"Dentists & Dragons" in Have I Got a Guy for You, Adams Media, 2008. Edited by Alix Strauss

How far would you go to help your dental-phobic mother? Root canals are a picnic compared to the pain Aury undergoes in "Dentists & Dragons," coming April 1.

"Estonia Cowboy Rocks" in Outlandish Affairs, Luath Press, 2004. Edited by Evan Rosenthal and Amanda Robinson

When is a country singer gay and when is he straight? "Estonia Cowboy Rocks" opens in a smoky bar in the Baltics where the narrator admits, "The purse should have tipped me off..."

"Day of the Dead" in Pieces, PocketBooks, 2000. Edited by Stephen Chbosky

A humorously doomed relationship begins when a twenty-something's boyfriend returns from an Outward Bound trip and moves in with her. Winner of the 1999 MTV "Write Stuff" short story contest.