Published  May 23, 2023 by Creative James Media Submerged in a toxic relationship and disconnected from everyone, she turns to the sea to de...

Feature Fiction || When Oceans Rise by Robin Alvarez


Published May 23, 2023 by Creative James Media


Submerged in a toxic relationship and disconnected from everyone, she turns to the sea to decide her fate. Its decision? Toss her to the sea witch.

Seventeen-year-old Malaya is cursed. In her family, every girl's first love ends in death after falling for someone evil. Good thing Malaya's dream guy isn't monstrous.

Except the curse is real and preventing Malaya from noticing how much he has gaslit and isolated her until she can't be saved. With no other options, the sea witch is the only one to help her.

Bartering her voice for a new life where she and her abusive boyfriend never met, Malaya accidentally swaps places with an alternate timeline version of herself who never made her mistakes. As she tries to undo the switch, the sea witch uses Malaya's voice to unleash Filipino mythological creatures into the worlds.

Can a champion, an alternate timeline sister, and Malaya fight these beasts and stop the sea witch before she destroys both timelines?

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Robin Alvarez is a beach bum living in the desert with her husband and two kids. She has worked in news stations, made TV commercials, edited high-end wedding videos, crafted industrial animations, been a photographer, a painter, and an English teacher. After having kids, she switched to working from home by teaching Chinese students online and returned to school to get her masters in creative writing. Robin was co-editor of the literary magazine The Sage, in which her short stories have been published. She has written for The Bend Business and currently works at Sul Ross University as a Writing Center Coordinator.

In her free time, Robin enjoys watching K-dramas while doing face masks, singing karaoke poorly, making her kids costumes, and swimming with her family. You can connect with her on TikTok at: @robiiehood