Sunday, March 17, 2019

Sunday Snippet: Mr and Mrs Black

Happy St. Patrick's Day to all who celebrate. I'm not big on drinking green beer, but I do have Irish—apparently from County Cork and County Down—on both sides of my family so I love to visit some of the traditions around this time.

Once again, we've had crazy back and forth weather. A lovely high in the upper seventies on Thursday with a thirty degree drop to the mid-forties on Friday. Lots of wind and rain Thursday night. Everyone who just got over the nasty upper respiratory ick that went around is probably going to end up with it again. Bleh.

Had a decent week for television. Caught another episode of Chicago Fire. Gotta say I'm a little "meh" about the whole Stella and Severied breakup. Honestly, and I don't say this lightly, her accusation of Kelly being jealous kind of put me off. First… because she's the one who went a little crazy when Kelly's former flame came back to town and second, because Kelly never really tried to keep her from hanging out with creepy friend dude. The distant thing, I definitely feel. But if she knows Kelly… and she does… his go-to coping mechanism is to be kind of aloof and alone, not to mention he's been giving her some space because of creepy friend dude. So, yeah, the whole breakup thing? Not thrilled with it. Too forced, in my opinion. Casey's situation, though, really played out well. I enjoyed the whole storyline of the reporter getting her story with his help.

Caught an episode of Iron Fist. Actually loved Ward and Joy's interactions with everyone. Ward is such a dickhole but I love how it's played. Kudos to the actor because he's perfect for the part. Danny and Colleen make me happy even when they're not really communicating well. The whole Mary or whatever her name is better start making sense soon. I'm a little lost with that arc.

Watched another Passionflix movie, The Protector, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm truly thrilled to be a founding member of this group. If you haven't checked out a subscription, please do. And if you're not big on streaming subscriptions, maybe think about getting a DVD. Their original movies and programs are excellent.

Also caught another episode of Classic Roswell. The one where Liz's journal goes missing and I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed that episode. Michael started growing on me after this one.

Watched an episode of Murdoch Mysteries and I'm getting into the story of William and Julia's endeavor to write a book. The case this week also intrigued me. I love having some backstory with William.

Caught another episode of Arrow and it's one I've been waiting to see. "Slabside Redemption" didn't disappoint. I've been excited to see how the prison storyline would end and I'm quite happy with how it played out. My one and only "meh" moment? Stanley's escape. That means we'll be seeing him again, right?

Watched another episode of Roswell, New Mexico. This show is starting to eat my brain in the best way. It's messy and I love it. There's nothing uncomplicated about any of the relationships. I'd love to see a better and stronger Maria and Liz vibe because I loved that friendship in the original. The Rosa storyline is starting to grow on me and I'm hoping the whole illegal alien thing smooths out soon. On one hand, I like the topical aspect to making Liz's dad illegal. On the other, I struggle a little because it's so very different from the classic version. We'll see if that one starts growing on me.

Caught another Painkiller Jane episode I either missed or forgot about the first time around. "Breakdown" ended up being a terrific episode. I loved how it ended.

Started another episode of Underbelly: Razor. This show goes to some interesting places and I'm kind of interested in where this episode will end and who will be left standing. Hopefully will have time to finish it soon.

That's it for television this week. Tonight's post is from Mr and Mrs Black, a novella that started with a writing community prompt of putting original characters into a scene from a movie.

Here's the mini-blurb:

Ember Frost and Winter Smoak, assassins for opposing factions, are ordered by their respective employers to kill each other, which would be so much easier if they weren't happily married, but hiding some big secrets—like their occupations—from each other.

And a preview snippet…

"Do you understand your orders, Ms. Frost?"
Oh, yes. I understand perfectly.
Ember glanced at the screen on her phone once again. "I do. End of night." She drew in a long breath, trying to keep a lid on the red-hot rage coursing through her veins about the image staring back at her. "Report by midnight." She ended the call and barely refrained from throwing her device across the room.
Son of a bitch.
Her work as a "fixer"—a more palatable word than assassin—for the House of Thorn just took a very personal turn.
She paced, back and forth, cursing softly under her breath. "How could he do this to me?" For that matter, how could she not know? "Stupid. I'm so, so stupid." Only anger kept mortification at bay.
A person with her intelligence and skill set shouldn't have missed the now obvious signs. And, okay, he had a solid cover. Bigwig consultant to several fae corporations with ties to House of Bellark. His spellwork and in-depth knowledge of history made him very in demand.
And, hell, her cover-story rivaled his. Troubleshooter for hire, problem solver extraordinaire. Mainly for House of Thorn industries, of course.
But the similarities didn't quell her rage. Nope. Not one tiny bit. Her gullibility didn't trump the betrayal.
She stopped walking, raking a hand through her hair. "All those business trips? Hit jobs. Just like me." Argh! How dare he keep something so important from her?
Because now she'd really hit the shit jackpot. Fuck! She didn't have a single damn option to get out of the work she had to do.
Her orders were to take Winter Smoak out of action by any means necessary. Which totally sucked balls.
Because Winter Smoak?
Happened to be Ember's husband. And she loved him more than anything.

I'm having such a good time with this story. Ember and Winter are going to have to get past the issue of keeping their professions secret from each other then they'll turn the tables on the employers. It's so much fun to write.



That's it for this week.

Cheers!


Skye

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