Cosmic Roots and Eldritch Shores, August 2023

The Tattooist of Triton” by Hesper Leveret

Reviewed by Mina

“The Tattooist of Triton” by Hesper Leveret is a simple tale but well done. It’s a slice of the life of a tattoo artist working in a spacedock. She has a wide repertoire of designs reflecting living in times of space travel (“Dandelions, to symbolise the human diaspora… Pictures of the wildest shores of the Universe and pictures of home”). Designs to attract stellamariners as they pass through on their void-going vessels. On a quiet day, the artist has a customer who has a tale to tell about the lost ship, humanity’s first void-going vessel. He wants a tattoo as a memory of that encounter on his skin.