C.M. Simpson's Blog, page 217

First Pages: The Dragon in my Shadow

The Dragon in my Shadow is a stand-alone short story that can be found in An Anthology of Dragons.

The Dragon in my Shadow is a short tale of office politics and betrayal, which shows that some childhood things can mature into adulthood with us.

The Dragon in my Shadow is available as part of An Anthology of Dragons, and is also available from Smashwords, Kobo, Kindle, iTunes and Nook.


First Pages: The Dragon in my Shadow

All my life, I’ve been ordinary. I’ve done all the ‘right’ things, made all the ‘right’ moves and failed spectacularly to actually achieve anything more than mid-line success. All my life. Nothing has worked.I finally resigned myself to a life of obscurity and lack-luster non-achievement, and settled into a steady cycle of work, home, garden, television, sleep and back to work again. There was no romance in my life. I’d been stung once too often and sworn off it, at least for now. No, I was content to keep plugging away at doing my job well, and creating a paradise in my backyard that no one would ever see. Of course, I hadn’t included the dragon in my calculations.As a child I had encouraged myself with fantasies of having a dragon as a parent. I’d been adopted, I told myself, by kind human parents who’d taken me in after I’d been transformed into a human by an evil wizard. My dragon brother kept a watch on me. I could see him if I turned my head quickly enough. He watched me from the shadows, keeping  me safe from human predators, and encouraging me to succeed. But in spite of my best efforts to live up to that encouragement, I never had, and my dragon brother had faded like all the other dreams and fantasies in my life.I hadn’t known that a real dragon existed in my shadow. It was small enough to slip between the cracks of light, small enough to remain unnoticed. Cat-like in its size and cat-like in its silence, it had clung, quiescent, for as long as I had tried to excel, not at all fazed by the lack of results. The dragon had faith in me, even if I didn’t. My quiet acceptance of life as I found it pissed the dragon off immensely.
END EXTRACT
The Dragon in my Shadow is available as part of An Anthology of Dragons, and is also available from Smashwords, Kobo, Kindle, iTunes and Nook.

First Pages: The Duel

The Duel is the third short story found in An Anthology of Dragons , and is available as a stand-alone title.

A young lord is challenged to a duel while drinking at the local tavern. The consequences of losing are as dire as for any other duel.

The Duel is available in An Anthology of Dragons , and is also available as a stand-alone title from Smashwords, Kobo, Kindle, iTunes and Nook.

First Pages: The Duel

Ollie lifted a handful of foaming tankards as the inn door opened. His brown eyes picked out the expensive cut of the newcomer’s clothing as he raised the tankards in brief greeting, then set them on the bar.“Welcome, stranger,” he called, raising his voice above the friendly row that filled his tavern.He caught sight of a gloved hand raised in answering salute as the newcomer made his way to a vacant table along the wall. The tavern was busy tonight; two caravans, a squad of royal scouts and one of the baron’s patrols newly returned from their scouting, and that was before he counted the local farmers, back in from their fields.With a smile, Ollie swept the payment for the latest batch of tankards into his apron pocket, then bustled over to where the stranger was sitting. The door opened again as he reached the stranger’s table but this time, when he glanced towards it, Ollie frowned. The local baron’s youngest son was entering the inn. The newly arrived lordling was one of his least favorite customers. Ollie sighed.The stranger followed his gaze, blue eyes observing the newly arrived lordling from beneath a mat of yellow hair, and taking in the barkeep’s displeasure. Ollie wondered at the sudden spark of interest that crossed the man’s face.“Shut the door after you, Master Rockwell!” the innkeeper bellowed and watched to make sure the lord’s son obeyed.The door slammed shut with a bang of annoyance, and a nattily-dressed young man strode through the evening crowd to seat himself across from the stranger. Ollie opened his mouth to object to the impertinent lordling’s presumption but the young man was already in full flight. “You’re new around here?” he asked the stranger, though he knew full-well the answer.
EXTRACT END
The Duel is available in An Anthology of Dragons , and is also available as a stand-alone title from Smashwords, Kobo, Kindle, iTunes and Nook.

Spiders in Australian Urbia

For some reason, the eight-legged wildlife around my house is being surprisingly cooperative... in some cases, a little too cooperative for comfort.
 "Good" Spider 

Unidentified Garden Spider - (c) 2013 C.M. SimpsonOutside (in the garden where it belongs);very small (less than half my little finger nail);probably not deadly;prefers to hide;will run from plastic ruler used in attempt to measure it (don't ask); Did I mention it's outside?









"Bad" Spider
Possible male mouse spider - (c) 2013 C.M. SimpsonInside (where it definitely does NOT belong);not so small (one to one and a half inches long);INSIDE!!!!poisonous, deadly to some, makes others extremely ill;will attack plastic container used in attempt to capture (also don't ask);possibly male mouse spider... need to work on positive identification in case someone gets bit;Did I mention it was INSIDE?????Plus, it looks like it's been chasing parked cars.
"Good-but-Slightly-Unnerving" Spider Unidentified possible Orb Weaver - (c) 2013 C.M. SimpsonOUTSIDE (using eaves and back gate as anchor points for web - not real great, but I think I can live with it for a while);Not aggressive;Probably poisonous, but probably not deadly... maybe;Very photogenic;... and cooperative;Abdomen is about an inch (no, I am guessing; no plastic rulers involved);Total body and legs approximately 2-3 inches.





NOT a Spider A cricket.
Cricket and Shoe - (c) 2013 C.M. SimpsonCrickets are disgusting... ... my dog is also disgusting.Crickets are not poisonous, as far as I know;They are nocturnal;They eat dog vomit - NOT something I wanted to find out;We tried to put the cricket outside, but it had run away, so we cleaned the shoe, and floor.




Also, you should know, the first cricket shot is mine; the ones following are taken by my son, who has worked out how to manually focus the camera better than I can... for now.


As you can see, he has laid down a serious challenge.

Cricket - (c) 2013 C.J. Simpson Cricket - (c) 2013 C.J. Simpson

























Oh, and one more:

"Good" Spider Young Huntsman - (c) 2013 C.M. Simpson
Even if it was a bit too close to the washing line for comfort. (I was too scared to get closer with the camera, because these things can jump, and even if they're not poisonous, their bite is quite painful)

First Pages: Darkness and Light

Darkness and Light is one of the short stories to be included in An Anthology of Gods and Older Magic . It is currently only available as a stand-alone short story.
Abselia has traveled a long way to reach the trading town. Shadows move at her arrival, and light shimmers in dismay. Can light’s champion find the stronghold of shadows, and solve the puzzle of its strength, or is she doomed to failure like all who have gone before?
Darkness and Light is a short tale of dark fantasy and a battle older than time. It is currently available as a stand-alone title at Smashwords, but will shortly become available at Kobo, Kindle, and iTunes. It is one of the stories which will be incorporated into An Anthology of Gods and Older Magic .

First Page

The day had been hot and the road dustier than usual. Abselia looked at where the town rose to make a dark silhouette against the afternoon sun. It was larger than she’d expected, and she felt a twinge of unease. The duty lying before her would be harder for having a large town overhead.One of the guards rode his horse alongside the cart on which she'd purchased passage, and smiled down at her. "You sure this is the place?" he asked."This is it." Abselia left it at that. She'd been deflecting approaches from the guards all journey. She sighed, pretending to study the wooden palisade surrounding the town.The guard allowed his horse to drop back.The day had been too long, Abselia decided as they passed through the gates, with no more than a cursory check from the men stationed there.And the journey, she thought, as she caught the overseer's eye and signaled she was leaving, near longer than I can stand.She dropped from the back of the cart, making sure she dragged her knapsack after herself. Having reached the journey's end, unscathed and unattached, Abselia was glad to see the front of an inn and the back of her companions.Abselia didn't stop to watch the caravan as it wound its way towards the town’s merchant's quarter. If she had, she might have seen the flickering of shadows that blurred the buildings' shade and the answering shimmer that shook the heat haze in the caravan's wake. As it was, she saw neither. Her attention was wholly taken by the coolness of the inn's interior and the promise of a cold drink, a decent meal and a soft bed.She was even hoping for a private bath. The road's dust had formed a fine film over her skin and it would be good to feel the air moving freely against her face again. She walked purposefully through the main entrance. The heat outside the inn's door shimmered in frustration, and a flicker of shadow laughed in reply, as Abselia walked across to the counter at the bar.The sound of her boots on the wooden flooring made the innkeeper look up. It was late afternoon. Travelers would be arriving with the caravans ending the day’s journey in town. He should at least welcome the first.The shadows fluttered around him, running tendrils through his hair, and breathing soft words into his ear. He nodded at their reminder. He would not forget. They were due their tribute just as he was due his life.He watched the woman approaching the counter and felt a twinge of regret. She was tall and trim, her figure as lithe as a cat's and her skin tanned honey brown. She was the first to arrive, and the shadows had made their choice in spite of who might come after. He hurried to greet her."Afternoon, lady," he called.

END FIRST PAGE
If you would like to read more, Darkness and Light can be found  as a stand-alone title at Smashwords, but will shortly become available at Kobo, Kindle, and iTunes.  

 

First Pages: Everything has its Price

Everything has its Price is the second short story to be found in An Anthology of Dragons . It is also available as a stand-alone short story.

When a young squire asks for a place at a merchant caravan's encampment, the price is a story. The tale she tells is one of a blind bard's encounter with a dragon, but the ending is interrupted by the arrival of the knight she serves.

Everything has its Price is available from Smashwords, Kobo, Kindle, Nook and the iTunes bookstores.

First Page: Everything has its Price
“And what would you offer for a place by our fire?” the merchant-guildsman demanded.
I let my eyes travel doubtfully over his portly, dust-covered frame and ignored the knight who had ridden up behind me.“A tale,” I replied.The knight snorted and rode past to make his camp not far from that of the caravan. I caught the gleam of interest that sprang into the guildsman’s eye before he could hide it.“A tale,” he repeated eyeing me with the same doubt I had shown of him.There was a murmur from the men behind him. The journey had been dull enough to warrant a tale, it seemed. The guildsman sighed, as though pressured beyond fairness by his crew.“Very well,” he grumbled. “A tale it is.”I wedged myself between two burly teamsters and, ignoring their frowns, began my story.
“Few about this fire would recall a blind bard, even if they’d had the fortune, once, of meeting her. Few would credit it indeed.”
A low murmur of disbelief greeted this. I moved to quell it, knowing that the murmurs would stop soon enough.
“No one knows how she avoided the perils of the road but avoid them she did, until the night she chose to follow some traders beyond the Dragon’s Peak Range. 
        “The route they took was new then, but is well known now. The traders followed Dragon’s Way through Drudonelle’s Forest and almost reached its edge before disaster struck.

END EXTRACT
Everything has its Price is available from Smashwords, Kobo, Kindle, Nook and the iTunes bookstores.

Progress Report: Week 2 February 2013

A week of illness. Not a lot done.First TierRomanceNovel14A: Added 2,000 words. This project is currently running 25 days behind schedule.Second TierChapBook2—All Alone: Created 2 pictures. This project is at risk of running behind schedule.Backburner ProjectsNovella11A: added 1,700 words.Publishing TasksFormatted and uploaded Ellie Moonwater novella to CreateSpace on behalf of C.M. Simpson Publishing. New ArrivalsIdeas arriving this week:Novella14A: for one of my pen names.ParanormalNovel4A: for another of my pen names.

First Pages: Dragon Coast

Dragon Coast is the first short story in An Anthology of Dragons . It is also available as a stand-alone short story.


Jessica is out of work and in desperate need of a job, so when fashion company, Dragon Coast, start advertising vacancies, she decides to aim high and then work her way down the list. Will she be good enough to snare the top job, or will she have to settle for something further down the ladder? Will she be able to score a job at all?
 
Dragon Coast can be found in An Anthology of Dragons, or for sale on its own at Smashwords, Kobo, Kindle, iTunes and Nook.

First Page: Dragon Coast
Critics described ‘Dragon Coast’ as “a vibrant, young company whose flamboyant style in garment design had already won the minds of the rich and famous”. Jessica saw the description and dismissed it with a snort.
Dragon Coast had at least won those minds for now, she’d thought. And if it hadn’t won their minds, someone was paying them an awful lot of money to wear the label on their bodies. Today, with bleak sunshine streaming through the kitchen window, Jessica ate her toast and read the newspaper classifieds, viewing the company with a lot less cynicism.
‘Dragon Coast’ is expanding, the advertisement read. We are seeking employees at all levels of production and managerial assistance. Positions include assembly-line workers, overseers, security guards, delivery drivers, department secretaries and managerial secretary. Interested candidates should apply to ...
Jessica let her eyes scan the rest of the ad. It was the best opportunity this newssheet had offered for a long time. She let her gaze wander over the page again. No restrictions on how many times you could apply, either.She smiled.‘Well then,’ she thought, ‘I might as well start at the top and work my way down.’ She knew the top was a long shot. There would be others with more experience to offer, more time in executive positions, more qualifications, but she’d done well in similar positions before, even if she’d only been ‘the temp’.
END EXCERPT  
 Dragon Coast can be found in An Anthology of Dragons, or for sale on its own at Smashwords, Kobo, Kindle, iTunes and Nook.

New Release: Darkness and Light

Darkness and Light is one of the short stories to be included in An Anthology of Gods and Older Magic . It is currently only available as a stand-alone short story.
Abselia has traveled a long way to reach the trading town. Shadows move at her arrival, and light shimmers in dismay. Can light’s champion find the stronghold of shadows, and solve the puzzle of its strength, or is she doomed to failure like all who have gone before?
Darkness and Light is a short tale of dark fantasy and a battle older than time. It is currently available as a stand-alone title at Smashwords, but will shortly become available at Kobo, Kindle, and iTunes. It is one of the stories which will be incorporated into An Anthology of Gods and Older Magic .

 

First Chapters: Shadow's Rise

While Fisherpriest was C.M. Simpson's first full-length published novel, Shadow's Rise was her first novel, taking almost ten years to complete and undergoing several rewrites before being allowed out in public. It is a slightly different story to what it used to be, but the main tale remains the same.

When the gods discover an ancient power has suborned a king, and now menaces their domains, they must find agents to act on their behalf. Will a goddess’s temper over losing a favorite to the cause stand in their way? Or the capture of one of their chosen mean the attempt is doomed to fail before it has begun?

Shadow’s Rise is the first in a dark fantasy trilogy, containing strong elements of horror. It describes the rise of a group of heroes, chosen by the gods to bring down an emerging dark power.

Shadow's Rise is available from Smashwords, Kobo, Kindle, CreateSpace and DriveThruFiction. 

Chapter 1: Freedom's Price


Gilzereet caught the carriage just after it left the Graglecrock city mansion. He tipped the driver, paying him for his silence and the risk he took, and easing the man’s terror with a single golden coin. Skill and secrecy was what he paid for, loyalty was what he inadvertently bought. The coachman gave him all three.
The carriage slowed as it turned from the estate, hesitated long enough for Gilzereet to swing aboard, and sped up before anyone noticed it had collected a passenger. Despite the gathering dusk, Gilzereet wore the hood of his cloak pulled low, and long gloves to hide the skin of his hands. The coachman knew him only as an important member of the thieves’ guild. The man didn’t realize he was also its head or that he was of a different race.
Tonight Gilzereet intended to meet more of his kind, and buy his freedom from them with the life and freedom of another. He lounged back in the padded velvet and leather comfort of the duke’s coach and wondered what the Duke Gareth Aster would say if he knew exactly who was using it that night. He might not be amused that it was used by the guildmaster of Escarlion’s most powerful thieves’ guild, and a cat burglar convicted of breaching the kingdom’s security by breaking into the Harbor Master’s office.The coach wheel’s rumbled over cobbles, the steady rhythm of the horses’ hooves barely breaking until the coachman approached the city gates. Outside the coach, rough voices asked the coachman his business in leaving the city so close to night. Inside the coach, Gilzereet tensed, ready to react should the guardsmen decide to search his chosen transport. “Who knows what passes through the master’s mind,” he heard the coachman reply in a brusque tone hinting at resentment. “I get paid to do as I’m told, when I’m told, and I don’t get paid to ask the master why.”It was the right answer for the guards and, after hearing them deliver the traditional caution that the gates would close for the night and not open again until morning, Gilzereet felt the coach move forward once more. The coachman took it through the gates at a walk, as though hesitant to leave the protection of the city walls. For all Gilzereet knew, that might be exactly how the man was feeling, but it also matched his instructions.Waiting until he heard the gates clunk shut behind him, Gilzereet opened the coach door and slipped out onto the verge. With the bulk of the vehicle shielding him from the gate, he looked back at the wall until he saw the man waiting at its base.Mavlock. The thief had failed him, gotten caught stealing some papers from the Harbor Master’s office, and been sentenced to die on the gibbet at the crossroads a mile from the city gates. Now he stood, his arms crossed, rubbing his hands against his biceps as though he felt the coming cold of night.Gilzereet felt a small smile curl his lips. The man should be feeling the cold. He should be feeling a cold worse than the dampness of the rising mist and the encroaching dark. Moving swiftly and silently, Gilzereet slipped from the shadow of the coach, toward the base of the wall. Behind him, the coachman drew his vehicle to a halt. Clucking his tongue and shaking his head, the man made a fuss of dismounting from the driver’s seat and moving to inspect the horses’ hooves and harness.Glancing toward his target, Gilzereet saw that Mavlock had tucked himself closer to the base of the wall. The guildmaster’s smile widened just enough to show a little fang. Mavlock was competent, but he had signed the guild agreement when he joined, and knew there would be a reckoning for his release.“A child to one such as me.”Gilzereet made all of them swear it, and as a result, had never once failed to make the required payment for his own freedom. A small part of him felt guilty at the sacrifice he made, but another part of him reveled in the deceit. He never traded them for just one child. He traded them for life. Theirs for his. Sliding forward, he noted that Mavlock had fallen for the coachman’s routine. Gilzereet focused on blending with the rising mist and ghosted towards the soon-to-be-ex cat burglar.Mavlock didn’t see his approach, startling when Gilzereet’s hand descended on his shoulder.“Guildmaster Urkhrist,” Mavlock stuttered, his blue eyes wide. “I… I did not hear you come.”Gilzereet did not reply, schooling his face to an impassive mask as he surveyed the man he’d chosen to pay his debt. Blue eyed and dark haired, Mavlock’s fair skin was pale against the grey stone wall.“Come,” Gilzereet ordered, and, sliding past him, led him toward the coach standing a short distance from the city gates. “We have but little time.”Gilzereet wound back through the mist, noting how the coachman had finished his round of the horses’ feet and was now making a show of checking the reins. The man would start on the wheels next, but that would be stretching it. The guildmaster snaked his way through the door and into the coach, noting when Mavlock followed. The burglar pushed a velvet cushion aside to settle in the corner farthest from his master.When the man was seated, Gilzereet drew his dagger and used the hilt to rap on the front wall of the coach. He didn’t miss Mavlock’s flinch as his forearm brushed the man’s shoulder.“The same carriage will bring you back,” Gilzereet said, causing Mavlock to startle once more. Gilzereet smiled, as though to reassure the man. “You shouldn’t believe all the stories you hear about the thargramorg,” he said. “There are clans, and not all of them are responsible for the deeds of which you’ve been told.”“Mavlock nodded. “Forgive me,” he said. “I’m not used to… not used to…”“Not used to selling yourself for freedom?” Gilzereet asked, leaning back against the leather as the coach lurched forward. He watched as Mavlock licked his lips nervously, but the man only nodded once more, before wrapping his arms across his chest and closing his eyes.Gilzereet watched as the thief settled into near-sleep. While the driver had been paid, and agreed to stop outside the city gates, he’d warned the guildmaster it wouldn’t be for long. It still seemed that an eternity passed before Gilzereet heard the driver clamber into his seat, and felt the coach lurch forward beneath him. Using a gloved hand, he tweaked the curtain aside and watched the dusk descend into darkness, and darkness grow to full-blown night. Letting the curtain fall back, he took an hour glass from his pocket, and turned it, watching as the sand began to fall.He did not need light to see by. His eyes were those of a hunting cat, and he had enchanted the sand so it gave off a very faint glow. When the last grain had started its descent, he leant forward, rapping the end of his cane on the front of the carriage ceiling. Numerous dents in the wood paneling showed it was an action oft repeated.Mavlock woke with a start, reaching for the dagger he no longer wore at his belt.Gilzereet rested a hand against the man’s chest and shushed him gently.“Peace. This is our stop.”“Peace,” Mavlock repeated, and some of the fear left his eyes.The coach slowed, and Gilzereet turned towards the door. Behind him, Mavlock rose to his feet and braced himself against the carriage ceiling. When they were going no faster than walking pace, Gilzereet unlatched the door and jumped lightly down onto the road. Pivoting, he walked beside the coach and offered Mavlock a hand to steady his descent. There was no point in delivering damaged goods to the hunters.Hunters. Gilzereet shivered. He would be meeting more of them tonight. He wondered which of the clans had won the honor of collecting his tribute. Tree Cat, Tree Rat, Sky Falcon and Cavern Spider—all these clans produced the best Hunters. An elite force, the Hunters were charged with tracking down and returning any who tried to leave clan lands, be they thargramorg or slave.Gilzereet had escaped them once, then twice more, before they caught up with him and struck the deal allowing his continued absence from the homelands—ten lives for every year he had spent in freedom against their wishes, and two for every year he continued to dwell away from the clans; ten unspent lives, they had reiterated, lives not bereft of their youth.Given that he had evaded them for two years before finding sanctuary within the walls of a Berveragnan temple, and that he had stayed safely within those walls for ten years more, while he learned the goddess’s ways and a new trade, there had been one hundred and twenty lives owing to start with. Add the years he had spent travelling with Ailina and her companions, and he had accumulated a debt of around two hundred lives before the Hunters had successfully captured him.They had taken him beyond the pursuit of his friends, and the protection of his goddess, and they had forced him to accept the pact of lives, or forfeit two hundred years of his own. They would, they assured him, make sure he survived to the end of his debt.And not much longer, he had thought, reading the confirmation in their eyes.The Lady Berveragna had a counterpart in the thargramorgan pantheon, called Shavreet. Some said that Shavreet was just another facet of herself, others that Berveragna was a facet of the beast elves’ goddess. Whatever the details of their relationship, Shavreet resented the human goddess, and did not agree with the way she governed her domain of night. It seemed that physical darkness was not enough. Where Berveragna delighted in the occasional deception, deceit was not tolerated by the goddess of thargramorg—at least, not when it was practiced by one thargramorg on another. It was a thing of pride to be able to deceive and disadvantage members of a race not their own.Memories of those days of confinement flickered, unwanted, across Gilzereet’s mind, and he shivered, shaking his head to rid himself of them. His goddess felt his pain and grew ominously silent. His capture had embarrassed her greatly, counterpart or not, she had failed to keep her servant safe, and it had shamed her before two pantheons for the beast-elf goddess had not kept her failure a secret.With a sharp rap on the side of the coach, Gilzereet draped an arm across Mavlock’s shoulders, and pointed towards a nearby stand of trees.“They will meet us there,” he said. “Stay close.”The failed cat burglar licked his lips and nodded. His eyes betrayed almost no feeling, but Gilzereet could scent the man’s nervousness, see the tremor of fear that ran across his muscles. He gave Mavlock no time to think, instead sliding his arm from the man’s shoulders, and hurrying quietly into the night. The burglar followed.Within moments, the shadows in the copse had engulfed them, and Gilzereet could hear Mavlock breathing hard in the dark. He placed a hand on the man’s arm, feeling him startle.“Not far now,” he said, soothing the man’s panic with his voice.He felt the air shift in the shelter of the trees, a soft breeze, smelt a scent like the one that preceded the winter’s rain, heard something rustle through the leaves. Beside him, Mavlock drew another shaky breath and held it, as though fighting to stop his breathing sounding so harsh. Gilzereet pulled him further into the trees.They crossed the boundary, the grove much larger on the inside than it was on the outside. It was more tangled and old than was possible for the little copse of trees they had entered. Gilzereet did not give the thief time to think about the grove’s age or impossible depth, but drew him further through the underbrush until they came to a clearing where the afternoon sun still shone.Mavlock did not pause, but walked on in wonderment, as though mesmerized by the play of the sun’s light across leaves he had never seen before. Gilzereet drew him to a halt when they reached the clearing’s centre.“We are here,” he said, and his words were both warning to his guildsman and an announcement of the Hunters themselves.Movement amongst the trees drew their attention.A woman, whose gold skin was streaked with slashes of green, stepped through the hanging leaves and came to stand in front of them. Gilzereet’s hand tensed on Mavlock’s shoulder, preparing to stop the man from making a run for it. The woman smiled.She was wearing a sheath of finely spun spider silk, split so that it revealed most of her thigh. Her gaze passed across Mavlock as though he didn’t exist, and she addressed Gilzereet in a tone as distant and cold as the southern mountains.“What is the human doing here?” she asked.“He pays a debt to me by providing the service,” Gilzereet replied, and he could see that the meaning underlying his words was not lost on the woman.She laughed, a short bark of amusement that was quickly gone as she turned to look at Mavlock, tilting her head from one side to another as she inspected him. Slowly, she circled the thief, and only Gilzereet’s grip on his shoulder prevented Mavlock from turning to face her.Another fine tremor shook the man, and Gilzereet knew Mavlock had come to recognize he had something to fear. The woman’s next words made the thief jump.“He will do. Your terms remain the same?”“Unless the Hunters have changed their price.” Gilzereet suppressed a smile as he replied.The woman’s lips quirked as she responded.“Hunters do not change the terms of their pacts.”Mavlock turned his head to look at Gilzereet’s face, but before he could ask the question on his mind, the grass in the clearing swayed, and four more golden beings rose around them. The thief’s eyes widened and he started to shake as the serpentine forms thickened and grew limbs. Gilzereet tightened his grip, as he greeted the newcomers.“Clan Viper,” he said, and could not keep the awe from his voice. “I am honored.”“We fought for the honor,” the woman replied, her pupils upright keyholes as she met Gilzereet’s gaze and held it. A scale-like shimmer marred her skin and she flicked a surprisingly long tongue towards one of those who had risen from the grass to join them. Gilzereet saw the creature bow his head in reply as Mavlock turned to his guildmaster in horror.“Master,” he said, and dropped to his knees, “you can’t leave me with these…”Gilzereet let go of the man’s shoulder and stepped away. By the time Mavlock thought to reach for him, he was more than an arm’s length away and it was far too late.“Master!” Mavlock cried as two of the golden-skinned men laid their hands on his arms.Gilzereet met his bondsman’s terrified gaze and made his voice stern.“I made a pact with the Hunters, Mavlock,” he said. “And you made a pact with me. My pact is fulfilled. Make sure you honor yours.”With that, Gilzereet turned to the lady.“He is yours until the first successful birth, and then he must be returned. Those were our terms.”“Maste—” Mavlock cried, only to be cut short by the open-handed blow that struck his face, and a rough voice cut across his protest.“You have no master. Bow before our Mistress of Venom, Tanizeth, Third Lady of Clan Denegrath Viper. It is her mark you will bear on your chest and her orders you will obey with your heart."       Gilzereet did not look towards Mavlock as he bowed to Tanizeth and left the clearing. Behind him, on the other side of the distance bridged by Clan Viper’s magic, Mavlock raised his voice once more. The agony Gilzereet heard there made him wince, and he remembered that Denegrath Viper marked its slaves with a dilution of the poison possessed by the clan’s namesake and totem. Venom and acid, the scars remained for life.  
*END-EXCERPT*
Should you want to read more, Shadow's Rise is available from Smashwords, Kobo, Kindle, CreateSpace and DriveThruFiction. 

Progress Report: Week 1 February 2013

This was a busy week. Not a lot of writing got done, as routines changed yet again, and I recovered from the flu, but the ideas came thick and fast, and I am grateful for that.Tier One Goals
DarkFantasyNovel1B—Shadow Trap: Finished edit 3, formatted and sent off to a beta reader. This project is running 71 days ahead of schedule.
Tier Two Goals
ChapBook2—All Alone: as Carlie Simonsen; added two more pictures, ran third edit, formatted for CreateSpace. This project is running to time.
Backburner Projects
ShortStory27—Darkness and Light: Edit 1-4 and base format complete.
Publishing Tasks
Created cover for Darkness and LightFormatted and uploaded Darkness and Light to SmashwordsFormatted and uploaded Darkness and Light to KoboFormatted and uploaded Darkness and Light to KindleCreated 3 blog entry for this blogUpdated Simpson Anthologies page for thisblogCreated 3 blog entries for C.M. SimpsonPublishing blogUpdated Simpson Anthologies and EroticRomance page for C.M. Publishing blogCreated covers for 3 Ellie Moonwater novellas, on behalf of C.M. Simpson PublishingCompleted edit of Ellie Moonwater novella on behalf of C.M. Simpson Publishing.
New ArrivalsStory ideas that arrived this week:
Chapbook15B: a second science fiction story written as a series of letters for Carlie Simonsen.Novella13A: for one of my pen names.Picturebook5B: about a budgiePicturebook5C: about a dinosaurRomanceNovel14B: contemporary romance, no magic or beasties except for the human kind in the here and now. To be written as Madeleine Torr.