“If you leave meat on the bone in lukewarm water long enough, the pores will leak marrow. No matter how gamey the meat, the bath in its milky marrow-water will soften it and give it flavor. It’s a poor man’s trick.

You know the meat is ready when you can peel the bone out of the meat and grind it to powder under your fingers.”

My short story “To Set Before the King” will be coming out this fall as part of the Interfictions 2 Online Annex. Like last year, the IAF is running an online auction of portable art based on the stories to benefit the IAF. There were some really gorgeous items inspired by the stories in the anthology last year.

This year’s Call to Artists is live. You can see snippets from all the stories (just keep refreshing – it’s like the slots!), including a longer snippet from mine, and request the full story if an excerpt strikes your fancy.

For anyone who might be interested, “To Set Before the King” follows three stories: a young nanny in a house where the mother has just gone missing, the fairy tale from the children’s collection, and advice from the house chef on how to cook large cuts of meat. (Hint: take the wedding ring off first.)

Who doesn’t want a nice sweet story, right? Hit up that Call to Artists for something you can read to your children. If you want them to hate you forever.