Welcome back to part four of our six-part series in Season 2 of Voices from the Sky! This week, we welcome Jessica (J.L.) Shively, who will introduce us to her tremendous flash fiction piece, "Bicycle," which was originally published in Issue 18 (Fall 2021) of Sky Island Journal.

J. L. Shively lives on a sparsely populated peninsula on the coast of Maine where she is continuing her search for old cemeteries and abandoned places while completing her collection of short horror stories.  She has a Master of Letters from Drew University where she studied creative writing and the psychological fascination of modern ruin.  You can follow her @entertheruin. She recently worked as a "Horror Writing Consultant" on a short film, Galaxsea: A Voyage into the Bioluminescent Night.  In her writing, Shively focuses on character-driven fiction and adventure stories that are thrilling or even speculative in nature.  She leverages the strength of a story’s capacity to showcase the humanity of horror and the power of terrific narrative. Shively is currently pursuing publication for her adult, climate fiction novel and although she has left the Cape behind, she continues to write of its beauty and its ghosts.  She can be contacted via email at  [email protected]

In this episode, Jessica delivers a reading of her flash fiction story, "Bicycle" and will be back in the next episode to take us inside her head and heart as we explore the narrative more deeply.

You can enjoy more incredible works of poetry, flash fiction, and creative nonfiction from writers all over the globe at: https://www.skyislandjournal.com