I’m so thrilled to share that my short story, “A Heart Destined to Wither” has received an honorable mention in Southern New Hampshire University’s Fall Fiction Contest for 2024.

This Faustian-inspired story examines the cost of wanting, and how desire can become corrupt.

A favorite contract of mine: the mortal’s ruinous craving for riches. Everyone knows that gold lasts forever, but hearts such as his are destined to wither.

– Margin Note in the Book of Souls

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Exhaustion creased the corners of Charlie’s eyes as he wiped his hands on the back of his trousers, leaving sooty streaks behind. Anna liked a tidy house, but his clothes were permanently stained with the grime and ash of swept chimneys. He wiped his hands as best as he could. He swallowed the lump of dread in his throat and opened the door to their one-room flat.

A single tallow flame burned on the table. It wobbled unsteadily as Anna put the supper down, the table’s rickety leg threatening to spill their meager meal onto the bare floor. She smiled brightly at him, and the weight of his guilt hit his stomach like a rock. Anna pressed a finger to her lips, then gestured to the bassinet where baby Grace slept. 

Charlie picked at his boiled potato in silence. His stomach growled; he couldn’t bring himself to eat. Ever since the baby was born, he’d grown sick of his inability to give his family what they needed. A rug for the floor, new dishes, warm blankets. They lived in a barren apartment, devoid of homely goods save for the tureen Anna had been gifted on their wedding day. It sat collecting dust on a cabinet shelf, too pretty to be used amidst such squalor. 

He hated it. 

Read the rest of the story on The Penman Review.