Sunday Snippet: Hell Is in the Details

Washing machine update. The new washer got here and I'm happy to say the mountain of clothes is now a manageable pile. It's amazing!

Coffeemaker update. The new one arrived and it's a combo single cup or full pot. I love it. Here's hoping my caffeine habit doesn't trash this one in under a year.

Another crazy-busy work week. I finished up the mystery and the romance copy edits and started a cozy mystery. Also continued with novella edits. Had a couple of calls about two or three new projects. I'm excited! I also managed to get some good writing in for myself. A good week!

I didn't get much of anything watched on my viewing schedule. I did a LOT of social media scrolling, especially after Biden stepped aside and endorsed Kamala Harris for the democratic nomination. That's unexpected and exciting. Also spent a lot of time shaking my head over the GOP nomination for vice president. It's going to be an interesting couple of months.

And that's pretty much it for the life update this week. Tonight's post is from Hell Is in the Details, a novella that explores what happens to a couple when one of them takes the other for granted.

Here's the miniblurb:

Macyn has a one-night stand with an immortal creature and suffers the consequences when he traps her in a maze of deception. Once free, she withdraws from her clan and it's up to Vig to bring her back from the brink of madness.

And a preview snippet…

Macyn ignored the stab of pain from his statement. Emphasis on her. Right.

She inhaled deeply. "Why the hell not?" The reason better be good because his lack of faith in her pissed her off.

Vig sighed. "Because you have to have your heart and mind so full of someone else the immortal can't draw from your life force." He paused a moment. "That means you have to be open and trust someone enough to give them power over both." He kept his features schooled with the exception of an arched brow.

And, okay, this time she deserved his doubt. Giving control over to someone else had never been her bailiwick. She met people as equals or nothing. And she handled sex the same way.

But … if Vig's idea worked, she couldn't not try. "Let's say I can. How does that kill the immortal?" Because if that fucker came back again, she'd end her life to be finished with him.

Vig lifted a shoulder. "It might not kill Bartlett, but it should weaken him enough to take his life force or drain it." He met and held her gaze. "The more you trust and love, the stronger your bond with someone else, the faster his chi will be drained."

She struggled to wrap her head around the concept. Once upon a time, she'd have said Vig fit the role of person she trusted most and loved the deepest. And yet … she'd never told him. Then she went totally off the rails and landed in Barnett's clutches.

Not her best moment.

And now … she had to get free. Obviously, shooting, stabbing—twice, strangulation, poison, fire … none of the other options she'd used worked to get rid of the horrific nightmare she'd unleased. But this—if she could expose herself completely to someone else—sounded too good to be possible.

Vig would be the only person she'd consider. But could she really give him dominion? Hadn't she had that once? With him? Yeah, maybe not so much. Tearing down walls and opening her heart didn't come easy … if either came at all.

But she had to try to get out of her own way.

She closed her eyes for a moment, then focused on Vig again. "Explain how this would work."

This story is full of twisty turns, and I love how it's coming together. Vig and Macyn have some big hurdles to get through.

 

That's it for this week.

Cheers!

Skye

Sunday Snippet: A Haunting Yule (a Holiday Spirit short)

Man. Whatever alignment the planets are in has been wrecking things in my house lately. After the washing machine saga, our coffeemaker took a crap. It's less than a year old. Seriously … not the norm. But the good news is a new washer and coffeemaker should arrive sometime this week barring any other global server outages.

Had a super busy work week. Finished the holiday manuscript and received a mystery and a romance for copy edit. Picked back up with a novella I've been working on with an author for a while now and enjoying getting back into the groove of the book. Also had an author reach out about a new twist on a previous project. Really fun week!

I didn't get a lot of screentime this week, but I watched a few shows. I'm in a weird place with viewing. I want to watch stuff, but my brain isn't settled on exactly what. Kind of want to binge something with a lot of seasons for a while to see if that will reset the needle.

I loved the episode of My Life Is Murder. Actually really twisty with an interesting outcome. Once again, Madison shined. I love that character.

Caught another Best in Paradise. This one featured the farewell to Martha, which ended up being so funny and sad at the same time. Excellent episode.

Watched another Death in Paradise with the introduction of the new DS. Not completely sure if I like her or not. Stay tuned.

Started an episode of Elementary but struggled to stay focused so I'll finish it up this week.

And that's pretty much it for the life update. Tonight's post is from A Haunting Yule, a Holiday Spirit short featuring a banshee and a goblin.

Here's the miniblurb:

Holiday spirit Thom Tinsel brings an unlikely duo together for Yule. Urika Uhl is a banshee holding on to a past she needs to let go. Ingo Ingalls is a goblin searching for his place in the netherworld. Thom's magick shows the couple their differences can help them build a strong future together.

And preview snippet…

Ingo waded through the throng of brawlers in the club, intent on breaking up the melee. "What is it about the holidays that make people stupid?" He stunned most of the participants in his path with a quick grip between their shoulder and neck and a muttered suggestion charm for them to head home.

He had the two who started the fight in his sight and had almost reached them when his counterpart Bart Nim sailed over a row of tables from the opposite end of the bar and placed both hands on the head of the biggest fae and twisted his neck, breaking it and slaying the demon.

Ingo grasped the other fighter and held him back. "Don't or you'll end meeting the same fate." Once Bart went in to kill mode bodies started dropping.

The lead bartender cleared the building and Ingo grabbed the dead demon by the feet. Bart got a hold of his arms, and they carried him out to the parking lot where he'd be picked up for last rites. Something no one wanted to do at the happiest time of the year.

Ingo waited until they got closer to the bar entrance before going off on Bart. "This is why everyone thinks we're only good for bashing heads."

Bart only grunted.

Ingo planted his feet, choking down the urge to punch the other goblin. "It's Yule. And now some family will always have the memory a goblin killed their relative. Can you not see that?"

Bart shrugged. "Ask someone who gives a shit. Lethal force is authorized if more than a dozen are tearing the place up." He started to walk away.

Ingo stepped into his path. "I had everyone cleared out. You waited until there were only two left before you acted." Like the duo represented some massive threat.

Bart sneered. "So I did. Nothing you can do about it now." He went back inside.

Ingo crossed the parking lot and went up the stairs to the owner's office to give him a report on the death and the way Bart escalated the situation by killing one of them.

After Manuel shrugged off Ingo's concern, he tried one more tactic. "We're headed down a dark path, Manny. We have very few allies and those only tolerate us. When we need something, no one is going to be there." Why did he have to explain this?

Manny gave a cursory nod. "Yeah, I hear you." He lifted his chin. "Why don't you deliver the news? You're more tactful than any of the others."

Ingo refused. "Nope. I'm not doing the death knock for you. In fact, I'm never doing them again. I'm not the asshole that keeps taking lives." He stormed out of the office and headed home.

By the time he walked the short distance to his residence, his anger threatened to boil over. He found a parchment envelope hovering by his door. Thinking it might be from his boss, he tore the missive open ready to rip it to shreds. But the gold foil lettering couldn't be from Manny. The guy wouldn't know nice stationery if it bit him on the ass.

Ingo unfolded the card.

The tidings of the season

Don't always bring cheer.

When mayhem seems to rule

The happiest time of the year.

Seek some peace and solitude

No matter the cost.

Take time away

Before all is lost.

The address for the Goodacre Bed and Breakfast followed the invitation along with instructions for the arrival time and dates.

Ingo huffed out a breath. "Hell, yes. This is perfect." He definitely needed a break, or he'd be knocking heads together.

Something he no longer wanted to do…

I love writing the Holiday Spirit shorts. Urika and Ingo are a bit of a challenge, but I'm so happy with how this story is playing out.

 

That's it for this week.

Cheers!

Skye Ritchey

Sunday Snippet: Haunted Hideaway

Whew. It's been a week. My washing machine saga continued, and I finally called it. Investing in a new machine, hopefully in the near future before my laundry pile grows exponentially into a mountain.

I finally finished the very, very long proofread and thankfully should have the final queries answered this weekend. I have a new holiday manuscript for copyediting and it's about halfway complete. Have I mentioned I love holiday stories?

Not a bad week of viewing. I got a few extra shows watched this week.

Caught the second episode of My Life Is Murder and thoroughly enjoyed it. I've mentioned how much I love the characters, but Madison had such a great role in this week's episode.

Watched another Best in Paradise. This episode introduced Martha and I enjoyed her run on the show with Humphrey.

Finished the two-part episode of Death in Paradise where Florence says goodbye for a while. Such a sad but great send off for her.

Started another episode of Elementary. Should have it finished up later tonight. I'm quite enjoying this second season so far.

Caught another episode of The Batman and remembered it from the first watch I did. Excellent story that dives into the symbiotic relationship between Batman and his rogue gallery.

That's pretty much it for the life update. Tonight's post is from Haunted Hideaway, a novella that features a ghost bringing a couple together.

Here's the miniblurb:

Harley Rand meets Ruck Tate when she moves back to her small hometown and leases an apartment in a historic village. Little things happen from the moment she moves in—items mysteriously end up in different locations, the doorbell rings and no one is on the other side, and random things go wrong in the apartment. Intrigued, Harley dives into the history of the buildings in the village and discovers a few fun facts and a couple of unsettling ones … like the building is probably haunted. Harley believes in ghosts but has no idea how to broach the topic with the handsome superintendent. She may not have to … Ruck has a few secrets he's not quite willing to divulge, even to the lovely new tenant.

And a preview snippet…

Ruck drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. "Figures she's as hot as she sounded on the phone." He'd rather hoped she would be unattractive and less his type.

Nope. Harley Rand hit all the ticky boxes. Sense of humor. Total confidence. A smokey voice that had a touch of sass to it. One that also revealed more about her than she probably wanted.

Yep. He could totally fall for the new tenant in apartment three. Too bad she had about zero interest in dating anyone. Not with a bad breakup being part of the reason she decided to return to her hometown.

Ruck grunted. "The guy who let her go is an idiot." Or maybe just blind.

None of Ruck's business. Except she'd been open about the need for a fresh start. And her plan to avoid getting tangled up in a relationship.

Ruck understood … to a point. He'd had five terrific years with his wife before an icy road and a reckless driver took her life. Grief had a hold on him for the first three years after the accident. He'd slowly emerged on the other side and while he didn't go out often, he'd tested the waters a few times over the past twenty-four months.

Pulling into the parking lot of the foundation office, he cut the engine. "Too bad the first person to really strike my fancy wouldn't be interested." Slipping out of the cab, he headed for the door next to the maintenance bay to get some equipment to tend the huge planters by the visitor center.

An eerie thought struck him. He probably should've warned Harley about the possibility of weird sounds at odd times during the day and night. Then again, she'd mentioned working there back in the day. Maybe she already had experience with the old building's quirks.

Ruck snorted. "I'd bet there's one thing she didn't have to deal with back then…" And hopefully she wouldn't have to now.

But he wouldn't hold his breath. Only a matter of time if he didn't miss his guess.

I love working with an established location and adding fictional elements to the story. So much fun!

 

That's it for this week.

Cheers!

Skye

Sunday Snippet: Halloween Haunt (a Lantern Jack tale)

You know, I love a great fireworks display … but … I don't love almost a full week of random nonstop barrages from different locations where I can't even see them. Because at least I'd be able to enjoy something while my poor doggos are huddled against me shaking and freaking out. In all seriousness, I don't begrudge people having the funds and knowledge to celebrate with fireworks. But I also hate the first week of July for anyone who has pets that can't deal with the show.

It's been a weird week with a toilet repair followed by a washing machine leak that needed fixed. I'm still working on the leak because, seriously, it's never a simple thing when I'm involved. I'm crossing my fingers for not having anything else water-related to deal with this week.

Had another super busy week of work. I'm slogging through a very, very long proofread and I'm almost at the finish line. Completed a copyedit that ended up having some consistency concerns but ended up being such a great story. And it's a holiday book! I love editing holiday manuscripts.

Didn't get a lot of viewing in, mainly because the proofread is difficult subject matter and so long I don't want to risk losing my spot by getting distracted. I definitely don't want to do a lot of repeat work because I lose my place.

I did get to watch an episode of My Life Is Murder. I so enjoy this show. The characters are such a delight.

I also finished up the episode of Elementary that I started last week. I have to admit I'm not quite sure if I'm down with Mycroft possibly being a bad guy. My guess is he's working with someone we've seen before, and I have two people in mind. Stay tuned to see if I'm right.

And that's it for the life update this week. Tonight's post is from Halloween Haunt, a Lantern Jack tale featuring clairvoyant and a vampire.

Here's the miniblurb:

Lantern Jack is back to right another wrong. Hadria Hardcastle is a clairvoyant medium who runs an investigation agency—she solves the unsolvable. Safford Sturgeon is a six-hundred-year-old vampire tired of his undead existence. When a trail of dead bodies leads Hadria to Safford's front door, she has to decide if he's guilty or being framed. Safford won't make her job easy, but meeting Hadria shakes him out of his lethargy and promises to make his life worth living.

And a preview snippet…

Safford Sturgeon closed his laptop and frowned. "The death of my contractor can't be a coincidence." Not within a month of his personal assistant and six months of the manager of his art gallery.

Three people in his trusted, but very limited, inner circle.

Safford curled his fingers into his palm. "Someone wants to turn my life upside down." And they were succeeding.

"You're not wrong. Even when you avoid the rest of the world, it has an uncanny ability to intrude."

Safford eyed the ugly monstrosity sitting on the table in his kitchen. "What the hell are you?" He sniffed the air. "Ugh, you wear the stench of several centuries." He wrinkled his nose.

The pumpkin smirked. Smirked!

It spoke again. "Hi, Pot, I'm Kettle." The gourd paused a moment. "You do understand the reference, don't you?"

Safford snorted. "Of course, Kettle. Why are you here? " Disturbing my inner musing.

The pumpkin sighed. "The name is Jack and I'm here with a warning."

Safford rolled his eyes. "Spare me the doom and gloom. I've seen several lifetimes of it. Why do you think I've limited my contact with outsiders?" Which definitely includes talking vegetation.

Jack scoffed. "Because you're a cranky old man with his boxers in a bunch?"

Safford snarled his response. "No, you moronic gourd. It's because I don't want to be bothered by anyone else."

Jack grunted. "Too bad, bloodsucker." He wobbled to the edge of the table. "Your past is getting ready—if you'll excuse the pun—to bite you on the ass."

Safford narrowed his eyes. "Do you have anything to do with the murders of my friends?" He'd smash the sneering pumpkin to pieces if he did.

Jack tsked. "No, I came to tell you to make a list. One of your enemies is making a move."

As if Safford didn't already know.

Jack moved back to the middle of the surface. "Don't dawdle, Sturgeon. While you're making that list, you're going to learn about what vengeance can do to wreak havoc on the universe."

Safford didn't relish the idea, but he sighed and dragged the notebook he'd already set out forward and started writing.

Jack waited until Safford had one full column before he started his tale of woe. "A long, long time ago I got very angry…"

The Lantern Jack tales are a lot of fun to write. I love letting Jack get his snark on.

 

That's it for this week.

Cheers!

Skye