“The Okhotsk Trade” appears in the January 2024 issue of Birdy Magazine, with art by Peter Kornoswki. A crew of Russian traders discover the perils of taking what isn’t yours – especially when what isn’t yours also isn’t human:
The Zvezda Morey had cannon, guns, steel. The deep-dwellers had needle teeth, claws on their webbed hands and feet, and countless numbers. They were hatched by the thousands in the darkness, voracious in their legions, contained only by the availability of food and intolerance of the sun. They thrived by the volcanic vents, ecosystems untouched by light and unglimpsed by human eyes. Even shallow waters pained them, much less the open air; but the offense to their god could not go unanswered.
THE FELL AND THE FAE 