fiction: brandi kleinert larsen.

Current Project:

Mitch. A novel-in-progress about family. A woman who has avoided her past must confront it when she becomes the legal guardian for her autistic twin brother.

An excerpt, called Mitch and Sabrina, was published in

F Magazine, alongside a story by one of my favorite writers,
Ray Bradbury.

Completed Projects:

Short Stories:

And I Feel Fine. A woman at odds with her mother and her hometown. After she intentionally crashes her car, she contemplates the gift of second chances.

Banana, Cheese, Coins. A down-on-his-luck lawyer forced to take a job hawking cheese at the local mall.

Carrot's Choice. This short short takes place during Carrot's weekly poker game. With Irving the Parrot just one hand away from winning his freedom, Carrot must decide how he really wants to play. Published in the Story Week Reader. Download Carrot's Choice as a PDF.

Good Santa, Bad Day. Santa Claus has been working the mall circuit since the '70s and was even voted the "Best Santa of DuPage." Everything is jolly until he meets Bethany, who's about a six on the kid meltdown scale.

Her Husband's Crown. A short story about the wife of an Orthodox Jew on their vacation to conceive. Selected as a Finalist in the 2007 Glimmer Train Press Fall Short Story Award for New Writers. Forthcoming.

Peripheral Vision. The intricacies of family life told from three intertwined perspectives.

Something True. A short short about a girl who wants to guarantee "a forever." When she gets an idea from her closed-up earring holes, she takes these normal pubescent feelings too far. Published in the Amsterdam literary magazine Versal.

Waiting. A woman waits to meet her grown daughter for the first time.

Wanting It. A short story about a woman who goes to the Ho Chunk Casino on a mission for sex.

Experimental:

The Demise of the Relationship of Bethany and Jude, as told through their Facebook Status Updates. Bethany and Jude are that couple who always air their dirty laundry in public. Everything explodes on the snowy January day that Jude decides to bike to work.