Here there be gods and monsters – forged from flesh and stone and vengeance – emerging from the icy abyss of deep space, ascending from dark oceans, and prowling strange cities to enter worlds of chaos and wonder, where scientific rigor and human endeavour is tested to the limits. These are cosmic realms and watery domains where old offerings no longer appease the ancient Gods or the new and hungry idols. Deities and beasts. Life and death. Love and hate. Science and magic. And smiling monsters in human skin.
You may think you know how the fairy tale goes: a mermaid comes to shore and weds the prince. But what the fables forget is that mermaids have teeth. And now, her daughters have devoured the kingdom and burned it to ashes.
On the run, the mermaid is joined by a mysterious plague doctor with a darkness of their own. Deep in the eerie, snow-crusted forest, the pair stumble upon a village of ageless children who thirst for blood, and the three “saints” who control them.
The mermaid and her doctor must embrace the cruelest parts of their true nature if they hope to survive.
Booklist: In this viciously dark fantasy, a horrific siren who can’t speak, thanks to a cruel husband who captured her and cut out her tongue, and a plague doctor who has watched the kingdom succumb to a plague impossible for them to stop leave their now-desolate city in search of a new adventure. When the two creatures stumble on a sinister cult of children who believe gods can resurrect them, their interest is piqued. But then, in the snow-covered, frigid forest, they meet the children’s gods, the kind of monsters who enjoy taking apart a child and stitching it back together, and the siren and the doctor realize that it will take quick thinking, sharp teeth, and a lot of courage to get out alive. This novella is short but action-packed, unctuous, and deliciously creepy, a mash-up of Angela Carter’s dark fairytale retellings and the poetic love story core of This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal el-Mohtar and Max Gladstone (2019). The book is overflowing with eerie body horror, sensory details of cold snow and warm blood, and terrifying monsters (both protagonists and villains).
Library Journal: What if the Little Mermaid laid eggs and her hatched children’s hunger laid waste to her prince’s land? Khaw’s (Breakable Things) latest novella tackles this question with a brutally visceral but seductive opening sequence. The mermaid, who’s been held captive and rendered mute by her husband, meets up with the only survivor in the land, a plague doctor. They soon come upon a band of children gleefully hunting another child at the direction of their keepers, “The Saints,” three adult cult leaders who rebuild the near-death child with parts taken from themselves. Told in three sections, each satisfyingly complete as its own story, and ending with a cliff-hanger, this compelling tale features strong worldbuilding, innovative uses of body-horror tropes, lush language, and a captivatingly direct narration as it takes the protagonists and readers on a journey to contemplate what it means to be “saved”.
French rights to USA Today bestselling author Cassandra Khaw’s HAMMERS ON BONE and A SONG FOR QUIET, to Argyll, by Sarah Dray at Anna Jarota Agency in association with Michael Curry.
German rights to New York Times bestselling author Jim Butcher’s CHANGES, GHOST STORY, COLD DAYS, SKIN GAME, PEACE TALKS, and BATTLE GROUND, Books 12-17 in the Dresden Files series, to Blanvalet, by Sarah Knofius at the Thomas Schlueck Agency in association with Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.
German rights to LJ Andrew’s Curse of Shadows and Thorns, Court of Ice and Ash and Crown of Blood and Ruin, the first three books of The Broken Kingdoms series, to Blanvalet, in a pre-empt, by Sarah Knofius at Thomas Schlueck Agency, on behalf of Katie Shea Boutillier.
German renewal rights to New York Times bestselling author Jim Butcher’s FURIES OF CALDERON, ACADEM’S FURY, CURSOR’S FURY, CAPTAIN’S FURY, PRINCEPS’ FURY, and FIRST LORD’S FURY, the Codex Alera series, to Blanvalet, by Sarah Knofius at the Thomas Schlueck Agency in association with Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.
Italian rights to Seth Dickinson’s THE TRAITOR BARU CORMORANT, the first book in the Masquerade series, to Mondadori, by Stefania Fietta at Donzelli Fietta Agency in association with Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.
Italian kiosk edition rights to New York Times bestselling author Martha Wells’ ALL SYSTEMS RED, ARTIFICIAL CONDITION, ROGUE PROTOCOL, and EXIT STRATEGY, the first four installments in the New York Times bestselling Murderbot Diaries series, to Mondadori, by Stefania Fietta at Donzelli Fietta Agency in association with Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.
Polish audio rights to New York Times bestselling author Jim Butcher’s PEACE TALKS and BATTLE GROUND, the sixteenth and seventeenth novels in the Dresden Files series, plus renewal of audio rights on the first 11 novels in the series, to Storytel, by Milena Kaplarevic at Prava i Prevodi in association with Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.
Polish rights to New York Times bestselling author Martha Wells’ ALL SYSTEMS RED, ARTIFICIAL CONDITION, ROGUE PROTOCOL, and EXIT STRATEGY, the first four installments in the New York Times bestselling Murderbot Diaries series, to MAG Jacek Rodek, by Milena Kaplarević at Prava i prevodi in association with Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.
Polish rights to Ellen O’Clover’s SEVEN PERCENT OF RO DEVEREUX, to Kobiece, by Lola Dunton at Prava I Prevodi, on behalf of Katie Shea Boutillier.
Congratulations to our DMLA authors who have been nominated for a 2022 Nebula Award!
Nebula Award for Novel
- Nona the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir (Tordotcom)
Nebula Award for Novella
- “Bishop’s Opening”, R.S.A. Garcia (Clarkesworld 1/22)
- Even Though I Knew the End, C.L. Polk (Tordotcom)
Nebula Award for Novelette
- “Two Hands, Wrapped in Gold”, S.B. Divya (Uncanny 5–6/22)
Nebula Award for Short Story
- “Douen”, Suzan Palumbo (The Dark 3/22)
Congratulations to our DMLA authors who have been nominated for the 2022 Bram Stoker Award!
Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection
- Cassandra Khaw – Breakable Things (Undertow Publications)
Publishers Weekly: Dark, strange, and wonderfully wild, these 17 short stories from Nebula and World Fantasy award winner Mohamed (the Beneath the Rising trilogy) thrust human characters into impossible, otherworldly situations. In “Below the Kirk, Below the Hill,” a lonely lighthouse keeper must decide what to do with a drowned child coughed up by the ocean once she discovers that the kid isn’t all the way dead. “The Honeymakers” sees the bizarre bond between a group of girls and a swarm of bees made even stranger and deeper after the swarm attacks. The folk horror story “Everything as Part of Its Infinite Place” follows a young boy as he mourns his brother’s death while exploring the mysterious standing stones of his village. In the title story, a journalist travels to Africa to report on a strange plague only to find himself out of his depth as the impossible nature of the threat is revealed. The collection is by turns brutal and tender, terrifying and sweet, and Mohamed accomplishes the rare feat of maintaining a sense of human connection no matter how outlandish the stories’ premises. The result will both terrify and delight—and is especially recommended for fans of Caitlin Starling and Rivers Solomon.Congratulations to all our authors included in the Locus 2022 Recommended Reading List!
NOVELS – SCIENCE FICTION
- A Half-Built Garden, Ruthanna Emrys (Tordotcom)
NOVELS – FANTASY
- The Grief of Stones, Katherine Addison (Tor; Solaris UK)
- The Origin of Storms, Elizabeth Bear (Tor)
- The Embroidered Book, Kate Heartfield (Harper Voyager UK)
- Nona the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir (Tordotcom)
COLLECTIONS
- Breakable Things, Cassandra Khaw (Undertow)
ILLUSTRATED AND ART BOOKS
- The Keeper, Tananarive Due & Steven Barnes, art by Marco Finnegan (Megascope)
NOVELLAS
- “Bishop’s Opening“, R.S.A Garcia (Clarkesworld 1/22)
- Even Though I Knew the End, C.L. Polk (Tordotcom)
NOVELETTES
- “Two Hands, Wrapped in Gold“, S.B. Divya (Uncanny 5-6/22)
- “Incident at Bear Creek Lodge”, Tananarive Due (Other Terrors)
SHORT STORIES
- “12 Things a Trini Should Know Before Travelling to a Back in Times FeteTM”, R.S.A. Garcia (Strange Horizons 10/10/22)
- “Have Mercy, My Love While We Wait for the Thaw”, Iori Kusano (Apex 7/22)
- “Apolépisi: A De-Scaling”, Suzan Palumbo (Lightspeed 10/22)
- “Douen”, Suzan Palumbo (The Dark 3/22)


Congratulations our DMLA authors for their inclusion on the 2023 Rainbow Book List:
- HOWL by Shaun David Hutchinson
- A SNAKE FALLS TO EARTH by Darcie Little Badger