Holly Lyn Walrath's Blog: Stories, page 9

Mermaid Hunt

When hunting mermaids, it’s best to keep your rudder close and your first mate closer. 

That’s why Captain Marda allows these brief nighttime trysts with Barth. Barth lays his stubble against the smooth white of the place under her collarbone, and she keeps the map open on the communicator. He whispers things like, “fins like gold” and “seaweed hair” to himself, into her thighs, and she watches the dot of their sub blink across the blue screen.

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Fantasy, 936 words, first appeared 2015 at Pulp Literature →

The Joy of Baking

​It’s amazing how much easier it is to bake a cake when you’ve got an eternity to get it right. The secret to effective baking is patience, followed by the ability to fold the batter with a metal spoon instead of rushing in with a wooden spoon like a hammer. The folding in must be gentle so as not to break the hard-earned bubbles of air. Lastly, a baker must have the willingness to guard the oven, your feet cold on the tile, letting the warm scents of butter and vanilla envelop you and seep into the whole house, holding your breath while the batter rises, goldens, and browns slightly at the edges.
Continue Reading ​→ Fantasy, 2,436 words, first appeared July 2017 at Luna Station Quarterly →