storyrainthejournal | It's Gia from "Flowertongue"! Beautiful art.

The Summer issue of The Red Penny Papers is live! The beautiful cover art featuring the character of Giacometta Cini is by artist Laura Tolton.

Also featured in the issue are "Jocelyn Adams’s modern suckerpunch, Louise Bohmer’s dark contemporary fairy tale, John Medaille’s weird and wonderful sci-fi, C.E. Hyun’s look at noir tropes ,and Sarah Hans’s wickedly funny laundromat."

Here's an excerpt from "Flowertongue":

A step behind him and the rustle of skirts. He turned, somewhat afraid of finding Miss Seagrove, but someone quite otherwise met his gaze with calm, gingery-green eyes. A small young woman in a white dress with pearl-coloured hair.

She came to join him by the window. “Mr. Ames? How do you do. My name is Giacometta Cini.”

Ames inclined his head, recognizing the family name. “The Lady Cini?”

“Is my aunt.”

“Your pardon.”

Her eyes, of that extraordinary green, appraised Ames, a gentle, engaging invasion.

“I noticed you fled Mr. Stengott’s adventures in Burma. Oh, don’t worry, it wasn’t obvious. Certainly not to Mr. Stengott. The cannibals were improbable, of course, and the pasha, but he did get the tigers right, I thought. Was it only wishful thinking?”

“Not at all. The tigers, he had right. Though I find the likelihood of such a plurality doubtful.”