Title: Mirror Witch Magic Author: D.H. Gibbs Genre: New Adult Urban Fantasy
Some secrets stay buried while others surface just like the dead…
Fusion City—a place where magic was power and the more a person had, the higher up the caste system they went. It was also the perfect place for Selena Decland, a mirror witch wanting to shuck the responsibility of her magic and lineage, to fly under the radar. At least it was until someone left a dead body on her nightclub’s steps, along with a note written in blood:
I know your secret.
As Selena struggled to keep her secret hidden, she is faced with threats from multiple places—a rep from the witch’s council who would like nothing better than to sell Selena’s talents to the highest bidder; a powerful demon who could make life difficult if he found out her secret; and a killer willing to do anything, including use dark magic, to get what he wants.
A Newsday T&T Choice finalist, D.H. Gibbs enjoys writing fantasy, contemporary romance, and children’s books. When not navigating the adventures of her kick-ass female leads, she’s a complete Starbucks and book addict who binge-watches TV series like Lucifer, Carnival Row, and Warrior. A Trinidadian native, she currently lives and creates new worlds in Japan.
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Title: A Flood of Posies Author: Tiffany Meuret Genre: Fantasy/Science Fiction
*2020 Cygnus Book Award for Science Fiction Long List*
It’s 2025.
Sisters, Doris and Thea, exist worlds apart, despite living within a few miles of one another. Doris with her regular home and regular husband and regular job, and Thea slinking along the edges of society, solitary and invisible. When a storm of biblical proportions strikes, the wayward sisters are begrudgingly forced together as the rain waters rise, each attempting to survive both the flood and each other.
One year later, Thea—now calling herself Sestra—floats throughout a ravaged, flood soaked world. Her former life drowned beneath metric tons of water, she and her only companion, Robert, battle starvation, heatstroke, and the monstrous creatures called Posies that appeared alongside the flood. When they run across what they assume to be an abandoned tugboat, their journey takes a new turn, and the truth about the flood and the monsters seems more intricately linked to Thea’s past than she may realize.
She orbited her sister and New Guy—the stars of the party, whatever the fuck it was for. Probably just to celebrate the fact that Doris had graced them all with her presence. Doris showed up, thinking she was just going to introduce this new guy to the folks, and the second her regal feet touched the foyer, their mother rang the entire fucking neighborhood. My God, everybody! She’s here! Hark, oh hark, ring the steeple bells.
But Ma was stupid, because all that fanfare did was back Doris into a corner. It made her edgy and sharp and sullen. Thea skirted through the people unnoticed, the same family as Doris—same born-again uncle, same noxious auntie, same neighbors across the street who’d watched her grow up. The neighbors that had hand-painted Christmas ornaments for them every year, but it didn’t matter how many ornaments had her name glued onto them. Thea skipped over the top of the family like a rocket. Everyone glared—oh, they looked at her, all right—but their attention fizzled out just as quickly. They darted away from her as if she was about to burst into flames. She might. Maybe she already had, and everyone could see it but her. Look at that girl, waltzing through the chicken skewer buffet as if she’s not shooting sparks everywhere. Thea’s head had been soaked in a fog lately. Perhaps they all knew something she did not.
But her mother didn’t seem to notice. The tilt of the room was off, but Thea couldn’t quite place it. She wished Doris would just leave. Then the party would collapse, and Thea could escape.
Doris was like gravity—everything spiraled out of control without her around.
Thea was itchy for some nicotine. Water dripped somewhere she couldn’t place, and the noise of it agitated her beyond measure.
Dad nodded at her as she escaped to the side yard to smoke. It was a nice place—dark and hidden, and she had a lawnmower and an old garden hose to keep her company. The exterior light had gone out last year, and to his credit, Dad kept it broken despite Ma’s nagging. Or Thea liked to think he did.
If not for the treacherous orange end of her cigarette, no one would ever have known she was there. So when she heard the crunch of approaching footsteps in the gravel, she knew it was someone looking for her.
Tiffany Meuret is a writer of monsters and twisted fairy tales. Her publications include Shoreline of Infinity, Luna Station Quarterly, Ellipsis Zine, and others. When not reading or writing, she is usually binge watching comfortable sitcoms from her childhood or telling her kids to put on their shoes for the tenth time. She lives in sunny Arizona with her husband, two kids, two chihuahuas, gecko, and tortoise.
One movie star. One bodyguard. One seductive attraction. One deadly obsession. One chance to have it all. One shot to lose it all.
Henry: Falling for your bodyguard is so cliché. I cringe at myself sometimes, but then I just have to look at him to understand. How can you not fall for a man like that? Heroic, smart, stubborn, funny, sexy … how could I ever have resisted?
Bryan: Falling for your movie star client is incredibly cliché. I have heard of people in my position doing just that and used to scoff at them … but then I got placed as Henry Prince’s bodyguard. Unfortunately, his irresistible charm and undeniably sexy self has claimed me, heart and soul. I have no chance of getting out of this unscathed.
Then just as things begin to get red hot, a stalker from the past escapes with the intent to destroy us both. I won’t let anything bad happen to Henry, but what am I supposed to do when potential danger lurks behind every corner, behind every stranger?
Will our cliché beginning blossom into something more? Or are we destined for the typical Hollywood crash and burn?
Still … after all this time of denying ourselves, it feels weird to think we’re giving in now. As much as I want Bryan, I don’t want him to regret this. I think that could hurt me more than anything if he told me that he wished we never crossed this line.
“Are you sure? I don’t want to pressure you.”
He bursts out into laughter again. “You’ve been strutting around me naked for years, you have several times started to masturbate in front of me, you constantly flirt with me, but now you don’t want to pressure me?”
Well, said all at once, out loud, I sort of realize I am a jackass. Maybe I should get Cody to schedule me some more of those sexual harassment classes. Not that I would do any of those stated things with anyone but Bryan. And I only started to do them in the first place because I want the man so damn much that I have been driven crazy over the years.
But I don’t want Bryan to want me because I wore him down.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t think that … I never wanted you to …”
Bryan stops his pacing and steps into my space, cupping the sides of my face.
Electricity sizzles through my body at the intimate touch, and I practically shake with nerves. I don’t want to fuck this up. It’s too important to me.
“The first time I saw you, I thought you were attractive. And I’ve never thought that about a man before. It was my job to pay attention to you, to notice you, and so maybe that played a part in how much that attraction grew. But I’d still want you, even if you hadn’t teased me with your body for the past few years. I’d still want the Henry who makes me laugh. The Henry who is generous with his time and money. The Henry who thinks coriander is evil but will happily eat a bull’s penis.”
I snort out a laugh at that one. I only did that once on a dare. It actually didn’t taste as gross as I expected.
“I’ve been feeling this way for a while, and I’ve denied it because of my position and because I knew how it would end. But now we have nothing to lose.”
I disagree with that. I would say we could have everything to lose. Or, at least, I could.
Jessica lives in Adelaide, South Australia. When she is not writing, you can find her reading, napping or watching excessive amounts of TV. Connect with her on Facebook and Goodreads.
