Short Fiction
PUBLISHED SHORT STORIES
“And the Sign Says” - short story published in the Valparaiso Fiction Review Vol. 15 Issue 2 (Summer 2026). Previously a semi-finalist for Story Magazine’s 2023 Story Foundation Prize. Online here.
“One Hundred Thousand Steps” - short story published by Unlikely Stories in February 2026. Previously published by Kallisto Gaia Press in Ocotillo Review Volume 6.1, Winter 2022. Available for free online here.
“Shooting Threes and Eating Candy” - short story published in Sybil Journal in spring 2026. Online here.
“Holiday Traffic” - short story published in Flora Fiction in February 2026. Online here.
“We Used to Hunt Whales” - short story published in Half and One in February 2026. Previously a finalist for 2024 Prime Number Magazine Award and semi-finalist in Winning Writers Tom Howard/John H. Reid 2024 Fiction & Essay Contest. Available free online here.
“Fog in the Desert” - short story published in Issue #18 of the Free State Review in January 2026. Journal available for purchase here.
“Addicted to Plastic” - short story published in the New Ohio Review in December 2025. Available online (and audio version) here.
“Once is Enough” - short story published in the Los Angeles Review in November 2025. Online here.
“Machines Don’t Whimper” - short story published by The Brussels Review in December 2025. Journal available for purchase here. Free online here.
From The Brussels Review: “McConnell interrogates technological agency and emotional absence in a world where response has been automated and empathy externalized. The story resists easy futurism, focusing instead on ethical residue: what is lost when feeling becomes optional or simulated. Humanity is measured not by intelligence but by the capacity for discomfort.”
“Lost and Found” - short story published in Dogwood Literary Journal Spring 2025 edition. Journal available for purchase here.
“Before it Gets Cold”- winner of 2025 Slippery Elm Literary Journal’s annual short story contest. Nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Journal available for purchase in November 2025 here.
From Slippery Elm: “Before it Gets Cold’ is lyrical rumination of the liminal space between day and night, between relationships, and between stagnation and moving on. Throughout this story the longing for sleep mimics the writer’s longing for connection. Although an inherently queer story, it rises to the universal in its ache for resolution.”
“The Reburial” - published (p 93-106) in Driftwood Press 2023 Anthology as a runner-up in their annual short story contest. Available online here. .
From Driftwood: “‘The Reburial’ stands out as a memorably weird, yet remarkably subtle rendering of obligation through the lens of grief. We experience the obligation of sons to their father, of brothers to one another, and of family members to a home.”
“Remember this Morning” - short story published by The Los Angeles Review in December 2022. Online here.
“A Night to Remember” - flash fiction published by The Los Angeles Review in June 2022. Online here.
UPCOMING PUBLICATIONS
“Older than You” - short story to be published in Flyway: Journal of Writing & Environment in 2026. Previously selected as finalist in New Millenium’s 2025 short story contest.
“Sunsets on the Pier” - short story to be published in Mangrove Review in 2026. Previously a finalist in New Letters’ 2022 Robert Day Award for fiction contest.
“One More Jump” - short story to be published in summer 2026 by After Happy Hour Review. Previously a finalist in Tucson Festival of Books 2024 Short Fiction Contest.
FINALISTS & HONORABLE MENTIONS - UNPUBLISHED AS OF JUNE 2026
“Things Burn in the Country” - finalist in Tucson Festival of Books 2024 Short Fiction Contest and semi-finalist in Driftwood Press 2024 Short Story Contest.
“A Misunderstanding” - finalist in Tucson Festival of Books 2023 Short Fiction Contest.
”Mother, Mother” - shortlisted in 2022 Write by the Sea competition in Kilmore Quay, Ireland.
”The Letter” - honorable mention in Writer’s Digest 2022 Annual Short Story Competition.
“Halley’s Comet” - long listed in Fish Publishing’s 2022 Short Story Contest.
“The Machine” - semi-finalist in Ruminate Magazine 2022 Fiction Contest.