IM

InCryptid #4.1

by Seanan McGuire

Arthur Harrington's situation is...special, thanks to having an incubus for a father and a semi-stable grasp of his "special powers" (if you can call them that). As a consequence, he's always been allowed to stay somewhat sheltered from the family business, communicating with the outside world largely via the computer and his cousins.

Then Sarah got hurt. He's been climbing the walls ever since, trying to think of something he can do to help—but when no one really understands the way a cuckoo's mind works, what can he possibly do to make things better? Especially when she's in Ohio and he's in Oregon?

All he wants is a sign that she's going to be okay...and that she's still going to be the girl he thinks no one knows he's in love with.

Genres: Urban Fantasy, Fantasy, Short Stories, Paranormal, Fiction, Romance, Adult

14 pages, ebook

First published June 2, 2014

About the author

Hi! I'm Seanan McGuire, author of the Toby Daye series (Rosemary and Rue, A Local Habitation, An Artificial Night, Late Eclipses), as well as a lot of other things. I'm also Mira Grant (www.miragrant.com), author of Feed and Deadline.

Born and raised in Northern California, I fear weather and am remarkably laid-back about rattlesnakes. I watch too many horror movies, read too many comic books, and share my house with two monsters in feline form, Lilly and Alice (Siamese and Maine Coon).

I do not check this inbox. Please don't send me messages through Goodreads; they won't be answered. I don't want to have to delete this account. :(

Reviews

[Steven · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one was ridiculously cute. I like Artie and I like Sarah and I'd love to get more interactions between them in the future. :)

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, if this wasn't a short little story to almost break my heart.

I was with Artie so much here. I think we're all waiting for Sarah to get better and I understand how frustrated and unable to help he feels.

Having read books 3 and 4 already, I had a fairly good idea of Sarah's condition but his was still immensely satisfying and made me feel good.

Now if only these two would find their way to each other.

[Ina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been looking forward to reading a story about Artie and Sarah and when I finally found one, it's only 11 pages? You've got to be kidding me. This is a short story indeed. I didn't even realize how short this story is when I read it in my Kindle, so when it abruptly ended so soon, I was really disappointed. I love Sarah and Artie and this was a cute little "story", but I can't give more than 3 stars to something that has barely ten pages.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

IM is one of the shortest stories that Seanan McGuire has written for this series but that doesn't mean it's not worth reading. This isn't one for people who are new to the series but it adds another layer for fans who have read the first two books so as long as you go in expecting something short and sweet I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

We all know how much Artie has been missing Sarah since she injured herself saving Verity's life. He's spent weeks waiting for his best friend (and the love of his life even though he won't admit that to anyone else in his family) to recover and although she has been making improvements she's still not back to her normal self and Artie hasn't been allowed to see or even speak to her. It's driving him crazy that he can't do anything to help her but then he gets just a tiny glimmer of hope that Sarah is starting to get back to her old self again and that's all he ever wanted.

Artie is utterly adorable in this. It's hilarious that he thinks he has managed to keep his feelings for Sarah secret from the rest of his family but I'm sure they'll all start meddling again as soon as Sarah is back to full health. I really hope we might get a full length book or two about them at some point in the future.

[Ivy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Glad that Sarah is okay. It is funny that Artie thinks no one knows he likes Sarah when almost everyone in the family knows it. Hope we will get a Sarah and Artie book soon. Hopefully also an Antimony book.

[Jennavier · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great snippet updated us fans on the status of Sarah, an important side character who's been hit hard by the events in recent books. It was nice to finally meet Artie after hearing him talked about so much. I wish there'd been a little more of a story, but overall it was fun.

[Lukasz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Artie + Sarah. Sarah, I love. Artie, I need to learn more about him but he seems to be a good chap.

Short (8 pages), free, and fun.

[Nyssa · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's not that I'm not happy - It's that I expected more - much more!

[Cathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a very short story, not much to it, but it connects the dots a bit for Artie and Sarah during her recovery. Definitely just for fans though, there isn't enough there for new readers to grab onto.

I just found out that this story and many others are available for free on the author's website in the InCryptid section on the Short Story page.

[Coyora Dokusho · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awwwwwwww, Artie's all adorable... Again, I gotta read all these books again. Because of the awesome!

[Stefanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short and sweet

[Brok3n · Rating 5 out of 5]

Meet the family

I will begin by explaining what I'm reviewing here. Seanan McGuire has written a lot of short stories in The Incryptid Series. You can find a couple dozen of the older ones listed on the Incryptid Short Stories page on her web site. (Note, she has also published many stories through her Patreon site. They are not listed on the the Incryptid Short Stories page on her website, although many of them are listed in her bibliography.)

The stories are divided into groups, which can be divided into two supergoups: those that occur before Half-Off Ragnarok, and those that occur after. The first supergroup mostly concerns the early backstory of the Healy/Price family in the USA. The post-Half-Off Ragnarok stories are about the present-day (more or less -- 21st century) Prices and cryptids. It is this second group that I'm reviewing here. BE WARNED: spoilers for Half-Off Ragnarok follow.

These are the stories in question:
Verity Price and Dominic De Luca:
The Ghosts of Bourbon Street, free download from McGuire's web site
Snake in the Glass, free download from McGuire's web site
Swamp Bromeliad, free download from McGuire's web site
Waking Up In Vegas, free download from McGuire's web site

Antimony Price:
Blocked, free download from McGuire's web site
Bad Dream Girl, in the Anthology Glitter & Mayhem
Jammed, in the Anthology Games Creatures Play
Survival Horror, in the Anthology Press Start to Play

Sarah Zellaby and Arthur Harrington
IM, free download from McGuire's web site

Istas and Ryan
Red as Snow, in Anthology Hex in the City
Black as Blood, free download from McGuire's web site
White as a Raven's Wing, free download from McGuire's web site


Eliza
Balance, in Anthology Urban Enemies

The Verity and Dominic stories all take place after Half-Off Ragnarok and reflect the state of things as they were left at the end of that book. Half-Off Ragnarok had two main consequences for the future of the Incryptid world: Dominic De Luca is now irrevocably committed to Verity and severed from the Covenant. In fact, the Covenant believes he is dead, thanks to the extraordinary efforts of Sarah, who damaged herself modifying the memories of the participants in Half-Off Ragnarok. So, there are the promised spoilers: Verity and Dominic are now a couple (this will come as a surprise to precisely no one), and Sarah has hurt herself badly.

Verity and Dominic are driving from New York to Portland in a rented U-Haul truck so that Dominic can be introduced to Verity's family. They are driving because Verity has a colony of Aeslin mice to transport -- not easily accomplished by air. Also, Verity is taking the scenic route, to introduce Dominic to various folks. The first story in this series, The Ghosts of Bourbon Street, is a crossover, in that it also belongs to McGuire's Ghost Road series -- you meet Rose Marshall, the main character of those books. Some other old friends show up: the Carmichael hotel in Chicago, and the Swamp Bromeliad in Buckley Township, Michigan. This series of stories ends as intended, with Verity introducing Dominic to her family in Portland.

Most of the Antimony stories have no obvious relation to the events of Half-Off Ragnarok. One may suppose they occur before that. If you have read the first three Incryptid novels you have sort-of been introduced to Antimony, because she features heavily in Verity's recollections of growing up, as the annoying little sister who excelled in such Price family staple skills as extreme survival, setting traps, and demolition. Now, introduced to Antimony in person, we see that she has complementary memories of Verity and Alex as the older siblings who her parents (in Antimony's view) always seemed to value more than her. Antimony becomes a roller-derby skater in these stories. A word about the anthologies: I read only one non-McGuire story. Several reviewers of Glitter & Mayhem, mentioned the story about the dancing princesses, so I read that on, too. It was OK. Jammed appeared in Games Creatures Play, which appears to be out of print. I couldn't easily get a copy, so I listened to the audiobook version. Survival Horror is in the Anthology Press Start to Play -- I read none of the other stories. The Antimony stores were a fun intro to Antimony, whom I now look forward to encountering in the novels. They also introduce her cousin Elsinor Harrington, whose father is an incubus, making Elsie a succubus.

That brings us to Antimony's other cousin, Elsie's brother Arthur (Artie). We have actually heard quite a bit about Artie in the novels because he and Sarah are hopelessly in love, and Verity also tends to phone Artie when she needs geek skills. IM is really all about whether Sarah is going to recover.

Istas is a kind of fun character. We met her in the Verity Price novels, where she works as a cocktail waitress at the place where Verity works, and fights at Verity's side. She's a sort of werewolf/werebear (as is her main squeeze Ryan). But what's fun about her is her very direct, uncomplicated way of thinking and speaking.

The final story, Balance, is about a cuckoo who, as far as I know, appears nowhere else in the Incryptid world. I didn't enjoy this story as much as the rest.

In summary, these stories are a good way to meet the Price/Harrington families. I give them four stars, except for Balance, which rates only three.

[Marjolein (UrlPhantomhive) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read all my reviews on http://urlphantomhive.booklikes.com

This short story focuses mostly on Sarah, but from the POV of Artie, about whom we have heard a lot but have never met before in the series.

It was a bit too short for my taste, especially since it wasn't followed up by more stories, but nice either way.

[Jenevieve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review first published on My Blog. Check out all my reviews there.

Incryptid short story. Arthur has always had a hard time what being a half-incubus so computers have always been his preferred way to deal with the outside world. His family understands and loves and accepts him and the way he is. And then there is Sarah, the cuckoo that was adopted into the family who understands him more than most. Now Sarah has had her mind damaged and since no one understands the cuckoo biology well, no one knows when or even if she will ever recover and be their 'Sarah' ever again. Arthur continues to hold out hope, calling constantly and cursing the fact that she is in Oregon and he in Ohio, not going there because he knows he'll be turned away but feeling frustrated and helpless.

This is really a short little thing for those who have read at least the first two books of the Incryptid series, not needed to understand anything in the books but a nice little add-on.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

My rating may be a bit harsh, because there's nothing really wrong with this short story, it's just that there's not much to the story. This could serve as an intro to a longer story (and since there are other short stories as of the time I write this review, maybe that's what it is), but otherwise there's little to recommend reading this. It's told from the POV of Artie, who has been mentioned in other books but not really shown, during the time that Sarah is starting to recover, with recovery far from assured. Other than the POV change and a few physiological details, there's no real new content here.

[Jessica ❁ ➳ Silverbow ➳ ❁ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reviewed by: Rabid Reads

3.2 - IM

2 stars

That . . . was the most pointless, irritating extra I've ever read. It was all whine, whine, poor me, whine, then when something actually happened, END SCENE.

Ughhhh.

And what was that whole "prophecy" drop in?

[Erin (PT) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a nice gap-filler between Incryptid novels and a more personal introduction to the character of Arthur (Artie), who we haven't previously seen as a POV character (iirc), but the 'twist' at the end of the story feels so sudden (and possibly unearned) that I'm not sure if I'm supposed to take it at face value or not, which makes it a slightly less satisfying read than it might otherwise have been. It's always a 50/50 if McGuire is playing straight with you, or it's the wind up to ripping your heart out.

[carol. · Rating 2 out of 5]

A sort of resolution to a character arc that series readers will appreciate. However, too many loose ends, lack of satisfying context for the change means it ends up being unsatisfying. Focus on only one character means the reader loses the trademark dialogue and mythology that make the InCryptid so enjoyable.

[Jacqueline · Rating 2 out of 5]

Extra 1/2 star just because of Artie.

That was...kinda nothing. It was too short. It was more of a moment than an actual short story of any sort. A nice moment...but well, I was expecting more.

[Liz (Quirky Cat) · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's time to dive back into the InCryptid world! But seriously, IM is set in the InCryptid Universe sometime after the events of the third book. For more context, we have one character (Arthur) reacting to the injury of another character (Sarah). It's endearing, though more than a little bit sad, given a complex backstory or two. But mostly, it's sweet and cute!

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[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this one! It's such a short little moment but such a GOOD one. It really highlights one of the strengths of Seanan McGuire's writing, when you get to see imperfect people act messily in an impossible situation with that relatable feeling of, well, you probably could have handled that better, but the emotions, you know? What can you do!

In this case the answer is find a way to muddle your way through a very bleak situation in a very human way until you finally get some sign that things might eventually change, and given how long this recovery has been in the works, it's a very well earned moment.

[Nerdy Werewolf · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Incubus pheromones smell a little bit like port wine, and a little bit like overripe blackberries, and a whole lot like trouble waiting to happen."

FINALLY! A story about Artie and Sarah. Sarah's still pretty messed up and we get to see it through poor Artie's perspective. Being a comic-book loving incubus is all just part of his life-a life he needs Sarah to be a part of to feel complete.

It's kind of nice to hear anything about the Harringtons. I'm hoping we get a bit more of them in the future.

[Anelis · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very short story of 2 side characters from the Incryptid series. Cute and fun. Can be read for free on Seanan's website.

Narrated by Artie (incubus cousin of the Price siblings), who's missing Sarah (cuckoo cousin of the Price siblings) and is anxious over her stagnant health (she's still recovering from that thing that happened in book #2 of the series).

I wish Sarah had her own book tho. I'd love to read her POV, even jumbled and all.

[Lissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of fun, -1 star because it’s just so short. I would rather have had the 3.somethings be collected into a novella and expanded a little, not lots and not all, just some and just a little. I get really into it and then it ends. Mega cliffhanger.

[Ronnie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story was fine, except for the fact that 90% of it was just a rehashing of information that we already knew. The actual IM conversation the story is named for was only the last couple of pages, though it was very cute and I enjoyed it a lot.

[J.A. Ironside · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super cute short from Artie's POV
after cuckoo Sarah gets hurt. I really ship these two. Don't expect strange beas5s and lots of action but if you want a sliver of a friendship going through trials, this is great.

[Nirkatze · Rating 3 out of 5]

Almost more of a deleted scene. The first short to feature Artie as a POV, taking place around book 3 time, during Verity's road-trip and Sarah's convalescence. Gives a little insight into Artie's life during Sarah's convalescence.

[Preeti · Rating 3 out of 5]

Aww. So great to see Sarah getting better in this short story. Can't wait for the next full length InCryptid book and revisit more of the characters.

[Louisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great short story, with Sarah and Artie, having Artie worrying about Sarah, and yeah, it was just so cute!

[Ruthie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute story! Really wish it had been a wee bit longer. It was very short even for a short story.