A former academic and adjunct, Alix E. Harrow is now a full-time writer living in Kentucky with her husband and their semi-feral kids. She is the author of Hugo Award-winning short fiction, and her debut novel, The Ten Thousand Doors of January, was a finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus Awards. Find her at @AlixEHarrow on Twitter.
I’ve ferried two hundred and twenty-one souls across the river of death, and I can already tell my two-hundred-and-twenty-second is going to be a real shitkicker. I know by the lightness of the manila folder in my hand, the preemptive pity in the courier’s face as she gives it to me. I read the typewritten card paper-clipped to the front with my stomach tensed, braced for the sucker punch.
Listen to our audio presentation of “A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies” by Alix E. Harrow. Narrated by Lori Henry.
Our late fee is twenty-five cents per day or a can of non-perishable food during the summer food drive. By the time the boy finally slid The Runaway Prince into the return slot, he owed $4.75. I didn’t have to swipe his card to know; any good librarian (of the second kind) ought to be able to tell you the exact dollar amount of a patron’s bill just by the angle of their shoulders.
Join our mailing list to receive the latest news and updates from Apex Magazine.