Lisa Amico Kristel

Lisa Amico Kristel is a recovering computer programmer and composition instructor and a former restaurant owner. She co-founded and hosts the #YeahYouWrite Author Series in NYC. While she searches for a home for The Art of Conversation, her ghostly novel with recipes, she writes strange tales and plays the viola. Her writing can be found in Lamplight, Typehouse Literary Magazine, and others. She lives in Oyster Bay, NY with her husband and a dog that isn’t really theirs. (Photo credit: Robin Luce Martin)

String of Hearts

As usual, Ellyn Mueller sits alone during 5th grade recess, leaning against the chain-link fence that edges the Baytown Elementary School playground. Reaching between her bumped-up knees, she draws a rose on the blacktop, using ...