Aldrea Alien's Blog, page 19

Rainbow Snippets: A quiet alleyway…

Rainbow Snippets is a Facebook group for LGBTQ+ authors, readers, and bloggers to gather once a week and share six sentences from a work of fiction–a WIP or a finished work or even a 6-sentence book recommendation.

This month, the snippets will be from my current work-in-progress, Tracking Trouble. It’s a prequel to In Pain and Blood starring Tracker, a King’s Hound from Demarn, who is also the elf responsible for the massive rewriting haul that has become the Spellster and the Hound series. Unlike a lot of my other stories, this isn’t a romance.

This week’s snippet continues from my previous shares of the story with Tracker mentioning how firm Demarn law is when it comes to rogue spellsters…

Unsheathing his scimitar, Tracker strode into the alley. Birds scattered, the frantic flap of their wings blocking out all other sound.

Movement drew his attention, the scurrying of a rat across the broken barrel. He examined the crates, instantly dismissing them as worthy places to await an ambush. Maybe if he was pursuing a child—not his favourite missions, although they happened far more frequently.

The alley wasn’t a straight run. A wooden fence blocked the route to the bustling street on the other side of this block. The stone wall to his right was in more of a sorry state than he had noticed from the alley’s entrance. Holes pockmarked the structure, leaving some parts perilously close to caving.

Tracker will be back next week, and sticking around for a while after. In the meantime, check out these other snippets.

If you’re looking for more news of my books, be sure to “Like” my Facebook page and/or join me in my Facebook group!

Rainbow Snippets: A once prosperous land…

Rainbow Snippets is a Facebook group for LGBTQ+ authors, readers, and bloggers to gather once a week and share six sentences from a work of fiction–a WIP or a finished work or even a 6-sentence book recommendation.

Someone Else’s Shoes, my retelling of Cinderella set in the spellster universe has been out for a few weeks now and this’ll be the last snippet for a while as, next week, I’ll be returning to Tracking Trouble.

This snippet is a little longer than the rest and continues on from last week, where Alla had left the building’s interior to make her way up to the attic…

The midday air, with its north-eastern breeze coming fresh off the desert, would help towards drying the threadbare fabric on her way up the mansion. It wouldn’t make the dress suitable to wear by the time she reached the attic, but spreading it out on the rooftop would see it usable by tomorrow.

Alla hastened around the side of the mansion to where a stone tub full of water sat near the back door. Hopping onto the tub’s rim, she scampered her way up the wall as nimbly as a mountain goat.

The path she took wasn’t a well-worn one—she tried her best to not abuse this knowledge lest she got caught—but she had taken this route so many times over the years that she hardly needed to think on her next move. Her fingers just knew where they needed to be—a hand tucked into a hole in the stonework here, a foot placed on the thin ledge of a window there. As long as she didn’t stop or slow for any reason, she always made it.

Up here, the farmland seemed to stretch on into the hazy, yellow horizon of the nearby desert. To her left lay the shaded pasture where the camels spent their nights. It used to house her stepmother’s horses, but they had long since gone from this world. As many beings seemed to do around here.

The pasture was currently empty, the camels out in the field with the serfs who tended to the rows upon rows of crops. To some, the fields seemed endless, but Alla remembered there being so much more.

The estate had once been prosperous, home of the finest and sweetest dates in all of the Niholian Empire. She had vague memories of men and women scampering up the huge trees during harvest time to lower massive sacks of dates onto the carts. The world had smelt wet and earthy.

Now, that same dusty land didn’t quite produce enough to feed those living here. Without proper care to the irrigation systems that had kept this land rich for generations, the trees had died. Only the one in the courtyard remained and even that was a sickly shadow of itself.

Alla will be having a bit of a break with Tracker returning for the weekends. In the meantime, check out these other snippets.

If you’re looking for more news of my books, be sure to “Like” my Facebook page and/or join me in my Facebook group!

Rainbow Snippets: No dripping in the halls!

Rainbow Snippets is a Facebook group for LGBTQ+ authors, readers, and bloggers to gather once a week and share six sentences from a work of fiction–a WIP or a finished work or even a 6-sentence book recommendation.

Someone Else’s Shoes, my retelling of Cinderella set in the spellster universe has been out for a week now. You can go read the entire thing, but I’ll still be posting snippets from it for another week.

This snippet continues on from last week, where Alla’s stomach reminds her that’ll be lunch soon but there’s always plenty of leftovers on her step-family’s plates…

Icy water dripped on her bare feet as she took a few shuffling steps.

Her things were kept in the attic. Getting there would see her leaving a trail of water droplets all through the mansion. If her stepmother caught sight of a single one, she would see Alla received a good five lashes, the typical response to anything she perceived as a single slight.

But Alla knew of another way up the mansion, one that her stepmother wasn’t likely to notice her using at this hour. It was the reason she always left the window to the attic open a crack.

She stepped outside to where a great date palm tree grew in the centre of the otherwise paved courtyard. Ferns huddled around the base, their leaves having gone brown in the summer heat. Alla squeezed all the water she could from her skirts. The droplets barely hit the parched earth before vanishing. There was nothing she could do about her hair but tie the curls back with a scarf and let it dry naturally whilst working on her afternoon duties.

Alla will return next weekend with more of Someone Else’s Shoes. In the meantime, check out these other snippets.

If you’re looking for more news of my books, be sure to “Like” my Facebook page and/or join me in my Facebook group!

Rainbow Snippets: Picking off plates…

Rainbow Snippets is a Facebook group for LGBTQ+ authors, readers, and bloggers to gather once a week and share six sentences from a work of fiction–a WIP or a finished work or even a 6-sentence book recommendation.

Someone Else’s Shoes, my retelling of Cinderella set in the spellster universe, was released yesterday! You can read the entire thing right now, but I’ll still be posting snippets from it for a couple more weeks.

This snippet continues on from last week, where Odette tells Alla to go dry off whilst she tends to the wet floor…

Alla took a step, then paused.

“Don’t worry about me. I’ve been cleaning these floors since before you were born.” She made soft shooing motions, as though Alla was still a child, before adjusting the scarf wrapped around her hair and kneeling on the tiles with a grunt.

Knowing better than to argue with the woman, Alla aimed for the hallway entrance. If she hurried, she could throw on some dry clothes and still make it in time to serve lunch.

Her stomach grumbled at the thought of food. She hadn’t eaten since before sunrise but, once her stepmother and stepsister had eaten their fill, there was generally plenty to pick off their plates.

Alla will return next weekend with more of Someone Else’s Shoes. In the meantime, check out these other snippets.

If you’re looking for more news of my books, be sure to “Like” my Facebook page and/or join me in my Facebook group!

Rainbow Snippets: Wet as a squid…

Rainbow Snippets is a Facebook group for LGBTQ+ authors, readers, and bloggers to gather once a week and share six sentences from a work of fiction–a WIP or a finished work or even a 6-sentence book recommendation.

Tracking Trouble will be taking a little break for the next few months as I share snippets from my upcoming novella, Someone Else’s Shoes. It’s a retelling of Cinderella set in the spellster universe.

This snippet continues on from last week, where Alla mentioned her deceased father’s views on serfdom…

“My dear, sweet child.” Odette knelt before Alla. “Look at you. As wet as a squid and paddling about like a duck.” She gently wrapped her long fingers—an elven trait Alla was relieved to have missed inheriting from her mother—around Alla’s wrists. “Let’s get you cleaned up and—”

“I’m fine.” Alla jerked her chin at the floor. Without her trying to contain the damage, poor as her attempt had been, the water continued to spread. More seemed to have splashed from the bucket than it could possibly contain.

“Nonsense, my lady.” Odette gently coaxed Alla to her feet. “You’ve the countess to attend to soon and you can’t go to her looking like a used mop. Go clean yourself up. I’ll finish here.”

Alla will return next weekend with more of Someone Else’s Shoes. In the meantime, check out these other snippets.

If you’re looking for more news of my books, be sure to “Like” my Facebook page and/or join me in my Facebook group!

Rainbow Snippets: Such outlandish views…

Rainbow Snippets is a Facebook group for LGBTQ+ authors, readers, and bloggers to gather once a week and share six sentences from a work of fiction–a WIP or a finished work or even a 6-sentence book recommendation.

Tracking Trouble will be taking a little break for the next few months as I share snippets from my upcoming novella, Someone Else’s Shoes. It’s a retelling of Cinderella set in the spellster universe.

This snippet continues on from last week, where Odette was introduced…

There hadn’t been many left in their indentured servitude before Alla’s father died fighting in the imperial army. Only two such people remained now.

He had always insisted on owning no being, elven or otherwise. Alla had a great many memories of him pacing before the fireplace, furiously muttering of how many nobles leant on the same pathetic excuse of an entirely too complicated emancipation process, of how the glass barons should be vilified as the abusive factories they were.

Even back then, she had known such views were considered outlandish for any noble in the Niholian Empire.

But once the news of his demise reached them, her stepmother had wasted little time in firing the free servants and trading the few able-bodied serfs for whatever took her fancy. Odette and Uda where the only two who remembered Alla’s father, and they were only here because not even the glass barons wanted them.

Alla will return next weekend with more of Someone Else’s Shoes. In the meantime, check out these other snippets.

If you’re looking for more news of my books, be sure to “Like” my Facebook page and/or join me in my Facebook group!

Rainbow Snippets: Odette the serf

Rainbow Snippets is a Facebook group for LGBTQ+ authors, readers, and bloggers to gather once a week and share six sentences from a work of fiction–a WIP or a finished work or even a 6-sentence book recommendation.

Tracking Trouble will be taking a little break for the next few months as I share snippets from my upcoming novella, Someone Else’s Shoes. It’s a retelling of Cinderella set in the spellster universe.

This snippet continues on from last week, where Alla spoke about the collar keeping her from using her magic…

“Oh, my lady.”

Alla glanced up at the familiar cry. Her heart thumped a few extra beats as she hastened to confirm no one else but herself shared the foyer with the old woman. “ ‘Dett, we’ve spoken about this. You can’t call me that. It’s just Alla.” No matter how many times Alla told the woman, she always had to remind Odette not to refer to her in such a manner. Neither of them could ever be too certain of some word getting back to Alla’s stepmother.

And if it did…?

Odette waved the concern away as if angering Alla’s stepmother didn’t mean a lashing. Unlike the majority of the serfs living in the estate, she had been inherited by Alla’s father, much to his disapproval. But her ownership had come from well before his birth. The woman’s collar still bore the family crest etched into the steel plating riveted to the old leather even though the practice of marking serfs was outdated.

Alla will return next weekend with more of Someone Else’s Shoes. In the meantime, check out these other snippets.

If you’re looking for more news of my books, be sure to “Like” my Facebook page and/or join me in my Facebook group!

Rainbow Snippets: Just like the staff

Rainbow Snippets is a Facebook group for LGBTQ+ authors, readers, and bloggers to gather once a week and share six sentences from a work of fiction–a WIP or a finished work or even a 6-sentence book recommendation.

Tracking Trouble will be taking a little break for the next few months as I share snippets from my upcoming novella, Someone Else’s Shoes. It’s a retelling of Cinderella set in the spellster universe.

This snippet continues on from last week, where Alla spoke about the collar keeping her from using her magic…

Even back when the chain first graced Alla’s neck, it hadn’t been lost on her that some of the newly bought people her stepmother added to the household staff wore collars made of the same metal. Especially amongst those who worked the fields.

She had tried numerous times throughout her teen years to remove the impediment before concluding it just wasn’t possible. Not of her own will. The chain consisted of naught but continuous loops, each one too thick to break naturally, with no actual clasp to be had. There were tools in the shed that could’ve aided her freedom, but using any great deal of force also risked the metal exploding.

Alla will return next weekend with more of Someone Else’s Shoes. In the meantime, check out these other snippets.

If you’re looking for more news of my books, be sure to “Like” my Facebook page and/or join me in my Facebook group!

Rainbow Snippets: Barred from her magic

Rainbow Snippets is a Facebook group for LGBTQ+ authors, readers, and bloggers to gather once a week and share six sentences from a work of fiction–a WIP or a finished work or even a 6-sentence book recommendation.

Tracking Trouble will be taking a little break for the next few months as I share snippets from my upcoming novella, Someone Else’s Shoes. It’s a retelling of Cinderella set in the spellster universe.

This snippet continues on from last week, where Tamara tweaked Alla’s sensitive elven ears and left her to tidy up the mess…

Had she the use of her magic, she could’ve done the work in a quarter of the time. And dry myself off. But any thoughts of using her blood-born spellster abilities had been nipped in the bud by her stepmother after the first instance of Alla lighting a fire in the hearth. Even the teeniest flame, no matter the control Alla displayed over it, had been too much for her stepmother.

Alla’s abilities had been neatly locked away for over a decade, kept contained by a chain necklace of purple metal no thicker than her thumb. For my own good. At least, that had been the excuse her stepmother had given when Alla was young. They weren’t afraid of magic—they were spellsters themselves—but letting her have free access? Unthinkable.

Perhaps they were afraid of her inexperience. Certain magics came instinctually, but controlling them took time. Something she had barely begun to manage during the time of her mother’s death. Her father had stressed patience when it came to such matters. Her stepmother had thought otherwise.

Alla will return next weekend with more of Someone Else’s Shoes. In the meantime, check out these other snippets.

If you’re looking for more news of my books, be sure to “Like” my Facebook page and/or join me in my Facebook group!

Rainbow Snippets: Hardly worth the trouble

Rainbow Snippets is a Facebook group for LGBTQ+ authors, readers, and bloggers to gather once a week and share six sentences from a work of fiction–a WIP or a finished work or even a 6-sentence book recommendation.

Tracking Trouble will be taking a little break for the next few months as I share snippets from my upcoming novella, Someone Else’s Shoes. It’s a retelling of Cinderella set in the spellster universe.

This snippet continues on from last week, where Alla’s stepsister kicked a full bucket of water kicked over her…

She towered over Alla. Even with them both standing upright, her stepsister was taller by at least a foot. “Looks like you’re going to be here all day. What will mother say?” Giving a tweak to the tip of Alla’s ear, Tamara sauntered deeper into the mansion.

Alla rubbed at her ear as she watched her stepsister depart. How she loathed the distinct points and sensitivity. What use did such ears give their owners beyond a means to single out elves as a target? Better hearing? It hardly seemed worth the trouble.

With the tips of her ears still smarting, Alla sank back to her knees and set to work mopping up the water. The cloth she had been polishing the tiles with was already sopping wet and not terribly absorbent, but its sheer size meant she could wring out a decent cupful with each pass. She would need to start her work over once this outbreak was contained. Otherwise, her stepmother would complain about how the unaffected tiles weren’t as shiny.

Alla will return next weekend with more of Someone Else’s Shoes. In the meantime, check out these other snippets.

If you’re looking for more news of my books, be sure to “Like” my Facebook page and/or join me in my Facebook group!