I’m Smack, a speculative fiction writer and co-host of the Infinite TBR podcast. I’m also a Clarion 2012 grad and received an MFA in popular fiction from USM Stonecoast, and in 2017 my short story “The Carrying Beam” was awarded first place for the Katherine Patterson Prize for Young Adult Writing. It’s about a girl who discovers her mother is a witch; the story is available for reading in the VCFA Journal for the Arts, Hunger Mountain. All my stories can be found under the name S.M. Mack.

I have other stories available in various anthologies, but another that isn’t behind a paywall appeared in Fireside Fiction issue #35 and is called “Ariadne, Abandoned on Naxos.” That one is about the young woman in Greek mythology who helped Theseus escape the Minotaur’s labyrinth.

I also publish a newsletter sent out on the last day of each month in which I update my readers with publishing and writing news, provide copious amounts of pictures of my dog, and review the best book that I’ve read each month. (I read a lot of books–well over 100 titles each year.)

By signing up for my monthly newsletter, you’ll receive a lighthearted contemporary fantasy story about a gay dragon, her crush, and her crush’s bookstore. (It’s also available for purchase on Amazon, B&N, Kobo, and other major ebook retailers, but why pay when you can get it for free?)