The Baron's Box

What would you do if you discovered yourself in an afterworld unlike any you'd ever imagined? When Sara wakes up on that shallow boat, she doesn't remember who she was or where she had been. Eventually, she discovers that she isn't lost and she hasn't been kidnapped. She is dead.

But this afterlife is not what she expected. The Empyrean with its Guardians and that vile workshop full of moaning people isn't heaven. And the Nether Realm, full of wild animals, that dreadful wolf-headed Guardian and his lost ones, isn't hell. They call this the Bardo. But Sara doesn't know what that means.

Remember, Release, Return is the motto of the Bardo but Sara remembers nothing. All she has is a body she doesn't recognize and a name that doesn't sound familiar. Besides, isn't death a one-way journey? How can she return to her previous life?

Her only hope is to join with her companion, the one they call Sam, to complete The Baron Samedi's mission to deliver a coffin-shaped box Kore, the Queen of the Dead. And then, and then ...

In this stunning debut novella, The Baron's Box: Stories from the Bardo, Mary Ann Clark invites us follow Sara on her journey through the afterlife. Will she remember enough of her life to understand why she and her compeer, Sam, were thrown together? Will they be able to work together to release the emotions of their lives and tragic deaths? Can they meet the challenges of the Bardo and fulfill their promises to each other? Fans of The Five People You Meet in Heaven and Lincoln in the Bardo will enjoy this imaginative new story.