by Kelly Link
Lime shrugged. “I guess,” said Slugsy, rubbing at her neck. “How are we not dead, anyway? Where’s the hippocamp?”
“I ran her off,” said Lime.
“She ran her off,” said Erskine.
“No,” said Slugsy. “I mean, really.”
“You got me,” said Lime. “The human tricked her, and she swam away.”
“I didn’t—” Erskine began.
“Enough talking!” said Lime. “Good night, Slugsy. Let’s get going, human.” She wiped the last flecks of mud from her wings and flew into the woods.
“Wait!” said Erskine, jogging after. “Where are you going?”
“Back to my salt-shaker,” said Lime. “I’m your prisoner, remember?”
“But you saved my life,” said Erskine.
Lime fluttered to a halt and hovered in place. “What of it?”
“According to the Law, I’m in your debt,” said Erskine, catching up. “You can ask me for anything. So aren’t you going to ask to go free?”
For reasons she didn’t fully understand, Lime hesitated. She hadn’t thought of it that way, but it was true: she had saved Erskine’s life. All she had to do was say “yes,” and she could leave the Woeful Woods forever. She could return to the Library and read and be alone, without anyone to bother her, or bully her, or talk to her ever again.
She felt an inexplicable ache in her heart. She had lived and read in the Library for twenty-five years in perfect contentment, so why, now, did the thought of going back there fill her with such a strange sense of unease?
Then she realized. It was the books, of course. She thought back to all of the books in Erskine’s room. They were human novels, mostly: books the Library—with its outdated selection of non-fairy literature—hadn’t carried, books she might never see again. To leave them behind unread would be tragic, unthinkable. She couldn’t possibly abandon them. Her mind raced.
“I might have saved your life,” said Lime, “but you saved mine, too. So that evens out to nothing.”
“Still,” said Erskine.
“Hush!” said Lime, flitting away. “It’s the middle of the night. Go home, and take a shower.”
“I was going to,” said Erskine. “And hey: wait up!” Lime didn’t pay them any mind. She zipped through the shadows and through the trees, into the garden of the lone little house, ducking beneath the boughs of crepe myrtles, skimming the dewy leaves of roses. She darted through the open door and alighted on the sofa, snuggling onto a coarse green cushion. She took out her book, and breathed a sigh of relief.
When Erskine returned, Lime glared at them, daring them to mention the empty salt-shaker.
“It’s fine if you want to use the sofa,” said Erskine. “Did you want a blanket, too? It feels a bit drafty.”
Lime gave an irritable twitch of her antennae.
“Except a blanket’s probably too big for you, isn’t it?” said Erskine. “Maybe something like a hand-towel would be better? Or a handkerchief?”
“Will you go to bed!” screamed Lime.
“Alright,” said Erskine, shuffling off to the bathroom. “Good night. See you later.” Lime rolled her eyes and returned to her novel.
Somewhere far away, in the brackish depths, a hippocamp swam towards the sea. Pins and needles tingled in her tail. A headache strained at her harp-strings. As she swam, she pieced together the story she would tell her grandmother, upon her return to Crab’s Cairn. She would leave out the green fairy, she decided, among other less-than-flattering details. There were some things not even family needed to know.
In the heart of the Woeful Woods, the blue fairy Slugsy curled in the hollow of a tree, tucked in her little nest of treasures: preserved flowers and spider-silk quilts, engraved egg-shells and foil wrappers pilfered from town. She lay back and rubbed at her neck with a pebble, smoothing away the partly-developed gills.
In the lone house at the edge of the woods, Erskine slept, and a green light shone in the window.
About these Authors
James L. Cambias (jamescambias.com) is a science fiction writer and game designer. Originally from New Orleans, he was educated at the University of Chicago and lives in western Massachusetts. His novels include A Darkling Sea, Corsair, and the forthcoming Arkad’s World. His short stories have appeared in Nature, F&SF, and several anthologies. He is a partner in Zygote Games and his most recent game (for Pinnacle) is Weird War I.
Emily B. Cataneo is a writer and freelance journalist currently based in Raleigh, NC. Her fiction has appeared in magazines such as Nightmare Magazine, The Dark, and Interfictions. She has reported for venues NPR and the Financial Times on three different continents. She is graduate of the Odyssey and Clarion Writers Workshops, and is currently pursuing her MFA at North Carolina State University. She likes hats, crafts, history, and dogs.
Joamette Gil is a queer Afro-Cuban cartoonist best known for her work as P&M Press, publisher of Power & Magic: The Queer Witch Comics Anthology, Power & Magic: Immortal Souls, and Heartwood: Non-binary Tales of Sylvan Fantasy.
Neile Graham has a trophy (which came attached to a World Fantasy Award) for her work writer-wrangling for the Clarion West Writers Workshop. She also has a well-autographed Meritorious 2nd Banana from the Locus Awards. In addition to collecting these objects, she has two new poetry collections coming out in 2019: The Walk She Takes and Cedar and Stone. She is ecstatic about all of these things and delighted to be here in LCRW.
Nicole Kimberling lives in Bellingham, Washington, with her wife, Dawn Kimberling. She is a professional cook and amateur life coach. Her first novel, Turnskin, won the Lambda Award and she is also the author of the Bellingham Mystery Series.
Sarah Monette and Katherine Addison are the same person. She grew up in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, one of the three secret cities of the Manhattan Project. She has a B.A. from Case Western Reserve and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Despite being summa cum laude, none of her degrees is of the slightest use to her in either her day job or her writing, which she feels is an object lesson for us all. She currently lives near Madison, Wisconsin. Her novels include Melusine, The Virtu, The Mirador, Corambis, and Locus Award winner The Goblin Emperor (published as Katherine Addison). She has two short story collections, The Bone Key and Somewhere Beneath Those Waves, and has co-written three novels and a number of short stories with Elizabeth Bear, the most recent of which is An Apprentice to Elves. Twitter: @pennyvixen; Patreon: pennyvixen
Ellen Rhudy (ellenrhudy.com | @ilifi) lives in Philadelphia, where she works as an instructional designer. If you ever happen to be in Eastern Europe she recommends you visit Mavrovo—it is a town of real charm and not easily forgotten. Her work has previously appeared in LCRW no. 15 and is forthcoming in cream city review.
Joanna Ruocco is the author of several books, including, most recently, Dan, The Week, and Field Glass, written with Joanna Howard. She is an assistant professor in the English Department at Wake Forest University.
S. Woodson lives in Virginia and is a graduate of the Hollins University M.A. in Children’s Literature program. She’s written a handful of Twine games, but this is her first story in print. You can find her on Twitter @Citrushistrix.
A. B. Young learned to tell stories from playing with Barbies. She learned to tell stories well at California College of the Arts. She now teaches kids how to read stories and write essays about them as a high school Media and English teacher. This is her first published story.
LCRW Guidelines
We do not accept email, multiple, or simultaneous submissions. Response time is about six months. We read everything, sometimes slow, sometimes fast. Our apologies for reading so slowly. At the moment we are only reading paper submissions. If six months has passed and you contact us we will try and reply with our decision.
We occasionally solicit work but most of what we publish is work that comes in over the t
ransom and we are very happy that we have generally published a couple of new writers in each issue. We continue to seek out work by women and writers of color.
We recommend you read Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet before submitting. You can procure a copy from us or from assorted book shops.
We accept fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and black and white art. The fiction we publish most of tends toward but is not limited to the speculative. This does not mean only quietly desperate stories. We will consider items that fall out with regular categories. We do not publish gore, sword and sorcery, or pornography. We can discuss these terms if you like. There are places for them all, this is not one of them.
We recommend at least one rewrite for both our sanities.
Please follow standard ms format: 12 pt Courier, double-spaced, numbered pages, &c. and an SASE (with a Forever Stamp) for our reply.
We buy first North American serial rights (and very occasionally we solicit reprints), nonexclusive electronic rights, and a nonexclusive anthology right. The paper and ebook editions of LCRW come out twice yearly. This website, although we very occasionally publish something on it, is not a paying market.
Fiction: US$0.03/word, $25 minimum. Poetry: $10/poem. Paid on publication. Contributors receive 2 copies of the issue in which their work is published and can buy further copies of that issue at a 40% discount (i.e. $3 per copy).
Thank you.
Gavin J. Grant & Kelly Link
Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet
150 Pleasant St., #306
Easthampton, MA 01027