Caroline Shea

ALT The cover of issue 52 of LCRW. Two figures stand against a tan background. One is a capybara-esque figure with cacti sprouting from its back and neck. The other is a more humanoid figure with a skull-like face and cacti antlers.

ALT She missed her hands the most. The weight of them at the ends of her wrists- gripping, grasping stroking, clawing, pointing, poking. One hand trailing over the edge of the dented peddle boat, the lake a cool ripple beneath her sweaty palm. She'd always wished (secretly, guiltily) for the water to close over wrist, then elbow, then shoulder-neck- head, pulling her under, swallowing her up. The lake was the first and best thing she ever loved. She couldn't love something without wanting to become it. Or be consumed by it. It wasn't her fault, Morgan said once. It was fate. A genetic flaw. "Which one?" Caer had asked. Morgan's smile turned bitter. "What's the difference?" she said It was the oldest story in the world, after all Caer wanted to be something else, something other. Then she was, and she wanted her beginning back again, unchanged.

ALT A picture of Sylvia Townsend Warner’s Lolly Willows lying on a throw pillow on a couch. The cover shows a black cat with yellow eyes perched on a woman’s head. Next to the book a black cat with yellow eyes is sniffing my hand. She looks a lot like the cat on the cover

ALT Same as previous picture except instead of sniffing my hand the cat is sitting politely staring at me with very yellow eyes