Excerpt from Murder at Magic Lake

To celebrate the release of Murder at Magic Lake today, I'm going to share a short excerpt with you. This is about a third of the way through the book and shows the main character, Abigail, properly meeting her sidekick, Sherlock:

* * *

Grandma preferred to visit other people instead of inviting them over. As I scanned her living room, I could see why. This apartment appeared larger than Sandy’s, but it was cluttered. Stacks of magazines filled the chairs. Suits and dresses that had been fashionable before I was born hung on a stand on wheels. Bins of yarn balls in all sorts of colors surrounded her recliner. Scattered about were various handmade blankets, hats, and even tiny creatures like bears and dogs. While there was plenty of cover for an intruder to hide behind, I couldn’t see how anyone could squeeze behind Grandma’s things in the first place.

“Hello?” I called. Smart one, Abigail. Let the murderer know you’re here. Maybe the call for help I’d heard earlier was a trap. The murderer could be hiding in the kitchen or bedroom, waiting for me to come closer.

“Over here!” the voice called. It sounded like it was coming from the area around the recliner.

I looked around for something I could use as a weapon. The best thing I could find was an umbrella. Good for both jabbing someone and whacking him or her over the head. Was that bad luck?

Holding the umbrella above my head, I advanced on the recliner. The empty recliner. Maybe I’d just heard the TV. I checked it, but it was off.

The yipping came from under the TV remote, which had pinned a little fox made from yarn. Grandma kept it on a high shelf on the other side of the room; how had it gotten down here? The detail on the fox was exquisite. He had tiny beads for eyes and threads for whiskers. His ears were tipped with black, and his tiny white paws had claws stitched in the same color. White accented his muzzle and the tip of his tail. It couldn’t have been a more perfect rendition of a fox if someone had taken a live creature and shrunk it down.

It waved its paws, trying to free itself.

I let out a cry and dropped the umbrella. The fox froze, its paws stuck at odd angles. Then it slowly turned to stare at me. 

 

* * *

 

Murder at Magic Lake will be available at a special introductory price of  $0.99 through September 22nd. It's available in eBook and paper from Amazon and eBook on Google Play, Kobo, Barnes and Noble, and Apple.

Excerpt from Letters to Psyche

Since Valentine's Day is on a Tuesday this year, my husband and I plan to celebrate the holiday late. However, I thought I'd share with you an excerpt from my short story, "Letters to Psyche." It's about Cupid's attempts to unite the houses of Montague and Capulet (the families of Romeo and Juliet) with love. If he fails, a curse will separate him forever from his own beloved wife, Psyche. The story is told from Cupid's point of view:

I was in the middle of shooting a youth when Elisabeth’s first curse crashed into me, causing me to misfire. I thought it was a fluke until several more curses hit me with enough force to make me turn visible. Luckily, I became transparent and rushed to her bedchamber before the youth noticed me.

I didn’t recognize Elisabeth; she was bone-thin with her wavy hair clipped short. I gleamed what had happened when the Christian priest came to hear her confession. Once he left the room and took his faith with him, I allowed myself to appear. She was close enough to death to keep my presence secret, and she didn’t seem surprised to see me.

“I grieve for your loss, my lady,” I told her. “It is my task to unite your houses as an example of love, not drive them apart.”

“But if we were your example, why didn’t you help us?” she whispered.

“I only spark love, my lady. Once it catches fire, it’s up to the couple to keep it burning. How can I focus on one couple when there are so many others who need me?”

“Have you no pity for us humans, Cupid?” Her eyes appeared smudged in their sockets. “The poets say even you were pricked by your own arrow. Why do you allow so many obstacles in the path of true love?”

A pox on the poets, my dearest, for revealing what should have been kept secret. As Elisabeth spoke, I remembered eavesdropping as my mother tasked you with sorting seeds, fetching golden fleece, and even sending you to Hades. How I had to sneak around to find sympathetic helpers for you. Even with them on our side, we nearly lost each other. But would we have realized how much we needed each other if we had not been parted for a while? Nothing worth winning was ever gained easily, but greedy mortals always demand the gods make their paths as smooth as silk. So I answered her as Athena had advised us, with the words, “It is the wisdom of the gods, Lady.”

“Wisdom, Cupid, or a wish to keep us blind?”

This was arrogance I would not tolerate. I was about to leave when she coughed herself into a spasm, enough to make me pity her.

She beckoned me closer. “Cupid, God of Love, I pray you hear my final request.”

This story is available at the stores listed here for only $0.99.

No matter how--or if--you celebrate Valentine's Day, I hope you have a good one!

 

From Summer to Fall

Thursday is supposed to be the first day of fall, but the extended forecast in my area calls for temperatures in the 80s that day. Even though we went apple picking this weekend, and I've already broken out the ankle boots, the weather still calls for T-shirts, not sweaters (unless I'm at work, in which case the heating/cooling system calls for the addition of a cardigan and a fleece). It seems as if summer doesn't want to cede pride of place to fall.

In the world of my Season Avatars, the seasons do fight with each other at equinoxes and solstices. These special days are called "soltranses," and the Season Avatars for the old and new seasons battle each other with staffs at the Temple in Wistica. Here's a few paragraphs of Jenna, Summer Avatar, and Ysabel, the Fall Avatar, preparing for the fall soltrans in my upcoming novel Fifth Season:

Jenna hadn’t participated in the summer solstice soltrans, but she handled the fighting sticks with confidence, weighing each one in her hands. The oak staffs, padded on both ends, probably still responded to her magic. Ysabel wished her animal magic was more useful for this ceremony. However, as she tested her own fighting stick, memories of previous duels returned. She advanced into the stone-paved area of the courtyard and lunged at an imaginary enemy a few times.

“Thank the Four we remember these skills.” Jenna combined blocks and stabs as she moved into position opposite Ysabel. “I didn’t get much chance to practice with fighting sticks when I was growing up. There were always too many chores to do. How about you?”

Ysabel shook her head, mindful of saving her breath.

“Of course,” Jenna continued cheerfully as she struck a blow directly on Ysabel, driving her backward, “being a farmer’s daughter does mean I know my way around tools. Especially wooden ones.”

“Freeze it, Jenna.” Ysabel attempted her own thrust, but Jenna blocked it with surprising strength. “You have to lose in the end.”

“Yes, but we have to put on a show first, don’t we?”

Neither of them spoke as they focused on the fight. Jenna continued to press her with three attacks for every one of Ysabel’s. Several of them got through her defenses, and Ysabel reminded herself to ask Gwen for healing before the bruises became obvious. Gradually, as she continued to handle the fighting stick, memories came back to her of previous sparring sessions in this same courtyard. The sun warmed her and released the scent of stubborn roses still clinging to their bushes. The weight of the fighting stick felt more familiar in her hands, and moves and different combinations of moves appeared in her mind. As each one appeared, she tried it out. Jenna countered each move easily, but fewer of her own attacks landed on Ysabel. Once Ysabel even drove Jenna back a couple of paces. When Jenna stepped on a loose cobblestone and struggled for balance, Ysabel instinctively pressed her attack, striking her in the shoulder before tapping her on the head.

Jenna let her fighting stick drop. “Enough! I yield!”

I hope you enjoyed the excerpt. More information about Fifth Season will be coming soon.