WIPpet Wednesday

Welcome to Wednesday! Today I will post another excerpt from one of my books. I've been working hard to finish up Book Four -- Devil's Salvation--so that I can start fresh for NaNo with Nephilim Rising, which starts a new story arc. Well, I might be a day or two off of that, but I will finish it this week. It's shaping up SO different than the way I imagined it would, but I'm pretty happy with it. I am looking forward to wrapping up the storylines for these characters, though. They've been through a lot, and they've all earned some closure, even if it's not all rainbows and butterflies for them.

Today, I am sharing from Devil's Salvation, and it's a bit of an action scene. For those of you who have never done a WIPpet, it's the one day a week you post an excerpt. The only rule is that the amount you post has to have something to do with the date. Once you've read mine and sounded off in the comments about what you think, go here to add yours and read all of the other wonderful works.

Without further ado, here is 30(10-30-2013) RAW lines from Devil's Salvation:

       Alaria moved with the dog, keeping herself underneath it and waiting for the right time. “I have a plan! Rhad, get back! I’m going to blow it up!”

       Rhad looked up from where he was scorching the fur off of one of the three faces. “How in Lucifer’s name do you intend to do that?”

       She held up the still growing fireball she held in one hand. “I’m going to turn it into a furnace, but get back! This is going to be messy!”

       Rhad leaped over the tail as the animal pivoted and shrugged. “What do you need us to do?”

       “Keep it busy!” Alaria hefted the burning sword and ran to keep up with the wildly swinging beast. “Keeping it still would be good, too.” She gritted her teeth. “This had better work. If it doesn’t, I’m going to end up blowing us up too.”

       Rhad grunted as he hit the ground. “Make it fast, Alaria!” He rolled from side to side, trying to avoid the massive jaws as Cerberus tried to bite him. Braxton leaped to his feet and raced to help, using his sword to bat at the beast.

       Alaria said a quick prayer that she was right about how to kill it and drove the flaming blade up into the softer underbelly. Blood—black and thick as tar—gushed out and covered her arm. She squeezed her eyes shut and thrust her arm up, implanting the ball of fire as deep into the abdominal cavity as she could. Holding her breath, she sprinted away, stopping to help Braxton drag Rhad behind a boulder. She ducked down, her eyes closed and her concentration fully on making the inferno into a bomb.

       She felt it building, felt it growing and spinning, gaining momentum as it burned. Cerberus stopped moving, a confused look on each of its three heads. It made a strangled noise and took two steps backward, yelping and whimpering. Alaria forced every bit of Devil magic she had into the fireball and erupted it.

       They watched the fire engulf the dog in awe. Rhad held out his hands and sent a stream of fire at the beast, keeping the fire from going out. The stench of burning flesh filled the air and Alaria gagged, bending over to retch from the assault on her nostrils. The fire rose up to engulf the entire animal and when the fireball exploded, the earth shook from the force of the explosion. Bits of bone and blood rained down on them, showering all three with the remnants of Cerberus.

        Covered in guts and dirt, Braxton swiped at his forehead. “Well, a swim will feel nice after that.”

WIPpet Wednesday

Good morning everyone! It's time for WIPpet Wednesday. This morning I'm going to post one of my favoritest scenes from Devil's Despair, which is book two in my series, and will likely be coming out in Spring 2014. I'm still doing some editing on it, which makes it, to me a Work in Progress.

So, for anyone just joining me, what is a WIPpet? Well, it's the one day a week where you post an excerpt from a current work. The only rule is that the amount you post has to have something to do with the date, though it can be as obscure as you can make it. Then, once you've done your own, go to this page and add yours to the list and read all the other great WIPpets people have posted. Don't forget to leave feedback for them, either. We can't grow as writers without feedback.

The last few weeks, I've been posting Alaria/Braxton scenes. Those go over really well. However, I want to save the best bits of that for once the books come out, so today, I am giving you a peek at two other characters from the series. I think, of all the scenes that I have written, that this one has the hottest chemistry you will see. Without further ado, I'll let Greer and Damon take it away. Oh, and this is 23(short) paragraphs for 10-23-2013. Enjoy! Though WARNING!! Slight adult content ahead!

        She knocked with one knuckle before twisting the door knob and poking her head in. “Can I come in?”

        Damon stuck his head out from behind the curtain. “If you only have to pee, sure. Anything else and you can wait.”

        She laughed as she closed the door and sat on the closed toilet. “I just wanted to talk to you about something for a minute.”

        “Shoot.” His head disappeared back into the shower stall.

        “Before the Angel zapped us back in time, what happened in that apartment, I thought we maybe should talk about it.”

        Damon laughed. “You’re blushing really hard right now, aren’t you?”

        Greer laid her palm on her face and felt the burn of her skin. “Probably.” She took a deep breath. “Doesn’t change the fact that it’s a conversation we need to have.”

        His head popped out again. “For some reason you decided to have this conversation when I’m naked and wet?” He wiggled his eyebrows playfully and crooked one finger at her. “Does that mean you wanna join me?”

        Her face flaming and an unexpected knot of desire forming in her belly, Greer snapped at him. “Could you take this seriously, please?”

        Damon laughed from behind the curtain. “I am. Seriously, you and I have known each other for sixteen years. We’re not suddenly going to stop being who we are with each other because I kissed you. I don’t want to go there if anything is going to change that.”

        “You want to go there then?”

        “Stop trying to read between the lines.” The water shut off and his arm burst through the curtains to snag a towel from the hook. “You can be such a girl sometimes.”

        “I am a girl.” Greer wrinkled her nose when he shook his hair and water droplets splattered on her face. He stepped out of the shower with the towel knotted around his waist and went to the sink. “I don’t think it was an unreasonable question.”

        “Stand up.” Damon took three steps to stand in front of her. She gaped up at him.

        “Why?”

        “Just do it, Greer.” He held out a hand and pulled her to her feet. “What do you feel?”

        Her brows knitted in confusion. “What do you mean?”

        “Right now, this second. What are you feeling?”

        “Tired and annoyed that you’re not talking to me.”

        He tugged on her arm and turned so that she was pinned between the sink and him. He grabbed her hips and lifted her onto the sink, stepping between her legs so that he was merely inches from her. “Just because I’m not saying what you want to hear doesn’t mean I’m not participating in the conversation.” He placed his hands very deliberately on either side of her legs. “How do you feel now?”

        Greer lifted her eyebrows and tried to ignore the heat coming off of his body and the speed at which her heart beat. She waited several beats to make sure her voice was steady and neutral. “What are you trying to get at?”

        “Do I really have to spell it out for you?”

        Annoyance overriding the other emotions, Greer glared at him. “Apparently.”

        Damon leaned forward until his nose was a centimeter from touching her neck. He breathed deeply and inhaled the scent of her skin, then let his breath, damp and hot, skim over her as he exhaled. “How do you feel?” He nudged her neck with his nose. “Is your heart racing?” His hands lightly ran up her thighs to grasp her hips, and he pressed his lips to her throat to feel her pulse racing. “Do you feel hot?” He jerked her forward, just a little bit roughly, until her hips were anchored against his and the fabric of the towel was dangerously close to slipping down his body. “Is your blood pounding in your ears?” He scraped his teeth over her skin. “Are you wet?”

        Greer’s eyes were closed. She concentrated on her breathing, trying to keep it even. Her skin was flaming, and it was all she could do not to gasp for breath at the onslaught of his questions and the proximity of his next-to-naked body.

        He brushed his lips over her collarbone so lightly that all she felt was the promise of contact. Her whole body shuddered in a shiver of anticipation. He let one of her hips go and reached up to flick one of her nipples through her shirt. The tightly beaded flesh was clearly visible through the thin fabric, and he rubbed it gently with his finger. A bolt of desire shot through her.

        “How do you feel?” He lifted his head so that his eyes bored into her, hot and intense. When she didn’t answer, he chuckled and stepped back. She was immediately cold from the loss of his body heat. Her eyes snapped open, and she stared at him with a mixture of want, need, and confusion. He shrugged carelessly and opened the door to his bedroom. “Until you can answer that question, this goes no further. Think about it, Greer. Let me know when you decide what you want.”

Annah: From Seeds to Starlight Blog Tour Featuring Clay Gilbert

Today, as I told you all yesterday, I have an exciting guest. Clay Gilbert, a fellow author at PDMI Publishing, and the one who polished Devil's Dilemma until it was shiny, is here today with a special interview of Annah, the main character in his Children of Evohe series, which came out October 15, 2013. I'll let Annah tell you the rest!

1.       Tell me one thing about Evohe that isn’t in “Annah”? There may be more of a relationship between Earth and Evohe than either the humans or my people suspect—unless some of the humans—the war-makers among them—know, and are not telling the rest of us.

2.       What’s the one thing that has surprised you the most about humans?  Their compassion, which seems funny given that a large number of them once tried to keep non-humans like myself off of Earth.  But even more of them believe, as Holder does, that all life is equal.

3.       If you could bring one thing from Evohe to Earth, what would that be and why?  Well,  Holder and I do not really face that problem.  We moved back to Evohe permanently sometime during the events of what will be the third book that will be coming out in what my human collaborator is calling the “Children of Evohe” series—which is also the third book's title.  But if I could—I would bring some of the seeds of the meatbark tree.  If it could be made to grow on Earth, it would solve many of the humans' food shortage problems.

4.       What’s next after this book? Any other big adventures?    This book only begins to tell my story, and there are at least two more to follow it.   There were big adventures you have yet to hear about—two books worth at the very least.  The human author, Clay Gilbert (who, oddly, looks like Holder, in a certain light) who is writing my story down, and the human book-man—I am sorry, publisher--TC McKinney, who is putting these stories into the universe, have been very kind to let me tell them.  There may be more than merely three, though—Holder and I are currently investigating the origins of life on my world.  I have wondered, since going to Earth for the first time, why some Evoetian names—such as mine, and that of my own mother, and my friend Liara—can be found on Earth as well.  And I believe we are finding some of those reasons.  But that is a tale for a later time. 

5.       How did Holder adjust to Evohe?  Very well indeed.  But Holder is an uncommon man.  He did not care that I looked different, or had some different ideas.  He accepts people for what they are inside, not outside.  I believe he has come to love the indigo color of the skies over Evohe.   (laughter)  He still insists on wearing his 'second-skin'--his--clothing, even though no one on my world does.   But if I want it off him, I ask him--(laughter again)--or I take it off him myself.

6.       Thinking about what you know about Earth, what are some of the things you would want to see about Evohe here?  I wish the humans could learn to share more with one another.  They are so concerned with their—money (we do not even have a word like that)--and ownership of things that they think these things are more important than people, and they often sacrifice what is right for that which is easy. 

7.       Can you give us a hint about what we might see in the next book in your series?   Well, although this one ends in what I know is probably a frustrating fashion, the next one will answer some of the questions that ending is certain to cause.  You will learn some things about mine and Holder's early days together on Evohe that there simply was not space to put in this first book.  And saying more would be saying too much.

8.       What is your favorite scene in this book? Your least favorite?    My favorite scene?  There are so many.  But perhaps it is when Holder saw me for the first time, and I knew he did not think I looked ugly, as so many people had said I did.  My least-favorite scene is...well, it is something that did happen, so it could not be changed.  It was—when I did something I knew was not right,  but I could not stop myself from doing it.  That is all I will say.  It hurts me to remember it.  Clay did try to write it differently—to make me, perhaps, seem better than I am.  But it did not work that way.  It is better to tell the truth.

9.       Did you have any struggles getting Clay to write it how you wanted it? If so, give us an example of one.  (laughter again)  Well, yes, there was one time.  Two, if you count the scene that I mentioned earlier that I do not like to think about.  There was a scene where he wanted me to go talk to the Council of Elders about an important issue—it had to do with someone who wanted to be mated to me, and, as you know, I did not want him, because I love Holder.  Well, I told Clay that was a thing to talk to one's parents about, not the Elder Council, for the First Ones' sake—and in the end, that's how it was written.

10.   What is the one thing you want readers to take away from your book?  That all life is the same—my kind, yours, life on those worlds where people look even less alike than you and I do.  At its core, all life-kind is one.

11.   Tell us one thing that you want the readers to know that I haven’t asked you about.   I am quite surprised that you  have not asked if Holder and I have any bloomlings—any children.  And we do not—yet.  But in what you call ten months, that will be different.  And it is exciting.  We do not know what it will mean—for his people, for my people—for our worlds.  But, like everything else—it has a purpose.  And what that is, we will see.

There you have it! I certainly know I'm excited to read Annah, and here is where YOU can go to buy your very own version of it. Let's give Clay some love--and Annah of course--in the comments!