James M. Maskell Writer
James M. Maskell is an essayist, fiction writer, occasional poet, and long-time educator from Massachusetts. His work has appeared in journals across the US, the UK, and The Netherlands.
Essays
First published in The Argyle Magazine Issue 4, "Act Accordingly" is a true account of just one of many things that can go unexpectedly wrong while teaching at a public high school.
First published by Quarter Press in Quarter(ly) Issue 13: This is Where We Are Now, "Did You Get the Tickets?" explores how buying concert tickets has drastically changed over the past few decades.
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Originally published in Volume 6 of Windmill: The Hofstra Journal of Art and Literature, "In the Backyard" details a key moment in the relationship I shared with my father.
"The Record Keeper," first published in Volume 5 of Drexel University's Paper Dragon, details a moment when I snuck into my brother's room to gaze at his record collection.
The editorial staff of Windmill was kind enough to include me in their Windmill Writers series as they asked about my process in writing "In the Backyard."
Fiction
This story was originally published in Issue 3 of Scribeworth. It's the second of my stories with a connection to Savannah. There's something about that city that just keeps drawing me back.
This story was published in the first issue of 13 Tracks Magazine which was released in The Netherlands in May of 2025. (Print only for now) It is inspired by the song "In and Out of Sight" by The Horrors.
"Henry" is my tribute to James Joyce. It was published in the December 2024 edition of The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature.
"The Good Neighbor" is a brief, disquieting trip into a neighbor's basement. It was first published on November 22, 2024 by Every Day Fiction.
"Ceremonial Rains" is about grief, its solitary nature, and how we never really grieve in the exact same way as someone else. It was first published in the August 2024 edition of Bright Flash Literary Review.
"A Renewal" is my first attempt at a bit of a haunted tale. It was published by the British journal Crow and Cross Keys on April 24, 2024.
"Suburban Laureate " was inspired by an experience my father had when I was very young. This fictionalization was originally published in the first issue of
Vita and the Woolf.
Originally published in the Lucky Jefferson 365 Collection, "Sundown" is the brief account of an adult son calming his elderly mother who suffers from dementia.
Poetry
"Saturday Games" is about those childhood memories of playing ball with your friends at the local field. It was one of twenty poems featured at the National Baseball Poetry Festival in Worcester, MA, in May of 2026.
First published in the Spring 2024 "Happy Poems" edition of Poemeleon: A Journal of Poetry, "August 16, 1977" is an English sonnet capturing the magic of my favorite photograph of my dad and me.
"The Windchimes: a Villanelle" was originally published in the "Renewal" issue of Assignment: The Literary Magazine of Mountainview MFA on June 20, 2024.
Originally published in issue 11 of Loud Coffee Press, "For the Record," an homage to vinyl records, is the very first thing I ever published.