Clare C. Marshall's Blog, page 19
June 25, 2012
Faces in the Mist, Part 28
The creature lunged at Darian. Sunken-in face, multiple rows of teeth, dark grey-blue skin, black-as-death eyes–all of this was a blur as Darian dived right and landed face-first on the floor. Lieutenant Pace was dead beside him. His face had been chewed off.
Sergeant Masters was covered in blood–a nasty wound on his head, by the looks of it–but the little bastard was still alive. The creature snapped its gleaming, blood-stained teeth at him and swiped at Masters’ face. It was missing more than half its fingers. The fingers that were there sported long, hooked nails that looked like it could gouge out a man’s eye in seconds. Masters fired his laser gun but it seemed to have little effect on the monster. In fact, the more Masters shined his flashlight in its eyes, the more the enraged and frenzied the creature became.
Leaping to his feet, all of Darian’s training came back to him in muscle memory. Arms close to the body. Legs spread shoulder-width apart. Chin tucked in slightly. His father boxed for a while, and these were the first things he learned from him. Who thought he’d be using them against a hostile alien?
Darian swung. His fist crunched the creature’s jaw and unhinged what was left of it. Now it was all teeth. Behind it, Starkley whipped out a switch blade and drove it into the creature’s neck. It gurgled and drooled a vile black-green liquid, and reached for Darian again.
It was easy to kill this creature. It wasn’t even human. Starkley stabbed it again and Masters kicked it back against the wall. Dazzed, the monster slumped forward. Darian slammed his foot down on the creature’s neck and with a deafening snap, its head dangled unnaturally from its neck and then fell to the floor. No blood, just grainy black powder covered the floor. Darian hoped that losing its head would make the monster dead enough.
“Pace…” Starkley said, kneeling before his fallen friend.
Darian heaved a heavy sigh. “May he rest in peace.”
“I wish there was something we could do. About the body, sir,” Starkley said.
“We’ll have to leave him, for now.” Darian turned his attention back to the door. Masters was waving at the frightened nurse on the inside. A few seconds later, the door hissed and slid open.
The room had light–labs must run on the back-up generator power, Darian realized. It was twenty or thirty feet long, and ten feet wide, and filled with lab equipment. In the back, an older man in a white lab coat was working at one of the machines. He turned swiftly, a crowbar in hand, and a familiar crummugin look on his face.
“Shut the damn door,” Doctor Leeland barked at the nurse.
Once the three of them were in, she tapped on the keypad and the door slammed shut again with another chemical-sounding hiss.
“That thing has been lurkin’ around the hallway for almost an hour,” Leeland muttered. He set the crowbar down on a nearby lab stool. “We were sealed in here, and that glass is damn-near indestructible, but that thing was determined.”
“I’m just glad to see you alive,” Darian admitted. “The whole Dome is under quarantine. What happened?”
Leeland approached the four of them, wiping his hands on his lab coat. “Don’t know. We were running tests and checking results on the minerals I found in the Ladies’ bloodstreams. Then, a silent alarm went off–in the Ladies room, surprise, surprise. The labs lock by default so we were safe in here, but it’s sound-proof, so…” He raised his grey eyebrows. “Maybe you should tell me what’s going on out there, Captain.”
Darian explained about the dead bodies at the entrance to the medical bay. The nurse’s face paled and she shook her head. Leeland’s eyebrows furrowed but he didn’t interrupt.
“Did your tests find anything conclusive, Doctor?” Darian asked when they were done.
“Yeah. I did. Managed to get a tissue sample from the thing out there.” He gestured to the floor around the door. Fine, ground black powder stained the tile. What looked like animal droppings turned out to be two fingers, brittle and dry upon closer inspection.
Starkley frowned. “That thing…was it human?”
“It was. Ain’t no more. I ran a mass spec on it and it’s full of that mineral that we found in Lady Harmony’s bloodstream.”
“Is it possible that that creature was either Lady Harmony or Lady Dominique?” Darian asked.
Leeland shook his head. “DNA wasn’t a match. What human DNA was left in the sample wasn’t a match, at least.”
“Who do you think it was?” Masters asked.
The young nurse cleared her throat. “Another nurse. We all wear the same scrubs, and the rags the…thing…was wearing…looked like what we wear.” She leaned against one of the lab tables, her hands gripping the ledge. “It just all happened so fast.”
Fear gripped Darian’s gut. “Doctor…how does someone turn into one of these monsters?”
“We don’t know that yet…but we’ve only been in this room what, an hour?” He looked to the nurse. She checked her wrist watch–an antique, but it still had its uses–and she nodded. Leeland shrugged. “Far as I know, there weren’t any of those things runnin’ around. Think we would’ve noticed that. Or it would’ve been picked up by the sensors and the cameras and all the other dudads you soldier-types made us install for security. No good now that we’re only on backup power.
“Ny’way, Lady Harmony’s been out for more hours than one, and she’s not a slobbering mess. Lady Dominique’s the same. Something’s keeping them from building up that mineral that’s in this unlucky lady’s blood. That’s what must have made them go mad. But that’s just my opinion. Untested hypothesis.”
“And the mineral…?” Starkley prompted.
“The mineral’s just a byproduct. A chemical reaction is going on between whatever has infested their bodies and their immune system,” the young nurse explained.
“Are you running any other tests now? The entire Dome is under quarantine, and we’re gathering as many people as we can and escorting them to safety.” Though this lab seemed like the safest place he’d seen in the last few hours. Strong, reinforced doors. Lab equipment that could provide answers to whatever was happening. A fridge, a couch.
“Leave me here. I might be able to run a few more tests yet. Though I do need some other supplies,” Leeland said.
“Starkley, you stay with the Doctor and help him get whatever he needs,” Darian said.
“Yes, sir.”
Darian nodded. He considered leaving Masters, since he seemed pretty level-headed for his first-time, but he was too much of a rookie to be trusted with the Doctor. “Masters, you’re with me. We’ll meet up with the rest of the men. Starkley, I want updates every hour. Open radio communication. If you go silent, we’re assuming you’re in trouble.”
“Yes, sir,” said both Starkley and Masters.
And then, Darian thought as he turned to leave, I will find you, Skyla, and make sure you’re safe.
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June 23, 2012
Book Giveaway Finds, June 23, 2012
Hey everyone! Couple of different books for you this week to go and snatch up for free! Some of fantasy-like and others not-so-much! All this giving away makes me want to do another giveaway and share the love.
As always, if you would like your giveaway featured on Book Giveaway Finds, contact me or leave a comment.
Now, onward!
Giving Away: Osric’s Wand: The Wand-Maker’s Debate
Blog Doing Giveaway: Airicka Phoenix
Book Type: eBook
Open: International
Giveaway Ends: June 27, 2012
Giving Away: Fate’s Design, by Lola James
Blog Doing Giveaway: Bittersweet Enchantment
Book Type: eBook
Open: International
Giveaway Ends: June 27, 2012
Giving Away: Instances of the Number 3 by Salley Vickers
Blog Doing Giveaway: Read in a Single Sitting
Book Type: Physical
Open: International?
Giveaway Ends: June 27, 2012
Giving Away: Shackled by Angela Carling
Blog Doing Giveaway: Avery Olive
Book Type: Paperback
Open: International?
Giveaway Ends: June 27, 2012
Giving Away: The Magic Warble, by Victoria Simcox
Blog Doing Giveaway: Bird Talk
Book Type: eBook
Open: International
Giveaway Ends: June 28, 2012
Giving Away: Tiger’s Destiny, by Colleen Houck
Blog Doing Giveaway: Curse of the Bibliophile
Book Type: Paperback
Open: US Only
Giveaway Ends: July 7, 2012
Giving Away: eCopy of Starring in the Movie of My Life
Blog Doing Giveaway: Firestar Books
Book Type: eBook
Open: International
Giveaway Ends: July 8, 2012
Giving Away: Arc from BEA of your choice!
Blog Doing Giveaway: Dazzling Reads
Book Type: Paperback
Open: US/Canada
Giveaway Ends: July 30, 2012
June 21, 2012
My Reviews Are Moving!
So, I’ve been on a bit of a domain-buying, website-re-organizing mood lately since I do a LOT of website work with one of my clients. So I bought up a few domains for some future projects. Among them was the new home for my book reviews!
Starting next month, I’ll become a more active part of the book blogging community at YA Fantasy Book Reviews. The site isn’t quite ready yet but I’ve transferred the book reviews I’ve already done on this website to the new website. I’ll be removing them soon from here. It will officially launch in the first week of July. Just like my cover!
To anyone who I’ve promised to review, your reviews will be posted on the new website.
Stay tuned! I’m super pumped about this. After visiting hundreds of book blogs and seeing how beautiful they are, and how committed book bloggers are to sorting the good books from the bad, I think it’s time that I joined you all! 
June 18, 2012
Faces in the Mist, Part 27
Mac saw no point in sticking around any longer.
Half an hour, that’s how long he’d waited outside the Medical Bay, along with the other journalists. They were crammed like cattle into the hallway, waiting for answers that would never come. The soldiers boarded up the massive hole in the side of the wall but between the cracks in the wood, Mac could see the light flickering. Captain Flaherty hadn’t returned with his team. With what he witnessed on the security cameras, that dark cloud that went straight for the vents in the docking bay, and the stiffs in the Medical Bay (dark spots lying still, it had to be bodies) he wondered if they would return.
The communicator vibrated against his leg again. Pushing his glasses further up his nose, he ignored it. He hadn’t told anyone about the dark mist. Who would believe him? His editor wouldn’t get off his back. He hadn’t written a story in almost 24 hours. The deadline, the pressure to produce a story about Queen Skyla’s sanity, about Lady Harmony’s supposed condition, it was wearing on him. Something actually was going on here. Those awards on his wall, they meant something once. When he ran out of money and had to submit to writing crap for papers like the Daily Dome, it was like he’d sold his soul. So he ignored his editor’s calls and left the other journalists screaming for a peek inside the Medical Bay, and headed for the Ladies’ Quarters. That was where Lady Harmony spent her final hours before the incident. There had to be some clues there that had not yet been uncovered.
Civilians ran in the opposite direction, toward the Medical Bay. Soliders marching in twos and threes followed. In the civilian quarters district, more soliders escorted small children back to their mothers and fathers, waiting anxiously at their front doors. They tried to ask the soldiers what was going on, and the soldiers fed them the typical, “Sorry, ma’am, it’s just a precaution. Stay inside with your family.” They didn’t know any more than the rest of them did.
The Ladies’ Quarters was located in the inner core, and the quarantine was spreading. Mac picked up his pace, keeping his head down. The soldiers might know his face, and then he might be forced to return to his quarters, which was on the other side of the Lunar Dome. He doubted his press pass would save him from that.
Fortunately the men were too busy with the fretting mothers and busy toddlers to notice Mac. He slipped by the guards and wound up on the promenade. Fifteenth sector. Deserted. Merchants with valuables were always the first to lock up, so they could live to sell another day. Mac ran. His footfalls were heavy on the smooth floor. He just had to make it to the twenty-fifth sector, and there would be a door and then a corridor that would take him to the Ladies’ Quarters.
Rounding a corner, he realized he wasn’t the only one on the promenade. A young woman–a Lady–running as fast as her dress and shoes would allow. Her blond hair, tied back haphazardly, bounced on the back of her neck. She glanced over her shoulder, and upon seeing him, ran faster.
“Hey! Wait!” he called.
She didn’t turn around again. Whimpering sounds escaped her lips as he caught up with her, and reached for her arm. “I’m not going to hurt you,” he said between breaths.
Her eyes were wild with terror as she evaded him. “Leave me alone.”
“I’m not…I’m not going to hurt you,” he repeated. There was a cramp in his side. He pulled her arm and managed to slow her. She broke into tears, and Mac couldn’t understand–he wasn’t trying to hurt her, he only wanted to ask her a few questions…but the terror in her eyes told Mac that she knew something more than those guards did.
“You’re a Lady. I need help getting into the Ladies’ Quarters,” he said, gripping both her arms.
She shook her head and screamed, trying to wrestle from his grasp. “Please…let me go!”
“Are you going to the Ladies’ Quarters?”
“I…I can’t…”
“You are a Lady, right?”
That made her pause. She sniffled, and nodded. “You…you look familiar…”
“What’s your name?”
She glanced around the promenade. “I’m Lady Kristen. Junior Lady Kristen.”
“I’m Mac Jaclow. Journalist.”
Her eyes widened with fear and she struggled against him again. “Please! Stop. They’ll kill me if I tell you. Please…” Tears streamed down her face. “Please, just leave me alone, I just want to help my family and the ladies and be a Lady and then get off this rock…”
“Who will kill you? Did something happen with Lady Harmony? What do you know about the dark mist?” His curiosity poured out of him and onto the crying lady. He had to know. This story was his one chance at redemption, to make a difference again, if she would only tell him what was going on.
She fell against his chest, sobbing. “Please, let me go. I just have to do this one thing and then I can go home.”
Her face was wet against him, but the rest of her was warm. How long had it been since he’d held a woman, in any circumstance. Mac couldn’t remember. Mostly they just spit on him for telling lies. So, so many lies he’d written. But they could be undone.
“I can help you,” he said. “Tell me what you need help with, and I’ll make sure they don’t hurt you.”
Maybe she’ll trust me enough to tell me what’s going on, he thought. She drew away. Her face was so young, she couldn’t have been more than eighteen. A mixture of doubt and hope lifted her lips into a small smile. “I don’t know if you can help me.”
“I can try,” he said. “Ladies Quarters, right? We’d better hurry. The soldiers are rounding up the civilians now, but it won’t be long until they’re in the inner core.”
This sobred her. She started running again. “This way.”
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June 16, 2012
Book Giveaway Finds: June 16, 2012
Lots of great books this week, I wish I could gobble them all up. Om nom nom. Look out for Maggie’s Stiefvater’s Raven Boys, down there among the covers…want so badly!! Open to US addresses only. Boo. I guess I’ll just have to conjure an elaborate plot to steal it from Sarah at Inkling Reads. She won’t mind me breaking into her house. Right?
Ohhh don’t mind me. Just plotting over here.
Without further ado & nonsense…
BOOK GIVEAWAY FINDS
Giving Away: Finished copy of Shadow of Night, by Deborah Harkness, a temporary tattoo, 6 buttons.
Blog Doing Giveaway: Book Briefs
Book Type: Physical
Open: US/Canada Only
Giveaway Ends: June 18, 2012
Giving Away: E-copy of Feathermore by Lucy Swing & 1 E-copy of Swirls by F.A. Hershey
Blog Doing Giveaway: Fiction Fascination
Book Type: eBooks
Open: International
Giveaway Ends: June 18, 2012
Giving Away: A signed copy of The Willows: Haven, by Hope Collier
Blog Doing Giveaway: Asteria’s Blog
Book Type: Physical
Open: Unknown
Giveaway Ends: June 19, 2012
Giving Away: Print copy of Destiny’s Fire + eBook copy of Unveiled from Amazon or B&N
Blog Doing Giveaway: A Tale of Many Reviews
Book Type: Physical + eBook
Open: International (as long as the book depository ships to you)
Giveaway Ends: June 19, 2012
Giving Away: Pandora’s Key by Nancy Richardson Fischer
Blog Doing Giveaway: My Guilty Obsession
Book Type: eBooks
Open: International
Giveaway Ends: June 19, 2012
Giving Away: The Taken, by Vicki Pettersson
Blog Doing Giveaway: Candace’s Book Blog
Book Type: Physical
Open: US Only!
Giveaway Ends: June 20, 2012
Giving Away: Paperback of “Few are Angels” + E-book of “Few are Angels” by Inger Iversen
Blog Doing Giveaway: The Page Turner
Book Type: Physical + eBook
Open: US (physical book) & International (eBook)
Giveaway Ends: June 22, 2012
Giving Away: Copy of Hourglass by Myra McEntire, Copy of Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor, Copy of Shine by Jeri Smith-Ready, Copy of Hallowed by Cynthia Hand, Copy of Uncommon Criminals by Ally Carter + 2 Swag Packs
Blog Doing Giveaway: Swim in Books
Book Type: Physical
Open: US/Canada
Giveaway Ends: June 25, 2012
Giving Away: A signed set of FIERCE READS: SHADOW AND BONE, OF POSEIDON, MONUMENT 14 AND STRUCK + Swag
Blog Doing Giveaway: Tales of a Ravenous Reader
Book Type: Physical
Open: International!
Giveaway Ends: June 26, 2012
Giving Away: ARC of The Raven Boys, by Maggie Stiefvater
Blog Doing Giveaway: Inklings Read
Book Type: Physical
Open: US Only!
Giveaway Ends: June 28, 2012
Giving Away: The Land of Stories: The Wishing Well, by Chris Colfer
Blog Doing Giveaway: Hippies, Beauty and Books, Oh My!
Book Type: Physical
Open: International
Giveaway Ends: July 1, 2012
Other Giveaways:
April at Good Books, Good Wine is giving away 9 Harper Teen Titles. Ends in 3 days!
I Am a Reader Not a Writer is giving away a $25 gift certificate to Amazon.com or the Book Depository.
Workaday Reads is clearing her shelves by giving one lucky winner a box of books. Ends in 3 days!!
June 12, 2012
Reading eBooks vs Reading Print Books
The printed word is not going to die.
At least, not during our lifetimes.
When television started getting popular, people thought that radio would die out. I mean, who would rather just listen to a story when you could see and listen to a story? But radio has adapted, and thrived. Podcasts have popped up everywhere (thanks to the Internet), and iPods and other mp3 players mean we can listen to news and music wherever we go. Listening to the news or even a radio drama or an audiobook while you’re on your morning commute or stuck in rush hour on the way home is a way to pass the time, or to find out what’s going on around you. It is filling a need that isn’t going to go away any time soon. (Unless they find a magical cure to traffic jams, of course!)
The magical question isn’t, are physical books going to die? but instead, do we still have a need or an intense desire for physical books?
As book-lovers, we love to see bookshelves filled to the brim. Why? There’s a sense of accomplishment that comes with a full bookshelf, especially when you’ve read the books that grace the shelves. It lends an almost otherworldly quality to the room. A full bookshelf is a collection of universes waiting to be brought to life. When you can touch or hold something that has caused to you feel a powerful emotion, that can create a kind of bond. I don’t think that’s going to change, not within our lifetimes.
At the same time, I love my Kindle. I’ve moved around a lot in the past couple of years–from Halifax to Toronto and back, and then out to Calgary–and buying books on my Kindle means I don’t have to lug my books around everywhere. And it means I can buy a book wherever I am.
Do I feel any less of a bond between my eBooks than my physical books? No. Words are words, and because my eBooks are all in one place (my Kindle), that makes that bond all the stronger.
Am I more likely to buy eBooks than physical books? Sometimes. I will buy the eBook version over the print version if:
-I’m on the go/not in a place that has a bookstore nearby;
-There is not a print version;
-If it’s a new author, because eBooks are usually cheaper and therefore less of a risk.
I will buy the print version over the eBook version if:
-I have read the author before and I am in love with his/her works;
-The book is the second in a series, and I already have the first book in print in a particular cover style;
-If I am in a bookstore, and the cover or the description catches my eye, and I have the cash on hand.
As you can see, it’s not about whether eBooks are better than printed books. They are different formats that fulfill different needs. So for some people, eBooks work better for them. For others, print books are king. Or queen.
So if the printed word isn’t going to be replaced, what will happen to it?
This is my opinion–I’m not a fortuneteller. I think within the next 50 years (or sooner), mass market paperbacks will be replaced by eBooks. Mass market paperbacks use inexpensive binding and don’t have a long shelf life–many genre fiction books, romance especially, are published as mass market paperbacks. Mass market paperback buyers can’t get enough of their chosen genre (young adult fans, anyone?!), so eBooks are the next natural evolution for them. Ebooks are a great value for the reader because their dollar goes farther, and they are more environmentally friendly–this suits many people because the mass market paperback doesn’t hold up over time. And as eReaders become more popular (more mass-market, if you will), the eBook format will follow. However, hardbacks and original trade paperbacks will remain relatively the same. They are the premium book format for any book lover/collector, and that is not likely to change.
What do you think? When do you prefer reading eBooks, if at all? How full are your bookshelves? Your Kindle? I’ll feature your replies in the next issue of the Faery Ink Press Book Club.
The Violet Fox Cover Reveal Tour!
Run.
That’s what instinct told me.
But in order to save the secrets of my people
and to protect my brother
I have to become the enemy.
Calling all book bloggers! I’m organizing a cover reveal for my upcoming book, THE VIOLET FOX! This will be happening in the next couple of weeks: no specific date yet, as my cover designer is still working away 
but I’d like to get as many people as possible involved! We’re hoping that it will be the end of June, or the first week of July.
What will happen: On a specific day, everyone participating will post the cover of The Violet Fox on their blog, along with the Goodreads link for the book, and Facebook and Twitter links to Faery Ink Press & myself respectively if you’re feeling up to it! Feel free to give your opinion as well–it’s your blog, I’m not going to tell you what to write!
I’d also like to do a giveaway as well–probably one or two e-ARCS of The Violet Fox. The winner would receive the e-ARC in September, one month before the book comes out.
This is not part of the blog tour, but if you are interested in participating in that as well, let me know! The blog tour will take place in early-mid October (book is released October 13) and hopefully continue through to mid-November, ending in Within‘s book birthday (November 13th).
Leave a comment, or contact me if you’d like to participate. I’d like to have *at least* 20 participants, but the more the merrier!
Thanks everyone!
AWESOME BLOGGERS!
1. FireStarBooks
2. Airicka Phoenix
3. Forever Lost in Books
4. Addicted to Words
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
June 11, 2012
Faces in the Mist, Part 26
Captain Darian Flaherty flicked on his flashlight and crept down the dark hallway. Lieutenant Starkley, and two others–Lieutenant Pace and Sergeant Masters–followed, weapons drawn and lights on, ready to attack if any more…creatures…were lurking in the shadows.
“Do you think anyone is still alive, Captain?” Sergeant Masters asked. Darian had promoted last week for his three years of service–easy to get that many years when you were born on the Luna Dome, Darian thought–but Masters had yet to prove himself in a real combat situation.
“Well,” Darian said, “Doctor Leeland is as tough as nails. And he’s been here longer than all of us.”
Unfortunately Darian’s knowledge of the inner hallways of the medical bay was limited. Where would Doctor Leeland go if he were trapped in here? What was he working on again? Something about the contagion being a mineral, and definitely not the Moon Flash Virus. Skyla didn’t look convinced of that, he remembered. God her face, that was all he could remembered, all he could think about…
His light washed over another hole in the wall, about six feet tall, three feet wide. The woman who they shot–who he shot–couldn’t have made this hole, or the one at the front of the bay. He stepped through it, shining his light left and right down the adjacent corridor. Nothing.
Further down the hall, there was a smaller hole–big enough for one person to crawl through. Darian’s stomach curled. They were getting closer to Lady Harmony’s and Lady Dominique’s quarantined room, to where he was only hours ago. He prayed they were still asleep, or maybe even dead. Not that it mattered–whatever contagion they had, it was everywhere in the Dome by now.
Darian got down on his knees and put his flashlight into the hole. “Another light, please.”
Starkley got down beside him and offered his flashlight. The room was like any other room, but Darian knew it all the same. The one next to it was where Lady Dominique and Lady Harmony slept; he could see a large hole in the wall, a big one. Debris was scattered all over the floor, suggesting the wall had been blown in from the Ladies’ room.
“Damn it,” he muttered.
“What is it?” Lieutenant Pace asked.
The hole wasn’t quite big enough to crawl under. He got up and tried the door–locked with a keypad that was blacked out with the electricity gone. He sized up Masters. “You think you can fit through that hole, Sergeant?”
“I can try, Captain.”
“Try, then. Starkley, Pace, keep your lights and your eyes on him. Don’t let him out of your sight.”
“Yes, sir.”
While Masters got down on all fours and wormed his way into the darkness, Darian radioed Lieutenant Kraul and the other men.
“Captain Flaherty here. Status?”
His radio sputtered static. “Lieutenant Kraul here, Captain. We’re in the maternity lab. Found three more dead, sir. A nurse, a technician, and…well, sir, a patient. Seven, maybe eight months pregnant.”
Starkley swore. “My wife’s appointment is tomorrow…that poor woman…”
“No sign of Doctor Leeland?” Darian asked.
“No, sir.”
“Or holes in the walls?”
“Just the one up front that we all saw, sir.”
“Keep looking. Flaherty out.”
“Captain, I don’t see anyone in here,” Masters said. “Oh. No…spoke too soon, sir. A body. And…oh God…” Darian heard Masters retching.
“Identify it if you can, Sergeant,” Darian ordered.
Let it be Harmony, Darian thought. Let this mess have one happy thing, one good thing that I can tell Skyla, to ease her mind, to make her smile again.
Masters sniffled and coughed. “Sorry, captain. Her face…gone…Definitely a Lady, sir. Wearing the dress. But the blood…sir, it’s like a wild animal ripped her face off.”
“A more accurate description would be helpful, Masters.” He quickly scanned the hallway again and then knelt beside Starkley and Pace. Between the two of them blocking the hole, it was hard to get a good look inside. “Starkley?”
“Body is behind the bed. Can’t see it well enough, sir,” he replied. “Might have been a struggle. Hard to tell with only these lights.”
“The girl has–had–brown hair. Five ten, maybe five eight. Can’t really tell without her…face…but, Junior Lady, maybe? Dark blue dress.”
No red hair and no blonde hair meant it wasn’t Lady Harmony or Lady Dominique. Damn it. Those other two Junior Ladies, though…what were their names? Lady Kristen was one of them, the one that wouldn’t stop talking. There was another one too, a French one. If that was one of the Junior Ladies, where was the other one?
“Come back out, Masters. We’ll continue on. Finding Doctor Leeland is now our number one priority.” If anyone knew what was going on, it had to be him.
Starkley and Pace got up and re-checked the hallways while Masters crawled out of the hole, wiping his uniform of bits of plaster and glass and debris. His head turned sharply to his left. “What’s that sound?”
Darian held his breath and listened. A faint clicking sound, accompanied by light footsteps. And insistent pounding. Pace moved his flashlight down an intersecting corridor labeled LABS. “This way.”
They ran. The pounding sound grew louder. Shining their lights on the door windows, Darian almost jumped out of his skin when a face appeared in one of them. A young nurse–a redhead, not more than nineteen, blood on her white uniform– pressed her hands against the window, screaming silence. Looking past him. Behind him.
The ghastly crunching sound of bone against bone and flesh tearing flesh hit Darian’s ears. He held up his weapon, and turned around.
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June 9, 2012
Book Giveaway Finds: June 9, 2012
It’s Saturday again, so you all know what time it is–BOOK GIVEAWAY FINDS!!
Just another reminder, my giveaway ends in a couple of hours, so if you haven’t already, make sure to enter!! I’m giving away a $10 Amazon Gift Certificate in honour of me reaching (and now, surpassing) 500 Twitter Followers. Yayy!
You can also win a copy of my book, WITHIN, by sharing a link on author Thea Atkinson’s Facebook Page.
Lots of win-a-book-from-a-list giveaways this week–and a lot of them are international too! Check them out!!
BOOK GIVEAWAY FINDS
Giving Away: Nimpentoad, by Henry, Josh and Harrison Herz
Blog Doing Giveaway: Author Becca J Campbell’s Blog
Book Type: Physical (US only) Kindle Version (International)
Open: International (Kindle Version) or US (Physical version only)
Giveaway Ends: June 11, 2012
Giving Away: The Tiger Saga (Tiger’s Curse, Tiger’s Quest, & Tiger’s Voyage, by Colleen Houck)
Blog Doing Giveaway: Reading Teen
Book Type: Audiobooks!
Open: Unknown
Giveaway Ends: June 13, 2012
Giving Away: A box of YA Books! (9-10 books in total)
Blog Doing Giveaway: The Hollow Cupboards
Book Type: Physical
Open: US Only
Giveaway Ends: June 16, 2012
Giving Away: Shadow & Bone, by Leigh Bardugo
Blog Doing Giveaway: Cupcake & a Latte
Book Type: Physical
Open: US/Canada Only
Giveaway Ends: June 20, 2012
Book Title: Destiny and Destiny Unveiled, by Laura DeLuca (2 books)
Blog Doing Giveaway: Maria’s Space
Book Type: Physical
Open: Unknown
Giveaway Ends: June 23, 2012
You could also win:
2 boxes of incense
A crystal point
Desert Rose wishing stones
Giving Away: Enemy Through the Gates by D.T. Dyllin
Blog Doing Giveaway: Book Sniffers Anonymous
Book Type: Physical (US Only) and eBook (International)
Open: International
Giveaway Ends: June 27, 2012
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Giving Away: One book from the Book Depository worth $10 (8 Euros)
Blog Doing Giveaway: Book Fever
Book Type: Physical
Open: International (as long as the Book Depository ships to you)
Giveaway Ends: June 30, 2012
Giving Away: One book from a list!
Blog Doing Giveaway: OMFG Books
Book Type: Physical
Open: International (as long as the Book Depository ships to you)
Giveaway Ends: July 6, 2012
Giving Away: One book from a list (see picture & website)
Blog Doing Giveaway: XPressoReads
Book Type: Physical
Open: International
Giveaway Ends: July 28, 2012
Don’t forget to check out other giveaways going on!
June 6, 2012
Faery Ink Press Book Club
Those who have taken part in my giveaway may have noticed the sign-up for my newsletter, the Faery Ink Press Book Club.
The newsletter will be bi-monthly, releasing every Tuesday or Wednesday every two weeks. It will include exclusive articles about writing, YA fantasy, science fiction, social media, blogging, the future of publishing, and everything in between. There will also be exclusive giveaways for Book Club members, trivia questions to keep those minds sharp and…other fun surprises! Also, I’ve been working hard to create a pretty design for the newsletter–using Wysija has been helpful.
And it’s free. So…there’s no real reason NOT to sign up, right? Unless you don’t like getting email :\ Speaking of which, don’t forget to mark emails coming from Faery Ink Press as safe, else you won’t get to see them. They’ll be allll alone in your junk folder, unopened, unread. And that is sad-face.
No sad-faces! Only happy faces in this blog!
To sign up, enter your name and your email address on the right sidebar.
I look forward to getting to know you all!
