Let's get back to Buckley, shall we?

[seanan_mcguire]

It's time for some free fiction. Hooray! And since I forgot to post on the last release day, we're essentially celebrating two new stories today! Double hooray!

In the first, "Oh Pretty Bird," Jonathan and Frances Healy are finally going after the woman responsible for the death of their firstborn son. This is best read after "Stingers and Strangers," published in the anthology Dead Man's Hand, although that is not absolutely required.

In the second, "Bury Me In Satin," we spend some time with Mary Dunlavy, Alice's favorite babysitter, as her world changes forever, and we discover just how entwined Rose Marshall's world is with the world of the Healy family.

You can download both stories now from the InCryptid short fiction page. The PDF link for "Bury Me In Satin" will be fixed later tonight.

This also serves as your discussion post.

Comments

[lazzchan.livejournal.com]

Oh man, and I was having a heart attack over that title and worrying myself to pieces. I've also turned my family, a roommate and several friends into reading these stories (both print and online). :D I couldn't stop talking about Fran and Johnny and silently crying as I did so.

(and a quick edit to say that none of the links for Bury Me in Satin are working as of my just trying it.)

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Try now.

[lazzchan.livejournal.com]

Yep and I devoured it! This was absolutely lovely to see young-and-uncertain Mary, before she was so used to being what she is (from whatever connection in Sparrow Hill Road) and it amuses me that the family seems to collect ghosts along the way. :)

I absolutely /loved/ this line from Fran, though:

"Nope, you put 'em in unmarked graves in the backyard, so you'll always know where to find 'em," said Fran, far too cheerfully for the circumstances.

It reminded me of Alex and his "shallow graves" comment from Half-Off Ragnarok. The Price-Healy sense of humor is strong with macabre. (And fantastic!)

Thank you so much, Seanan for giving us these stories, for the tidbits into your world and taking your time to let us have these stories for free. I super appreciate them all and can't say how much praise you deserve and thanks for what you do for your fans.

[professor_mirror]

You were not the only one worried about that title. I keep wondering with each new story, is this the one ...?

[mmaster.livejournal.com]

Yay new stories! I will read them on my way to work.

[mmaster.livejournal.com]

And they were both most excellent, as expected. Yays!

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Yay!

[geekhyena.livejournal.com]

Ooooh, hurray! "Oh Pretty Bird" was so awesome, I immediately handed my Kindle to my girlfriend and demanded she read it. And then we spent a nice long car ride discussing the implications. (By the way, if someone writes meta about your work, should we tag it so you don't see it?) I look forward to reading more about Mary!

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

I am fine with meta. :)

[tylik.livejournal.com]

Eeee! I happened to stumble across Oh Pretty Bird yesterday, and have been wishing for more Incryptid really hard the past couple of days. Timing is amazing.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

I am USEFUL.

[swevene.livejournal.com]

My response to the appearance of Robert Tapper was something like 'oh god no there's two of them duck and cover'. I think that's how you know you've created a proper terrifying sort of creature.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Yaaaaaaaaaaaay!

[listicath.livejournal.com]

Hooray! That'll make the commute into work a little more bearable tomorrow.

Now I just have to remember what it is I do there, after more than a week on holiday. :-/

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Good luck with that...

[danceswithlife]

Thank you so much for the wonderful free stories! They were great, as they always are.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

I am so glad.

[anne_d]

I just read "Oh Pretty Bird", and I want to cry for the Healys, all of them, but especially Fran for some reason. For such a short story, it sure packed an emotional wallop. I need a hug.

I'll be checking at intervals and waiting for the PDF link to be fixed for the other one.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Poor Fran. :(

[wolfsilveroak.livejournal.com]

WooHoo!

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Glee.

[herefox.livejournal.com]

Yay, best long day present EVER! ;-)

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Yay!

[gorgeousgary]

Yay! More stories to load on my tablet. Now I just need a couple of long plane flights in my future that'll give me time for reading. Maybe even a train and ferry trip.

Oh...wait...(*grin*)

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Hee hee hee.

[ladymurmur.livejournal.com]

Thank you! :-)
What a perfect and unexpected treat. Times two!

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Yay!

[calico-reaction.livejournal.com]

Yay! Can't wait to read them!

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

I am so glad for this response.

[museclio]

And read. Lovely. Thank you again for writing them.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Very welcome.

[wendyzski.livejournal.com]

*sniffles* Oh Mary.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Yes.

[illian.livejournal.com]

Thank you. :)

And in a "Life with Glasses" moment, "Bury Me In Satin" got obscured/blurred to "Bury Me Satan!" for a moment. There was a brief mental pause to calibrate.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Whoops!

[f-m-r-l.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the stories.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Very welcome.

[vettecat.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much for giving us resolution. I'm glad that the murderer was found and punished. Though now I'm wondering about who that baby turned out to be...

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Someone else.

[arachne jericho (from livejournal.com)]

These were both lovely stories. Thank you for them.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Very welcome.

[talekyn.livejournal.com]

I keep saying I'm going to read all of the InCryptid short stories in chronological order, and then life gets in the way.

But I start vacation tomorrow. So I really have no excuse, do I.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Nope.

[anne_d]

I just read "Bury Me in Satin". Seanan, you broke my heart, again. That poor girl.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

I <3 Mary.

[kath8562.livejournal.com]

About to load them to my Kindle. And you snuck one in on me.... When did IM come out?

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

A while ago.

[marooux13.livejournal.com]

I love both of them!! A male!! When you say that you can smell Chicago, do you mean that it smells like fish and rain? because that's what activates the memorie of Chicago to me.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

What a fun sense memory.