Just beneath the hovercar lanes, in a Toronto very much like ours, sits an unassuming diner called Rocket Ray's. There, Shoeshine Boy spots the girl of his dreams-if his dreams ever got that good. No stranger to men, Cigarette Girl isn't easily impressed, but something about Shoeshine Boy tells her this one just might be worth her time.
Over steaming cups of coffee, they dream of a life just out of reach. Goodhearted Shoeshine Boy just wants to give his girl the moon, even if that means risking everything. Cigarette Girl, a grifter used to looking out for number one, finds her priorities shifting as her heart soars like the rockets in the sky.
When a well-dressed stranger enters the picture, he presents them with opportunities that put their love to the test. Will Shoeshine Boy & Cigarette Girl make each other's dreams come true, or lose each other in the process?
Autorentext
P.A. Cornell is an award-winning, Chilean-Canadian, speculative fiction author. In 2024, she became the first ever Chilean writer to be nominated for the Nebula Award for her story, "Once Upon a Time at The Oakmont," also a finalist for the Aurora and World Fantasy Awards. Additionally, Cornell has been long-listed for the 2023 and 2024 BSFA Awards, and in 2022, her story, "Splits," won Canada's 2022 Short Works Prize for Published Fiction. Despite her early interest in fiction, Cornell's first publications were in non-fiction as a journalist and copy editor. Since 2015, she's dedicated herself to writing science fiction, fantasy, and horror full time, and her stories have appeared in over fifty magazines and anthologies, including three "Best of" anthologies.