FICTION

Helen O'Neil's fiction explores numerous themes, including:

  • race
  • disability
  • poverty
  • mysticism
  • human sexuality

Her debut project is After the Flood, a book of short stories with apocalyptic and dystopic themes. These stories include:

  • The Passover, a story about the gassing of American vagrants during a time of economic cataclysm. The title refers to the 40-day period after the first round of gassings when the spirits of the dead moved over the Earth, testifying about their grief.
  • The Hunt, a story about sexual terrorism between enemy races in a country at war
  • The Headless King, a story about a hedonistic investment banker who falls prey to toxic femininity
  • Lost Words, a dark romance about a disabled mixed-race writer who seduces her white social worker and loses her ability to write
  • The Thaw, a dark romance about a white schoolteacher married to an abusive East Asian wife and his rebound affair with a fiery Czech painter and lay nun

In addition to this project, Helen is working on a novel called The Prophet Maximilian, about a schizophrenic white street hustler from the Bronx with a prophetic Great Work to carry out for humanity.