About Laura Cody

My dedication to writing began in the second grade when the school literary magazine published my poem “Spiderwebs,” an exploration of stimulus-reaction psychology in one tight verse (…”Once I saw one by the stream, when I saw it I began to scream”…) Nurturing my interests in both the written word and the complexities of the mind, I proceeded to study English at the University of Notre Dame, then attend medical school at McGill University. These pursuits combined to provide exposure to a world of fascinating conditions as well as the vocabulary with which to describe them. (Imagine what I could have done with “Spiderwebs” had I known the word “arachnophobia” when I was eight?) After four years in Montreal, I came home to New York City and completed a residency in Psychiatry at Cornell Medical Center followed by a fellowship in Forensic Psychiatry at Cornell and Columbia. I currently practice in New York and, in case you are wondering, yes, my life is exactly like something out of the show Law and Order

            Writing has continued around the edges of my career with publications in professional journals and some dabbling in fiction writing. The fiction-dabbling ramped up several notches in 2015 when I teamed up with my old med-school friend, orthopedic surgeon Graham Elder, to write The Epsilon Project, a series of books following five childhood friends dealing with the aftermath of a cataclysmic solar event. You could say we drew upon our specific areas of expertise to create a tension-filled, blood-streaked thriller of a story. (I really hope that someone, someday, says that.)

            I live on Long Island with my wonderful husband and three amazing children. In my spare time, I can usually be found trotting around the neighborhood in running shoes, sautéing something on the stove, or sitting on my porch, glass of wine at my side, tapping on a keyboard while the sun sets or the rain falls. 

Publications

Nate, Hate, and the Illusory Transformative Nature of Glass Figments and Fragments: Winners of the 1KWHC 2024
The First Slap is the Hardest 72 Hours of Insanity: Anthology of The Games

The Lights Are Out, But Susie’s Home All your Stories Magazine, August 2024

Old Habits Australian Writer’s Centre, June 2024 Furious Fiction Featured Pick Read here

Snowstorm in Suburbia Witcraft, Nov 2023 Read here

Either One Step Forward or Two Steps Back The Lakeshore Review, Vol 2 Summer/Autumn 2022

Tell Us How it Happened Ponder Review, Vol.6, Issue 1, Spring 2022

My Name is Casey McKenzie Coffin Bell, Vol.5, Issue 3, July 2022 Read here

Ridding the World of Vice Bewildering Stories, vol 912 (Third Quarterly Review of 2021) Read here

Unstoppable You CafeLit, May 2021 (Best of CafeLit 11) Read here

Darkest Night, Darkest Day Pussy Magic, October 2019

The Neurotic, Erotic Adventures of Dr. Kitty McCabe Cosmo, September 2014

Awards and Recognition

Semi-Finalist, Cosmo Fiction Contest 2014

Shortlisted, Molotov Cocktail Flash Frenzy Contest 2020

Longlisted, A3 Review “Heroes” Contest 2020

Finalist, Owl Canyon Hackathon 2024

Shortlisted, New Writers.UK Spring Writing Competition 2024

Winner, Furious Fiction Top Pick for June 2024

Third Place, Writer’s Games: Event Two 2024

Seventh Place, TL;DR Word Herd 1,000 Word Flash Fiction Contest 2024

Fourth Place, Writer’s Games 2024

Semi-Finalist, Scribes Micro 2024