Andrea: I'm super excited to finally have a piece accepted by Jersey Devil Press.
My flash fiction, Banshee, was published in Issue #132 April 2026 on May 17, 2026.
The Editor’s Note on this issue strikes a chord with me. Laura Garrison says “This combination of unexpected proportions and angles infuses the space with a slight uncanniness, a sense of being someplace that is an imperfect imitation of reality.”
Folklore, Mythology and Horror tend to be the subjects I write about and try sometimes to apply to modern life. I visualize it as an Otherhere, some place (or places really) that is near our reality but not quite right and perhaps unsettling.
In this short piece, a banshee is a singer in an indie rock band. I mean what could be more fitting?
“Woman,” by Enrique Meseguer.
A little background on the evolution of my story, Banshee:
I’ve been submitting to Jersey Devil Press since 2013. I had submitted 6 other pieces before getting Banshee accepted there.
I have been submitting and working on Banshee since 2014 and have submitted it 15 times with the 15th time being the charm as well as multiple revisions. It's a flash fiction piece although it's on the shorter side, being under 500 words (487 words).
It used to be a much shorter piece hovering under 300 words for a long time as recently as May 2025. By submitting and re-reading, I found a way in to expand the protagonist's story. And this last revision was the one that succeeded.
I write this to let you know and remind myself to never give up. The road is long but the "finished" piece is worth it.
(I put "finished" in quotes because who knows if anything is ever truly finished. :)
Additional note:
With the acceleration of people using AI to write and obtain writing prizes, it is all the more pressing to support and read actual human created stories. It saddens (and perplexes) me that anyone would discard revising and even the creation of their stories, poems, etc. in favor of AI writing /revising something for them. What is the point of writing if you’re not the one doing it? Where is the joy of completion if you did not complete it? Weird.
I’m so thrilled to be in this issue with these amazing writers. The extraordinary cover art for this issue is “Woman,” by Enrique Meseguer.
Thank you Jersey Devil Press for accepting my little story.
Archive copy for posterity.
A giraffe person. :)
