STORIES

“From Them Prostrate I Flee”

“I don’t have any trouble remembering my dad, though. I have no trouble remembering his rage, my fear, and the way the ground opened up and it was the only way out that April night in 1987.”

Stories We Tell After Midnight, Volume 3
Crone Girls Press
30 October 2021

A teenager finds an unexpected escape from trauma in the garage, and it will haunt him the rest of his life.

My latest horror story was out in time for Halloween! “From Them Prostrate I Flee” is available now in Stories We Tell After Midnight, Volume 3, the latest anthology from Crone Girls Press and edited by Rachel A. Brune. The ebook is available for purchase from Amazon in paperback and Kindle, and in Kindle Unlimited for subscribers of that service.

I’m grateful to have been asked to contribute and I find I’m in astonishing company; the other stories are terrific. Brune is not only a fantastic editor but she’s also a gifted storyteller, which shows up in how she orders stories in the anthologies she edits to let arcs of emotions, connections, and parallels between stories emerge, and also in her own writing, including her recent collection of short stories, Side Roads.

My story “From Them Prostrate I Flee” begins with an older narrator looking back at a traumatic childhood incident that takes an unnatural and life-changing turn when a desperate wish is granted. I wanted to explore how trauma cycles back unexpectedly, even years and much counseling later. The writing took me to unexpected places that challenged my own understanding of trauma and recovery. I hope readers find the story engaging and thought-provoking.

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