Natalie Mills

Stories of Literary and Speculative Fiction

Natalie Mills is a writer and publishing professional. Along with her husband Matt, she runs Penny Magic Press, a small press for short stories, mini-stories, classics, and novels. She has written more than 20 short stories and is currently working on her second novel. Her first novel, Before the End of August, was published by Penny Magic in 2022.

Natalie has been in the publishing industry for nearly 15 years, working in acquisitions, marketing, and product development. Most recently, she worked at a publishing house embedded within a tech company, applying product marketing principles to new books, reaching readers within the software platform as well as through traditional publishing channels.

Natalie writes primarily literary and speculative fiction, with an emphasis on magical realism and murder. Her favorite writers are Virginia Woolf, Eudora Welty, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Vladimir Nabokov. When she isn't spending time with words and books, she can be found walking all across Chicago, the city that she calls home. Read some of Natalie’s writing below or find more across the Penny Magic website.