Psychopomp & Circumstance

by Eden Royce

Overview

Shirley Jackson and Nebula Award finalist author Eden Royce pens a Southern Gothic historical fantasy story of a contentious funeral in her adult fiction debut.

"A tale of loss and hope and how the present can give way to new futures."—Kirkus Reviews

Phee St. Margaret is a daughter of the Reconstruction, born to a family of free Black business owners in New Charleston. Coddled to within an inch of her life by a mother who refuses to let her daughter live a life other than the one she dictates, Phee yearns to demonstrate she's capable of more than simply marrying well.

When word arrives that her Aunt Cleo, long estranged from the family, has passed away, Phee risks her mother's wrath to step up and accept the role of pomp—the highly honored duty of planning the funeral service. Traveling alone to the town of Horizon and her aunt's unsettling home, Phee soon discovers that visions and shadows beckon from every reflective surface, and that some secrets transcend the borders of life and death.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250330963
Publisher:	Tor Publishing Group
Publication date:	10/21/2025
Pages:	176
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 8.00(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Eden Royce is a writer from Charleston, South Carolina now living in Southeast England. She’s a Shirley Jackson Award winner and a Bram Stoker Award nominee for her adult fiction, which has appeared in a variety of print and online publications. Her books for young readers have won multiple awards, including the Ignyte, the Bram Stoker, and the Walter Dean Myers Honor.

Editorial Reviews

"Royce wraps magical rituals of death and remembrance into a tale of love and duty...this Southern gothic historical fantasy is a coming-of-age story set in the magical, semi-mythical towns of New Charleston and Horizon, amid a post-Reconstruction free Black social order that will delight readers of Leslye Penelope, Nekesa Afia, and C. L. Polk."—Library Journal (starred review)

"A tale of loss and hope and how the present can give way to new futures."—Kirkus Reviews

"A deeply loving exploration of grief, loss, and the righting of past wrongs as experienced by a young woman who’s coming into her own power for the first time in her life. It’s set in a lush and complex world with a history and magic all its own, and I highly recommend it."—Moniquill Blackgoose, author of To Shape a Dragon's Breath

"Quietly atmospheric southern-gothic."—Booklist

"With flourishes of magic and mystique underpinning the tale, Psychopomp and Circumstance is a nimble story of beginnings, endings, and everything in between. Enchanting from the first to last word, you'll ponder about death—and the rather unexpected opportunities it brings."—Nicole Glover, author of The Conductors

"Eden Royce's enthralling novella Psychopomp & Circumstance is as if a Gothic novel and a gaslamp fantasy had an alternate Reconstruction era baby. Despite its focus on the sad question of how best to say goodbye to a loved one, the gentle skillfulness of Royce's storytelling is both soothing and compelling. This is a story with magic, revelations and twists that doesn't shy away from the worst parts of the Reconstruction, but does so only to heal and present the everyday triumphs and tremendous heart at the core of its wonderful characters. If you loved the charm and originality of C.L. Polk's Kingston Cycle series, this is the novella for you!"—R. S. A. Garcia, Nebula Award winner and Sturgeon, Locus, and Ignyte awards finalist, and author of The Nightward

"Energetic and delicate, intimate and splendid. So colorful, so cozy, and yet so haunted: Eden Royce’s Psychopomp and Circumstance is an adventure of deep awakening set during the Reconstruction Era, vigorously reimagined in magic-steeped sepia." —C. S. E. Cooney, World Fantasy Award-winning author of Saint Death’s Daughter

“As an eldest daughter, Phaedra’s battles reminded me of how much courage and self-love it takes to become and continue becoming in a world that doesn’t set you up to. From the moment we started her journey I was hooked, I couldn’t put it down.” —A$iahMae, Poet Laureate of Charleston, SC

"Psychopomp & Circumstance is a beautiful story of family, love, grief, and self-acceptance in a fascinating fantasy world that feels familiar, yet also unsettling and wondrous. Eden Royce draws complex and emotionally satisfying relationships—I sympathized with Phee right away, and as I read on, I loved her more and more. This is a treat for anyone who loves things like C. S. E. Cooney’s Dark Breakers world, or Nghi Vo’s Siren Queen."—Julia Rios, Hugo-award-winning editor and author

​"This is a story whose profound commitment to kin—whether born or made—will resonate deeply. Through a combination of fierce will and tender heart, Phee shows us how to find love and laughter, and perhaps even ourselves, through the process of reckoning with loss. What a delightful book!"—Jenna N. Hanchey, PhD, British Science Fiction Association Award Finalist author of Decolonial Dreamwork: Africanfuturism and Imagination Beyond Development

From the Publisher