[.]

I’m a novelist, historian, editor, and translator.

I’m the author of a novel, Ready, Set, Oh (Flexible Press, 2022) and a novella, L’Air du Temps (1985) (Regal House, 2024). Guardians & Saints, a story collection, is forthcoming in October 2025 from Cornerstone Press. My second novel, The Great Houses of Pill Hill (Little Place of Departed Spirits), will be published in May 2026 by Soho Press.

I'm also the author, with Jed Z. Buchwald, of The Riddle of the Rosetta, a new history of the decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphs, published 2020 by Princeton University Press. We also wrote The Zodiac of Paris (Princeton UP, 2010), about the fortunes of an ancient Egyptian temple ceiling that was brought to Paris in 1821 and became the focus of a fierce debate about science and religion.

My short fiction and essays have appeared in many national and regional publications including the Boston Globe, Liber, Conjunctions, The LA Review of Books, Dame, Fence, The Saint Ann's Review, Singapore Unbound, and The Manifest-Station. Lately I’ve been experimenting with very short fiction, as in this piece at Gone Lawn; and fiction that draws directly from primary historical sources, as in this piece at Litro. My translation of two prose poems by the French writer Anna de Noailles was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. My translation of “A Roman Morning,” also by de Noailles, appeared in the Winter 2024 issue of Exacting Clam, where I also brought out an essay about her life and work.

I’m the editor of reviews at Necessary Fiction, where we focus on wonderful new books, particularly in translation, that are flying below the radar of the mainstream press; and senior editor for translation at The Adroit Journal. I also work as the managing editor of the Victorian Web, the internet’s oldest and largest website devoted to Victoriana.

Once or twice a month, I send a newsletter to readers interested in writing, new books, upcoming events, and the fun things I’ve found on the internet. If you’d like to join this community, subscribe to What’s That Noise?.

For many years, I taught college writing at Boston University and before that, at Columbia University in NYC. I sometimes teach workshops in flash fiction for adults at LitArtsRI.

In 2018, I served as National Director of Research for Swing Left, a progressive political organization focused on electoral work. From 2019-2025, I worked on the same issues locally as director of communications for Swing Left Rhode Island. I recently rejoined Swing Left to manage their volunteer research team.

I'm an experienced editor of fiction and nonfiction. For some years I paid the bills editing research reports for financial services firms as well as nonprofit organizations devoted to human rights, reproductive justice, and progressive electoral politics. I still do this kind of work occasionally. If you are interested in hiring me, drop me a line via this form. My rates are reasonable. 

For publicity matters, please reach out to my publicist, Heather Brown.

I hold an MFA in fiction from Columbia University, a PhD in the history of science from MIT, and a BA from Brown University in Providence, RI, where I live with my family. 

A few times a week, I can be found in a tap dance studio perfecting my bombershay.