Weird Fishes by Rae Mariz

AN UNDERWATER TALE OF FRIENDSHIP AGAINST MONSTROUS ODDS

When Ceph, a squid-like scientist, discovers proof of the ocean’s slowing currents, she makes the dangerous ascent from her deep-sea civilization to the uncharted surface above. Out of her depths and helpless in her symbiotic mech suit, Ceph relies on Iliokai, a seal-folk storyteller, who sings the state of the sea and has seen evidence of clogged currents as she surfs the time gyres throughout the lonely blue. Navigating the perils of their damaged ocean environment, and seemingly insurmountable cultural differences, Ceph and Iliokai realize that the activities of terrestrial beings are slowing the spiralling currents of time. On a journey that connects future and past, the surface and the deep, the unlikely friends struggle to solve a problem so big it needs a leviathan solution.

About the Author

Rae Mariz is a Portuguese-Hawaiian speculative fiction storyteller, artist, translator, and cultural critic. Her writing inhabits the ecotone between science fiction and fantasy, often featuring Diasporic Futurisms that draw on her connections to the Big Island, the Bay Area, and the Pacific Northwest. She is the author of the YA sci-fi The Unidentified (2010), the climate fantasy Weird Fishes (2022), and many works of narrative non-fiction in between. Find her work at raemariz.com and on Twitter @raemariz.