Cat Hellisen

Tet is no longer a priest-mage; thrown out from his temple and cursed by his gods to return a stolen relic. With every passing year, the curse works deeper into his flesh, breaking and twisting him until finally, driven by pain, Tet makes a drastic play to escape the gods. His luck turns sour, and the escape costs him his soul, drawing his death even closer when he is captured by the despotic White Prince. In order to escape the prince, retrieve his soul and break the curse, Tet must form a fragile alliance with a man he cannot trust. An alliance made brittle by lies and deception; one that may take his heart as well as his soul. Thief Mage, Beggar Mage is a lush, queer reimagining of Andersen's The Tinderbox, embroidered with dreams, secret identities, stolen magic, giant spectral dogs, clockwork monsters, prophetic dragons, and the grand games of gods and humans.

Marjeta Petrell. Replacement bride, shadow of a dead and perfect wife, step-mother to a duke's treasured daughter. A girl out of her depth, alone and afraid. Magic runs deep in her veins, stitched in blood ties, embroidered with kindness and pain. In an unfamiliar court, Marjeta must discover who are her friends and who are enemies; who she can trust before she is accused of witchcraft and executed.

Marjeta Petrell. Replacement bride, shadow of a dead and perfect wife, step-mother to a duke's treasured daughter. A girl out of her depth, alone and afraid. Magic runs deep in her veins, stitched in blood ties, embroidered with kindness and pain. In an unfamiliar court, Marjeta must discover who are her friends and who are enemies; who she can trust before she is accused of witchcraft and executed.

Georgina Skyler Carey is not a necromancer. She's the daughter of one. And now she's dead. George has grown up hidden away, trying to live a normal life after her mother was executed for a ghost uprising which killed millions. Every year, the Anti-Necromantic Unit drags her in for testing, while the Empress of Life watches. And every year; nothing. Until she turns twenty, and the wards which were hiding her and binding her are finally erased, and Georgina discovers that she's still not a necromancer, just the immortal body designed to host the soul of an aeons-old goddess. Ousted from her meatsuit and trapped in the afterlife, George is determined to get her body back. It's not going to be that simple. George discovers that the afterlife is nothing like she could have imagined and the only people who might be able to help her have bigger issues to deal with. She's trapped in an afterworld that is slowly being consumed by the Hollow Dark which waits at the end of all things. There's a lot more at stake than one life - the entire realms of life and death will fall to the endless nothing of the Hollow Dark if the King of Death isn't returned to hold his throne. The worlds are crumbling all around her, and George is going to lose more than just her body if she doesn't find the King, and with him, the truth about her creation.

"Cat Hellisen is one of the most accomplished writers of African SFF. This fine collection gathers the best so far of her wondrous fictions." - Geoff Ryman, author of The Child GardenCat Hellisen has the ability to conjure a sense of 'otherness' that most writers can only envy, casting grounded characters driven by passions and ambitions we all recognise in situations that take a step away from the reality we know. Her stories have already featured in such venues as Fantasy & Science Fiction and Tor.com, and she is the winner of the Short Story Day Africa Prize. Learning How to Drown represents her best work to date, gathering together seventeen fabulous stories, two of which appear for the first time and all of which showcase why Cat Hellisen is being tipped as an author to watch." Cat Hellisen is a writer of wonderful and allusive stories; rich, engaging and often unsettling. Be prepared to be both submersed - and transformed - by the gripping magic within " - Nick Wood, author of Azanian Bridges"I loved this stunning collection of stories, every tale limned with beauty and steeped in a darkling strangeness that is absolutely unique. The bookshelves of any reader interested in the modern short story should proudly display a copy of Learning How To Drown front and centre." - Neil Williamson, author of The Moon KingContents: Introduction The Girls Who Go Below Waking The Subtle Thief Jack of Spades, Reversed Mother, Crone, Maiden This Reflection of Me Counter Curse Mouse Teeth A Sun Bright Prison Serein Dreaming Monsters Golden Wing, Silver Eye I'm Only Going Over The Face of Jarry The Worme Bridge This is How We Burn A Green Silk Dress and a Wedding-Death About the Author

Sarah has always been on the move. She's grown up lonely, longing for magic. She doesn't know that it's magic her parents are running from. When Sarah's mother walks out on their family, all the strange old magic they have tried to hide from comes rising into their mundane world. Her father begins to change into something wild and beastly, but before his transformation is complete, he takes Sarah to live with grandparents she's never met. Deep in the forest, in a crumbling ruin of a castle, Sarah begins to untangle the layers of curses affecting her family, until she discovers that the curse has carried over to her, too. The day she falls in love for the first time, Sarah will transform into a beast...unless she can figure out a way to break the curse forever.