Letters to Psyche

By Sandra Ulbrich Almazan

A fantasy short story of about 5,000 words.

When the Greek god Cupid visits Verona, he foresees no problems uniting the Montague and Capulet families. But when Elisabeth Capulet and Giovanni Montague's love ends in tragedy, Elisabeth places a powerful curse not on just the families, but Cupid himself. Unable to visit his wife Psyche, he sends her letters detailing his efforts to undo the curse. Can the two of them save another generation of lovers, or will Cupid and Psyche be forever parted?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Solar Unicorn Publishing
• Release date: Jan 27, 2013
• ISBN: 9781386217275

Sandra Ulbrich Almazan

Sandra Ulbrich Almazan started reading at the age of three and only stops when absolutely required to. Although she hasn’t been writing quite that long, she did compose a very simple play in German during middle school. Her science fiction novella Move Over Ms. L. (an early version of Lyon’s Legacy) earned an Honorable Mention in the 2001 UPC Science Fiction Awards, and her short story “A Reptile at the Reunion” was published in the anthology Firestorm of Dragons. Other published works by Sandra include Twinned Universes, the sequel to Lyon's Legacy; Seasons' Beginnings, Book One of the fantasy Season Avatars series; and several science fiction and fantasy short stories. She is a founding member of Broad Universe, which promotes science fiction, fantasy, and horror written by women. Her undergraduate degree is in molecular biology/English, and she has a Master of Technical and Scientific Communication degree. Her day job is QA Representative for enzyme company; she’s also been a technical writer and a part-time copyeditor for a local newspaper. Some of her other accomplishments are losing on Jeopardy! and taking a stuffed orca to three continents. She lives in the Chicago area with her husband, Eugene; and son, Alex. In her rare moments of free time, she enjoys crocheting, listening to classic rock (particularly the Beatles), and watching improv comedy.  

Book preview

Letters to Psyche

MY DEAREST PSYCHE,

I must be away from home for a few years. Business in the mortal world detains me. Don’t worry; I shall resolve it soon.

Love,

Cupid

MY DEAREST PSYCHE,

I admit I didn’t want to tell you more about the business that keeps me on Earth. However, my mother has it all wrong. Why is she still refusing to accept our marriage? We just celebrated our thousandth anniversary—or was it our twelve hundredth? I’m not on Earth to dally with a mortal, the way Jupiter would. One of the love matches I arranged has gone wrong, and I’ve been cursed with being parted from you until I set it right.

I can see you now, raising your perfectly arched eyebrows in surprise. How can the curse of a mortal affect a god? Jupiter’s blood runs in both the Montague and Capulet families of Verona—not much, but enough to draw his attention. Giovanni and Elisabeth, the two lovers who were supposed to unite these families, are dead, and Jupiter must blame me.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. They’d already pledged themselves to each other. Giovanni gave her a ring he’d had made for her, a gold ring with a dove on each side of a heart-shaped ruby. Elisabeth in turn yielded him her most prized possession: her maidenhead. Giovanni planned to ask her father for her hand, and permission seemed certain, so why wait?

Perhaps Mercury was in a trick-playing mood, for before Giovanni could approach the head of the Capulets, he was sent on a long trading voyage. Meanwhile, Elisabeth missed her woman’s flow.