Dale Ibitz's Blog, page 27
September 26, 2011
The Story Arc
I recently had a discussion with another author about whether a book had a true story arc. When I had read the book, it seemed to me the story arc was missing, and rather, the book was merely a series of events strung together. The story was a basis for establishing the main character's development from boyhood to manhood. While interesting, I kept waiting for the climax and resolution to the story...which, in my opinion, never came. The events in the story happened to the character, and the character never made one critical choice that brought the story to climax.
So, what's a story arc? The best explanation comes from Nigel Watt's Writing a Story and Getting Published. Nigel describes the 8 point story arc. In summary:
1. Stasis, the every day life in which the story is set. This is the setting in which the character lives, whether it be with an adoptive family, the mean halls of high school, a bored princess.
2. Trigger, which is something beyond the main character's control and which sparks the story. In a fantasy, this could be your main character falling into a portal into another world.
3. The quest stems from the trigger. If your main character fell through a portal into another world, his/her quest may be to get back home.
4. The surprise is the whole middle of the story. These could be nice surprises, but usually involves conflicts, obstacles, complications and trouble for your main character. After all, if your character found it easy to get back home after falling through the portal, that would be a pretty boring story. The writer shouldn't throw in random "surprises"...they all should be linked and make sense. Going with our falling through the portal theme, a surprise could be that after falling through the portal, the character discovers he/she plays an important role in that world's political structure. There may be forces at work that do *not* want the character to go back home.
5. Then comes the critical choice. This is where the character's true colors shine. This can't be something that happens to the character, this has to be an event that shows the character making a crucial decision. Should the character jet back home, or should the character stay and fight to save the world he/she has become a part of? The critical choice is usually the most difficult choice for the character to make. Yeah, it would be easier to go back home, but the harder choice would be to stay and fight. If your character has mettle, he/she will make the *right* critical choice.
6. So, your character makes the critical choice to stay and fight, and that brings the story to its climax. What happens after this choice is made should be dramatic, building tension so that you can't wait to see if the character wins or fails. Your character's critical choice could be facing some inherent evil overlord, someone who is stronger than your character, and maybe your character (or others close to the main character) feels he/she has little chance of winning.
7. Your main character is afraid but moves forward into battle...and then comes the reversal. The main character is stronger than anyone realized, and the evil overlord has underestimated his opponent. The evil overlord is defeated by the main character.
8. It's time to bring your story to its resolution. Your story returns to stasis, and your main character should have undergone a change and has learned through his/her ordeal. The story should be resolved (and this is important) but could also end with another trigger for a sequel. Your character won the battle with the evil overlord, but didn't kill him. The evil overlord has vowed vengence and will return.
So, not only is it vitally important to have a story arc, it's also vitally important to have resolution. Don't leave the story suspended at the end hoping to titillate your readers to wait for the sequel. That's just mean!
So, what's a story arc? The best explanation comes from Nigel Watt's Writing a Story and Getting Published. Nigel describes the 8 point story arc. In summary:
1. Stasis, the every day life in which the story is set. This is the setting in which the character lives, whether it be with an adoptive family, the mean halls of high school, a bored princess.
2. Trigger, which is something beyond the main character's control and which sparks the story. In a fantasy, this could be your main character falling into a portal into another world.
3. The quest stems from the trigger. If your main character fell through a portal into another world, his/her quest may be to get back home.
4. The surprise is the whole middle of the story. These could be nice surprises, but usually involves conflicts, obstacles, complications and trouble for your main character. After all, if your character found it easy to get back home after falling through the portal, that would be a pretty boring story. The writer shouldn't throw in random "surprises"...they all should be linked and make sense. Going with our falling through the portal theme, a surprise could be that after falling through the portal, the character discovers he/she plays an important role in that world's political structure. There may be forces at work that do *not* want the character to go back home.
5. Then comes the critical choice. This is where the character's true colors shine. This can't be something that happens to the character, this has to be an event that shows the character making a crucial decision. Should the character jet back home, or should the character stay and fight to save the world he/she has become a part of? The critical choice is usually the most difficult choice for the character to make. Yeah, it would be easier to go back home, but the harder choice would be to stay and fight. If your character has mettle, he/she will make the *right* critical choice.
6. So, your character makes the critical choice to stay and fight, and that brings the story to its climax. What happens after this choice is made should be dramatic, building tension so that you can't wait to see if the character wins or fails. Your character's critical choice could be facing some inherent evil overlord, someone who is stronger than your character, and maybe your character (or others close to the main character) feels he/she has little chance of winning.
7. Your main character is afraid but moves forward into battle...and then comes the reversal. The main character is stronger than anyone realized, and the evil overlord has underestimated his opponent. The evil overlord is defeated by the main character.
8. It's time to bring your story to its resolution. Your story returns to stasis, and your main character should have undergone a change and has learned through his/her ordeal. The story should be resolved (and this is important) but could also end with another trigger for a sequel. Your character won the battle with the evil overlord, but didn't kill him. The evil overlord has vowed vengence and will return.
So, not only is it vitally important to have a story arc, it's also vitally important to have resolution. Don't leave the story suspended at the end hoping to titillate your readers to wait for the sequel. That's just mean!
September 25, 2011
Book Giveaway - YA
Hey Babies! More giveaways of some very awesome books. I know I entered! So hop on over to Laine's blog and enter!
http://ficbookreviews.blogspot.com/
http://ficbookreviews.blogspot.com/
Banned Book Makes a Comeback
There's just something about banned books. I hear a lot of people, other than the arguement over whether books should be banned from libraries or schools, go out of there way to read books on the list. It's the forbidden fruit mentality...if you can't have it, you want it.
Interesting article today from the Associated Press:
CHARLTON, Mass. (AP) — A Massachusetts library has put the Mark Twain work "Eve's Diary" back on the shelf more than a century after it was banned.
The Charlton Public Library's trustees this week unanimously voted to return the book to circulation, reversing the board's 1906 decision to ban the 1905 short story.
Trustee Richard Whitehead said the move was made to coincide with the American Library Association's Banned Books Week.
The book was written from the perspective of the biblical Eve. It was banned because trustee Frank Wakefield objected to nude illustrations of Eve. Whitehead tells The Telegram and Gazette (http://bit.ly/r0CFgm) he considers the illustrations works of art.
The 1906 decision drew attention from The New York Times, which reported that Twain was not particularly concerned.
Charlton is 40 miles southwest of Boston.
___
Information from: Telegram & Gazette, http://www.telegram.com
Interesting article today from the Associated Press:
CHARLTON, Mass. (AP) — A Massachusetts library has put the Mark Twain work "Eve's Diary" back on the shelf more than a century after it was banned.
The Charlton Public Library's trustees this week unanimously voted to return the book to circulation, reversing the board's 1906 decision to ban the 1905 short story.
Trustee Richard Whitehead said the move was made to coincide with the American Library Association's Banned Books Week.
The book was written from the perspective of the biblical Eve. It was banned because trustee Frank Wakefield objected to nude illustrations of Eve. Whitehead tells The Telegram and Gazette (http://bit.ly/r0CFgm) he considers the illustrations works of art.
The 1906 decision drew attention from The New York Times, which reported that Twain was not particularly concerned.
Charlton is 40 miles southwest of Boston.
___
Information from: Telegram & Gazette, http://www.telegram.com
Sample Sunday: Fire in the Blood
Good Sunday Morning, babies! Yes, I'm back with sample Sunday...I've been away the last couple of Sundays (and a lot of days in between) but life should be settling down to a more scheduled chaos! LOL
Sooooo, where we left off with Haley. It's getting harder for Haley to ignore some feelings for Tuggin as they set off for home. They witness a battle between the Fire and Water gods, and after discovering human collateral damage, Haley seriously begins to wonder if she really is the one with the power to stop the war...and if she could actually do something about it.
Let's roll on to the next chapter!
Enjoy!
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
I was vaguely aware. I heard murmuring, and my hands and feet were cold, but I wasn't really awake. I rubbed my eyes and tried to bring the blurred edges of the cafeteria into focus.
Elana sat next to me at a table. Ian stood in front of us, looking at Elana as though he'd just asked her a question. Where was Tuggin? And Eyidora?
"For crying out loud," I blurted. How could I have fallen asleep right there in the cafeteria? And I'd been having a weird dream. I hoped I didn't talk in my sleep.
"Excuse me?" Elana asked.
"I said, for crying out loud," I said at the same time that Ian said, "I asked you about Haley."
He smiled, very slowly. I didn't care that he didn't seem to notice me sitting there, or that he'd just talked right over me…his smile was beautiful enough to forgive such trivial offenses. I smiled, too.
Then it hit me: Ian knew my name. The excitement filling my chest just about pushed my heart through my ribs. Maybe I'd fallen and knocked myself out and he was worried about me. Couldn't he see that I was okay, grinning at him like a dweeb?
"Leave Haley alone." Elana jumped up and turned away.
Ian grabbed her shoulder and whirled her to face him. "Don't you think we'd make a good couple?"
"No." Elana jerked free from his grip.
I frowned. What was Elana doing? Was she mad that Ian had finally noticed me? Was Elana jealous because he'd dumped her?
"Elana!" I snapped, trying to get her to shut up before she screwed my chance with Ian. I didn't think I'd get more than one.
They ignored me.
"What's the matter, Elana?" Ian asked.
I waved my arm. "Hello! Are you guys listening to me?"
Ian continued. "Are you afraid I'm going to spill your little secret?"
"If my secret is blown, then so is yours," Elana said.
"Come on you guys." I leaped to my feet. "Why are you ignoring me?"
"Doesn't matter. See, Haley's in love with me." Ian laughed softly. "She'll take me just the way I am, don't you think?"
My mouth dropped open and my face erupted with heat, like a volcano blowing its top. Had I been that obvious about him?
"But you," Ian continued, "you, she trusts completely and she will never forgive you."
"Shut up." Elana's lips were pressed into a thin line.
I blinked. "What's your problem, Elana?"
Elana wouldn't look at me. She glared at Ian.
"Oh, no, you little witch," Ian said. "You're going to listen to me."
"Hey! Don't call her that." I wanted to scream, grab them by the necks, make them look at me.
"What's she going to think of her…friend…when she finds out you've lied to her? Spied on her?" Ian leaned close to Elana. "Pretended to be her friend?"
"Stop it." I felt cold. Sick. "Tell him it's not true."
"You obviously don't care about her the way I do." Ian wore a smug smile.
"Liar. You do not care about her."
"Says who? You?"
"Haley will believe me," Elana whispered, though her face had gone white, and she slowly sank into her seat.
I'd never seen anyone pass out before, but it looked like Elana was about to keel over. A small snake of fear wiggled in my chest. It coiled around my heart and gave a gentle squeeze, enough to cause me a jolt of pain.
"I'll bet that, as we speak, that brother of yours is spinning a web of lies so thick she'll never see through the darkness shadowing her mind. What does she see when she looks at his eyes? Hmm?"
"He is not like that," she whispered. "He would not hurt her."
Ian laughed. The crowded lunchroom faded. Elana didn't have any brothers. Except Tuggin. That had been a dream, hadn't it? The shadowy room spun. That meant Tuggin was real…Eyidora was real. And Elana and Ian were talking about me right there in my high school cafeteria and Ian was worried that Tuggin was going to hurt me, and all of this meant that they hadn't forgotten about me, like Tuggin had said. No. No!
"This is some kind of sick joke, right?" I said.
Ian went on. "He holds secrets in his eyes, secrets that even you don't know about. You were raised together, but how well do you really know your brother?"
Elana made a strangled sound. Forget fainting, Elana looked like she was about to puke.
Ian rested his hands on the table and leaned toward Elana, his face inches from hers. "Your brother's been trained by the best there is, trained in the art." He leaned even closer, so close it looked like he was about to brush her cheek with his lips. "And Tuggin, as you well know, is quite the master."
Elana leaped up, knocking her chair over, and then turned so fast her hair flung away from her shoulder. A hoop earring with colored beads flashed from her ear before she ran down the hallway.
"Elana!" I shouted.
The pounding of Elana's heels echoed when she ran.
"Elana!" I called again. "Come back and talk to me. Elana!"
********************
I bolted upright, gasping and shivering in a frosty field. I threw my head back only to see twinkling stars winking at the moons. No Ian…no Elana…no school.
"What is wrong?"
I turned to find Tuggin standing over me. I rubbed my hands over my face. "Nothing."
"You do not speak truth. You called my sister-mate's name."
"You mean Elana?"
Tuggin nodded.
I pulled my knees up to my chest. "Oh, wait. That's right. You told me your family was dead."
Tuggin had the decency to bow his head. "Please to forgive."
"Whatever. I just had a nightmare, that's all."
Tuggin squatted beside me. "What meaning is nightmare?"
"Bad dream. It seemed so real."
"You dream of Elana?"
I nodded.
"Another was in this dream as well?"
I couldn't shake the feeling that it hadn't been a dream. Impossible. Earth had to be, what, a gajillion miles away, for all I knew.
"Disclose who was in this dream," Tuggin demanded.
I flinched. "A guy from my school on Earth. They were arguing."
"What did they argue of?"
My thoughts tumbled like a combination lock. Suddenly, the pins all hit and the connection opened. Elana's earring. Enja had one and, of course, so did Tuggin. My mouth dried up like the parched land. Elana was a Menta. Had she only pretended to be my friend? Was she part of the plot to "neutralize" me?
"Haley?" Tuggin prodded. "What did they argue of?"
I faced him. "Me."
His brow creased. "This is curious. Why do the Eyids send a message of my sister-mate and an Earth-kin boy?"
I swallowed loudly. I'd been duped into forgetting about my plan to escape. Duped by Tuggin's good looks. Duped by Tuggin's pretend niceness.
Duped by my own stupidity.
"I don't know."
Tuggin stood. "Or will not reveal to me?"
"I…I don't want to talk about it right now." I used a fingernail to remove some dirt beneath my thumbnail.
Tuggin blinked and the soft lines in his face hardened. "Very well." He strode back to his blanket and lay down with his back to me.
I balled my hands into fists. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Tuggin didn't want to be with me; Enja had forced him be with me. Maybe the truth had been hiding behind a pair of baby blues, like Ian had said. Eventually, Tuggin would hurt me, just as Enja ordered him to. I'd been fooling myself; I didn't mean a damn thing to Tuggin.
Why wasn't he killing me? Or maybe, if I was a Seer, he was taking me to the Eny, planning on torturing me so I'd tell them what was in my dreams. Maybe I wasn't going to Sabina at all.
I bit the knuckles on my fist so I wouldn't scream. I wished this whole nightmare would end. But should I be afraid of the sleeping nightmares—or the waking ones?
********************
A rose hue glistened on the frost as the sun climbed over the horizon. While Tuggin slept I thought about what I knew about Mentas, the whole emotion-reading and mind-control thing. And Ian had given me a clue, something about the eyes.
Tuggin shifted in his sleep. I gave the sleipnir water and grain while my mind raced. Mutant talking birds and mutant eight-legged horses were one thing…but mutant people with mind powers? I dropped the grain bucket.
Oh no.
If I was a Seer, was I mutant, too?
I took a deep breath so I could push that thought down and focus on my dream. What did I see when I looked at Tuggin's eyes? Nothing. They were pretty, of course, but lifeless. Tuggin had been trained in something he was really good at. Had Ian been talking about lunta, or the other power that Nala wouldn't talk about?
"Morning greetings," Tuggin said.
I'd been stroking Sorrel's neck, deep in thought, and started at the sound of his voice.
"Morning." I took a plum from him and sat.
"You are…competent," he said in a stiff voice, watching the sleipnir.
He didn't look at me when he spoke, and he seemed pissed about the night before. I could only imagine the Herculean effort it was for him to pretend to be nice. He must have a big plan to get me to trust him, which was funny considering my big plan to trick him into trusting me.
"Yeah, it's amazing what can be accomplished when you're not tied up," I said.
Tuggin darted a glance at me and I cleared my throat. "So, I was wondering, how do Mentas do that lunta stuff?"
Tuggin studied his plum's purple skin for a moment. Smoothing it with his finger, he said, "Through the eyes." He glanced at me. "Earth-kin say that the eyes are the windows to the soul. It is very astute, that Earth-kin should understand this."
All the spit in my mouth evaporated. Had Tuggin been brainwashing me?
"Un-like your own," he said.
"What?"
"They do not remain of one color. You see through different colored eyes."
I locked gazes with him. Tuggin broke the connection, taking a bite of his plum. Beads of sweat crawled down my back. If those earrings were the Menta's symbol, maybe a group of Mentas was a coven that forced people to do stuff against their will.
I fought the urge to look at him, afraid he'd put me under a spell or whatever it was lunta did to someone. "You never told me what they protect or enforce."
"Most enforce the laws of the laks. Others protect the Council."
I rubbed a spot on my plum, and then asked, "Like your leaders?"
"Indeed. Each lak selects four Council members." Tuggin glanced at me, as if he were going to say more, but then looked away.
I nibbled my fruit. "What do they need protection from?"
"Death."
I jerked my head up. "People try to kill the Council members?"
One side of Tuggin's mouth lifted in a fake smile that didn't even come close to reaching his eyes. "It is war, tenya. Eyidora is weak. There are some who would stop at nothing to control this globe's destiny."
"Do you think an Eyid descendant wants to control the globe's destiny?"
Tuggin blinked. "You know of the Eyid-emos?"
I shrugged.
He ran his fingers through his hair. "There is a tale of the Eyid-emos, if you desire to hear it."
It was my turn to blink. "Sure."
"Centuries ago an Eyid-emos, Tomas, desired control over the Eyids. Tomas stole the Stones of Power from the Web of Harmony, and the Eyids went to war."
"So where are those stones now?" I asked, casually biting my plum though my stomach felt like I'd swallowed the pit.
"It is not known. The other Eyid-emos also lusted for power, and there were many betrayals amongst the Eyid houses. Tomas hid the stones before his death. It is said that Tomas's descendants guarded the location of the stones, awaiting the birth of the next Eyid-emos, though that knowledge has been lost over the centuries."
Tuggin seemed to know an awful lot about the story. I thought about how electric the air felt when I was near him. Did everyone feel that way around Tuggin? Could Tuggin be the descendant of the Fire Eyid? That would be a hell of a secret.
Tuggin…two-timing player. The realization snaked from my head to my chest, twisting and biting and filling me with its numbing poison. Was Tuggin playing the Eny, pretending to go along with their plans, while using me to find my stone and keep it for himself?
"Sounds bad," I whispered.
"There are some who believe the Eyid houses are corrupt. There are some who believe Eyidora fares better without the Eyid-emos in power."
"Do you believe that?"
Tuggin didn't answer.
I ignored the tingling in my fingers. "What's this have to do with Mentas and the Council?"
"Eyidora fell into chaos. Council members were killed. They beseeched the Mentas to protect them and maintain order."
"What's your job?"
I hadn't meant to whisper, but my throat had tightened. I wondered if it would piss him off that I asked about his job as a Menta, but he didn't seem to notice. Or he didn't care. Maybe I was already a goner no matter what. My swallow stuck in my dry throat, and I coughed.
Tuggin had finished his plum; he turned the pit in his fingers. "It is difficult to explain."
"You don't know what your job is?"
"I am aware of my duty," he snapped.
Forget what Nomer had said. Forget the bee in his bonnet. Tuggin had a bee up his ass.
"Please to forgive," Tuggin tossed the pit. "It is difficult to…"
"Why, if you told me, you'd have to kill me?"
Tuggin glared at me, his face a shade paler than white. My gaze swerved to his knife, and I wished I hadn't brought up the whole killing subject.
"Why would you speak such a thing?" he snapped.
"It was a joke."
"Death is not to laugh at." He ran his hand through his hair and took a deep breath. "The sun rises."
Silently, we broke camp. I spent the rest of the day considering how Tuggin was playing me; as far as I knew, I'd been telling him things that I wasn't even aware of saying, maybe I'd already told him I had a stone. I had to escape before I was totally brainwashed.
We were going north, so I couldn't go that way. To the east was that Rally place or whatever Tuggin had called it. Crossing the desert to some smoke-filled town gave me the creeps, and I told myself that it had nothing to do with Tuggin's warning to stay away. Behind me was that mountain Nala had told me to go to, but I didn't like the idea of chancing a run-in with Enja while I passed Given Hall.
I turned my gaze to the south, a whole lot of nothingness—deserted and lonely. The Region of Fire. Only an idiot would go out there alone. I didn't want to go out there alone, but I couldn't follow Tuggin any longer.
I sighed, considering the dead land shimmying in the heat. When the moons rose, I'd jet.
Sooooo, where we left off with Haley. It's getting harder for Haley to ignore some feelings for Tuggin as they set off for home. They witness a battle between the Fire and Water gods, and after discovering human collateral damage, Haley seriously begins to wonder if she really is the one with the power to stop the war...and if she could actually do something about it.
Let's roll on to the next chapter!
Enjoy!
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
I was vaguely aware. I heard murmuring, and my hands and feet were cold, but I wasn't really awake. I rubbed my eyes and tried to bring the blurred edges of the cafeteria into focus.
Elana sat next to me at a table. Ian stood in front of us, looking at Elana as though he'd just asked her a question. Where was Tuggin? And Eyidora?
"For crying out loud," I blurted. How could I have fallen asleep right there in the cafeteria? And I'd been having a weird dream. I hoped I didn't talk in my sleep.
"Excuse me?" Elana asked.
"I said, for crying out loud," I said at the same time that Ian said, "I asked you about Haley."
He smiled, very slowly. I didn't care that he didn't seem to notice me sitting there, or that he'd just talked right over me…his smile was beautiful enough to forgive such trivial offenses. I smiled, too.
Then it hit me: Ian knew my name. The excitement filling my chest just about pushed my heart through my ribs. Maybe I'd fallen and knocked myself out and he was worried about me. Couldn't he see that I was okay, grinning at him like a dweeb?
"Leave Haley alone." Elana jumped up and turned away.
Ian grabbed her shoulder and whirled her to face him. "Don't you think we'd make a good couple?"
"No." Elana jerked free from his grip.
I frowned. What was Elana doing? Was she mad that Ian had finally noticed me? Was Elana jealous because he'd dumped her?
"Elana!" I snapped, trying to get her to shut up before she screwed my chance with Ian. I didn't think I'd get more than one.
They ignored me.
"What's the matter, Elana?" Ian asked.
I waved my arm. "Hello! Are you guys listening to me?"
Ian continued. "Are you afraid I'm going to spill your little secret?"
"If my secret is blown, then so is yours," Elana said.
"Come on you guys." I leaped to my feet. "Why are you ignoring me?"
"Doesn't matter. See, Haley's in love with me." Ian laughed softly. "She'll take me just the way I am, don't you think?"
My mouth dropped open and my face erupted with heat, like a volcano blowing its top. Had I been that obvious about him?
"But you," Ian continued, "you, she trusts completely and she will never forgive you."
"Shut up." Elana's lips were pressed into a thin line.
I blinked. "What's your problem, Elana?"
Elana wouldn't look at me. She glared at Ian.
"Oh, no, you little witch," Ian said. "You're going to listen to me."
"Hey! Don't call her that." I wanted to scream, grab them by the necks, make them look at me.
"What's she going to think of her…friend…when she finds out you've lied to her? Spied on her?" Ian leaned close to Elana. "Pretended to be her friend?"
"Stop it." I felt cold. Sick. "Tell him it's not true."
"You obviously don't care about her the way I do." Ian wore a smug smile.
"Liar. You do not care about her."
"Says who? You?"
"Haley will believe me," Elana whispered, though her face had gone white, and she slowly sank into her seat.
I'd never seen anyone pass out before, but it looked like Elana was about to keel over. A small snake of fear wiggled in my chest. It coiled around my heart and gave a gentle squeeze, enough to cause me a jolt of pain.
"I'll bet that, as we speak, that brother of yours is spinning a web of lies so thick she'll never see through the darkness shadowing her mind. What does she see when she looks at his eyes? Hmm?"
"He is not like that," she whispered. "He would not hurt her."
Ian laughed. The crowded lunchroom faded. Elana didn't have any brothers. Except Tuggin. That had been a dream, hadn't it? The shadowy room spun. That meant Tuggin was real…Eyidora was real. And Elana and Ian were talking about me right there in my high school cafeteria and Ian was worried that Tuggin was going to hurt me, and all of this meant that they hadn't forgotten about me, like Tuggin had said. No. No!
"This is some kind of sick joke, right?" I said.
Ian went on. "He holds secrets in his eyes, secrets that even you don't know about. You were raised together, but how well do you really know your brother?"
Elana made a strangled sound. Forget fainting, Elana looked like she was about to puke.
Ian rested his hands on the table and leaned toward Elana, his face inches from hers. "Your brother's been trained by the best there is, trained in the art." He leaned even closer, so close it looked like he was about to brush her cheek with his lips. "And Tuggin, as you well know, is quite the master."
Elana leaped up, knocking her chair over, and then turned so fast her hair flung away from her shoulder. A hoop earring with colored beads flashed from her ear before she ran down the hallway.
"Elana!" I shouted.
The pounding of Elana's heels echoed when she ran.
"Elana!" I called again. "Come back and talk to me. Elana!"
********************
I bolted upright, gasping and shivering in a frosty field. I threw my head back only to see twinkling stars winking at the moons. No Ian…no Elana…no school.
"What is wrong?"
I turned to find Tuggin standing over me. I rubbed my hands over my face. "Nothing."
"You do not speak truth. You called my sister-mate's name."
"You mean Elana?"
Tuggin nodded.
I pulled my knees up to my chest. "Oh, wait. That's right. You told me your family was dead."
Tuggin had the decency to bow his head. "Please to forgive."
"Whatever. I just had a nightmare, that's all."
Tuggin squatted beside me. "What meaning is nightmare?"
"Bad dream. It seemed so real."
"You dream of Elana?"
I nodded.
"Another was in this dream as well?"
I couldn't shake the feeling that it hadn't been a dream. Impossible. Earth had to be, what, a gajillion miles away, for all I knew.
"Disclose who was in this dream," Tuggin demanded.
I flinched. "A guy from my school on Earth. They were arguing."
"What did they argue of?"
My thoughts tumbled like a combination lock. Suddenly, the pins all hit and the connection opened. Elana's earring. Enja had one and, of course, so did Tuggin. My mouth dried up like the parched land. Elana was a Menta. Had she only pretended to be my friend? Was she part of the plot to "neutralize" me?
"Haley?" Tuggin prodded. "What did they argue of?"
I faced him. "Me."
His brow creased. "This is curious. Why do the Eyids send a message of my sister-mate and an Earth-kin boy?"
I swallowed loudly. I'd been duped into forgetting about my plan to escape. Duped by Tuggin's good looks. Duped by Tuggin's pretend niceness.
Duped by my own stupidity.
"I don't know."
Tuggin stood. "Or will not reveal to me?"
"I…I don't want to talk about it right now." I used a fingernail to remove some dirt beneath my thumbnail.
Tuggin blinked and the soft lines in his face hardened. "Very well." He strode back to his blanket and lay down with his back to me.
I balled my hands into fists. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Tuggin didn't want to be with me; Enja had forced him be with me. Maybe the truth had been hiding behind a pair of baby blues, like Ian had said. Eventually, Tuggin would hurt me, just as Enja ordered him to. I'd been fooling myself; I didn't mean a damn thing to Tuggin.
Why wasn't he killing me? Or maybe, if I was a Seer, he was taking me to the Eny, planning on torturing me so I'd tell them what was in my dreams. Maybe I wasn't going to Sabina at all.
I bit the knuckles on my fist so I wouldn't scream. I wished this whole nightmare would end. But should I be afraid of the sleeping nightmares—or the waking ones?
********************
A rose hue glistened on the frost as the sun climbed over the horizon. While Tuggin slept I thought about what I knew about Mentas, the whole emotion-reading and mind-control thing. And Ian had given me a clue, something about the eyes.
Tuggin shifted in his sleep. I gave the sleipnir water and grain while my mind raced. Mutant talking birds and mutant eight-legged horses were one thing…but mutant people with mind powers? I dropped the grain bucket.
Oh no.
If I was a Seer, was I mutant, too?
I took a deep breath so I could push that thought down and focus on my dream. What did I see when I looked at Tuggin's eyes? Nothing. They were pretty, of course, but lifeless. Tuggin had been trained in something he was really good at. Had Ian been talking about lunta, or the other power that Nala wouldn't talk about?
"Morning greetings," Tuggin said.
I'd been stroking Sorrel's neck, deep in thought, and started at the sound of his voice.
"Morning." I took a plum from him and sat.
"You are…competent," he said in a stiff voice, watching the sleipnir.
He didn't look at me when he spoke, and he seemed pissed about the night before. I could only imagine the Herculean effort it was for him to pretend to be nice. He must have a big plan to get me to trust him, which was funny considering my big plan to trick him into trusting me.
"Yeah, it's amazing what can be accomplished when you're not tied up," I said.
Tuggin darted a glance at me and I cleared my throat. "So, I was wondering, how do Mentas do that lunta stuff?"
Tuggin studied his plum's purple skin for a moment. Smoothing it with his finger, he said, "Through the eyes." He glanced at me. "Earth-kin say that the eyes are the windows to the soul. It is very astute, that Earth-kin should understand this."
All the spit in my mouth evaporated. Had Tuggin been brainwashing me?
"Un-like your own," he said.
"What?"
"They do not remain of one color. You see through different colored eyes."
I locked gazes with him. Tuggin broke the connection, taking a bite of his plum. Beads of sweat crawled down my back. If those earrings were the Menta's symbol, maybe a group of Mentas was a coven that forced people to do stuff against their will.
I fought the urge to look at him, afraid he'd put me under a spell or whatever it was lunta did to someone. "You never told me what they protect or enforce."
"Most enforce the laws of the laks. Others protect the Council."
I rubbed a spot on my plum, and then asked, "Like your leaders?"
"Indeed. Each lak selects four Council members." Tuggin glanced at me, as if he were going to say more, but then looked away.
I nibbled my fruit. "What do they need protection from?"
"Death."
I jerked my head up. "People try to kill the Council members?"
One side of Tuggin's mouth lifted in a fake smile that didn't even come close to reaching his eyes. "It is war, tenya. Eyidora is weak. There are some who would stop at nothing to control this globe's destiny."
"Do you think an Eyid descendant wants to control the globe's destiny?"
Tuggin blinked. "You know of the Eyid-emos?"
I shrugged.
He ran his fingers through his hair. "There is a tale of the Eyid-emos, if you desire to hear it."
It was my turn to blink. "Sure."
"Centuries ago an Eyid-emos, Tomas, desired control over the Eyids. Tomas stole the Stones of Power from the Web of Harmony, and the Eyids went to war."
"So where are those stones now?" I asked, casually biting my plum though my stomach felt like I'd swallowed the pit.
"It is not known. The other Eyid-emos also lusted for power, and there were many betrayals amongst the Eyid houses. Tomas hid the stones before his death. It is said that Tomas's descendants guarded the location of the stones, awaiting the birth of the next Eyid-emos, though that knowledge has been lost over the centuries."
Tuggin seemed to know an awful lot about the story. I thought about how electric the air felt when I was near him. Did everyone feel that way around Tuggin? Could Tuggin be the descendant of the Fire Eyid? That would be a hell of a secret.
Tuggin…two-timing player. The realization snaked from my head to my chest, twisting and biting and filling me with its numbing poison. Was Tuggin playing the Eny, pretending to go along with their plans, while using me to find my stone and keep it for himself?
"Sounds bad," I whispered.
"There are some who believe the Eyid houses are corrupt. There are some who believe Eyidora fares better without the Eyid-emos in power."
"Do you believe that?"
Tuggin didn't answer.
I ignored the tingling in my fingers. "What's this have to do with Mentas and the Council?"
"Eyidora fell into chaos. Council members were killed. They beseeched the Mentas to protect them and maintain order."
"What's your job?"
I hadn't meant to whisper, but my throat had tightened. I wondered if it would piss him off that I asked about his job as a Menta, but he didn't seem to notice. Or he didn't care. Maybe I was already a goner no matter what. My swallow stuck in my dry throat, and I coughed.
Tuggin had finished his plum; he turned the pit in his fingers. "It is difficult to explain."
"You don't know what your job is?"
"I am aware of my duty," he snapped.
Forget what Nomer had said. Forget the bee in his bonnet. Tuggin had a bee up his ass.
"Please to forgive," Tuggin tossed the pit. "It is difficult to…"
"Why, if you told me, you'd have to kill me?"
Tuggin glared at me, his face a shade paler than white. My gaze swerved to his knife, and I wished I hadn't brought up the whole killing subject.
"Why would you speak such a thing?" he snapped.
"It was a joke."
"Death is not to laugh at." He ran his hand through his hair and took a deep breath. "The sun rises."
Silently, we broke camp. I spent the rest of the day considering how Tuggin was playing me; as far as I knew, I'd been telling him things that I wasn't even aware of saying, maybe I'd already told him I had a stone. I had to escape before I was totally brainwashed.
We were going north, so I couldn't go that way. To the east was that Rally place or whatever Tuggin had called it. Crossing the desert to some smoke-filled town gave me the creeps, and I told myself that it had nothing to do with Tuggin's warning to stay away. Behind me was that mountain Nala had told me to go to, but I didn't like the idea of chancing a run-in with Enja while I passed Given Hall.
I turned my gaze to the south, a whole lot of nothingness—deserted and lonely. The Region of Fire. Only an idiot would go out there alone. I didn't want to go out there alone, but I couldn't follow Tuggin any longer.
I sighed, considering the dead land shimmying in the heat. When the moons rose, I'd jet.
September 23, 2011
Friday Funnies
Good morning, babies!
Oh, I have been absent awhile, haven't I? Work is crazy busy and I've been too exhausted to sit at the computer. Lately, I just light my candles and get my drink and go to my happy place.
So that's why I'm here in the morning!
So, let's end the week on a happy note, and then later we can all go to our happy place...where ever that may be.
Happy almost weekend!
These are actual comments made by 16 Police Officers. The comments were taken off actual police car videos around the country:
1. "You know, stop lights don't come any redder than the one you just went through."
2. "Relax, the handcuffs are tight because they're new. They'll stretch after you wear them a while."
3. "If you take your hands off the car, I'll make your birth certificate a worthless document."
4. "If you run, you'll only go to jail tired."
5. "Can you run faster than 1200 feet per second? Because that's the speed of the bullet that'll be chasing you."
6. "You don't know how fast you were going? I guess that means I can write anything I want to on the ticket, huh?"
7. "Yes, sir, you can talk to the shift supervisor, but I don't think it will help. Oh, did I mention that I'm the shift supervisor?"
8. "Warning! You want a warning? O.K, I'm warning you not to do that again or I'll give you another ticket."
9. "The answer to this last question will determine whether you are drunk or not. Was Mickey Mouse a cat or a dog?" (for a split second I was confused by that one!)
10. "Fair? You want me to be fair? Listen, fair is a place where you go to ride on rides, eat cotton candy and corn dogs and step in monkey poop."
11. "Yeah, we have a quota. Two more tickets and my wife gets a toaster oven."
12. "In God we trust; all others we run through NCIC." (National Crime Information Center)
13. "Just how big were those 'two beers' you say you had?"
14. "No sir, we don't have quotas anymore. We used to, but now we're allowed to write as many tickets as we can."
15. "I'm glad to hear that the Chief (of Police) is a personal friend of yours. So you know someone who can post your bail."
AND THE WINNER IS....
16. "You didn't think we give pretty women tickets? You're right, we don't.. Sign here.
Oh, I have been absent awhile, haven't I? Work is crazy busy and I've been too exhausted to sit at the computer. Lately, I just light my candles and get my drink and go to my happy place.
So that's why I'm here in the morning!
So, let's end the week on a happy note, and then later we can all go to our happy place...where ever that may be.
Happy almost weekend!
These are actual comments made by 16 Police Officers. The comments were taken off actual police car videos around the country:
1. "You know, stop lights don't come any redder than the one you just went through."
2. "Relax, the handcuffs are tight because they're new. They'll stretch after you wear them a while."
3. "If you take your hands off the car, I'll make your birth certificate a worthless document."
4. "If you run, you'll only go to jail tired."
5. "Can you run faster than 1200 feet per second? Because that's the speed of the bullet that'll be chasing you."
6. "You don't know how fast you were going? I guess that means I can write anything I want to on the ticket, huh?"
7. "Yes, sir, you can talk to the shift supervisor, but I don't think it will help. Oh, did I mention that I'm the shift supervisor?"
8. "Warning! You want a warning? O.K, I'm warning you not to do that again or I'll give you another ticket."
9. "The answer to this last question will determine whether you are drunk or not. Was Mickey Mouse a cat or a dog?" (for a split second I was confused by that one!)
10. "Fair? You want me to be fair? Listen, fair is a place where you go to ride on rides, eat cotton candy and corn dogs and step in monkey poop."
11. "Yeah, we have a quota. Two more tickets and my wife gets a toaster oven."
12. "In God we trust; all others we run through NCIC." (National Crime Information Center)
13. "Just how big were those 'two beers' you say you had?"
14. "No sir, we don't have quotas anymore. We used to, but now we're allowed to write as many tickets as we can."
15. "I'm glad to hear that the Chief (of Police) is a personal friend of yours. So you know someone who can post your bail."
AND THE WINNER IS....
16. "You didn't think we give pretty women tickets? You're right, we don't.. Sign here.
September 17, 2011
Giveaway YA Paranormal
Check out Amanda's blog, Stuck in YA Books: 400 follower giveaway! 3 books are up for grabs, so hop on over to Amanda's blog and enter!
http://lovesbooksreviews.blogspot.com...
http://lovesbooksreviews.blogspot.com...
September 9, 2011
Fire in the Blood Giveaway
This is the last day to enter the giveaway for Fire in the Blood, on Goodreads.com.
Hurry!
Hurry!
Friday Funnies!
It's Friday! It's Friday! Are you ready for Friday? I am!
Let's end the week and start the week-end with a chuckle. Hope you enjoy these as much as I did.
Happy Friday!
These are actual comments made on students' report cards by teachers in the New York City public school system. All teachers were reprimanded (but, boy, are these funny!)
1. Since my last report, your child has reached rock bottom and has started to dig.
2. I would not allow this student to breed.
3. Your child has delusions of adequacy.
4. Your son is depriving a village somewhere of an idiot.
5. Your son sets low personal standards and then consistently fails to achieve them.
6. The student has a 'full six-pack' but lacks the plastic thing to hold it all together.
7. This child has been working with glue too much.
8. When your daughter's IQ reaches 50, she should sell.
9. The gates are down, the lights are flashing, but the train isn't coming..
10. If this student were any more stupid, he'd have to be watered twice a week.
11. It's impossible to believe the sperm that created this child beat out 1,000,000 others. (my favorite)
12. The wheel is turning but the hamster is definitely dead.
Let's end the week and start the week-end with a chuckle. Hope you enjoy these as much as I did.
Happy Friday!
These are actual comments made on students' report cards by teachers in the New York City public school system. All teachers were reprimanded (but, boy, are these funny!)
1. Since my last report, your child has reached rock bottom and has started to dig.
2. I would not allow this student to breed.
3. Your child has delusions of adequacy.
4. Your son is depriving a village somewhere of an idiot.
5. Your son sets low personal standards and then consistently fails to achieve them.
6. The student has a 'full six-pack' but lacks the plastic thing to hold it all together.
7. This child has been working with glue too much.
8. When your daughter's IQ reaches 50, she should sell.
9. The gates are down, the lights are flashing, but the train isn't coming..
10. If this student were any more stupid, he'd have to be watered twice a week.
11. It's impossible to believe the sperm that created this child beat out 1,000,000 others. (my favorite)
12. The wheel is turning but the hamster is definitely dead.
September 7, 2011
Welcome Wednesday welcomes Haley Allaire, from Fire in the Blood
Today I have a guest interview with Haley Allaire, from Fire in the Blood.
In celebration of the release of my book, Fire in the Blood, in paperback, I globe-hopped to Eyidora and pressured a shy and somewhat resistant Haley Allaire into giving me an interview.
**********
I tap my pen on my desk, sip my coffee, and glance at my watch. Haley's a few minutes late, but I'm not worried that she's bailing on me. I know that she's doing some last minute packing for her mission to find another lost Eyid stone.
Haley flings open the door and rushes inside in a burst of winter air, dropping into the chair across the table from me with a loud sigh. Her cheeks are rosy from the cold, but her eyelids droop and her hair looks like she's just run through a tornado. She tosses her coat onto a chair, not seeming to notice that the cream-colored tunic she's wearing over black leggings is wrinkled. She drags another wooden chair closer to her in order to prop her knee-length fur-lined boots on it. She runs her hand through her hair and masters a small, tired-looking smile.
Dale: Glad you made it.
Haley: Yeah, sorry I'm late. Uncle Sal was getting all kinds of annoying. He's still not cool with me leaving.
Dale: Why?
Haley: He thinks I'm too young.
Dale: You are only seventeen. Most kids are still in school at that age.
Haley snorts: Yeah, well, after the last few months on Eyidora, I'd say that honestly, school is the least of my worries. And I'm old enough to take whatever crap is chucked at me. I've had people lie to me, kidnap me, and try to kill me. I think I proved I can kick ass, don't you?
Dale: Touche. Anyway, are you okay?
Haley rubs the back of her neck: Just tired. I had a dream last night and, you know, those dreams kind of drain me.
Dale: Want to tell me about it?
Haley glances at the table: Maybe later.
Dale: I thought we could break the ice a little by playing a game. I say something, and you say the first thing that comes to you mind. Ready?
Haley nods.
Dale: Eyidora.
Haley: Beautiful.
Dale: Earth.
Haley: Danger.
Dale: White or milk chocolate.
Haley: Milk.
Dale: Beach or mountains.
Haley: Mountains.
Dale: That's enough ice-breaking for me. So you grew up on Earth. Do you miss it?
Haley: Some of it. Not all.
Dale: What don't you miss?
Haley lifts one shoulder in a half-shrug: It's hard to explain. I just never felt like I belonged.
Dale: Don't a lot of teenagers feel that way?
Haley: It's different for me. I felt like I was playing a part, you know? I did my hair like the other kids, dressed like the other kids, talked like the other kids, but it never felt natural to me. And no one really noticed me no matter what I did, even though I was trying to emulate everyone else. It just didn't seem to work.
Dale: You sound as though you've had an epiphany.
Haley gestures to her clothes: I don't know about that, but this feels right. I don't feel like I'm pretending to be someone I'm not.
Dale: You're saying you feel more comfortable as an Eyidoran?
Haley nods, slowly: Yeah, I think I am.
Dale: What do you miss the most from Earth?
Haley laughs: Chocolate. Got any?
Dale: Sorry, I'll bring some next time. So on your 17th birthday you get the surprise of your life when you're tumbled to a parallel globe called Eyidora. How did you feel when that happened?
Haley: It was unreal, I honestly thought I was dreaming, or that I'd somehow been drugged and was hallucinating. I mean, seriously, who would believe that parallel worlds actually existed?
Dale: If it had happened to me, I'm pretty sure I would have thought I'd gone just a tad off my nut.
Haley: Exactly. It took me a while to figure out my life had totally changed.
Dale: Tell us about the Eyids. What are they like?
Haley: They're a strange bunch. They're these gods of nature, right? And they're supposed to act all goddy, but they don't: Nala acts like she's twelve, Nomer's kind of blunt, Soltar has a big head, and Sylpha's bossy as hell. And they argue like kids. You'd think they'd be a little more respectable, being gods, but they're kind of not.
Dale: Sounds bizarre.
Haley: I know, right?
Dale: Is the war getting worse?
Haley: It really depends on the day. You never know when the Eyids are going to get into it. It's not like a regular war, where you know which side you're on and who the enemy is. With the Eyids, they're not even enemies…they just don't have any harmony between them. A battle can happen at any time, anywhere, and people are collateral damage. If you're around, say, when Soltar starts throwing lightning at Sylpha because she's done something to piss him off, you can get zapped in a heart beat…wrong place, wrong time kind of thing…but yeah, the battles seem to happen more often.
Dale: Speaking of the Eyid descendants, how does it feel like to be a descendant of the Air Eyid?
Haley pauses for a long moment before answering: It's hard to explain how it feels. I mean, it's sort of like me asking you how it feels to have hazel eyes. It's just a part of who you are. At first, I didn't believe I had any kind of power, but when I started actually using that power…well, let's just say it's easy to see how people can let power go to their heads.
Dale: What are your thoughts about the Fire Eyid descendant?
Haley: I'm…conflicted.
Dale: Seriously? He tried to kill you…among other things.
Haley: I know, but…part of me thinks that there's good inside everyone. No one can be all evil all the time. Can they? I mean, maybe there's bad stuff going on that I don't know about. Maybe he's a good guy that bad things have happened to, you know?
Dale: You mean nature vs. nurture?
Haley: Yeah, that's it.
Dale: Are you saying you want to save him? Some people just can't be saved.
Haley shrugs and studies her boots. By the set of her mouth, I'm thinking she's not going to say more. Time to move on.
Dale: What about the mentas? Good or bad?
Haley's shoulders relax: That's the question of the century. When someone has the power of persuasion, it's hard to trust them. How can you be sure a menta isn't bending your mind into doing something you don't want to do? It's all kinds of scary. Personally, I think they started out good, but then like most political parties, the power went to their head and their good intentions got twisted.
Dale: Do you think mentas and Eyid-emos struggling for power is like Earth's politics?
Haley: Well, yeah. First you had the Eyids running the show, until they corrupted themselves with greed and power. And then their descendants…the Eyid-emos…took over, and ditto the corruption. And then the mentas took over, and they're not exactly jumping up and down now that they know some of us Eyid descendants are back, and they don't seem eager to give up any of that power. In fact, some people think the Mentas started the war in the first place so they could take control.
Dale: Do you?
Haley shrugs: Who knows? Everyone from that time is dead.
Dale: What's your gut tell you?
Haley licks her lips: That the mentas did start the war.
Dale: Part of the Eyid-emos power is the power of persuasion, like the mentas have.
Haley nods.
Dale: Do you ever worry that the same power that corrupted the gods, your ancestors, and the mentas will corrupt you?
Haley: Of course. Anyone would be lying if they said they didn't.
Dale: Elana's a menta. Do you trust her?
Haley: Absolutely. Even though she's a menta, she's very open and I don't think she has a secretive bone in her body. She's my best friend. She has my back, you know?
Dale: Any romance in your future?
Haley raises her eyebrows: You're kidding, right?
Dale shrugs.
Haley runs her hand through her hair: First, I've never even had a boyfriend because of that whole invisibility shield kind of thing I had going for me on Earth, and second, I don't seem to be a great judge of character when it comes to guys…they always seem to want to kill me…so I'd say definitively that there's no romance in my future.
Dale: It's getting late and you have to finish getting ready for your trip, so we'll just end it at that. Can we talk again when you get back?
Haley pauses at the door: You seem to think I'll be coming back.
Dale: I should hope so.
One side of Haley's mouth lifts in a tired half-smile: Not everyone hopes I do.
Dale nods: I know. Have a safe trip, and good luck.
Haley: Thanks. I'll need it.
*********
Haley's full story can be found in Fire in the Blood, available now. You can read about her next adventure in Strong Blood, coming out in 2012.
In celebration of the release of my book, Fire in the Blood, in paperback, I globe-hopped to Eyidora and pressured a shy and somewhat resistant Haley Allaire into giving me an interview.
**********
I tap my pen on my desk, sip my coffee, and glance at my watch. Haley's a few minutes late, but I'm not worried that she's bailing on me. I know that she's doing some last minute packing for her mission to find another lost Eyid stone.
Haley flings open the door and rushes inside in a burst of winter air, dropping into the chair across the table from me with a loud sigh. Her cheeks are rosy from the cold, but her eyelids droop and her hair looks like she's just run through a tornado. She tosses her coat onto a chair, not seeming to notice that the cream-colored tunic she's wearing over black leggings is wrinkled. She drags another wooden chair closer to her in order to prop her knee-length fur-lined boots on it. She runs her hand through her hair and masters a small, tired-looking smile.
Dale: Glad you made it.
Haley: Yeah, sorry I'm late. Uncle Sal was getting all kinds of annoying. He's still not cool with me leaving.
Dale: Why?
Haley: He thinks I'm too young.
Dale: You are only seventeen. Most kids are still in school at that age.
Haley snorts: Yeah, well, after the last few months on Eyidora, I'd say that honestly, school is the least of my worries. And I'm old enough to take whatever crap is chucked at me. I've had people lie to me, kidnap me, and try to kill me. I think I proved I can kick ass, don't you?
Dale: Touche. Anyway, are you okay?
Haley rubs the back of her neck: Just tired. I had a dream last night and, you know, those dreams kind of drain me.
Dale: Want to tell me about it?
Haley glances at the table: Maybe later.
Dale: I thought we could break the ice a little by playing a game. I say something, and you say the first thing that comes to you mind. Ready?
Haley nods.
Dale: Eyidora.
Haley: Beautiful.
Dale: Earth.
Haley: Danger.
Dale: White or milk chocolate.
Haley: Milk.
Dale: Beach or mountains.
Haley: Mountains.
Dale: That's enough ice-breaking for me. So you grew up on Earth. Do you miss it?
Haley: Some of it. Not all.
Dale: What don't you miss?
Haley lifts one shoulder in a half-shrug: It's hard to explain. I just never felt like I belonged.
Dale: Don't a lot of teenagers feel that way?
Haley: It's different for me. I felt like I was playing a part, you know? I did my hair like the other kids, dressed like the other kids, talked like the other kids, but it never felt natural to me. And no one really noticed me no matter what I did, even though I was trying to emulate everyone else. It just didn't seem to work.
Dale: You sound as though you've had an epiphany.
Haley gestures to her clothes: I don't know about that, but this feels right. I don't feel like I'm pretending to be someone I'm not.
Dale: You're saying you feel more comfortable as an Eyidoran?
Haley nods, slowly: Yeah, I think I am.
Dale: What do you miss the most from Earth?
Haley laughs: Chocolate. Got any?
Dale: Sorry, I'll bring some next time. So on your 17th birthday you get the surprise of your life when you're tumbled to a parallel globe called Eyidora. How did you feel when that happened?
Haley: It was unreal, I honestly thought I was dreaming, or that I'd somehow been drugged and was hallucinating. I mean, seriously, who would believe that parallel worlds actually existed?
Dale: If it had happened to me, I'm pretty sure I would have thought I'd gone just a tad off my nut.
Haley: Exactly. It took me a while to figure out my life had totally changed.
Dale: Tell us about the Eyids. What are they like?
Haley: They're a strange bunch. They're these gods of nature, right? And they're supposed to act all goddy, but they don't: Nala acts like she's twelve, Nomer's kind of blunt, Soltar has a big head, and Sylpha's bossy as hell. And they argue like kids. You'd think they'd be a little more respectable, being gods, but they're kind of not.
Dale: Sounds bizarre.
Haley: I know, right?
Dale: Is the war getting worse?
Haley: It really depends on the day. You never know when the Eyids are going to get into it. It's not like a regular war, where you know which side you're on and who the enemy is. With the Eyids, they're not even enemies…they just don't have any harmony between them. A battle can happen at any time, anywhere, and people are collateral damage. If you're around, say, when Soltar starts throwing lightning at Sylpha because she's done something to piss him off, you can get zapped in a heart beat…wrong place, wrong time kind of thing…but yeah, the battles seem to happen more often.
Dale: Speaking of the Eyid descendants, how does it feel like to be a descendant of the Air Eyid?
Haley pauses for a long moment before answering: It's hard to explain how it feels. I mean, it's sort of like me asking you how it feels to have hazel eyes. It's just a part of who you are. At first, I didn't believe I had any kind of power, but when I started actually using that power…well, let's just say it's easy to see how people can let power go to their heads.
Dale: What are your thoughts about the Fire Eyid descendant?
Haley: I'm…conflicted.
Dale: Seriously? He tried to kill you…among other things.
Haley: I know, but…part of me thinks that there's good inside everyone. No one can be all evil all the time. Can they? I mean, maybe there's bad stuff going on that I don't know about. Maybe he's a good guy that bad things have happened to, you know?
Dale: You mean nature vs. nurture?
Haley: Yeah, that's it.
Dale: Are you saying you want to save him? Some people just can't be saved.
Haley shrugs and studies her boots. By the set of her mouth, I'm thinking she's not going to say more. Time to move on.
Dale: What about the mentas? Good or bad?
Haley's shoulders relax: That's the question of the century. When someone has the power of persuasion, it's hard to trust them. How can you be sure a menta isn't bending your mind into doing something you don't want to do? It's all kinds of scary. Personally, I think they started out good, but then like most political parties, the power went to their head and their good intentions got twisted.
Dale: Do you think mentas and Eyid-emos struggling for power is like Earth's politics?
Haley: Well, yeah. First you had the Eyids running the show, until they corrupted themselves with greed and power. And then their descendants…the Eyid-emos…took over, and ditto the corruption. And then the mentas took over, and they're not exactly jumping up and down now that they know some of us Eyid descendants are back, and they don't seem eager to give up any of that power. In fact, some people think the Mentas started the war in the first place so they could take control.
Dale: Do you?
Haley shrugs: Who knows? Everyone from that time is dead.
Dale: What's your gut tell you?
Haley licks her lips: That the mentas did start the war.
Dale: Part of the Eyid-emos power is the power of persuasion, like the mentas have.
Haley nods.
Dale: Do you ever worry that the same power that corrupted the gods, your ancestors, and the mentas will corrupt you?
Haley: Of course. Anyone would be lying if they said they didn't.
Dale: Elana's a menta. Do you trust her?
Haley: Absolutely. Even though she's a menta, she's very open and I don't think she has a secretive bone in her body. She's my best friend. She has my back, you know?
Dale: Any romance in your future?
Haley raises her eyebrows: You're kidding, right?
Dale shrugs.
Haley runs her hand through her hair: First, I've never even had a boyfriend because of that whole invisibility shield kind of thing I had going for me on Earth, and second, I don't seem to be a great judge of character when it comes to guys…they always seem to want to kill me…so I'd say definitively that there's no romance in my future.
Dale: It's getting late and you have to finish getting ready for your trip, so we'll just end it at that. Can we talk again when you get back?
Haley pauses at the door: You seem to think I'll be coming back.
Dale: I should hope so.
One side of Haley's mouth lifts in a tired half-smile: Not everyone hopes I do.
Dale nods: I know. Have a safe trip, and good luck.
Haley: Thanks. I'll need it.
*********
Haley's full story can be found in Fire in the Blood, available now. You can read about her next adventure in Strong Blood, coming out in 2012.
September 5, 2011
Book Review: Going to California, by Janice Grove
Going to California
by Janice Grove
The book jacket says that this book picks up right where the first book, The Rain Song, ended. Well, this author wasn't kidding. If you haven't read the first book, my suggestion is to put this book down, go get the first book, read it, and only *then* should you pick up this book. Otherwise, like me, you will feel like you picked up a book and just started reading in the middle.
Going to California is about a family, the Remingtons, who are trying to protect their 8 year-old son, Micah (or Mickey). Micah and his older brother, David, are separated from their parents, and are on the run from demons, hunters, and hit men...all with their own agenda in capturing Micah and using him for their own purposes...or to just plain out-right kill him. Nick and Angela, along with a cast of friends, are trying to find and protect the boys and bring them home. But not only are they dealing with adversaries coming at them from every direction, they have to deal with a traitor within their own group.
This is fact-paced, action-packed novel that hardly stops to take a breather. The various points of view approaching each scene is interesting and intriguing. You would think that, with the various points of view, that there would be no way the author could slip in a traitorous member because you kind of know what everyone is thinking, but Janice does this with ease and I found myself wondering throughout the whole book who the traitor was going to be. The ending pulled at my heartstrings. Each character is developed in 3-D, though sometimes I felt the actions/dialogue of Angela Remington, the mom, a little over-dramatic and not quite realistic. I liked every character in the ensemble cast.
Now, let's get to the nasty.
There is no explanation of things, people, places or events that took place in book one, so you are left with a cast of about 10 characters, some with aliases, going in different directions with different thoughts and agendas and feelings and none of it makes sense. I think about 1/3 of the way into the book there is some backstory revealed, but that's far too late. I didn't even know how old David was until about that time (13, by the way). The first third of the book I didn't know if he was an immature 18 or a very mature 10.
There are terms used with no explanation. For example, David is a Guardian. Now, that could be an angel, a demon guardian, or a human with a fancy title. Couldn't tell you.
There are also Seers and Warriors, and The Other Realm. What are these? Haven't a clue.
Micah is a demon, but I can't tell you what kind of demon (or if there are various kinds of demons or if they are all the same). He has some powers...we see him use some kind of protection shield, and he thinks he can hurt people by blowing them up, but don't know if that's true or not since he never does blow anything up. And though he's a demon, he's being protected by hunters, David the Guardian, and a priest. Why is he being protected? Haven't a clue. I don't know if he's a good demon, or if it's because he's only 8 years old, or because he's innocent until proven guilty.
Also, while the writing *style* is great...the writing in and of itself is not. The book could use a good editor to help clean up the punctuation so that there aren't a lot of run in sentences, or sentences that don't quite make sense. Too often the action was stalled when I had to stop to re-read sentences to try to figure out what was meant.
So, now you know why you have to read the first book first. My review may have been better had I known what was going on half the time, because it definitely has potential.
by Janice Grove
The book jacket says that this book picks up right where the first book, The Rain Song, ended. Well, this author wasn't kidding. If you haven't read the first book, my suggestion is to put this book down, go get the first book, read it, and only *then* should you pick up this book. Otherwise, like me, you will feel like you picked up a book and just started reading in the middle.
Going to California is about a family, the Remingtons, who are trying to protect their 8 year-old son, Micah (or Mickey). Micah and his older brother, David, are separated from their parents, and are on the run from demons, hunters, and hit men...all with their own agenda in capturing Micah and using him for their own purposes...or to just plain out-right kill him. Nick and Angela, along with a cast of friends, are trying to find and protect the boys and bring them home. But not only are they dealing with adversaries coming at them from every direction, they have to deal with a traitor within their own group.
This is fact-paced, action-packed novel that hardly stops to take a breather. The various points of view approaching each scene is interesting and intriguing. You would think that, with the various points of view, that there would be no way the author could slip in a traitorous member because you kind of know what everyone is thinking, but Janice does this with ease and I found myself wondering throughout the whole book who the traitor was going to be. The ending pulled at my heartstrings. Each character is developed in 3-D, though sometimes I felt the actions/dialogue of Angela Remington, the mom, a little over-dramatic and not quite realistic. I liked every character in the ensemble cast.
Now, let's get to the nasty.
There is no explanation of things, people, places or events that took place in book one, so you are left with a cast of about 10 characters, some with aliases, going in different directions with different thoughts and agendas and feelings and none of it makes sense. I think about 1/3 of the way into the book there is some backstory revealed, but that's far too late. I didn't even know how old David was until about that time (13, by the way). The first third of the book I didn't know if he was an immature 18 or a very mature 10.
There are terms used with no explanation. For example, David is a Guardian. Now, that could be an angel, a demon guardian, or a human with a fancy title. Couldn't tell you.
There are also Seers and Warriors, and The Other Realm. What are these? Haven't a clue.
Micah is a demon, but I can't tell you what kind of demon (or if there are various kinds of demons or if they are all the same). He has some powers...we see him use some kind of protection shield, and he thinks he can hurt people by blowing them up, but don't know if that's true or not since he never does blow anything up. And though he's a demon, he's being protected by hunters, David the Guardian, and a priest. Why is he being protected? Haven't a clue. I don't know if he's a good demon, or if it's because he's only 8 years old, or because he's innocent until proven guilty.
Also, while the writing *style* is great...the writing in and of itself is not. The book could use a good editor to help clean up the punctuation so that there aren't a lot of run in sentences, or sentences that don't quite make sense. Too often the action was stalled when I had to stop to re-read sentences to try to figure out what was meant.
So, now you know why you have to read the first book first. My review may have been better had I known what was going on half the time, because it definitely has potential.
