LINKDING

Excerpt: I had warned a hundred mortals not to trust the boatman. I’d told them: No matter how much you pay him, no matter what you promise, it will never be enough. Yet somehow, I found myself surprised when he grabbed my wrist before I could step off the boat. I gave him my most forbidding stare, which only made him smirk as he held out his other hand. We had an agreement, I almost said. I caught myself just in time—I would have to shed my mainland habits, and fast, now that I was back. ➤ A novelette inspired by the fairy tale The Twelve Dancing Princesses ➤ about one of the princesses who managed to escape, but who comes back ➤ a fascinating reimagining, leaning into the dangerous appeal of the fae, and the desire for belonging, and what you will and won't do for love -- or for freedom ➤ I've read a lot of retellings of this fairy tale and there are a lot of good ones but this one definitely ranks pretty high on the list! ➤ 10k words

Summary: <blockquote>Mirae sits on her bed, parting her hair with one hand and feeling for the access port on the back of her head with the other. She finds the notched edges of the cap and twists counterclockwise until it comes loose. Her eye twitches as she slides the plug into her skull. The sensation isn’t strong enough for her to say it hurts, but she doesn’t know how else to describe it. Her post-op recovery had been difficult. She had fever dreams of worms crawling into her brain through the still-healing metal port. Even after she was fully recovered and ready to be plugged in for her first update, images of the plug’s pin connectors piercing too deep and puncturing her occipital lobe made her hands shake.</blockquote> ➤ a short story about a young woman who was given a neural implant to improve her abilities and skills in school to be able to get a good job ➤ about parental expectations and abusive control ➤ trying to figure out who you are and what you care about when you've never been given the opportunity to be anything but obedient ➤ I had feelings ➤ 4k words in length