Seanan McGuire (seanan_mcguire) wrote,
Seanan McGuire
seanan_mcguire
  • Mood: accomplished
  • Music: Cars rushing by; wind and silence.

The frost never melts at the top of the world, or at the bottom of a heart.

It's time to start the new year off right: with some free fiction.

Ryan and Istas have been getting serious, which means it's time for the two of them to go through one of the most important rituals in a tanuki's life: meeting the parents. Sure, that means flying cross-country with an apex predator crammed into an airline seat, and sure, there's a reasonable chance that Istas will eat a flight attendant, but these are the risks you have to take for love.

Sadly, there are always risks no one anticipated. Like reputations, and prejudices, and the fact that everyone's definition of "monster" is different.

You can download "Black as Blood" now from the InCryptid short fiction page. While this story is best read after "Red as Snow," it should stand reasonably well on its own, providing you have any familiarity with the InCryptid setting. (If you don't, there's a lot of short fiction set earlier in the world continuity also posted on that page. Enjoy!)

This also serves as your discussion post.

Happy new year!
Tags: incryptid, short fiction
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  • 38 comments

sparrowpunk

January 8 2014, 16:58:23 UTC 3 years ago

That was lovely :)

seanan_mcguire

January 8 2014, 17:09:48 UTC 3 years ago

Glad you liked it!

sparrowpunk

3 years ago

  • New comment

museclio

January 8 2014, 17:52:48 UTC 3 years ago

Awww Istas. I loved the taming herself line, and the speech.

seanan_mcguire

January 8 2014, 19:32:06 UTC 3 years ago

I am glad.

aliciaaudrey

January 8 2014, 18:46:12 UTC 3 years ago

I love Istas way too much and because I had a pretty hectic end of the year I totally forgot about Red As Snow, so today it's like suddenly discovering there are TWO Istas stories for me to read!!! (admittedly I knew about one of them, but I forgot, so I get to enjoy the YAY! feeling again)

seanan_mcguire

January 8 2014, 19:32:16 UTC 3 years ago

Hooray!

faecat

January 8 2014, 19:38:52 UTC 3 years ago

Oh, Istas. <3

seanan_mcguire

January 8 2014, 20:33:37 UTC 3 years ago

<3

amazonmink

January 8 2014, 20:32:50 UTC 3 years ago

Wow, I said almost the exact same thing to my in-laws. I was laughing so hard that I woke up the husbeast and couldn't make words.

seanan_mcguire

January 8 2014, 20:33:50 UTC 3 years ago

Which bit? "I won't eat him"?

amazonmink

3 years ago

  • New comment

argonel

January 8 2014, 21:54:53 UTC 3 years ago

I have to confess that the incryptid stories don't really do that much for me. I clicked specifically for the comment section. This is one of the rare exceptions to don't read the comments.

seanan_mcguire

January 9 2014, 00:38:07 UTC 3 years ago

That's okay! Not everything is for everybody. I'm glad you can still enjoy the comments. :)

geekhyena

January 8 2014, 22:03:56 UTC 3 years ago

Oh, that was perfect! I love Istas so much. She's my favorite character in InCryptid, and one of my favorite characters, period. I actually growled a bit on Istas's behalf when Chiyako got all speciesist, and I outright cheered when Istas faced her down at the end. Hopefully Ryan's family gets less.....prejudiced about her. At least Ryan's dad had the sense to act ashamed (as he should have been).

Are we gonna see Christine in more stories? She seems interesting, too.

vixyish

January 8 2014, 22:51:56 UTC 3 years ago

Yeah, I really wanna see the shopping trip. :)

geekhyena

3 years ago

  • New comment

seanan_mcguire

3 years ago

  • New comment

geekhyena

3 years ago

  • New comment

calico_reaction

January 8 2014, 22:11:17 UTC 3 years ago

YAY!!! Downloaded!

seanan_mcguire

January 9 2014, 00:38:55 UTC 3 years ago

Yay!

arcaneblades

January 8 2014, 23:52:12 UTC 3 years ago

So very adorkable! I love Istas's closing remarks. Thank you again, for more free stories to read. It really brightened my day.

seanan_mcguire

January 9 2014, 00:39:04 UTC 3 years ago

I am glad.

vincentursus

January 9 2014, 00:46:44 UTC 3 years ago

Yay! New InCryptid. This is a cause for joy.

seanan_mcguire

January 10 2014, 01:29:52 UTC 3 years ago

Yay!

triskelmoon

January 9 2014, 04:51:12 UTC 3 years ago

Eee Istas! Yay!

seanan_mcguire

January 10 2014, 01:29:59 UTC 3 years ago

She is good.

jenfullmoon

January 9 2014, 06:16:05 UTC 3 years ago

Istas's narration is beautiful. And I love the way she handled it. Elegant Lolita, indeed. You go, girl.

alumiere

January 9 2014, 06:31:02 UTC 3 years ago

Istas occasionally reminds me of a younger me. A lovely story!

seanan_mcguire

3 years ago

  • New comment

jarissa

January 9 2014, 18:00:15 UTC 3 years ago

That was very sweet. Thank you.

seanan_mcguire

January 10 2014, 01:30:13 UTC 3 years ago

Very welcome.

vettecat

January 9 2014, 18:35:36 UTC 3 years ago Edited:  January 9 2014, 18:36:51 UTC

Beautiful. Thank you, I needed that.

(Seriously, it's been a rough week and this morning I was thinking, "I wish Seanan would post a story..." No joke.)

seanan_mcguire

January 10 2014, 01:30:25 UTC 3 years ago

I'm glad my timing was so good!

kyrielle

January 11 2014, 14:53:49 UTC 3 years ago

Eeeeeeee. Finally had time to read. I adore Istas, she is AWESOME and STRONG. So not happy with Ryan's mom, so proud of Istas!

seanan_mcguire

January 13 2014, 16:20:19 UTC 3 years ago

Yay. :)

marooux13

January 13 2014, 04:24:32 UTC 3 years ago

I love it, at the beginning I forgot what was Istas when Ryan call her Izzy. Will they ever visit Verity and her family?

seanan_mcguire

January 13 2014, 16:20:39 UTC 3 years ago

I don't discuss things that would constitute spoilers.