The Curiosities (Carolrhoda Ya)

All interior artwork © 2012 by Gratton, Stiefvater, and Yovanoff

Introduction © 2012 by Lerner Publishing Group, Inc.

“The Vampire Box” © 2010 by Tessa Gratton

“A Murder of Gods” © 2009 by Maggie Stiefvater

“The Power of Intent” © 2010 by Brenna Yovanoff

“A History of Love” © 2009 by Maggie Stiefvater

“Girls Raised by Wolves” © 2010 by Brenna Yovanoff

“Date with a Dragon Slayer” © 2010 by Tessa Gratton

“Scheherazade” © 2010 by Brenna Yovanoff

“Prompts” © 2012 by Gratton, Stiefvater, and Yovanoff

“The Spiral Table” © 2010 by Tessa Gratton

“The Madness of Lancelot” © 2010 by Brenna Yovanoff

“The Wind Takes Our Cries” © 2010 by Maggie Stiefvater

“On Our Critique Relationship” © 2012 by Gratton, Stiefvater, and Yovanoff

“Auburn” © 2008 by Brenna Yovanoff

“The Deadlier of the Species” © 2010 by Maggie Stiefvater

“Puddles” © 2009 by Tessa Gratton

“The Bone-Tender” © 2010 by Brenna Yovanoff

“Death-Ship” © 2009 by Tessa Gratton

“The Last Day of Spring” © 2009 by Maggie Stiefvater

“Cut” © 2008 by Brenna Yovanoff

“Philosopher’s Flight” © 2010 by Maggie Stiefvater

“Ash-Tree Spell to Break Your Heart” © 2009 by Tessa Gratton

“Rain Maker” © 2008 by Maggie Stiefvater

“Dumb Supper” © 2008 by Tessa Gratton

“Neighbors” © 2010 by Brenna Yovanoff

“Council of Youth” © 2008 by Maggie Stiefvater

“The Summer Ends in Slaughter” © 2009 by Tessa Gratton

“Blue as God” © 2009 by Brenna Yovanoff

“Thomas All” © 2008 by Tessa Gratton

“Heart-Shaped Box” © 2008 by Maggie Stiefvater

“Stories as Novel Playgrounds” © 2012 by Gratton, Stiefvater, and Yovanoff

“Berserk” © 2012 by Tessa Gratton

“Lazarus Girl” © 2012 by Brenna Yovanoff

“Another Sun” © 2012 by Maggie Stiefvater

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Cover: © Katie Edwards/Ikon Images/Getty Images (birdcage & birds). Cover

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

The curiosities: a collection of stories / by Tessa Gratton, Maggie Stiefvater, and Brenna Yovanoff.

p. cm.

Summary: A collection of darkly paranormal stories, with comments by the authors on the writing process.

ISBN: 978–0–7613–7527–2 (trade hard cover : alk. paper)

1. Paranormal fiction. 2. Short stories, American. [1. Supernatural—Fiction. 2. Short stories.] I. Gratton, Tessa. II. Stiefvater, Maggie, 1981– III. Yovanoff, Brenna.

PZ5.S892536 2012

[Fic]—dc23
2011051335

Manufactured in the United States of America

1 – BP – 7/15/12

eISBN: 978-1-4677-0007-8

THE AUTHORS

Tessa Gratton is the author of the young adult novels
Blood Magic
and
The Blood Keeper
, and of the forthcoming Songs of New Asgard series. Visit her online at
www.tessagratton.com
.

Maggie Stiefvater is the author of several books for young adults, including the
New York Times
bestselling Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy and the Printz Honor–winning
The Scorpio Races
. Visit her online at www.maggiestiefvater.com.

Brenna Yovanoff is the
New York Times
bestselling author of the young adult novels
The Replacement
and
The Space Between
. Visit her online at
www.brennayovanoff.com
.

THE WEBSITE

Tessa, Maggie, and Brenna also posted short fiction at
www.merryfates.com
. Many of the curiosities in this collection first appeared there.

THE HANDWRITING

Tessa:
Maggie:
Brenna:

Sat, May 3, 2008

From: Maggie Stiefvater

Time: 2:36 PM

To: Brenna Yovanoff, Tess Gratton

Hey guys, what do you guys think of doing a group blog where we each try and do a piece of flash fiction or a mini scene totally unrelated to anything we’re doing? Each of us posting once a week, like a Mon/Wed/Fri?

Something to let us experiment with stuff totally outside our current range, and also a challenge, and a bit of promo if we keep it up.

Anyway, whatdya think?

From: Brenna Yovanoff

Time: 3:43 PM

To: Maggie Stiefvater

Cc: Tess Gratton

I think it sounds like a lot of fun, personally. This is the kind of thing that I feel helps me loosen up when I get stuck on my long projects, plus I think it’s good practice, but I haven’t been doing it lately for whatever reason. And, as always, when it comes to my own motivation, a deadline would be nice.

From: Tess Gratton

Time: 4:53 PM

To: Brenna Yovanoff

Cc: Maggie Stiefvater

I pretty much do that anyway, so I’m totally in!

How about the idea of some weeks being totally open and free, and other weeks all using the same prompt? I’d be interested in seeing the kinds of things we all do with the same seed, so to speak, but wouldn’t want to be tied to that sort of thing all the time.

“I don’t think we should edit them.” I said something to this effect to Maggie way back when we were first discussing the merryfates.com stories and what became known first as the “not-anthology anthology project” and now as
The Curiosities
, the thing you hold in your hands.

“Let’s not edit” is an
odd thing for an editor
to say when presented with a pile of short stories for potential publication—especially when those stories were created quickly and often as experiments. It is, after all, my job to conceal the massive effort authors put into effortless prose, to bury the drafts under a single, definitive version. And yet the effort and the process are fascinating and revealing—and not just for me. If you go to enough author readings—especially ones with teen readers—you can’t help but notice the recurrence of questions like “How do you start a story?” or “What do you do when you get stuck?” or “
In my stories, I always...
” I have always wanted a book to address these excellent reader-writer questions. I never wanted a textbook or a manual, though. I wanted something more demonstrative than instructive—more performance than lecture.