This week, we’re welcoming in spring with two very nature-oriented tales: one of the forest, grown wild and out of control, and one of the creatures that play amidst the fireflies during a hot summer night.
Dead Man’s Bells by Nicola Kapron
Dark Fantasy, M/NB, Demonic Possession (Voluntary)
The vines were alive. They writhed like snakes as he ran a hand over them. As one, they untangled themselves from the shrouded shape of the spear. A few even dropped off entirely and nudged at his ankles. Underneath, the weapon gleamed with the soft, wet shimmer of fresh growth.
Around it, he could make out the silhouette of something that was almost human. Luminous green eyes. Roots wrapped tightly into the shape of arms, legs, musculature. Foxglove flowers blooming in the hollow of a throat.
A forest demon persisting long after it had been cut down and sanded into a useful shape.
Beautiful, Liam thought. This feeling might be awe. If he didn’t need to keep moving forward, toward it, he would have fallen to his knees.
For a moment, the ringing paused, and the vines slowed in their movements. “I am not dead,” said the voice that wasn’t his own. “You did not kill me. Even like this, you cannot tame me. Raise me, and I will live again.”
Follow Liam as his life intertwines with that of the verdant growth possessing the basement of his family’s manor. Read Dead Man’s Bells now!
Away With the Fairies by Annabeth Lynch
Modern with Magic, Siblings and Family, Fae/Fairy Kidnapping (Consensual)
“Why do the lightning bugs only fly up?” I asked Linda.
“Not all of them do. But this kind produces light as they fly. They’re sending signals to the others,” she said, coming to look at the ones I grabbed. “They’re telling each other things with the lights.”
“Like what?”
“Like what kind they are, or if they’re boys or girls, or whether they want to have babies. They talk by flashing. That’s why they blink.”
“What about that one?” I pointed at a fast-moving one. “That one isn’t blinking at all.” Linda looked at the one I pointed at. She watched it for a long time, waiting for its light to blink off.
It didn’t.
What have Linda and her sister Suzy found amidst the fireflies (spoilers…it might be in the title…)? Read Away With the Fairies and find out!
Love works featuring nature spirits, fae, and fairyfolk? These two aren’t the only ones in our catalog! Check out our anthologies Add Magic to Taste, He Bears the Cape of Stars, and She Wears the Midnight Crown, or…
- Let the Solstice Come by D. V. Morse (historical with magic, elementals are enslaved by humans, rebellion)
- The Fairy Garden by Rhosyn Goodfellow (modern with magic, child point of view, fae and fairyfolk)
- A Glimmer of Hope by Nina Waters (modern with magic, m/m, novel-length, angst with a happy ending)
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