Seven Cups of Tea by Gwen C. Katz. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. #fantasy #steampunk #fairytale 

This cup of tea is weak and bitter. It’s made of boiled roots, and the taste of dirt is still there. Eliza looks dubiously into the wooden cup. She likes sugar in her tea, white sugar especially, two lumps if she’s allowed it. But she senses that she will have no sugar at all for a very long time.

The Prime Minister’s face hovers in her mind. His face is commanding rather than handsome, light-skinned, sharp-angled, with a clockwork acuity lens fixed over the left eye. His words echo in her ears: “Little girls don’t go to war. What will I do with you?”

Gwen C. Katz is a writer, artist, and retired mad scientist who lives in Pasadena, California with her husband and a revolving door of transient animals. She has loved Hans Christian Andersen since she was little and thinks there ought to be more fairy tales about the power of democracy, and she was happy to have a chance to bring both together in “Seven Cups of Tea.” Find out more at gwenckatz.com or follow her on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram @gwenckatz.