fiction

atthequillsmercy

Fiction Friday – Winter Boot Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The trip down the tunnel is a blur of sound; Rabbit struggling and Frog squirming in my pocket. The way I’m being dragged, my coat is bunched up, trapping Frog in the folds. My hat id pushed halfway down my eyes so I don’t get the full force of the light when we reach it but when we do, the hard grip loosens and I tumble to the floor. Frog hops out and lands on my knee and Rabbit runs for the nearest hiding place.

“What were you doing outside my house?” I can hardly make out the words with so many scarves over the mouth in the shadowed face above me.

“You’re scaring her!” Frog scolds from my knee. “At lease take your head gear off when you talk, Marsalla.”

The shadow starts pulling off clothes till a face is finally revealed from under a hood, a hat, and two scarves. The olive colored skin still blushes form the cold. I expected Marsalla to be a scary old lady from the way people talk and how she was hunched over. But the pumps on her back where the overlap  of the scarves and the packages strapped under her coats. Her face is round and she looks younger than Auntie.

“Why were you out in front of my house in the middle of the night?”

I notice adults use the phrase “middle of the night” to mean “any time after when a kid should be out of my way.” “Frog told me you know about the man in the river.”

A smile makes her cheeks round and Marsalla tosses her coat on top of a growing pile of outerwear. “Well, any friend of Frog’s and blah, blah, blah.” Marsalla rolls her shoulder so her bag slips off, a long fingered hand catching it before it can hit the floor. Her teeth are small, straight, and very human, smooth skin and hat hair all say normal lady just come back from the cold. How is she a witch?

“You might wanna get up off the floor and get comfortable. You’re already sweating.” Marsalla reaches out to me, short nails so clean, they look like ivory, and takes my hand so I cans get up. “Sorry about the drama. I got tired of kids busting windows since before the winter came.”

“Go on, Boot. You’re safe.” Frog whispers before jumping down to the carpet. “You come out too, Rabbit!”

Marsalla’s blue eyes light up. “Rabbit?” She darts off to where Frog is shouting and snatches up Rabbit with a quickness I didn’t think a woman of her size could do. Auntie is all bones and can’t move that fast but Marsalla is all curves and moves like lightening.

Rabbit only has time for one squeak before she’s pressed against Marsalla’s chest. “I haven’t seen a rabbit in years! And so adorable! Aren’t you, sweetie?”

Some of her baby talk is muffled as I pull off my coat and look around. Books and picture frames and mirrors are everywhere, the only bare spots on any flat surface clean from a fresh dusting.. The carpet stops in front of the kitchen and a wide circle around a fireplace as big as Auntie’s dogs. Once my coat is off, I notice how warm it is; my heart stops pounding and I notice the room smells like soft incense.

“Marsalla, you’re smothering her with your mammal parts.” Frog teases and I giggle when I see Rabbit’s baffled expression as she’s snuggled ruthlessly into the front of the woman’s sweater.

“Are you sure we’re in the right place?” I disobey every rule about staring at people, my mouth open in disbelief.

“You lookin’ for the witch who lives in this big, scary house?” Marsalla says.

“Yeah.”

“Then you’re in the right place.” Marsalla puts Rabbit down on the floor gently before planting her hands on her cocked hips. “And who are you?”

atthequillsmercy

Fiction Friday – Winter Boot Chapter 3

Chapter 3

It shouldn’t be so much fun to keep a secret. Auntie always said I should be grateful for everything she’s given me; clothes, food, a home. She tells me she doesn’t have to share her life with me and it’s a gift and a privilege for me not to be in an orphanage where I would have to share everything. But the secret is all mine. I found it and I don’t have to share it, ever. If Auntie knew I was going to see Marsalla… I can’t imagine how she would punish me.

I have to try really hard to do my chores at my normal pace so Auntie doesn’t suspect I’m trying to sneak away. I’m nearly bouncing by the time she gets to bed and I make sure the dogs are so full, they can barely watch me walk towards the back door. When I step out the back steps and don’t see Frog and Rabbit waiting for me, I panic. Did they forget? Did they go without me? Did Auntie find them after all and I’ll never see then again?

“Pssst!” I hear from the front porch. “What is it with you and the back door?” Rabbit peeks around a snow drift twice her size the wind piled up on one corner of our porch.

“Her Aunt’s room is the front.” Frog scolds, hopping from her back. “Ready?” He says to me.

I tug my mittens tighter on my wrists and nod. Frog jumps right into my pocket and shouts in a relieved voice, “Follow my directions. Rabbit’s never been there.”

“With good reason!” She squeaks. “I’m sure the witch would love a new pelt to keep warm.”

Yeah, everyone calls Marsalla a witch. Her house is always lit with odd colors and different ones in very window. She never foes out, even for food, fuel, or firewood, yet her greenhouse is dark with plants. Neither kids nor adults dare to try and steal anything from her even if they were brave enough to go near the metal fence and cross the evergreen snarls in her yard to face the hunched figure whose shadow is seen in the windows. The old woman must live all alone because not a single sound comes from her walls.

Marsalla lives in the tallest house in town so following Frog’s directions isn’t necessary several blocks from her home. My footsteps slow and more than just cold makes me shiver.

“Go on, Boot.” Frog says, peeking up from my pocket.

“Sure. ‘Go on’ he says.” Rabbit cowers by my foot as I stare at the house from the street. “Marsalla doesn’t eat frogs or little girls.”

I shouldn’t feel so relieved when I find out I won’t be on the menu. My shoulders drop and I relax until a shadow looms behind me.

“What are you doing here?” A scratchy voice muffled by wool demands from all three of us.

Rabbit goes to run but the shadow is too fast, snatching her up in one hand and my collar with the other to drag us both to the lightless side of Marsalla’s home. There’s nobody on the roads to hear me scream for help but as the reflection of the street lights on snow fades into black, I hope Rabbit was right about not getting eaten.

atthequillsmercy

Introducing Fiction Friday

In a shameless attempt to whore out my writing talents and sell more books, I will be starting some side stories and posting them for free, one chapter at a time, every Friday. Eventually, they will be collected to post on my website and in print when they are all completed and pretty like.

I will start this with a story I’ve been kicking around for years now called “Winter Boot.” Believe it or not, it’s a children’s story. This is shocking for those who know how much erotica and other completely unsuitable for general audiences material I tend to work on.

On that note, here’s chapter one. 😉

Winter Boot: A Fanciful Fable – Chapter One

It was warm the day my father died. It’s been winter ever since.

I knew Daddy had magic. He chased away the monsters under my bed, flipped pancakes, and reached high shelves to get treats for me. But I didn’t think he held back the snow.

“Boot!” That’s not the name Mama gave me. Auntie just calls me that. I don’t remember my real name anymore, the one Mama gave me when she gave me her life. “Have you finished your chores?”

I haven’t done anything amazing with the life she gave me. I shovel snow, feed the dogs, fetch wood for the stove (so we can save on gas, you see). So I don’t blame Auntie for being mad all the time. If my sister died for something, I’d want it to be amazing. I should be as amazing as the stories I hear about people going outside with sun dresses instead of snow shoes, bonnets instead of heavy fur hoods, and even swimming! The lake is frozen now. And ice fishing is not amazing.

“Yes, Auntie. The dogs are fed, the porch is clear, and the woodpile is covered for the next storm.” She works hard at the local bank, making all the money for the house. She’s not as strong as I am, she tells me all the time. “Your back is only 8 years old! You can take some of the work from my 56 year old legs!” She said. I don’t mind. House chores keep me warm and the dogs are so big, they walk me.

“Good. Now go get yourself fed and bathed. No time for me to help you since I’ve been on my feet all day.” She says on her way up to her bed. All I see is a flash of nightgown as I get up from the floor, close my book, and head into the kitchen.

There are dishes in the sink. Auntie already ate while I was out with the dogs, I guess. I reach the cabinets I can, finding some crackers and bread. I make a nice sandwich with some of the turkey in the fridge with cheese and crackers. It’s not so bad, eating with nothing but the wind outside. I think I used to eat with Daddy, helping him stir his famous sauce and watching his hands as he chopped vegetables. The scraps always went outside for the rabbits. Auntie hates the rabbits. I sneak them anything I can.

After I clean the kitchen, I take all the food scraps to the pile in the back yard. It’s not easy for the animals ever since the sun went away. At school, they tell us we should share so they survive. But it’s more so we can eat them. I just like to see the flashes of color against the white and gray of the snow and cold. The dogs sneak some, dancing around me when I head out the door, but I shoo them inside. They are spoiled to pieces, warm and cozy and fed scraps from the meal before it’s even done. The wild ones get the rest. It’s only fair.

I see a brown shape bounding through the leafless bushes against the back fence once I’m sure the dogs will stay inside. Little dark eyes watch me step off the back steps and walk to the back of the yard.

I only watch it out of the corner of my eye, because rabbits run if they can tell you’re looking. I’d run, too, especially since we make stew out of so many. It looks at me like I’m a hunter as I plod in my winter boots across the frost covered grass to leave the scraps as far from the door as I can. When I turn to leave, I make sure my back is to the rabbit so it sees there’s nothing to fear.

“Many thanks, lady.” A voice calls out to me and I can’t help but spin so fast, I land right on my tush. Auntie smacked me a good one for saying “butt” just once before I learned my lesson.

“Be careful there!” Another little voice yells. “You’ll crack your head right open like that, kid.”

I blink snow out of my eyes and sure enough, a brown and white hare is staring at me. On his back is the tiniest frog I’ve ever seen, clinging to the rabbit’s fur with strong, webbed fingers. “How can you… I mean you’re not supposed to-”

“Talk? It’s not supposed to snow year round, either.” Frog says to me. He’s right. And I’ve pretended tons of other things before so this isn’t so bad.

“Most don’t listen.” Rabbit says. “But I didn’t expect my thanks to knock you on your keister.”

“You’re welcome.” I whisper, getting up on my feet again. “It must be hard to find food now.”

“Well, Rabbit here keeps my feet warm and lets me eat whatever bugs manage to get in his fur.” Frog leans over to inspect the scraps. “And he gives me shelter since the lake froze up. Lotsa us water folk ran off after that.”

“And you always leave the best stuff. And I can see why now that I look at you. You’re thin as the branches on the ground. All coat and mittens.”

“I don’t need much. Auntie gives the dogs so much of her food, they’re spoiled. I can share with you guys.” A nasty wind cuts right through me and I shiver hard, almost biting my tongue as I try to talk.

“Go on inside, skinny. You’ll freeze.” Frog scolds me, leaning in close to Rabbit’s fur. Her voice shivers like mine but she’s got no teeth to chatter.

Nodding, I race into the house, waving to my figments as I go. “I’ll leave more tomorrow!” I call to them as I push back the dogs and go back inside. It’s fun to have friends, even if they aren’t real. I’m usually too busy with chores for Auntie to let me go play. I giggle to myself at the thought Frog on Rabbit’s back bounding though the snow. What a pair they make!

 

 

atthequillsmercy

New story up! :D

Gods in the Grey City is available for download on Kindle for $1.99!! 😀 My empire is growing!! BWAHAHAA!! XD

Seriously, I’m glad to have more up there for people to buy. 🙂 And now that it’s for sale, I won’t have to bug anyone to vote for it up at top webfiction anymore. Maybe I’ll come up with something else to put there, I dunno. It doesn’t seem to be doing much for my traffic. This doesn’t mean I’ll stop having some free goodies for you guys. And you’ll also notice there’s no cover. I figured I would rather get the story THERE than sit on it and wait for cover art. I’ll upload a cover whenever I get one. :p

Now, I’m going to concentrate on getting Greenhouse done and the entry for that contest over at Otakus and Geeks. Then there’s some open ended submissions for some other anthologies I’d like to try for, as well. It all depends on how much time I have and how Greenhouse flows.

With a hurricane coming, I may have more time that I bargained for. Can’t do laundry if the power goes out. :/ I think once I get through the legal crap from Ma’s passing, I’ll buy a generator. I’ll just feel safer. ._. Not that we’re gonna get really slammed here but still. You never know. Last time we had a long term power outage (last year, I forget what month) it was a tree branch taking out a power line that did it. Can happen anytime so I’d like to be prepared.

Next week, I’ll be on vacation. ^_^ In order to get a proper break, I need to leave the state so I’ll be headed to VA. I may post, I may not. But I will of course, take plenty of pictures. 🙂

atthequillsmercy

Livejournal went Plooie

As most LJ users or people who have migrated here from LJ know, LiveJournal was hit with a DDoS attack. This happens a bit too frequently for me so I am backing up all my entries here and will be posting in both places till I get annoyed with that and drop one of them. :p

As you all may NOT know (unless you slavishly follow my Twitter feed) I have finished the rough draft of Gods in the Grey City, which I will get to work on typing as fast as possible.

In other news, as of Monday, Ma is officially on hospice care. 🙁 There’s no telling how long till… Well, TILL. It’s the same hospice my Granny used so I expected them to be very nice to me. So far, I have not been disappointed.

Understandably (I hope) you can understand all the delay with my writing these days. :/

It’s no excuse for laziness, however. So, I better get to work.

atthequillsmercy

You get two rants today!! :D

One is about this article from CNN about the trailer for the new PC game "Dead Island." The nature vs nurture debate on violence notwithstanding, I get a little annoyed when people use video games as an excuse for violence from children. I have a three year old and in the bygone days where nothing she watched wasn’t from PBS (she was about two) we still had to teach her not to hit. Do I think I have raised an inherently violent child? No. I believe human beings are born selfish. Selfishness is a good trait when you don’t have the tools to survive without help. Compassion is something you learn as you grow and realize you have tools to help others; and it is something I am teaching to my daughter. Niceness is learned and some people don’t learn. Blaming video games is a fucking cop out! With all the violent media out there, why do people single out video games? I’ve read some pretty sick books, ya know (and I say this with pride seeing as how I haven’t killed anyone yet).

I watched the trailer because I like survival horror games, not because of any controversy or anything like it. My honest straight up opinion? I was fucking horrified! Omg, the poor little girl!! But you know what? (dramatic silence) IT’S A GODS-BE-DAMNED HORROR GAME!! GUESS WHAT THEY DO!!?? So, as a parent, I wouldn’t get this game because I don’t like things with dead kids. It’s really easy for me to see my own family in that video and it disturbs me on a level that I, PERSONALLY, am not comfortable with. However, as a gamer, that trailer is fucking beautiful! The way it’s all constructed, the angles, the clean movements, the colors, the music; disturbed me in a way that would make me want to play the damn game! Which is what it’s supposed to do!!

Horror is supposed to scare you. Dead kids are horrible and it scares the hell out of me for something to happen to my kid. But I don’t see this game or Bioshock or anything like it as a disturbing trend of using creepy kids to scare the hell out of you. Because you know what? They didn’t battle the Children of the Corn with candy and fucking gumdrops and Hansel and Gretel didn’t calmly negotiate with the witch about to eat them.  T_T

On a similar track (and I enjoy the synchronicity of these two things riling me up one right after the other), there is a movement here to try and get paid parental leave here in the U.S. I would LOVE for this to happen seeing as I’m one of the people who went in to huge debt to stay home a little longer than the Family Medical Leave Act allows. I wanted more time to breast feed (because it’s healthier) and to get used to being a new parent. What shocked me about this article is the comments. How the hell do people come off thinking we get some kind of perk tax wise because we’re parents? You know what, as someone who is married or single without kids, you don’t have to spend your money on kids!!! Why don’t people get that?! You know where a good chunk of my money goes? Child care. These kids also wanna eat and you tend to get arrested if you don’t clothe them. That’s not disposable income. I HAVE to spend that money. And it’s a giant hunk of my income.

"But you chose to be a parent. You didn’t have to have kids."

Aside for how much of a surprise my pregnancy actually was, people who chose to be childless are also making a choice. People who choose to smoke are more of a burden on the medical care system in the long run which I pay into and I’m a non-smoker. Although I may not like it, I consider it part of a greater good because smokers pay for my maternity leave. You all are not being punished for being childless, you are paying into a greater system which pays for everyone. Suck it the hell up. T_T

…

You have no idea how glad I am to have those out of my system. XD

So, now that the bile is out (and I’m sure I’ve alienated a bunch of people), I can get back to work on my writing. XD I’m still hard at work on that lesbian steampunk story. I have 12 written pages and still going! It’s fun! Why have I not thought of this before!? XD I also have some sketches planned for character designs for this series. Hell, any excuse to get drawing again, I say. :p

So, if you’re still with me by the end of this, and I hope you still are, there won’t be many of these rants. I tend to keep that kind of stuff to myself anyways. 😉

atthequillsmercy

Happy Friday! An update!

Remember all that writing I’ve been talking about? Here’s some of the evidence of it. This story is based on some art I did (both old and new) and it’s been kicking around in my head for YEARS. No sense wasting a good idea so here it is. That title is not permanent and I’ll change it whenever a better one comes along. :p

I’m not sure what will be up next. I have a script but that I won’t be posting when it’s done. It goes right to the artist/my boss after that. 😉

So enjoy! Or not. Either way, go read it. XD

atthequillsmercy

Remember, Remember…

Tis October so the familiar rumblings of NaNoWriMo are upon us again. Let me succinctly sum up my feelings on this matter: I’m not doing that crazy shit again!!! I did it last year and not only did I NOT make the word count, the words I DID write were utter crap! There is something to be said, as loudly and often as possible, for quality over quantity. I started the Dreamhunter sequel during it and looking back on what was written, there is SO much work that needs to be done to it which would have been avoided if I would have just taken my time and done it correctly. This includes entire scenes which were left out because I was straining for a damn word count. A complete and utter waste of an entire month.

While it is an admirable goal for me to try and finish a novel in less than 8 years (that’s how long it took DH to be officially completed), that is not the way to go. So it takes awhile. You, as well as me, will just have to live with that.

This is not to say I have no plans for November. Quite the opposite, actually. For that month, I will be taking a break from both my novels to see how many short stories I can complete in a month’s time. Not typed and clean, just start to finish, under 100 pages or so. Perhaps one will be the spring board to another novel? Crap, I hope not. I’ve got about 10 in here… *knocks head* But I need practice in keeping things short. That’s what I want to learn from this. ^_^

atthequillsmercy

I return!

Back at dayjob from a nice vacation to a desk piled high with work. YAY!

That’s right, I said "yay." Taking a break from work is all well and good but I am not the type to stay at home all the time. I will go insane. I did very much enjoy spending quality time with my kiddo. She can really tweak the guilt when she puts her mind to it. "I don’t want you to go back to work ever, ever again." She tells me. A quick explanation if how exactly those shiny shoes that are just like Dorothy’s, came to be in our home and subsequently on her feet, and it was acceptable for me to work. Yah know, as long as I’ve got her permission and all. 😉

Other than playing with her I worked out. A LOT. More accurately, my kiddo worked out with me. I am finally noticing a difference in how I look and feel and how my clothes fit. I am very much looking forward to Samhain this year. I can’t wait to actually be able to dress up with my kid and not feel like a bloated hog crammed into some lycra monstrosity. >_< Anywayz, the P90x I’m using to workout works. It works very well. It hurts like you wouldn’t believe, I can barely keep up, and I have to modify the hell out of some of the workouts because I have bad knees, but it works. It warns against people who are not fit doing it but since I seem to enjoy punishment, I jumped right in. Don’t be like me.

Right now I am reading Anne Rice’s Sleeping Beauty Trilogy. Uhhmmm… I’m gonna withhold my full judgment till I’m completely done with the series (I’m midway through the third one now, they’re fast reads) but I’ll say first off I find the lack of consent completely disturbing. I understand what it means to be a complete slave but these are young men and women given to the royal court by their parents who have no option at all to say "Gee, I don’t think I enjoy being raped in to submission by the kitchen staff. I think I’d like to go home." Just… Wow.

These days, I’m back to working on "Greenhouse." Better get back to it then! 😀

atthequillsmercy

Let the flood gates open!

This has been a pretty shitty week (including the weekend). Between chronic problems with hubby’s car and a stupid fight with a friend, life seemed generally in the shitter.

Until now. ^____^

That’s right guys and dolls, "Dreamhunter" is ready to be purchased in print or as a PDF for your hungry little brains to digest.

Now that all the drama is over, I can get back to work and get a less ugly site up and ready to go. Writing will take time, though. Stress is like a kick in the nads to my muse. We both need a deep breath, some quiet time to heal, and perhaps a couple beers.

And hugs. Plenty of hugs.

Oh, and this is WIN. The Last Airbender movie sucked ass. Fan or no fan – and I am a HUGE fan of this cartoon – there was only a single redeeming factor in this movie: the effects. Elements are bended, glowy tattoos glow, but for 12$ a ticket, I feel ripped off and Shyamalan owes me 2 hours of my life back. The universe was already built, the story already written, HOW THE BLOODY FUCKING HELL DO YOU SCREW THAT UP??? HOW!