CW: Death of an animal, relationship abuse, self-harm/gore

Sometimes an author just calls to you and every time you read a description of one of their book, you desperately want to read it.
I've been feeling what way for a while now about Sarah Gailey, but for some reason or another, I haven't managed to get my hands on any of their books yet.

I was really excited when I saw they'd published a Tor short, so I immediately jumped on it.
Boy what a ride.
This story is beautifully written, with such a strong narrative voice. It had several twists and turns that I could not have foreseen, playing with both fantasy and sci-fi elements to create this weird, beautifully ugly little story.

Highly recommend this one.