This time we're going classic. What is more frightening than a deep dive into the human condition? The Picture of Dorian Gray will leave you spell bound and questioning what it means to have morality. Don't get me started on that ending!!

Folks on Instagram are sharing their "lore," aka the media that shaped their taste growing up. I love nostalgia-bait memes like this and seized the chance to reminisce about the books that taught me to love reading. According to my mom, I would ask to go to the "raybray," baby Ella speak for library. I demolished all of the Amelia's Notebook paperbacks, which inspired me to scribble in my own composition notebooks. The American Girl books and Dear America books fostered my love of historical fiction. Looking back, it's not a surprise that I'm a devoted diarist and I love to read historical romance.

At the romance read-in that I hosted with Katherine Grant in honor of Banned Books Week, a friend of mine mentioned her love of Ready or Not by Meg Cabot. That YA novel, as well as Cabot's better-known Princess Diaries series, is widely banned across the United States for its depiction of teenage sexuality. Most of the books I loved as a teenager explored desire, consent, and the decision of whether or not to have sex. These novels centered the agency of their heroines: their ability to know themselves, what they wanted, and what they needed. I am lucky I read so many books that respected girls and young women, and encouraged me to respect myself... regardless of what I did or didn't do with my body.

In my 20s I discovered adult romances. I found trade paperback historicals at a free lending library in my hometown and read them even as I judged myself for enjoying them. When romance became more mainstream as a genre with the success of contemporary authors like Sally Thorne and Emily Henry, I came to terms with my deep love of the books I once disowned. They brought me comfort during the pandemic and a turbulent, controlling relationship. Most importantly, they inspired me to grow beyond the erotic short fiction I'd written for years and finish a full-length novel: But How Are You, Really. That book would not exist without Beach Read, The Day of the Duchess, and What a Wallflower Wants.

Now I am lucky enough to read every day for personal enjoyment and professional research. As an author, a podcaster, and hopefully soon a publisher, I have met incredible authors all across the romance genre. Despite its formulaic reputation, romance constantly surprises me because each author takes its central promise of the happily-ever-after and does something unique to their voice and their experience.

What books are central to your lore? What books made you a romance reader? I would love to know in the comments.

Intrigue. Magic. Love. And just a little bit of hope. ✨

Welcome to another Book Club Conversation, where we sit down with authors to talk about the stories, characters, worlds, and ideas behind the books that have captured our attention.

This month, we're chatting with Katy Tearle, author of Between Sky and Sea, the first book in the Black Heart Tribunal series a fantasy filled with selkies, fae, dragons, witches, werewolves, seers, sirens, political intrigue, romance, and a dangerous threat that could be hiding in plain sight.

And if you think becoming the King of All Selkies sounds like a pretty big promotion, wait until you find out what comes next for Mira. 👀

🌊 Meet Between Sky and Sea

Mira's journey begins with a new crown and quickly turns into something much more complicated. Suddenly she's dealing with assassins, supernatural factions, royal responsibilities, and the return of someone who knows her far too well.

And then there's Lukas.

Once her love, now assigned as her bodyguard, Lukas brings an entirely different kind of danger into Mira's already complicated new life. Because sometimes the hardest person to protect is the one you never stopped loving.

We asked Katy what she would say to readers who haven't discovered Between Sky and Sea yet.

If you had to describe Between Sky and Sea in three words, what would they be?

“Intrigue. Magic. Love.”

And Katy gave us a bonus word, too:

Hope. 💙

Honestly, that sounds like a pretty perfect introduction to this fantasy world.

✨ From a Teenager's “Big Fantasy Novel” to a Published Series

One of our favorite parts of talking with authors is discovering how long a story can live inside them before it finally becomes the book we get to read.

Katy first came up with the vague idea that would eventually become the Black Heart Tribunal series when she was just 14 years old.

At the time, she knew she wanted to write something big with extensive worldbuilding and magic but she didn't yet have the writing experience to bring it to life.

Years later, after writing several unrelated short stories containing elements that would eventually appear in the series, Katy remembered that original idea.

What started as her “big fantasy novel” slowly evolved into Between Sky and Sea.

Interestingly, Mira came first.

Katy discovered through her short stories that creating characters readers could connect with before building the world worked best for her. From Mira, the selkie world and surrounding characters began to take shape.

The Black Heart Tribunal, however, was the final piece of the puzzle.

And judging from what Katy has shared about them, that may have been the most dangerous piece.

👑 What Happens When the Crown Comes With Assassins?

Mira's transition from newly crowned ruler to someone dodging assassins and navigating supernatural politics happens quickly and intentionally.

Katy describes the feeling she wanted to capture as something many of us can probably relate to:

You walk into a situation thinking you've been told “it's no big deal, don't worry about it,” only to look beneath the surface and realize...

Oh. Oh no.

😂

Katy also wanted to launch readers directly into the intrigue and action, which makes Mira's new position anything but quiet.

🧜‍♀️ A Supernatural World With a Twist

Between Sky and Sea brings together an impressive lineup of supernatural beings, including selkies, dragons, witches, werewolves, seers, fae, and sirens.

But Katy wasn't interested in simply recreating familiar fantasy archetypes.

She was particularly excited to explore seers, fae, and sirens, using trope inversion and manipulation to take readers' expectations and turn them slightly or completely on their heads.

It's a reminder that sometimes the most interesting fantasy worlds aren't the ones that completely abandon familiar ideas.

They're the ones that make you look at those ideas differently.

🖤 The Black Heart Tribunal

Without giving away spoilers, we asked Katy what she could tease about the threat at the heart of the series.

Her answer?

The Black Heart Tribunal is both insidious and demonstrably dangerous.

They're capable of publicly distancing themselves from their worst crimes with alarming ease.

And perhaps most unsettling of all?

They could be anyone.

👀 We'll just let that sink in.

❤️ Former Love. Current Bodyguard. Complicated Feelings.

Mira and Lukas already have history and now he's responsible for protecting her.

Naturally, that comes with a lot of built-in tension.

Lukas is caught between his duty to his people, his responsibility as Mira's bodyguard, and the love for her that never truly disappeared.

Mira faces her own conflict between her responsibility to her people and the possibility of something more with Lukas.

Katy also explores the idea of living and dying in service to the person you love, making their relationship about far more than simply rekindling an old romance.

We're already intrigued. 💕👀

📖 From Childhood Storytelling to Author

Katy says she's been telling stories since she could speak, and her journey toward becoming a writer began long before Between Sky and Sea.

She doesn't remember writing her very first story, but her uncle saved a copy and eventually gave it back to her.

We'll just say that Katy's literary career apparently started very early. 😂📚

Although she always wanted to be a writer, she didn't believe she could actually make it happen until she grew up, gained more experience, and became a little better at navigating the world.

And now that childhood dream has become a published fantasy series.

We love that for her. 💙

👑 Learning How to Rule

Mira isn't simply stepping into a crown.

She's stepping into a role previously held by her mother while facing an entirely different political landscape.

Katy approached their relationship almost as a cultural divide. Both Mira and her mother want what is best for the Kingdom, but they've experienced completely different circumstances.

And sometimes what a parent believes is best for their child isn't necessarily what that child needs.

At its heart, beneath all the fantasy, politics, magic, and supernatural intrigue, Mira's story is also about a parent and child trying to understand one another.

👀 And That Ending...

Finally, we had to ask the question every reader wants answered:

What does Katy hope readers feel when they close Between Sky and Sea?

Her answer may be the most relatable author response ever:

“How dare you?!”

followed immediately by:

“Where is the goddamn second book?!”

😂📚

And honestly?

We feel like that's exactly the kind of reaction a fantasy series should inspire.

💙 About Katy Tearle

Katy Tearle is the author of Between Sky and Sea, the first book in the Black Heart Tribunal series.

Her fantasy world combines supernatural creatures, political intrigue, romance, magic, and characters who are learning that power comes with considerably more complications than a crown might suggest.

📚 Read Between Sky and Sea

Purchase:
Buy Between Sky and Sea

⭐ Continue the Series

Pre-order Where the Sky Dreams of Stars:
Pre-order Where the Sky Dreams of Stars

📱 Follow Katy Tearle

Instagram:
@katytearle.author on Instagram

💕 Want the Full Conversation?

This is just a preview of our conversation with Katy Tearle!

Want to read the complete Book Club Conversation, including all nine questions and Katy's full answers?

✨ Join The First Editions to unlock the full extended conversation and discover even more about Between Sky and Sea, Mira, Lukas, the Black Heart Tribunal, Katy's writing journey, and what's ahead for this fantasy world.

Come join The First Editions and keep reading with The Page Ladies Book Club! 📚💗

📚 BOOK CLUB CONVERSATION: KATY TEARLE

Intrigue. Magic. Love. Hope. ✨🌊

What happens when a newly crowned King of All Selkies is thrown into a world of assassins, supernatural factions, political intrigue, complicated family relationships, and a former love who is now sworn to protect her?

You get Between Sky and Sea, the first book in Katy Tearle’s Black Heart Tribunal series and one seriously intriguing fantasy world.

For this month’s Book Club Conversation, we’re sitting down with author Katy Tearle to talk about Between Sky and Sea, the inspiration behind the Black Heart Tribunal, selkies and supernatural societies, Mira and Lukas, found family, complicated relationships, worldbuilding, writing advice, favorite fantasy books, and what readers can expect next.

And Katy definitely brought the bookish energy. 💗

So grab your favorite reading blanket, settle in, and let’s get into it!

🌊 BETWEEN SKY AND SEA

1. If you had to describe Between Sky and Sea in three words to a reader who hasn’t discovered it yet, what would they be?

Katy: Intrigue. Magic. Love.

Bonus word: Hope.

2. What was the very first spark for Between Sky and Sea? Did Mira, the selkie world, the Black Heart Tribunal, or something else come to you first?

Katy: I had the very vague first idea for the Black Heart Tribunal series when I was 14. I knew I wanted to write something big, something with a lot of worldbuilding, something with magic. But back then, I didn't have enough writing skill, or knowledge of anything, really. So I put the story on the backburner and tried a few more times over the years until I got to 2023.

I'd written a few completely unrelated short stories with elements that appear in the Black Heart Tribunal series. And then I remembered the Black Heart Tribunal series idea. It wasn't called that then, it was just called the big fantasy novel.

And so slowly but surely, I eased my way into writing it. Mira came first. I'd learned in writing the short stories that it was easier for me to make characters people care about before building the world. Building the selkie world and all the other characters around Mira came easier then. The Black Heart Tribunal was harder and was the final piece of the puzzle.

3. Mira goes from newly crowned King of All Selkies to dodging assassins, negotiating with supernatural factions, and building her Royal Entourage. What made you want to throw her into the deep end quite so quickly?

Katy: I feel like everyone has walked into a job where they've been handed a situation that they've been told is “no big deal, don't worry about it” and then they look past the surface and go “oh... oh no.”

And that's kind of the vibe I wanted to have for Mira.

I also really enjoy writing intrigue and action and wanted to launch directly into it.

4. Your world brings together selkies, dragons, witches, werewolves, seers, fae, and sirens. Was there a particular supernatural being you were most excited to put your own spin on?

Katy: Seers, fae, and sirens were the ones that I wanted to bring to life the most.

I love the idea of trope inversion, or trope manipulation. So I wanted to take the stereotypes of what people expect for seers, fae, and sirens in fantasy worlds and either turn them on their heads, or shift them off-center enough that it makes people take notice.

5. Without giving away spoilers, what can you tease readers about the Black Heart Tribunal and the threat it poses?

Katy: The Black Heart Tribunal is an insidious threat as well as a demonstrable threat. They have the scary ability to publicly distance themselves from their worst crimes with ease.

And they could be anyone.

6. Mira and Lukas have a history, and now he's assigned to protect her. What makes a “former love turned bodyguard” dynamic so much fun to write?

Katy: There's an inbuilt tension already there when writing a “former love turned bodyguard” storyline.

On Lukas's side there's an internal war, his duty to his people vs. his duty to his role as Mira's bodyguard vs. his love for her that never actually left.

And on Mira's side there's hints of that too her duty to her people vs. the potential of something she could have with Lukas.

And then there's the concept of living and dying in service to the person you love.

Which is such fun to explore.

7. You’ve described yourself as someone who has been telling stories since you could speak. Do you remember the first story you ever created, or the moment you realized you wanted to be a writer?

Katy: While I don't remember writing it, my uncle gave me a copy of the first story I allegedly ever wrote. I've attached a picture of the literary masterpiece.

I think I've always wanted to be a writer, but never thought I could actually pull it off until I grew up and gotten older and better at being a human in the world.

8. What do you hope readers feel when they close Between Sky and Sea for the first time?

Katy: I hope they feel a combination of “how dare you?!” followed by “where is the goddamn second book?!”

9. Mira is stepping into a position her mother held before her, but she's facing a completely different political landscape. How did you approach writing a character who is learning how to rule while simultaneously figuring out what kind of ruler she wants to become?

Katy: I wanted to approach Mira's relationship with her mother almost as a cultural divide.

They both want the best for the Kingdom, but they've been given very different circumstances surrounding their rule, so what is best for the Kingdom looks very different for each of them.

And I think, even though it's a story about a Queen and her next in line to rule, it's still ultimately a story about a parent and child not quite understanding that what the parent thinks is best is not necessarily what actually is best for the child.

10. The Black Heart Tribunal isn't simply a villainous individual it represents an organized movement with political and ideological power. What interested you about exploring that kind of antagonist?

Katy: It felt more relatable and more complex to try and write and explore something systemic and organized as a “bad guy” rather than have one villainous individual.

If you have one villainous individual trying to ruin everything, and then they're killed or taken down, the story is over.

But what happens when the “bad guy” is entrenched in the system?

That's what I wanted to explore with the Black Heart Tribunal series.

11. Your story involves multiple supernatural communities with their own identities, interests, and power structures. How did you approach making each group feel distinct rather than simply being different versions of the same fantasy archetype?

Katy: I focus hard on making everyone an individual person first and foremost.

So, for example, Mira is Mira first. Then she's a selkie. Then she's the King of All Selkies.

That's how I build her and by default all of the other characters out.

What makes Mira, Mira? Then what parts of her are that way because she's a selkie? What mannerisms does she have because she's a selkie? Then what changes because she's the King?

Rinse and repeat for everyone else.

🖤 FOUND FAMILY, RELATIONSHIPS & CHARACTERS

14. Found family and unlikely alliances seem to be an important part of Mira's journey. What is it about putting very different characters together that makes a story more interesting?

Katy: I think having a very different, very unlikely band of people fighting for the same cause is always a fascinating story because everyone understands why they would fight for a particular cause.

And they can maybe work out why someone similar to them would fight for the same cause.

But putting someone completely different, completely unintended, someone who seemingly should not fit in the group always throws everyone for a loop, because it gives both the reader and all of the other characters perspective that they never had of an issue that they thought only affected them.

16. When you're writing a relationship with complicated history, do you find it easier to know exactly where the characters stand, or do they tend to surprise you along the way?

Katy: Is it easier to know exactly where the characters stand? Yes.

Do I always know where the characters stand? Absolutely not.

Mira and Lukas surprised me at least a dozen times throughout the course of writing this trilogy.

17. What makes a character compelling enough for you to want to spend an entire book or series with them?

Katy: Emotional connection whether positive or negative.

I write a lot of multi-POV. If I'm going to spend more than a few chapters with a character, I can't be ambivalent towards them.

I have to either love them most often the case or I have to hate them.

18. Your characters have to navigate assassins, political factions, supernatural powers, personal relationships, and potentially world-changing consequences. When you're plotting, do you start with the characters and let their choices create the chaos, or do you build the larger plot first?

Katy: Characters first 100%.

The plot can be changed easily. But if the reader doesn't care about the people who are going through all of these troubles and consequences, then, in my opinion, it doesn't matter how good the plot is.

Good character building can make people love, hate, or want a character and then they'll care about what happens to them.

19. Was there a character in Between Sky and Sea who surprised you while you were writing them?

Katy: Wyatt.

He was only supposed to be a small character with a bit part. But I showed some of his sections to one of my writer friends and they loved him.

And I did too.

So he ended up taking over.

21. Were there any scenes, characters, or relationships that changed significantly from your original idea to the finished book?

Katy: The relationship between Mira and her mother grew and changed very dramatically from the first draft to the final draft.

The character of Mira changed as well. She was originally written more aloof and colder, more Ice Queen-esque.

22. How much of your own background in linguistics influences the way you approach language, dialogue, names, cultures, or worldbuilding?

Katy: Thank you for asking this question! Now I finally have something I can point to and show people that I'm actually using my Masters in Applied Linguistics. 😂

But yes, my background is in both sociology and linguistics the study of essentially the combination of people and language: how it's formed, how history shapes it, etc.

And it's definitely shaped the way I've chosen names, the way I've adjusted dialogue and syntax to fit certain characters and cultures, etc.

23. What part of creating the world of Between Sky and Sea was the most fun for you?

Katy: Creating the different magic systems and the different ways in which magic has shown up in the world was the most fun.

I love trying to find the different ways that I can describe magic and make it fit the world.

24. And which part made you stare at your manuscript and wonder why you had decided to create such a complicated world in the first place? 😂

Katy: Writing a multi-POV world with so many characters and so many cultures, I often spent a bunch of time staring blankly into space when I realized exactly how big the world was.

🧙‍♀️ BOOK LOVER QUESTIONS

25. What kind of reader were you growing up, and what books or authors helped shape your love of fantasy?

Katy: As a kid, I read all the time. I practically lived at my local library and whenever I could, I asked for vouchers for bookstores or money for books for birthdays and Christmas presents.

Books were my escape and my favorite activity. I read everything I could get my hands on.

But I had a few favorites that I read over and over again:

📚 Garth Nix — The Abhorsen Series
📚 J.R.R. Tolkien — The Lord of the Rings
📚 Philip Pullman — His Dark Materials Trilogy
📚 Susanna Clarke — Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell
📚 Tamora Pierce — Circle Opens Series and Protector of the Small Series

26. Is there a fantasy book you wish you could erase from your memory just so you could experience reading it for the first time again?

Katy: If I could go back and read Garth Nix's The Abhorsen Series and Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials Trilogy for the first time again or better yet, delete them from my memories and read them again as an adult I would 100% do it.

28. If you could spend one day in your own supernatural world, which group would you want to spend it with and which group would you politely avoid? 😂

Katy: I would spend it in the Selkie Manor House.

There are so many different characters and people there that I would love to meet.

And on the flip side I would politely avoid the dragons minus Lukas.

Not for any other reason other than that they very intense.

29. If you could choose one supernatural ability from your own world to have in real life, what would you pick?

Katy: Fae marbles.

A power source of magic that can be used for a bunch of things at once.

30. Which would you rather have: a selkie skin, a witch's magic, a siren's voice, a seer's visions, or the ability to turn into a dragon?

Katy: A witch's magic, for sure.

All of the others have too many drawbacks for me.

A selkie skin—I’d forget where I left it, then boom, I'm trapped by some random person.

A siren's voice—I like to blend in for the most part. It would be almost impossible to do that as a siren.

A seer's visions—I don't want to know the future, that sounds terrible.

And the ability to turn into a dragon—I have enough trouble with legs and arms, I would have a hell of a time if I added wings and a tail to that.

31. Do you have a favorite character you've written so far, or is choosing between fictional children basically impossible?

Katy: I'd love to say that choosing between fictional children is impossible, but it's not.

Jon.

Jon is hands down my favorite in Between Sky and Sea.

34. Are you a “read one book at a time” person, or do you have several books going at once?

Katy: Even though I'm a “write several books at a time” person, I only ever read one book at a time.

35. What does your ideal reading day look like?

Katy: A stack of books from my TBR pile.

Raining or snowing outside.

Warm and cozy inside.

A cup of tea.

A blanket over my lap.

My cat.

And silence while I read all my books.

Honestly? We approve. 📚☕🐈

✍️ THE AUTHOR LIFE

36. When you're not writing, what are you most likely to be doing?

Katy: Knitting. Working at my day job. Watching baseball and hockey.

But even while I'm doing those, I'm always likely to be scribbling plots and ideas in notebooks and on my phone.

38. Are you a plotter, a pantser, or somewhere delightfully chaotic in between?

Katy: I am the delightfully chaotic in between.

I write by the seat of my pants until I write myself into a corner. Then I work with my beta reader and we plot out what comes next together.

39. What's the best piece of writing advice you've ever received?

Katy: The best piece of writing advice I've ever received is: Write badly.

It seems very counter-intuitive, but it works very well.

Learning to write badly and be okay with that means you're focusing on getting the words out of your head and onto the page.

Everything else, like editing, prettying it up, etc., that can wait until the words are on a page.

40. What's one piece of writing advice you wish you could go back and give your younger self?

Katy: Don't stop. And don't listen.

I stopped writing for a long time because I listened to people who told me that I wasn't a good writer.

And that made me hesitant to start up again, and hesitant to put my work out there.

41. What's something about the writing or publishing process that surprised you once you became an author?

Katy: As an indie author, one thing that surprised me.and I think it surprises every indie author is how much marketing you have to do, and how much time it takes.

It is worth it, obviously!

But at the same time, I'd much rather be writing!!

42. You've had short stories published in anthologies as well as writing novels. How does writing a short story compare with building a full-length fantasy world?

Katy: Honestly, writing a short story is a lot harder for me.

You have to convey so much more worldbuilding and character building in far fewer words.

Whereas in a full-length novel, I have all the time in the world to build characters, create the world, introduce new characters, anything I like.

43. What's something you wish more readers knew about what goes into creating a book?

Katy: I wish more readers knew about the time involved in creating a book from start to finish.

I think a lot of readers understand the effort or at least I hope they do.

But the time, I think, is something that I'm not sure people quite get.

The Black Heart Tribunal Series all three books took me 2.5 years to write, from starting the first draft of book 1 to finishing the final draft of book 3.

44. What is one thing you hope readers take away from Between Sky and Sea whether that's a feeling, a character, a question, or something they continue thinking about long after they've finished the book?

Katy: I hope that people leave Between Sky and Sea wanting more of the world and the people in it whatever that looks like for them.

45. And finally, what can you tease readers about what's ahead for the Black Heart Tribunal series without giving away any spoilers?

Katy: Everything gets so much worse before it gets better.

And honestly, after that tease, we're going to need book two immediately. 😂

📚 A FEW MORE BOOKISH DETAILS ABOUT KATY

Katy's love of books started early. She describes herself as a child who practically lived at her local library, with books serving as both an escape and a favorite activity.

Her fantasy influences include Garth Nix, J.R.R. Tolkien, Philip Pullman, Susanna Clarke, and Tamora Pierce.

When she's not writing, Katy can usually be found knitting, working her day job, watching baseball or hockey, or.as authors apparently do scribbling new plot ideas into notebooks and her phone.

Her writing process is “delightfully chaotic,” and her best advice is refreshingly simple:

Write badly.

Get the words out first. The editing and polishing can come later.

And perhaps the most important advice she would give her younger self?

Don't stop. And don't listen.

🌊 READ BETWEEN SKY AND SEA

Ready to dive into the world of selkies, supernatural factions, magic, political intrigue, found family, and complicated romance?

You can purchase Between Sky and Sea here:

Purchase Between Sky and Sea

And if you're already looking ahead to the next installment, you can preorder Where the Sky Dreams of Stars here:

Pre-order Where the Sky Dreams of Stars

You can also follow Katy on Instagram:

Katy Tearle on Instagram

Katy also shared two book covers and a photo of the very first story she allegedly ever wrote for us to include with the feature.

💗 THANK YOU, KATY!

Katy, thank you so much for taking the time to sit down with The Page Ladies Book Club and share the stories, inspiration, bookish influences, writing advice, and behind-the-scenes details that helped shape Between Sky and Sea and the Black Heart Tribunal series.

We loved getting a peek behind the pages and we're definitely keeping that “everything gets so much worse before it gets better” tease in the back of our minds. 👀📚

Thank you for letting us be part of your bookish world!

📣 AUTHORS, READERS & BOOK LOVERS

🎙️ AUTHORS: Want to be featured in a future Book Club Conversation? Send us an email or tap the Linktree in our bio and fill out our Author Interest Form!

📣 AUTHORS: Tag a fellow author below who would love chatting books with our community!

📚 READERS: Tell us in the comments: If you could spend one day inside a fictional supernatural world, which world would you choose and which character would you want as your guide? 👇

#ThePageLadiesBookClub #KatyTearle #BetweenSkyAndSea #BlackHeartTribunal #FantasyBooks

Our contributors have been busy reading some awesome titles this week!

Marlena is reading Mamey by Anny Caba.

Renee is reading Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro.

Jordy is reading Mothsblood by Lynn D. Jung.

Rah is reading Tomie by Junji Ito.

Mhairie is reading Why Does He Do That? by Lundy Bancroft.

Jackie is reading The Lafferty Girl by Rebecca Lafferty.

What book(s) have you been reading this week?! Share in the comments below so we can discuss!

Survival Show by Juno Dawson

From Renee

What do you mean there’s a new dystopian series from Juno Dawson and no one told me?! This is like American Idol meets The Hunger Games and I’m mad I haven’t gotten the opportunity to talk about it yet. Imagine corporations run the world (not that big of a stretch) and need to control the population. The media moguls create a global singing competition where the winners form a pop group and the losers are killed off. That’s it. That’s the premise. And it’s exactly as wild and messed up as you expect. The stakes are high. The reality tv drama is real… and really manufactured. Teenagers and young adults are forced to make unthinkable decisions in the face of an authoritarian regime. At a time when The Hunger Games series is making such a huge comeback, I think readers are primed and ready for even more stories about resistance and rebellion. Keep them coming, Juno Dawson!

Girl’s Girl by Sonia Feldman

From Nox

I wanted to love this book so much. The premise is incredibly intriguing. A sapphic coming of age story set over the course of one summer when your best friend kisses and then ghosts you? The same best friend you’ve been having feelings for? How does this change the dynamic between the two of you, between y’all are your other best friend? I thought I would eat this book up. I will say, the audio narration was fantastic, so I don’t think it was a problem with how I read it. Everything just felt flat, with long explanations of how the characters treated their Sims and how the game works. I also felt that Eleanor, Mina’s love interest, wasn’t that well-developed compared to Mina and Margaret. Overall, I think there is definitely an audience for Girl’s Girl, but I unfortunately wasn’t part of it.

Dear Monica Lewinsky by Julia Langbein

From Mhairie

The problem the story is ostensibly about (the affair) doesn't take place until actually two thirds of the way into the book. Of course, the problem isn't really the affair, its the patriarchy and the way that powerful men use and discard young women and how the women are universally dragged for it. If you want to hear about a salacious affair, you won't get it here. What you will get is delicious prose, an examination of the mistreatment of naive young women and a pretty hilarious summation of the stories of various saints, heavily paraphrased. The ending is a 'good for her' ending and all I really want to know now, is what Monica Lewinsky thinks?

Vampyres, Werewolves and other supernatural creatures take the stage in this epic urban fantasy/Sci-fi. With strong female characters and a driving plot, Hunters is an independent read I hope you enjoy. The first of a series.

Hello Inkmongers!

It is finally October, which means it is time to run our FIRST EVER Inkmonger Book Club!

This month, our book club pick is:

How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu

Before I get into the "why" of this selection, let me gather some context around it. As you may know, one of the goals of this Bindery community is to become a publishing imprint. Once Inkmonger has enough members, we'll be able to make real publishing decisions, and our community members will be a part of the process.

My dream for this community is to contribute to the literary tradition that Ursula K. Le Guin and other visionary speculative fiction (SF) writers founded: SF that asks important questions, imagines alternative worlds to the one we currently inhabit, and imagines equitable futures for humanity. How cool (exciting, fulfilling, mind-blowing) would it be for Inkmonger to publish a future winner of the Ursula K. Le Guin Prize?

How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu was a 2022 finalist for the Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction, and was chosen for that honor because of its place in the SF canon– in many ways, it's part of the continuation of Le Guin's literary lineage. The 2026 winner will be announced on 10/21, so reading a book from the Prize's backlog feels fitting this month.

"The Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction is an annual $25,000 cash prize given to a writer for a single work of imaginative fiction. This award is intended to recognize those writers Ursula spoke of in her 2014 National Book Awards speech—realists of a larger reality, who can imagine real grounds for hope and see alternatives to how we live now" (The Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction).

While this book was not selected as the winner of the Prize, it is the only finalist that I currently own a copy of (and that's quite important to me, financially).

I'll be starting my read of How High We Go in the Dark as soon as I finish my current read! I hope you'll read with me :)

Sam 🦑

Hello my friends! And a very happy Tuesday to you! I hope this week has been gentle and peaceful for you. This week is also Banned Books Week! So, I also hope you're squeezing in a banned book to read, too.

I wanted to share my TBR pile this morning, and talk nerd shit, if that's okay? I tend to keep my journaling, and personal curriculum, and "nerdy" stuff to myself, but I wanted to talk about it! I will start off with saying that I always make a TBR pile.... and I always go rogue. lol. Making a loose personal curriculum for Q4 is going to be my trial and error to see if I can make a TBR and stick to it. And if I can't? Well, oh well! Here's my October hopeful TBR stack:

Now, you might be asking why the hell Thirst was wrapped. lol. I have mentioned previously both here (I think) and on social media, that my friend Kelli created an Unhinged Reading Challenge a few years back. I adopted that challenge, and naturally being me, put a Queer twist to it and created the Unhinged Reading Challenge: Queer Edition. I wrapped (yes, on the floor, wrapped, I'm too old for that shit I have learned) like 500 books in my queer collection that are unread. With this, I separately wrapped all horror/spooky books in the Nightmare Before Christmas paper, and then all my Christmas/holiday books in Christmas paper to read according to the holiday. I attempted to start this in January of this year, but it just didn't stick. (I also started a personal curriculum for the first time this year too, and that didn't stick, either.. more on that later.) For Q4 of this year, I decided to tackle both - my personal curriculum AND the Unhinged Reading Challenge: Queer Edition, beginning with the horror books! Before I get into that, though, I'll share my blank monthly planner I created to track my reads for self accountability and ease. It's also hella rewarding to check something off at the end of the day, too!

I also color code everything for my own personal preference, too. This is my October breakdown - it also includes our breakdown of To Our Untamed Core that we're reading for our Q4 Book Club Pick. I give myself one week to finish one of the "spooky" books, and as you can see in week 1, October 4-10, I break it down even further by page count per day. This may not work with everyone, but it helps me stay on track, if that makes sense? And also, to pick up a fucking book every day! Sometimes we get so caught up in chores or feelings or doom scrolling, we go long periods of time without reading, and I don't like that for myself, because reading and books are a form of self-care for me.

If you noticed, I only wrote in the Unhinged Reading Challenge: Queer Spooky Edition books and our Q4 book breakdown. I still want to remain flexible with my other TBR selections and not give myself too many deadlines or rules to follow, because then I get the overwhelm and quit. lol

The other books I want to get to from the TBR hopeful photo I posted above are:

1. Pure Ox by Mateo Askaripour

2. Cemetery Boys: Espiritu by Aiden Thomas

I won't lie, I also have like fifty-eleven hundred other books side-eyeing me that I really want to read, too. But those are the ones I definitely want to read this month.

Let's talk planners, shall we? The Carpe Fucking Diem planner is a EOY 2026/2027 planner that is for every day purposes for me - work schedule/meetings/various appointments, etc. But I think I'm going to toy with the idea of incorporating my personal curriculum goals INTO that planner as a trial run for Q4 to see if I like it all together, or want to keep things separated. Sometimes, I also get bogged down by having too many things to keep up with, and then just... stop. And then feel bad months later for all the unused days, and then just don't pick it up again because of said guilt. lol. What a time. I also picked up a Wisconsin Poets weekly planner for 2027 with various poems from Wisconsin poets that includes some journal prompts. I'm going to use this planner exclusively for a "sentence a day" journal. I think sometimes for me as a writer, I don't know what to write and so I just don't, and then I never write for long periods of time; so I'm hoping this will get me writing again by writing on sentence a day as a daily recap or thoughts for the day.

One more journal, and I think I'm done sharing about journals for the day. lol. I purchased a binder ring that holds 100 index cards to create a "photo of the day" journal (I found it at Five Below, but they are literally everywhere) - and it has changed my day to day. I am aware of the little things that bring me joy and I remember to snap a photo, too! It's just a way to recap my highlights of the day. I also use my HP Sprocket photo printer for sticker photos (which can get expensive, to be honest) and sometimes I'll use washi tape or various stickers or write a little blurb, but the index cards are small, so it requires me to limit what I say. Big notebooks or even journals, with so much blank space, sometimes lead to anxiety of filling it up, and that ALSO gives me the overwhelm, so the index card size is perfect for me:

It's truly the perfect size and fits nicely for "on the go" purposes, too!

So, now tell me, what do YOU do to nerd out about? Are you also nerdy when it comes to planners and journals and color coding literally all the things? I also want to know, how do your TBR piles go, or do you just abandon ship and read whatever when the mood strikes? I fear that is me, but I try so hard to be a TBR person. lol

Thank you all for being here and allowing me the space to be nerdy. I appreciate you all so much, and hope the rest of your Tuesday is gentle and kind.

See you on Thursday for Trans Joy Thursday.

With all my trans joy,

Sawyer Cole

The darkness isn't empty. It's hungry. And as of today, you can hold a piece of it.

I’m so excited to announce the What Feeds Below: Void Vault is now available to purchase! This is our very limited pub day thank-you to the readers who've been waiting to descend into the Sixth Layer with us for months. 

What's inside the Vault:

• A paperback copy of the book with a bookplate signed by Tatiana herself

• A gorgeous handmade leather mushroom bookmark

• An exclusive Boozhoo Books “Women in Horror” sticker

• A bumper sticker to let everyone know you’re on your way to The Void

• The cutest erasable mushroom pen

• A mini cross-stitch embroidery kit, because you'll need something to do with your hands once you're too scared to keep reading

Thank you for supporting my imprint, for showing up for Tatiana’s work, and for trusting us to take you somewhere this strange and gruesome.

The Vault won't stay open long. Grab yours before it's gone.

Naomi, Tatiana, and Bindery

Welcome back to This Week on the Shelf. In this edition, we are talking a little ICYMI, a little bookish group chat, and whatever Link has decided she has opinions about this week.

Basically, everything we’d be talking about if we were sitting around together with coffee and an irresponsibly large stack of books.

📚 ICYMI: Around the Shelf

September is officially over, which means I wrapped up everything I read last month, and despite being in a bit of a reading slump, I still somehow finished 20 books. There were some major standouts, including Blacktail, All the Colors of the Dark, and Love Felt Like This.

I also shared the October new releases I’m most excited about because apparently, my TBR has not suffered enough.

And because October is officially here, we’re getting spooky.

My latest genre guide is all about Gothic horror and I discuss what actually makes something Gothic and where the genre overlaps with horror. I also give some book recs if you want crumbling houses, buried secrets, psychological dread, and an atmosphere that feels like something terrible happened here 100 years ago and nobody wants to talk about it.

Finally, in honor of National Audiophile Day, I shared some of the audiobooks I absolutely love, including the audiobook that turned me into an audiobook reader in the first place.

🎥 On YouTube

Two author conversations went up recently, and they're very different books, which is exactly why I love doing these interviews.

First, I sat down with Noah Brisk, author of The Tethered God, to talk about writing cinematic fantasy, creating a magic system intertwined with religion and politics, and building a world that doesn't stop to hold the reader's hand.

If your fantasy taste lives somewhere in the vicinity of Malazan, The First Law, and The Wheel of Time, you're going to want this one on your radar.

I also talked with Tom Ryan about Return to Breakneck Island, his follow-up to The Treasure Hunters Club.

We talked mysteries, found family, writing multiple timelines, and returning to a world readers already love without simply recreating the first book. I absolutely adored Return to Breakneck Island, so getting to dig into how Tom built this story was especially fun.

Both full conversations are up on my YouTube channel now.

💬 The Bookish Group Chat

Cozy mysteries are just SO GOOD in the fall. Give me a small town, an eccentric cast of suspects, an amateur detective who absolutely should not be involved in this investigation, and a murder that somehow still feels cozy? I'm seated.

So naturally, this article immediately got my attention: “I was asked to write a new Miss Marple, so I sent her to the Alps.”

Lucy Foley recently wrote about taking on one of Agatha Christie's most iconic characters, and I loved reading about how she approached writing Miss Marple while still making the story her own.

The part that stuck with me most was Foley explaining that she saw the novel as being in conversation with Christie's original books rather than simply trying to recreate them, and THAT is what I want from something like this.

I don't necessarily want another writer to imitate Agatha Christie. I want to recognize the character and the DNA of those stories while also understanding why this particular author was chosen to tell a new one.

And honestly? Sending Miss Marple to the Alps is already a pretty convincing argument.

Group chat question: How do you feel about modern authors writing new stories featuring classic characters? Are you immediately intrigued or would you rather the originals be left alone?

🐾 Link's Corner

This week, Link had to endure something truly exhausting...watching her mother rank 31 Stephen King books.

After spending October reading and rereading King, I finally ranked every Stephen King book I've read from #31 all the way to #1. You can listen now on Spotify or on YouTube at 9 pm ET.

Link would like everyone to know that my ranking is irrelevant because she has already identified the objectively best Stephen King novel: Fairy Tale. Obviously.

There is a very good dog named Radar. No further analysis required. Honestly, I can't even argue with her logic.

Until next week,
Brittany + Link 🐾

Indie supernatural thriller, murder mystery! Kalvin Ellis kicks up the suspense with plenty of "don't open the door" moments and grisly description. Perfect read for a spooky October night.

Tuesday might be our favorite day of the week! Here are some titles releasing today that we think you should add to your TBR (to be read) shelf.

Let us know in the comments which book release you are most excited for or which release you are grabbing today that's not mentioned!

It’s time for a giveaway! HUZZAH!

A Complement of Scoundrels by S.V. Lockwood has had an incredible first two weeks out in the world, and a huge amount of that is because of this community. Y'all showed up for this book in a massive way, so I wanted to kick a little something back your way.

I have TWO Spotify audiobook codes for A Complement of Scoundrels to give away!

The audiobook was produced by Tantor Media and narrated by the wonderful Gabrielle Baker, and I’m very excited to get a couple copies into your ears.

To enter the giveaway, be a “Kist Reads” Follower, Sicko, Sicko+, Mega Sicko or Sicko Society member and leave a comment on this post. It can be an emoji or whatever, you know the drill by now. I’ll randomly draw two winners, with each winner receiving one Spotify audiobook code, and reach out via email if you’ve won.

Thank you again for everything you’ve done to help make the launch of our first Kist Reads book such a success. Also make sure to enter the giveaway for one code on IG when that drops later this week to increase your chances. Good luck, Sickos!

*Terms & conditions below.

No purchase necessary. Must be 18 years of age or older. Void where prohibited by law. Spotify audiobook code redemption is subject to Spotify audiobook availability in your country.

How to enter:
Open to all “Kist Reads” Bindery members, any tier (including free “Follower” members). Comment to enter. Limit 1 entry per person.

Prize:
Two (2) Spotify audiobook codes for A Complement of Scoundrels by S.V. Lockwood. Two winners will each receive one (1) code.

Timing:
Runs 10/6/26 - 10/10/26

Winner Selection & Notification:
Two winners will be selected at random and notified via email within 3 days of the giveaway’s end. Winners must respond within 3 days to claim their prize.

Other Details:
By entering, you agree to these rules and all applicable laws. No cash substitute. Sponsor is not responsible for lost, late, or misdirected entries, email delivery issues, or issues related to Spotify account eligibility or audiobook availability.

Sponsor:
Kist Reads, Sun City Center, FL
Kistreadsbooks@gmail.com

I was not prepared for the onslaught of Christmas romances publishing this early in the year. Goodness gracious, save me from the Santa puns. Here’s your weekly round-up of brand new, progressive-leaning romances that you may not have seen on your Instagram feed. If I’ve omitted a title you feel passionate about and think this community will enjoy, please do share it in the comments. Reminder that I haven't read any of these titles yet, so this isn't an official endorsement unless noted. Click through to read the post on Bindery for my full commentary.

Back For Seconds by Betty Corrello (Cosmo Reads) — Holy smokes, Betty is so funny. I blurbed the book enthusiastically: "Back For Seconds is an absolute feast! Readers will root for Joey and June from the first tender, saucy bite of their love story. A mouthwatering romance for anyone who has nursed a broken heart during the holidays. This is the Christmas romcom I have needed all my life."

Reap & Sow by Charlotte B. Plumb (Berkley XO) — Plumb’s slow-burn romantasy is one of the first titles from Berkley’s brand new New Adult imprint. Reviewers I trust loved the morally gray, reluctant allies dynamic of Reap & Sow. I’m excited to dive in myself soon. 

Vengefully Matched by Audrey Goldberg Ruoff (Atria) — A witchy sapphic rom-com from the author of Hopelessly Teavoted. I’m here for more queer paranormal romances.

The Perfect Match by Adiba Jaigirdar (Orion Spring) – This queer women’s soccer romance set in London gives off Bend It Like Beckham vibes.

It's Only Dancing by Jasmine Guillory (Scholastic Press) — Guillory’s young adult debut inspired by Dirty Dancing! A ballet dancer falls for a hip hop instructor during the summer before her senior year of high school.

Solar Eclipse of the Heart by Kate Robb (Dial) — Robb’s latest explores grief through magical realism involving a leather jacket that causes visions. The guy wearing the leather jacket is also a hottie, obviously. 

Everything She Wanted by Rosey Kaur Hwang (Sugar Shack Books) — A Canadian romance with Bollywood vibes about a woman choosing between the controlling man her family approves of, and a sexy consultant who helps her find her voice. 

Stay Here Forever by Andie James (indie) — An autumnal second chance novella by the host of First Encounter podcast about historical romance. 

We have officially been approved for our LLC! Now all we have to do is file the DBA, which will be $50 and then publish the notification in the newspaper for $175. If you want to help contribute, please check out our webpage!

Thank you all!

-Ryn

Chapter 16

Icarus was standing at the bottom of the steps to the Church of Saint Lazriel. It was dark, the pitch black of just past midnight. 

This wasn’t right. 

He was just on Pearse Street heading for the docks, the opposite direction. It wasn’t even six when he left. When did it get so late?

He shook his head to clear it. His palms stung and he turned over his hand to find four half moons dug into the heel, one of them deep enough to split the skin. He eyed the dirt packed into the beds of his nails and scraped a bit of it out. His head ached, but the buzzing had vanished. 

He scowled up at the monstrous building looming overhead, taunting him now that its residents had thrown him out for good. Icarus shoved his hands in his pockets and turned on his heel to begin the dreary march to his flat. The back of his head throbbed faintly. Edith was right, he shouldn’t have been drinking with a head wound.

**

Icarus made it home and choked down a few hours of sleep until the living alarm of Dublin’s early workmen roused him from his fitful effort. It was strange to dress in something other than his black shirt and pants, the uniform had made mornings so simple for just short of two decades. After the events of the week, however, he couldn’t bring himself to put it back on. It felt like slipping into some mud-soaked garment left to rot in the rain.

Maren was waiting by the front door to the office when he rounded the corner. She eyed his cream-colored shirt left open at the collar, the quality of his dark gray vest and well-matched trousers, all swallowed under his heavy winter coat and into dark leather shoes. She made a face at him, “Your hair’s too long for a hat.”

He adjusted the brim of his flatcap and huffed, “I’ll see a barber, then. Ready?”

She nodded. Her black coat swept back as she walked and he realized she had abandoned her traditional priestly garb as well, opting in favor of a very smart maroon suit and offwhite dress shirt. Unlike him, she had a loose scarf in maroon and gold knotted deftly around her collar. They looked like the two halves of Irish society walking side-by-side. He rummaged around until he found a comforting stick of tobacco and jammed it into his mouth, lighting it with a rogue match and a practiced thumbnail.

She glanced at him as they headed towards the old row house in Portobello, “You disappeared last night. Thought you’d have come back.”

He shrugged, exhaling a cloud of smoke, “Just needed the walk. No point in going back to an office with no answers.”

Icarus had chosen to dismiss the small detail of his peculiar side trip to the Church and the blank space in his memory. Maren didn’t need to be worrying about his head injury on top of all this. Neither did he, but he could only protect one of them from it. 

She was studying him before deciding whether or not she accepted his answer, he never found out if she did. They split around a woman and her cart bowing under the weight of too much laundry, Icarus dodged a baker threatening an urchin with a burnt loaf, Maren paused to answer directions from a woman in a dress so lovely it was clear she was very lost and very English—two things that never ended well down this way. 

Icarus paused at the mouth of an alley that was crowded with memories he wasn’t sure he wanted anymore. Brass pipes rattled and hissed, in the distance he heard the whistle and whoop of a conductor as the intercity tram steamed its way down the tracks on the other side. The old corner tavern had been remodeled in his absence and no longer looked like the ramshackle neighborhood bar he remembers. Now, it was whitewashed with pressed glass windows and the familiar amber glow of gaslamps newly fixed into old walls, but the old sign with The Painted Goat still swung in the cool morning air. He flicked the expired butt of his cigarette into a small pool of something he was better off believing was rain runoff. Maren waited patiently at his elbow, careful not to disturb his moment of reverie. 

He shoved his hands in his pockets and thumbed the old key, “Third on the left.”

When he was ready, she trailed after him to the off-center front door set in a facade that had once been white and was now a soft gray. The windows were thick with dust even from the outside, the gables sooty and black with the telltale signs of their proximity to industry. For all that the main thoroughfare was brimming with activity, the alley was quiet and insulated from all the bustling. 

He slid the brass key into the old, tarnished lock, then pressed the handle until it gave and swung inward. Dust poured into the air in front of him and he coughed into his elbow, letting it linger until it cleared. When he stepped inside, the sense of familiarity in the cramped front room pulled him under in a riptide. It was hard for him to fathom he had once been small enough that this room felt like the perfect size—large on good days. 

Maren stepped in behind him and closed the door, snuffing out the dim sunlight and forcing them to conjure up a sheet to wipe down the uneven glass panes.It was a small row house, but it had served as his childhood home whatever that counted for. The living room was covered in a yellow wallpaper with a delicate floral patterning that had begun to peel in a far corner. To his left twisted the staircase just beside the old hall closet his father loved to rummage in. Beyond the small living room through an empty doorway stood the dusty kitchen with its old woodfire cookstove and the small two person table hidden against the far wall. Try as he might, Icarus had no memories of ever hosting another person for a meal. 

In the hallway to the right, a small washroom, a slip of an office, and another slender hall closet stood tucked away. So many closets for such an austere set of tiny rooms. It took several minutes to situate themselves, but eventually Icarus stoked a fire in the simple fireplace that fluted up the middle of the house beside the stairwell and found the push-button switch to ignite the gas sconces dotting the walls. It should have lent itself to a sense of hominess or coziness, but managed to make the space look bleaker than when it was covered in dust.

“The neighbors will certainly call,” he muttered. “Small, nosy folk can’t help it when a long-dead house springs to life.”

“People do tend to be cautious about the undead,” Maren agreed and shrugged out of her coat, hanging it on a hook beside his. 

Synchronized, they rolled up their sleeves to the elbow and he looked down at her, “I’ll start in his room upstairs. You take the office ‘round the corner through the kitchen, yeah?”

He didn’t wait for her to reply and started up the old, creaking steps. They cried out in elation at the pressure of his heavy feet, the floorboards of the familiar hallway joining the chorus of greeting. He paused outside the ajar door to his old boyhood room and reached to push it open with light fingers. 

Everything was the same, not a paper out of place. There was nothing special or unique to it, nothing that screamed Icarus had his childhood here, but it still held onto the smell of him for the last of its dear, miserable life. 

Daedalus was not a bad man, but he was a hard one. Icarus had not known his mother, so there was nothing of her in the place. His father had always been a priest and his mother had always been a subject about which they did not speak. He had tried a few times in his youth during his more rebellious era and the fights it ignited were so explosive it was a wonder the roof stayed in place. 

Having a priest of the Pale God for a father left little room for fun to squeeze itself into his life. The Church was everything, it was the glue that bound his little family together. Without it, Icarus wasn’t sure he had anything in common with his father. Now he was standing here, excommunicated as all Hell, and reeling from the idea that the Church caused its congregations to suffer on purpose. The antithesis to all of his father’s preaching—to all of his own.

He scowled and fought the urge to spit. The loss was nominal considering he had left in all but name five years back with Maren, abandoning the familiar comfort of the calderist priests for the embrace of the necessary yet derided netherists. Icarus had been fading within the Church for many reasons before that day, though. Daedalus disappearing and being presumed dead had never sat well with him, it had eaten away at his faith in his brothers and sisters as much as any Rot could have. 

It was Maren’s family that had been his final straw in the end. The two of them had been kindred spirits in their disillusionment before that—him with his slow spoiling of blind faith, her with her constant sense of otherness. When the report came back and Maren saw what they had decided, it was the look on her face that broke the last thread Icarus had left to hold him there. Maren—the one the Cardinal had always expected to ascend to his role or higher, the gifted one, the unofficially anointed heir—had been told everything she witnessed was a hallucination and told in no uncertain terms to drop it. 

Instead, Icarus dropped the Church with Maren on his heels. That same night, they had made the cuts and taken the oaths that would open the way for their access to the endless earthen well of fae magic—netherism. The blood magic that could be wielded against the fae. If Maren was right about what she saw, they needed it.

Calderism didn’t affect fae, netherism didn’t affect demons. The calderist Church controlled the ability to access either with an iron fist. Netherism was still looked upon as a barbaric, heretical violation of the high holy well of God calderists drew from through the Pale Doctrine. 

Both essential and yet only one of them reviled. It was ironic to him that the detested of the two was the one requiring more empathy. Calderism had its own side effects, but netherism suffered the user to Rot. Fae magic leeched away at the body and soul over time until its wielder eventually died from it. That would be him someday. It would be Maren. 

He shrugged the thought away and turned his attention back to his father’s door at the end of the hall. He stood where he was for several heartbeats before closing the very small distance and shoving it open with more force than it required. He wasn’t sure what he expected to find or why he was barging in as though Daedalus might just be oversleeping for fifteen years. 

The room was spartan, of course. Daedalus was a meticulous man and didn’t keep much. What he did keep, though, was highly organized. Icarus waved away a cloud of dust motes and inhaled the familiar paper and soap smell of his father that still lingered in the air, a spectre of his past still haunting the corpse of his childhood home. 

He began opening drawers at random, pulling things out, looking under things. He moved onto the steamer trunk and made a stack of books and journals, anything that seemed remotely of interest to them.Tossing open the closet, he hunted down several more books and research papers that seemed well-worn and important then tossed them on the growing stack. 

**

It took him two hours to thoroughly search the place. When he turned to survey the damage, he realized with a small recoil of horror that he had subconsciously been arranging everything exactly as it was. The room was immaculately undisturbed, a long-forgotten habit from his younger years when he would desperately search for any word of his mother. That wound had long since festered and scarred, though, and he had never recovered the same youthful zeal for it after he’d taken the cloth. 

Icarus sighed and stacked his bounty precariously, then made his way down the stairs and ignored their wooden complaints. He deposited his findings on the low coffee table and was considering how badly he wanted to risk a seat on a fifteen year old couch that had gone untouched when Maren dropped her own stack of treasure beside his. 

She sniffed and coughed, snapping his attention. She wiped at the trickle of blood seeping from her nose on a face gone too pale for his liking. She swayed, Icarus caught her arm and guided her to the musty couch despite his misgivings. She coughed harder into her fist, he patted himself down until he found a rogue, neglected kerchief to give her. 

“Pale God knows when I used it last, or for what,” he handed it to her and she took it without complaint. 

Her cough deepened, too wet and full of what he knew would be tissue and mucus and whatever else the Rot had decided to strip away from her body. He thumped a hand on her back and disappeared to find her a glass of water. It took longer than he’d like, he listened to her fit while he washed one clean and filled it from clear, still-working taps. It wasn’t a miracle or coincidence, part of the death stipend in Daedalus’s estate went to keeping the utilities on and paying the taxes. His father had expected him to occupy the house, but Icarus had unofficially declined. 

Maren’s fit passed and she palmed the kerchief rather than giving it back, which he took to mean it was worse than he expected. She thanked him and sipped slowly, blotting away the last of the blood from her nose. 

“That bad?” He folded his arms and frowned. She replied with a shrug and wouldn’t meet his eyes, “Mare. Burn an ampule. You need it.”

She shook her head, “We haven’t had a case, we’ll have to buy instead of brew our own. It’s alright, I can stretch what-”

“Mare,” Icarus insisted, “burn the ampule. I’ll take care of it.”

She tightened her lips in a thin line and he watched her consider fighting him, but the threat of another round of coughing loomed in the set of her shoulders and she relented, “Fine. Give me a half hour, then.”

“I’ll start chipping away, there’s no rush. He’s not getting any deader,” he paused and raised an eyebrow, “or is it less undead? Not sure, all this has thrown me.”

She shook her head and landed a nudge at his ankle before liberating a small vial of opalescent Eidolon from one of her omnipresent pouches. With a crack and a sigh, she let the drops fall into her eyes and sank backward.

Icarus lingered, watching the blue flood her sclera and her mouth curve in a vacant smile he knew too well. It was a joke, really, that the only thing staving off the Rot was also killing them. Most priests who turned to netherism died of Eidolon addiction before the Rot could win. There was irony in it somewhere, he just didn’t have the energy to find it.

He sank to the floor bending knees that crackled like logs in the fire and began, pulling folders and files into his lap. Notes upon notes upon notes, some he could make sense of and others that made no sense at all. Nothing about a gaol or an Azure Prince or anywhere the three realms met. 

One journal entry caught his eye—Daedalus had been a generous recordkeeper, but not all records needed to be kept and that appeared to be something he had never learned. Icarus almost overlooked it, but it nagged at him until he read it again. 

Righteous Admonitions 13:4 to 27:12

The potential is there, all of the great Saints of Admonitions say the same things. There are ways to break it apart and call down the holy fire. They will come for us all one day, why would we give them the chance to decide when that day is? All of this droning and talk about keeping them at bay. The people don’t understand, none of them do, they don’t know how afraid they need to be. The brothers barely understand it, content to just sit on their hands and do nothing. 

They are coming, but I refuse to accept I must wait for them. There is a way, there has to be. We can do more, whatever we are trying is not enough. I can feel it in my blood, this is what I am called to do. I cannot look my son in the eyes and proclaim myself a man of the Pale God while I permit the Church to simply do nothing. 

I will find a way. I will show them. They will see. The Pale God and His Pale Son will be with me and we shall pry open the jaws of The Morrigan and the Stygian Lord and end this once and for all. I will be His anvil and he will be the hammer. I will become the Saint of Ending.

A chill spidered along Icarus’s arms and his hairs stood on end. He almost dropped the book and chastised himself for only giving it half of his attention the first pass. Maren inhaled and sat upright with a soft sound of alarm. She was doubled over and wiping the last of the Eidolon from her eyes, blinking herself back into the real world, when he looked up. 

She already looked better—more color in her cheeks, all her blood where it was supposed to be, no wheezing when she breathed. She sighed and leaned her elbows against her knees, rubbing her forehead, “Better.”

He nodded. It was the closest to a You were right, Icarus he had come to expect. She sidled onto the floor beside him and he handed her the journal. She frowned and read it again, then a third time. 

“Icarus,” she murmured, “the Saint of Ending. Pale Sons and Daughters, what is this?”

He grimaced and leaned back on his hands, “Much as I hate to entertain this idea, it sounds a lot like my own father was trying to find a way to bring about the end of days.”

“We have to find his Pale Doctrine then,” she set the journal aside and began to rifle through the others. “His personal one, not the one he used for his work.”

Icarus shook his head, “I never saw where he kept it, didn’t pay that much attention.”

“Boys,” she huffed, “no survival instinct at all. If you have one, raise him to care about his surroundings.”

He leaned forward and stared into the fire steadily grinding itself to a halt, “I’m long past the illusion I’m a family man, unfortunately,” he chewed idly on his thumbnail and paused, turning his attention to the closet in the hall. “A moment.”

Icarus got to his feet and pulled it open. This was another absent storage space Daedalus had used—old maps, books about forgotten wars on the continent, refuse from his sparse life outside of the Church—but that wasn’t true,was it? His father didn’t have a life outside of the Church, which meant everything in this closet was related to that life somehow. 

He began to pull boxes upon boxes from it, setting them in front of the coffee table and heading back for more. When it was emptied, he leaned in and inspected the walls, then lifted a leg and tapped the wooden floorboards. Maren had paused her searching to watch, unable to follow whatever thread of old memories Icarus had pulled on in his mind. 

He was methodical in a way that was uncharacteristic when he brought down his heel. One by one, testing each thin board, until his foot fell and he heard the blessed call and response of a boot on hollow wood. He looked up with a triumphant grin and pressed his toe to the edge of the board. It seesawed up, tumbling over, and revealed its precious innards. 

A secret bundle of journals held together by aging twine. In the middle of them—thick, worn, and pulsing with secrets—Daedalus’s personal annotated copy of the Pale Doctrine.