Ryan Harbert Portfolio - Ryan Harbert

Bio

Ryan graduated from Kent State University with his B.A. in English. Since then he's lived in a small Ohio town planted firmly in the Rust Belt. He's made ends meet as a fry cook, a receptionist, and a night janitor in a veterinary hospital. All the while he's been assembling a small mountain of fiction, poetry, and essays, a sampling of which you can read below.

His work has been featured in Umbrella Factory Magazine, Hidden Peak Press, Steam Ticket, and Vol. 1 Brooklyn. Please send all comments and inquiries to rharbert42@gmail.com.

Selected Works

Vol. 1 Brooklyn • 9th June 2024

The Silent and the Taxidermist

A reclusive taxidermist's life is interrupted when a confused, silent old man appears on her doorstep. He might just be the companion she needs.

Published by Vol. 1 Brooklyn

Chomp and Model

A short story featuring a kidnapped supermodel tied up in a basement, a "naked ape made of stilts and false teeth," and a tiny-eyed Moonface that lives inside mirrors.

Featured in Steam Ticket Vol. 27, pg. 111.

Hidden Peak Press • 29th April 2024

The Morph Deer

A short story about a hunter who shoots a deer in the frozen north, only to discover the deer's foreleg has transformed into a human arm.

Originally published by Hidden Peak Press

UMBRELLA FACTORY MAGAZINE • 24th February 2024

Ad World: How Corporations Create Realities That Don't Exist

Essay examining how corporations create censored versions of reality in order to attract advertisers, and how those ad-friendly worlds come to replace our own. Featured in Umbrella Factory Magazine, February 2024 issue, pg. 14.

Daddy Daughter Time

A short story about a father trying to connect with his horror-aficionado daughter during the Halloween season. But there might be more to the daughter than meets the eye...

Fool

A short story about a hospital clown who meets an abused circus clown, the relationship they form, and the caged lion that snaps them back to reality.

How Fiction Killed Self-Improvement

An essay examining how the heroes of modern fiction rarely have to overcome obstacles and better themselves, and the negative impact this has on audiences.

Ink Blots

Poem about a psychiatrist administering a Rorschach test to a long-confined patient, and the violent struggle the patient sees within the ink.

Lifetime Movie Pitch

A humorous movie pitch for the Lifetime network. Mom is dating a guy in a J.C. Penny sweater, but Daughter knows something isn't right. And what's up with that loom in the morgue?

24th March 2024

Never-Everland Country

A poem where the entirety of American culture, from the entertainment industry to the clergy, is infantilized. Everything is gumballs and Double Dutch, cookies and toys. But what happens when predators pull up in their unmarked vans?

rharbert42@gmail.com