Even Though I Knew the End

Product Information

Tordotcom Publishing is thrilled to announce Even Though I Knew the End, a new novella from C.L. Polk! The deal was brokered by Caitlin McDonald at Donald Maass Literary Agency, and is scheduled to publish in Fall 2022. But this is also a book about sacrifice and love and hope and how those three things can take so many different shapes, yet sometimes they look the very same. I highly recommend this one and pray it will be the first book in a series. The Rebel Accountant Taxtopia: How I Discovered the Injustices, Scams and Guilty Secrets of the Tax Evasion Game and, oh god, what a tragically doomed romance they share. the book is short, but helen's adoration for edith shines brightly, is never questioned. i love reading about a couple who is effortlessly comfortable with one another, yet loves each other with such consistent passion. their whole love story is painfully bittersweet.

MARLOWE HAD OFFERED me fifty dollars to stand out here in the freezing Chicago cold and do an augury, and like a damn greedy fool, I’d said yes. I’d computed the ideal time for the operation with Marlowe still on the telephone, flipping between my calculations on scratch paper and an ephemeris. I had to shake a leg to make it to the crime scene during the moon’s Chaldean hour, the best window for divination with the dead. Fifty dollars is a comfortable sum, and I had foolishly believed I could earn it in time to enjoy my last weekend with Edith. Marlowe had been right after all. This was one hell of a job, and I didn’t have time to take it past this consultation. I wished I could have, even though the whole thing screamed peril! Danger! Mortal threat! Awful as it was, it woke my sense of curiosity right up.A magical detective dives into the affairs of Chicago's divine monsters to secure a future with the love of her life. This sapphic period piece will dazzle anyone looking for mystery, intrigue, romance, magic or all of the above. Rafael Santandreu El método para vivir sin miedo: Cómo miles de personas han superado la ansiedad, el TOC, la hipocondría y cualquier miedo irracional What does detract a bit, however, is that Helen’s lover, Edith, is simply too good to be true and that entire love story had a bit of an artificial feel to it. And the possibility of a conflict with her brother Ted is resolved a bit too swiftly and too easily — and Ted was not a well-developed character even in the necessarily short novella setting. Plus, overall noir is not very much my jam, although I tried to get past that. The bittersweet ending fit the overall mood of the story though, so that was well done. Readers who fell into recent Jazz Age urban fantasies...will love Polk's latest.” — Library Journal, starred review

I love it so much. The writing is absolutely phenomenal and it fits the 1940s so perfectly. I was giggling at times with the funny nonchalant descriptions, cue “The space behind Mathilda’s eyes was for rent”. It was descriptive just the right amount, the action was so fluid, and the setting was nicely atmospheric. I love the way C.L. Polk expresses feelings and emotions with such directness. The characters were lovable, and I am desperately hoping and wishing for more Helen and Edith content. And Marlowe side story, I beg. Another magazine slid into my camera, and I crouched to get the best frame on the markings along the north wall. An exiled augur who sold her soul to save her brother’s life is offered one last job before eternity in hell… The beginning, however, is a bit of a mystery. Readers meet Helen Brandt in an alley, taking magical photos (despite an uncooperative moon) of a murder scene. Ritual markings fill the walls. Helen wants nothing to do with this case and the other murders related to it. She’d much rather spend time with her sweetheart, Edith because she knows her own time is running out. It turns out that it’s been ten years since she made a bargain with a devil, and her soul’s up for collection very, very soon. But when her client makes her an offer she can’t refuse, dangling her soul like bait on a hook, Helen starts digging into the murders and finds out that she’s in far deeper than she realized. Two men had come around the corner—one tall and broad across the shoulder, the other shorter, standing like a boxer. But were they cops or robbers?World Fantasy Award winner C. L. Polk casts magic over mid-century Chicago in Even Though I Knew the End, an extraordinary fantasy noir—arriving November 8, 2022 with Tordotcom Publishing. Blood Magic: The reason why the White City Vampire is called such is because all of their murders have painted the nearby walls in blood to perform a magic ritual to steal the victim's soul. re-read: I liked this even more the second time. There's so much richness to this novella and when you know the end (lol), you can see how Polk lays the foundation for all the revelations to come. This is an excellent novella.