Methought I saw a thousand fearful wrecks;
Ten thousand men that fishes gnaw'd upon;
Wedges of gold, great anchors, heaps of pearl,
Inestimable stones, unvalued jewels,
All scatter'd in the bottom of the sea
-William Shakespeare, King Richard III

"Is there real food here? Because I will hit you with a chair if it gets me real food," she said.

So, how does a land lubber end up married to a mermaid? Judging by this fun little short, offered for free from the author for her own birthday, the answer is not entirely meat and cake, but meat and cake wouldn't be far off, as answers go. This is a fun little bit of fan service offering up Patrick and Dianda's meeting, a first date of sorts. The primary interest here, for me, is the quick look at Patrick's friends, who I shall leave nameless due to series spoilers.

As usual with the October Daye short stories, a word about the series is in order. This short is set prior to the story "[b:Never Shines the Sun|28448614|Never Shines the Sun (October Daye, #0.5)|Seanan McGuire|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1451928176s/28448614.jpg|48617693]" and the first book of the series, [b:Rosemary and Rue|6294549|Rosemary and Rue (October Daye #1)|Seanan McGuire|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1406866868s/6294549.jpg|6478937], but it contains spoilers for the series through book eight, [b:The Winter Long|15748529|The Winter Long (October Daye, #8)|Seanan McGuire|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1397500522s/15748529.jpg|21440957], and McGuire herself recommends you have read at least that far in the series first. (Aside from spoilers, you will not have any idea who these people are if you have not read at least through the middle of the series.) I stand by my usual recommendation: Read this series in publication order, and you will not go wrong. So, if you you've not yet dipped into the life and times of Sir October Daye and her friends, head on over to Rosemary and Rue and check it out. If you're all up to speed, this lovely short is available for free download in ePub, MOBI, and PDF right here:
http://seananmcguire.com/tobyshorts.php ( )

This is a story that is free on Seanan’s website but don’t read it unless you are pretty much caught up with the novels because there can be some spoilers in there. This is the first meeting of Patrick and Dianda and I would love to see more of them than what we get in the series. But the look at some other people in the story was amazing and just makes me want to go back and read everything again.

A nice gift of the writer to her fans. Go and treat yourself if you are caught up and haven’t read it yet.
( )

something I didn't expect to be saying a few books ago: Simon Torquill has joined my list of favourite characters.

Dianda and Patrick were already my favourites, but this short story definitely cemented that. ( )

Patrick and Diandra's first meeting. Sweet, with great looks at their backgrounds, and a reminder of how badass Diandra is. (violenceschool!) ( )

Loved it. The first meeting of Patrick and Dianda - and _Patrick_ says who he is. I'm trying to remember how we first meet them - are they already established married when Toby meets them, or does she have some part in their relationship? Can't remember (I must say, reading the stories makes me want to reread the novels - again). I love the young(ish) Dianda, and how they spend their time - and Dianda's father's reaction to her disappearing. And Patrick's engines, and and...I think this is my favorite of the short stories. ( )