Teaching Philosophy

My goal as an arts educator is demystification. The arts in general and writing in particular are cloaked in a penumbra of ideological, psycho-social, and economic obstacles and processes that serve to limit access to both creative identities and cultural production infrastructure. In my workshops and mentor relationships, I strive to guide writers through the shadows cast by capital and totality, and to teach them how to find their own way as published professionals.

Educational Background

• MFA, Professional Writing, Western Connecticut State University
• BA, Multidisciplinary Studies, SUNY Stony Brook

Areas of Expertise

• Creative Writing/Fiction
• Personal Essay
• Graphic Narrative
• Publishing
• Literary Translation

Meaningful Action in the World

Creative writing programs in both the academy and the community have historically valorized middle-class modes of writing (e.g., psychological realism, the personal essay of the bourgeois experience), leaving much unsaid. Ironically, genre fiction is where historically the unsayable can be expressed—crime fiction is a critique of state and capital, SF as its generic premise contends that the status quo must and will change, and horror and fantasy revise and detourn the atavistic ideologies of the pre-modern age. By teaching genre fiction as a set of craft discourses and historical traditions, I help carve out a space for the subaltern to find their voices.

Selected Publications

I Am Providence (Skyhorse/NSB, 2016)

The People’s Republic of Everything: Stories (Tachyon Publications, 2018)

Move Under Ground (Dover Publications reissue, 2020)

The Second Shooter (Solaris, 2021)

Short fiction appearances: Best American Mystery Stories, Tor.com, Year’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy, New Haven Review, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine

Essay/criticism/reportage appearances: Village Voice, In These Times, The Smart Set, Erγon: Greek/American Letters, Lost Transmissions (Abrams, 2019), Dangerous Visions and New Worlds (PM Press, 2021)

Presentations/Performances/Shows