2015 Shirley Jackson Award for Best Novella (nominee)
Somewhere away from the cities and towns, a group of men and boys gather around the fire each night to listen to their stories in the Valley of the Rocks. For when the women are all gone the rest of your life is all there is for everyone. The men are waiting to pass into the night.
The story shall be told to preserve the past. History has gone back to its aural roots and the power of words is strong. Meet Nate, the storyteller, and the new secrets he brings back from the darkness. William rules the group with youth and strength, but how long can that last? And what about Uncle Ted, who spends so much time out in the woods?
Hear the tales, watch a myth be formed. For what can man hope to achieve in a world without women? When the past is only grief how long should you hold on to it? What secrets can the forest offer to change it all?
Discover the Beauty.
This is a bold and striking novella to shake up the New Weird and does contain strong imagery and events. The beautiful and the terrible exist side by side. Encompassing post-apocalyptic setting, science fiction and horror, this is a story you will never forget.
Born in Devon in 1974, Aliya took a degree in Theatre, Film and Television Studies at Aberystwyth University in the early 1990s and has been writing since then. She's lived all over the UK and in Germany, and is currently in Sussex with her husband, daughter and dog.
She writes in many genres. Her two comic novels, Light Reading and Three Things About Me, were published by Macmillan, and her speculative fiction has appeared in various publications, such as Strange Horizons, McSweeney's Internet Tendency, and the Elastic Press slipstream anthology, Subtle Edens (co-written with Neil Ayres).
Her short stories are violent, terrifying, tender, and funny. They have received much critical praise, from The Boston Globe to Tangent, and have garnered accolades such as The Drabblecast People's Choice Award, runner-up in the Guardian's Short Short Story competition, and runner-up in the McSweeney's 13 Writing Prompts competition. In 2012 she was the runner up in the British Fantasy Society short story competition.
Genre: Science Fiction
The story shall be told to preserve the past. History has gone back to its aural roots and the power of words is strong. Meet Nate, the storyteller, and the new secrets he brings back from the darkness. William rules the group with youth and strength, but how long can that last? And what about Uncle Ted, who spends so much time out in the woods?
Hear the tales, watch a myth be formed. For what can man hope to achieve in a world without women? When the past is only grief how long should you hold on to it? What secrets can the forest offer to change it all?
Discover the Beauty.
This is a bold and striking novella to shake up the New Weird and does contain strong imagery and events. The beautiful and the terrible exist side by side. Encompassing post-apocalyptic setting, science fiction and horror, this is a story you will never forget.
About the Author
Born in Devon in 1974, Aliya took a degree in Theatre, Film and Television Studies at Aberystwyth University in the early 1990s and has been writing since then. She's lived all over the UK and in Germany, and is currently in Sussex with her husband, daughter and dog.
She writes in many genres. Her two comic novels, Light Reading and Three Things About Me, were published by Macmillan, and her speculative fiction has appeared in various publications, such as Strange Horizons, McSweeney's Internet Tendency, and the Elastic Press slipstream anthology, Subtle Edens (co-written with Neil Ayres).
Her short stories are violent, terrifying, tender, and funny. They have received much critical praise, from The Boston Globe to Tangent, and have garnered accolades such as The Drabblecast People's Choice Award, runner-up in the Guardian's Short Short Story competition, and runner-up in the McSweeney's 13 Writing Prompts competition. In 2012 she was the runner up in the British Fantasy Society short story competition.
Genre: Science Fiction
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