Marjorie M Liu, $0.99, ISBN 978-0615685748
Fantasy, 2007

I enjoy Marjorie M Liu’s fantasy stories, but sadly, she’s since moved on to graphic novels. The prices of those things can be very hard on my bank account, especially after taking into account the currency exchange rate, so I will just have to be content with the memories.

Well, until I come across Where the Heart Lives in my pile of unread digital books. Wait, how did I overlook this thing and what is it even about? Let’s find out, shall we?

This turns out to be a Dirk & Steele prequel short story, and it was also published in the anthology My Big Fat Supernatural Honeymoon. It’s been a long time since I read those books, so I can’t recall Barnabus and Lucy, if they were ever mentioned in those books. This one, after all, takes place long before that series begins.

The tone is very different from those books, however. While there are some adult themes present, the tone is whimsical, child-like even.

When Miss Lindsay finally departed for the world beyond the wood, it meant that Lucy and Barnabus were the only people left to care for her house and land, as well as the fine cemetery she had kept for nearly twenty years outside the little town of Cuzco, Indiana. It was an important job, not just for Lucy and Barnabus, but for others, as well, who for years after would come and go, for rest or sanctuary. Bodies needed homes, after all—whether dead or living.

I’m hooked by the very first paragraph.

Lucy, now 17, was sent by her father to seek out a Miss Lindsay, because he hears that she needs someone to help around the house and mostly because he doesn’t want Lucy around anymore. Thus begins her story, as she lives with Miss Lindsay and her brother, encounters a charming but mute young man that also helps around the place, and lives in a world where magic and woo-woo creatures exist.

While Lucy and Barnabus hold affection for one another, this isn’t a romance as much as it is a young adult-ish story centered around Lucy.

Now, I won’t call this an incredible story, as it’s tad too short to truly resonate it, but my goodness, the author’s prose creates such a whimsical, evocative story that makes me feel like I’ve been immersed in a magical place.

I imagine a descendant or two of these two will star in the Dirk & Steele books, and I really should reread them to refresh my memory and relive the whole series. Mind you, I don’t love every book in the series, but on the whole, the concepts and the imagination in the series are a blast to read, so revisiting them can be fun.

At any rate, this one gets a super-subjective four oogies, and it’s subjective because the score is more about my personal reaction and feels when it comes to this thing. It takes me places, good places, and I’m too enthralled by the phraseology, atmosphere, and whimsical tone of the story to be rational or cynical.

My heart, yes it lives here, if only for the short while as I am reading the story. If only the story were longer!