Effing Feline tries telekinesis #wewriwa

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I, Effing Feline, changed my name last week to Efrem Thimbalist Jr. After sleeping on it, though, I’ve decided the name isn’t classy enough. I’m still thinking long and hard of name splendid enough for a cat like me who can do anything.

Anything, that is, except for one crucial thing, which I’ll tell you about after this commercial break from our sponsor, The Solid Gold Aliens.

Tresky Buffrum is a naive young shepherd from the mountains of the colony planet Jones. When he visited the planet’s largest city, population 50,000, he met a woman (Ebbril) and married her the very next day. And overindulged in wine.

The next morning, Tresky is awakened by a man wanting to sweep out the crude, open-sided hovel in which he apparently spent his wedding night. Tresky asks where Ebbril is. Last week’s snippet ended with the sweeper (named Aram Vappu) asking, “Is Ebbril the pale beauty who oversaw your delivery in a wheelbarrow last night?” 

Tresky had no idea how he’d gotten here, so he said, “She’s my bride.”

“Bride?” snorted Aram Vappu. “Let me guess, young man — is your purse gone?”

Tresky shook his head, which was a mistake; to still its spinning, he rested it against the stone wall. “You’re as pessimistic as a Godgifu tribesman.”

“Because I am a Godgifu, lad — can’t you tell?” Preening as though he were a nubile beauty rather than a floor sweeper, the man ran his fingers over a streak of short golden hair over his ears. “And I’ll wager you’ve been sheared like one of your Gasparre sheep.”

Frowning, Tresky touched his vest, hoping Vappu wouldn’t notice, but when he couldn’t feel the lump of coins, he slapped his chest frantically.

“No purse,” Vappu said with an exasperated sigh as though it was Tresky’s fault his dour outlook had been confirmed.

Effing Feline here again. I admitted above that there’s one very important thing even I cannot do, and that lack is why I slave in thrall to a mere novelist.

I can’t open a damned can of cat food!

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Can you spot the new book’s cover on the banner atop this page? After that, be sure to visit the other great writers in Weekend Writing Warriors and Snippet Sunday.

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The Midas Rush is now
The Solid Gold Aliens

For 500 years, the aliens were no threat.[image error]

But they were just waiting . . .

 

New title, new tagline, new cover.

Ed thinks the new title conveys a bit more mystery — readers should be interested in anything solid gold, let alone golden aliens. After all, nobody knows what a midas rush is unless they’ve read the book.

Like the title, the new tagline focuses on the aliens rather than the human characters. More importantly, it highlights conflict.

And the new cover is, in Ed’s humble(?) opinion, a big improvement over the old one. He did a lot of work on this one himself. How’d he do it? See yesterday’s cover reveal.

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