News & Events
March 18, 2026
All through 2025, Little Fortified Stories has had a great run garnering attention and prizes, some of which sent me to other countries for award ceremonies! A first and second place win in The Plaza Prizes took me to Malta, and winning Grand Prize in the international Eyeland Book Awards took me to wonderful Athens, with a lovely celebration amongst local authors. I am now on track to begin a third book. I’m so thankful for the recognition Little Fortified Stories has received. Next up, I’m excited I’ll soon be working as a poet on a collaboration with composer Rodney Sharman and musicians Mark Takeshi Mcgregor, Adrian Verdejo and Cathy Fern Lewis for Three Art Songs for voice, flute and viola.
Most Recent Book Awards: Little Fortified Stories
2026: Eric Hoffer Book Award: Finalist (Da Vinci Eye Award for Superior Cover Art)
2025: Shelf Unbound Best Indie Book Competition: Top Notable Indie
2025: New England Book Festival: Honorable Mention (Compilations/Anthologies)
2025: City of Victoria Book Prize: Winner (Fiction)
2025: Storytrade Book Awards: Finalist (Fiction: Short Story Collection)
2025: New York Book Festival: Runner-up (Wild Card) and Honorable Mention (General Fiction)
2025: International Rubery Book Award 2025: Shortlist (Short Fiction)
2025: Indie Reader Discovery Awards 2025: Winner (Short Stories: Fiction)
2025: Next Generation Indie Book Awards: Finalist (Best Cover Design: Fiction)
2025: Independent Press Award 2025: Distinguished Favorite (Short Stories)
2025: Feathered Quill Book Awards 2025: Finalist (Short Story/Anthology)
2024: Eyelands Book Awards 2024: Grand Prize Winner (Short Story Published)
2024: Royal Dragonfly Book Award 2024: Honorable Mention (Collection of Short Stories)
2024: American Writing Awards 2024: Finalist (Short Story)
2024: Best Book Awards 2024 (AmericanBookFest): Finalist (Short Stories)
2024: Literary Titan Book Award 2024: Winner, Gold Book Award (Fiction)
Publication (Individual Stories)
2025 Geist, Issue 129, “Observations from a Visit to the Museum of Saint Barbara”
2025 subTerrain Issue, #99, “Love’s Season,” “Last Pinhole to the World”
September 20, 2024
Little Fortified Stories is now out in the big, wide world. I’ve been busy with book launches, interviews, podcasts and readings. It’s an exciting and busy time, but I did manage to squeeze in some holiday stays and swimming, swimming, swimming! I have two collaborative readings coming up and two judging roles. I’m so grateful for the warm reception my book has received.
Book Awards: Little Fortified Stories
2024: Firebird Book Awards 2024: Winner (Short Stories), Winner (Weird Book genre)
2024: Paris Book Festival Award 2024: Runner-up (Wild Card category)
Publication (Individual Stories)
2024: The Seaboard Review, “Daughter of the North Wind” and “A Thin White Humming”
2024: Not An Island, “The Aunt (Nada),” Summer 2024
2023: The Plaza Prizes International Literary Competition Anthology 1, “Ove Eriksson,” “Ink in a Dye Bath,” “What She Heard as Music”
2023: Scottish Arts Trust Anthology Volume 5 Solemates and Other Stories, “Barker’s Quality Wood Floor Cream”
2023: Federation of BC Writers Literary Contest Anthology 2, “The Map of My Wanderings”
2023: Hologram: Homage to P.K. Page anthology, League of Canadian Poets, Toronto, Ontario, editors Yvonne Blomer and D.C. Reid, “Consider the Pangolin” and “Black Flag Warning”
Judging
2025: The International Plaza Prizes: Flash and Microfiction
2024: Federation of BC Writers Literary Award: Flash Fiction
Readings/Launches
October 10, 2024: Book launch and reading with MAC Farrant at Small Gods Brewing in Sidney, BC
October 28, 2024: Book launch and reading with Yvonne Blomer at Small Gods Brewing in Sidney, BC.
May 10, 2024
I’ve had several more book and fiction triumphs roll in since the last news announcement. The next big thing is the release of my new book Little Fortified Stories on May 17, 2024. I am so excited! I’m so thankful for all the readers, followers and judges out there who read my work. Your support is greatly appreciated.
Flash/Micro Fiction Awards: Individual Stories
2023: Joy Kogawa Award for Fiction: Longlisted (Flash Fiction)
2023: Smokelong Quarterly Grand Micro Competition: Longlisted
Book Awards: Music from a Strange Planet
2024: 2024 American Legacy Book Awards: Finalist (Short Story Fiction)
2024: Independent Press Award 2024: Distinguished Favorite (Short Stories)
2023: Independent Author Network Book of the Year Awards Contest: Finalist (Short Story Collection)
2023: American Book Fest Best Book Awards 2023: Finalist (Fiction: Short Story)
2023: The Canadian Book Club Award 2023: Finalist (Anthology/Short Story)
2023: Sunshine Coast Writers & Editors Society Book Award 2023: Winner (Fiction)
2023: International Book Awards 2023: Finalist (Best New Fiction)
November 15, 2023
In anticipation of my collection of flash and microfiction being published in 2024, I’ve been entering flash stories to contests this year and late in 2022. Results have been good! I’m also happy for my book, Music from a Strange Planet, to have received several book awards. Thank you to all the readers and judges out there who read my work. Your support and comments mean a great deal to me.
Flash Fiction Awards
2023: The Plaza Prizes International Competition 2023: Winner (Microfiction) (₤750)
2023: The Plaza Prizes International Competition 2023: Second Place (Flash Fiction) (₤250)
2023: New Flash Fiction Writers Competition 2022: Double Longlisted
2023: Edinburgh Award for Flash Fiction: Shortlisted
2022: Federation of BC Writers Literary Contest 2022: Winner; Triple Shortlisted (Flash Fiction) ($350)
Book Awards
2023: Indie Reader Discovery Award 2023: Winner (Short Story Collection)
2023: Firebird Book Awards 2023: Winner (New Fiction) and Winner (Short Stories)
2023: The Wishing Shelf Book Awards 2022: Winner (Adult Fiction)
2023: Literary Titan Book Award: Gold Book Award Winner
2022: Eyelands International Book Awards: Finalist (Published Short Story Collection)
And a surprise I never knew about!:
The Hong Kong Review nominated my poem “Stars Are Small Holes” for the Pushcart Prize 2022 (Poetry)
