Latchkey

“Nicole Kornher-Stace’s LATCHKEY is a little like retracing a war veteran’s scars with a scalpel and asking, ‘So. Does this hurt more than the original?’ It does, of course. Hurts good, hurts deep, this almost-familiar world that bleeds right into ours, where the only thing fiercer than ferocity is tenderness—though both talk equally as tough. After reading LATCHKEY, one starts seeing ruins superimposed over currently thriving structures. Every struggling patch of city lawn becomes a garden of ghost grass; every breezy puff of leftover winter holds the possibility of frostbite and vertigo and seeing the face of a long-lost friend once more. Has there ever been such longing, fueled by such darkness and adrenaline? Has there ever been such satisfaction, and at such a cost?” 
—C. S. E. Cooney, World Fantasy Award-winning author of BONE SWANS

“LATCHKEY is the opposite of escapist: it is, instead, horror for people with the courage to benefit from beholding actual horrors. Building on the deeply-realized ARCHIVIST WASP, in LATCHKEY we are given a world even more fallen and brutal, for now even the old order of the archivists is broken. Here, when heroes are hurt, they stay hurt; here, the survivors must endure trauma without the words to describe it; here, knowledge itself is both deeply suspect and humanity’s only hope. History itself, embodied by blood-hungry ghosts, by turns cannibalizes the living and provides the only way forward. And yet, for all the loss and bodily pain, LATCHKEY shows us the power of community and the worth, greater than diamonds, of courage. Cathartic, feminist, explosively imaginative and masterfully payed out, Kornher-Stace gives us a second-world fantasy that transports our minds while, time and again, it emotionally arrives.”
—Carlos Hernandez, author of SAL AND GABI BREAK THE UNIVERSE

“What a great read! This surreal dreamscape of a book delves deeper into the unique world of the Andre Norton Award finalist ARCHIVIST WASP, continuing a resilient heroine’s unusual friendship with a super-soldier ghost amid a far-future dystopia they both struggle to survive and understand.”
—Beth Cato, author of THE CLOCKWORK DAGGER and BREATH OF EARTH

“Nicole Kornher-Stace’s LATCHKEY is a completely unique and enthralling story. A blend of fantasy, paranormal and more that defies categorization, I couldn’t put it down. Highly recommended!” 
—Jennifer Brody, award-winning author of THE 13TH CONTINUUM

“Fierce, blazing, brilliant. The mythic and brutal world of Nicole Kornher-Stace’s LATCHKEY is so richly realized, you don’t step into it, you fall.”
—Jacqueline West, New York Times–bestselling author of THE BOOKS OF ELSEWHERE

Launch reading at Readercon in Boston, July 2018. KGB Reading in NYC, December 2018. Further events and promotions TBA.