New Short Story: “His Guns Could Not Protect Him”

I’ve got some fresh fiction out this month: a story in Lightspeed called “His Guns Could Not Protect Him.” It’s about a little boy learning he doesn’t have to be like either of his parents, in a world where everyone has their very own monster waiting for them somewhere.

His guns hadn’t helped him. I wondered if someone else’s had. I imagined that massive wolf, knocking him off his motorcycle. Picking him up in its teeth. I wanted to think there had been some bystander with a shotgun who saved my father’s life, but interventions like that were rare. Monsters were focused on one person in particular, but they’d kill a hundred thousand people if they stood between them and their target. So in an attack, people mostly pretended like it wasn’t happening.

Lightspeed ran a short interview with me about the piece – here’s a taste, with the backstory behind the story story:

How did “His Guns Could Not Protect Him” originate? What inspirations did you draw on?

This really happened to me! But without the monsters. When I was ten my father got in a bad motorcycle accident, and my mom had to rush up to Albany Medical and left us in the care of family friends who were significantly wealthier than us. It was terrifying (and fascinating), and the scars on my psyche festered into this story after about thirty-plus years.

Check it out – hope you love it!