Blossoms

By Kim Antieau

Mara is dying, the victim of a painful disease that has fused her bones together. Only in free fall can she move without pain. As a zero-G dancer on a space station, Mara meets a mysterious Japanese gardener and his cat, Magic. People say he can fix anything. Can he heal Mara or is it too late?

KIM ANTIEAU HAS written many novels, short stories, poems, and essays. Her work has appeared in numerous publications, both in print and online, including The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Asimov’s SF, The Clinton Street Quarterly, The Journal of Mythic Arts, EarthFirst!, Alternet, Sage Woman, and Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine. She was the founder, editor, and publisher of Daughters of Nyx: A Magazine of Goddess Stories, Mythmaking, and Fairy Tales. Her work has twice been short-listed for the James Tiptree Award and has appeared in many best-of-the-year anthologies. Critics have admired her “literary fearlessness” and her vivid language and imagination. Her first novel The Jigsaw Woman is a modern classic of feminist literature. She is also the author of a science fiction novel, The Gaia Websters and a contemporary tale set in the desert Southwest, Church of the Old Mermaids. Her other novels include Her Frozen Wild, The Fish Wife, and Coyote Cowgirl. Broken Moon, a novel for young adults, was a selection of the Junior Library Guild. She has also written other YA novels, including Deathmark, The Blue Tail, Ruby’s Imagine, and Mercy, Unbound. Kim lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, writer Mario Milosevic. Learn more about Kim and her writing at www.kimantieau.com. Find her books at your favorite ebook store.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Green Snake Publishing
• Release date: Feb 17, 2012
• ISBN: 9781465965424

Kim Antieau

Kim Antieau is the author of Mercy, Unbound. She lives with her husband in the Pacific Northwest.

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Blossoms

Kim Antieau

Published by Green Snake Publishing at Smashwords

Copyright (c) 2012 by Kim Antieau

Originally appeared as a Pulphouse short story paperback, 1991

Cover image copyright (c) 2011 by Kim Antieau

All rights reserved. Used by permission.

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Blossoms

Kim Antieau

For Mary K. Antieau,

who started it all.

MARA DANCED ABOUT the egg, floating gracefully from aura-rope to aura-rope. Her skin brushed the ropes, and they glowed blue and green. When she grasped them tightly, they changed to red and pink. She rolled away from the ropes and left them floating like drugged snakes. As she arched her back, she kicked out her right leg and performed a flawless arabesque. Dim light washed the huge round auditorium in gold. The harness seats all hung limply, save one, while Mara practiced her dance routine. She smiled. Here