Welcome to Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday. Snippets of ten sentences or less are yours for the reading!
Today’s snippet comes from Book Two of The Black Wing Chronicles ~ and a short story DEATH OF A HOLOFEATURE HERO.
This is a life-altering gunfight for Blade, and it takes place in a theater. Hell of an audition, right?
***
“You’re not going in there!” She cried, throwing her arms around his neck again.
Swallowing his annoyance, he pried her loose. “Don’t worry about me,” he said with a grin, slipping easily into the holofeature hero role he’d played ever since he walked away from his Inner Circle career five years earlier. “I’m just going to take a look in the door and see if I can help anyone else get out before the authorities get here. I’m not a hero, I only play one in holofeatures.”
He shrugged her off. Now wasn’t really the time.
“Call it research for my next role.” He nudged her towards the security office. “Go get help.”
***
That’s the snippet for the week. Thank you for stopping by. Please take the time to visit the other wonderful authors taking part in Science Fiction/Fantasy Saturday!
Gotta Name My Blog 
Research! Yeah, that’s the ticket. I’m gonna go help the…grab…kill the bad guys! Yeah, that’s it! Yeah!
Ah, I’m sure he’ll figure out what he’s going to do with them by the time he gets in there. 😉
Have to love Blade! 🙂
Great stuff, as always!
Thank you, sir. 😉
I’m not convinced that the girl isn’t a holofeature actress, too – the clingy, helpless character. Either that or she’s the bait for a trap.
Very astute observation, Peter! 🙂 That kind of helpless clingy female *would* make excellent bait for a trap for Blade, but he’s known her for years and was once romantically involved with her.
Hee hee! Almost like a cat saying I’m only going to play (gently) with the mouse… Good stuff!!
LOL!! You really do know Blade too well.
“I’m not a hero, I only play one in holofeatures.”
Classic!!
Love Blade ❤
🙂 Heidi
Modesty from Blade…who’d have guessed?
Nice snippet! Heh. Research. Yup… sure!
He-he-he, thanks!
There’s just something about characters that have such one-liners that’s so addictive. I love his tone and attitude.
Attitude? He has attitude? 😉
(Snicker.) I suspect he’ll wind up doing more than just watching.
Oh, I’m sure he’s going to hide by the door where it’s safe!
“You’re not going in there!” She cried, throwing her arms around his neck again.
Lowercase “she” here.
Swallowing his annoyance, he pried her loose. “Don’t worry about me,” he said with a grin, slipping easily into the holofeature hero role he’d played ever since he walked away from his Inner Circle career five years earlier.
Don’t make the speech tag long. Just say, “he said.” Any further description should be in a different sentence. I’m guessing he is the type who has a problem dealing with reality if he’s continually played a role for five years. If so, a nice, succint way of showing the reader. I get a picture of a man with commitment issues and a devil-may-care attitude.
“I’m not a hero, I only play one in holofeatures.”
I agree with Heidi. Classic line. 😀
He nudged her towards the security office.
Americans use “toward”. “Towards” is mostly British. I don’t know if you’re British, though.
I feel Blade’s annoyance at the woman, which is great. You want the reader to feel. Although I’m hoping this woman isn’t as shallow as she’s made out to be in this snippet.
Thank you for your input.
Beg to differ with you on your take on the use of toward v. towards. In the American Southern vernacular it is not uncommon to find many traditionally British turns of phrase or words in common use, particularly among Appalachia and the Piedmont regions. This is due to strong ties to our Scots/Irish roots. I and most of my contemporaries use the words interchangeably. Until you mentioned it, I’d never considered one American and the other British. Fascinating that you should see it so.
I’m glad that you were able to feel his annoyance with her. Twenty-odd years ago, when I was just starting out as a professional writer, the best advice I ever received on writing fiction was that it was vital to evoke emotion in your reader. If you’re not evoking emotion, you may as well be writing cookbooks.
Toward vs. towards is a common search term. Popular sentiment divide the two (http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/toward-versus-towards.aspx), but they can be used interchangeably. As an editor, I just picked one and went with it. 😀
This reminds me of an exchange I had once with a fellow editor at the Tampa Tribune back in the early 90’s. She argued that the word “scurvy” was only used as a noun. I had to prove to her that her dictionary was incomplete by producing a more comprehensive edition that showed the word was also used as an adjective. Since then, I set no store by any dictionary that doesn’t contain the word “sudarium” because I’ve found that if it does not, it is incomplete for my purposes.
Being a fellow Southerner, I lean towards your interpretation of the word. That said, of COURSE Blade is going in there. It’s what he does, darlin’!
Thanks for chimin’ in sugar! 😉 He really does have an odd notion of fun doesn’t he?
Being a Brit I actually use…both! Lol 🙂
Great snippet as always J.C – Blade cracks me up.
Thanks for the insight, Chantal! Much appreciated as always! 😉
You’re welcome 🙂
Life imitating art, then. Wonderful snippet!
You know I love that, breaking down the walls between real life and art and then rebuilding them somewhere new. Thanks!
Ha! Love it. Especially: “I’m not a hero, I only play one in holofeatures.”
Thank you!
For the purposes of reading this snippet, Blade was played by Nathan Fillion. He just sounds so like Castle here (and this is a good thing, heh)
I wouldn’t be upset if Nathan Fillion were to play Blade in the movie. 😉