Thanks to editor Sandra Fluck and The Write Launch for publishing Chapter 3 from “Lowlands,” in the December 2022 issue.

In this chapter:

It is late August in the steep gorges and vineyards of New York’s Finger Lakes region. Robert, Cynthia, and Leah are sober yet troubled, caught between what is real and imagined and the overlapping secrets and motives of trauma and addiction. During a night of drinking, Robert and Cynthia’s 18-year-old daughter Maylin hooks up with Phil, her father’s AA sponsee, and drowns when his truck is caught in a flash flood. Cynthia is beset by incantatory, hyper-natural visions of Maylin, while Robert’s past catches up with him.