#24 — a spider weaves, weaves

CABARET IN FLAMES is out (and i have a column now)!

Author

Hache Pueyo
March 31, 2026

Hello again,

It’s been a while, but I’m back to say that my new novella CABARET IN FLAMES is finally out! If you’re here because of But Not Too Bold, I must warn you that this story is much darker, but it does have monsters too, if that’s your thing.

The covers for the US and UK editions of Cabaret in Flames. One has a bald woman with bionic limbs that look like they're bleeding, and the other features the lobby of a hotel with a mysterious man behind the counter. Both have dark colors, a nightly atmosphere and tropical plants.

Guls can be brutal. Few know this better than Ariadne, who lost half her body to their appetites, but their brutality is a predictable constant amid Brazil’s political chaos. Now, she treats them in the specialized clinic she inherited from Erik Yurkov—the mentor who rescued her as a child, trained her in medicine, built her prostheses, and disappeared without a trace.

Ariadne’s routine is disturbed when Quaint knocks on her door: a charming, tattooed gul claiming to be Erik’s oldest friend. Quaint suspects foul play in Erik’s disappearance, and they soon discover Erik sought asylum at Cabaré, an infamous club in Rio de Janeiro frequented by the gul elite.

Together, Ariadne and Quaint will unravel the conspiracy behind their friend’s disappearance, navigate the labyrinthine world of Ariadne’s memories, and discover what Erik means to them—and what they are starting to mean to each other.

I won’t continue the recommendations here because I’m trying to cut down the workload due to health issues, but if you enjoyed those, I also have a new column at Reactor called Found in Translation, where I’ll review translated speculative books across the world twice a month.

Hache 🕷️