Fiction Friday: in which I eat all of my mom's Nutella

What are kids for, right?

This week I am not reading any fiction -- all my reads are currently a) serious academic tomes or b) books on paganism and witchcraft. Or both.

However, I did write a short piece of fiction for Three Word Wednesday, now showing at live in demons and absent angels.  Go read that if you like dystopian stories. It's about 750 words, give or take a few.

I'm also hard at work on The Jade Star of Athering. I may not finish it by the 5th, as I'm also filming a documentary this weekend, but I will finish it soon -- never fear!

And my brain is just coughing up plot bunnies like it's got a hairball problem. I seriously have more story ideas than I know what to do with right now. So I'm hoping that once I finish JSOA and let it sit before editing a bit I can sit down and work on some of these other ideas before they die from lack of attention.

Plot bunnies. So needy, I tell ya.

As well, Dead Transgressions will be getting my attention sometime this summer, and The Man of Bronze will also be tackled this year. So hopefully I'll have more fodder for my Fiction Friday posts and will be actually, you know, writing them.

(And posting them the night before because that's how I roll.)

 

SFFSat January 7th: Adra visits Harbourtown

From my Nanowrimo novel, Dead Transgressions.

Adrasteia, the half-Atherian, half-Ixilean hero, is currently visiting Harbourtown with Duke Leandros of Aeril, the brother of the woman she's sworn to protect from a plot by the Children of IxChel, intent on reclaiming their people's Jade Star. The Duke has taken Adra on a small tour of the countryside while she recovers from her wound. And by countryside, I mean various cities around Athering, as there are no wilds left.

Soon they reached Harbourtown, and Adra was glad for the chance to stretch her legs. The air smelled strongly of brine and seagulls rent the sky with their harsh cries. She and Leandros went down to the seawall, where they took a leisurely stroll, watching the waves come in and out. It was a sunny day but there was a chill in the air — each breath left Adra’s nostrils and lungs feeling awakened. She was glad she had her jacket with her; since her injury she found herself getting cold with more ease.  

Harbourtown was a slow city. More a town, really — the streets were cobblestone, a throwback to a simpler time, and the buildings were still made of wood. Really old wood, she supposed; at some point they’d no doubt have to rebuild in stronger synthetic materials. Until that time came, however, Harbourtown clung to the past. It was almost quaint.

Terrifying Tuesday: State of the Nano

As you can no doubt tell by the handy dandy widget to the right, I have 7K words to go before I win Nano. I won't be done with the novel -- hells, I'll be lucky if I make it to the mid-plot point -- but I will have won Nano.

Considering I've spent the past three days working on getting Bellica ready for print (and will spend the next few days getting it ready for ebook) and have not slept overmuch, this will be awesome and worth much cheering.

So I am off to write some exciting Nano story. Mostly with lots of sexual tension -- it's increased after the first kiss and "just friends" talk, you know. ;)

7K in 24 hours: GO.

Whatever Wednesday: Adra got shot and it was totally bad-ass

Well, my main character, Adrasteia deKarme, got shot in the last chapter I wrote. It was in the line of duty, and totally bad-ass. The skin around her shoulder got melted off and then rebuilt from scratch. Thank the Goddesses for very advanced medical technomancy.

She was very upset about her jacket being ruined, however. (Don't worry; fashion technology is advanced as well. The jacket will survive. But it was touch and go there for a while.)

Whee. Nano is crazy.

SFFSat: Adrasteia practices her bad-ass Detective look.

This is a detective story, but it's in a fantasy setting. Magic and technology are sort of the same thing in this place.

She rummaged around in the top drawer for her gun holster. Something she hadn’t worn for a while now — she couldn’t afford ammo recharges, and she hadn’t been on any jobs that would require it.

If the Queen required her to start on her new job right away, well, she wanted to be prepared.

She slipped the leather straps over her shoulders and adjusted until the gun sat comfortably against her ribcage, under her right breast. A few times, for practice, she grabbed it quickly and aimed at an invisible assailant.

“Do you feel lucky? Do you, kid?” She grimaced. She may still have what it took to fire quickly, but she definitely needed to work on her one-liners.

This is from my 2011 Nanowrimo novel, currently untitled. Enjoy!

Make sure you check out the other awesome SFFSat posts here!