MeiLin Miranda's Blog, page 12
June 21, 2013
Chapter 17 Part 5 | Son in Sorrow | IHGK Book 2
This section is NSFW.
Winter's Ending turned into Spring's Beginning. Temmin's twentieth birthday came and went on the ninth of the spoke with little fanfare; the country was still in mourning, and he was in no mood to celebrate.
The Temple kept Temmin quite busy. Helping petitioners soothed his grief somewhat, but between sessions he walked through the rose marble halls seeing nothing but gray. His duties ran the gamut from coaching petitioners through the acts of love to helping heal emotional wounds. What he so often had in common with the petitioners was not eroticism but pain, now more than ever. "Does suffering always come with sex and emotions?" Temmin asked Barik Lover one day.
"It doesn't have to," he answered, "but it often does."
"Why?"
June 19, 2013
Chapter 5 Episode 1 | The Machine God | The Drifting Isle Chronicles
Adewole didn’t dare turn around, but he sensed the soldiers creeping forward. “Major, get behind us,” called Lieutenant Lentzen.
“No need for alarm yet, Izzy,” murmured Berger.
“Dark man, do you tell ‘em we mean to take ‘em in to see the Council—by force do we mun,” the woman called to Adewole. “We’re on’y four, but more are on the way.”
“Nay, that is to our liking,” the professor responded. “We wish to speak with those who lead you.”
“Totty’s the talk wi’ the noose round yer neck!” yelled the excitable man. “The Council square oathbreakers up right!”
June 17, 2013
Chapter 17 Part 4 | Son in Sorrow | IHGK Book 2
Nerrik pulled off the nipple with a gasping sigh of sleepy delight and Twenna chuckled in spite of herself. "Nerrik. I call him Rikki."
"Oh, a Neya's Day babe?"
"He--he has to be," said Twenna, her own sleepy relaxation retreating. "I was at the Spectacle last year. I don't remember what happened--as far as I know I was never with anyone other than Harsin, I swear it."
"It's all right, you're not on trial here. If you told me who it was I'd never tell anyway. I didn't have to tell my husband, he was there when it happened in a way."
"I beg your pardon?"
Meggan fixed her with a hard, questioning eye. "Are you easily shocked? No? ...My husband doesn't like women."
"What's so shocking about that? I don't think my father likes--liked--women all that much. He never remarried after my mama died, and I'm their only child."
June 14, 2013
Chapter 17 Part 3 | Son in Sorrow | IHGK Book 2
"It's not that bad," said a voice at the door. Twenna looked up. It was a woman about her own age, her chestnut hair twisted into a low, simple bun. Her snub nose sat in a face neither pretty nor plain. She wore a lay Mother's uniform, the same as the one in Twenna's bundle: ugly loose gray high-necked dress collared in white; a voluminous unbleached muslin apron tying it closer to the body; and a plain wool shawl still the color of the sheep, its ends crossed over her breast and pinned behind her. In a canvas sling before her slept a baby not much older than Rikki, or so Twenna guessed; all she could see was white-blond fuzz and an obstinate little nose exactly like its mother's.
June 12, 2013
Chapter 4 Episode 3 | The Machine God | The Drifting Isle Chronicles
The owls finished their approach and took up perches in the branches of the willow overlooking the pond, each a careful distance from the other two. Adewole followed Major Berger to stand before them. The owls' feathers ranged from tawny to chestnut; black framed their large amber eyes, and a fringe of white feathers surrounded their faces. If Adewole hadn't known they were there, they might have blended into the tree bark entirely. The largest one blinked solemnly, while the two smaller ones swiveled their heads from side to side, scrutinizing the Eisenstadters. "Greetings, owls. We come from the land below and would meet the humans of this place," said the Major.
The two swiveling heads stopped abruptly. All three birds stared at him, then swiveled their heads in unison to stare at Adewole. "Perhaps they cannot speak?" murmured Adewole.
"We speak fine," rasped the largest owl. "Here you shall find t'is you that speak bad. We understand one another, but you mayn't understand t'unfeathered 'uns hereabouts, nor they you. Not easy, any road."
June 10, 2013
Chapter 17 Part 2 | Son in Sorrow | IHGK Book 2
The Temple of Amma was a C-shaped, white stone building tiled in clear blues from powder to midnight in mosaics and reliefs of sheep, goats, pigs, sheaves of wheat, children, mothers, looms and shuttles; its wings curved away from the Promenade, where it anchored the row of buildings leading down the Temple Green to its end at the Temple of Pagg the Father. Nestled between those wings stood the enormous Mother's House, an institutional-looking structure built around a large courtyard. By the time Twenna reached its steps, her little boots were soaked through; they were made for carriages, not for walking winter streets.
June 7, 2013
Chapter 17 Part 1 | Son in Sorrow | IHGK Book 2
Twenna and the baby arrived at her father's townhouse two weeks after the birth to chaos. Burly men were coming and going with everything they could cart off. White shrouds covered the few remaining furniture pieces until the movers could fetch them as well.
Twenna's one consolation was Wendia. The loyal maid's wages had been paid till the end of the spoke, and now she held the baby as Twenna tried to save something from the wreckage. Her wardrobe was already empty, the many beautiful dresses gone, even the ones she'd owned before she'd become the King's mistress. All that remained was the periwinkle silk she had on her back.
June 6, 2013
Things I Have Learned About Writing of Late
I've been tinkering with Rachel Aaron's 2k to 10k: Writing Faster, Writing Better, and Writing More of What You Love
, a brilliant, short, CHEAP read that's done a lot for me.
June 5, 2013
Chapter 4 Episode 2 | The Machine God | The Drifting Isle Chronicles
Dean Blessing waited in the hangar beside Minister of State Faber and the General of the Eisenstadt Defense Force. To Adewole's surprise, Blessing greeted him brusquely but professionally. "A momentous day, gentlemen. I hope we are all prepared for it?"
"As best we can be," answered Deviatka.
"Good," said Blessing, clapping him on the arm. He shook hands with Deviatka and then with the astonished Jerian. "Karl, Adewole, safe journey."
"Safe journey, sir," blinked Adewole.
"See?" said Deviatka as the Dean stumped away. "Not all that bad a man, really, but I'll be damned if I let him sell anything more out from under me, and that's a promise, friend."
June 3, 2013
Line, Line, Everywhere a Line
I've been working the last two weeks on plotting not just History book three but the entire rest of the series.
What I've got so far is a set of seven books about Temmin, one about Sedra and Mattie, and one about Ellika that may be a novella. That's SO FAR. They might combine, collapse, expand, disappear. ...
