Old Firehouse Books offers fantasy and way-down-to-earth tales

Each week as part of SunLit — The Sun’s literature section — we feature staff recommendations from book stores across Colorado. This week, the staff from Old Firehouse Books in Fort Collins recommends the story of a girl made of flowers and words, a race of flesh-eating creatures and a mystery built around a body in a bog.

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From the publisher: Once upon a time, on the edge between meadow and forest, there was a lonely child with only his older sister for company. In exchange for being left in peace, his sister made him a playmate — Daye, a girl woven from flowers and words. And for the first time, this boy, Rory, had a friend.

Rory couldn’t be happier, until he learns that Daye is a short-lived creature. At the end of each season, she must be woven back together or fall gruesomely apart. And every time Daye falls apart might be her last. As Rory and Daye grow older and the line between friendship and romance begins to blur, Rory becomes desperate to break this cycle of bloom and decay. But the farther Rory pushes his research and experiments to lengthen Daye’s existence, the more Daye begins to wonder just how much control she really has over her own life.

From Miriam, events coordinator: Ah yes, true love, when you contort your life around the obsessive compulsions of preserving your childhood best friend’s body, as it continues to rot season to season. Wouldn’t you, if this best friend literally never told you no?

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From the publisher: Guls can be brutal. Few know this better than Ariadne, who lost half her body to their appetites, but their brutality is a predictable constant amid Brazil’s political chaos. Now, she treats them in the specialized clinic she inherited from Erik Yurkov — the mentor who rescued her as a child, trained her in medicine, built her prostheses, and disappeared without a trace.

Ariadne’s routine is disturbed when Quaint knocks on her door: a charming, tattooed Gul claiming to be Erik’s oldest friend. Quaint suspects foul play in Erik’s disappearance, and they soon discover Erik sought asylum at Cabaré, an infamous club in Rio de Janeiro frequented by the Gul elite.

Together, Ariadne and Quaint will unravel the conspiracy behind their friend’s disappearance, navigate the labyrinthine world of Ariadne’s memories, and discover what Erik means to them — and what they are starting to mean to each other.

From Revati, co-owner:  If you liked Pueyo’s last novella, you’ll love this one as well. The flesh-eating Guls in this world have taken half of Ariadne’s body but there may be more going on. During an investigation of a friend’s disappearance in this noir style tale, you’ll question what really defines a monster.

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From the publisher: When a body is found in a bog in northwest England, Agnes, an American forensic anthropologist, is called to investigate. But this body is not like any she’s ever seen. Though its bones prove it was buried more than 2,000 years ago, it is almost completely preserved. Soon Agnes is drawn into a mystery from the distant past, called to understand and avenge the death of an Iron Age woman more like her than she knows. Along the way, she must contend with peat-cutters who want to profit from the bog and activists who demand that the land be left undisturbed. Then there’s the moss itself: a complex repository of artifacts and remains, with its own dark stories to tell.

As Agnes faces the deep history of what she has unearthed, she’s also forced to question what she thought she knew about her talent, her self-reliance, and her place in the world. Flashing between the uncertainty of post-Brexit England and the druidic order of Celtic Europe at the dawn of the Roman era, “Bog Queen” brims with contemporary urgency and ancient wisdom as it connects across time two gifted, farsighted young women learning to harness their strange strengths in a landscape more mysterious and complex than either can imagine.

From Mia, bookseller: Following two women at different points in time, “Bog Queen” investigates the importance of purpose and caring for your community. Agnes, a forensic anthropologist, investigates the unidentified remains of a body found in the bog. Flashing between her and the Druid of Bereda from the Iron Age, Agnes navigates climate activists and developers fighting for the land where the body was found. North weaves a story that showcases not only the importance of natural spaces throughout time, but also how finding a sense of purpose can take unexpected forms.

Type of Story: Review

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