MeiLin Miranda's Blog - Posts Tagged "weblit"

A History Lesson:

It was with some surprise that Lockson received the schoolteacher in his office this Saturday. "Why, Miss Duniway! What can a simple newspaperman do for an erudite lady like yourself? Classified ad, perhaps? No, no, I shouldn't think so. Why, Miss Duniway, it is a stroke of good fortune, a miracle not far removed from that of the Prophet of the Method and His Delivery of the Good Woman of Persia from the Fiery Furnaces of Indecency, that you have sojourned to our offices today. Yes, Miss Duniway, let me assure you that I have longed this month to approach you for the purpose of acquainting my audience with the details of your life, one of education and perspicacity I am sure, a saga that would be a most edifying one for our readers."

"Come again?" said Annabelle.

"I'd like to interview you," said Lockson.

Ethergrams and Homilies:

As it came to pass, Simon did not get over to the Runnels house that night. He stood outside for a fair piece looking up at the door, but couldn't bring himself to walk up the steps, knock, and hand over Miss Duniway's ethergram; revealing someone's private correspondence went against everything he believed in as an ethergraph engineer.

But in the morning, a reply came through first thing, a reply that seemed so nonsensical for such a quick turnaround that he started wondering about Miss Duniway himself. He delivered the ethergram to Annabelle, and ended up at the jail as soon as his office closed for the rest of the day, it being Sunday; back then everything closed for church, and an afternoon of either quiet reflection or wailing, depending on your denomination.

"I suppose we'd better sit down if I'm going to tell you why I'm really here," said Annabelle, taking the chair in front of John's desk. "Where do you want me to start?"

John kept his seat on the corner of his desk, bracing himself on the desk edge with both hands. "Well, we've squared away your fatherless childhood."

Motherless, too, if it matters, she said to herself; aloud, she said, "I was thinking of a more recent beginning to my life, if it's all the same, though I'm expecting you won't believe me."

"I'm listening."

She straightened in her seat, raising her chin to a proud angle. "I'm a Treasury Agent." John's already intent gaze sharpened further, finally resolving into the incredulity she'd anticipated. "I said you wouldn't believe me."

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Scryer's Gulch is a fantasy western that updates every Wednesday. Usually.

"Would you listen!" Alvo crouched down on the ground before Temmin and put his hands on his friend's knees. Tears streamed down his broad face. "I love you! I don't love anyone else in this world like I love you! You're all I've ever thought about, since we were ten! I feel like I'm gonna die when you go, you understand? I love you!"

Temmin leaned forward in alarm. "What are you talking about?"

Alvo put one calloused hand up to Temmin's face. "I just love you." He came up off his heels, and kissed Temmin on the mouth. "I love you."

Temmin moved his friend's hand away from his cheek, but kept hold of it. "Alvo..."

"I know you don't feel the same way, I know you like girls more than boys, I know all that! Can't you pretend, just for now? Can't you let me have this little bit? Please. Tomorrow you'll be gone, and you'll get a new best friend, and you'll get married, and become King some day, and forget about me." Alvo's voice broke. "Please, Tem. Please."

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Posting twice a week (Mondays and Fridays), "Lovers and Beloveds" will finish some time in October 2011. If you'd rather read the whole thing now, buy the ebook! Only $3.99 at Smashwords.

A pause, and she turned serious. "You will be around women a great deal in the City, many of them...notorious," she forced out. "I want you to be careful."

"Notorious women?" he said hopefully. This was not the first time his mother had gone on about notorious women, to the point that Temmin was extremely curious to meet one and find out what made them so notorious.

"You'll be tempted to make...make wrong decisions. I don't want you falling into some hussy's clutches, or worse, led into spending time at...oh, at houses of ill-repute!"Temmin had no idea what a house of ill-repute was, and said so.

"This is your father's office, but he would never give you good advice!" murmured his mother in agitation. "It's a house where women sell themselves, a horrible, horrible place! Nothing more infamous!"

"I'm sorry, Mama, but d'you mean a whorehouse?"

His mother winced. "It pains me to hear the word."

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"Lovers and Beloveds" is the 100% crowdfunded first novel in the series "An Intimate History of the Greater Kingdom." For more, go to MeiLinMiranda.com.

A Demonstration of Skill:

Annabelle knelt down and opened the leather case.

Inside were a pair of etheric pistols, the first John had ever seen apart from engravings. "Are those really...? Where did you get them? They cost a small fortune! And you can't possibly shoot with them!"

"You try first," she said, handing one over grip-first. She pointed downrange. "The wine bottle to the right, mid-height."

John nodded. "All right, then. I've never worked with one before, though." He aimed at the bottle and reached into the pistol with his mind, as he would to wind his clock or spark his firestarter. He found the hermetauxite hidden in the gun, concentrated on a clear picture of the bottle, and poured all his ability into the ore. He pulled the trigger.

Scryer's Gulch has undergone something of a small explosion of interest; Smashwords downloads of the free ebook of episodes 1-10 went from 925 on Saturday to 3400 as of this morning. I have no idea why. But if you want to find out, come by the site and catch up. Scryer's is a quick, fun read, and it updates every Wednesday.