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: The Illustrious Curse (a Lantern Jack tale)

Ugh. Had a rough week in general. My work project is coming along nicely but we had storms blow through and lost power a couple of times, which kind of harshed my vibe in a big way.

I got less television viewed but I did get to finish out the second season of the Passionflix original Driven. Man … what an ending. I'm truly excited for season three next year.

I did catch another episode of New Rugrats. I'm thoroughly enjoying this show and I'll state for the record that I hope there will be another season. So much fun.

Watched a full episode of Chicago Med and started another one. I'm not sure about the new head of Rhodes's department but their interactions are very interesting.

Got another episode of The Brokenwood Mysteries out of the way and one of my favorite things about this show is how we see some familiar faces from other episodes pop up. I really like that, especially since they were suspects before in a different case. Very cool.

Started a new two-part Silent Witness. Interesting concept on this one and I vaguely remember bits and pieces from the episodes but can't remember how things got resolved. I'll look forward to seeing the second part.

Enjoyed another arc of Classic Who. Interesting concept and the resolution ended up being something I didn't expect. Hope to start a new arc this week.

Caught another episode of UFO Witness and rather enjoyed it. This one had a regression so an abductee could maybe remember what happened to him. Ended up being pretty interesting to watch.

Watched two episodes of The Muppet Show with Liberace and Marisa Berenson as the guest stars. Enjoyed both.

Still loving McCartney 3, 2, 1. I always end up being blown away by something every episode. It's also a lot of fun to watch Paul pick up an instrument and play or see him sing along at the mixing board. Love this show.

Enjoyed another Master Class with LeVar Burton. This lesson focused on the imagination being our superpower. I love listening to LeVar talk about storytelling.

Started an episode of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and … well … I didn't finish it. I really enjoy most of the characters, especially Hilda and Ambrose, Doctor Cee, Theo, Harvey, and Roz. I like Nick a lot. Even the weird sisters are often entertaining. But it really bugs me how Sabrina started out being decent at communication and now she massively sucks at it. The whole asking for advice then doing the exact opposite—without a really good reason other than it's what she wants to do—is starting to annoy me enough to stop watching for now. I might come back to the show eventually but there are other things on Netflix I'd like to get to so Sabrina can wait for bit.

Watched another episode of Star Trek: Discovery. Man. I'm starting to really love this show. There's a lot of nuance, which I enjoy and I like trying to figure out if Lorca is an asshole or a genius … or both. Michael intrigues me to no end. I love mix of Vulcan logic with human foibles. She's such a cool character.

That's pretty much it for the weekly viewing update. Tonight's post is from The Illustrious Curse, the final installment of the Lantern Jack series.

Here's the mini-blurb:

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…

Inara Ives blinked, shook her head, and finally met her grandmother's gaze. "Why am I only hearing about this now?" Apparently, the family secrets went much deeper than Inara imagined.

Her grandmother's beringed hand tightened on her cane. "Because you didn't need to know before this very moment." She pounded the floor with the strikingly carved walking stick. "Do not presume to question me on this."

Inara bit back a sigh. "Yes, Grandmother." Irini Ives didn't appreciate any challenge to her authority. "It would have been nice to know I carry royal blood … no matter how diluted it is." Her bloodline descended from Esmera Edwards Jacquard, the banshee queen.

Stunned didn't begin to describe Inara's reaction to the news. Confused would be a better fit. Why reveal the connection now?

Irini made a garbled sound. "Change is afoot and it's time we step in." She explained about the curse the banshee clan put on Esmera's husband because they blamed him for her death.

Inara tilted her head to one side. "You condemned a grieving king to thousands of years of existence as a pumpkin and now that he's finally doing penance, you want to what? Curse him again?" She didn't understand the rage behind her grandmother's raving.

Irini sat up, her back going ramrod straight. "It's not about cursing him again. We want proof he was behind Esmera's death. If we find it, he'll be beyond redemption and banished to live out his eternal afterlife without his queen."

Inara wisely kept her opinion to herself. She wouldn't wish an eternity of being along on anyone—not even her worst enemy. But … she'd hear her grandmother out and hopefully get the full story.

Inara exhaled slowly. "What do you want from me, Grandmother?" No way would the matriarch spill the family secrets unless she needed Inara's help with something.

Irini leaned forward. "You're going to the archives and you're going to summon whatever information you can find on what happened to our beloved queen."

Inara gave a nod. "Yes, Grandmother. I'll get started right away." She got up and turned to face the exit. "By your leave…"

Irini waved a hand and the double doors opened to let Inara leave. She crossed the threshold before she risked letting out a sigh. Her grandmother didn't give Inara a specific time have the information gathered by, but All Hallow's approached and no doubt would be the best time to invoke additional punishment on the goblin king.

Inara stopped when she reached the bottom of the stairs leading away from Irini's wing of the manor house. "Maybe I'll find something that clears Lantrien Jacquard instead of damning him." Because, honestly, the stories she'd grown up with about Esmera weren't all sunshine and roses.

A banshee's work often brought grief and sadness, especially when a family had unresolved issues. The queen could pick and choose who received her gift and she sometimes settled scores with enemies by withholding the wailing cries. Esmera's rule didn't go completely unblemished but most of the fae considered her a fair and just leader.

"Maybe the best place to start is with those old grievances." With that plan of action settled, Inara stopped by her room to pack for a lengthy stay in the archives.

I have so much fun with Lantern Jack's story. The goblin king will finally have an answer to his fate one way or the other.

 

That's it for this week.

Cheers!

Skye

Sunday Snippet: The Illustrious Curse (A Lantern Jack tale)

Well, September is off to a bumpy start. Not in a bad way, more like a "here are some changes, let's see how you like them" kind of thing. So far… meh… I'm not a big fan. LOL

Got some solid television viewing in. I'm still not back to the usual schedule, but I'm getting there. Right in time for the new seasons to start.

Last week, I caught Chicago Fire and I'm almost at the end of season six. Also caught another episode of Luke Cage and a few episodes of Classic Who. I also watched the second episode of Driven from Passionflix.

Started Penny Dreadful and wow, not at all what I expected and better than I thought it would be. Looking forward to more of this show.

Caught another episode of Killjoys and, seriously, I love this show so much!! The banter is sheer perfection and the complicated relationships are awesome. I got another episode of The Dresden Files in and caught a couple of Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries. Followed that up with Canal Road. I have two episodes left of this one and I'm still not one hundred percent sure if I've called the killer of Spence's wife. Guess I'll find out soon.

Watched another series thirteen episode of Midsomer Murders and followed that with Babylon 5 and The Sarah Conner Chronicles. I also watched a marathon of Hallmark Channel's The Good Witch movies.

All in all, not a bad week for television. Tonight's post is from The Illustrious Curse, a Lantern Jack Short and probably the final book in the series.

Here's the mini-blurb:

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 Tarrah slammed his hand on the table. "Dammit! I knew there was a deep, dark secret in our past." His mother's recent death finally allowed him access to the twisted, terrible tale.

I carry the tainted blood of the freaking cursed goblin king.

No wonder the family's fortunes always turned on a dime. "And usually for the worse." Taben snorted. "Every damn time."

Lantrien Jacquard. Taben traced the name on the document. The last king of the goblins. Jeez, Taben had grown up with the stories of how Jacquard went mad when his wife died. No… the banshee queen had been murdered. Retaliation, so the story went.

Rising, Taben paced the length of the kitchen in the house he'd grown up in. "At least shit makes sense now." The way life got great then ended up trashed beyond all recognition. "My great-great-great-however many damn greats-gramps fucked us all over."

Okay, Jacquard didn't really do the fucking over. Circumstances beyond his control pushed fate in a terrible direction. His grief tipped the scales further and he descended into madness, disrupting the balance between the netherworld factions, creating chaos with his royal power. When the ruling court finally caught up with him, they stripped him of his power, banished him from his kingdom, and cursed him to never join his beloved queen in the afterlife.

Pausing, Taben went back to the table. "So, how did that work?" Cursed to do what?

He rifled through the yellowed pages in the tattered files. There had to be something, information about what the curse entailed. Surely the ruling court didn't mean for the goblin king's line to forever pay the price for his misdeeds.

Taben sighed. "Or maybe they did. It's been centuries and every generation since Jacquard's reign seems doomed to fail." Never to achieve more than fleeting moments of good fortune.

Settling back in the chair, Taben's brain spun with too many thoughts. A recent shift had taken place. Former enemies had become allies. Warring factions set aside differences and formed new bonds. The slow progression of healing rifts had a lot of people talking about the potential cause.

Taben shrugged. "Probably too much to hope for the goblins getting a break." After all, since the king's fall, the once majestic leaders had no one's trust.

Thanks a lot, Gramps.

Taben and Jack are going to be fun to write. Throw in Inara, who's not taking any of the males' posturing, and a new level of fun is achieved.

That's it for this week.

Cheers!

Skye