Food. We use it to celebrate, to provide both comfort and energy, and to show our love.
There’s something about mixing a pinch of this and a dash of that to create something new. And when you pair it with the perfect drink . . . *chef’s kiss*
Stories can do the same thing. They can be a celebration, bring us comfort and energy, and help us express our love. And when the perfect character is paired with the perfect plot . . . well, then you have something worth devouring.
So take a place at the table, and let’s see what’s on the menu.
For starters, gather your pennies to bid for the last two jars of peaches for sale in an apocalyptic future. Follow it up with a slice of pizza guaranteed to bring love into your life. Dig into a shrimp and pasta dish so flavorful, you’d swear it was some kind of witchcraft. Grab a plate of “Lloyd’s Secret Surprise”—it’s out of this world! And for dessert, choose between some very memorable homemade cookies, a slice of chocolate cream pie worth dying for, or a life-sized gingerbread house—just make sure it’s not occupied before you start nibbling at the door.
This collection of nineteen stories is packed full with hearty plots, meaty characters, and a surprising and mysterious twist at the end to serve as the perfect dessert.
Eat, Drink, and Be Wary: Stories with a Delicious Twist is the seventh anthology edited by Lisa Mangum and published by WordFire Press. Profits support the Don Hodge Memorial Scholarship fund for the Superstars Writing Seminars.
A violent fugitive who cannot speak, who has no past.
A disgraced noblewoman who would rather forget her past.
And a world of magic that has turned against both of them.
Seriana Marguerite, daughter of a warrior house, once believed that intelligence, determination, and love could avert the consequences of youthful rebellion.
She was wrong.
Violating the singular tenet of the Four Realms—that sorcery and all who practice it must be reported and exterminated—brought torment and death to those closest to her. Only her family’s influence preserved her own life, a mercy for which she has never been thankful.
Over the years Seri has adapted to poverty and exile, far from royal intrigues and the politics of power. But her bitter peace collapses on the day she encounters a half-mad fugitive—a man incapable of speech, yet skilled at violence.
The discovery that one of his dead-eyed pursuers is the man responsible for the horrors of her past forces Seri onto a path of anguished memory and ancient riddles, a race to unravel the mysteries of the fugitive’s identity, his mission, and a looming danger that could shatter the very foundation of the world.
