This week for Six Sentence Sunday, a new section of the WIP I just submitted to a publisher. Let me know what you think of Cat’s Paw!
“We can’t open the windows?”
Sue’s smile turned hungry, and my gut clenched again. I was alone in a truck with a strange Shifter, and she was smiling hungrily and looking at me. Worst of all, I didn’t want to run.
“I get loud. It’s a habit I picked up, and I can’t seem to break it.”
This week for Six Sentence Sunday, more Fae Eye!
Micah was a veritable pillar of conventional masculinity. His cropped dark hair was so short it stood on end; Ophilia was curious if it felt spiky, or soft, or both. Sable eyes were full of a quiet vigilance that was neither stupid nor accusing. Knowing eyes, her mother would have called them. Tall, with broad shoulders that showed even through the inexpensive suits he wore. Muscles rippled beneath the thin fabric of his shirts, and every time she looked at him, her head filled with fantasies of those muscles covered in sweat rather than fabric.
Here we go, with some more Fae Eye!
Every night as Micah walked her down to the door, he reminded himself what this fey mortal, this living work of art, would see when she looked at him.
A plain, bland, unremarkable man in a plain, bland, unremarkable suit.
It was unlikely, at best, that Ophilia would give him more than a cursory glance. Still, the triptych would take at least a few more nights to complete, and there was every reason to believe that she would be brought back the next time the museum needed a restoration. She was as much an artist as she was a work of art.
And, whether she knew it or not, she was his to Protect.
OK, in the new year I’ll be posting bits from a new book. Well, a different book to last time, anyhow. Here’s a Six Sunday from Fae Eye for the Golem Guy.
Ophilia worked with the grace of a dancer, hands sure and certain as they glided over the surface of the ancient wooden tablets. Rings encircled each of her fingers, linked together with slim silvered chains that bound them to the thick silver bracelets on her wrists. Just above each bracelet the body art began, continuing across every portion of her exposed skin except her face.
Ophilia’s state of dishabille while she worked had shocked him at first. Like some heathen savage, she hid only the barest essentials of herself. A swath of leather supported small, firm breasts, and another apron-like swath protected her from belly to mid-thigh. Beyond that and her jewelry, she routinely removed all her other garments before beginning work.
Okay, ladies and gents, there’s no official Six Sentence Sunday this week, but I can’t leave you all hanging! This week, in honor of the holiday, I give you six from my military action-romance novella, A Christmas Evening Vigil.
Sebastian knelt, his head bowed. He felt the men of the unit shuffling in around him, pressing close. The smell of old decay grew stronger, sickly sweet overpowering the incense. Sebastian ignored them, trying to remember the simple prayers his mother had taught him in his youth. As hard as he tried, the words wouldn’t come. In the end, his father’s words were what he remembered; “son,” his father had told him, “it don’t matter what you say, or how you say it, just that you mean it.”
One more bit of Kent and Karin from Cat’s Paw for you. Next week I think I may have some others for you from my Christmas story, A Christmas Evening Vigil.
Kent took a few steps away from the door, as far as the narrow complex
corridor would allow him. Looking annoyed at the width of the corridor, he launched himself at her door, his shoulder hitting it like a linebacker tackling a running back, or a cop taking down a fleeing suspect. Karin knew he’d been both in his checkered past, before he ‘retired’ to run his ‘web development’ company. The crack as his shoulder hit the thick metal of her door brought a cruel smile to her face.
“Let me in, bitch. You’re mine.”
“That is one thing I won’t be again, Kent. Go away.”
It’s that time of year again! Time for holiday cheer! Time for holiday visits! Time for holiday food! Time for holiday Contests!
Okay, guys, I’m not sure if you heard, but I was at Authors After Dark this past August. Before the convention I cooked up a whole batch of pfefferneuse. For those of you who don’t know what those are, they’re small, hard, spherical, ginger and anise flavored cookies. I make them according to an old family recipe that includes enough butter to make Paula Deen beg for an end to the butteryness.
At any rate, I took a batch of them along to AAD. Many of them I put into little snack sized bags. However, I had a few that I put in larger containers to give out at the panels I was on. Of course, the first panel I was on was a panel on humor in romance, and none other than Dakotah Cassidy was on the panel. She took one look at my pfefferneuse and dubbed them ‘Robert’s Balls’.
Didn’t stop her from eating them. They’re Very Popular.
So! That’s my contest and (part of) my prize! In the comments tell me your favorite christmas treat! It can be cookies, or candy, or cake, or even something (gasp!) healthy, just so long as it’s edible. At the end of the week I’ll be cooking up a big batch of pfefferneuse, and the winner gets a big ‘ol batch of them, plus a copy of my Christmas Steampunk story, ‘A Christmas Evening Vigil’.
While you’re at it, check out the rest of the Mistletoe Madness! Be sure to enter to win the Mistletoe Madness grand prize, a Nook with ALL of the following books on:
A Brush of Darkness -Allison Pang
A Hard Habit to Break – KC Kendricks
Angel in the Middle – Marie Dees
Betting on Hope – Kay Keppler
Blood of the Maple – Dana Marie Bell
Cry Wolf – Angela Campbell
Dearly Departed – Lia Habel
Entanglements – PR Mason
Eris – D. Renee Bagby
Golden – Joely Sue Burkhart
Grey’s Lady – Natasha Blackthorne
Her Dark Knight – Sharon Cullen
Hunting Kat – PJ Schnyder
Knight of Runes – Ruth A. Casie
Leading Her To Heaven – Kayleigh Jamison
Love on Cloud Nine – Linda Andrews
Lust on the Rocks – Dianne Venetta
Men of the Sea Anthology – Eliza Knight
Murdering Eve – Kelly Lee
Redaction – Linda Andrews
Relearning the Ropes – DC Juris
Risking Trust – Adrienne Giordano
Shadows & Dust – Yvonne Nicolas
Sloane Wolf – Margay Leah Justice
Snowy Encounters – Clarissa Yip
Soul Catcher – Vivi Andrews
The Alchemist’s Perfect Instrument – AL Davroe
The Demon He Knows – RA Vaughn
The Fallen Queen – Jane Kindred
The Knife’s Edge – Stephanie Draven
Underdead – Liz Jasper
What Not To Fear – Robert C. Roman
White Hot Christmas: Santa’s Claws – Stephanie Burke
Go! Enter! Win! And call me when you get back, I love these little chats.
A quick update, and a bit of insight into my process, such as it is.
First, congratulations to Shonna, Krystal, and Dayle – Shonna won my Halloween giveaway, and Krystal and Dayle both responded to my AAD loot giveaway. Apologies go out to all three as well; I’d intended to send things out about a month ago, but as some of you know a nasty rootkit ate my desktop PC. In appreciation for your patience, I’ve included a few extra goodies in each packet. Enjoy!
While I’ve learned that for almost everything my laptop is actually a superior machine (many thanks to the sister-in-law!) it is not, unfortunately, machine psychic. It could not actually grok my old notes that I’d left behind on the old machine, and it definitely didn’t have the desktop to-do lists I’d made myself.
In short, it’s taken me this long to get my head back on straight.
But! The packages are in the mail! They should be getting there soon! Huzzah!
It’s that time again! Six Sentence Sunday time! More of the Cat’s Paw conversation between creepy Kent and sarcastic Karin for you!
“You can’t call the cops, love: you cut your landline and this static will keep your wireless from connecting. Now, why don’t you stop fucking around and open the damn door before you make me mad?”
“I hope you get mad enough to have an aneurysm, you piece of shit. I hope you hit that door so hard your fucking bones break, and I hope you die, painfully, of some self inflicted wound. Am I making myself clear? Fuck Off.”
Hallo all! It’s my birthday on Tuesday, but I’m giving out the presents! Six more from Cat’s Paw, from me to all of you!
“Come on, Karin, let me in. I’m sorry,” he lied, “I don’t want to hurt you, I just want to see you.”
“You’ve still got the pictures, Kent; you’ve still got the videos and the sensory recordings. Go home and play with those.”
“They’re not the same.”
“Yeah, I know; I’m wearing clothes, and the pictures won’t call the cops.”