I am a fiction writer who likes maps, strange worlds, and magical creatures.

My publications include stories in Esquire.com, Alaska Quarterly Review, The Cincinnati Review, the Best New American Voices anthology, and the Best American Fantasy anthology, among others. I've also published poems in Indiana Review and Sonora Review, and my nonfiction was a finalist in the DIAGRAM essay contest. I just finished a literary fantasy novel, MIDDLEWOOD. I’m mulling over several new projects, one of which explores my Mexican ancestry: one side of my family has roots in Guadalajara, though I was raised in an English-speaking home in the U.S. I'm named for my great uncle who was killed during WWII as a pilot in the little-known Mexican Air Force. (I'm also a duel citizen of the U.S. and Canada—my mom is Canadian). Maybe a few novels down the road, I’ll write a WWII Mexican Air Force novel about my grandfather, Fernando Magallanes, with ghosts, magic, and weird stories culled from my own family lore.

I hold an MFA in Creative Writing from Syracuse University and a PhD in English (fiction focus) from the University of Cincinnati. I've been in residence at the Yaddo Artist Colony, Breadloaf, Sewanee, and elsewhere. In 2021 I was a Creative Renewal Fellow of the Arts Council of Indianapolis, and I’ve received awards and fellowships from the Kentucky Arts Council, the Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts, the Charles Taft Center for the Humanities, along with many others. I’m currently a tenure-track assistant professor of creative writing and English at Franklin College.

I live with my family in Indianapolis, and I’m lucky enough to be married to the wondrous memoirist and illustrator Margaret Kimball.

Factoid: I am actually leaning on crutches in this photo and wearing a metal boot

OTHER INFORMATION

Education

University of Cincinnati
Ph.D English (Fiction Writing)

Syracuse University
M.F.A. Creative Writing

Syracuse University
M.S. English Education

Recent Work

New Stories from the Midwest
The Go Seekers (anthologized)

Alaska Quarterly Review
The Go Seekers

Recent Accolades

Indianapolis Arts Council
Creative Renewal Fellowship 2021

Bread Loaf
Writers Workshop, 2021