A funny thing about the writing business: you can’t always predict when your stories will be published. I submitted “Monsters Never Leave You” to Strange Horizons months before I even wrote “Spider Season, Fire Season.” I officially sold the former to SH in November 2019, while Nightmare didn’t buy the latter until late January 2020. Sat here for six months with little writing news to report, and then boom! Both stories are published within eight days of each other. Writing is weird.
But to the actual point: “Spider Season, Fire Season” is available to read for free at Nightmare! I wrote this little ghost story shortly after the Kincade Fire last year, and I think it came together pretty nicely. (She says, hopefully.) Especially recommended for anyone who likes ghosts (obviously), found families, California, multiple points-of-view, non-linear storytelling, and horror that has room for hope. TW for violence (including domestic violence) and off-screen deaths (including deaths of children).
If you do end up reading, I hope you enjoy!
Official Radiohead pairing: “2+2=5 (The Lukewarm)“
My Geek Blasphemy 
Belated congratulations on having sold another story, writer lady!
This was very enjoyable, and had a nice Neil Gaiman-y sort of vibe. Your last story had that too, come to think of it – it’s the creepy but not necessarily evil depiction of the supernatural.
I also really liked the friendly, sometimes-ghostly spiders.
Thank you so much! I think I do tend to favor “creepy and strange but not necessarily evil” supernatural over the straight up EVIL stuff, but obviously, both can be fun. 🙂
This was a great story!
Thank you!!! I’m so glad to hear you liked it!