Fiction

Fiction

Independent releases of a few of my unpublished titles, here.

Read the first pages to get a feel for the story. Then if you like, email me to become a beta reader. I’ll send you a full digital manuscript; after you read it, come back to this page and leave a review.


Cover art for The Bird and the Book by Elisabeth Carol Harvey McCumber

The Bird and the Book

A novel about marriage, faith, resources, monsters and falling in love

After dropping out of university to marry her college sweetheart, Devyn finds herself stuck in a rainy Oregon coast town with no one but her monsters to keep her company. Her Cyclops is depression. Her Medusa is the suffocating set of gender norms that Devyn cannot force herself to fit into. She can’t explain her dysphoria to her nice Christian husband—he’s part of the problem—so instead, she breaks every rule that matters to her and trades the safety of home for homelessness in the woods, through a period of unmooring as privately personal as it is enormous.

You may enjoy this if …

  • You love character-driven stories with rich inner worlds
  • You’re a former, expat or complicated Christian
  • You’re neurodivergent, genderqueer or otherwise weird

Read the first 50 pages free »
Contact me to become a beta reader »


Cover art for Women of Troy by Elisabeth Carol Harvey McCumber

Women of Troy

An original adaptation of Euripides’ tragedies, Hecuba and Trojan Women

What can ancient Greek poetry tell us about power struggle and gender injustice? This adaptation of Euripides’ classical plays blends two overlapping storylines into a contemporary examination of power-over and power-among, in a richly heightened, lyrical voice. Originally developed for Lunacy Stageworks in Portland, Oregon.

You may enjoy this if …

  • You have a thing for Greek myths and stageplays
  • You’re interested in power structures, feminism or justice
  • You enjoy very heightened literary and poetic text

Read the first 19 pages free »
Contact me to become a beta reader »


Leave a Book Review

If you’ve read one of my titles, please post a review of it here. Only comments that are reviews will be posted. Critical feedback is welcome! Thanks again — your input is worth the world.

1 Comment on “Fiction

  1. The Bird and the Book tells a story that is as enormous and as small a period of unmooring in a single human life. This is a novel about marriage, faith, resources, monsters, and falling in love, and defies expectation in its treatment of every one of those themes. Mostly, this is a book about time–how it ebbs and flows, how it folds in on itself, and the sensation of how it passes, moment by moment, hour by hour, self by self. A beautiful, quiet, observant, and extraordinarily humane read.

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