Short Stories
Praise for Anastasia – Winner of the 2024 Driftwood Press Adrift Short Story Contest
“’Anastasia’ lyrically laments parental powerlessness, the special brand of sorrow reserved for the bracing fact that we are fragile and finite no matter how strong and eternal our love for our children feels. It tells a simple, surreal story through the point of view of a parent preparing for the worst amid the slow crush of an inexplicable global emergency, one that threatens not only his daughter, but the power of science itself. With both lyricism and suspense, this story wrestles with the unspeakable, and captures the loneliness of anticipatory grief in a new and profound way.”
~ Dean Bakopoulos – contest judge, author of Please Don’t Come Back From the Moon
Praise for Everyone is Going to Tomorrow – Runner up in the 2025 Phoebe Spring Fiction Contest
“Family and coming of age stories are ubiquitous to all yet deeply unique to each individual. Yet, Everyone is Going to Tomorrow read with a tight and bubbling sense of existential early 20s dread I found to be spot on, expansive, and piercing. I found myself thinking about love, the limits of it, family, and what comes after us long after reading.”
~Halle Hill, contest judge, author of Good Women
Books
Praise for Calvin Klein
In the tradition of Donald Barthelme and Kelly Link, James Gianetti blends fantasy, humor, and tenderness to take us on an odyssey of road-kill snacks, glam rock sing-a-longs, bathtub boges, and most importantly, deep reflection on the nature of fear and the power of friendship to help us overcome it. Gianetti tells us that every monster has their scared person; reading Calvin Klein, you’ll find yourself wishing for a lovable monster like Calvin to stand by your side (or in your closet) in your own scary moments.
– Rebecca Van Laer, Author of How to Adjust to The Dark
James Gianetti’s new novelette offers a refreshing and heartbreaking twist on the childhood tale of the monster in the closet. It asks us to consider: what if that monster and its scare-tactics were there to help, not hurt? Through prose that is at once humorous, visceral, and endearing, Gianetti explores the complex comfort to be found in the fears we carry with us, and the inherent struggle we face in overcoming them, in letting them go. Calvin Klein poignantly examines the monsters (both real and figurative) that we cling to, contend with, and eventually say goodbye to, as we grow up and come to terms with our true selves. It is a story that sticks around long after reading, making us look fondly on the monsters in our own lives that got us to where we are today.
– Brenna McPeek, Editor in Chief of Fatal Flaw Literary Magazine
James Gianetti’s Calvin Klein is an exploration of the monstrous fear, grit, and love found within the most intimate of human experiences. Gianetti’s narrative voice is somewhere between George Saunders and Katherine Dunn, filtered through the ooze of an 80s chiller flick, and warmed with genuine, earnest heart. The relationship between Sam and his monster, Cal, is fragile and heartrending—a sort of delayed coming of age—but also strong and full of hope: a friendship worthy of Calvin and Hobbes. Calvin Klein has the blood, guts, and love all humans (and humanoids) deserve.
– Michael Giddings, Author of Kelly Marie Wants to Talk to You
Praise for The Town of Jasper
“A powerful thriller that crosses several genres without falling into the trap of formula writing. The evolving social and political struggles and alliances between the survivors compete with the best of survivalist sagas.” – Midwest Book Review