Three days after I was expelled from the Marable School for Girls, our poor Simon arrived.

In the 1920s gothic comedy Uncommon Charm, bright young socialite Julia and shy Jewish magician Simon decide they aren't beholden to their families' unhappy history. Together they confront such horrors as murdered ghosts, alive children, magic philosophy, a milieu that slides far too easily into surrealist metaphor, and, worst of all, serious adult conversation.

Part of Neon Hemlock's 2022 Novella Series.

Emily Bergslien and Kat Weaver live in Saint Paul, Minnesota with their two small birds. Emily is a Twin Cities bookseller whose reviews have been published in The Riveter magazine. Find her on Twitter @eudaemaniacal. Kat's short fiction has appeared in Apex Magazine, Lackington's, Timeworn Literary Journal, and elsewhere. She is a senior fiction editor at Strange Horizons. Her art can be found at kathrynmweaver and on Twitter @anoteinpink.

"An enchanting and poignantly subtle story told with deft humor and thoughtful absences, where the initiation into mysteries is both esoteric and deeply personal." - Caitlin Starling, author of The Death of Jane Lawrence

"Somehow both quiet and lively, both dreamlike and rock-solid, this magical novella feels like a story dropped in your ear at a party by a brand new friend." - Freya Marske, author of A Marvellous Light

"By turns dazzling, profound, and tender, Uncommon Charm is intensely readable—I'd let this narrator regale me with anything that crossed her mind for hours on end. While her wit lights the room, her insights illuminate those around her. This story's rumination on magic, power, and human nature will stick with me for years to come." - Emma Mieko Candon, author of The Archive Undying