Handed a Mystery

It's a bonus Monday post!  Here's a quick excerpt from the next short story I'm working on.  It is about a man, Maroshek, who is fighting to regain the capitol city and find his queen - who is supposedly literally a phoenix reborn.  But she's in enemy hands which is why he's attacked the capitol.  But he's been caught by surprise.  The royal army, supposedly holding the city, is virtually gone.  Maroshek is trying to figure out what's going on and, more importantly, whether there's a trap hiding for his battered army somewhere that he hasn't been able to figure out.

“Yorin.  Find me someone from the city.  A citizen.  Don’t scare him but bring him to me.  I want to see what the citizens know about the army.”

“I’ll see who I can find that may have useful information.”

Maroshek turned back to the battalion commanders as Yorin left the building.  Each reported in on losses and last minute changes in battle plans.  Maroshek, satisfied with what he heard, sent them on to their respective battalions.  He then checked in on the one company left to guard the gate and tend to the battlefield just outside the city.  When he returned Yorin was waiting with a man who looked older than the city itself.  And, considering the capitol had been in existence for over seven hundred years, that was saying something.

“Good sir,” Maroshek crouched down in front of the old man seated on a stool, “Do you know where so many of the soldiers from the royal army have gone?  Are they hiding somewhere?”

“No.”

Maroshek furrowed his brow.  He was about to say something when the man continued.

“They’re sick.  Many of them are dead.  It’s her.”

Maroshek blinked several times, “What do you mean?”

“Summer fever.  Most of the royal army contracted it.  Those who aren’t dead are still recovering.  Only a few have managed to remain on the walls.”

“What about the rest of what you said?”

The old man grinned at Maroshek, “I know who you are Lion.  You seek her.  She did this.  She gave them the fever.”

“You speak of Jaylen,” Maroshek fell back on his heels.

“I do.  The Phoenix Queen comes.  The summer fever protected those who believed in her and destroyed many who did not.”

“And the ones on the walls?  How have they survived?”

“The Overlord protected a few.  As many as he could.”

“Do you know if he is still in the city?”

The old man shook his head and studied his feet.  Maroshek took a deep breath and stood.  He clasped the man on the shoulder before turning to Yorin.

“What do you think?”

Yorin scrubbed his face for several seconds, “I’m not sure what to think.  From what I’ve seen it makes sense.  But really?  It’s hard to believe.”

“Well then, please make sure this man gets back to his house safely and we’ll go check it out.  There is most certainly more going on here than we know.”

Book Review: The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein was a rather interesting novel.  First, it’s told from the dog’s point of view.  This provides an interesting way of telling the story.  The main character is Enzo the dog.  His owner, Denny, is a race car driver/instructor/sales person at a high end car dealer.  Enzo witnesses Denny’s life from the time he gets married to having their first child and the problems that then ensue.

This was a well told story.  You certainly have to set aside the idea that a dog can narrate a story and that he can be as self-aware as he is being a dog.  Get beyond that and look at the story itself.  It is a touching story about the drama of life.  The characters are fairly well developed.  A few of the more minor characters felt a little flat but it wasn’t enough to detract from the story.

I think the only thing I didn’t like as much was the ending.  It just felt a little too predictable.  But, seeing as it is the ending, I can’t say much more or I’ll ruin it.  So, go read it.  It is worth the read.

Random Sunday – Naps, Toads, and Time

I know I have officially adopted parental ways.  No, seriously.  It’s not like I haven’t been a parent for almost two years now.  But, this is one of those hallmarks that any parent with a toddler is very familiar with.  It’s called How Much Can I Get Done When My Child Is Sleeping.  I have to say I was pretty impressed with myself.  I got most of the living room picked up and a nine block wall hanging quilt top, complete with sashing and a border, assembled before my son woke up.  I even got far enough to begin the quilting part of it.  Which is a really good thing as I am aiming to have it done for Saturday…

I don’t know what it is, but the last couple times I’ve been over to my Mom and Dad’s, there are a bagillion tiny little toads in their backyard.  I’m talking the things are so little they’d sit comfortably on a dime.  My son gets all excited over seeing them.  The only drawback is that either you don’t walk in the backyard or you pray the grass protects the toads because you can’t see the things until you’re basically walking on them.

As I’m getting ready for my son’s second birthday, which is in less than a month, I am realizing time is just flying by.  Not only is my baby now almost 2, but I’m officially hitting the half-way point of my master’s as well.  I am hoping that once summer is over, and summers are always busy for us, I can take a little time to slow down some.  I don’t feel like I’m missing anything right now but I want to be able to take a little more time to enjoy it than I can at this point.

Book Review: Life of Pi by Yann Martel

This week’s book review is on Life of Pi by Yann Martel.  The story is about a boy growing up in his father’s zoo in India.  Then, when things change in the government, they sell the zoo and plan to move to Canada.  Piscine, or Pi for short, goes with the animals to help relocate them to North America but encounters a bad storm during the ocean voyage.  He is then stranded in a life boat with quite a few of the animals.  The rest of the story is about that experience.

I have to say that I struggled some with this book.  It jumps around some between reminiscing about the events and living the events.  There is also quite a bit of spirituality included in it that gets somewhat convoluted at times.

But, that being said, the story was quite interesting.  The ending was particularly good.  Like usual, I won’t give it away.  You’ll have to trust me on that.  The characters were well developed, including the animals.  And the detail balanced well, for the most part, with moving the story along.

I would say this is a book you should get to, but be prepared for a bit of a challenging read.  And I can’t compare it to the movie as I have not seen the movie so someone else will have to cover that bit for me.

Random Sunday – Weeds, School, and Heat

I bucked up and fought the battle against the weeds today.  See, this summer’s been so nuts between me not having time and the weather not cooperating that my poor gardens have not been weeded at all yet.  I know.  I’m rather embarrassed to admit that.  But I took on the challenge today and got the vast majority of it done.  The funniest part about the whole episode to me was my son.  He was outside playing while I was weeding and my husband was doing other chores.  I tried to get him to help me.  He wouldn’t pull a weed.  No way.  So I tried to hand him one I’d pulled to put in the bucket instead.  He took a grand total of one weed and put it in the bucket.  Then he wanted me to do it.  Yet he managed to get so grubby dirty it was pretty funny.  I’m glad he’s very washable because, boy oh boy was he a dirty little almost 2 year old today.

I started my new class last week for school.  Already the instructor has posted a 7 page guide about how to write discussion posts.  Yes.  The writing for a few of the posts was that bad.  Come on – one person attempted to write something and (I’m hoping) the spell-check auto-corrected it to syphilis.  From what I could gather of the sentence in which this took place, the word attempting to be used should have been a verb.  Last time I checked syphilis is not a verb.  How you get it is, but syphilis is not.  Multiple other areas made no sense at all.  And there’s more than one post like this.  This is grad school, people!  Step up your game a little!

I think we’ve gotten the first heat advisory issued for tomorrow.  It figures.  I was going to take my son out to the playground since I only have to work 2 hours tomorrow morning.  Now we have to come up with a fun inside activity instead.  It should be interesting as Daddy has to start his overnight shifts tomorrow night and will be sleeping in the afternoon.

Going Home at Last

Here's another scene from my short story, Through the Gates of Hell.  The main character's been travelling through Hell on a mission from the priestess.  He's gotten the help of a demon named Nybbas along the way in exchange for taking Nybbas with when he leaves - which he had no idea how to do when he promised that.  And the fact that he chases demons and evil spirits and sends them to Hell.  Just before this scene starts the priestess contacts him via something like telepathy where they discuss whether or not she will help him bring Nybbas with when she brings him out of Hell.  This scene was in part inspired by a prompt from Studio 30 Plus.  See if you can find the line and check out other great takes on this line over at Studio 30 Plus.

            He was just about asleep when he felt the ants in his brain again.  Sitting up he rubbed his eyes and stretched a little first.

            Good evening, priestess.

            “You are different.  This bears much questioning.  But that must wait.  All is ready to bring you back.  You and the demon.”

            Excellent.  I told him you would help him.  I think he still doubts me, but this will show him.

            “You must be in contact with the demon.  Then repeat the words ‘Novas veritum marnieas voratu lum’.  Then you will be brought home.”

            Novas veritum marnieas voratu lum.  Got it.  We will be there before you can blink.
            “It will take longer than that.”

            I didn’t mean it literally.

            “Go.  Bring the demon with you.”

            Yes, ma’am.

            He felt the ants crawl away.  There seemed to be an odd vibe to it this time, as if the ants were stomping rather than just walking.  But it also left him with an interesting conundrum.  One he wanted solved as soon as possible but had no clue where to start.  How did one wake a sleeping demon without being eaten alive once the demon woke up?  Not that he really though Nybbas would eat him, but he was sure the demon had some nasty tricks up his sleeve if he wanted to use them.

            “Nybbas.  Time to go.  You awake?”

            “Nybbas no sleep.  Not need.  Nybbas leave now.”

            “Yeah.  Like I said, time to go.  Get over here so I can get you out of here.”

            “You taking Nybbas with?”

            “Do I really have to say it again?  Get your tail over here.  No offense, but I’ve had enough of being here.  I am looking forward to going home.  So, let’s go.”

            He had to smile at the incongruous picture in front of him.  A demon bouncing up and down with excitement just like a 2 year old kid.  Certainly wasn’t an image he’d have ever thought he would see.

            Nybbas joined him, he took Nybbas by the arm and repeated the words the priestess gave him.

            That’s when it all began to fall apart.  Both literally as the cavern melted away into a swirling mass of color and shape none of which made sense, and in the figurative sense when a strong, painful melting sensation began.  It continued for several seconds before abruptly ceasing.

Book Review: Death in the City of Light: The Serial Killer of Nazi-Occupied Paris

Death in the City of Light, by David King, is the story of a rather prolific serial killer living in Paris during World War II.  The book alternates between Dr. Marcel Petiot’s past, the discovery of many of the bodies, and how the police worked to catch him.  The most fascinating part of this story is how it was really a perfect environment for a serial killer between people going missing all the time anyway and how the Nazi forces hampered the Paris Police in their investigations.

Even though this is a non-fiction work and, as such, much of the ending is already known, I’m still not going to give it away except to say that the ending was quite entertaining.  Yes, entertaining despite the book’s gruesome subject.

Perhaps the one critique I had of the book is that there were times the jumping back and forth in the timeline and in perspective got a little confusing.  It became a bit difficult to keep track of the order of events and, subsequently, what the police knew and when they learned the information.  That being said, this was still an amazing book.  It brought to light a morbidly fascinating event that has been overlooked in the larger picture of the history of World War II.  And I must add the Paris Police did a pretty incredible job despite the odds they were facing in solving this one.  This book is not for the faint of heart, but it is certainly a must read book.

Random Sunday – Hangers, Cleaning, and Dinner

When we’re home, Sundays have become days we do chores.  One such chore is laundry.  With this next statement, keep in mind we've been gone quite a bit and/or had major events (like my brother’s wedding) on weekends.  So, we finally caught up with laundry this weekend.  Only to discover that the hangers have disappeared.  Now the scary part to me is that they have not reappeared as odd socks.  Which makes me wonder what have all the hangers morphed into and when will I discover them?  Seriously.  I haven’t bought a whole bunch of new clothes that need hangers, so where have they gone?

I decided I was going to do a bunch of cleaning today.  Specifically, I wanted to get my office space cleaned up.  It had become a catch all for anything that couldn't be out in the “public” areas of my house.  Needless to say it got rather piled up on my desk.  But, I feel much better now because I am sitting at my desk working on this and the surface is pretty clean!  It’s also amazing what you find when you start cleaning like that.  But that’s another story.

I’m trying to figure out what goes through the mind of an almost 2 year old at dinner time.  For a discussion point, tonight’s dinner was corn and pork chops.  My son thought he was dying of starvation and was begging for his milk before supper.  Now, I might be mean, but I didn't give him any because I know if he drinks a bunch of milk before supper he won’t eat well.  So I got his corn ready, got him into his booster seat and he started chowing down on the corn.  Then, when my husband poured milk, my son was dying for milk again.  A bit of patience would do this child wonders.  He got his milk.  Then he ate a couple bites of the pork chop.  For no apparent reason, after that he wouldn't eat pork chop.  He’d spit it out every time we tried to get him to eat a bite – regardless of who put it in his mouth, including him.  He ate a good helping of corn instead.  When I had wiped his hands and face to let him down, he started eating the pork.  Can someone please explain?

Random Sunday – Mosquitos, Naps, and Laundry

Holy Moly, Rocky, were there mosquitoes out this weekend.  I swear, there were so many mosquitoes out I think they would have literally carried my son away had they been given a chance.  We all stayed inside at one point because of them.  My sister, who was actually in a totally different part of the state, said she thought she might need a blood transfusion due to blood loss from the suckers!  Okay.  Maybe it wasn't really that bad, but it was certainly not pleasant and I have the mosquito bites to prove it.  How was it where you were?

I was really impressed with my son today.  He took a 3.5 hour nap on the way home.  Considering the car ride ended up being about 7 hours, this was quite impressive.  It helps he didn't sleep well last night and didn't take a good nap yesterday.  It also helps that he has been so busy running around and playing all weekend.  The more impressive part is that I had to wake him up at that point because it had gotten late enough I didn't know if he’d sleep tonight if I let him sleep much longer.  Makes me wonder how long he would have slept on his own.

I have determined that, while I love going out of town for different things, I dislike coming home.  There are several things that play into this dislike.  But the one of which I am discussing today is the laundry.  There is a ginormous pile of laundry to do now.  Plus what didn't get done before we left.  My house is seriously in danger of being taken over by the laundry at the moment.  I’m really hoping to have it done before it does.  Wish me luck.

A Bargain is Struck

I'm hooking up with Studio 30+ for the first time in a really long time.  This is a segment of a short story I'm working on for Camp NaNoWriMo.  Here's a quick summary of the story to this point:  He's capturing rogue demons for a priestess after he lost the life he wanted.  The priestess has offered him a way out of his deal - deliver the latest spirit through the Gates of Hell and return alive.  Then he gets what he wants.

In this scene he's currently being held in Hell.  He knows he will be tortured until he releases the spirit he's captured.  This happens during the moments between his capture and when the torture begins:

The flashbacks stopped for a moment before a riot of sensory stimulation started.  He couldn’t make anything out the cacophony of colors, shapes, sounds and smells.  When he thought he would go even madder than he already felt, it stopped.

He felt like he’d been stabbed straight through the heart when the visions began once again.  This time it was his wife.  His daughter.  Tears slipped down his cheeks leaving cool tracks as they crept toward the floor.  Then he realized it wasn’t the past again.  They were older than that last time he saw them.  And happier.  He tried to reach for them only to be stopped by the chains.  They smiled and gestured to him.  Asking him to join them.  Welcoming him in.

It was more than he could take.  He collapsed, completely surrendering his weight to the chains uncaring that they would tighten to the point of destroying his limbs.  The vision, and he had to work to remember it was a vision and not reality, cut deeper than anything ever had.  It was everything he wanted, needed.  And it wasn’t real.

“But it can be.”

He opened his eyes to meet the glimmering burnt orange eyes of the demon before him.

“How?”

“Nybbas commands visions.  Dreams.  Things that may yet be.”

“How do I get them back?”

“Nybbas knows where they are.”

“Take me to them.”

“Swear to take Nybbas with when you leave.”

He took a deep breath.  Another oath.  If he swore he knew he wouldn’t be able to break it.  Not without screwing everything up that he’d worked so hard to accomplish.

“I swear I will do everything I can to take you passed the Gates of Hell.”

He hoped the little demon would accept his oath as it left him some room to maneuver without having to set the demon loose on Earth.  He just prayed the risk he was taking wasn’t too great.

The demon studied him for several tense minutes.  Hints of shrewdness peeked out of those dark rust colored eyes.  Just when he was about to give in to what he knew Nybbas really wanted, Nybbas nodded.

“Is good.  Wait.  Will come for you when time is right.”

With that Nybbas disappeared.  He had just evaporated like water through the Gate of Hell.