see the purty pictures

 There's a new issue of Electric Spec out.  It's worth taking a look. I edited Invasive Species and one of my stories, set in the SENTINEL world, is included in the issue. We've also got an interview with Rob Sawyer, who I've had the pleasure of meeting, and a great movie column. It's a fairly dark issue; perfect for those shady days of summer.

Also, stay tuned to Sex Scenes this weekend for a post by Mark Terry, a blog buddy and wicked smart writer. The next installment of his Derek Stillwater series is coming out in one week: THE VALLEY OF SHADOWS, and is available for preorder RIGHT NOW. So get your hairy little butts over to Amazon and getcher one!

Mount Baldy over Grand Lake
I had a fun weekend at the lake, even got out on the water for a boat ride. It was windy and chilly but sunny and beautiful. We all got sunburned, even me. Weirdness, I know. 

It's fairly common knowledge in these parts that people do and say strange things to me. I have one of those faces. Or it's cuz I'm short. Or I'm making shit up. I'm not sure which. But I had a couple of such incidents this weekend. Like someone went to kiss my hand (don't ask) and licked it instead. And I got asked to play fuseball because "they needed a girl." When I got there, admittedly only a couple of feet away, I was the only girl. And I was there under great protest; I suck at fuseball. So after switching places with me a couple of times and then just taking over my guys, I snagged my partner a new player. And they won. So my team rocks even though I suck.


In other business, I do have a book coming out in July, LOST PRINCE, Book One of the Salt Road Saga. I'm going to brainstorm Book Two soon and probably spend the rest of the summer writing it. (It takes me about a month of drafting; they're shorter.) I am also on the homestretch of ARCHIVE OF EARTH, the second in the Sentinel series. The climax takes place in Grand Lake. And, cuz I know someone out there will be wondering, I've no publication date for the first book yet.

See after the jump for a quick excerpt taken randomly from the middle of AOE.

Excerpt of ARCHIVE OF EARTH



A knock sounded on his door at the Oman’s late in the day. Aidan didn’t lift his head from his arrows. “Come on in, Lu.”

She pushed open the door and kicked it gently shut with her foot, bringing with her the smell of fresh bread, meat, and apples. He looked up and grinned, but it faded at her obvious shock.

“What in Seven hells are you doing?” she said

Aidan looked around at his equipment, realizing the size of the mess for the first time. In a few hours, he’d scattered feathers, shafts and broadhead arrows all around him. He held a knife in one hand and a cup in the other. “Fixing my arrows. Hey, look what I can do.”

He sliced a new gouge on the inside of his wrist and let some blood fall into the cup.

Lucy gasped. “Aidan--”

“No wait, that’s not the good part.”  He concentrated and sparked a fire inside the cut on his wrist. He couldn’t hide his wince as it seared closed, but he forced a tiny grin. “Cool trick, huh?”

She sank down and set the tray on the floor between them, plates and cups rattling.

He reached out and took a sandwich. “Thanks, Lu.”

“This…is…”

“I know. Nasty,” Aidan said, biting into the sandwich with one hand and dipping a broadhead into the cup of his blood with the other. “But useful. I did some knives, too. You can have one.”

“This is beyond nasty, Aidan. It’s horrifying. Even for a demon.”

He finished his sandwich in about three bites. Julian’s disapproval had killed his appetite, but just one taste brought it back again, full force.  “I was hoping to finish before you came by.”

“You knew I was coming.”

He gave her a sly smile. He hadn’t known, just guessed. 

She caught on, lips pursed in mocking disapproval. “Kaelin sure left in a hurry.”

Aidan's good mood, such as it was, evaporated. “Yeah.”

“I heard you guys had a fight last night.”

“It’s nothing.”

“Really? Because he seemed pretty upset when he came by this morning.”

“Kaelin doesn’t get upset. He gets violent.”

“Okay, Kaelin is…Kaelin. But he asked me to keep an eye on you.”

He would. Aidan reached for another sandwich

“All right,” she said. “I get it. You don’t want to talk about it.”

No. He did not want to talk about his brother enslaving himself to Lorcan. He did not want to rehash how Kaelin had virtually zero chance at coming out of Mosaic alive. So he changed the subject and held out a blooded arrow. “Hold this while it dries, okay?”




4 comments:

Mike Ruchhoeft said...

Betsy, you have to look at these strange encounters in a positive light.

Strange gives you fodder for building characters. You are a strange magnet by choice and therefore these encounters are the universes way of making you happy.

Ergo, the universe is on your side no matter how often it may appear otherwise.

ssas said...

Oh don't get me wrong. I love that this stuff happens. It's just...odd. Sometimes people don't believe me.

If the guy hadn't licked my hand in front of a bunch of people, they probably wouldn't have believed me.

Lettuce Is The Devil said...

Fuseball and hand licking. There are worse things that could happen to you I suppose.

ssas said...

You're not the one who got licked. I felt like Lucy when Snoopy licks her.

Get the iodine! Get the disinfectant!!