Michelle L. Levigne's Blog, page 178

Jane Bondservant #3

When we last met, I was at work in the school office, suffering the strain of avoiding mass quantities of paper cuts. Suddenly I saw a familiar car pulling up to the academy entrance at the back of the church.  My nemesis, Dr. Jose Noway, was at the wheel.
You may ask how I can consider Dr. Noway my nemesis when we have, in fact, never actually met. Good question.
Usually Dr. Noway has been the puppet-master, directing his minions in their various nefarious deeds on behalf of Zebob Industries. And of course, up until I finished my last assignment and came here to the school, I was in the position of being a puppet on behalf of the Agency. Let me qualify that statement: the Agency doesn't believe in having mindless puppets. We are expected to think for ourselves. We are expected to ask for help when we get in over our heads. We are held responsible for our mistakes and our bad decisions.
Funny thing is, the mindless puppets of Zebob Industries get (excuse the euphemism, but this is family-oriented flash fiction) "terminated" when it technically isn't their fault that they failed. They did what they were told, when they were told -- common sense says it's the fault of the puppet-masters, not the puppets, when a plan goes horribly awry.
Or, when it comes to encounters with the Agency, it's the "fault" of my associates and me, because we worked danged hard to make sure things didn't go according to Zebob's plans.
Even funnier, when we mess up, and it really is our fault … the Big Boss doesn't terminate us. We get chewed out. We get humiliated. Sometimes Zebob's minions are allowed to make us miserable, but we aren't sent to the metaphorical ash can in the sky, if you get my drift.
So, what this all means is that I had a lot of details on what Dr. Noway looked like, what he sounded like, and the things he and his associates such as Silverfist had done on behalf of Zebob Industries … but chances were so-so that he didn't know what I looked like. Puppet-masters tend to ignore everyone's puppets.
Yeah, like that made me feel the slightest bit better, seeing him getting out of that vintage black Lincoln of his -- parked in an Academy visitor parking slot, no less -- and head for the door?
This was one of those times when I wished the Agency would indeed issue field operatives some really snazzy, super-deluxe, more-effective-than-a-nuclear-bomb weaponry. But alas, most of our training was in hand-to-hand.
(Not combat, per se, such as in Bruce Lee or Chuck Norris moves, but hand-pressed-to-hand, with the knees on the ground, whenever possible. Since such maneuvers have an extremely high success rate, who am I to argue?)
(Still, a super-silent, ultra-compact stunner gun would be nice. But of course, I wouldn't dream of bringing a deadly weapon into a school building. The safety of the students comes first, even if those same students need a serious lesson in respect for their elders and not talking with their mouths full.)
Speaking of children … what are those two adorable little girls doing, walking hand-in-hand with Dr. Noway?

Off the Bookshelf: SMITTEN

Perfect title!

Read this collection of four interconnected romances by these four fun authors, and you'll be smitten yourself! I think I picked up this book in the freebie room at RT in Chicago. Perfect place to find a romance novel, don't you think?

Colleen Coble, Kristin Billerbeck, Diann Hunt and Denise Hunter were already writing friends. Now they're co-conspirators, creating the charming, quirky must-be-saved town of Smitten.

The word is that the four heroines of the four novellas in this collection are alter egos of our four authors. If that's true ... I wish they were my writing friends. Brainstorming meetings must be a blast!

What's the book about? Essentially, Smitten is in deep trouble -- the mill is closing and without some quick thinking and a new industry, the town will shrivel up and blow away. Enter our four heroines, Natalie, Shelby, Julia and Reese. Their solution? Capitalize on the town's name and turn it into a destination town for romance. While they're renovating Smitten -- and dragging the menfolk, kicking and screaming into the new, romantic version -- each of our heroines gets some renovations in their own love lives.

Major fun. Curl up with a bag of your favorite chocolate and a few handy tissues and prepare for a charming read with smiles, giggles, sighs, some "awwww" moments, and even a few tears.

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Jane Bondservant #2

Last week, I gave you an idea of what my life is like right now. Undercover assignment as a librarian and Jane-of-all-trades at a local Christian school.
The problem with this undercover assignment is that I don't know WHAT the big bosses have me waiting for. It'd be nice to know what I'm supposed to look for, you know? So here I am, working away in the academy office, trying not to go into an after-lunch coma.
What's this?Outside the office window, a familiar, sinister, vintage (circa 1980) black Lincoln is cruising around the circular drive in front of the school.
Can it be?Is it really?Noway?(That's Dr. Jose Noway, actually. Agent of the despicable B.L. Zebob -- yes, that B.L. Zebob, the multi-mega-millionaire, owner of Zebob Industries. Their slogan: Whatever you want, we can get it for you, but it'll cost you your soul.)
Yeah, that Dr. Noway. Heading for my sleepy little school. Sometimes the irony of my situation just rushes up and slaps me hard enough to make me stagger backwards and bang my head against the wall. And considering that the copy machine is against the outside wall of the front office and it takes a good ten feet of staggering backwards … can you get the impact of what has just happened? I mean, honestly, I was griping about the stultifying atmosphere and my assignment, but I was NOT asking for this to happen.
Note to self: Discuss with O, for the umpteenth time, the Agency's policy on NOT issuing handguns to field agents.
Instead of seeing text from a first-grade reader in front of my eyes, I'm now getting the voice-over from a really bad melodrama. You know the kind -- with the bad organ music racing up the scale in half-steps, trying to sound sinister but only going overboard with the cliffhanger.
Has Dr. Noway found her? Has he discovered her secret identity?Will Jane finish her copying work and get all those papers stapled before all havoc breaks loose inside the school office?(It's not funny. You know how much mess dozens of loose papers can create if they get thrown around by a semi-pseudo-nuclear ray gun in the hands of an egotistical maniac?)
(And if you do know, where exactly did you get that experience? We need to talk, Bub!)

Off the Book Shelf: SHADES OF DARK

Well, so far, so good. I've been keeping up with my vow -- barely -- to read one book every week of this new year. And be accountable to those of you perusing this blog, by reporting every Monday morning on what I've read.

I'm going to be reporting on a gob of books that have been sitting for years, waiting to be read. I have, on last count, over 130 books in my to-be-read bookrack. I'm trying (and it's painful, believe me) not to buy a new book until I clear off at least 1 of the 4 shelves. Yeah, it hurts when I finally read a book that's been sitting for a while, and I want to buy the next book in the series and keep the "oh, wow, yeah, why-did-I-wait-so-danged-long-to-read-this-one?" feeling going.

Such is the case with SHADES OF DARK, sequel to GABRIEL'S GHOST, by award-winning, always-delivers, SF romance author Linnea Sinclair.

You thought Captain Chaz and Sully got themselves out of a star cruiser's worth of trouble at the end of GABRIEL and deserved a breather? No such luck! If anyone knows how to torment her H/H and make the readers hang onto their chairs and groan and cheer and bite their nails (which makes it hard to hold onto the book!), this is the lady.

Let's see. Chaz is a disgraced (framed) commander in the Fleet. Sentenced to a prison planet, where her enemies intend her to die. She gets rescued by Sully, who she --and a lot of the universe -- thought was dead. Hence the title of the first book. They set off across the galaxy in a sweet little starship that changes identities more often than the Crawley girls change their dresses during Downton Abbey. Sully has a lot of secrets, the biggest one being he's a rare human telepath. He's got members of his own family out to destroy him. The story keeps going in SHADES, as Chaz and Sully and their crew follow up on what they found out in the first book. It's ugly, folks. Treachery on every hand -- including their own crew. Prejudice and genocide, betrayal, and allies who are worse than their enemies.

Not gonna tell you any more than that. Except the expected: You gotta read this book! There are more books in the series, and I highly recommend you get your paws on ALL of them before you sit down to read, because you're gonna want to go from one to the next. I'm going to have a HUGE to-be-bought list by the time I'm allowed to buy more books. It's going to be painful waiting until I can read the next in the series. But why should you suffer? You don't have to. So don't.

The Adventures of Jane Bondservant (Reboot) #1

The name is Bondservant. Jane Bondservant.But don't look for me in the phone book.My current cover name is Smythe. Jane Smythe.By day, I'm a librarian at Parma Heights Christian Academy.By night … well, honestly, right now there isn't much going on at night, either. Which can be a good thing. Sometimes this secret agent business can be exhausting!I really think my boss, O, gave me the librarian assignment to justify a paid vacation. You know how it is with budget cuts. We might work for the Kingdom, but we have to make do with what we can get after the local political regime gets its hands on our resources.
* le sigh*
Let's continue with the introductions before I totally depress myself into needing a chocolate fix.* Marital status -- single, and while I don't exactly love it, it's a lot better than the alternative.* Superior -- O (because face it, M is in England, and it's too long of a commute to report every week)* Support -- S, because Q is too busy keeping a Brosnan-wannabe out of trouble* Nemeses -- Dr. Jose Noway and Silverfist (not as expensive, but a lot heavier than Goldfinger), and Dr. B.L. Zebob, who runs Zebob Industries.* Mission -- Hey, folks, as soon as I know, I'll tell you!
Sometimes I feel like my life is one of those first-grade readers. And not just because most of my customers these days ARE the first grade readers.  See Jane.See Jane work.Jane is at the copy machine.See the piles, and piles, and piles of papers the teachers want copied and collated and stapled.(Oh, yeah, because of a tight budget at the school, I also help out a LOT with the office chores)See Jane fight not to kick over the piles, and piles, and piles of papers -- and maybe some of the teachers.
Have you ever felt trapped in a place and among people who don't know the real you? The you capable of great and wonderful things?Imagine how much worse it is when you KNOW you can do great and wonderful things ... but you're not allowed to tell anyone.
That's the problem with a secret identity, plain Jane Smythe, a mask for Agent 777. Moving through the shadowy world of academia and suburbia, searching for opportunities to help the downtrodden, the ignored ... the kids who came to school without tissues or lunch money and the teachers who waited until Sunday night before they put together their lesson plans and handouts and pop quizzes for the week. 
Now that you have an idea of my current status ... let the games begin!

The Adventures of Jane Bondservant (Reboot)

The name is Bondservant. Jane Bondservant.But don't look for me in the phone book.My current cover name is Smythe. Jane Smythe.By day, I'm a librarian at Parma Heights Christian Academy.By night … well, honestly, right now there isn't much going on at night, either. Which can be a good thing. Sometimes this secret agent business can be exhausting!I really think my boss, O, gave me the librarian assignment to justify a paid vacation. You know how it is with budget cuts. We might work for the Kingdom, but we have to make do with what we can get after the local political regime gets its hands on our resources.
* le sigh*
Let's continue with the introductions before I totally depress myself into needing a chocolate fix.* Marital status -- single, and while I don't exactly love it, it's a lot better than the alternative.* Superior -- O (because face it, M is in England, and it's too long of a commute to report every week)* Support -- S, because Q is too busy keeping a Brosnan-wannabe out of trouble* Nemeses -- Dr. Jose Noway and Silverfist (not as expensive, but a lot heavier than Goldfinger), and Dr. B.L. Zebob, who runs Zebob Industries.* Mission -- Hey, folks, as soon as I know, I'll tell you!
Sometimes I feel like my life is one of those first-grade readers. And not just because most of my customers these days ARE the first grade readers.  See Jane.See Jane work.Jane is at the copy machine.See the piles, and piles, and piles of papers the teachers want copied and collated and stapled.(Oh, yeah, because of a tight budget at the school, I also help out a LOT with the office chores)See Jane fight not to kick over the piles, and piles, and piles of papers -- and maybe some of the teachers.
Have you ever felt trapped in a place and among people who don't know the real you? The you capable of great and wonderful things?Imagine how much worse it is when you KNOW you can do great and wonderful things ... but you're not allowed to tell anyone.
That's the problem with a secret identity, plain Jane Smythe, a mask for Agent 777. Moving through the shadowy world of academia and suburbia, searching for opportunities to help the downtrodden, the ignored ... the kids who came to school without tissues or lunch money and the teachers who waited until Sunday night before they put together their lesson plans and handouts and pop quizzes for the week. 
Now that you have an idea of my current status ... let the games begin!

Off the Book Shelf: MARRIED IN SEATTLE

What can you expect from Debbie Macomber? A heartwarming romance with some smiles.

(This copy was picked up at a used book fair at the mall -- evidenced by 2 hand-written price stickers, as well as a used bookstore stamp. Wow, this book got around! Well, it can stop wandering now -- I hold onto ALL the Debbie Macomber books that come my way.)

MARRIED IN SEATTLE is actually two novellas, both about the frustrations of two couples who never would have chosen each other -- and most likely never would have found each other -- except for some well-meaning, irritating, know-it-all, smug, stubborn interference from those who love them best.

I had to chuckle, reading about Janine and Zach, who are put together by her grandfather/his business partner. The more they tried to work together to convince her grandfather that they do not belong together -- that they don't even like each other -- the more they are drawn together.

Maybe if they had used email to communicate, the campaign would have worked better?

Then there are Meg and Steve. Her daughter and his sister placed lonely hearts ads for them, and then compounded the deception by answering as them. Suddenly Meg found herself on a first date with a man she didn't even know existed until an hour before.

And the rest is history.

If you want to relax with a fun, sweet read, this book is a good choice. Debbie always delivers!

Reboot, Anyone?

About 2 years ago, maybe more, I started doing a series of flash fiction. Present tense. Silliness. Snarky in some places. I'm going to bring it back, changing the style. You'll be getting the story through the eyes of the heroine, instead of looking over her shoulder and getting very loud authorial comments.

Our heroine:
Bondservant. Jane Bondservant.
Agent 777.

Her assignment?
Undercover work, watching for incursions of the enemy in her ordinary world.
By day, she's a librarian and jane-of-all-trades at a local Christian school.
When duty calls, she acts. Even if she isn't quite sure what needs to be done. Or it dawns on her that maybe the enemy isn't who she thought ...

So let's step back and try this funny, silly story all over again. Every Thursday, I hope you'll be back. And you'll speak up and participate! Ask questions. Make suggestions for what you think might or should or shouldn't happen.

Ready?
Set.
Go!

Off the Bookshelf: WYRD WRAVINGS

Anthologies. Love 'em or hate 'em? Depends on what the theme is... I suppose the whole purpose of anthologies is to give you a taste of a writer's style and maybe a series of books he or she is known for, so you go look for more.

WYRD WRAVINGS is an anthology of SF/F put out by Echelon Press, that I got as a prize at the Intergalactic Bar and Grill "party," hosted by Linnea Sinclair, at Romantic Times last year in Chicago. Mega-fun party. Way too short. The SF trivia game was inspired. And all the door prizes of goodies ... some silly, some great -- and delicious. (You had to be there!)

Not enough room to give you an idea of the 10 very, very different stories by 10 very, very different authors. But I had fun reading them. Wrapping my mind around them. And struggling through the "Huh?" moment when my brain had to shift gears -- quickly -- from one universe to another. A few that stand out in my mind is the hard-up-for-money time traveler who sold a dune buggy to King Tut -- or the author having major problems with his characters, who keep threatening to talk with their union rep -- or something that could only be described as desperate, unappreciated housewives meet a pyramid scheme meet an intergalactic travel agency ...

If you want a short vacation from reality, no matter what your taste is in spec fic, you'll probably find it in this book. Thanks to: Margaret Bailey, Ellen Dawn Benefield, Linda DeMeulemeester, Karen Duvall, Lazette Gifford, Lynn David Hebert, Kfir Luzatto, Janet Miller, Candace Sams, and Marc Vun Kannon.

On a side note: I'm now part of the Barn Door blog. Check it out, for insights and humor and other assorted offerings. A different blogger every day. My day is the 19th of every month. But like with an anthology, no matter what your tastes, you'll probably find something you like!