Marian Allen's Blog, page 393

#SampleSunday @HollyJahangiri Unravels A Plot

I felt like writing another Holly Jahangiri story, so I did. Holly Jahangiri is a real person who won two contests to have her name in a story, and has thus become a regular character of mine. The Holly stories take place on Llannonn, the world I invented for my science fiction comic crime novel, FORCE OF HABIT. Pel Darzin is a character in that novel, although Holly didn’t come along until later.

This is also the fulfillment of the Quills and Quibbles writing group’s writing exercise for this month.

Holly Unravels A Plot

by Marian Allen

In the common room of the family lodge in a tiny village in Meadow of Flowers Province of the planet Llannonn, Elderly Spinster Holly Jahangiri sat knitting a pratty harness for her youngest nephew. She smiled as she worked, seemingly absorbed in her task, while two visitors from Council City talked to her.

“Frankly, we’re baffled,” said the older of the two men, head of the Planetary Smuggling Stoppage Taskforce. “PSST has no clue how these people pass information to one another. We know who they are, but they take sadistic delight in thwarting us.”

Dunnllevvy had come at the behest of his friend, Retired Policing Chief Pel Darzin, who said, “You helped me so often when you were Head Librarian of the Living Library in Council City, I thought perhaps you could help Dunnllevvy.”

“I can try.”

“You see,” said Dunnllevvy, “these two fellows – Call them Suspected Felon A and Suspected Felon B – have been spending credits they shouldn’t have, given their legal employment. It’s coming from somewhere, and it always comes just after a wave of contraband goods hits the streets.”

“What sort of contraband?”

“Oh, nasty stuff! Sugary sweets, unattractive hair dye, paintings on black velvet, that sort of rot.”

Holly tsked and shook her head sadly. What was Llannonn coming to? It was quite different from when she was a girl.

“But,” Dunnllevvy went on, “the two never meet. We monitor their communications, and they never communicate. They don’t go to the same places. They don’t know the same people. Darzin, here, picked up on a silly thing and dragged me away from the investigation to talk to you about it.”

“Perhaps it is silly,” Darzin said, “but it’s the only thing the two have in common. They both patronize the Council City Living Library, and they’ve checked the same book out several times each.”

“That’s odd, indeed,” said Holly, knitting needles clicking in a ladylike staccato.

“After Darzin pointed it out, I withdrew the book, myself, and had him recite himself to me. Darzin was there. What did you think, Darzin?”

“Wonderful book,” Darzin said. “Very strange. Very funny. It’s no wonder the suspected felons like it well enough to listen to it more than once.”

“What’s the book?” Holly asked.

“THE THIEF OF TIME by Terry Pratchett.”

“Oh, one of my favorites! I thought he had retired. A new copy must have come in.”

“He’s rather young,” Darzin noted.

“Frankly,” said Dunnllevvy, “you’re welcome to it. Rubbish, I thought.” He snorted. “The table of contents was the best thing about it.”

Holly stopped knitting. “I beg your pardon? What did you say?”

Somewhat defensively, Dunnllevvy repeated, “I said the table of contents was the best thing about the rubbishy book.”

“Taskforce Head Melkorp Dunnllevvy,” said Holly, “arrest those men, and arrest that book! I know how they’re passing information. I’ve read THE THIEF OF TIME. It isn’t broken into chapters. It has no table of contents!”

~ * ~

Any resemblance between the characters in this story and any Miss Marple, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

A WRITING PROMPT FOR YOU: Write a story of 500 words or FEWER using the words contraband, table, and sadistic.

MA

 

#Caturday The Coming of Katya

Katya Graymalkin here.

Mom has animal friends online, and friends who live with animals, and sometimes the friends or the animals post about how they found each other. So I thought I’d do that today.

I grew on a peach tree. Mom says that isn’t possible, but the first thing I remember is being up in a tree as a tiny kitten, looking out over the grass and flowers and suddenly seeing Mom come around the corner of the shed. I knew she was my Mom as soon as I saw her, even though it’s the first thing I remember. Mom sometimes says I’m the reincarnation of the old cat who died just before I came, so maybe that explains it.

Anyway, I saw her, and I started yelling, “Mom! Mom! I’m up here! Help me!” Then I fell out of the tree!

I was so little, it didn’t hurt me. I ran toward Mom, but stopped and pretended to hide behind some flowers. After all, she might be mad at me for coming back! But she talked sweet to me, like she always did — except when I was bad or grumpy.

She brought me some food and water and told Charlie I was there.

“No more cats!” he said. Then he said, “Well, give the poor little thing some food and water. It won’t hurt for it to live outside.”

Mom and my youngest human sister were going away for the weekend. I heard Mom tell her, “You wait. When we get home, that cat will be in the house.”

She was right, of course! At first, I thought Charlie was my Daddy, since he was married to Mom. He petted me a lot, and played with my ears. He and Mom would sit on opposite ends of the couch so they could each have a light and a table for their coffee, and I would stretch out as far as a little kitty could to touch each one with a paw. But you know, not everybody you meet is going to be your Forever Person. That’s what makes it so special when you do meet that One — or sometimes a whole family! Charlie is a good person, and he would never let anything bad happen to me, but … you know?

Anyway, that’s my Mom and I found each other, or maybe how we found each other again. And sometimes she calls me her Little Silver Sugar Peach. So maybe I really did grow on that peach tree. What do you think?

A WRITING PROMPT FOR CATS: A cat and a person meet and try to decide if they belong to each other.

KG

The Sky Behind Me is Uplifting!

One of the brightest points of indie publishing is the availability of memoirs by and about so-called ordinary people. They aren’t celebrities. They aren’t oddities. They haven’t undergone trauma or survived and overcome incredible odds against them. The only once-in-a-lifetime adventure they’ve had is the same one we’ve all had: they’ve had a life.

The major publishers have always considered that not much of a selling point, but a life well told is riveting, and that’s what The Sky Behind Me is.

Edgington begins with the realization, as he steps out of a helicopter cockpit, that he has made his last flight.

You get through the next minute, hang up a phone, watch a train

pull away, a face at a window—or close a cockpit door and walk

away, and you just know. As much as you ache for it not to be true,

It’s done, and you know it. Something in your life is finished forever.

If that doesn’t make you want to read on, I don’t know what would!

Through the course of the book, Edgington takes us through the seeds of his love of flying helicopters and of his devotion to the well-being of his fellows, through early disappointments, and into the jobs that enabled him to fulfill both those loves.

My criteria for a good book are: It must be technically clean (spelling, punctuation, grammar), it must be stylish (whether transparent style or effectively odd), and it must immerse me in its world. The Sky Behind Me meets all these requirements AND HOW!

I’m an overage hippie peace freak, but I flew with Edgington and his buddies in Vietnam during this book, and came away with enormous respect for them and for their experiences.

I shivered through Iowa winters on medical evacuation flights.

I understood the difference a good, independently minded, thoughtful pilot can make to a business trip that can either be routine or disastrous.

I delighted in taking tours of Kauai, Hawaii, and enjoyed seeing how a perceptive pilot/guide can turn a simple tour into a life-enhancing event.

At last, my heart broke when Edgington realized he could never safely fly again.

My only quibbles with the book were: 1) Chapters 29 and 30 seemed too much. Edgington made his case throughout the book, establishing without overstatement how deeply entwined his life and his profession were; more was unnecessary; he should trust his talent and not restate it. 2) I wanted to know what he’s up to now! Can he co-pilot? How does he feed his soul and his devotion to helping others if he’s grounded?

Wonderful book. Highly recommended.

A WRITING PROMPT FOR YOU: A character can suddenly not do something that a part of their identity, the very fabric of their being.

MA

The Morning After

First, before I forget, I updated yesterday’s post to add my own six-word story.

Whew! The promotional blast for The Fall of Onagros, Book 1 of Sage, is over. It is no longer free. Now it costs a whole whoppin’ $3.99 cash American. At its best, it soared to #10 on the Free Kindle Epic Fantasy list, which ain’t shabby. I might have done better (I tell myself) if I hadn’t been happily distracted from concentrating on pushing.

The happy distraction was #4 Daughter’s safe return from Saint Petersburg, Russia, where she took a class in art restoration, preservation, and curation at The Hermitage Museum. Naw, we’re not proud of her. Not much.

Ware mai harmonnika iz at? NOBODY NOZE DA TRUBBLE AI SEEEN

So she came over and rescued Dasha, the chinchilla, from our clumsy care. We took such good care of her, her mommy got to spoil her when she got home. WE were afraid to give her fruit treats, lest we make her sick, so her mommy got to give her the first piece of papaya she had since we got her. We didn’t have any place for her to safely play, so her mommy got to let her run free in her play area at home.

Now it’s back to work for me. I doing some rewrites on EEL’S REVERENCE — sorry, world, that’s the title, and you’ll just have to deal with it. It is NOT about eels, so get over feeling all squiggly. I got some EXCELLENT feedback from Amazon reviews of the last version, and my new publisher is graciously allowing me as much time as I need to fix the glitches, while my previous publisher is graciously keeping the old version live while I work on the new one. Hydra (new publisher) is having the artist of my choice (Emilie Johnson of Indiana) do the cover, which will feature Loach, the mermayd.

Thanks to everyone who downloaded my free book, and who spread the word about it. I hope some of the folks who downloaded it read it, that some of those like it, and that some of those post reviews and/or tell their friends.

A WRITING PROMPT FOR YOU: Write a scene from the point of view of someone giving out free samples of something.

MA

#6WSC Leaves

Don’t forget that The Fall of Onagros, Book 1 of Sage (my fantasy trilogy) is FREE for Kindle today (July 17, 2013) as part of the Hydra Summer Bash.

While my sister from across the sea, Marion

Driessen (The DuTchess) is on vacation, I’m carrying on her Wednesday challenge. When she returns, she and I will do it on alternate Wednesdays.

LEAVES – Noun or verb? He leaves? She leaves? That leaves nothing but…. The spring leaves burst forth, are thick, turn bright, fall, turn brown, break to powder, vanish under snow?

Write a tiny little story in only six words (not counting the title).

Here’s a Six Word Story by Ernest Hemingway.

Such an impact and unseen images in only six words…

Publish your Six Word Story on your own website/blog and paste the link to that post in a comment to this one here. I’ll post my own in the pm.

The next 6WSC at Figments of a DuTchess will be up on Wednesday, August 14th.

MA

DECEPTION PEAK by Dianne Gardner #Free July 16-17!

DECEPTION PEAK, the first book of Dianne Lynn Gardner’s Ian’s Realm trilogy is one of the thirty or so books Hydra Publications is giving away free today during its two-day Summer Bash.

Deception Peak

Teenage Ian Wilson follows his father through a portal into a deceptively beautiful Realm, where horses run free, the wind sings prophetic melodies, and their computer avatars come to life. But separation from his dad puts Ian in peril as he’s abducted by a tribe of dragon worshipers and forced to find his courage.  As he struggles for his freedom and embarks on a perilous search for his father he meets the true peacekeepers of the Realm, and learns of a greater purpose for his being there.

Sound intriguing? Well, I guess!!

To read more about the trilogy, visit Dianne’s Ian’s Realm website/blog, or just cut to the chase and click the title below and go get that free sucker!

Amy the Astronaut and the Flight for Freedom by Steven Donahue

Andraste by Marissa Mills

Anon by Peter Giglio

Blood of the Highland Moon by Morinda Montgomery

Bounty Hunter by Kate Lynd

Bridgeworld by Travis McBee

Chronicle of Destiny by Etta Jean

Dearly Departed by Rachael Rawlings

Deception Peak by Dianne Lynn Gardner

Empyreal Fate by Rachel Hunter

Eternal Patrol by Michael Wallace

Gnosis by Tom Wallace

Into the Spiral by Erin Danzer

Love Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me by Lyndi Alexander

Lure of the Vampire by Bertena Varney

Morning Star by Desiree Finkbeiner

Primal by Raven & Lain Bower

Raising Riley by Brick Marlin

Reality Check by Eric Garrison

Tale Spinner by David Donaghe

The Exile’s Violin by R. S. Hunter

The Fall of Onagros by Marian Allen

The Hand of God by Tony Acree

The Heart Denied by Linda Anne Wulf

The Know-it-all Girl by Joanna Foreman

The Universal Mirror by Gwen Perkins

The Wall Outside by James William Peercy

Ukishima by Nigel Sellars

Virginia Creeper by Blaine Pardoe

Why, no. No, I didn’t make my own title in bold and underlined. ~hiding crossed fingers behind back~

I’m over at Kat French’s blog today, posting about Farukh, the storyteller in The Fall of Onagros and the other SAGE novels. I’m also at Fatal Foodies, posting about another beer – yes, another one!

A WRITING PROMPT FOR YOU: A character has to figure out how to stand out from the crowd.

MA

Are You Ready For #Free #Ebooks July 16-17?

Well, they’re coming! If you follow this blog much, you know that my publisher, Hydra Publications, is giving away around 30 free Kindle books tomorrow and Wednesday. One of the free books is my own The Fall of Onagros, Book 1 of my SAGE fantasy trilogy. This makes me very happy, because I want EBBERYBODY INNA WIRLD 2 REED IT! And, yes, I spell much better than that in the book, trust me.

Here is what you can look forward to July 16 and 17, 2013:

Amy the Astronaut and the Flight for Freedom by Steven Donahue

Andraste by Marissa Mills

Anon by Peter Giglio

Blood of the Highland Moon by Morinda Montgomery

Bounty Hunter by Kate Lynd

Bridgeworld by Travis McBee

Chronicle of Destiny by Etta Jean

Dearly Departed by Rachael Rawlings

Deception Peak by Dianne Lynn Gardner

Empyreal Fate by Rachel Hunter

Eternal Patrol by Michael Wallace

Gnosis by Tom Wallace

Into the Spiral by Erin Danzer

Love Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me by Lyndi Alexander

Lure of the Vampire by Bertena Varney

Morning Star by Desiree Finkbeiner

Primal by Raven & Lain Bower

Raising Riley by Brick Marlin

Reality Check by Eric Garrison

Tale Spinner by David Donaghe

The Exile’s Violin by R. S. Hunter

The Fall of Onagros by Marian Allen

The Hand of God by Tony Acree

The Heart Denied by Linda Anne Wulf

The Know-it-all Girl by Joanna Foreman

The Universal Mirror by Gwen Perkins

The Wall Outside by James William Peercy

Ukishima by Nigel Sellars

Virginia Creeper by Blaine Pardoe

A WRITING PROMPT FOR YOU: Someone gets masses of things free. Is this a happy ending? Is it a problematic beginning? Is it a screwy plot twist?

MA

#SampleSunday Twofer

First, here’s a sample from The Fall of Onagros, Book 1 of Sage, which will be FREE July 16-17, 2013 for Kindle. This is pretty much what passes for “romance” in my writing.

Salali Meets Kinnan

The Fall of Onagros, Book 1 of Sage – excerpt

by Marian Allen

One evening in the southern land of Sule, she walked into a brightly-painted canvas pavilion, greeted the lady who reclined in the place of Ownership, and unwrapped her wares. The lady and her maids, perhaps mistakenly supposing she didn’t understand their language, fingered the trinkets, exclaiming at the cleverness of their make and laughing at the cheapness of their makings. Meanwhile, she looked around at the other recipients of the lady’s desert hospitality.

Her heart lurched and thudded at the sight of one group, even before her ear separated the sense of their speech from the tangle of accents and tongues around her.

One man, a Sulian, was the focus of the others. He was tall, a little plump, rather pale, with yellow hair and beard, sparkling blue eyes, and a small pointed nose. He was leaning forward, elbows on knees, his regard fixed on a man with his back to her.

“Kinnan!” the plump man said, and laughed. His voice carried the name into her soul and fitted it into the void there.

“Farukh!” replied the man he had addressed. “Now, how do you like your name shouted aloud in the Tents of the Open Plain?”

“I like my name shouted anywhere, Master, except by the bailiffs. What storyteller doesn’t?”

“And what rebel does?”

The other men laughed.

Salali caught her breath as the storyteller saw her interest and pointed her out to the rebel, Kinnan. Her mouth went dry. Kinnan seemed to turn slowly, slender form pivoting on his cushion, gold-brown curls revealing a profile, then a face. Not a beautiful face, but a striking one, with clear gray eyes, a large nose, and a cynical quirk to his mouth.

Just before his gaze met Salali’s, the pavilion’s lady tapped her on the hand to bargain for a selection of ear-baubs and hair-bangles.

She did not dare look toward him again, but she was aware of him and of the storyteller, knew where they were without looking, and knew they had left the Tents when she woke the next morning.

~ * ~

Ain’t that sad?

Yesterday, I was at Jo Robinson’s blog with a different excerpt and a post about the divinity of birds.

#Caturday Small Rabbit Or Large Rat?

Katya Graymalkin here.

We’ve been invaded. While Mom was out, somebody brought this creature to our house. Charlie let them in. Maybe he thought it was me, because we do have the same fur: mostly silver, with a little white underneath.

I was shocked at Charlie allowing it. But when Mom got home, she explained that my youngest sister, #4 Daughter, had this thing as a pet and needed us to look after it for a week while she’s away. Mom says it’s called a chinchilla, and I laughed. I mean, that isn’t a real word, is it? Mom makes up words all the time, but that’s the silliest one yet! ha ha!

But we don’t look alike, this thing and I, really. Look at the picture of me to the left, and then look at the creature below.

Evil looking, isn’t it? Her name is Dasha. She’s from the Andes — or that’s her ethnic origin, anyway — so she needs the temperature to be 70F or lower. So Charlie put her on a table in his office and installed a window air conditioner to keep that one room colder than the rest of the house.

CHARLIE! He won’t even let me sit in his chair, and he’s turned his office into a refrigerator for this thing! And he and Mom take turns sleeping on the couch up there so they can make sure the air conditioner doesn’t freeze up or go out! Charlie won’t even clean my litter box!

And look at this! This is twenty bucks’ worth of stuff Mom bought for the thing, not to mention the packing box she went out and bought, so Dasha would have some place outside the cage to play. Maybe I would like a nice big box to play in. I can just imagine what Charlie would say if Mom put a big cardboard box in his office for me!

But Mom says Dasha is just visiting, and they need to make her feel welcome. It’s only a week, so I suppose I can tolerate it.

Fortunately, Mom’s friend Marie Britt chose this week to make me three stuffed meeces to play with, although the Hello Kitty one somehow mysteriously disappeared and ended up on Mom’s Hello Kitty shelf.

Still, Mom feels guilty about all the attention Dasha is getting, so she gives me extra pats and cuddles, and I won’t say no to that.

I’ll be glad when it goes home, though. Chinchillas can’t be wet, so they take “baths” by rolling around in volcanic ash; between the ash and the cold, Mom is all stuffed up and I hate to see her snuffy like that. I’d better give her some head butts and claw pricks to make her feel better. Love you, Mom!

A WRITING PROMPT FOR CATS: Your person brings in another animal, not a cat or a fish.

MA

All About Me All About

As my mother says, I’ve been a busy little bee this week!

I was interviewed at Where Writers And Authors Meet, answering the questions asked by readers last week. It was wacked out, and I loved it! Virginia says that questions may still be asked. If enough interest is evidenced, she’ll have me back for a follow-up. Oh, dear.

I was also featured at I Love To Read.

The day before yesterday Damyanti featured me and my science fiction novel SIDESHOW IN THE CENTER RING on her Amlokiblogs website.

And yesterday, I was interviewed about SAGE by Charmaine Clancy at dream… write… publish.

If that ain’t enough for ya, I have a Reviews and Interviews page you can check out.

Next week, The Fall of Onagros, Book 1 of Sage, will be FREE for Kindle on the 16th and 17th as part of the Hydra Summer Bash, and I’ll be guesting with Kat French and Dianne Gardner (links when the posts are live).

Whether you want to read my ramblings or not, do check out those blogs — they’re fun and informative, and you’ll be glad you did!

A WRITING PROMPT FOR YOU: Someone is in two places at once.

MA