Born of Dirt & Dust Earns Prestigious Literary Titan Book Award

Born of Dirt & Dust -- "a sharp-edged collection of speculative flash & short fiction that keeps changing masks from urban dread, grief-myth, social horror, bruised fairytale, while staying faithful to one obsession: what people do to survive when the world won't stop chewing." -- Literary Titan

Writing speculative flash fiction ignited for me when I sat inside a tattoo studio in Lahaina, along the west coast of Maui, in May 2023, a few months before the horrific wildfire scarred the land and the many, many families affected by the tragedy. 

At the time of having a beautiful sea turtle tatted on my arm, I learned about the artist working on me. A young woman, approximately in her late twenties, who came to Maui to escape her abusive husband.

I could see in her shadowed eyes, her flinching body language, the deep bruised color of her dyed hair, and the violent tattoos inked on her body, the degradation she felt.

I could see her need for a portal, an escape, to a very different existence—a world beyond the pain and suffering inflicted upon her. She found that temporary reprieve in the warmth, beauty, and embracing culture of Lahaina.

Yet, after only a few months, Hell broke loose, and she lost herself again. This time, in the fire that raged upon her world.

It was that moment, seeing the devastation broadcast on the news, feeling the heartache, thinking about her, that I knew I had to write about bending space and time, about churning our world differently in order to find a place where we belonged, where we could—and would—survive, no matter how broken we felt inside. No matter how threatening or violent our environment.

In writing speculative fiction, I wanted to capture the worst of what we faced, illustrate the blood we shed, and explore the rising of our spirit to become more than the shrinking ways our world defines us. I wanted to prove that human kindness and resilience win in the end.

The Literary Titan Book Award bestowed upon Born of Dirt & Dust tells me that, yes --- writing these stories to widen the lens for readers to fully experience the world in which these characters, as portrayed in the book, felt trapped, how they chose to move forward, and how the ripple effect of those choices touches each of us --- there is always room in our hearts for empathy, acknowledgement, compassion and friendship.

Stay strong, stay connected and be true to yourself.

Thank you, Literary Titan, for believing in my stories. And to all the book lovers and readers in our shared world----a huge THANK YOU!