This book is dedicated to my three nieces, who must navigate the strangeness of being alive. May your journey be full of wisdom and growth that is kind to you. Please don’t read this book until you are older.

These words would not have existed without the continuous, loving support of my mother and father. Special thanks to those who have navigated words alongside me: Misha Rai, Michelle Zuppa, LaTanya McQueen, Colette Arrand and many others. I want to especially thank my husband, Nathan Riggs, who reads Aesop’s Fables to fall asleep, and who asks me what I dreamed during the night.

The following stories were previously published with slight variations in the following places:

“The Candy Children’s Mother” at Okay Donkey

“The Skins of Strange Animals” at Story

“Egest Leporidae” at Spider Road Press

“They All Could Have Loved You Until You Ate That Child”

at Juked

“In the Belly of the Bear” at The Golden Key

“How One Girl Played at Slaughtering” at Ginko Tree Review

“The Mother Left Behind” at Gone Lawn

“An Old Woman with Silver Hands” at Smokelong Quarterly

“A Bird, A Girl, A Rocket to the Moon” at Pink Narcissus Press

“A Girl Without Arms” at Pink Narcissus Press

“Home Belly Wants” at Pindeldyboz

“Mama Floriculture” at Pink Narcissus Press

“A Woman With No Arms” at Wigleaf

“Get Bent” at Gargoyle

“Match Girl” at Variant Literature

“Girl Teeth” at Pidgeonholes