This is just a quick post to draw your attention to the latest issue of Uncanny Magazine (#35, July/August 2020), which features a new short story by Aliette de Bodard! Specifically, THE INACCESSIBILITY OF HEAVEN, which is ‘A noir novelette about Fallen angels, exile, and a serial killer on the loose.’ Here’s a short snippet, from Aliette’s website…

Night. A night like any other in Starhollow: the headlights of cars, small and lost between the skyscrapers; the smell of hydromel and wine wafting from those few bars still open; and above me, the distant light of the stars, a constant reminder of the inaccessibility of Heaven.

I climbed the stairs to my flat, exhausted, my arms covered in claw-marks. At the shelter I worked at, drunken Fallen had started attacking some of the newcomers–and had turned on me when I’d tried to intervene.

I fumbled in my bag for the key, wincing as the leather scraped against my skin. I didn’t blame the Fallen for attacking me or getting drunk: I knew all too well how former angels balanced on a knife’s edge between despair and madness, and how easy it was for them to let go–in a city which sold their bones as drugs.

Aliette is the mutli-award-winning author of the Xuya Universe, Dominion of the Fallen series, the Obsidian & Blood trilogy, and many more!