I enjoyed this, it would easily be a four star read for someone who likes the premise. But it just wasn't my thing out of the gate. ( )

only read:

~ With Cardamom I'll Bind Their Lips by Beth Cato - 3*

A young girl with some natural magic starts working with a local witch to help put ghosts to rest. There are a lot of ghosts right now due to war casualties. // The above sounds darker than it is. She has some to 'new to me' concepts about "settling" the ghosts. // This is another story where this author writes an adult working with a child. I like apprentice stories. It's probably the mother in me.

Read by Erika Ensign on the Uncanny Magazine Podcast, Episode 15A.

His soul was tethered to mine by blessed spice and a solitary word.

With Cardamom I’ll Bind Their Lips by Beth Cato was really intriguing and feels like the start to a novel, which means I didn't want it to end there! The story felt like it was just getting going. I'd love to learn more about this universe. Very interesting ghost story. ( )

Imagine meeting all "what if" versions of yourself. That is what happens in this short story by Sarah Pinsker, where the main character and all side characters are also named Sarah Pinsker, or variants thereof. A Sarah Pinsker has discovered a way to connect parallel universe and to let many of the Sarah Pinskers connect.

This is all very weird in an exciting way until one of the Sarah Pinskers end up dead. Since they are on an island with only Sarah Pinskers apart from a few innocent hotel workers that means that, unless it was an accident, there is both a dead Sarah Pinsker and a murderer Sarah Pinsker. Something that the main Sarah Pinsker (who is an insurance investigator by the way) finds quite disturbing.

The premise and story is very exciting. Who doesn't want to know the "what if" of their lives? Unfortunately, it being a short story, there is not too much time investigating all the options. Also, it's about a fictional (?) Sarah Pinsker, not the reader.

Still a very enjoyable short read. ( )

Sarah Pinsker, an insurance investigator, receives an invitation to a gathering of other Sarah Pinsker's from many realities. The author takes a fresh angle on the multiverse idea to question who our lives diverge, how apparently minor decisions and events can shape our lives - and how, perhaps, doors are rarely fully closed to us. Clever, thoughtful, funny and a great mystery story on top of everything else.



A truly superb tale, an outlandishly excellent premise perfectly executed ( )