I write fiction, essays, and prose poems. My linked short story collection, Garbage Night at the Opera, won the 2011 Chandra Prize for Short Fiction and is forthcoming from BkMk Press (University of Missouri – Kansas City) in October. Stories from the collection have appeared in North American Review, Cimarron Review, Hunger Mountain, Night Train, and others. These stories have received four Pushcart Prize nominations and Special Mention in Pushcart Prize XXVIII.

I received a Fulbright Fellowship in Creative Writing to work on a novel set in Italy, Bel Casino, which is one of two novels currently in the works. My essays and prose poems have been published in Eclectica, Silk Road, Jelly Bucket, r.kv.r.y, and others.

I teach short story, flash fiction, and multi-genre classes for the UCLA Writers’ Extension and private workshops from my home in Midtown Sacramento. I’ve previously taught writing for New Mexico State University, National University’s MFA program, UC Davis Extension, and Sacramento Public Library’s I Street Press.

I received a Master of Fine Arts degree in Fiction from New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, and a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts from the New School in New York City, where I was born and raised.

I was named a “Best Friend to Fiction Writers” by Sacramento News & Review in the 2011 Best of Sacramento issue for my work with the award winning reading series Stories on Stage and Master Teacher Weekend Workshops.