Kate Maruyama is a writer who was raised on books and weaned on movies in New England. She now writes, teaches, edits, cooks, and eats in Los Angeles. Her novel Harrowgate was published by 47North. She has a novella, Halloween Beyond: A Gentleman's Suit, out with Crystal Lake Publishing. Her non-genre novel Alterations is was just released from Running Wild Press.

Her short work appears in Asimov's, Entropy, Analog Science Fiction & Fact, Duende and The Coachella Review among others. Kate is a member of the SFWA and the HWA where she serves on the Diverse Works Inclusion Committee, where she helps edit The Seers' Table. She has served as a juror for the Bram Stoker Awards and twice for the Shirley Jackson Awards. She is currently serving on the working board of Women Who Submit.

Safer by Kate Maruyama

Los Angeles is in lockdown, "Safer at home," so Soledad, a college student, jumps at the opportunity to be live-in caretaker for Story, the son of an A-list celebrity. Solid pay and a change of scene are just what she needs in the pandemic. The parents are high maintenance, but she and Story form a quick bond. The dazzling lifestyle shows its dark underside when unsettling occurrences mount. Now it turns out the job that would set Soledad up for college might derail her life entirely if she decides to keep Story safer. In this novella Maruyama explores what parents will do for a child, and what happens to outsiders in unsafe houses.

CURATOR'S NOTE

The author of Harrowgate pens a modern Gothic set during the COVID-19 lockdowns, in which a college student who accepts a caretaker job for a celebrity's son finds things to fear in close quarters. – Mike Allen

 

REVIEWS

  • "Safer reads fast (I devoured it in one sitting), and even better, you'll believe in this story. You'll fall in love with Sol, and Maruyama's deft enough to keep the villains from stereotype…"

    – E.A. Broadbent, author Ink Vine

  • "This book is hauntingly intense, nightmarishly perfect. You ever start into one of those books that linger on your mind and seem to cause many mixed emotions within you? Look no further."

    – Showcasing Books

  • "I definitely recommend…good on a dark rainy day, with a cup of tea, for some good spooky vibes. It is difficult to bring the Gothic genre into more modern settings and Murayama does this seamlessly."

    – Thy Caelestis
 

BOOK PREVIEW

Excerpt

Mom didn't want me to take the job at first. I wonder now if she knew, somehow.

She said, "You'll be living in their house, mija. How much of a creep is the dad?" She had gotten a little too into the whole Schwarzenegger housekeeper scandal and worried for any domestic worker friend out there. People magazine was her drug of choice.

"Mom, I can take care of myself. Damn." Plus, what else was I going to do with the summer of COVID? Los Angeles was in full lockdown. The restaurant where I used to work lucrative weekend shifts was closed. I had two more years of college and the online jobs were all taken. It's not like the preschool where I worked was reopening any time soon. And there was no seeing anybody during this thing. If I got this job, at least I'd be around people again. I seriously missed people. Going from two jobs and packed classes to my own four walls was too much too fast. I needed this.

"Where is it?" She was frying something sizzly. I missed her meals like crazy and hanging with her when she cooked. But two years this side of breast cancer, she was at risk, and we were keeping each other safe. Sure, she left me Tupperware full of food when I dropped off groceries, but it wasn't the same.

"Up in Beachwood Canyon or something. It's called Wolf's Lair?"

She gasped. "Moby owned that place for years. It's supposed to be haunted!" People magazine strikes again.

"Haunted how?" I heard that edge coming into my voice I sometimes got with my mom, and it made me feel bad, since I saw her so seldom these days, but I knew I was in for some line of haunted celebrity bullshit she'd picked up from E! Online or something.

"He sold it to 'Anonymous.' You're going to work for Anonymous! Oh my God, take some pictures, will you? Maybe leave your camera on when you walk around? You have to tell me who Anonymous is."

"It's an interview, Ma. I don't think filming it would look good."

"Then you'd better get that job."

All her cautionary tales had somehow fallen away for a chance that her kid might work for someone famous enough to gossip about.