Published:
Root Myth. Small Wonders. July 2025. https://smallwondersmag.com/piece/root-myth/
Under the ground, root tendrils trail like fingered shrouds, slim branches of white that feel-not-see soft hand-flesh, bound flower-flesh. Oscar descends earthen steps compressed under his straw-soled feet. (SFF, flash)
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Chickens Remember One Hundred Faces. FlashFlood. June 14th, 2025. https://flashfloodjournal.blogspot.com/2025/06/chickens-remember-one-hundred-faces-by.html
Gather the fertilized eggs in your warmed pocket apron, one at a time. Gently relocate the orbs to your stomach incubator. You will feel them inside when they start to rock and peck, like undigested energy. (SFF, flash)
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“Cotton Mouth”. Fractured Lit. June 2025 https://fracturedlit.com/cotton-mouth/
The last thing I see is white, the color of ice and bone–but supple and fleshy between fangs, until I am gone. I am lodged in the reticulated stomach next to a mouse, who trembles and climbs into my lap. (CNF, literary) CW: implied SA
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“Darkness is Another Kind of Carnivore”. Crow and Cross Keys. January 2025. https://crowcrosskeys.com/2025/01/01/darkness-is-another-kind-of-carnivore-janna-miller/
With flashlights, we approached delicate trigger hairs and dropped in our offerings to hungry bird mouths: a fingernail, a swath of skin, a curl of hair. They chomped it up and asked for more. (literary /spec mashup)
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“But What if My Lack of Executive Function Is Only About Slowing Time into Pieces of Love?”. Funicular Magazine. October 2024. https://www.funicularmagazine.com/shop/issue-14-p25zk
Once an object exists in our lives and is brought over the threshold, it becomes part of the house, like salt scattered in the corners and along the baseboards to ward off Sunday afternoon humors that permeate every bit of skin and furniture and the drying succulents at the foot of the staircase. (literary)
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“The Man on the Front Porch has a Question”. Sundial Magazine. July 1, 2024. https://sites.google.com/view/sundial-magazine/flash/the-man-on-the-front-porch-has-a-question
One hundred five years of sepia light across the wooden frame and she did not leave her rocking chair. (historical fiction)
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“As Fast as She Can”. FlashFlood. June 2024. (reprint). https://flashfloodjournal.blogspot.com/search?q=janna%20miller
The open road starts with a gifted car, decorative flowers spray-painted in a fluorescent-bright parking lot. (creative non-fiction)
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“Cleaning Up”. Identity Theory. April 22nd, 2024. https://www.identitytheory.com/cleaning-up/
As the grocery store stretches into barren shelves of powdered soaps, my hand slips between boxes and end caps to other stores, ones across town, between dimensions. (literary)
Instagram reading (edited) https://www.instagram.com/p/C6PkPpZPHdR/
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“The Mercy of a Temporal Spell”. Hoot Review. March 2024. https://www.hootreview.com/2024/03/31/hoot-postcard-148-march-2024/
The magic ends at midnight because it needs to. After a night of dancing, pink moon fingernails, and artfully placed ribbons, the dress comes off. (fairy-tale drabble)
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“The Sternum Ties it All Together”. Small Wonders (reprint from Molotov Cocktail). January 2024. https://smallwondersmag.com/piece/the-sternum-ties-it-all-together/
My teeth wandered off their tether in the night, bringing back the taste of calcium bones and morning dew. (horror)
***
“Mandy Opens Up a Late Appointment”. The Weather Where You Are: Bath Flash Fiction Volume Eight. December 2023. https://www.adhocfiction.com/2024/01/the-weather-where-you-are-bath-flash-fiction-volume-eight/
Mandy is talking to her lover on speakerphone as I open the door. She doesn’t say hello, how are your children, how is your dead dog, she just motions me to sit while her cracked i-phone case teeters next to the jar of alcohol-soaked combs. (literary)
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“Sheltering in Place”. The Burning Hearth. Voices of the Winter Solstice II. December 21, 2023 https://constancemalloy.com/2023/12/21/voices-of-the-winter-solstice-ii-the-ending-place/
In every well-constructed house is an oblong hole, a shifted brick, a crack under the door to let the spirits in. (speculative)
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“On Growing Words, Invasive Vines and Forced Metaphors”. Shenandoah. November 2023. https://shenandoahliterary.org/thepeak/on-growing-words-invasive-vines-and-forced-metaphors/
Some words are true and grow wildly and without restraint. The wisteria vine will climb over the door and trap us inside if left unchecked. The deck breathes with slime mold and hibernating pods of writing spiders the size of figs. (essay companion piece to “Better Homes and Gardens”)
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“Strange Beasts and their Barricades”. South Florida Poetry Journal. November 2023. https://www.southfloridapoetryjournal.com/flash-31-nov-23.html
A line on the horizon is magenta and smoke, calling what strange beasts we are towards home, shambling, riding, one more grocery stop for soup we don’t need. (literary crossover)
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“Campers Rarely Drown at the YMCA”. Writers Resist. September 2023. http://www.writersresist.com/2023/09/13/campers-rarely-drown-at-the-ymca/
At camp, Julie told me I had to let her scratch my arms until they bled to be friends, and Julie told me to get lost in the woods or she wouldn’t talk to me, and Julie told me to do something I forget what, but I signed up for a canoe trip before she finished and I tumbled out because some counselor thought it would be funny to rock the boat and sent us into the river, where sharks ate at my feet. (CNF)
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“The House Ghosts All Read the Time Traveler’s Wife and Now Have Something they Want to Tell You”. Roi Faineant Press. August 6, 2023. https://roifaineantarchive.wixsite.com/rf-arc-hive/post/the-house-ghosts-all-read-the-time-traveler-s-wife-and-by-janna-miller
The morning ghosts are subtle and subversive, beginning with bread possession of the ancient toaster. (humor, literary crossover)
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“Fresh Off the Vine”. Ekphrastic Review. July 17, 2023. https://www.ekphrastic.net/the-ekphrastic-review/fresh-off-the-vine-by-janna-miller
Within the garden they pick fish off the vines, fresh and shimmering. (surreal, ekphrastic response)
***
“What Bones Carry”. Best MicroFiction 2023. http://www.pelekinesis.com/catalog/best_microfiction-2023.html
Originally published in Whale Road Review.
Equations slipped away, into a permanent bone density. The skeleton remembered one, about orbital distance, though that had less to do with his eye sockets and more to do with planets. In the quiet of calcium space, it didn’t seem an important distinction. It was all space, they were all planets. (literary)
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“House Rules for After the Polar Shift”. Stanchion. Issue 12. July 2023. https://www.stanchionzine.com/product-page/issue-number-twelve-pre-order-giveaway
We are all disappointed in our houses eventually. (crossover literary)
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“On Weekends, the Forest Dreams of Me”. FlashFlood. June 24, 2023. http://flashfloodjournal.blogspot.com/2023/06/on-weekends-forest-dreams-of-me-by.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
When (the forest) isn’t dreaming of me, it is making plans to spend the weekend in my spare bedroom with the deer head wallpaper and sea-smoothed rocks in a bowl, as cool as when I found them on a misty beach. (crossover literary)
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“A Brightly Colored Curse, Opened in Wonder”. Cutbow Quarterly, Issue 4. June 23, 2023. https://www.cutbowquarterly.com/issue4 (digital issue) https://www.lulu.com/shop/arden-hunter/cutbow-quarterly-issue-4-june2023/paperback/product-74k7jm.html?q=cutbow&page=1&pageSize=4 (print issue)
Gustav’s workshop isn’t locked. He wouldn’t care if someone pulled the bolt and entered.
Gustav has his rules. (fantasy)
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“Better Homes and Gardens.” Shenandoah Literary. May 12. Spring 2023 Issue. https://shenandoahliterary.org/722/better-homes-and-gardens/
From space you can see our growing thing, our temple surrounded by trees and snaking vines, green on the satellite picture, a bump of human life beneath. Whatever is cut grows back thick as pipes and car tires. (CNF)
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“Universe in a Jar.” Citron Review. April 2, 2023. https://citronreview.com/2023/04/02/a-universe-in-a-jar/
Six Ball-jar terrariums line Minnie’s window sash, growing, raining, breathing according to the geography of her life. (literary)
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“The Fertility of Ash”. Necessary Fiction. January 11, 2023. http://necessaryfiction.com/stories/the-fertility-of-ash/
Laney’s dull pencil pushed deeply into the spiral pad, pages warped with the sweat of her hands. She could fill in the rest later, after the burning. (literary)
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“Crimson Redux”. Wyldblood Science Fiction and Fantasy Magazine Issue 10. Autumn 2022. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1914417119/ref=ox_sc_act_image_2?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1
Psychic Jennie does her best to fly under the radar so as not to attract the attention of the wrong kind of people. She works with what the riverbanks can provide, until her daughter is kidnapped. And then she sees only red. (steampunk, fantasy)
***
“What Bones Carry”. Whale Road Review Vol. 28. Fall 2022. http://www.whaleroadreview.com/miller-4/
Equations slipped away, into a permanent bone density. The skeleton remembered one, about orbital distance, though that had less to do with his eye sockets and more to do with planets. In the quiet of calcium space, it didn’t seem an important distinction. It was all space, they were all planets. (literary)
***
“The Road to Hell is Paved with 70’s cars and an All-Night Applebees”. Bullshit Anthology. Bullshit Lit. August 22, 2022. https://www.bullshitlit.com/bsantho
Stuck in Hell and traffic, Vinnie only has one option for dinner. (humor, spec fic)
***
“Afterbirth.” TL;DR Press. Mosaic. August 2022. https://tldrpress.org/books/mosaic/
A wasting disease’s only cure is in a miracle fruit among the rows of the nunnery orchard. Lori is told the last thing she will lose before she dies is hope. (dark fantasy)
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“The Next, Best Disaster”. X-Ray Literary. July 10, 2022. https://xraylitmag.com/the-next-best-disaster-by-janna-miller/fiction/
The rabid snails were completely gone. We would get our deposit back. Probably. (humor, literary)
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“Countess Herzinga’s Alchemy”. Janus Literary. June 30, 2022. https://www.janusliterary.com/2022/06/29/janna-miller-countess-herzingas-alchemy/
Countess Herzinga was the first to study the transmutable properties of eggshells as applied to light and sound. Her early laboratory, just long rows of heat lamps and fresh, twiggy nests. (fantasy)
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“No Matter How Much Time Has Passed, Some Houses Don’t Die”. Janus Literary. June 30, 2022.https://www.janusliterary.com/2022/06/29/janna-miller-no-matter-how-much-time-has-passed-some-houses-dont-die/
Nazi ghost houses roam the countryside, setting up bars and brothels. Come in, come in, they say. You do not know us, you do not remember, we have been here before. This door your grandmother passed through. Your great uncle. We have good beer. (polsat, literary)
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“Atmospheric Variations”. FlashFlood. June 18, 2022 http://flashfloodjournal.blogspot.com/2022/06/atmospheric-variations-by-janna-miller.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
Her mother never touched the ground, so Su didn’t either. Her toes splayed on rooftops and gables, curled around hanging vines and gutters. (speculative, literary)
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“The Sternum Ties it All Together”. Molotov Cocktail. June 15, 2022 https://themolotovcocktail.com/vol-13/vol-13-issue-1/sternum/
My teeth wandered off their tether in the night, bringing back the taste of calcium bones and morning dew. (horror)
***
“As Fast as She Can”. Gastropoda. June 5, 2022 https://gastropodalitmag.wixsite.com/main/post/as-fast-as-she-can-by-janna-miller
Cars then and now. Also how fast a baby-blue flower-painted 1979 Pontiac Bonneville can go along Racetrack Road in the dark. (creative non-fiction)
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“Folds Within Folds”. Atlas and Alice. May 23, 2022 https://atlasandalice.com/2022/05/23/fiction-from-janna-miller/
Under Edy’s hands, five seconds of life play out in folded paper. A moving menagerie of starts and sudden stops between origami creases. (speculative, literary)
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“Remains of Firecracker Wrappers, Bird Graves, and You”. Scissors and Spackle. January 2022. Issue 17. https://scissorsandspackle.net/remains-of-firecracker-wrappers-bird-graves-and-you/
Digging down, a tableau opens: firecracker wrappers, potato ghosts, kingsnakes, and civilizations. Even near the magma, one thing is missing. (literary)
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“Pocket Sharps”. Cheap Pop. November 23, 2021. http://www.cheappoplit.com/home/janna-miller
The blade is shiny and was your mother’s. You draw its steel across a found branch the same way she did, sitting at the edge of the flames, long curls of wood falling to your feet. (literary)
***
“St. Winston’s Refuge for Extinct Animals”. Climate Liberated Anthology. Stories to Change the World Publishing. Future Folklore Climate Fiction Contest. October, 2021. Paperback: https://stcwpublishing.com/shop/p/climate-liberated-paperback PDF: https://stcwpublishing.com/shop/p/climate-liberated-pdf
Beavers arrive at St. Winston’s island ahead of schedule, throwing off the balance of the already extinct animals. And a poker game. (spec fic, cli-fi)
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“The Larvae of Tree-Dwelling Species Stay Where They Hatch”. Smokelong Quarterly. September 27, 2021. https://www.smokelong.com/the-larvae-of-tree-dwelling-species-stay-where-they-hatch/
After Moxie’s birthday party, a car is overrun with a new species of Luna Moth. (literary, speculative)
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“The Last Spider Lilies of Chester County”. National Flash Flood Day 2021. June 25, 2021. http://flashfloodjournal.blogspot.com/2021/06/the-last-spider-lilies-of-chester.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
Essie and her mother consider the lilies on their annual pilgrimage along the water. The lilies change yearly, as does the distance between mother and daughter. (realistic fiction, literary)
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“Anti-Gravity and the Punishment of Clever Girls”. Daily Science Fiction. April 15, 2021. https://dailysciencefiction.com/science-fiction/space-travel/janna-miller/anti-gravity-and-the-punishment-of-clever-girls
Spinning in the cold of space, a woman reflects on the punishment of clever girls. (science fiction/fairy tale)
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“Bart’s Red Solo Morning”. Daily Drunk. January 7, 2021. https://dailydrunkmag.com/2021/01/07/barts-red-solo-morning/
Bart has his eye on a red Solo cup that will grant him free beer for a year. All he needs to do is row faster than Janet, who is by far the better athlete. And just as determined. (comedy)
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“Snapdragons Come Back Every Year”. F(r)iction Magazine (Duly Noted). October 15th, 2020. https://frictionlit.org/snapdragons-come-back-every-year/
The couch blossomed on Thursday, right after the afternoon rains. Maxine dismisses it at first, thinking only that the flowers match her mock Turkish rug. When her doors and window seal with sap, she realizes her houseplants are plotting something. (weird/dark comedy)
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“Tea and the Weight of Spirits”. Twist in Time Literary Magazine. Issue 9. July 1, 2020. https://twistintimemag.com/tea-and-the-weight-of-spirits-by-janna-miller/
During the day, Katsu walks rows of tea bushes, plucking new growth to dry in woven baskets. At night, he looks to his roof for the first spirit to descend. (historical fiction/ fantasy)
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“After Midnight at the Dreamer’s Charity Ball”. Endless Pictures Anthology. TL;DR Press. June 29, 2020. 1000 Word Herd Flash Fiction Competition. https://www.amazon.com/Endless-Pictures-Word-Competition-Winners-ebook/dp/B08BWN7YKW/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=tl%3Bdr+press&qid=1593399561&s=digital-text&sr=1-1
Only once a month are the Dreamers gathered to the Charity Ball, a place where they can eat acorn nut pastries, dance under the moonlight with a fully feathered orchestra, and reminisce about the taste of strawberries. (fantasy)
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“Entanglement Issues in Magical Workplace Accidents”. Andromeda Spaceways. Issue 78. March 2020. https://andromedaspaceways.com/product/asm-78/
While Millicent is cleaning up in the library one evening, she unwittingly activates a magical spell of possession. Only through some intense research and self study does she figure out how she can escape to tender her resignation. (fantasy, comedy)
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“Crop Rotation”. Published by Meow Meow Pow Pow. 3/27/20 https://www.meowmeowpowpowlit.com/recent/crop-rotation-by-janna-miller
A child’s job is to harvest the root vegetables, which are grown in the oldest bones. She avoids the corn and is, of course, the most careful of teeth. (fantasy, dark literary fiction)
***
“Existential Dance Revolution” published in Funny Pearls 3/10/20
An after hours office party encounters a different sort of bar game, one with questions that are a little bit more difficult than usual to answer. (humor)
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“Ghosts of Tooth and Claw” published in 72 Hours of Insanity, Vol. 7 by The Writer’s Workout. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B083KLLGQ4/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0
The beasts are safely contained within cave walls if the old rituals are followed and the sacred ashes are worn. When Ilia accidentally releases them with a careless thought, only she can see the old blood beneath toothy smiles. (fantasy)
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“When Johnny Comes Marching Home” published in 72 Hours of Insanity, Vol. 7 by The Writer’s Workout. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B083KLLGQ4/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0
Johnny and the Sergeant find themselves at a wall they must cross to fight a war that seems to have no end. After the zamboni machine clears the battlefield of ashes, it gets eerily quiet. (political satire)
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“Three Small Sacrifices” published in the December issue of Luna Station Quarterly. Issue number 40 has a theme of potions and poisons. http://lunastationquarterly.com/issue/issue-040/ . https://www.amazon.com/dp/1949077136 .
http://lunastationquarterly.com/story/three-small-sacrifices/
They find her when they need her, and are willing to pay for their small sins and revenges. As the witch knows, there are some requests that require a very high price indeed. Deep in the swamp, curses and blessings often look the same. (dark fairytale, fantasy)
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“Daemon Fenroy” published in the Summer 2019 anthology WSOFIT by Devil’s Party Press https://devilspartypress.com . https://www.amazon.com/What-Sort-Fuckery-Dianne-Pearce/dp/0999655884/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=what+sort+of+fuckery&qid=1575731552&sr=8-1
Fenroy is considered dangerous. Chained in the dungeon and fed only library scraps, no one is allowed to look him directly in the eyes, for fear of manipulation. Those that care for him, and others like him, are also somewhat unusual, and may prove to be even more destructive than those that are bound. (fantasy, comedy, political satire)
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“Before the River” (published as “Trees”), July 2019. Published in Beautiful Truth: A Gathering of Voices from Charlotte, NC by Charlotte Lit
A creative non-fiction piece that comments on growing up in North Florida and the tree that connects a childhood to the present. (CNF)
https://www.charlottelit.org/beautifultruth/
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“Noelaini’s Tether” June 2019 Issue A Drop of Water, a Flood of Dreams Published by Enchanted Conversations: Fairytales, Folktales, and Myths
As the daughter of the North Wind and a cloud nymph, Noelaini is used to being blown around. More grounded than her sisters, she must navigate with a rope tied around her waist, trying to balance the difference between flying and falling. (fairy tale, fantasy)
https://enchantedconversationmag.blogspot.com/2019/06/noelanis-tether-by-janna-miller.html
***
“Running Stitches” published on June 8, 2019 by The Drabble
100 word micro-fiction that follows the life of a woman who pulls together her life in a gathering of days, one memorable piece after the other. (literary)
https://thedrabble.wordpress.com/2019/06/08/running-stitches/?c=16004#comment-16004
Miller's Minuscule Mystories 