Bewere the Night (59 page)

Marika shakes her head and chuckles. “All work and no play . . . ”

“The ocean is play. The ocean is beautiful.”

Faith isn’t looking at Marika at all now, but she feels her moving in, feels the air get warmer and moister in the moment before they kiss.

In the morning, Marika isn’t in Faith’s cabin. Her skin is, though, neatly draped over the chair where Faith sits to write her blog posts, the only place in the room where something that size could be neatly draped, impossible to miss.

Faith hesitates for a moment before even picking it up. The feathers are warm, which doesn’t seem like it should be possible. They leave a fine powder on her fingers like a butterfly’s wings.

Marika didn’t leave it behind by mistake, that’s impossible. She must have wanted Faith to see it, to have the opportunity.

Faith folds it—her clumsy inexperienced fingers can only get it down to the size of a bath towel—and takes it to Marika’s cabin. No one is inside. She puts the skin on the bed and locks the door so that no one but Marika will find it. Hook evaded.

Maybe she should ask Vivian for a plus-one for the wedding. It would be nice to have someone there who understands.

But that’s months away. Today, they’ll have to head east.

CONTRIBUTORS

Holly Black
is the bestselling author of the Spiderwick series. Her first book,
Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale
, was an ALA Top Ten Book for Teens, received starred reviews in
Publishers Weekly
and
Kirkus Reviews
, and has been translated into twelve languages. Her second teen novel,
Valiant
, was an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, a
Locus Magazine
Recommended Read, and a recipient of the Andre Norton Award from the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. Her third teen novel,
Ironside
, the sequel to
Tithe
, was a
New York Times
bestseller. Her new novel,
White Cat
, received three starred reviews. She lives in Amherst, Massachusetts. Visit Holly at www.blackholly.com.

Richard Bowes
has published five novels, two collections of short fiction, and fifty stories. He has won two World Fantasy Awards and the Lambda, International Horror Guild, and Million Writers Awards. Recent and forthcoming stories appear in
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction
, and the anthologies
Digital Domains, Beastly Bride, Wilde Stories 2011, Haunted Legends, Naked City, Best Gay Stories, Nebula Awards Showcase 2011, Supernatural Noir,
and
Blood and Other Cravings
.

Marie Brennan
is the author of the Onyx Court series of London-based historical faerie fantasies:
Midnight Never Come, In Ashes Lie, A Star Shall Fall,
and the forthcoming
With Fate Conspire
. She has published more than thirty short stories in venues such as
On Spec, Beneath Ceaseless Skies
, and the acclaimed anthology series
Clockwork Phoenix
. More information can be found on her website: www.swantower.com.

Nadia Bulkin
is a writer and political science student. Her short fiction has appeared in
ChiZine, Strange Horizons, Fantasy Magazine
, and elsewhere; more information is available at nadiabulkin.wordpress.com. When she lived in a dorm in New York City not long ago she was her apartment’s designated exterminator, but a very bad one.

Stephanie Burgis
listened obsessively to 1940s recordings of her own grandpa and great-uncles’ Youngstown family band while writing “Blue Joe.” She’s taken the family immigrant tradition along one more step by moving to Wales, where she lives with her husband, fellow writer Patrick Samphire, their son, and their crazy-sweet dog. Her fun Regency fantasy adventure for kids,
Kat, Incorrigible
, was published by Atheneum Books in April, 2011. To find out more, please visit her website: www.stephanieburgis.com

Seth Cadin
lives in Berkeley. He has one daughter, one partner, and sixteen pet mice.

Gwendolyn Clare
has a BA in Ecology, a BS in Geophysics, and is currently working to add another acronym to her collection. Away from the laboratory, she enjoys practicing martial arts, adopting feral cats, and writing speculative fiction. Her short stories have appeared in
Asimov’s
, the W
arrior Wisewoman 3
anthology,
Abyss and Apex
, and
Bull Spec
, among others. She can be found online at gwendolynclare.com.

Leah R. Cutter
is the author of three historical fantasy novels as well as several fantasy, science fiction, and horror short stories. Her most recent published novel,
The Jaguar and the Wolf
(Roc 2005) is about what happens when a group of Vikings encounter the Mayans. Her first novel,
Paper Mage
(Roc 2003) is set in Tang dynasty China, and her second novel,
Caves of Buda
(Roc 2004) is set in Budapest, Hungary. Leah has had odd jobs all over the world, including an working on an archaeological dig in England, teaching English in Taiwan, and tending bar in Thailand. She temporarily lives in New Orleans, doing research for more novels. Her permanent home is in Seattle. She works as a technical writer for a California software firm. Her hobbies include walking, hiking, yoga, reading, drinking single-malt scotch, dancing and goofing off.

Renee Carter Hall
works as a medical transcriptionist by day and as a writer, poet, and artist all the time. Her short fiction has appeared in a variety of print and electronic publications, including
The Summerset Review, A Fly in Amber, New Fables
, and the
Different Worlds, Different Skins
anthologies. She lives in West Virginia with her husband and her cat, both of whom serve diligently as beta readers. (If the cat falls asleep on the printout, it’s good.) Readers can find her online at www.reneecarterhall.com.

Elizabeth Hand
is the multiple-award-winning author of numerous novels and three collections of short fiction. She is also a longtime reviewer for the
Washington Post
, among many other publications. A revised edition of
Glimmering
, her 1997 cult novel of environmental collapse, will be published this year.
Available Dark
, sequel to Shirley Jackson Award winner
Generation Loss
, and
Radiant Days
, a YA novel about the French poet Arthur Rimbaud, will both appear in 2012. She lives on the coast of Maine.

Carlos Hernandez
is currently serving as the Deputy Chair of the Department of English at the Borough of Manhattan Community College, CUNY. He earned his PhD in English with an emphasis in Creative Writing from Binghamton University, and is the author of numerous works of fiction, a novella, and the coauthor of
Abecedarium
, an experimental novel published by Chiasmus Media in 2007. He has so thoroughly failed as a blogger he no longer gives out his web address, hoping it might magically disappear on its own. But he will gladly friend you on Facebook. Search for “Carlos A. Hernandez,” and good luck. It’s a very common name.

Erica Hildebrand
loves storytelling and works on illustrated projects in addition to her writing. She has a soft spot in her heart for superheroes, dinosaurs, and the conquerors of antiquity. A graduate of the Odyssey Writing Workshop, her fiction has appeared in
M-Brane SF, The Edge of Propinquity,
and
Everyday Weirdness
. Her comics have appeared in
Space Squid
and
Kaleidotrope
. She lives in Pennsylvania.

Justin Howe
’s fiction has appeared in various online and print publications including
Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Crossed Genres, Brain Harvest,
and the anthology
Fast Ships, Black Sails.
Born in Boston, he now lives with his wife in South Korea where he teaches English to elementary school students.

Carrie Laben
, formerly a lifelong New Yorker, is currently studying for her MFA at the University of Montana. Her work has previously appeared in
Clarkesworld
and
ChiZine
as well as anthologies
Haunted Legends
and anthology
Phantom
. She looks at birds.

Marissa Lingen
lives in the Minneapolis suburbs with two large men and one small dog. She loves lakes, snow, hockey, and just about every stereotypical Minnesota thing you can name except mosquitoes. She writes short stories and is working on (surprise!) a fantasy novel.

Nick Mamatas
is the author of three and a half novels, including
Sensation
(PM Press) and, with Brian Keene,
The Damned Highway
(Dark Horse). He has also published over seventy short stories in venues such as
Tor.com, Asimov’s Science Fiction
and the anthologies
Supernatural Noir
and
Lovecraft Unbound.
His fiction has thrice been nominated for the Bram Stoker award, and as an editor for
Clarkesworld Magazine
, Nick has been nominated for both the Hugo and World Fantasy awards.

Sandra McDonald
’s debut collection,
Diana Comet and Other Improbable Stories,
received a starred review in
Booklist
and is an American Library Association Over the Rainbow book. Her short fiction about enchanted firemen, sexy cowboy robots, and more has appeared in more than forty venues. Her science fiction novels follow an Australian military lieutenant and her handsome sergeant. She earned an MFA in Creative Writing at the University of Southern Maine and teaches college in northeast Florida. Visit her at www.sandramcdonald.com.

Mario Milosevic
lives in the Pacific Northwest of the United States in a county which once passed a law making it illegal to kill Bigfoot. His fiction and poetry has appeared in many publications, both print and online. Learn more at mariowrites.com.

Michelle Muenzler
was born in the broken pines of East Texas where she fought boys with concrete-sharpened pine spears and mastered squeezing through rabbit trails for quick escapes in the games of childhood war. This particular short story was first published in the third issue of
Shroud Magazine
where the surrounding gore made it seem quite tame in comparison. The rest of her short fiction can be found in publications such as
Daily Science Fiction, Electric Velocipede,
and
Space & Time Magazine
.

Cherie Priest
is the author of ten novels, including 2010’s
Dreadnought
and 2009’s
Boneshaker
.
Boneshaker
was nominated for both the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award, and it won the Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel. Cherie’s other books include
Four and Twenty Blackbirds, Fathom, Wings to the Kingdom
, and the Endeavour-nominated book
Not Flesh Nor Feathers
from Tor (Macmillan). Her short novels
Dreadful Skin, Clementine
, and
Those Who Went Remain There Still
are published by Subterranean Press. She lives in Seattle, Washington, with her husband and a fat black cat.

Vandana Singh
was born and raised in India and now lives in the United States where she teaches physics and writes. Her fiction has been published in
Strange Horizons
and numerous anthologies and reprinted in several Year’s Best volumes. Her novella
Distances
(Aqueduct Press) is a 2008 Carl Brandon Parallax Award winner and a Tiptree Honor book. The story “Thirst” first appeared in
The Third Alternative
(now
Black Static
) and is also to be found in her collection,
The Woman Who Thought She Was a Planet and Other Stories
(Zubaan/Penguin India). Her website is http://users.rcn.com/singhvan/.

Maria V. Snyder
switched careers from meteorologist to fantasy novelist when she began writing the
New York Times
best-selling Study Series (
Poison Study, Magic Study,
and
Fire Study
) about a young woman who becomes a poison taster. Born in Philadelphia, Maria dreamed of chasing tornados and even earned a BS degree in Meteorology from Penn State University. Unfortunately, she lacked the necessary forecasting skills. Writing, however, lets Maria control the weather, which she gleefully does in her Glass Series (
Storm Glass, Sea Glass
, and
Spy Glass
). Readers are invited to read more of Maria’s short stories on her website at www.MariaVSnyder.com.

Aaron Sterns
’ “Watchmen” originally appeared in the tri-country anthology
Gathering the Bones
edited by Jack Dann, Ramsey Campbell, and Dennis Etchison, receiving an honourable mention in the
The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror
. Sterns’ first story “The Third Rail” appeared in the World Fantasy Award-winning collection
Dreaming Down-Under
and was shortlisted for the 1998 Aurealis Award for Best Horror Short Story. Subsequent stories appeared in
Orb: Speculative Fiction
and the recent follow-up to
DDU
,
Dreaming Again
. Sterns served as script-editor for the film
Rogue
, and appeared in Greg McLean’s earlier W
olf Creek
as a nasty truck driver. A former editor of
The Journal of the Australian Horror Writers
, he has also presented papers on
American Psycho
and
Crash
at ICFA (as part of PhD work on postmodern horror), written non-fiction articles for
Bloodsongs: The Australian Horror Magazine
and other publications, and was the Australian correspondent for
Hellnotes: The Insider’s Guide to the Horror Field
. Sterns is currently working on a novel based on the dark world of “Watchmen”—
Blood
—and a number of screenplays. He lives in Melbourne, Australia.