Michelle L. Levigne's Blog, page 59

New release sample: RETURN OF THE LIVING PROOF

 My phone rang. Angela.

"Loralee is here, highly agitated, and Maurice says you need to get out of wherever you are," she told me.

"Yeah, thanks. We were just figuring it out now." I glanced sideways at Pete. "We'll be right there. Sorry about that. I completely forgot we had an appointment."

"This is going to be interesting," Angela said, and hung up.

"You have no idea," I said, smiling as if I thought the person on the other end, who wasn't there anymore, could see me. "See you in five."

I tapped the red button on the phone, as if the connection was still open, and slipped my phone into my pocket. Just in time to stop my keychain from slipping out. Weird. I was always careful to get my keychain deep into my pocket before I got out of my Jeep. Thanks to that scare with the failed carjacker.

"I'm sorry," I told Kerri. "Totally messed up here. We've got an appointment on the other side of town. Could I take the contract with me and read it over and sign it at home, then bring it back tomorrow?" 

"Sorry, no can do. We need to have it notarized upon being signed. I'm a notary," she added with another sweet chuckle. Kerri slid the contract into a folder sitting on the far side of her desk and stood up. "When would be convenient for you to come --" She cut herself off with a snarly shriek.

New release sample: RETURN OF THE LIVING PROOF

 

The dang contract was ten sheets of paper, printed front and back. In pretty small font. I estimated it was maybe eight point, comparing it to the font we used at the newspaper. She offered us both pens, and I half-expected to find out the ink was red.

I never found out what color the ink was.

Cerb came tearing into the building, frisking and wriggling and leaping up to put his front paws first on Pete's chest, then the arms of my chair. He pushed on my chair -- which was a pretty good trick, considering he pushed from the right side, but my chair started rolling backwards.

"Shoo! Get out! Where did that mangy thing come from?" Kerri's voice cracked as she stumbled out of her chair and reached for a phone book sitting on the shelving behind her desk. She heaved it at Cerb with pinpoint accuracy.

He dodged and the phone book bounced off my knee with a hard thwack-crack. I swore for a second that crack was my femur breaking. My whole leg went numb, or at least more numb than usual.

Kerri twitched the contract away, to the side extension of her desk, before racing after Cerb, who fled the building.

"Was that weird?" Pete whispered.

I just rolled my eyes at him. I couldn't say anything that I wanted to, because Kerri came back to her desk. She moved awfully fast, smoothly and silently, despite those high spike-heeled shoes on her feet.

"Sorry about that. I guess we're going to have to keep the door closed from now on, to stop mongrels wandering in." She shrugged and let out a giggle that sounded like wind chimes. 

A giggle did not belong in that office, any more than her warm voice belonged with the rest of the impressions I was gathering up about her. Like she was wearing a mask, or maybe even someone was dubbing another person's voice over hers.

Off the Bookshelf: THE BATTLE FOR SKANDIA, by John Flanagan

 

Ranger's Apprentice Series, Book 4

Finally! Will and Evanlyn (Princess Cassandra) are one step closer to home. At long last, after a long winter in Skandia. Halt and Horace have found them, after some harrowing adventures of their own. 

Except of course there's an invading horde coming through Skandia, and the locals need to change their battle tactics, fast, if they have any hope of defending their land. Lucky for them there just happens to be a Ranger present. 

Maybe. Old friends and nemeses return for another gripping adventure as Will, and now a growing circle of friends, grow up and face challenges in a dangerous world. The ending was ... hmm, a little disappointing, and yet stays true to the characters and their society. Yet there is some hope -- isn't there? Can an orphan peasant-born boy rise high enough to be a worthy match for the future queen? Or is he too dedicated to his chosen path in life to realize who is watching him with longing, tear-filled eyes?

Or is that giving away too much? Well, lucky for me, I have 3 more books in the series sitting on my bedside table. Unfortunately, I don't get many nights when I can read myself to sleep. Ah, well, I must soldier on. The sacrifices we make to enjoy a favorite book series!

New release sample: RETURN OF THE LIVING PROOF

 The boys jumped out of the car and looked around and recognized us. They waved. Pete waved back. Then he cringed.

"They're here to sign contracts too?" I asked. He nodded. "They're two years older than you. They probably don't need an adult. Want me to stay out here until they're gone?"

He rolled his eyes and made that little grunting sound that usually stood in for a lot of things that he either couldn't or didn't dare put into words. This time I interpreted it as, "Thanks for not embarrassing me in front of the guys."

Pete got out and went into the building after the other two. I took my time getting out of my Jeep and pulling my wheelchair out of the back seat. They came out just as I dropped down into my seat and reached to push the door closed. They waved, I waved back, and waited as they pulled out of the driveway. A few memories made me smile. I had loved the feeling of independence I had with that beater car. I was glad it was still alive and serving another generation of high school kids learning to spread their wings. I just hoped my car would refuse to function when those boys chose to do something stupid.

I wheeled into the building. The door was propped halfway open. Once I got around it and could look inside, I had to admit Pete was right. The renovations were all interior for now. Fresh paint stung the air and brightened the inside. That wasn't dirt on the inside of the windows, but sheer curtains, kind of a grayish, peach-ish shade I wasn't sure I liked. Carpet squares covered the floor and seemed to grab at my wheels for a few seconds as I went to the far right of the door, where Pete stood in front of a desk. 

The woman sitting there wore one of those power suits, all sharp angles and sleek lines, in a glossy, gray-black material. She was one of those pale blondes who would only need some blood-red lipstick and black eyeliner to be a convincing vampire in cosplay. Her name was Kerri, and her skin felt just a little too chill when we shook hands. Her smile was bright and warm, and so was her voice, and they just didn't seem to go with the rest of her. Yet she was polite, friendly, and apologized for the "silly legal necessities" that needed me to co-sign the contract with Pete.

New release sample: RETURN OF THE LIVING PROOF

 

Then how come the impression I got was that the windows inside were dirtier than outside? I couldn't see any lights through the grimy glass. There were cars parked on the far side of the building. When I pulled into the parking lot, I glimpsed a rental truck out back, and two people moving what looked like office furniture. I shuddered a little at the thought of them setting up an office in grimy surroundings. That reaction made no sense, because I'm not really that much of a neat-freak. This whole situation wasn't making a lot of sense. These people should have done more renovation work, at least fixed the sign on the corner, with broken panes in the lighted portion, and again, that sensation of grime clinging to everything. A long banner that might have been plastic sheeting covered the front face of the building, proclaiming it the new home of Pi Surprise Celebration Lawn Ornaments. In the window directly under the banner was a big sign declaring, "We're Hiring. Start Your Path to an Incredible Future Here."

Yeah, right. An incredible future getting up in the dark and cold maybe two mornings a week to stick dozens of flamingos or clowns or cows or storks or whatever in people's lawns.

Normally I wasn't that pessimistic, even if I was often that sarcastic. This place made me itch in a place I couldn't scratch because it was in my mind and spirit, not my body. That made me cranky. I was ready to tell Pete forget it, I wasn't going to let him work at a place like this. 

Then two kids I knew from high school sports pulled into the parking lot. They were driving a beater car that had all the signs of being a high school kid's first car, bought with summer job money and held together with desperate prayers and chewing gum. On a second look, I recognized that car. It had been mine Pete's entire lifetime ago. Somehow, that cheered me up, that my first car would come into this parking lot like a sign that everything was okay. At least it didn't blow gaskets or make weird shrieking sounds of warning.

Off the Bookshelf: ROMAN HOLIDAY and THE BATTERSEA BARRICADES

 

Audiobooks, Audible Originals

Narrated by Zara Ramm

The Chronicles of St. Mary's

Roman Holiday follows Dr. Max and her team as they go to investigate Julius Caesar, his wife Calpurnia and his mistress, Cleopatra, just a few short weeks before the Ides of March.

We see more of the utter lunatic brilliance of Max's team as they campaign to get the assignment, as well as how they deal with Roman social structures and political pressures, and the utter lunacy of a man who wants to rule the world bringing his Egyptian mistress to his wife's home and expecting his wife to be a good hostess. Max and her team are only there to "observe," but somehow they are there when someone makes an assassination attempt ... but they're not sure who the target is.

Of course, the strangers in town are fingered for the job, and they have to run for their lives. And that's only the first half of the story. Great fun, as I've come to expect from Jodi Taylor and her very proper and yet eccentric team of time traveling historians.

The Battersea Barricades gives a glimpse into an event in recent history -- at least, from the perspective of near-future England and the occupants of St. Mary's. Max only meant to drop off a schedule, but ended up being invited to drink wine and listen to reminiscences about the civil uprising several decades before. Three very prim and proper ladies who are the backbone of St. Mary's get together on the anniversary of the Battersea Barricades to salute those who died ... and they get to talking, revealing frightening and funny moments in the struggle of would-be rebels to get to London to participate in a rebellion. Only they keep getting lost. 

Delicious, funny, thought-provoking, with that lovely dry British wit. Do yourself a favor and indulge.

New release sample: RETURN OF THE LIVING PROOF

 

The next day was a half-day, a paper delivery day, so I agreed to pick up Pete after lunch and go down to the Pi office with him to sign the contract. If I didn't find anything weird about it. On the way there, I suggested that he consider getting a part-time job as an assistant circulation manager, overseeing the delivery boys and girls, since he didn't mind getting up really early. He just gave me a withering look. Ah, for the good old days when he considered everything I said as pure wisdom. Well, maybe not everything. The kid paid attention better when he still had a clear memory of being thrown off that balcony over the river in England, and me leaping off after him and flying us both to safety.

The corner beyond the Neighborlee Schools property was in that nebulous area between farms and park land, a section of road that ended up being the long way around no matter what the destination was. That contributed to hardly anyone using it. Hence the business-killing dearth of traffic. The last business in there had been a flower market, and from the state of the building, it looked like it had been closed for ten years, not three.

"How long have they been renovating this place?" I had to ask, pausing just a few seconds longer than necessary at the flashing yellow light in front of the schools parking lot entrance. There was no traffic coming from any direction, so I didn't really need to do more than coast to a near-stop and then make my turn. I came to a full stop anyway, and studied the building sitting kitty-corner so it turned the parking lot into a triangle. That had to be awkward maneuvering. Maybe that contributed to the deaths of the previous businesses.

"Maybe two weeks?" Pete shrugged. Then he frowned and blinked and shook his head.

"What?" I didn't like the hint of a dazed look in his eyes.

"Didn't really notice before …" Another shrug. "They're working on the inside, first."

New release sample: RETURN OF THE LIVING PROOF

 

 

"You could be the target again." He shrugged.

"Why wouldn't Cerb -- okay, why wouldn't Maurice tell me that's what Cerb was doing? What's different about now than last year?"

"Yeah, that's a consideration. Whatever was sneaking around, Cerb let them know they aren't getting in, they aren't doing anything." Harry scrubbed his face with his palms and let out a groan louder than Cerb had been. "Go back to sleep."

"Physician, heal thyself."

He stuck his tongue out at me and stepped into his apartment. A moment later the little light over the door turned off. I sat for a few moments longer, looking out over my yard, trying to hear or feel if anything was out of place. Then it occurred to me that the nightlight over the stove was bright enough to outline me in the doorway. Enough to make me a target.

Not a good feeling to have sitting on the threshold of my own house. I said a few silent prayers as I backed up and closed the door and made sure it was locked. When I turned to go down the hall, Cerb was sitting in the hallway, right by the little nightlight.

"Is it gone? Was it dangerous? Or just something being nosy?"

He thumped his tail against the wall a few times, then went to the guestroom door and nudged it open with his nose and went back in with Loralee. I muffled a chuckle. What sort of etiquette made him use the door when he was indoors, but when he was outdoors he didn't need to use a door?

I went back to bed and had a talk with God about all sorts of unanswered questions and the problem of not knowing the right questions, to help us figure out what was going on.

At the Movies: FREE GUY

 

A funny thing happened on the way to seeing FREE GUY.

I used an app on my phone to get tickets to the theater -- hey, I saved the processing fee, plus this movie was totally free through reward points. So, I thought, "You know, I've been working hard, I earned a break, this looks like one of those silly movies you just relax and laugh at all the way through."

And it was, for the most part.

But anyway, getting back to the app ... when we got to the theater, they scanned the QR code on my phone and told us which theater door to go in. So we did. But after 25 minutes of commercials (!!!!!!) the movie started ... it was NOT a light, slightly brainless comedy about video games coming to life (with some very adult innuendo delivered as totally brainless lines by Ryan Reynolds who is getting pretty good at the tactless, brainless, goofball hero role).

We saw the first ten minutes of the new Samuel Jackson movie, PROTEGE. And I'm thinking, "Okay, when do I get up and find out how we walked in the wrong door? And how much of our movie have we missed already?"

The movie glitched several times -- going totally blank and silent for a few seconds, then starting up again -- then suddenly showing the studio logo for a different studio and movie. And then FREE GUY started. So it wasn't my mistake. Whew!

Anyway ... yeah, I saw FREE GUY a couple weeks ago (this review is being written about 3 weeks before it shows up. I only post book and movie reviews on Sundays), and it was fun. It was silly. It was a little crude in places that it just didn't need to be. It was brainless, lighthearted fun ... and it made you think a few times, which was surprising. Essentially two brilliant computer programmers design this game program where the NPCs (non-player characters) learn and grow as they interact with the gamers and each other. But of course, just like in TRON however many decades ago (I think I was in college -- I'll have to go check with my dinosaur) the genius program was not just stolen, but hidden away and illegally used as the basis for a game focused on total gratuitous meaningless violence. Oh, joy...

Anyway, Guy is our NPC hero, and he's happy-go-lucky despite his violent world, but not entirely. He's looking for the girl of his dreams, and when he sees her, he starts going beyond his programming. And when he takes the sunglasses off a character/player (because the sunglass people are the ones with the power, the ones earning points and winning things and having fun), suddenly he's growing and learning and changing his world.

Until the evil game designer and the computer programmers he robbed have their destined battle, and Guy's world might be wiped right off the servers.

Look for the cameo appearances by Alex Trebek and Captain America/Chris Evans!

New release sample: RETURN OF THE LIVING PROOF

 That night, Loralee woke up crying. I had the awful feeling she was sick, or maybe going into premature labor. Before I could get from my bed to my wheelchair, Cerb let out a howl that almost made me feel sorry for whoever had enraged him. Then he walked right through the wall from the guest room to my bedroom. He gave me a look that told me he was in defensive mode, then he leaped through my bedroom wall to go outside.

He stopped after that first howl, otherwise I might have had some irate neighbors to deal with. Harry got outside and was walking around the garage apartment and the rest of the yard by the time I got in my chair and to the door. He came up the ramp at the same time Cerb went back to the guestroom by going straight through the wall.

"Anything?" I asked, and backed up so Harry could come inside.

He stayed outside and shook his head. His forehead wrinkled up and his mouth twisted in a crooked grin, and I was pretty sure that shake wasn't a no, so much as it was admitting he wasn't quite sure what was going on.

"Could have sworn I saw something, but it scurried away before I could get close." He snorted. "Before Cerb could get to it. Something small. I'd say rabbits or groundhogs or something. We don't have skunks, do we?"

"Hope not."

"Yeah, well, there was a smell, but it wasn't skunk." He rubbed his nose. "It's gone now."

"Something worried Cerb."

"Yeah. I was really hoping …" Harry shrugged and started backing down the ramp. He had left his door open and a flickering, bluish light spilled out, meaning he was watching a movie when Cerb raised the alarm.

"Hoping what?"

"That they really are camping here to give them a break from all the woo-woo magical fluctuations at Divine's."

"Why wouldn't they?" 

He muttered something that I was pretty sure was Spanish his parents wouldn't have taught him.