happy happy hogmanay!

Well, it's a new year, and my one resolution is to avoid starting sentences with "well."

Well, that's done.

New Years Eve party: a kleptomaniac, several shots, a red paper-mache kangaroo, fireworks, and far too much walking around our little mountain town in sub-zero temperatures freezing our asses off and generally making drunken nuisances of ourselves. 2008, here I come.


Any Electric Spec writers out there: any delays are likely my doing, though can you fault me for not wanting to send potential rejections during the holidays. I noticed my own stories seemed lost in the Silent Land of Submissions. I'm assuming that's because they've all been held over for consideration...

I realize I left without telling you I was going--been at the lake for a week with no internet access. Sometimes I toddle over to the library to check email and Sex Scenes, but I didn't this time. And so commences snowboarding season, in which I spend a full 2/7ths of my time at Grand Lake and Winter Park. That doesn't seem like enough to throw the entire schedule into a loop, but it really does. I'm rather glad to have the holiday past us now, except the kids are still here, I haven't had the chance to do returns and restock the fridge, and...oh yeah, write.

A return to efficiency is first on the agenda. Starting....

later.

Now, for your reading pleasure, random quotes from Sentinel:

Not knowing where else to go, Aidan went to stand by Jacob’s side, wondering if people thought they looked alike. Maybe not, since he had long hair. He’d let it grow forever if it differentiated himself from his father.

A woman said as he approached, “My lord, they are doubtless your sons. The resemblance is unmistakable.”

So much for that theory.

“Handsome, aren’t they?” Jacob laid a hand on Aidan’s shoulder. “Aidan, meet Matthew Paxton. He’s heading up the team to find your mother.”

Paxton grinned, his teeth starkly white in his caramel face. Dreadlocks hung down his back. His grip was firm but had nothing to prove. He looked only a little older than Aidan himself. “Awesome to meet you. And call me Pax.”

“Thanks,” Aidan said.

Lucy was broad-shouldered and wore a distant smile. She was pretty enough that her lack of makeup and simple braid suited her. She took his hand and held it for a moment. “Honored,” she said.

Holding her hand felt like he’d grabbed power line. “Yeah. Thanks. You, too,” he said, and shot a glance at Jacob, worried he wasn’t handling this right.

But Jacob had already moved on to the woman who’d complimented Aidan's likeness to his father. “Alyssa Marwick, borrowed from our European strike team.”

Red flared around Lucy--she didn’t like this woman, Aidan realized.

“Sorry for my attire--I just got off the plane from Stockholm.” Alyssa didn’t smile. She was dressed the most casually in the room, in jeans and a tight, plain t-shirt that showed her generous curves to good advantage, but she’d taken the time to don makeup and a cloak. When she reached out to take his hand, the cloak slipped back to reveal an empty shoulder holster.

“No--you look--” Aidan paused. He didn’t usually struggle so much when talking to attractive women. Of course, most of them didn’t feel like they’d just as soon slam him to the ground in a chokehold as shake his hand. He forced a smile. “I just got off a plane, too, so I know how you feel. It’s nice to meet you.”

and from Kaelin's POV: (you tell me if they seem remotely different)

Sophia Oman had appeared in the doorway, presumably to fetch her daughters, and she was staring at Aidan as well.

He’s done it again, Kaelin thought, fascinated every female in a fifty foot radius. But in a much, much different way than he’d ever witnessed.

Aidan lifted his chin at Kaelin, breaking the spell. He obviously hadn’t noticed Sophia. “Can I take a shot?” He turned toward the dartboard and Kaelin handed him a dart.

“ ‘So perish all the Queen’s enemies. Behold, the head of a traitor,’ ” Sophia said.

Aidan spun at her voice. “You sounded just like my mom for a minute.” Then he flushed as he realized what he’d said.

Relax, thought Kaelin. Just let it go.

Sophia didn’t seem to notice. “Such a beautiful description. I must see it again the next time I’m in London.”

Aidan stood, feet apart, shoulders tight, fingering the dart. A muscle quivered in his cheek as his shoulders tensed.

“Hey, Aidan,” Kaelin said. “Game’s over, bro.”

Aidan turned and threw the dart at the board. Alexia made a little noise as it struck near the center. Sophia and Ryanne stared at him, eyes wide, but when he turned back to them he wore a polite smile. “It’s always worth seeing.”

Senator Oman was waiting in the foyer, but the others still sat in the living room, heads together, talking. After exchanging chaste kisses on the cheek with Kaelin and Aidan, Ryanne and Alexia followed their grandfather and mother to their limousine.

Aidan stood at one of the windows in the foyer, watching it drive back down the darkened tree-lined lane. His breath made a cloud of condensation on the glass and he wiped it away with his fingertips. Kaelin wondered what he was thinking--was he angry or shaken? He’d thrown that dart like it was a threat.