by Wayne Santos
“No, actually, I wasn’t looking for him.” She scanned the street, up and down, and finally pointed. “I was looking for them.”
She found them up on a balcony on one of the condos lining the street. A party was raging behind them, but they didn’t seem to notice. They were looking down on the parade below, smiling. Standing together, their bodies touching. Mateo reached out, and Aurelio put one arm around his shoulder, drawing him in close, taking his free hand and intertwining their fingers together.
Something rose inside her, with the gentleness of a balloon sighing into the clouds. “Okay,” Maria said, turning away from the parade. “Now we can get dinner.”
They walked away from the crowd, the noise beginning to dim.
“Are you sure you’re ready to go back?” Tate asked her.
“I know I should. I just wanted some time. For us. To be Maria and Tate for a while. I wanted to see if this could even work.”
“We’re doing okay so far.”
“Babe, we’re doing great. But sooner or later, I have to go home.”
“I want to go with you,” Tate said.
“I’m glad you do. But this is going to be work. There are going to be a lot of things to account for.”
“You don’t know the half of it,” someone with a thick, Filipina accent said.
Maria and Tate both looked up.
Two women stood there. They looked uncomfortable, with their hair, their clothes, even just being in the city.
“Maria, do you know them?”
“Oh yeah,” Maria said. “These are my sisters. Goddesses of their own mountains.”
Tate’s mouth opened, but nothing came out. She couldn’t blame him. There wasn’t going to be anything in the etiquette book for meeting divine family members.
Maria Sinkuan of Mt. Arayat and Maria Cacao of Mt. Lantoy. Majestic. Divine. Socially awkward at a Canadian Pride Parade. She had been hoping to wait for a better time. But if they were here, it was probably already the worst time.
“Is this about Hiraya?”
They nodded.
Teek trotted up and joined them. “So, are we still eating or what?”
Everyone stared at him. He took in the scene, and the recognition kicked in.
“Oh. Fuck.”
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This novella had the help of the usual crew for bringing it to life. Charlene Chua was one of the first readers, but it was also helped along by The Gang, like Sunyi Dean and Essa Hansen, who both snuck in as beta readers and helped to fix it up. Very big thank yous to my agent, Jennie Goloboy, who first suggested to me the idea of writing a novella. Even though the book took a long, circuitous, unexpected journey, it eventually found a home, just not in the destination that had initially been mapped. That, I think, is how the best trips often go anyway. Thank you also to Rebellion, who published my first novel, and now are bring my first novella into the world. To David Moore, who edited this, but I’m not forgetting all the usual suspects, like Kate Coe and Hanna Waigh. Thanks also go to my Ship’s Log Book Club for being there to discuss weight matters of plot and theme on all manner of tales… at least, before the pandemic. More thanks to my Cult of Pain back in Edmonton; we’re all still writing after all these years.
Can I acknowledge places? I’m going to acknowledge places. Big thumbs up to Epic Books for being one of the best bookstores in the city and always supportive of its local authors. Also, many, many thanks to Adobo Queen. You have no idea who I am, aside from being the guy with the Canadian accent, but you’ve been a consistent fixture in letting me taste the motherland again on a regular basis.
Thanks to my cats. Uno is no longer with us, the last of the cats that came across the world with us, but you had a good life, and even though you were cranky, you were always loving. Teken is a 100% pure Canuck fluffy boy, and even though you’re stomach’s not what it used to be, you’re holding up like a champ. Our latest addition Toru is cute beyond words, but as much as I love you, I look forward to the day when you’re older, less kitteny, and Calm The Fuck Down.
And even though I already thanked Charlene Chua once, I’m going to thank her again. She continues to let me hole in front of my computer, writing weird, twisty, explosive tales. She lets me hole up in front of the TV, merging with my DualShock controller and racking up an unhealthy platinum trophy count (level 500+, and still climbing, baby…), and she has moved across the planet with me and been with me on many travels through different parts around the world, but always, where she is is my home.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Wayne Santos has been an ad copywriter, a TV scriptwriter, a magazine contributor, an editor, and a freelance writer for too many things on the Internet to count. He is the author of the science fiction/fantasy novel, The Chimera Code. He is a multi-disciplinary geek with a double major in science-fiction and fantasy, specializations in novels, comics, anime, TV and film, and a minor in video games. Under no circumstances should he be approached to discuss 80s pop culture unless you are fully aware of the toll this will exact on your remaining lifespan.
@waynepsantos
www.waynesantos.com
POLLEN FROM A FUTURE HARVEST
DEREK KÜNSKEN
Major Chenesai Okonkwo is an Auditor for the Sub-Saharan Union. Her mission: to find out if the Sixth Expeditionary Force’s newly discovered time gate has been compromised. Is the Union’s revolutionary discovery already doomed, eleven years in the future?
But there is another, more personal mission. The possible murder of her husband remains unsolved. But are the two things connected? Can she navigate the world of aliens, spies, politics and time paradoxes to find the truth, and save her people’s future?
THE DIFFICULT LOVES OF MARIA MAKILING
WAYNE SANTOS
Maria is, in no particular order: a concept artist at one of Canada’s biggest videogame studios, the goddess of Mount Makiling in the Philippines, and in love. And right now, being in love is her biggest problem.
Because when Maria falls in love, tragedy and death follow—and always have. For hundreds of years. If she wants to break the cycle, it’s going to take everything a goddess, her newly-befriended, anime-obsessed demon-horse, and Canadian national treasure Margaret Atwood have to make it happen.
THESE LIFELESS THINGS
PREMEE MOHAMMED
Eva is a survivor. She’s not sure what she survived, exactly, only that They invaded without warning, killed nearly all of humanity, and relentlessly attack everyone who’s left. All she can do to stay sane, in the blockaded city that’s no longer home, is keep a journal about her struggle.
Fifty years later, Eva’s words are found by Emerson, a young anthropologist sent to the ruins to study what happened. The discovery could shed light on the Invasion, turning the unyielding mystery of the short war into a story of hope and defiance.
www.solarisbooks.com
Everything's For Hire. Even Magic.
If you need something done, Cloke’s one of the best; a mercenary with some unusual talents and an attitude to match. But when she’s hired by a virtual construct to destroy the other copies of himself, and the down payment is a new magical skill, she knows this job is going to be a league harder than anything she’s ever done.
“A full-throttle magical cyberpunk superhero thriller.”
Peter McLean
www.solarisbooks.com
