Publications

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In addition to being a reviewer, I’m an author. 

This page links to my published works in this order:

  • Novellas
  • Short Stories
  • Theater
  • Nonfiction (as Amanda Nevius)

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Please feel free to contact me at mcneil.author[at]gmail[dot]com.

Novellas

Image of a digital book cover. The silhouette of a small girl stands in a field of tulips. she gazes up at a sky where the sun is setting in shades ranging from yellow to bright orange. The sky has three planets in it and a smattering of stars. The title Bloemetje is in white against the sky.

Bloemetje: a speculative retelling of Hans Christian Andersen’s Thumbelina fairy tale
May 2023
space fantasy / science fantasy
Length: 74 pages digital, 121 pages paperback/hardcover
Kindle, $4.99
All other ebook stores, $4.99
Paperback, $7.99 (Amazon or Bookshop.org)
Hardcover, $16.99
Extras: Depicting Queer Families in Fairy Tales: My Journey from the 90s and Y2k to a Thumbelina Retelling – feature on Sapphic Book Club

One miniature girl leads her human and fairy people to decolonize Venus in this speculative, queer-inclusive reimagining of Thumbelina.

A Dutch company known as The Bedrijf commences colonizing Venus via the construction of a dome filled with plants that convert its natural air into something breathable by humans. Since all workers are granted permission to bear a child, a woman and her spouse join the crew. But the woman soon discovers she is plagued with infertility. When her spouse illegally brings home a tulip from the garden, they discover a miniature baby inside who they name Bloemetje – little bloom. As the baby grows in mere days into a teenager, pushing her boundaries, she illuminates the true horrors of colonization and leads them all on a journey to decolonize. 

This retelling takes the original Thumbelina’s focus on marriage and flips it on its head, granting the miniature girl a strong voice of her own and questioning her removal from the fairy world. Exploring themes of childlessness, adoption, being childfree by choice, colonization, decolonization, negative impacts of capitalism, and what LGBTQIA+ inclusive societies can look like, this novelette comes in 17 bite-sized episodes perfect for reading in the small snippets of time available to modern individuals and families.

Early readers called this “transporting” and “intriguing.” The “journey is beautiful,” and the ending is “deeply satisfying.” “A great escape read that also made me think, and it’s both quick and engrossing.”

*A portion of proceeds will be donated to the Massachusetts Center for Native American Awareness, a Native American-led 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
*proof of 2023 donation

Image of a digital book cover. Orange, red, pink, and purple glow in the distance. The silhouette of a woman sitting with a cat is in the foreground. The book's title is in white and blood splotches are across it.

Waiting for Daybreak
Second edition June 2022
First edition June 2012 (Blog Tour and Reviews Page)
blend of post-apocalyptic science fiction and women’s fiction
Length: 138 pages digital, 176 pages paperback
Kindle, $4.99
Ko-fi – epub, $4.99 (direct from me)
Ko-fi – pdf, $4.99 (direct from me)
All other ebook stores, $4.99
Paperback, $7.99

I just want to live like normal people. But my Borderline Personality Disorder fills each day with emotional pain. And drives other people away. Not that there’s anyone to drive away anymore…

Frieda’s a struggling twenty-something young professional when the apocalypse comes. Overnight, Boston falls apart as a rapidly spreading virus makes her neighbors crave brains. Enough to kill for them.

She survives alone for a whole year in her urban studio apartment. And she surprises herself by managing her mental illness better than she did before. When her beloved cat becomes ill, Frieda goes on a quest to save her. It sets off a chain of events that challenges everything.

Reviews of the first edition call this a “dynamic” read that’s a “great story with a twist I didn’t foresee.” This places a character you’d expect in a women’s fiction novel at the heart of a zombie apocalypse.

This second edition includes edits throughout the book, as well as an author’s note and content note. Please be sure to check the content note before you read by previewing the book. It’s at the beginning right after the author’s note.

Image of a digital book cover. A white outline of a woman back to back back with herself stands out against a navy blue background. A silver scale its in front of her with a golden fairy on one side and a red devil on the other. The title in white script is below this.

Ecstatic Evil
Second edition November 2023
First edition July 2011
paranormal romance (f/m, grumpy/sunshine)
Length: 99 pages digital, 131 pages paperback
Kindle, $2.99 regularly, free for Kindle Unlimited subscribers.
Paperback, $7.99 (Amazon or Bookshop.org)
Extras: Author Interview on Reading Nook

Tova Gallagher isn’t just your average, grumpy Bostonian. She also happens to be half-demon, and the demons have just issued a deadline for her all-important half-demon decision. She has just two weeks to choose whether to lean into her demon side by signing on with them wholeheartedly or never use her powers again under the tutelage of an assigned angel. But it’s hard to worry about the battle of good versus evil when she’s just met a sexy, sunshiny stranger on the edge of the Charles River.

Reviews of the first edition of this grumpy/sunshine paranormal romance call it a “quick, captivating read” with a romantic pairing that are “so sweet to each other.”

This newly expanded second edition includes edits throughout the book, as well as an author’s note and content note.

If this book was a movie, it would be rated PG13 for adult situations and sensuality.

The spiciness level is 2 or 3 chili peppers, depending upon which system you use. It is lightly spicy. There is foreplay and some clothes come off, but the camera pans away before more intimate moments.

There is no adult language. On-screen violence is minimal (shoving, gripping someone’s arm too tightly.) One supernatural being attacks another off-screen.

Short Stories

Published in a variety of print and online magazines.  Free publications are noted.

  • “Polar Bear Plunge” in Last Girls Club
    Issue #11, This One’s for the Weirdos, September 23, 2023; $9 digital
    comedy horror
    It was the first night of Julie’s sixth summer in a row at Camp Piney Hills. But it also would be her last. Enjoy this exploration of mother/daughter issues mixed with a send-up to campy 1980s slasher movies.
  • “Legends as Told by the Laborers of the Forest Solar System Logging Corp. – An Oral History Project” in Crow & Cross Keys
    May 17, 2023, free
    space fantasy
    Oral history interview with an anonymous retired logger (Interviewee #15) for the Forest Solar System Logging Corp. Interview conducted by Tess Dalgleish on stardate 99938 on Planet Minnesota. Topic of the interview is the legend of Paul Bunyan. This version includes Babe the Big Blue Ox.
  • “Sister Prudence on the Beach” in Solarpunk Magazine
    Issue #6, Lunarpunk Special, Nov/Dec 2022, free
    hopepunk
    Sister Prudence settles down for her full moon meditation on the beach. But a young one passing by interrupts not just her meditation but perhaps her retirement as well.
  • “Bostonians Aren’t Friends With Our Neighbors” in Wyrms: An Anthology of Dragon Drabbles
    July 1, 2022, $3 digital, $6 print
    fantasy
    The first line is “Deadrodents.com said the box on the triple-decker’s porch next door.”
  • “The University of Late-Night Moans” in Decoded Pride: A science fiction, fantasy, and horror story-a-day anthology for Pride month
    June 9, 2022, issue 3, $14.99
    fantasy romance (sapphic / wlw)
    It’s 1998, and Leonora’s friend Virginia is helping her investigate the moans coming from the cemetery across the train tracks from her dorm.
    Reviewed in Locus Magazine on October 3, 2022 by Charles Payseur.
  • “Freedom Freerunner” in Dark Fire Fiction
    December 2013, rolling publication, electronic, free
    dark fantasy
    The Dark Ones have taken over the city. Come along as a band of freerunners battle them with parkour skills and swords.
  • “Closest Thing to Heaven” in Crack The Spine
    September 2012, issue 40, electronic, free
    literary
    Mama’s sleeping, and it’s super-hot out, so Brother says he’ll take me to the swimmin holler.
  • “The Most Lovely Morning” in Down in the Dirt
    February 2012, volume 103, electronic, free, print, $7.67
    Note: the website does not create links directly to the issue.  Click on “Scars” on left-hand side, then on “Down in the Dirt magazine” in the middle of the webpage, then “Issues,” then scroll down to select “v103” to view the issue.
    literary
    Tag along on an elderly woman’s morning in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
  • “The Tale of Leroy of the Backwoods of Vermont” in 69 Flavors of Paranoia
    August 2011, volume 3, menu 13, electronic, free
    Note: This zine is now defunct, and they did not create an archive of their publications.  The Internet Archive record of the table of contents in the issue I was published in may be viewed here.  You can see my story’s name under the section “Uppers.”  There unfortunately is not an Internet Archive record of the page containing my full short story.  The link now goes to the complete short story available free on my own website.
    humor
    Hear the rural legend of Leroy and his untimely death.

Theater

Recordings available free online unless otherwise noted.

Nonfiction (as Amanda Nevius)

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  1. July 10, 2011 at 4:10 pm
    Announcement: I Am Published!! « Opinions of a Wolf

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