New Short Story: “A Guide for Young Ladies Entering the Service of the Fairies”

I have a new short story up at The Hanging Garden!

A GUIDE FOR YOUNG LADIES ENTERING THE SERVICE OF THE FAIRIES

I.
This is the lie they will use to break you: no one else has ever loved this way before.

II.
Choose wisely which court you serve. Light or Dark, Summer or Winter, Seelie or Unseelie: they have many names, but the pith of the choice is this: a poisoned flower or a knife in the dark?

New Short Story: “The Storyteller’s Apprentice”

I have a new short story up at The Hanging Garden:

THE STORYTELLER’S APPRENTICE

There’s a story you have wrapped around your heart. Everybody has one: a single, secret story that’s both lock and key. If you ever hear that story, it will feel deep and bright and familiar and true as the summer sky. It’s a joy that will stay with you till the end of your days, warm and bright for you to cup your hands around on the darkest days.

And the person clever or lucky enough to tell you the story? It won’t matter who he is, the cruelest king or the meanest, most common drunk. He’ll hold your heart in his hand like an acorn. That’s why people fear storytellers as much as they love them.