Beneath Ceaseless Skies #356, May 19, 2022
“The Splinters of Our Bond” by Marissa Lingen
“I Will Sing Your White Bones Home” by Cat Hellisen
Reviewed by Kevin P Hallett
The 356th issue of Beneath Ceaseless Skies has two short stories.
“The Splinters of Our Bond” by Marissa Lingen
A young witch of the woods helps her brother dispose of bodies in this short fantasy. When Nerit’s brother leaves the bloody body of the man who drove her beloved stepmother to death, she is pleased to eliminate the evidence.
But then he kills another, and then a third. Can Nerit trust his motives? When confronting him doesn’t resolve her concerns, she seeks another way to manage his urges.
The matter-of-fact plot and passive ending made the story mundane.
“I Will Sing Your White Bones Home” by Cat Hellisen
In this short fantasy, Osam loses her brother to treachery. When her brother falls in love with a land boy, her mother, the mermaid queen, kills her own son. Now, only Osam can see his ghost swimming beside her through the coral’s swaying kelp.
Her brother’s ghost cannot move up to the Great Waters like any other warrior because he didn’t die in battle. However, his ghost has an idea that needs Osam’s help.
The author’s mysterious plot easily held the reader’s attention.
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