Sunday Snippet: Beastly Shadows (a Lantern Jack tale)

I hope everyone whocelebrates US Thanksgiving had a lovely holiday. Mine was low-key, which is howI enjoy the holiday the most. As usual, my husband cooked for ninety-seven peopleinstead of the three that were here, but that means leftovers and readilyavailable meals for a few days!

Kind of a lightweek for work projects in varying stages. I ended up getting a decent amount ofwriting completed. I finished up two manuscript drafts and I'm in thefine-tuning stage for those. I'm excited to start revising! I also did some additionalplanning for the other ventures I'm trying to launch soon. Should be anexciting December!

Had a great week oftelevision viewing. I got an extra show in this go around but still didn't getto pick back up with my Battlestar Galactica rewatch. Hopefully thisweek.

I ended up watchingtwo episodes of Silent Witness. I'm sad that Clarissa is leaving butlook forward to new faces. Can't wait to pick up with the second half of thecurrent two-parter. It ended on a cliffhanger.

Also got two episodesof Death in Paradise in this week. Started season four, which I'm enjoying.Humph is a lot of fun and Dwayne has been very entertaining so far.

Ended up watchingtwo episodes of Only Murders in the Building also. Finished thepenultimate episode last night and, wow, I love this show. And … I'm prettysure I guessed correctly with a slight twist on the murderer. Can't wait towatch the final episode.

Enjoyed two episodesof The Batman. One I remembered and the other one I didn't so reallyenjoyed that one. Not sure how many episodes are left in the first season butlooking forward to more.

Caught two more episodesof Classic Rugrats. I did remember both. An interesting bit was thetheme changed for one episode then went back to the original. Weird what I noticewhen I'm streaming shows.

Watched anotherepisode of VIP. The over-the-top storylines are so much fun. I reallymiss some of the shows from the late nineties and early aughts.

Enjoyed a behind-the-scenesepisode of My Life Is Murder. I'll be starting season two this week,unless there's another bonus episode.

Also watched abehind-the-scenes episode of Agatha Raisin. A lot of fun to see and hearthe actors talk about their characters. There might be one more BTS for seasontwo then I'll be moving on to season three.

Picked back up withPeak Practice. I skipped ahead a little because I honestly don't careabout Andrew and Kate's torrid relationship. Might try to work another episode inthis week.

That's pretty muchit for this week's life update. Tonight's post is from Beastly Shadows,a Lantern Jack tale.

Here's the miniblurb:

Lantern Jack is back. To end a centuries old feud betweenwerewolves and the hunters, Lantern Jack has to right another wrong. He setsout to bring childhood friends Bebe Beasley and Mannix Mortimer together onHalloween night, but to do so he has to put Mannix in the path of a bullet.

And a previewsnippet…

Bebe pulled her glovesoff when her phone chirped.

After reading thecaller ID, she sighed. "What is it, Bastian? I'm busy right now."Okay, dead heading her garden could be done anytime but the less she had todeal with family drama the better.

And two calls in a daycrossed her tolerance threshold.

Bastain got to hispoint. "Be on the lookout for Mannix Mortimer. He might be headed up toyour area." He paused a moment. "And you know what to do if you seehim."

Bebe really, really hatedher cousin sometimes. "Fine, Bastian. I'll be watchful. I always am."She cut the call and ignored the dread balling in her stomach.

Getting up, she enteredthe cabin and dumped her gloves in the bin and washed her hands. "I don'twant to chase Mannix around." She actually liked him.

She could not say thesame about overbearing Bastian.

To be fair, she enjoyedthe Mannix she played with as a child whenever Bastian and his equally annoyingbrother weren't around. Images of climbing trees, swimming in the pond, andrunning through the woods crystallized in her mind. Those were good memories.

As a grown up, sheappreciated the attractive man he'd become. Hard planes, chiseled muscles, aface made to stop traffic, and haunting silver eyes. If not for the stupidfamily vendetta, she could easily fall for him. But … she'd be foolish to doso. She didn't really know the adult Mannix—only his reputation. Which, rumorhad it, featured a lot of women crawling in and out of his bed. Not that sheblamed any of them.

Bebe stepped out ontothe porch and yelped when she found a carved jack-o-lantern sitting beside thedoor. "Where did you come from?" Probably one of the high schoolclubs making the rounds.

They often did surprisedrop-offs, even out in wood country where Bebe lived. Geraniums in the springand mums in the fall. A nice neighborly gesture.

Bebe bent down. "Someonedid a terrible job on your face." She turned the pumpkin around.

When her fingerstouched the rind, a series of images and sounds flashed through her mind. A rifle,a shot ringing in the air, rolling fog and dancing shadows, and a loud, longhowl.

A shiver went down herspine at the weird premonitory glimpse. Something wicked this way comes.

This one isfinished and almost ready to release. I love writing the Lantern Jack tales andcan't wait for everyone to see this one.

 

That's it for thisweek.

Cheers!

Skye