Ah, that’s Patricia McKillip’s work! She’s a master of fantasy that feels both ancient and fresh. 'Mounted As She Lay Sleeping' is a gem from her later years, showcasing her signature blend of poetic ambiguity and visceral imagery. I love how she makes the familiar feel strange and the strange feel inevitable—like logic in a dream. Her stories don’t just unfold; they shimmer into being. If you haven’t read her before, this piece is a great taste of her magic.
Patricia McKillip penned that haunting little story, and honestly, it’s one of those pieces that lingers. I first read it in an anthology and was struck by how much depth she packed into such a short format. Her ability to evoke entire worlds with just a few brushstrokes of prose is unreal—it’s like watching a painting come to life.
What’s fascinating is how she blends the mundane with the fantastical. The title sounds like something from a dark folktale, and that’s exactly the vibe. McKillip’s work often feels timeless, as if it’s been passed down through generations rather than written in the modern era. If you enjoy authors who play with language like it’s an incantation, you’ll adore this.
I stumbled upon 'Mounted As She Lay Sleeping' while digging through obscure fantasy titles a few years back, and it immediately grabbed me with its eerie, dreamlike prose. The author, Patricia McKillip, has this magical way of weaving words that feel like half-remembered fairy tales—lyrical but with a bite. Her work often dances between myth and reality, and this piece is no exception. It’s part of her larger collection 'Dreams of Distant Shores,' which I’d recommend to anyone who loves atmospheric storytelling.
McKillip’s style isn’t for everyone; she prioritizes mood over plot, which can be divisive. But if you’re the kind of reader who gets lost in lush descriptions and poetic ambiguity, her writing is a feast. 'Mounted As She Lay Sleeping' stuck with me long after I finished it, like a whisper at the edge of memory.
2025-12-16 08:18:27
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When Sasha DeLuca, daughter of a powerful mafia Don, falls into a reckless night of passion with stranger Nico Maretti, she doesn’t realize he’s the heir of her father’s greatest enemy. Their obsession ignites a forbidden love that threatens to burn both families to the ground as Sasha is forced into an engagement with another man and Nico vows to destroy anyone who stands between them.
I was the one who broke Kane Blackwood's heart. He was the Alpha heir, my boyfriend since we were kids, and I pushed him so hard that I drove him all the way to the Northern Stronghold. He stayed there for seven years.
Now he was back. He had a new woman with him, and they were going to hold their bonding ceremony here, in our pack.
That same week, the pack witch told me I had three months left to live.
When my mother wheeled me outside to see him, Kane's mouth curled into that cruel, mocking smile I remembered too well. His dark eyes swept over me from head to toe, taking in the wheelchair, the thinness of my arms, the paleness of my face.
"Well, well," he said, his voice low and sharp. "Seven years and you look like hell. Can't even walk anymore?"
I tugged my sleeve down, hiding the scars—the silver tracings left by years of failed treatments. I kept my voice steady. "I fell. Broke something. It's nothing."
He let out a short, cold laugh. "Right. Anyway, my bonding ceremony's coming up. You should be Vivra's maid of honor."
I smiled back at him. I had gotten good at smiling through pain over the years. "Sorry, but I'm leaving soon. Somewhere far away."
Then I patted my mother's hand. She didn't say a word, just gripped the handles of the chair and pushed me back toward the house.
I didn't look behind me.
For eight years, I was the ghost in Lorenzo Valenti's empire. By day, I was his executive assistant, the engine of his criminal enterprise. By night, I was the most submissive bird in his gilded cage, and the nameless body in his bed.
I loved him with a devotion that bordered on madness, a foolish flame I'd nurtured since I was a scholarship student pulled into his orbit. I believed my quiet love could one day melt the ice around his heart. I was wrong.
The day his unforgettable first love, Isabella, returned, the man I knew vanished. The rare smiles once reserved for me were now all for her. My presence by his side was erased, replaced by hers. Even when she framed me, he believed her without hesitation.
He chose her, again and again.
I submitted my resignation. He signed it without looking.
He thought I'd crawl back, broken and begging.
He was wrong.
While he was busy playing house with his "cuore mio", I was quietly packing away my life, preparing to vanish from his world forever.
“Do you know how many nights I’ve thought about those? How I imagined sliding your dress up and seeing you in them… in my room, or my office… gagged so you wouldn’t scream my name?”
“Say the word, Renata,” he whispered, voice rough. “And I’ll have you right here… where anyone could knock. Where you could get caught with your husband’s father’s cock inside you.”
She gasped.
But she didn’t say no.
********
One reckless night. A stranger’s touch. Her ruin.
The night before her wedding, Renata surrendered to a man whose name she didn’t know… A man who made her tremble, moan, and beg for more in the shadows.
The next morning, he was at the wedding hall too…Watching her walk down the aisle to his son.
Domingo Serrano.
Powerful. Predatory. Possessive.
And he’s not done with her.
He wants her again. And again.
Once a week. No excuses. No escape.
But Renata isn’t just drowning in lust and shame.
She’s chasing answers. Her parents were murdered under the guise of an auto accident. The killer is hiding behind the walls of the Hidalgo empire.
Santiago, her charming husband, has secrets.
Lady Constanza, his mother, wears lies like pearls.
And Domingo? He’s the darkest of them all.
Now Renata’s playing with fire, and carrying a secret that could burn everyone:
She’s pregnant.
And she doesn’t know if the father is her husband… or his father.
Diane Mercer has the perfect life, a loving husband, a brilliant four-year-old daughter, and a beautiful home by the lake.
But perfection is a mask.
Craving the passion her marriage lacks, Diane begins a dangerous affair fueled by lust and cocaine. When her two worlds violently collide one ordinary Thursday morning, the consequences are far worse than she ever imagined.
What follows is a descent into psychological torment, betrayal, and supernatural horror that spans years. As guilt and paranoia consume her, Diane discovers the terrifying truth: some mistakes don’t end with death.
They only begin there.
Raw, relentless, and brutally intimate, Rest, Honey is a chilling exploration of desire, guilt, and the horrifying prisons we build with our own hands. A story that will haunt you long after the final page, because sometimes the worst thing you can see… is exactly who you’re becoming.
After my husband, Trevor Penn, abuses me for the 98th time just to stand up for Callista Whitcombe, I've completely given up on him. That's when I accept his best friend, Maddox Harlow's confession.
After spending the night with Maddox, he agrees to help me fake my death. That way, I'll be able to use a brand new identity to marry him overseas.
I've taken the fake-death drug Maddox has given to me, only to wake up in a coffin earlier than expected.
I can't move a single muscle in my body. But that's when I overhear Maddox's conversation with another person outside the coffin.
"Mr. Harlow, you convinced Trevor to abuse Judith before pretending to save her from her abusive life. Now that you've obtained her full-fledged trust, why did you still arrange for her to be buried after faking her death?"
"Only by doing this will the Whitcombes trust that Judith is truly dead. That way, Callie's position as the heiress will be unshakable. No one will ever bring up the fact that she's an illegitimate child ever again."
The other person sounds hesitant. "Won't it be too long if we only dig the coffin out one week from now, after you've held the wedding with Callista?"
"The fake-death drug's effects can last for five days. I've already had someone put enough water, food, and oxygen tanks in the coffin. There's no way Judith will die."