io9 has share the work of Delilah S. Dawson before ( check outan excerptfrom her 2021 dystopian thriller The Violence ) , and we ’ve got anotherunsettlingexclusive for you today : a first aspect at Bloom , the tale oftwo womenwhose brawny draw evolves into something that ’s preternaturally toxic .
First , here ’s a outline . Beware the Farmer ’ market sports meeting - cute !
Rosemary meets Ash at the granger ’ market . Ash — accurate , pretty , and practically perfect — sells bar of goop in delicate pastel color , sprinkle - spackled cupcakes heap on scalloped stand , beeswax candles , jelly jar of honey , and showy green plants .
Image: Titan Books
Ro has never felt this elbow room about another woman ; with Ash , she wants to be her and have her in equal measure . But as her obsession with Ash consumes her , she may find she ’s not the one doing the devouring …
narrate in lucullan , pleasant-tasting prose , this is a deliciously dark story of passion take an unsavoury turn …
Here ’s the full cover , design by Julia Lloyd and making its launching here on io9 , pursue by an excerpt from Bloom .
Image: Titan Books
She feels eyes on her , a soft and curious pricker like moth feet , and she turn to rule the most beautiful girl in the world star at her . While attempting not to flatten a child , Ro has somehow bring off to slip up into a stall she has n’t seen before , and the girl behind the counter calculate like a goddamn elf , like the apotheosis of cottagecore , like if a Studio Ghibli heroine could be a pale white lady friend with long hair as tawny and rightful as corn whisky silk . On the table before her are bars of soap in finespun pastel colors , sprinkle - spackled cupcakes stacked on scallop standpoint , butter - gold beeswax candles , jelly jars of honey with thick blocks of comb and gingham tops tied with ribbons . The sides of her stand feature wooden shelves crowd with glistening green industrial plant in grower wad — plants with round leaves like lily pads and pointy foliage like puppet tongues and wide , veiny leaves like elephant ears . Ro does n’t know their public figure , but she ’s seen them on Instagram .
“ See anything you like ? ” the missy allege with a bang grinning .
For a minute , Ro can only stare at her , taking in the item of her deoxyephedrine - drab eyes and her constellation of lentigo and her perfect , tiny teeth and the creamy hide revealed by the low - gash neck of her dress , which is lavender and long and airy and search homemade , on the nose like the form of thing that should be tire out right before someone is abducted to Faerie .
Ro does n’t have it away what to say . Words are her existence , and yet she is dumb . This hap sometimes . She understands book so much sound than she understands people . That ’s why she writes non - fiction , and that ’s why she has trouble making friend and has mostly date very nerdy guys who share her esoteric literary interests .
Before this moment , she was jolly certain she was full-strength , but now she is discombobulate into utter bedlam .
“ What savour are the cupcakes ? ” she asks , obviate .
The girl — because yes , of course she is a woman , and yet there is something uniquely fresh and destitute about her — pointedness with a long , refined finger . “ Lavender , lemon , hemangioma simplex , vanilla extract . All the chocolate are go , I ’m afraid . ”
“ Do you make them yourself ? ” Because yes , yes , the more doubtfulness she asks , the more the girl has to answer and the longer Ro can stand here being mesmerized . She briefly enquire if eat the daughter ’s nutrient is anything like Persephone slip rose - red seeds between her lip in the Underworld .
“ I do . It ’s my grandmother ’s recipe — well , the base formula , at least . I like to experiment with frosting flavors . ” She points to a dainty porcelain tray debase with samples of cake , each morsel - sized piston chamber tufted with frosting . “ Try one , if you wish . The cupcakes are four dollars each or four for fifteen . ”
Ro hustle one of the lavender samples and pops it in her oral fissure , painfully cognisant that the girl is watching her with sharp eyes . Flavor burst on her palate — she ’s never try out frosting this silky before . She rubs it between her tongue and the roof of her mouth , luxuriating in it . Their heart receive with an electrical shock , and she feels see to it , she feels known . She feels magic .
“ effective God , ” she croak as she chews . “ That ’s the most flawlessly unctuous thing I ’ve ever sample . ”
The girl ’s optic brighten , and she smile like a cat — she has a crooked cuspid .
Ro wants to lick it .
And she does n’t know what to do with that selective information .
She swallows and wipes the crumb from her lips , get to because she knows the huntsman - unripened polish on her nail is chipped and that the girl has definitely noticed . Ro thinks of herself as a cozy mess ; this girl is accurate , svelte , and practically sodding .
“ oily , ” the girl say as if tasting the Book for the first time .
Excerpt from Delilah S. Dawson ’s Bloom reprint by license of Titan Books .
Bloom by Delilah S. Dawson is out October 3 ; you may pre - order a copyhere .
Want more io9 tidings ? hold in out when to expect the latestMarvel , Star Wars , andStar Trekreleases , what ’s next for theDC Universe on film and TV , and everything you need to know about the future ofDoctor Who .
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