Showing results by narrator "JA Carter-Winward" in All Categories

No Apologies is the inappropriate joke at dinner, the drunk uncle in the room shouting obscenities, and the ugly truth no one talks about in polite company. Part poetry, part fiction, part memoir, and all honesty, No Apologies is a compelling slice of human experience in all of its crass, hopeful, sincere, and tender glory. And it says it...with no apologies.

A Mormon in the White House and intimate relationships with plastic blow-up dolls show the breadth of Carter-Winward's short story telling. So get ready for a pole dancing grandmother and football played using a nativity scene. The stories may be short, but the images and emotions will stay with you.

With Carter-Winward's unique take on the complexity of human behavior within intimate relationships, she tackles issues such as monogamy, sexuality, and betrayal with her unique, nuanced eye: from shattered illusions and regret in "Days Past", to the sting and slap of betrayal in "Chance of Rain"; the ambiguities and devastation of acquaintance rape and sexual assault in "Daddy's Girl" and "Violets", as well as the redemptive dissolution of conventional boundaries in "Unspoken" and "Inside".  

No Secrets is the second volume of Carter-Winward's genre defying writing that is part poetry, part fiction, part memoir, and all told with a clarity that does not allow secrets. These short pieces tell us the stories many of us hide, even from ourselves.

No Regrets is the final stop in J.A. Carter-Winward's poetic trilogy that will break your heart, make you laugh, oh, and take you inside a brothel. You won't regret the ride.

Chelsea's having a bad day. Her mom blew up (long story), her husband left her for another man (long story), she lost her job and apartment (another long story), and the long and short of it is - she is out of options. But her estranged dead mother left her a way out, a way out of all of it. All she has to do is do the one thing she refuses to do: take over the family business. What is the family business? Sex, sex, and more sex. So what's the big deal? Chelsea doesn't like sex. Or people. Or things. Or gooey things. And she trusts them even less.