PodCastle Miniature 51: Jaguar Woman
Jaguar Woman
by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
The bearded Spaniard says little to her. He prefers to kiss her and mount her and have her pour his drink for him.
But the priests speak often, furiously. They show her drawings, they explain. The priests have images of martyrs drenched in blood, holding their own heads on a platter, their bodies pierced by arrows.
The priests make her kneel before their blessed Virgin and pray. She has prayed to others before and it is not so difficult to pray to new gods. It is more difficult to have lost her name. Even more difficult to have lost the jaguar shape.
But she does not remember much about those times either. It must have been years ago. She’s been the Spaniard’s mistress for an eternity. It has been like this forever, eating at his table, sleeping in his bed. Although it must not have been forever; she remembers there was a time when she could barely understand him and now his words are clearer although his meaning is the same.
About the Author
Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Silvia Moreno-Garcia is the critically-acclaimed author of Signal to Noise—winner of a Copper Cylinder Award, finalist of the British Fantasy, Locus, Sunburst and Aurora awards—and Certain Dark Things, selected as one of NPR’s best books of 2016. The Beautiful Ones, a novel of manners with a speculative element, is her third book. She won a World Fantasy Award for her work as an editor.
About the Narrator
Anna Schwind
Anna Schwind is a writer, editor, former librarian and Montessori educator living in Saint Louis, Missouri.
For five years she served as co-editor of PodCastle alongside Dave Thompson, and together they found and produced some of the finest audio fantasy fiction available.
While Anna preferred to stay mostly behind the scenes, her writing and narration has appeared a few times over the years.
