Life in progress


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The Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS Nov. 4/17

It’s Friday and I almost forgot about SoCS! How did that happen?! Anyway, it’s time now for your Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt. There are so many things I’ve wanted to blog about recently, but I haven’t had any time. Hopefully that will change soon. In the meantime, here’s your prompt:

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “shortcut/cut short.” Use one, use both, whatever strikes your fancy. Enjoy!

After you’ve written your Saturday post tomorrow, please link it here at this week’s prompt page and check to make sure it’s here in the comments so others can find it and see your awesome Stream of Consciousness post. Anyone can join in!

To make your post more visible, use our new SoCS badge! Just paste it in your Saturday post so people browsing the reader will immediately know your post is stream of consciousness and/or pin it as a widget to your site to show you’re a participant. Wear it with pride!!

 

Here are the rules:

1. Your post must be stream of consciousness writing, meaning no editing, (typos can be fixed) and minimal planning on what you’re going to write.

2. Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be. One sentence – one thousand words. Fact, fiction, poetry – it doesn’t matter. Just let the words carry you along until you’re ready to stop.

3. There will be a prompt every week. I will post the prompt here on my blog on Friday, along with a reminder for you to join in. The prompt will be one random thing, but it will not be a subject. For instance, I will not say “Write about dogs”; the prompt will be more like, “Make your first sentence a question,” “Begin with the word ‘The’,” or simply a single word to get your started.

4. Ping back! It’s important, so that I and other people can come and read your post! For example, in your post you can write “This post is part of SoCS:” and then copy and paste the URL found in your address bar at the top of this post into yours.  Your link will show up in my comments for everyone to see. The most recent pingbacks will be found at the top. NOTE: Pingbacks only work from WordPress sites. If you’re self-hosted or are participating from another host, such as Blogger, please leave a link to your post in the comments below.

5. Read at least one other person’s blog who has linked back their post. Even better, read everyone’s! If you’re the first person to link back, you can check back later, or go to the previous week, by following my category, “Stream of Consciousness Saturday,” which you’ll find right below the “Like” button on my post.

6. Copy and paste the rules (if you’d like to) in your post. The more people who join in, the more new bloggers you’ll meet and the bigger your community will get!

7. As a suggestion, tag your post “SoCS” and/or “#SoCS” for more exposure and more views.

8. Have fun!


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64. Scenes from the Second Seat on the Right

Friday, November 3rd, 2:00pm
Sammy and Leroy (and Zoey)

 

Sammy sits at the window. Leroy is in the aisle seat.

Sammy: I bet you can’t go five minutes without saying something.

Leroy: Of course I can.

Sammy: Okay, try it.

Leroy: When do you want me to start?

Sammy: Now.

…

Leroy: I can do this, you know.

Sammy: That was a whole 30 seconds.

Leroy: I wasn’t ready.

Sammy: You’ll never be ready.

Zoey approaches.

Zoey: (to Sammy, pointing at the aisle seat) Do you mind if I sit here?

Sammy: My friend is sitting here.

Zoey: (frowns) That’s a ventriloquist’s dummy.

Leroy: Hey! Who are you calling a dummy?

Zoey: (to Leroy) You! (shakes head and looks at Sammy) Would you mind moving your doll so I can sit?

Sammy: Leroy’s not a doll. He can’t even shut up for five minutes!

Zoey: You mean you can’t shut up for five minutes.

Leroy: Of all the nerve! You can’t talk to him like that!

Zoey: I’m not talking to you, I’m … (mumbles) Oh never mind. (moves to the back of the bus)

Leroy: (to Sammy) Do you believe that? Some people!

 

Next stop: Saturday, November 4th, 4:00pm

Click here to learn all about this series, how it works, and where to find your favourite characters.


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63. Scenes from the Second Seat on the Right

Thursday, November 2nd, 3:00pm
Jordan and Brandon

 

Brandon: How’d your date with Marissa go Tuesday night?

Jordan: We did the whole dress-up thing and walked around the block with her little sister.

Brandon: And? Was it fun?

Jordan: Other than the fact I had to walk around on crutches?

Brandon: Kinda gets in the way of holding hands, I guess.

Jordan: Uh … yeah.

Brandon: What’d you dress up as?

Jordan: An injured basketball player, what else? Went well with the cast.

Brandon: And Marissa?

Jordan: (smiles) A nurse.

 

Next stop: Friday, November 3rd, 2:00pm

Click here to learn all about this series, how it works, and where to find your favourite characters.


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62. Scenes from the Second Seat on the Right

Note: Strong language

Wednesday, November 1st, 7:00pm
Andrea and Lacey

 

Andrea: So you’ll never guess what I heard at work.

Lacey: What?

Andrea: Christmas music. One fucking day after Hallowe’en. Can you believe it?

Lacey: No way!

Andrea: I wouldn’t have even noticed it if this guy hadn’t been whistling to it when he came in.

Lacey: Like he …

Andrea: … liked it or something. Exactly! I mean, who likes Christmas music the day after Hallowe’en? Like, we haven’t even got all the decorations down. But at least the guy was hot.

Lacey: Pfft. Too bad.

Andrea: What do you mean “too bad”? (shrugs) I flirted with him a bit.

Lacey: No!

Andrea: Yep. And I asked him out. We’re getting together next week.

Lacey: Seriously? What are you gonna do if …

Andrea: If he starts whistling Christmas music again? What do you think? Dump his ass!

 

Next stop: Thursday, November 2nd, 3:00pm

Click here to learn all about this series, how it works, and where to find your favourite characters.


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One-Liner Wednesday – Charlie Brown’s Pumpkin?

I know I’m a day late for pumpkin day, but this thing is still sitting in my kitchen and I figured if I’ve got to keep looking at it, you should too. Alex HAD to have it, so for $1, it came home with him. The pictures are actually flattering.

It weighs about twice as much as the orange pumpkin
It’s the Frankenstein of pumpkins
The colour of a zombie
What do I do with it now?

___________________________________________________________________________

If you would like to participate in this prompt, feel free to use the “One-Liner Wednesday” title in your post, and if you do, you can ping back here to help your blog get more exposure. To execute a pingback, just copy the URL in the address bar on this post, and paste it somewhere in the body of your post. Your link will show up in the comments below. Please ensure that the One-Liner Wednesday you’re pinging back to is this week’s! Otherwise, no one will likely see it but me.

NOTE: Pingbacks only work from WordPress sites. If you’re self-hosted or are participating from another host, like Blogger, please leave a link to your post in the comments below.

As with Stream of Consciousness Saturday (SoCS), if you see a pingback from someone else in my comment section, click and have a read. It’s bound to be short and sweet.

Unlike SoCS, this is not a prompt so there’s no need to stick to the same “theme.”

The rules that I’ve made for myself (but don’t always follow) for “One-Liner Wednesday” are:

1. Make it one sentence.

2. Try to make it either funny or inspirational.

3. Use our unique tag #1linerWeds.

4. Add our very cool badge to your post for extra exposure!

5. Have fun!

#1linerWeds badge by Dan Antion


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61. Scenes from the Second Seat on the Right

Tuesday, October 31st, 10:00pm
Mortimer (and Hillary)

 

Mortimer sits at the window. Hillary takes the seat beside him.

Mortimer: I used to drive this bus.

Hillary: I beg your pardon?

Mortimer: I was a bus driver. This used to be my bus.

Hillary: That’s nice.

Mortimer: Yes, back in nineteen-seventy-three.

Hillary: I didn’t think the bus was that old.

Mortimer: (smiles) She looks good for her age, doesn’t she?

Hillary: I guess.

Mortimer: A girl died on this bus. Right in the seat across the aisle, as a matter of fact.

Hillary: Huh.

Mortimer: Her boyfriend stabbed her seventeen times.

Hillary: That’s awful. Were you driving the bus that day?

Mortimer: I was. It was a horrible thing indeed. In fact it was Hallowe’en night. Forty-four years ago today.

Hillary: (stares over at the second seat on the left) Creepy. You must have nightmares. (turns back to look at him) I …

Mortimer is gone.

 

Next stop: Wednesday, November 1st, 7:00pm

Click here to learn all about this series, how it works, and where to find your favourite characters.


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ON FIRE – Burn, Baby, Burn

THE FLAME OF LICK’S ISLAND

~an excerpt from my short ghost story in the ON FIRE Anthology from Transmundane Press.

Once upon a time, there was a flame on a candle, in a window, of a house, on an island, on a lake, on the Earth, in the universe…
Flashback to the flame.

Marissa

Mike and I sat holding hands across the desk from our lawyer and best friend, Jeremy, when we got the news. The crisply burnt edges of the will should have told me something was weird. I didn’t say anything—I guess I was too excited.

Jeremy shook his head as he dotted the last “I” on the page. “I’ve heard about long-lost relatives coming out of the woodwork before, but this is the first time I’ve seen it happen.”

He stood and extended his hand across the desk. “Mike, Marissa, congratulations. You’re the proud owners of an island with a house and two sheds.”

“Thank you, Uncle Hubert, whoever you were,” Mike said.

“Will you move out there right away?”

“Yeah, we’ve decided.” Mike smiled at me. “We’re going to sell the condo. Assuming the place is livable…”

“I’ve been assured that it’s in great condition. Electricity, water… It’s even got great satellite service.”

“That’s perfect then,” I said. “Dibs on one of the sheds for my art studio.”

“Done. I’ll use the other one for my woodworking shop.” Mike smiled and squeezed my hand. He kissed my forehead with a sigh, and I let out one of my own, already mentally packing my art supplies.

***
Our trip to Lick’s Island began as an adventure. We were both twenty-four, had known each other for a year, had been in love for three-quarters of that time and married for half of it. We arrived in a speed boat, our guide a sun-browned old man with wild, straw-like hair and teeth that would rival a picket fence. When he dropped us off with the canoe he’d towed along behind us, he seemed nervous, his eyes shifty and his laugh like the rusty springs on a beaten-up car. He kept asking us if we were sure we wanted to spend the night.

“Sure as the sun’s going to come up tomorrow,” Mike told him.

So off he went, leaving us behind.

 

***

ON FIRE

Capable of creation and destruction, fire burns within us.
Behind the thick, black smoke of our lives, we blaze with our own unique flame.
While love compels some, others feed greed and lust into their hearths.
A tool for the deft hand, used with magic or as a weapon, but irresponsibility leaves deep burns and promises dreadful consequences.

ON FIRE brings to light twenty-six tales that explore this unpredictable yet beautiful element.
Handle with care.

Coming out 12.01.17!

Contact Information:
Website: http://www.transmundanepress.com/
Blog: https://www.transmundanepressblog.wordpress.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TransmundanePress/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TransmundnePres
Newsletter sign up: http://eepurl.com/bYiL2r

Visit our author pages to learn more about the contributors here.

Enter Transmundane’s Giveaways!

Links:

Giveaway One:
$25 Amazon gift card giveaway

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/5ea998ae8/?

Giveaway Two:

Win one of five copies of Octavia Butler’s Bloodchild and Other Stories by following Transmundane Press on Amazon. Only available for US participants.

https://giveaway.amazon.com/p/242689e142393cd4#ts-en

And don’t forget to buy your copy of ON FIRE on December 1st, 2017!


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A Special Collaboration

I had the distinct pleasure of collaborating with fantasy romance author D. Lieber on a special project in which our main characters met and had a chat!

A little about D.:

D. writes stories she wants to read. Her love of the worlds of fiction led her to earn a Bachelor’s in English from Wright State University.
When she isn’t reading or writing, she’s probably hiking, crafting, watching anime, Korean television, Bollywood, or old movies. She may also be getting her geek on while planning her next steampunk cosplay with friends.
She lives in Wisconsin with her husband (John), retired guide dog (Samwise), and cat (Yin).

 

Links
Website: http://www.dlieber.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/dlieberwriting
Google+: http://www.google.com/+DLieber
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15163863.D_Lieber
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/dlieberwriting/

Her book, The Exiled Otherkin, is set to be released on November 2nd.

Our scene between Ember, the protagonist of The Exiled Otherkin, and Stephen, the main character of The Magician’s Curse, takes place quite by accident. Enjoy!

Stephen and Ember Meet

SETTING: In the catacombs of Rome, a Fae refugee marketplace thrives. Ember has just purchased a replacement boot dagger. As she is leaving the stall, she almost collides with Stephen.

EMBER: (pulls her hat lower) Excuse me.

STEPHEN: My fault entirely. I’m a bit lost.

EMBER: (peeking up at him) It’s my first time here as well, so I doubt I will be of any help.

STEPHEN: If you don’t mind my saying so, you don’t (clears throat) look quite as out of place here as I feel.

EMBER: Is he human? (squinting slightly) How did you get here?

STEPHEN: (smiles) I’m actually not quite sure. I’m looking for a set of knives. I mentioned it to someone in a bar, and the next thing I knew I was climbing down a ladder. The gentleman disappeared after that.

EMBER: (excited over her new purchase) I just bought an excellent dagger from that stall (points). Do you want to see it?

STEPHEN: (nods) How kind of you.

EMBER: (pulls her dagger from her boot sheath) Check it out. You see these two jewels? If you slide this one (slides jewel), and then press this one … (points dagger at a wooden sign above a tavern, then presses the second jewel. The dagger blade shoots out of the hilt and into the sign. Grins at Stephen.)

STEPHEN: (laughs) That’s a little more dangerous than I have a need for. I’m looking for something I can juggle, not kill my audience with. I’m a magician on stage. (looks up at the blade in the sign) Would you like me to get that for you?

Read the rest at D.’s blog and check out the details for The Exiled Otherkin while you’re there!


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60. Scenes from the Second Seat on the Right

Monday, October 30th, 6:00pm
Drommen (and Edward)

 

Drommen sits by the window. He gestures to Edward to sit beside him.

Edward: What do you want?

Drommen: Hey, Sparkles. I have something that you don’t have.

Edward: You’ve got nothing I want!

Drommen: I bet I do.

Edward: You can’t possibly. I have everything I need. Tomorrow night is my night! I will roam the neighbourhoods with my own kind, take from virgins …

Drommen: You’re going to steal candy from little kids?

Edward hisses through plastic fangs.

Drommen: Okay, I get it. But I’ve still got something you don’t have.

Edward: (snorts) I don’t think so.

Drommen reaches into his pocket and pulls out a lunch bag with a pair of panties in it.

Edward: Whose are they?

Drommen: Bella’s. She gave them to me.

Edward: (eyes wide with shock) She did not!!

Drommen: She did. Here (he opens the bag a little) smell them.

Edward sticks in his nose, takes a big whiff, and sneezes, causing his teeth to shoot down the aisle.

Edward: PEPPER!

Drommen: (laughing) Who’s the darkness now?

Edward: CURSE YOU!! (stands) I’LL GET YOU FOR THIS, SWINE!!

Edward retrieves his teeth and gets off the bus.

 

Next stop: Tuesday, October 31st, 10:00pm

Click here to learn all about this series, how it works, and where to find your favourite characters.


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Giving, the final two days

On September 23rd, just over a month ago, I announced that until October 31st I would give all the proceeds from my books as donations to those in need after the hurricanes. I was hoping to raise loads of money; unfortunately I only managed about $18.00.

I’ve decided, therefore, to give all of the money to the Red Cross, to help the people of Puerto Rico. It’s not much–yet. But there are still two days to go. So in a last-ditch attempt to give aid where it’s needed, I pledge to match all the proceeds from my books sold until October 31st, 2017, at 11:59pm, with my own money.* That means if you buy All Good Stories, $o.70 will go to charity. For the e-book version of The Magician’s Curse, $4.20 will be donated, and for the paperback of the same title, you’ll be donating $12.50 between you and me for each book. Please let me know if you buy a paperback–it takes Createspace three days to let me know I’ve sold one.

I’m strapped for money myself, but I know there are people out there who need what I have more than I do. There are things I can go without–they’re hanging on by a thinner thread than mine. However, I have faith that the universe will provide me with whatever I need. So what do you say? Shall we do this?

Here, again, is all the info about the books with links. Please share far and wide. Thank you for your time and your generosity.

As best friends, Xavier and Jupiter have always been supportive of each other’s romantic relationships. But when Jupiter meets Bob online, Xavier can’t help but feel he needs to come to her rescue. There’s just something about Bob. In the process of preventing Bob from wooing Jupiter away, Xavier realizes he’s been in love with her all along. Can he keep her safe and win her heart? And will he ever get to read her manuscript?

Join Xavier, Jupiter, and a quirky cast of characters in this fun romantic comedy novelette with a twist you won’t see coming.

Find All Good Stories for 99¢ on
Amazon.com (U.S.A.)
Amazon.ca (Canada)
Amazon.co.uk (United Kingdom)
Amazon.com.au (Australia)
and on Amazon, in English, almost everywhere else in the world, as well as
Kobo Worldwide

When Herman Anderson leaves home to make a better life for herself, she doesn’t expect to meet a tall, dark stranger with whom she’ll fall hopelessly in love.

Charming and mysterious, Stephen Dagmar is a stage magician seeking an assistant. The moment he sets eyes on Herman, he knows she’s the one. He brings her home to his Victorian mansion where they embark upon an extravagant romance. Yet a shadow hangs over their love. Will the curse on his family end Stephen and Herman’s happily ever after, before it really begins?

Amidst lace and leather, innocence and debauchery, The Magician’s Curse begins the Gothic tale of The Great Dagmaru. Magic and romance await.

Find The Magician’s Curse for $2.99 on Kindle and Kobo:
Amazon US
Amazon Canada
Amazon UK
Amazon Australia
and Amazon where ever else you are in the world, as well as
Kobo Worldwide.

And in paperback for $16.99US on Amazon:

USA and Canada
UK
Denmark
France
Spain
Italy

*My limit is $200CAD. If I sell a million copies, I won’t be able to match the donations from my proceeds.