ABOUT JD


There is not one cosmic meaning for all, there is only the meaning we each give to our life ~ Anais Nin
Her Bio
jd holds a Doctor of Arts degree from Drake University. Her award-winning fiction, non-fiction and poetry have appeared in various publications, including: THE BROAD RIVER REVIEW, The Sylvan Echo, The Elkhorn Review, DOORKNOBS & BODY PAINT/ Berkeley, FANTASTIC FLASH FICTION: AN ANTHOLOGY/Pandemonium Press, The National PEN Woman’s Online Magazine, THE LIGHT BETWEEN US/ Pen Women Press and riverbabble. She has been vetted into the Iowa Arts Council and the Poets and Writers directories. The Iowa Center of the Book also invited her inclusion. Her book of poetry, SAY YES, after a reading at Prairie Lights in Iowa City was placed number one on a local best seller's list. She has been an editor for Prairie Wolf Press Review, an annual online literary journal, since its beginning. MINUTE OF DARKNESS & EIGHTEEN FLASH FICTION STORIES/Savvy Press debuted in 2015 and its log line was added to the list of top reads by Wildsound Film Fest of 2017. A GIFT OF OLEANDER, Savvy Press, the fourth of the Jessie Murphy Mystery Series,will launch in March, 2018. She is the current president of SWFL Pen Women and an active member of PEN America.
Want to have a book signing or reading or talk?
Feel free to contact her.
Important Links:
(All published work is archived by Issue)
Poets & Writers via @poetswritersinc
riverbabble blog: http://www.iceflow.com/bigget/blogs.html
Creative & Academic Publications
Joyce Daniels Pen Name: jd daniels
Architectural Salvage, riverbabble, Berkeley, CA, Winter, 2018
A Gift of Oleander, Savvy Press, Salem, New York, Winter, 2018
Murder in Matlacha, Savvy Press, Salem, New York, 2017
Quick Walk to Murder, Savvy Press, Salem, New York, 2016
Lifting the Lean. Flash Fiction. riverbabble, Issue 29 Summer, 2016
The Path Taken. Poem. riverbabble, Berkeley, CA, Issue, 29, Summer, 2016
But I Have . . . Pen Women Press, The Light Between Us, Washington D. C, 2015
Minute of Darkness & Eighteen Flash Fiction Stories, Savvy Press, New York, 2015
2nd Edition of The Old Wolf Lady: Wawewa Mepemoa, Savvy Press, New York, 2014
Organic Passion. Flash Fiction. Doorknobs & BodyPaint, Issue 71, May 2014
There’s a…Poem. Tropicalia. News Press, 2014
Through Pelican Eyes. Savvy Press. Salem, New York, 2014
Oleander: Flowering Gifts of the Universe, riverbabble, Summer 2013
Maybe there is a…Doorknobs & BodyPaint, Issue 71, Aug, 2013
Building Miami, Doorknobs & BodyPaint, Issue 70, 2013
A Room of One’s Own In Iran, Doorknobs & BodyPaint, Issue 70, 2013
Say Yes. Book of Poetry. Savvy Press, New York, 2013
Blessed with Choice. Poem. Tropicalia. News Press. Fort Myers, FL, 2013
Untitled, riverbabble 20, Poem. Winter, 2012
Mount Ayr, riverbabble 19, Poem, Summer, 2011
Ghazal of the Now, riverbabble 18, Poem, Winter, 2011
Myopia. Flash Fiction. Doorknobs & BodyPaint, 63. Berkeley, CA, 2011
The Seat of Power. Flash Fiction. Doorknobs & BodyPaint 59. Berkeley, CA, 2010
The Age of Reason. Flash Fiction. Doorknobs & BodyPaint 59. Berkeley, CA, 2010
Damnest Thing I Ever Saw. Flash Fiction. riverbabble 16 Berkeley, CA, Winter, 2009
Pelican Totem: A Poem. riverbabble 17, Pandemonium Press, Berkeley, CA, 2010.
No Inertia Here. Flash Fiction. Doorknobs & BodyPaint 58 Berkeley, CA, 2010
Way Cool, Man. Flash Fiction. Doorknobs & BodyPaint 58 Berkeley CA, 2010
Volcanic Peeks. Flash Fiction Doorknobs & BodyPaint 58. Berkeley, CA, 2010
Hee Haw! Flash Fiction. Doorknobs & BodyPaint: An Anthology. Pandemonium Press. Berkeley, CA, 2008
Blue Hairs. Flash Fiction. Doorknobs & BodyPaint 45. Berkeley, CA, 2006
Bloody Hell. Flash Fiction. Doorknobs & BodyPaint 44. Berkeley, CA, 2006
Shenanigan Backfire. Flash Fiction. Doorknobs & BodyPaint 43, Berkeley, CA, 2006
The Model. A Poem. Iowa City Public Arts Program, 2006
Corea Maine Shadows. A Poem. Rhode Island Online Travel Magazine, 2006
Ole House. Ekphrastic Poem. Lynn Beirretter, Photographer. St. James City, Fl, 2006
The Pelican. Ekphrastic Poem. Lynn Beirretter, Photographer. St. James City, FL, 2006
Sunrise. Ekphrastic Poem. Lynn Beirretter, Photographer. St. James City, Fl, 2006
The Old Wolf Lady-A Biography. Funded by an Iowa Arts Council and
Kirkwood Community College Grant. Iowa City, IA, 2005
Chicken Killing Days. Memoir. The Broad River Review. Gardner-Webb University.
Bowling Springs, N. Carolina, Spring 2005
That Day on the Bridge. Essay. Weather Eye. Kirkwood Community College,
Iowa City, IA, 2005
Gulo and Walla. Children’s Story. Weather Eye, 2003
Kirkwood Faculty Learns from Semester at Sea. Article. CCID International
News, Winter Edition 2003, Dayton, Ohio, 2003
The World of Tabal and Goddess Nadine: Novel Excerpt. Weather Eye, 1999
Among the Dogtooth Violets. Novel Excerpt. Weather Eye, 1998
Video Game Escape, Wraps, Nancy’s Woodcut, Framed in Silence: Poems. One Town Folio, Iowa City, IA, 1998
The Gift of Hattusas. Article. “The Bilkent News”, Ankara, Turkey, 1997
The Use of Black Humor in Kurt Vonnegut Jr’s Slaughterhouse-Five and
Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin. American Culture and
Literature 10th Edition. An academic essay presented at American Culture
Conference in Nevsehir. Turkey, 1995
Country Spirits. Story. Periphery. Drake University, Des Moines, IA, 1988
A Message for Hemingway, Tides in Retrospect, Laying Sod. Poems. The Elkhorn
Review, Elkhorn, NE, 1987-1988
Samples of Published Fiction
-
LIFTING THE LEAN jddaniels
To crush! To lift the lean of that black bluff! World, World, I cannot get thee close enough!
~ Edna Saint Vincent Millay
Wind whipped her hair, salt water punished pilings as she—eyes lowered—gripped the recently redirected drawbridge’s railing and boosted her right foot onto the horizontal surface.
“Better get inside,” a whiskery fisherman with poles and bait bucket mumbled, continuing to push hunched-shouldered through the challenging air.
“Yeah, sure, in a minute.”
In the not too distant horizon, a funnel cloud shifted from gray to grayer, signaling her to come deeper into its promise of swirling hot chaos. A moored boat tipped over. A palm frond tore from a tree and smacked the water, reeling. Her gaze drifted back to the cloud—it's color now darker—its shape more pronounced.
Inhaling the acrid organic smell of the murky sea, she, with the speed of a gopher tortoise, raised her face to the mist and placed her other foot on the cement ledge. A luminous ray of light almost blinded her. She closed her eyes. Opened them again. The light remained. Her skin warmed. She glanced downward. A dolphin, as if performing for an invisible photographer’s camera, jumped high then disappeared.
Slowly, ever so slowly, her grip loosened.
“Hey, you! Get off there. That tornado’s comin` right for you,” a voice thundered.
She tapped the railing once, stepped back onto the bridge floor, and with straightened shoulders walked away.
riverbabble, Issue 29, Summer 2016
http://iceflow.com/riverbabble/issue32/issue32.html
ORGANIC PASSION
Jandy slid off her bike, pushed it into the rack and snapped on the lock. As she pulled off her helmet, the pungent odor of lilacs made her nostril hairs tickle. She sniffed. The sun’s rays painted the fresh tree leaves in multi-shades of green and silver. Two lines of red tulips and another row of daffodils waved in the warm breeze. Nearby, hostas sprouted through wood chips. Ah, spring-time, her favorite season. She sighed.
“Hey, Jandy, how’s things?”
Deep in her own world, the words caused Jandy to jump, but she quickly recovered, nodded and gave the woman a thumbs-up as she passed.
Stepping toward the building, the Co-0p door swung open. The pony-tailed, male cashier winked at her. Jandy bent her head, retrieved a basket and headed for the produce. With infinite care she filled the hand-basket with one green and one red pepper, two perfect tomatoes, a batch of parsnips, a yellow onion and a clove of fresh garlic.
“Cookin` tonight?”
Jandy turned her head. Dale, from the B & B on their street, towered over her. His salt and pepper hair was swept back from his large forehead. His eyes glittered with warmth.
She grinned. “Me? Cookin`? You know better than that.”
Dale chuckled. “You’ve got it made, girl, being with a guy who loves everything “kitchen”. My guy doesn’t know a stove from a dishwasher.” He glanced to the right, snapped his head upward in a greeting, excused himself and hurried down the aisle.
Jandy returned her attention to the veggies, withdrawing an eggplant. As she did, the sleeve of her shirt slid up her arm. Startled, she quickly covered her flesh, then positioned the darkly purple eggplant near the peppers in her basket.
At the dessert rack, with minute` care, she selected a dark chocolate walnut brownie, eyeing the slices of carrot cake. She touched her thigh. A fat pocket? Oh, no. What would Joe say? She placed Joe’s dessert into the basket and moved away.
Waiting in line at the check-out counter, she gazed at the eggplant. Her again inched-up shirtsleeve revealed bruises in the shape of fingers to be the same color as the organic vegetable. Under the bright light, she gazed at her small wrist in amazement with a feeling of revulsion she’d never felt before. “Yes, no doubt about it,” she thought. “I’m one lucky woman to be hooked up with an obsessive man whose one passion is food and cooking. One lucky woman.”
The line moved forward. She bit down on her lip.
“Your number?” the cashier asked, glancing at her hand gripping the eggplant.
His face paled.
http://www.iceflow.com/doorknobs/DB.html
Doorknobs & BodyPaint, Issue 74, 2014