MeiLin Miranda's Blog, page 68
May 10, 2010
Scryer's Gulch Episode 23 is live
When Annabelle returned to her rooms, Misi got up from a patch of sunlight in the bedroom window and stretched. "What's up, cutie? Where you been?" he said. "Good Joyful Noise this Sunday, or did stage fright get the better of you?"
"It's not a performance, kitty, it's a worship service," snapped Annabelle, throwing her best straw on the bed long enough to fetch her hatbox down from the wardrobe. She stopped abruptly; several small traps she'd left had been triggered. The small clean streak in the dust on the nightstand was gone, for one. "Someone's been in here, Misi."
April 26, 2010
Scryer's Gulch episode 22 is live
John held open the jailhouse door for her, and laughed in spite of himself. "That ghost knows what's good for him. Coffee, Miss Duniway?"
"I wouldn't," said Aloysius.
"Put a cork in it, spook."
"I think I shall follow his advice, Sheriff. Too much coffee is overly stimulating to the nerves," said Annabelle.
John offered her a seat and started to take his own, then changed his mind, pulled it out from behind his desk, and sat down. "I shouldn't think you have much in the way of nerves no matter how much coffee you drink, ma'am."
Annabelle sat up straighter. Her eyes flicked up to his own, and held him in a piercing cornflower glare; he met it, with outward calm and an inward shiver. "I do wish you'd say what you mean, sir," she said. "You have been suspicious of me almost from the day I arrived. You wonder about my income, you wonder about my character, you hint at this and that. It is past time I took offense. What is it about me you find so dubious?"
April 19, 2010
Scryer's Gulch episode 21 is live
Annabelle preferred to sit in the back pew at church; despite her general self-confidence, church always made her feel exposed and vulnerable. She'd been raised both Methodic and Enthusiastic, the product of a rare mixed marriage and a childhood spent bouncing between one set of relatives and the next. She loved the clean formality of the Methodic Church and its emphasis on logic, but when it came down to it, she chose Enthusiasm: the brightly clanging bells, the incense wafting over everything, the exuberantly decorated altar, the music so loud it shook her bones, the shouts of the faithful in response to a good sermon. And the sermons were much shorter.
Her mind was Methodic, but her soul was Enthusiastic.
April 12, 2010
Episode 20 of Scryer's Gulch is live
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.
April 5, 2010
Episode 19 of Scryer's Gulch is live
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.
March 29, 2010
Episodes 17 and 18 of Scryer's Gulch are live
17: Evidence
"You look happy this morning," said Jed from the depths of a big tufted leather chair.
Mamzelle returned to her boudoir from the balcony. "I am always 'appy at the full moon," she said, settling on her chaise.
"Don't sit down. Bring me my coffee."
She narrowed her eyes to slits, but got up and poured him a cup. "I wonder, 'ow badly this would sting eef I threw it in your face?" she said.
"Go ahead. Then you'd find out how it feels to lose an eye."
"Eet's a rrrhetorical question. I can't hurt you anyway."
"Just remember that," he smiled over the cup's rim.
"I will, even as I eat your liver while you scream for mercy. That is not rrrhetorical."
Jed chuckled. "Keep dreaming, Mamzelle. It's good for the soul, or would be if you had one."
18: Servitude
"It's five minutes till seven, just enough time for you to walk down Main Street like that before my time over you ends, and before it gets too much darker. I don't want you washing your face, straightening your hair or arranging your dress. Let them all laugh at you. Now, get out, you slut!" said Charity. Mamzelle inclined her head, and sauntered out of the room as if she'd been eating tea and cakes in the parlor. Charity aimed one last kick, and missed.
"You should be careful with demon servants!" hissed the housekeeper as soon as Mamzelle was out of sight.
"Mrs Walters, my treatment of that hell-spawned bitch of my husband's is none of your business!"
"But you never know when they'll find a loophole and then you're in a fix!"
"Shut up, Mother!" said Charity, stomping up the stairs.
March 15, 2010
Scryer's Gulch Episode 16 is live, and other news
Sheriff John and Deputy Rabbit stood over a horribly mangled body the next morning, dumped at the foot of the rockslide. "Doc, what do you think?" John asked an older man dressed in black, crouched by the body.
"I think he's dead, Sheriff, is what I think," said the doctor, not bothering to look up as he coolly rolled the body from one side to another. "Hard to breathe without a neck."
John looked to the sky for patience. "Dr Horridge, I'm asking you for your professional opinion on what might have killed him--cougar? Wolf? Bear?"
"Man with really sharp teeth?" added Rabbit.
"I know what you're asking. Let a man in a grim profession enjoy himself a little." Dr Horridge shook his head. "Can't rightly say, Runnels. Coulda been any kind of animal with claws, but I tell you: it'd have to be a damned big one--near as I can tell, it took out his throat with one bite. And a smart one--he wasn't killed here. Something dragged him." Horridge stood up, stretching his back till it popped. "I'm getting old. And whatever it was, it wasn't hungry. Didn't really eat so much as savage him. Not many predators'd do that. Except, of course, for Man."
In other news! I didn't even place in the Ergofiction Search Term Challenge, but I like the story I wrote anyway. :)
March 8, 2010
Scryer's Gulch episode 15 is live
Annabelle opened them to a scratching at the bedroom window. How had she ended up sitting on the bed? She held the codebook in one hand, and a letter in the other. Someone had lit the lanterns against the night, and the coal fire burned in the little sitting room stove. She must have fallen asleep, but apart from where she sat, the bed was undisturbed. A chill struck her.
The scratching became more insistent. Annabelle opened the window and Misi came bounding in. "For crying out loud, Annie, I've been out there for nearly an hour!" complained the cat. "I almost wore grooves in the glass! What's the matter with you? You just sat there staring at whatever-it-is in your hand with your back to me! What'd I do now?" Annabelle said nothing, but crossed to the sitting room with the codebook and the letter. "Annie? What is it?"
March 1, 2010
Scryer's Gulch, Episode 14 is up!
From the front window of the Hotel LeFay, Anthony Bonham watched Miss Duniway and John Runnels exchange pleasantries. He knew the look on the man's face; Miss Duniway had fallen afoul of the Sheriff's crime-fighting instincts. What could he suspect the schoolteacher of, besides being beautiful, and that was no suspicion. Outwardly, Tony eyed her dispassionately. But within him, he formulated plans. A young woman, all alone in a town like this--she was bound to be lonely. He could use that.
In other news, it looks like I came in second in the Rose & Bay Awards (unofficial tally of my own), behind Cecilia Tan--no shame coming second to her, at all. Congrats, Cecilia.
February 24, 2010
Digital Novelists: 17 free fantasy and science fiction serials in one place
What I love about DN is that there is something new to read there, every day. At least one of the stories updates, and sometimes several at once. The latest updates are listed on the home page.
Go check it out, and if you like it, spread the word. You'll be helping 12 authors gain audiences.
PS: If you're a writer whose primary medium is the web, consider hosting at DN. It's a good deal.
