“Poison Snail Fight” at Fiction Southeast

Fiction Southeast published my flash story “Poison Snail Fight” today (2/1/2019). It’s based on a vivid childhood memory of growing up in southwest LA in the 1960s where we roamed like a pack of wild dogs through the streets and alleys and backyards. We periodically collected soft shell snails and divided into teams on opposite street corners. I saw a snail go down one kid’s gullet. He was too surprised to spew it back up. He didn’t die, at least not of that.

Everything else is fiction, especially the family. My actual family consists of disgustingly well adjusted people, a fact that hampers my fiction. Writers are far better off with miserable families and childhoods. No such luck for me. I do not resent them for this.

Fiction Southeast should be publishing a ‘writing of’ essay and an audio version of the story in the future. Updates to follow.