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nearing.
    This human is not my concern. I leave the splashing behind and enjoy the welcoming waves of my home. I am whole, and I am free. There is nothing else.

 
A UTHOR’S N OTE …………………………………
    Before I was a writer, I was a teacher. One of my favorite novels to teach—both in American literature courses and women’s literature courses—was Kate Chopin’s
The Awakening
. The inevitable classroom discussion of women who walk into the sea or otherwise see death as superior to enslavement was met with the ever-foolish idea that “that was then, and we no longer need feminism because we’re all equal.” I didn’t agree then, and I agree even less now as I watch state after state in my nation pass laws limiting women’s ownership of their bodies. I don’t think suicide is ever the answer, but I do think we live in a world where feminism is still essential.
    Tangled into this Chopin-influenced short story is my love for selchies. I’ve been to Orkney three times in the past four years. I’ve walked among seals, and I’ve had them follow me in the water as I walked on the shore. It’s easy to see a human face in the mist. It’s easy to understand the origin of the mythology, and when I add that mythology to Chopin, I see a woman entrapped again, but this time with another option—one in which her need to enter the sea is more than seeking death. The sea still offers freedom.

 
     
     
     
     
     
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    Check out Tim Pratt’s short story “The Cold Corner,” excerpted from
Rags & Bones: New Twists on Timeless Tales
, available now across all digital platforms.

 
     
    Melissa Marr is the
New York Times
bestselling author of the Wicked Lovely series,
Graveminder
, and
Carnival of Souls
. With Kelley Armstrong, she has edited two anthologies (
Enthralled
and
Shards & Ashes
) and now coauthors the children’s series The Blackwell Pages. Prior to writing, she taught university literature, including courses on the short story and in gender studies. You can find her online at www.melissa-marr.com.

 
     
    Rags & Bones: New Twists on Timeless Tales
    Available October 22, 2013, however books are sold.

Copyright
    This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
    Copyright © 2013 by Melissa Marr
    Cover art © 2013 by Grady McFerrin
    Cover © 2013 Hachette Book Group, Inc.
    All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher is unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
    Little, Brown and Company
    Hachette Book Group
    237 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10017
    lb-teens.com
    Little, Brown and Company is a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.
    The Little, Brown name and logo are trademarks of Hachette Book Group, Inc.
    The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.
    First ebook edition: September 2013
    ISBN 978-0-316-28300-7

    For more about this book and author, visit Bookish.com.