Hi, I'm Lovar Burton and this is Lovar Burton Reads.

Where at every episode I hand pick a different piece of short fiction and I read it to you.

The only thing these stories have in common is that I love them and I hope you will too.

Well y'all, today's story is one of those stories that mixes the familiar with the magical

and I love it. It's called Your Rover Is Here by LP Kendred.

Now LP Kendred is a Chicagoan and Jolino who writes speculative fiction that features black and

or queer lives. And when not writing, he can be found singing, eating good food,

pretending to be fancy, watching bad TV and lifting heavy objects.

He is or will be an alum of the Hurston Wright program, the voices of our nation's arts workshop

and the Clarion workshop. This story of his first appeared in the June 2020 issue of Faya magazine.

Your Rover is here, follows a rideshare driver trying to hit his ride bonus on the streets of

Los Angeles who maybe kind of accidentally gets mixed up in the occult when he's just out there

trying to make a living. And whether or not you're a person who knows your inherent magic users

from your mages, you're going to have fun with the way that LP has built the magical world here.

This is a story about confronting evil in a very tangible way. Now the story does have some darker

elements and it's got more adult language than usual so a heads up on that. Please check out the

written episode description if you're so inclined or worried. And now if you're ready, let's

take a deep breath.

And begin. Your Rover is here by LP Kendraid.

The LED clock beneath the dashboard glows 2.30 am.

My heart humps four hours surge through hellfire veins to combat the cars' low-ling vibrations.

I fist-script the steering wheel. Instead of squeezing, I push, not with muscles but with presence.

...