One is the Lady of the Waking Waters, an immortal mermaid. The other is a thief, who steals lives until a wish can be fulfilled, and a life-changing choice can be made.
This is a cool short story about love and obsession and needing to find the balance between them. It’s poetic and surprising, although maybe not quite as beautiful as I expected from that gorgeous cover art. I’m glad I just read it on the website instead of buying it because I don’t think it was long enough to make buying it worth it, but if you have like ten minutes to kill this is a good choice to squeeze in.
A composer in an unstable city-state accidentally discovers the perfect singer for his work—a clockwork man—and sows the seeds of revolution.
What a beautiful story. Even though it’s a little thick to work through, it’s also rich, inventive, and strange. This story doesn’t explain anything. It doesn’t offer context. It just exists to offer a peak into a city on the brink of revolution, full of wonders and common horrors. It has the feel of a dream, but the emotional weight of a novel. I may not understand any of the characters, but I am full of emotions from their story, and that matters more.
Avi comes across these foreboding words scrawled on the bathroom mirror, but what do they mean? Is this a curse, a prediction, or a threat? And how does anyone know his real name when he hasn’t even told his mother yet? Then there is Ian—the cool new guy at school who is all sunshine, optimism, and magic. All the things that Avi doesn’t know how to deal with…yet.
Words can’t express how much I love this story. If you check out only one novella from this post, please make it this one. It’s got sunshine boys, grumpy boys, an overabundance of moms, support for queer kids and perfect Jewish representation. It made me tear up about these boys and bounce at the Jewish jokes. Its official tagline is “A romantic, #ownvoices fairy tale for trans boys,” and I guess that’s a good review too.
You can read it for free at thebooksmugglers.com here.
These books can also be purchased if you’re inclined and would like to support the authors/publishers! Or, support them by reading and reviewing.
just moving along like everyone else 