Grace is currently writing manuscripts for a regency romance series, St Martin’s Lane Ladies [WT]. This series follows four friends running a women’s magazine as they navigate love and loss from London to Manchester.

This flash fiction story is a modern take on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Algorithm-crossed lovers, Romeo and Jewlz, launch their budding romance on Instagripe. Will their fate be Instalove, or Instaregret?

Alpha Romeo Juliet was one of the stories selected for the Australian Writers’ Centre Furious Fiction: June 2025 Story Showcase. You can read this story and the other wonderful showcased stories here.

Here’s what the judges said:

“Yes, we’re ending with one more Romeo and Juliet take. This one had such a strong sense of the social media voice and worked so well in capturing the play, that we simply had to share it. The style that the players all communicate in perfectly mirrors the original, and we all know that if Instagram or Snapchat had been around in 1597, these star-crossed texters would have been all over it. Highlights include Mercutio (@merc) saying “Her account’s private but I’ll DM her, She’ll agree, I’m her OG follower” as well as @guilietta quizzing @a_romeo on whether he thinks of the Roman Empire, to name just a few of the clever moments. Finally, the ultimate ‘death’ (having one’s account blocked) is also a great modern take. Fun stuff – and it even rhymes!”

When an artist returns alone to the Namadgi Wilderness Resort seven years after his honeymoon, his husband remains at the forefront of his mind.

The Lyrebird’s Song was the top pick for the Australian Writers’ Centre Furious Fiction: January 2026 Story Showcase. You can read this story and the other wonderful showcased stories here.

Here’s what the judges said:

“We received many couple-themed stories this month, as you’d expect with a luxury resort. And plenty of them included a spouse who, for example, realises after years of marriage that life could be better. So it was with this in our minds that we donned our own storytelling backpack/baggage and checked into this story. Unhappy spouse. Tick. Differing hobbies. Tick. And it’s well written but surely we know where this is going. Yet then, we understand – framed beautifully by the language of birdsong set up earlier. It’s not a flashy ‘ta daaaa’ reveal. Just a simple act of love in the final two lines. Kudos if you spotted it earlier, but even if you did, we doubt it would have affected the enjoyment of this well-paced, thoughtful piece.”

A free verse poem in response to the painting, Mediterranean, by Nicolas de Stael, 1952. Available to read online at The Ekphrastic Review.