The Salt Grows Heavy

Without a doubt, the most insane thing (actually and in a good way) you'll read in 112 pages. The fairy tales got everything wrong. The kids are all frankensteined, the mermaid is eating discarded body parts, and the plague doctor is the hottest character ever written. Cassandra Khaw, I love you. Recommended By Stacy W., Powells.com

From USA Today bestselling author Cassandra Khaw comes The Salt Grows Heavy, a razor-sharp and bewitching fairytale of discovering the darkness in the world, and the darkness within oneself.

You may think you know how the fairytale goes: a mermaid comes to shore and weds the prince. But what the fables forget is that mermaids have teeth. And now, her daughters have devoured the kingdom and burned it to ashes.

On the run, the mermaid is joined by a mysterious plague doctor with a darkness of their own. Deep in the eerie, snow-crusted forest, the pair stumble upon a village of ageless children who thirst for blood, and the three "saints" who control them.

The mermaid and her doctor must embrace the cruelest parts of their true nature if they hope to survive.

"With this brilliantly constructed tale that consciously takes on a well-known story and violently breaks it open to reveal a heartfelt core, Khaw cements their status as a must-read author." — Library Journal (Starred Review)

"Devastatingly effective...a folklore-infused world that feels wholly unique. Expertly blending a gothic atmosphere with elements of splatterpunk, this brilliant novella is not to be missed." — Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

"A gorgeous and gory horror fantasy novella that thrums with the pull of the deep." — Shelf Awareness (Starred Review)

CASSANDRA KHAW is the USA Today bestselling author of Nothing But Blackened Teeth and the Bram Stoker Award-winner, Breakable Things. Other notable works of theirs are The Salt Grows Heavy and British Fantasy Award and Locus Award finalist, Hammers on Bone. Khaw's work can be found in places like The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Year's Best Science Fiction and Fantasy, and Tor.com. Khaw is also the co-author of The Dead Take the A Train, co-written with bestselling author Richard Kadrey.