Michelle L. Levigne's Blog, page 5

Excerpt: QUITTING THE HERO BIZ, Neighborlee, Ohio, Book 6

 “What do we do?” Janethought of the lovely town that felt like home, the warm, friendly people, andthe Rivals finally making a move. Something worse than leaving those arrogant,power-grubbing Grandstones like a rusty spike in the town, to mark their spotand give them a foothold when they finally decided to act.

“Other than hope fora nice, tidy explosion to wipe the whole moronic town of Fendersburg off themap and set you free?" Beauregard winked. Demetrius snorted.

A bottle of whiskey levitated over from behind a stackof books that didn't hide it very well. Jane waited, holding her breath whilethe bottle tipped and poured three fingers' worth into the glass-bottomedtankard Demetrius always used, no matter what he drank, hot or cold, commonbeverages or scientific experiments. She was grateful his telekinetic talentswere at full power right now. Depending on the phases of the moon and whateverproblems he had, his energy levels could be high enough to be dangerous toeveryone around him, or so low he couldn't even get out of his own chairwithout help. Another price of getting old, along with losing the ability toheal from anything short of amputation.

Have You Visited THAKAI yet? Work-in-progress novel posted on Royal Road.

 

Just posted another chapter in my work-in-progress novel, THAKAI, on Royal Road.

If you like fantasy with strong roots in Greco-Roman mythology, you'll probably have fun with Dysander, my revision of Odysseus.Comments and suggestions and questions are welcome! Be a part of this ongoing project. I'm only about 20,000 words ahead of what is uploaded twice a week on the page. Check it out, please!!https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/118523/thakaiThis is going to -- hopefully -- be a Kickstarter project either late this year, or next year. Paired with the re-release of my novel about Penelope's side of "The Odyssey." Tied into the release of "The Odyssey" movie, staring Matt Damon, next summer. Be part of the process!

Excerpt: QUITTING THE HERO BIZ, Neighborlee, Ohio, Book 6

 

"You have nolegal responsibility. They can't force it on you," Beau insisted, pattingJane's shoulder. "As the Ghost, you are there to handle large accidentsand emergencies. Floods and tornadoes, water main breaks, fires, that sort ofthings. Not to retrieve improperly disciplined boys from trees twenty times ina day and protect idiots from their own stupidity." He folded the newspaperin half and slapped it on the desk in front of him for emphasis, tumblingseveral scones off the pile with the force of the blow.

Beauregard might havebeen white-haired and paunchy and wrinkled, but he still had a lot of oomphleft in him.

"However..."

Jane sagged, knowingshe was in trouble when Beau used "however." She had overlookedsomething, and he had seen it. The fine print, so to speak, in her unwrittensuperhero contract with the town of Fendersburg.

"Well, part ofthis problem, you brought on yourself," he said, softening his voice.

"Kick the girlwhile she's down, why don't you?" Demetrius grumbled. “We did it toher, sending her there to bait the Rivals. The same stupidity that lets thesehalf-wits shift all responsibility to her is what we depended on to keep ourenemies stymied.”

Jane sighed. She knewhe was right. She also knew she was stuck in Fendersburg until the Rivals gotso frustrated they carelessly left clues for Hoax to track them to theirheadquarters. If that ever happened, they could at long last settle the problemand the war the Rivals had declared with their actions, if not words.

"If she wouldn'twear herself to a frazzle pulling their nuts out of the fire, day in and dayout, if she'd just let them fall down and bloody their noses a few times, theymight learn to stand on their own two feet and not sit around on their fat backsides,expecting her to come to their rescue." Beau gestured with his scone."You have to admit I'm right, Janie-gal."

"Yeah, you'reright." She sank into a chair. "But honestly, it's easier to takecare of the mess right away, instead of listening to them scream and whine andmake it even worse."

"You're stuck, Cookie,"Demetrius growled, twisting around in his overstuffed chair to turn it withoutactually getting out of it. "I’m sorry, but that’s how it is.”

“Is she?” Beau said.“Every lead generated from her acting as bait has evaporated. No suspectedRivals have come back, and no newcomers have been spotted in town in nearlyfour months. I’m inclined to think they’ve given up.”

“Or?” Jane said,hearing the unspoken qualifiers.

He sighed and seemedto deflate a little. “Or they’ve moved on to more fruitful hunting grounds.”

“Neighborlee?” shewhispered.

“Who can be sure? Noneof the other potential arrival spots for Gifted have panned out. You were thelast one from Neighborlee.”

Excerpt: QUITTING THE HERO BIZ, Neighborlee, Ohio, Book 6

 "I have neverbeen so happy to be the Ghost in my entire life," she grumbled as shetossed the newspaper down in front of Beau and Demetrius less than an hourlater.

Beau smoothed it outon the desk the size of a small swimming pool while Demetrius settled down inhis easy chair in front of the massive fireplace big enough to roast an entirecow. One drawback to their Gifted longevity was feeling chilled even in themuggy warmth of summer. Jane used just enough Ghost field to let her get closeto the roaring fire without dripping in sweat.

The headline read:"Fendersburg Uses Samaritan Law to Sue Ghost." Jane snorted as sheglanced over the big, black letters in slightly runny ink. The complaintslodged against the Ghost, her alternate persona, were printed in fourteen-pointfont instead of the standard ten, and took up the bottom half of the front pageand most of the second page. Mrs. Crookins must have been furious when hersociety column got pushed to page three.

"I'm sorry, mydear. Obviously these..." Beau scowled, searching for a better word.

"Throwbacks?Inbred morons? Hicks?" Jane suggested.

The proper oldgentleman glared at her, but a few seconds later the look dissolved intomerriment. He sighed and shook his head. "Obviously, these benighted folkshave chosen to ignore your regular warnings, posted in this very newspaper, statingyou are not responsible for the everyday incidents and accidents in their lives.You are one person and therefore cannot be everywhere at once. No lawyer in theland will agree to take the lawsuit."

"I wouldn't count on that," Demetriusgrumbled around the stem of his pipe. It was empty, and had never held tobaccofor as long as Jane had known her teachers. "For every ten good lawyerswith common sense, there's one who makes ambulance chasers look reasonable.Someone will take up the case, just to make a name for himself."

Excerpt: QUITTING THE HERO BIZ, Neighborlee, Ohio, Book 6

  

Legal action againstthe Ghost? The nerve of those lazy, self-righteous—

"Hey, did youhear?" Sylvia Daystrom squealed as she bombed through the propped opendoor into the spa.

Jane stopped inmid-crumple, her hands shaking.

"Yeah, I guessyou did." Shaking her head, Sylvia made her way across the large main roomto the nook where she had her manicure and pedicure station set up, open forbusiness four days a week. "Can you believe the nerve of those morons?"

"Nothing aboutthis town surprises me anymore." Jane managed a smile. Sylvia was one ofthe more commonsense people in Fendersburg. Knowing she was disgusted by thestory on the bottom half of the page helped release some of the pressure thatthreatened to take off the top of her head.

The Old Poops need tosee this.

The town was abuzzwith the story. Jane's spa sat in the middle of the tiny business district. Shekept her door open all day in the summer and the biggest gossips in town alwayssat on the benches in front of her store, so she heard everything. All day.Speculations and reminiscences and laughter and criticism. Every time someoneagreed with her assessment of the irresponsible, immature twits in Fendersburg,someone else came along to dump everything back into the Ghost's lap. Janewatched the clock as the hour hand inched around, until she could finally closeher shop.

She mentioned to halfa dozen people, including one of the gossips out front, that she was tired, hada headache, and was going to take a sleeping pill and take her phone off thehook. That would ensure everyone in town knew by nightfall that no matter howmany times they called or knocked, no one was going to get through to her. Peoplewho ignored posted store hours would just have to wait to get their detox creamor a new lipstick tomorrow.

Jane went to herapartment and made a sandwich. She needed the energy even if she wasn't hungry.While eating, she tucked the newspaper into her backpack, then phased intoGhost mode and went up through the roof. She took her last bite of sandwichwhile hovering in the air, looking down at Fendersburg and wishing it could beas quiet and friendly as Neighborlee. At eighty feet higher than the tallestbuilding in town, she headed west and north for the Sanctum. 

Thank goodness for secret identities. None of thoseidiots can follow through on their threat to sue the Ghost, because they can'tfind me. Jane snorted and grinned into the setting sun. Notto mention they think I'm a guy.

It's QUIZ TIME! Earn points toward free books.

 Time for the quiz for this month's featured book in the Visitors Guide to Neighborlee:

QUITTING THE HERO BIZ

How do youplay?

Listen to Chapter 1 of the book either on the Ye Olde Dragon’s Library storytelling podcast page on YeOldeDragonBooks.com, or on your favorite podcast app.

Answer the questions.

Send the answers to 2OldeDragons@gmail.com

Points add upto get a free ebook or audiobook or print book in the Neighborlee series.

All month, thefeatured book is at a discounted price, if you need to fill in the holes inyour collection. I mean, there are 13 books altogether. If you have all 13already, THANK YOU!! But chances are good you don’t have all of them.

Yet.

This is yourchance to get more and catch up on the weirdness that is Neighborlee, Ohio.

 

What is the first line of the chapter?

Why does Hoax do a twice-yearly check of Neighborlee?

What town is Jane's current assignment?

Finish this quote: "One man's restless spirit was another's _______"

Why did the woman at the sandwich shop warn Jane to be careful of Divine's Emporium?

What nickname did their students give Demetrius and Beauregard?

How does Hoax, Inc., earn their living?

How old was Jane when she was found and taken to the children's home?

What colors were the shirts Jane bought? How many shirts did she buy?

What does Angela offer Jane to drink?

 

 

Excerpt: QUITTING THE HERO BIZ, Neighborlee, Ohio, Book 6

Nobody in Fendersburghad gained any common sense while Jane was away. The usual routine had gone onwithout the Ghost to remedy problems a little common sense could haveprevented. Joe Conrad had run out of gas while picking up milk from the cooperative’sfour small dairy farms. He sat for half an hour, yelling for the Ghost to helphim, before he used his cell phone to call his brother to come with the gascan. Georgie Tupper decided he could fly with just a blanket tied to hisshoulders for a cape. When he climbed up the tallest tree in the center oftown, the blanket got tangled on a branch. He hung there, kicking andscreaming, while his mother sat on a park bench a few dozen feet away, workingon her nails. Someone finally got tired of hearing her complain about the Ghosttaking so long to show up, and they called the fire department. When the firedepartment presented Mrs. Tupper with a bill for rescuing her son, she toldthem to charge the Ghost, since he was "shirking his responsibility."

Various assortedother foolishness happened. People ignored stop signs and ate food from swollencans. When the Ghost didn't show up to stop them, they dented their cars orrushed to the hospital to have their stomachs pumped. Jane got to her spa intime to open the doors for business at 10am, and by 2pm she had heard aboutevery incident in the two days since she had gone to visit Neighborlee.

The newspaper thenext morning listed all the minor disasters on the front page and thecomplaints from the people who expected the Ghost to do their thinking forthem. Same old stupidity. Jane supposed the incredulous fascination of peoplewho rubbernecked at traffic accidents kept her reading. When she unfolded thenewspaper, to continue reading down the double-wide column, the headline on thebottom half of the front page stopped her cold. She stared, blinked, shook herhead, and balled up the newspaper.

Check out a new project: THAKAI, story-in-progress on Royal Road

 

Hey, you like somewhat snarky, tongue-in-cheek mythological-style stories?

I just uploaded another chapter in my story, THAKAI, on the Royal Road.

4 so far. I intend to upload 2 chapters every week. Check it out, please! And leave comments, suggestions, let me know what you think?

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/118523/thakai

Excerpt: QUITTING THE HERO BIZ, Neighborlee, Ohio, Book 6

 

Amelia Quinn and TheoBrickman were the only ones home, when Jane drove up the long, gravel drivethrough the woods to the old mansion of the Sanctum. Demetrius and Beau were meetingwith some friends at a think tank that monitored world events. Amelia sent Theoto contact the Sanctum’s leaders, then herded Jane into the kitchen for a latebreakfast.

“Something has yourattled, lovey, and that’s rare enough to be worrisome,” the dainty, elderlywoman said, just before plunking down a huge cast iron skillet on the stove,big enough to cook a dozen eggs at once. “You had the Neighborlee evaluation.What happened?”

Jane told her in thetime it took to crack and scramble the eggs. Amelia nodded and pursed her lips,and her eyes went vague with thought for a few moments. Then she sent Jane toget ingredients for brunch for the three of them. Theo joined them in time tohelp set the table, and Jane had to repeat her story. She had new doubts. Hadshe fled too soon? Should she have investigated, and risked being caught?

“You did the rightthing,” Theo said. “Get out of there, avoid notice. Let the professionalworriers chew on the questions and send out feelers.” He winked. “My personaltheory is that some Gifted got overlooked. They’ve dug in and know how to staysafe. Neighborlee has its own means of defense. You don’t want to run afoul ofthose who belong there, do you?”

“Of course shedoesn’t. She’s a good, smart one.” Amelia reached across the table to patJane’s hand.

Jane wrote up herreport before she left. Amelia loaded her down with treats members of Hoax broughtback from their world travels. Jane was glad she had driven there instead offlying in. She had never tested the limits of how much weight she could carrywhile flying, but a dozen boxes and bags and tins could be awkward. She couldjust imagine losing her grip while flying over heavy traffic and dropping somedecadent treats. As the youngest member of the family, she felt like she hadseveral dozen aunts and uncles, all intent on spoiling her.

Are you near Xenia, Ohio?

 If so, I hope to see you in Xenia this weekend!

It's a BOOK FAIR!! Gonna be great, lots to choose from.

And some of those authors have books I edited, so I canguarantee they're good!