It begins with a seed. A dream. An idea, planted and encouraged to grow. A thought that buries deep down inside and puts out monstrous roots. Until, at last, the bloom erupts and showers the land with life. It begins with a seed… The menopause brings some unusual and unexpected changes, a woman wakes up after a party in a body that isn’t hers, a teen’s life changes forever when they embrace the truth about who they are, and a lone mother tries to bury her traumatic past but instead grows a terrible future... An unsettling selection of quiet horror and dark speculative fiction brought together in a brand new collection from Australian Shadows Award-winner, Tabatha Wood. Contents: SHOOTS (a burst of tendrils ~ flash fiction). Bloom. Red-Eye. The Path Between the Trees. Breathing Room. LEAVES (an unfurling of fronds ~ short fiction). Becoming. Just Deserts. The Nameless Ones. That Quiet Voice. BUDS (a floret of promise ~ medium fiction). Marian. The Box. Best Boy, Best Friend. Merry Christmas, Other You. BLOOMS (a blaze of petals ~ longer fiction). Night Wolves. Birth Rites. In Loving Memory. Long Drop.