review, winter 2024 issue
"Alongside the Gorge" in Wildness, winter 2024 issue
"Timelapse; or Reasons to Pause" in Pulp Literature, in summer 2024 issue
"excavation" in Arkansas Review, spring 2023 issue
"Oat, Thistle, Muddy Citrine, Butterscotch," forthcoming on JMWW, spring 2025
POETRY
publications
"mother (noun): goddess of time" in Enchanted Living Magazine, autumn 2023 issue, available at Barnes & Noble
"Faded-Mulberry Lunchbox: Or, I've Loved You, Twenty-Two Years or So," forthcoming in The Broadkill Review, summer 2025 issue
"On the 1980s Chintz Floral Sofa" forthcoming in The MacGuffin, spring 2025 issue
"Perhaps, a Moment of Stasis," forthcoming in Calla Press, spring 2025
"Flooded; or, I'm tired of your opinions," November 2024 issue of Chronogram Magazine
"Another Tuesday, Maybe Thursday," in Vine Leaves Press, spring 2025
"regret (noun): a time traveler" on One Sentence Poems, winter 2022
"nostos" in Frost Meadow Review, summer 2022 issue
"achillea millefolium" in Frost Meadow Review, summer 2022 issue
THREE WORDS FOR WHAT WE'VE LOST
a fabulism short story published in The MacGuffin
Honorable Mention for the 91st Annual Writer's Digest Writing Competition, Literary category
In modern day (2022) Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Bavaria a museum guide wonders about the medieval concept of doubles -- and if her own shadow is detaching from her body. "Three Words for What We've Lost" explores pandemic isolation & trauma and the many versions of self & identity.
WE BECAME THE FOREST
creative nonfiction and fabulism blend, forthcoming in The Cimarron Review
A creative nonfiction piece exploring motherhood, a child's chronic illness, and artificial intelligence. A few moments, in the woodland, where artificial contrasts natural. The yearning to take away a child's pain, the desire to return to a simpler time, and a bit of magic, blurring dreams and reality.
HONEYCOMB: OR, THE FORGOTTEN MOMENTS
a speculative historical fiction short story, on submission
A short story linking everyday moments of women's lives throughout time: the ancient world, modern day, medieval england, and the future.
BLUE BEYOND THE SEA
a historical fiction, fabulism, and folklore retelling, published as a chapbook with Bottlecap Press
forthcoming as a free gift for newsletter subscribers
Bavaria, 1108. Edigna flees an arranged marriage and creates a home in the hollow of a linden tree. A magical short story that reimagines the medieval legend of Edigna of Puch as the original Rapunzel, for fans of Naomi Novik’s Uprooted and Susanna Clarke’s Piranesi. Blue Beyond the Sea is a rewrite of the history of women in art.
GORGE
a speculative fiction short story, on submission
A speculative story set in 2032, exploring artificial intelligence, chronic illness, and mother and daughter relationships. One of Laura's daughters has type one diabetes, and this story asks questions about some of the potential horrors that could unfold with artifiical intellegence.
PROSE
