Devotion in the Open Air
Edited by Chyina Powell
18 Cozy, Beautiful Stories
Within the pages of Devotion In The Open Air you’ll find eighteen stories written by women of color from all walks of life that embrace the beauty in the everyday with speculative tales to bring you out of the fast-paced chaos of real life, immersing you in something much more contented.
This collection of stories delivers relaxed takes on life’s real issues such as family trauma, discovering identity, and healing from a past that would rather be forgotten. While all the stories are speculative and low-stakes they are vastly different. Some ask the reader to imagine a world only slightly different from our own while others take you to a new universe entirely. Yet each one invites you to have a seat, pull up a chair, and breathe.
Combined Trigger Warnings: Death of a sibling, death of a parent, history of American slavery, allusion to children’s deaths due to sickness, war, accidents, and abandonment (though the causes are not explicitly depicted on page), grief, emotional abuse, miscarriage, disownment, generational trauma, racism, governmental oppression, loss of parents and siblings, social isolation, brief reference to child trafficking, infant death, master/servant relationships and social class discrimination.
Featuring
Ministry of Moss by Kionna Walker LeMalle
Collecting Dragonflies by Stefanie Contreras
Don’t Look Under the Bed by Chere Taylor
Naija Babylon by Molara Wood
Subbed Out by Sandhya Singh
Sunna’s Eclipse by L. Nabang
The Sacred in the Mirth by Amena Jamali
Mother, Ghost, Bride by Audris Candra
Dova by Kay Mabasa
Birds of Sky, Shadows of Earth by Carla E. Dash
The Secret Keeper by Marie Sinadjan
The Wish of a Tree by Veronica Faline
Tale of the Moon by Huang Chen
Red Dancing Shoes by Joti Bilkhu
The Autochthon by T. H. Yuan
The Familiar’s Gambit by Maggie H.
Horro and the Mirrimit by M. M. Sahoo
Dear Ekemini byWinifred Òdúnóku
About the Book
Genre: Speculative fiction Anthology
Page Count: 308
ISBN
Paperback: 978-1-952969-28-7
E-book: 978-1-952969-29-4
Cover Design by Psycat Studio
Release Date: February 24, 2025
About the Editor
Chyina Powell
Chyina Powell is an award-winning author, editor and founder. She began Powell Editorial in order to help emerging writers become published authors. She offers diverse services including sensitivity reading, developmental editing, and manuscript critiques and is always happy to share her knowledge of the publishing industry with her writers. Moreover, Chyina is an advocate for diversity in publishing which led her to create the Women of Color Writers’ Circle Inc., a nonprofit organization that offers community and safe space to women of color writers globally regardless of genre or where they are in their writing career. Chyina Powell is the author of six books and always has at least three WIPs in the works. When she is not writing or working with writers, you can find her with a book in hand and a cup of tea nearby.