Quill and Still
The beloved slice-of-queer-life debut which reviewers described as “Like opening up a pulp fiction novel and getting Milton’s paradise lost” with “a nearly Neil Gaiman approach to mythology” set in a deep, complex world you’ll wish you could live in.
Sophie Nadash once yearned to understand life and chemistry. Now a disillusioned scientist approaching middle age, she yearns to set aside pipettes and polymerase forever.
A chance encounter with the Goddess Artemis sets her on the path to becoming the Alchemist for the rural Shemmai village of Kibosh, where the rat race gives way to peace and the quiet life. Freed from the hustle of Earth, she can relax, make friends, and rediscover her love for chemistry through its mystical precursor… and come to grips with the Jewish faith she left behind as a child.
Aaron crafts an interesting, vibrant world to explore. A slow life fantasy about civics, science, and a city above a dungeon. -Casualfarmer, author of Beware of Chicken
This is the story I never knew I’d always wanted to read, in a world I never knew I’d always wanted to inhabit. Among high-concept fantasy conceits, ‘what if a society was built to maximize decency’ sounds almost banal to describe, until you see it actually executed well and realize just how subversive that idea is. You deserve to read Quill & Still. -D. D. Webb, author of The Gods are Bastards
A perfect read for lovers of cozy, slice-of-life fiction in the vein of Becky Chambers’s “Records of a Spaceborn Few” or Jo Walton’s “Lifelode”. Don’t miss out on this rich and colorful tapestry that weaves together civics, chemistry, magic, and an off-the-path Judaism to form Sophie’s first entry into a new world.
