The Perils of Being a Demigod

An alien crashes their spaceship in the middle of nowhere, an unfamiliar and unremarkable planet (of course we’re talking about Earth) where the gravity is a massive problem that means they need to practice walking. Good thing their pursuit of delicious humans provides excellent motivation. But after a fun time hunting, they begin to understand their prey a little too well…and why humans might want to survive.

Elle is the ignored middle child — but she’s also a descendant of the Chinese god of medicine, which makes her a disappointment as well. Instead of a doctor, she’s a mediocre magical calligrapher employed by a temp agency. She still finds challenge in outfitting her client (and main crush), the half-elf Luc, with very powerful and well-crafted glyphs. Luc has his own burden: he’s trying to repair a curse laid on someone during a botched assignment. Together, Elle and Luc might be able to find both fulfillment and happiness…but they need to gain their freedom first, and that will require sacrifices of them both.

This is Anuja Varghese’s debut collection of speculative fiction stories that blend reality and worlds beyond to explore family, sexuality, community, and cultural expectations, focused particularly on the ways racialized women have their power stolen and the dangerous journeys they undergo to reclaim it.