Sunday Snippet: Insanity Personified

What an end to the month. Our weather has been wet and drippy for most of the week. Not complaining because we needed the rain. Of course, the dreary stuff hits the week of our county fair, which is my husband's favorite time of year. Then again, a little water falling from the sky won't deter him from going or enjoying himself.

Work finally slowed down a little and I had some time to catch my breath. I have a new copy edit and proofread combo I'm working on and should have a new project starting this week. I'm also expecting more on the developmental edit I've been working on. And … a project I had a hand in is finally uploaded for proof … after almost four and half years of rewrites and revisions. I'm so excited!!

Had several really great conversations with my daughter this week. I love hearing her ideas of what she wants from the future. This young woman has a good head on her shoulders and I'm so proud of her. Graduate school is opening her mind and eyes and I'm excited to see what she does.

Not a bad week of viewing. The time to catch my breath also gave me a bit of freedom to catch up on my slate of shows. I made almost a full round this week!

Caught two behind-the-scenes vignettes for Signora Volpe. I always enjoy seeing and hearing how things work and what the actors think about their show.

Watched an episode of Death in Paradise and enjoyed it. This is one I hadn't seen before, and I loved the way the mystery played out.

Started a new season of Silent Witness. Very interesting premise and I'm looking forward to the conclusion next week. I'll be starting Beyond Paradise after I finish the new season.

Enjoyed an episode of Elementary. It's interesting to watch Sherlock serve as an AA sponsor. And I really like Watson kind of stepping out on her own to solve a cold case.

Finished up the second part of the season four premier of The Batman. Kind of forgot Batgirl didn't really feature in these opening episodes. I think she makes a return later in the season.

Also caught an episode of Classic Rugrats. I only remembered one of the vignettes, so I enjoyed seeing the other two.

And that's pretty much it for the life update this week. Tonight's post is from Insanity Personified, a novella that tests the connection between a couple after they suffer a personal loss.

Here's the miniblurb:

Karren Burnette and Vito Neilson work for a very specialized detective agency—one that tracks down preternatural beings that commit crimes. When Karren gets hit with a personal loss, her superior officer pulls her off the streets because she's taking too many chances with her life and everyone else's. Vito steps in to act as a buffer, which doesn't make Karren or their boss happy.

And a preview snippet…

Karren Burnette crouched over the body of her best friend, Lorie Scott. "I'm so sorry, Lorie. I didn't get here in time." Her hand curled into a fist. "But I will find your murderer. I promise on my life." She got up and dragged in a deep breath.

I will not cry. Not until I find the bastard who killed Lorie.

Footsteps on gravel had Karren slowly turning around. Vito Neilson entered the dead-end alley, his hands shoved deep in his pockets. Karren closed her eyes briefly then moved to block Vito's path.

She put up a hand. "You don't want to see her." Hell, Karren didn't want to have the image of her dead friend burned into her brain … but she didn't have a choice.

Lorie had reached out to Karren. Lorie confessed fear for her life, had begged Karren to meet at the neighborhood bar they all hung out at, and all but predicted her own murder.

Someone or something had a very bad, no-good, terrible day coming in the near future. Karren would make sure of it.

Vito narrowed his eyes. "Right. Like you didn't want to see Nico?" He bit the words out, but they hit their mark.

As he'd known they would. Nico Cua died in a fiery car crash coming to see Karren from the university he attended. They were two months away from getting married. Vito had been tapped as the best man and Lorie as the maid of honor. Back when Vito and Lorie had been an item … and Karren and Nico were engaged.

She stepped to the side. "Fine. Just remember how that turned out." Not well … at all.

Vito started forward but paused. "I need the closure. Just like you did." His voice went raspy and gruff.

Karren gave a nod … because she got it. The need to confirm reality no matter how much it sucked. And, damn, did it ever suck. Even though Vito and Lorie had been apart for more than two years, they'd stayed friends. They kind of didn't have a choice because Karren worked with Vito for a very specialized detective agency. One that dealt with preternatural beings that often preyed on the average joes of society.

Lorie hadn't been an average joe, but Karren would bet everything she held dear—including Vito—she'd been a victim of a being with otherworldly power.

And Karren would dive into the depths of hell to bring Lorie's killer to justice.

I just started this one and I'm having fun going a little dark and broody for the opening of the story.

 

That's it for this week.

Cheers!

Skye

Sunday Snippet: Infernal Madness

September has been such a weird month. Our weather is all over the place—again—and we're baking in high temps. Also have a drought at the moment. I mean the grass crunches when I walk on it right now.

I think we have our car issues solved. Mine is back with a new computer and we did end up with a total loss on the CR-V. Found one to replace that and we're getting everything in order to finalize the purchase. Here's hoping that ends our car drama for a good, long time.

Another super busy work week. Finished up a project and started a new one. I'm in a holding pattern for two more and I may have a new client for some writing coaching. Very excited about my calendar right now!

Did not have a great week of viewing. Too many things distracting me and needing my attention. I might have to start doing playlists instead of television shows. If I do the playlist thing, be forewarned, I have very eclectic taste in music.

I did get an episode of The Batman watched by starting the fourth season. This introduced Superman to the roster, which also means Lex Luthor put in an appearance along with Lois and Jimmy.

Caught an episode of Classic Rugrats. All three vignettes were new to me, which is fun. I feel like I must have skipped several seasons though because I don't remember watching or rewatching several episodes that really stand out in my memory. Might have to check to see if I did.

Also started an episode of My Life Is Murder. This is a two-parter and looks to end the fourth season. Looking forward to finishing this one up and waiting patiently for a fifth season. Fingers crossed!

And that's pretty much it for the life update this week. Tonight's post is from Infernal Madness, a novella that puts an established couple through an unsettling experience.

Here's the miniblurb:

A dreamweaver is wreaking havoc on a fae community with vividly disturbing waking nightmares. Tressa Epps and Monroe Headrick—usually in complete sync—are arguing over everything, but they're tasked with discovering who or what is behind the infernal madness the small village is experiencing … if the insomnia doesn't get to them first.

And a preview snippet…

Tressa Epps shifted restlessly in her bed. Dark images swirled in her mind. The room spun in dizzying rotations.

It's not room, Tress. It's you.

She managed to slow down and focused on the shape of the floor. An octagon with alternating black and silver stripes that started in the center and flared out to the baseboard. The walls were opposite colors with the darker shade meeting the lighter shade of the trim and vice versa. One single door accompanied each wall. Shadows played along the surfaces, bending and twisting the minimal light from … somewhere.

There are no windows. Why aren't there any windows?

Tressa fought the urge to spin in circles again. She trudged forward, her feet moving slowly, kind of like walking through water. Her fingers grasped the doorknob, twisted, and opened the door.

She walked through and entered … the room she'd just tried to leave. Whirling around, she headed for a different exit. The lack of equilibrium kept her off-balance and she stumbled and lurched toward the next doorway.

Taking a deep breath, she pulled the panel open and crossed the threshold … only end up back in the same room. Frustration drew a harsh cry from her throat. And she made another attempt with each different door … and garnered the same results.

She gave a low growl. "What the hell is going on. I can't be trapped. There's gotta be a way out." The spinning sensation engulfed her again and she closed her eyes, trying to make it stop.

But closing her eyes made the imbalance worse and she leaned against the closest surface and slid down to a crouch. Then she got down on her hands and knees and slowly crawled to the center of the floor. She sat where the points met in the middle of the room with her legs pulled up to her chest and her head bent forward.

Overwhelmed with a sense of hopelessness, she looked inward trying to find a logical reason she couldn't get out of the space. The floor shifted beneath her and her head snapped up when a screeching sound surrounded her.

The walls were literally closing in and she scrambled to get to her feet. But she couldn't move. Something held her fast while the room collapsed in on itself. The black and silver streaks rumbled toward her with increasing speed.

Tressa's eyes went wide, her heart hammered in her chest, and her mouth opened on a silent scream … then a flash of light blinded her…

And she jerked bolt upright in bed…

I just got started on this story and I'm so excited to take this journey with my characters.

 

That's it for this week.

Cheers!

Skye

Sunday Snippet: In Enemy Territory (a Black Raven Banner novella)

Once again, Ohio weather is all over the place. But at least it hasn't been sweltering hot. Had setbacks with our cars. Mine is still not quite ready. The new engine computer the garage ordered didn't work so they got another one. Hopefully this week. My husband had a deer literally jump on top of his CR-V, shattering the windshield, knocking the rearview mirror off, and sending the driver's side mirror clear over to the passenger side floor. It even dented the top of the car up to the sunroof. I'm pretty sure it's a total loss. Luckily my husband is okay, aside from having a ton of glass all over him. He found glass all the way in the back of the vehicle.

Really busy work week. I finished up a copy edit and continued work on a developmental edit. Also started a new project that's not quite a developmental edit, but it is cleaning up a lot of formatting in a manuscript to get it ready for a copy edit, which a colleague is going to do. Had an exchange with a new author and hope to work with her in the future.

Semi-decent week of viewing. I didn't quite make a full round, mainly because I spent a lot of time on the phone trying to get the insurance sorted and line up a rental until we know for sure what's going on with the CR-V.

I did get an episode of My Life Is Murder in and thoroughly enjoyed it. Lots of twists and turns in this one. Once again, Madison stole the show. Also really cool to have indigenous representation for the storyline. And … more hints about Alexa's family. Here's hoping we'll see more of them.

I think I watched the finale of Signora Volpe, and it might have set up a future episode featuring Sylvia's ex. That would be a lot of fun. So awesome to see her niece again and getting to know her dad. Isabelle ended up stealing this episode. Going to watch the behind-the-scenes stuff next.

Finished up Best in Paradise with the first of the two-parter that set up Florance's exit. It was a great episode and very bittersweet as the actress mentioned when she introduced the episode.

Also caught another Death in Paradise and enjoyed the mystery. It's also fun to see Jack trying to move on from the loss of his wife. The awkward but awesome communication with Anna is lovely to watch.

Started an episode of Elementary but need to finish it this week. Too many distractions to get all the way through the show. It looks like a good one though.

That's pretty much it for the life update this week. Tonight's post is from In Enemy Territory, a Black Raven Banner book.

Here's the miniblurb:

Verity Jones and Emory Cavendish welcome a new CO under the Black Raven banner. Lawrence Worthington hits the ground running and gets up to speed quickly. He has to—the mission rate doubles when a group of resistance teams get ambushed simultaneously. He needs every member—including Verity—at the top of their game and he has to find out how the enemy got their hands on the base locations.

And a preview snippet…

"Jones should fly out to get the lay of the land."

Verity's head snapped around at Percy's suggestion. Had he gone starking mad? Mission launch would be sometime in the next few hours.

She shook her head. "Afraid I'll have to decline, Longfellow." Facing forward again, she blinked when Worthington quirked an eyebrow. "Er, I'll be happy to fly out if you order it, sir. But I've got several irons in the fire with those two downed birds and finishing the upgrades on the last five stingers." She also wanted to test the new tracking device she'd designed.

She itched to be back in the air, but she also wanted the guys she worked for to have an edge.

Worthington agreed. "That does take priority, but I do want to see you fly soon." He glanced out the window. "Maybe we can go up together after you complete the repairs."

Verity bobbed her chin. "I'd like that. I'll let you know when I've got it all finished." She'd welcome the opportunity to match wits with one of her dad's rivals.

Worthington nodded. "Cavendish, Longfellow, get two four-man teams together. I want two in the stingers to act as escorts and a two-man team in a cargo plane to move refugees." He flipped his notebook shut. "Wheels up in two hours for one team and the other is on standby. You decide who goes out first." He dismissed the group.

Verity made a beeline for the Bertha Jay. She wanted to install the device she'd been working on for a trial run.

Emory caught up with her when she made the final adjustments. "Not like you to turn down an opportunity to fly out. Everything okay?" A note of concern entered his voice.

She smiled. "Yeah, nothing's wrong." She pulled him in close to the plane. "I've been working on a new project." Pointing to the tracker, she explained its concept. "This works like a homing beacon and internal tracker. When planes are on the ground, they don't show up on radar. This gives us coordinates when they're not flying." At least she hoped it would.

Emory's eyes widened. "That's brilliant." He gave her a long look. "You don't want Worthington to know?"

She jerked her head back and forth. "Not yet. It's untested and I'd like to work out anything buggy before I show him." She lifted one shoulder. "He's a progressive guy. If this works, he'll want all the planes to have them." And she'd probably have to pull Emory and Percy in to help her with building and installation.

Emory didn't argue. "What do I have to do?"

Verity grinned. "Nothing. That's part of the functionality. Pilots won't need to add anything to the pre-flight checks." She bumped her fist on the hull of the plane. "I'll monitor from the hangar while I install the upgrades to the stingers and work on the repairs."

Emory nudged her shoulder. "This could be a tide turner."

Verity gave a nod. "I'm hopeful." She'd love to give Blackraven the upper hand.

I have so much love for this series. I'm still not completely settled on the actual name yet, but Black Raven is edging out anything else.

 

That's it for this week.

Cheers!

Skye

Sunday Snippet: Illustrious Curse (a Lantern Jack tale)

As usual, we're having bizarre weather. Got hot again then a stormfront moved through and now we're back down to the sixties. I'm not complaining about the cooler temperatures or anything, but I'd rather stick with one range for longer than a week.

Still loaded up with work projects and I'm making solid progress on all of them. Sometimes it's like spinning plates and trying to keep them all going at the same rate, but I love the variety of the stuff I'm working on right now.

Not a bad week for viewing television. I did the taking a break from wall-to-wall words thing again and got pretty much a full round of shows in this week.

Started off with Best in Paradise and enjoyed the rewatch of "Dark Memories." I have one more episode left for this series then I'll be switching over to Beyond Paradise. I'm looking forward to starting that one.

Caught another episode of Death in Paradise with the ninth season premiere. I think this is Jack's last season and the new guy takes over for the next one. Enjoyed the episode a lot.

Watched another episode of Elementary and enjoyed it. Not a huge Moriarity fan, but I like the layers and back and forth between Holmes and Watson with Moriarity.

Finished up the third season of The Batman and I'm getting ready to start the fourth. I honestly can't remember if I ended up liking the fourth season or not.

Also caught an episode of Classic Rugrats and the three vignettes were ones I don't remember seeing before so nice to have something new to me.

That's pretty much it for the life update this week. Tonight's post is from Illustrious Curse, a Lantern Jack novella.

Here's the miniblurb:

Lantern Jack is back to right his final wrong. Inara Ives is a distant descendant of Jack's wife, the former banshee queen. Her royal blood is diluted, but still strong. Taben Tarrah can trace his ancestry back to the cursed goblin king, Lantrien Jacquard, but his noble blood is tainted by the lineage. Jack brings the two together to finally put his past to rest and join his deceased bride in the afterlife. The duo won't make it easy … but Jack's success over the years means he won't be thwarted.

And a preview snippet…

Taben jerked in his sleep and woke up, a piece of the tattered parchment stuck to his face. "Damn." He carefully peeled the milled page from his skin. "Gotta be more careful." The files were the only thing he had to go on if he had any chance to figure out how to remove the horrible hex on his family bloodline.

"You're not going to find the answers you want in those old pages."

Taben startled at the voice coming from the corner of the table. Then he blinked, not at all certain he hadn't lost his mind. A grizzled-looking carved pumpkin stared back at Taben. Pumpkin? Shit. The lightbulb went off in Taben's mind then just as quickly went off.

He shook his head. "No. No way." His gaze went back to the creepy gourd. "Tell me you're not my cursed ancestor Lantrien Jacquard, the dethroned goblin king."

The pumpkin wobbled back and forth. "You already know I am. And I go by Lantern Jack now. I no longer use my former name." Jack edged closer to the scattered papers on the table. "You won't find the answers you seek, because you're missing more than a few pages."

Taben breathed out on a long exhale. "Then fill me in. What do I have to do to remove the stench of your misdeeds?" He cocked his head. "Wait. You're the one who's been healing rifts, aren't you?" Maybe things would actually get better now.

Jack rolled back and forth. "Don't get ahead of yourself. I've done penance and, yes, I've healed old wounds, but the final chapter has yet to be written." He paused and shrank in on himself a little. "I can't interfere with you as much as I did the others."

Taben jerked his chin up. "Because we're the same bloodline?" It would make sense, based on what he'd read so far.

Jack wobbled again. "That's the main issue. But there's another one." He moved to the parchment and nudged it closer to Taben. "The missing pieces are the key. And you don't have them."

Taben sighed. "Okay, where can I find them and what, exactly, am I looking for?" At this point, he'd scale mountains to get what he needed.

Jack snorted. "You don't need to climb anything. You have to go down. Deep in the archives." He paused again. "And I can't tell you, exactly, what you're looking for, but you'll know when you find it…" He trailed off.

Taben met his ancestor's gaze. "How?" Murky answers annoyed the hell out of him.

Jack's mouth thinned to a straight line. "Because you're looking for the murderers responsible for my queen's death." In a blink, he disappeared from the table.

Taben sucked in a harsh breath. "Well, fuck." No pressure or anything then.

Rising from his chair, he headed for his room. He'd throw some clothes in a bag and pack up some food and head for the archives.

"Nothing like crawling around in a huge crypt … especially close to All Hallow's."

 

This will be the end cap to the Lantern Jack series and I'm excited to get this one finished up.

 

That's it for this week.

Cheers!

Skye

Sunday Snippet: Ill-Timed Case

Hello, September. Here's hoping you're not as maniacal as August. I'd love for the weather to make up its mind and hold for a while. I don't imagine that will actually happen.

Had a lovely day off to travel to the Hocking Hills area to meet up with my cousins on my mom's side of the family. We're hoping to make it an annual event. I couldn't take the whole weekend, but it was so much fun to spend time with them. Bonus points for being close enough to my daughter's location for grad school that I could take some of the things she forgot.

Still insanely busy with work and I'm happy for the new projects coming my way. Also kind of thrilled they're all a bit different so it's not the same thing for each manuscript.

Had an okay week of viewing. I got to watch a few things when I needed a break from wall-to-wall words. Sometimes it's nice to have a minivacation to reset my brain.

Caught an episode of The Batman and enjoyed it. It's a two-parter so I'm hoping to watch the second half this week.

Enjoyed an episode of Classic Rugrats. I don't really remember this one, but the later seasons of the show weren't watched quite as many times as the earlier ones.

Got an episode of My Life Is Murder watched and loved it. Again, Madison really stole the show. And the wink-wink-nod to Xena at the end was fun and awesome.

Started an episode of Signora Volpe and I'm looking forward to seeing what happens when Sylvia's undercover assignment is discovered.

That's pretty much it for the life update this week. Tonight's post is from Ill-Timed Case, a novella that brings a couple together for a bit of cat-and-mouse fun.

Here's the miniblurb:

Rex Van Adder, private investigator, has more cases than he can handle. Enter Gracie Lee, along with a dead body, and Rex scrambles to keep his head above water, especially since he knows Gracie is involved but can't figure out how.

And a snippety peek…

The first gray streaks barely lit the sky before Rex ended up back in the alley where his mystery woman disappeared.

After a careful look in the shadowy nooks and crannies, he huffed out a breath. "Think I finally figured out how she disappeared." She had to be using one of the old storefronts as an access to the underground system.

He went back to check more footage to be certain his hunch panned out. "I'll be damned. That's a genius-level move." He got up to pour some coffee, mentally planning how to surveil the city block she'd used as her access point.

He'd narrowed her route to down four stores and wanted to get back to see if she'd left a trail he could pick up.

He started for his desk and got a call. This time from Avery.

He didn't both with pleasantries either. "If you want to see the evidence, you can come down to the precinct. Maybe you can make sense out of some of the things we found."

Rex's lips quirked. "What's wrong, Marlow. The gray skies and rain making it hard for you to concentrate?" A little needling never hurt, especially when Marlow deserved it for dragging Rex out of bed in the wee hours.

Marlow snorted. "More like zero sleep for over twenty-four hours and a dead body with your name on it." He huffed out a sigh. "Seriously, nothing about this murder fits normal parameters. And you always have your nose in weird shit nobody understands."

Yeah. Thanks to his professor dad.

Rex tsked. "Marlow, you're not wrong about that. But why the rush? You've barely had time to get the autopsy results." Not that they'd probably learn anything new.

Marlow grumbled something under his breath before responding. "Look, Rex. Someone got to this guy when pretty much no one was supposed to know he was in the city. Either your information is wrong, or there's a clue we're missing in McGuinness's stuff. Whichever it is, the trail's going cold and not just from the fucking rain." He paused then added. "I'll be here for another hour then I'm being forced to take mandatory downtime for the next twenty-four hours, which means…"

Shit. "Barkerson's taking over until you're back." While Marlow reluctantly worked with Rex and other private detectives, Stu Barkerson absolutely refused to consider anyone outside the twelfth precinct as an ally and regarded all of them with suspicion.

Marlow chuckled. "Yep."

Rex grimaced. "Be there in ten." He ended the call.

Damn. He'd hoped to buy some time to track down the mystery woman. Then again, if he didn't want to deal with his cranky old man on an hourly basis, Rex needed to get a jump ahead on Dougray's case. Except … his mystery woman and McGuinness's murder were connected. And he would find out how.

His gut never steered him wrong.

I'm having such a terrific time writing this one. Rex and Marlow are a hoot, and Rex is nudging me to set Marlow up in a future story. Stay tuned!

 

That's it for this week.

Cheers!

Skye