Category: Black Wing Chronicles

Saturday Snippet: Hero And Holy Man – Campfire Compadres

On By jccasselsIn Black Wing Chronicles, SFFS14 Comments

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, quit asking me about a title!

This week’s snippet is the next few sentences that follow last weeks’ snippet in which Blade is still recovering from the hovercycle crash and he’s still on Kah Lahtrec. Tahar, the strange spiritual guru of the Lahtrecki people is still caring for him.

***

Chagrined to find himself so infirm that he’d need the help of a frail old man to get to his feet again, Blade swallowed his pride and carefully eased his aching body down onto the terrace across the fire pit from Tahar.

“Aren’t there supposed to be chairs or benches over here?” Taking a deep breath, Blade adjusted his immobilized leg, looking for a position that didn’t cause stabbing pain through his hips and back.

“I removed them.” Reflected firelight glittered in Tahar’s dark eyes. Shifting shadows danced across his face, playing chase in the deep grooves time had etched into his skin. His smile faded. His expression grew distant as he stared into the flames. Leaning forward, he studied them intently.

***

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!

Snippet Time! The Hero And The Holy Man

On By jccasselsIn Black Wing Chronicles, SFFS14 Comments

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 no, there is still no title.

While on Kah Lahtrec in the Outland Fringe recuperating from a hovercycle accident, Blade finds himself saddled with an odd nursemaid in the form of the wizened old holy man, Tahar, who once ruled the planet.

***

“Why did you come here, Tahar?”

Tahar poked the fire with a long slender stick then gestured towards Blade with it. “There is no way you could have made it up Mt. Jihat in your current state.” The wizened old man smiled broadly. “Since you could not come to me, I come instead to you. Sit. Join me.”

Blade glanced around for something to sit on besides the flagstones that made up the terrace.

“I will help you rise again,” Tahar said. “Sit.”

***

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!

Title-Challenged Writer Seeking Help

On By jccasselsIn Black Wing Chronicles, Writing5 Comments

No, goofy, not that kind of help – although that really isn’t a bad idea – I’m looking for help naming my second book. You guys did such a great job with SOVRAN’S PAWN, I figured I’d hit you up for another go-round.

The response was so much fun with the poll to choose the title for SOVRAN’S PAWN, let’s try it again with THE BLACK WING CHRONICLES: BOOK TWO! Here are a few possible titles to choose from. Which one do YOU think sounds like the most interesting title to follow SOVRAN’S PAWN?

***

What did you like about your choice? Didn’t like any of them? What do YOU suggest? I really want to know! No, really, I do because I’m wandering in the dark with my pants over my head on this one.

This Week’s Snippet: The Hobbling Hero

On By jccasselsIn Black Wing Chronicles, SFFS6 Comments

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, still in need of a title.

Our intrepid hero, Blade Devon is recovering from serious injuries he sustained in a hovercycle accident. He is recuperating on the isolated planet in the Outland Fringe called Kah Lahtrec; a planet he fell in love with while shooting the holofeature The Life And Times of Cantrell. This scene takes place on his second day. Blade is adjusting to being alone for the first time in a long while.

***

The green waves crested and broke, racing ashore before coyly retreating. Their roar teased Blade, luring him from the cool darkness of the villa. Leaning heavily on Tahar’s gnarled walking stick, he stepped out onto the terrace. The buttery yellow stone pavers already radiated the warmth of the brilliant Lahtrecki sun.

Under his breath, Blade cursed the slow, halting pace as he tested the strength of his leg and found it still unable to bear his weight. The perspiration dotting his upper lip had nothing to do with the heat. He focused on putting one foot in front of the other.

He didn’t look up until he reached the carved balustrade. With a small sigh of relief, he braced his hand on the warm stone and leaned his hip against it. The heat soothed the rising ache in his leg that he couldn’t completely ignore.

***

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!

#SFFSat Saturday Snippet- 8-11-2012

On By jccasselsIn Black Wing Chronicles, SFFS6 Comments

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, tentatively  titled The Watchtower.

***

She hated lying in bed next to him knowing he was going to leave.

The soft, pre-dawn light cast purple shadows inside the well-weathered tent. Though they had both been awake for some time, neither was in a hurry to abandon the warm cocoon of the insulated sleep sack. His touch feather light, he trailed his fingertips along her soft skin, tracing the curve of her shoulder. With a contented sigh, Bo closed her eyes and snuggled closer to him,  savoring their last moments together. The folding cot was barely wide enough for one person but they were accustomed to sharing a small sleeping space; her bunk aboard her ship wasn’t much bigger.

“I shouldn’t have come,” she whispered. “I knew you wouldn’t get any sleep.”

“I got enough.”

***

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!

#SFFSat Saturday Snippet- 8-04-2012 SOVRAN’S PAWN

On By jccasselsIn Black Wing Chronicles, SFFS9 Comments

Welcome to Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday. On the surface, it’s a web ring of authors who post snippets of their work for comment. In reality, it’s a close-knit group of friends and colleagues working together to support and encourage one another and promote the science fiction and fantasy genres.

Today’s snippet returns to SOVRAN’S PAWN. (Released in paperback this week and still available in e-book and Kindle on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords.) Bo’s brother, Edge is explaining the tenets of his Sub-socia organization to her.

***

“We don’t take part in subversive actions. We leave the gunrunning to less discerning operations. We’re strictly criminals, not revolutionaries. The most radical thing we’ve run has been Olsatien romantic poetry into the Reykik Convent on Lista 5.”

“Sounds pretty innocuous,” Bo offered.

He shrugged. “Possession of Olsatien romantic poetry is a shooting offense on Lista 5. Transportation of it is even worse.”

“Worse than shooting?”

“Yeah, they make you read it aloud in public.”

***

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!

***

If you’re interested in more about:

SOVRAN’S PAWN

United by extortion, divided by duty, someone wants them both dead. They want each other. The catch is, nothing is what it seems…

Convicted of treason and sentenced to be executed, Bo Barron is the last person who should be infiltrating a Sub-socia weapons auction. But when her father is kidnapped and the ransom demand is the schematics to an experimental weapon, she has no choice but to go under cover with her uncle to get it.

Nobody counted on former-government-agent-turned-holofeature-hero Blade Devon’s infatuation with her. A botched assassination under the guise of a bar brawl leaves Bo blind and Blade wondering if there isn’t more to this job than he was led to believe.

Never able to resist playing the hero, Blade tends her injuries and delves deeper into the intrigue only to find this mission isn’t about a weapon at all. It’s about two Sovrans’ maneuvering for control, with Bo and Blade as their pawns.

All Bo and Blade have to do is figure out how to survive the game they didn’t know they were playing.

How I Spent My Summer Vacation #1: Visiting Mondhuoun

On By jccasselsIn Black Wing Chronicles, Uncategorized, WritingLeave a comment

I crave the mountains. Not just any mountains, mind you, I want the Blue Ridge. More specifically, I pine for upstate South Carolina.

Spoonauger Falls

My parents both hail from pioneer families whose ties to that part of South Carolina stretch back to when this country was not only a colony but a wild and woolly wilderness. They left the area shortly before I was born, forever dooming me to a bit of an identity crisis. School holidays always brought out the suitcases and the general understanding that we were “going home” to South Carolina. As one Florida born, I never really understood, but I didn’t have to. Those mountains are in my blood. They’re in my very DNA.

My father is a mountain man born out of time. Every chance he gets to this day, he takes off for the land of his birth, finding solace and comfort in the unchanging wilderness of the Sumter National Forest and the Chattooga river. Coming off the trails his arthritic legs can no longer negotiate with ease, he scans the roadway, telling stories of mountain folk long gone, stores and landmarks so buried in time that not even the current residents remember them anymore.

When I was a child, my father took me into the woods and tried to impart his backwoods wisdom. Much of it stuck. On our recent camping trip there, my sons were impressed to learn that my fire-building capabilities surpassed those of my husband, who is no tenderfoot. I can survive a backcountry trail quite comfortably if I had to. At my age, I no longer want to.

I grew up in those mountains, like my parents… like their parents.

Even when you write science fiction, one way or another, you end up writing what you know.

As I’m working on the second book of THE BLACK WING CHRONICLES, the story takes me to places both familiar and distant. When I try to picture the Gallic Highlands of Mondhuoun, the land of Bo’s birth, I can’t help but picture the ancient and rugged terrain of the Sumter National Forest and the Chattooga River. Gallic bluestone was inspired by the blue granite of those mountains.

Like Bo, I was exiled from that land I love. Like Bo, I treasure every visit home.

THE LOST DOMINA #SFFSat Snippet for 07/28/2012

On By jccasselsIn Black Wing Chronicles, SFFS19 Comments

Welcome to Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday. On the surface, it’s a web ring of authors who post snippets of their work for comment. In reality, it’s a close-knit group of friends and colleagues working together to support and encourage one another and promote the science fiction and fantasy genres.

This week’s snippet is a complete departure from THE BLACK WING CHRONICLES. I present for your amusement a lost story from a completely different universe. This story dates back to 1987 and was never completed beyond the first few thousand words. It’s currently in development.

A Science Fiction writer discovers that the characters and premise of her book are real. She makes this discovery the night her enemies find her.

***

At first, Analise thought her mind was playing tricks on her. On the roadway, not twenty meters away, a group of five men faced Andy. He backed slowly away from them. Analise called out to him. He shouted for her to run. The leader of the group took advantage of Andy’s divided attention and fired. A red light flashed and Andy doubled over. He collapsed onto the pavement and never moved again.

***

Well, that’s the Saturday Snippet for this week! Please don’t forget to comment by clicking on either the blog title or the little quotation balloon in the upper right hand corner. Tell your friends. Stop back here next week for another!

***

If you’re interested in more about:

SOVRAN’S PAWN

United by extortion, divided by duty, someone wants them both dead. They want each other. The catch is, nothing is what it seems…

Convicted of treason and sentenced to be executed, Bo Barron is the last person who should be infiltrating a Sub-socia weapons auction. But when her father is kidnapped and the ransom demand is the schematics to an experimental weapon, she has no choice but to go under cover with her uncle to get it.

Nobody counted on former-government-agent-turned-holofeature-hero Blade Devon’s infatuation with her. A botched assassination under the guise of a bar brawl leaves Bo blind and Blade wondering if there isn’t more to this job than he was led to believe.

Never able to resist playing the hero, Blade tends her injuries and delves deeper into the intrigue only to find this mission isn’t about a weapon at all. It’s about two Sovrans’ maneuvering for control, with Bo and Blade as their pawns.

All Bo and Blade have to do is figure out how to survive the game they didn’t know they were playing.

UNDERNEATH DEAD STAR #SFFSat Snippet for 07/21/2012

On By jccasselsIn Black Wing Chronicles, SFFS10 Comments

Welcome to Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday. On the surface, it’s a web ring of authors who post snippets of their work for comment. In reality, it’s a close-knit group of friends and colleagues working together to support and encourage one another and promote the science fiction and fantasy genres.

This week’s snippet is a backhanded return to the ‘verse of THE BLACK WING CHRONICLES. This is from UNDERNEATH DEAD STAR. This is the novel tie-in for Blade Devon’s breakout holofeature role. I have two incomplete manuscripts which provided the titles and storylines for Blade’s holofeatures UNDERNEATH DEAD STAR is the one I’m sharing here. It’s currently in development and may or may not ever see the light of day.

Without further ado, I introduce you to Rubicon P. Schuyler, “Rube” to his friends. What is the “P” for? Effect.

***

Hello, my name is Rubicon P. Schuyler, and I’m a grunt. I hate when I have to introduce myself to a new supervisor. I always feel like one of those ultra-dependent types at a self-help meeting. The only difference is that being a grunt is not exactly a condition, it’s more along the lines of a disease. It’s the military’s term for perpetual screw-up. If I had enlisted thousands of years ago, they’d have made me a foot-soldier. I’m a man with no talent or ambition beyond surviving and propagating the species. Well, let’s just say I try to propagate the species whenever the opportunity presents itself.

They, the evil military leaders who decide assignments and transfers for the good of the Galactic Commonwealth, sent me to certain death at the asteroid station they called Dead Star.

***

Well, that’s the Saturday Snippet for this week! Please don’t forget to comment by clicking on either the blog title or the little quotation balloon in the upper right hand corner. Tell your friends. Stop back here next week for another!

***

If you’re interested in more about:

SOVRAN’S PAWN

United by extortion, divided by duty, someone wants them both dead. They want each other. The catch is, nothing is what it seems…

Convicted of treason and sentenced to be executed, Bo Barron is the last person who should be infiltrating a Sub-socia weapons auction. But when her father is kidnapped and the ransom demand is the schematics to an experimental weapon, she has no choice but to go under cover with her uncle to get it.

Nobody counted on former-government-agent-turned-holofeature-hero Blade Devon’s infatuation with her. A botched assassination under the guise of a bar brawl leaves Bo blind and Blade wondering if there isn’t more to this job than he was led to believe.

Never able to resist playing the hero, Blade tends her injuries and delves deeper into the intrigue only to find this mission isn’t about a weapon at all. It’s about two Sovrans’ maneuvering for control, with Bo and Blade as their pawns.

All Bo and Blade have to do is figure out how to survive the game they didn’t know they were playing.

THE WATCHTOWER #SFFSat Snippet for 07/14/2012

On By jccasselsIn Black Wing Chronicles, SFFS15 Comments

Welcome to Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday. On the surface, it’s a web ring of authors who post snippets of their work for comment. In reality, it’s a close-knit group of friends and colleagues working together to support and encourage one another and promote the science fiction and fantasy genres.

This week’s snippet is a departure from SOVRAN’S PAWN. Don’t worry. We aren’t going far. I’ve been hard at work on Book Two of THE BLACK WING CHRONICLES, tentatively titled THE WATCHTOWER. Still in the first draft stage it’s nearly ready for the endless revisions to begin. Here is your first look:

***

When he had her arm immobilized against her body, he pulled her to her feet once more. “Come on.”

“Did you have any trouble?” she asked.

“I got it,” he said. “Next time, I’m the diversion and you go after the package, deal?”

Bo smiled to herself and tightened her grip on his hand as she followed him down the steep slope. “Have you seen what he hired for security?” she asked. “There’s no way I would have ever passed for one of them. You’re more the type which is why I contacted you.”

“Here I thought you missed me,” he said lightly.

***

Well, that’s the Saturday Snippet for this week! If you’ve enjoyed following this little serialized scene week after week, I have the complete scene posted under my Works In Progress tab up at the top, or you can go directly to it by clicking HERE.

Next week, we’re moving on to something else.

Please don’t forget to comment by clicking on either the blog title or the little quotation balloon in the upper right hand corner. Tell your friends. Stop back here next week for another!

***

If you’re interested in more about:

SOVRAN’S PAWN

United by extortion, divided by duty, someone wants them both dead. They want each other. The catch is, nothing is what it seems…

Convicted of treason and sentenced to be executed, Bo Barron is the last person who should be infiltrating a Sub-socia weapons auction. But when her father is kidnapped and the ransom demand is the schematics to an experimental weapon, she has no choice but to go under cover with her uncle to get it.

Nobody counted on former-government-agent-turned-holofeature-hero Blade Devon’s infatuation with her. A botched assassination under the guise of a bar brawl leaves Bo blind and Blade wondering if there isn’t more to this job than he was led to believe.

Never able to resist playing the hero, Blade tends her injuries and delves deeper into the intrigue only to find this mission isn’t about a weapon at all. It’s about two Sovrans’ maneuvering for control, with Bo and Blade as their pawns.

All Bo and Blade have to do is figure out how to survive the game they didn’t know they were playing.