Teika Marija Smits is one of the finest short story writers to emerge on the genre scene in recent years. Her storytelling relies on keen observation of the world and people around her interpreted through the lens of her imagination, dancing between science fiction, realism, and horror. Umbilical features selected stories from her output so far alongside several new stories, published here for the first time. An AI repairman keeps his true purpose hidden; Baba Yaga sets up home close to a black hole; a mother and daughter share a unique bond which none can sunder; a painter literally invests body and soul in her work; a plague of flies search for their Madonna; Sherlock Holmes calls upon his psychic cousin Isadora for help with an intriguing case... Icarus Dreams Death of the Grapevine His Birth The Wife That Never Was Umbilical How to Honour a Beginning Minotaur/Mindtour Delphine as Daedalus The Case of the High Pavement Ghosts Girls’ Night Out ATU334 the Wise Our Lady of Flies The Green Man A Piece of Fabric the Size of a Pin Machina in Deo The Eyes of the Goddess Herself A Survival Guide for the Contemporary Princess This Little Piggy Tough Love The Sun is God Star Making at Sellafield The November Room or Leaving the Labyrinth High quality stories that defy both genre and gender boundaries.