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anthology writing

No Sh!t, There I Was: Salted Tongues and Salted Lashes

Time for another offering from the No Shit table of contents! Today it’s Salted Tongues and Salted Lashes by Rachael K. Jones.

Not going to lie, I was excited as hell to see a story from Rachael in my slush pile, and she did not disappoint. Salted Tongues and Salted Lashes has one of the more playful interpretations of the opening line out of all the stories. And the concept that provides the speculative motor for the story is fun and quirky: the main character, Leah, speaks Doom on people. Curse words are literally curses, Dooms waiting to be unleashed by Leah’s power. It’s her job, in fact, to speak Dooms on unwitting victims who have pissed off someone enough that they’re willing to pay Leah’s employer for the service.

Like I said. The concept is fun and quirky and a few degrees off the world as we understand it. But this being from Rachael K. Jones, with the concept comes an almighty emotional sucker punch. It’s a story about the grinding toll anger and misery and hopelessness take on a person. But it’s also about the toll that giving and pushing back against the darkness, of being the person who always has their shit together can take as well. It’s a story that hit me incredibly hard when I read it and I knew I needed it in my anthology. I can’t wait to share it with all of you.

We’re so close to our funding goal! So close! Support the Kickstarter and make sure you get this and the other stories. Push us across the finish line!

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