The third book in "The Foundling" trilogy. The Lostling takes place directly after None Can Hold the Dark, as Alec and Diego relocate to San Francisco. There, amid salty winter wind and fog, Alec's lost memories slowly return and he must relive some of his most painful and terrifying moments to regain his forgotten self. In agonizing dreams and flashes of memory, he finally remembers what happened to him... and why. Excerpt: Putting a hand on his arm or leg, I can always feel the tremor of Diego even through his clothes, an innate wildness, a life-power. I always believed, from the first day Diego found me unconscious and dying, floating in the middle of a sapphire Caribbean ocean, there was a core of me unhidden, unforgotten, that cried out silently to the air and everything around me communicating who I am, what I am. I can't remember it myself. Not that core, not anything up to the day I awoke in Diego's bed, sick and panicked. In that moment, I remembered nothing more than my first name, and even that memory is suspect. But this core of me demands to take things into its own hands to be seen, to make sure it remains "I am." I believe Diego saw it, the urgent desperation in me wanting to be witnessed, and he made a promise to that essence of me, to that heart of me, that he would see me through anything that came my way. Something in me reached up and latched onto him, a clasping energy, and Diego clasped back. It caught and held him. He was moved. He was compelled. He was mesmerized. ____________

Author Biography

Wendy Rathbone has had dozens of stories published in anthologies such as: Hot Blood, Writers of the Future (second place, ) Bending the Landscape, Mutation Nation, A Darke Phantastique, and more. Over 500 of her poems have been published in anthologies and magazines. She won first place in the Anamnesis Press poetry chapbook contest with her book "Scrying the River Styx." Her poems have been nominated for the Science Fiction Poetry Association's Rhysling award at least a dozen times. Her recent books include: "Letters To An Android," science fiction novel "Turn Left at November" poetry collection "Beneath the Blue Dusk and the Sea" fantasy and science fiction short story collection "Pale Zenith," science fiction novel "Moltenrose," stories set in the Pale Zenith universe "The Foundling," male/male romance novel "None Can Hold the Dark," (book 2 in The Foundling trilogy) "The Lostling: Alec's Story" (book 3 in The Foundling trilogy) "The Secret Sharer," science fiction romance novella "Unearthly," omnibus collection of 7 out-of-print poetry booklets "The Vampire Diaries: The Myth," available from Kindle Worlds "The Vampire Dairies: Deep In the Virginia Woods," available from Kindle Worlds "My House Is Full of Whispers," erotica short story collection She lives in Yucca Valley, CA with her partner of 34 years, Della Van Hise.