Yoke of Stars

In this newest novella from the queer, mystical Birdverse, an apprentice assassin and an inquisitive linguist share their tales in order to make a fateful decision. Lush and lyrical, this cross-cultural tale of the beauty of language is a gift to anyone who appreciates the transformative power of storytelling.

＂Over the years, R. B. Lemberg has built a world of serpents, deserts, stars, and bones, where transformation is omnipresent and restlessness rewarded.＂
--C. S. E. Cooney, World Fantasy Award-winning author of Bone Swans, Stories

In the School of Assassins, Stone Orphan waits for a first assignment. After their first kill, they will graduate and attain the coveted cloth of bone. But instead of a commission, Stone Orphan gets an inquisitive linguist, Ulín. Ulín has heard the Orphan Star’s song of despair, mirroring her own, and drawing her to the School of Assassins. But Ulín is far more interested in learning Stone Orphan’s language than deciding whom she wishes to kill.

Unable to contain their curiosity, Stone Orphan offers to exchange stories with Ulín to help her decide the fate of three men. By turns, Stone Orphan and Ulín narrate tales of love, suffering, exile, and self-determination, and two hurt souls find hope in each other through the radical act of listening.

R. B. Lemberg is a queer, bigender fantasist, poet, and professor. Lemberg was born in L’viv, Ukraine, and also lived in subarctic Russia and Israel before migrating to the U.S. Lemberg’s Birdverse novella The Four Profound Weaves (Tachyon, 2020) was a finalist for the Nebula, Ignyte, Locus, and World Fantasy Awards, as well as an Otherwise Award honoree. Lemberg is also an Ursula K. Le Guin Feminist Fellow. Their award nominated first story collection, Geometries of Belonging, came out in 2022 (Fairwood Press). Lemberg’s poetry memoir Everything Thaws was published by Ben Yehuda Press in 2022. Their stories and poems have appeared in Lightspeed Magazine’s Queers Destroy Science Fiction!, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, We Are Here: Best Queer Speculative Fiction 2020, Sisters of the Revolution, and many other venues. Lemberg lives in Lawrence, Kansas, with their spouse and fellow author Bogi Takács, their child Mati, and all of the cumulative books and fountain pens. You can find Lemberg at their websites rblemberg.net and birdverse.net.