Alone in the woods of West Virginia, Tabbris lives a quiet life. He tends to his garden and communes with the bees and feels the presence of holiness in his every small, humble action. A fallen angel with the ability to see the future, Tabbris tries his best to stay out of humanity’s sight.
In L.A., Daniel is the life of the party. Loud, abrasive, desperate for approval and companionship, Daniel never sits still — and he’s never alone.
When Daniel gets a large research grant to investigate cryptids, he sets off for West Virginia. What he thought would be a good prank and a fun conference paper turns out to be an adventure he never saw coming.
Tabbris’s quiet life is uprooted by a mysterious man falling across the borders of time and into his front yard. Daniel is not supposed to be here! But there’s something intriguing about this man, beyond his surprising appearance and penchant for mythological creatures. When Daniel keeps showing up, Tabbris is plagued by the possibilities that the man ignites in him.
The only problem is that Tabbris can see the future. And he already knows how much pain they have in store. He knows how this ends.
This is a super sweet story. Honestly, I don’t usually review short stories here on the blog. However, I didn’t realize that’s what this is when I accepted it for review. I just knew it was by Markwell-Tweed and I liked the last book I read by her, so I figured there was a good chance I’d like this one. I was right about that at least.
I was initially disappointed to discover it’s only 48 pages long (well below my informal 100 page minimum for the blog). But this story doesn’t need any more than that to be told and still feel satisfying and complete. I fell in love with Tabbris in those 48 pages and it was enough. I’ll be looking for more of Markwell-Tweed’s writing, for sure.
