L.D. Oxford writes
speculative fiction
Her science fiction and fantasy has appeared in Electric Spec, All Worlds Wayfarer, Bards and Sages Quarterly, and Metaphorosis (the latter of which selected “The Girl Who Drew the World” for their Best of 2022 anthology). When she’s not writing or working a day job, you can find her playing with paint, digging in dirt, or scratching a travel itch. She lives in Seattle and is seeking representation for her debut novel.
Ms. McCrae’s Metaphysical Cleaning Agency
“That couldn't be Mrs. Bardot's voice. It was cold wind scattering November leaves. ‘I have seen things you couldn't dream in nightmares. I have traveled places you pray you'll never know. You cannot comprehend the webs that connect past to present to future. Your body is an earthworm away from rot, Jean McCrae. Never underestimate the power of death.’”
The Girl Who Drew the World
“Her eyes flew open and she held the mapbook closer to her chest. Her protection, her knowledge. Her proof that she knew this place, that it knew her. That she belonged.”
Included in Metaphorosis: Best of 2022 anthology
The Return
“Sometimes she adopted two legs, two arms, two breasts and two eyes. There was a thrill in assuming human form, something exotic and forbidden. More challenging, too. The humans communicated differently. The crabs, the squid, the palms—they all spoke the same language. Her language. The humans spoke in many tongues, all of them foreign. But she recognized things about them. They laughed like the sea eagle, experienced joy. They were born and died and lived in between.”
Flight
“I knew Mateo was funny before Papa and Mother did. But I didn’t know it was funny. It was just Mateo. Before I started school we spent every day together. Everything Mateo did, it was normal because there is no other way Mateo should be.
The day before his third birthday, it happened.”
Bards and Sages Quarterly, July 2017
Home
“You make anything illegal, and people want it. And hell, there were folk crazy enough to want lions and chimpanzees and wolves even before you couldn't find ‘em in an exhibit. And those idiots are still out there, still buying their exotic pets, still stupid enough to let ‘em get away.
That's where I come in.”
Allegory, spring/summer 2017