Tag: adventure novels

Saturday Snippet: It’s All Fun & Games

On By jccasselsIn Black Wing Chronicles, SFFS22 Comments

Welcome to Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday. Snippets of ten sentences or less are yours for the reading!

When last we met, Blade started a very public game with Bo over a drink. We pick back up with it as they both play out their roles of holofeature bad boy and his elegant and refined Kiara mistress under the unblinking eye of both his adoring public and the unforgiving media.

***

“People are watching. You have to play coy, or I won’t let you have it at all. Shake your head no if you understand.”

“I hate when you get in this mood,” she sighed. Perhaps it was better to humor him. She shook her head and turned slightly away from the drink.

“Oh that was a nice touch.”

She nodded towards the glass. “Is everything a game to you?”

“Pretty much,” he said.

***

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!

Saturday Snippet: This Is Gallis Rye

On By jccasselsIn Black Wing Chronicles, SFFS22 Comments

Welcome to Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday. Snippets of ten sentences or less are yours for the reading!

Yesterday’s post on media manipulation reminded me of this scene from HERO’S END. As a professional liar and a media darling, Blade is well-versed in media manipulation. He knows that most of the time when he’s in his role of holofeature hero, people and holocams are turned his way.

With Bo in a rare appearance at his side at the premiere of his latest holofeature, he’s promised a way to let her drink her favorite liquor, Gallis Rye, without blowing her Joy Babe cover. So with gossip reporters, holocams — and under the noses of a half-dozen Inner Circle security agents — he’s giving Bo a lesson on maintaining control of one’s image in the public eye. He’s about to publicly debauch his elegant and refined Kiara mistress (Bo) in order to make it easier for her to maintain her cover under intense public and media scrutiny.

***

With a flourish, he presented a glass filled with an iced amber liquid from behind his back. Keeping his arm across her torso, he settled into a more comfortable embrace. “This, my love, is called Gallis Rye.”

She would have reached for it, but he held it just out of her grasp.

“Now, now,” he said softly. “Remember what I said earlier? This is hardly a drink for the faint of heart or for fair maiden.”

“You’re going to make a show out of this aren’t you?”

“Of course I am,” he grinned.

***

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!

Saturday Snippet: Everybody Comes To Crank’s

On By jccasselsIn Mercenary Adventures of Blade Devon, SFFS3 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 comes to you from one of the lost novels of THE MERCENARY ADVENTURES OF BLADE DEVON. This snippet is from ARCANA DOUBLE CROSS.

***

Dreyvis 3 was a Third Sector cesspool, but he didn’t know another planet that could provide both a haven and information on Trager’s moves. Turning, he mounted the stairs to the street. A blast of cold, humid air sailed down the tunnel as he neared the surface.

Blade fastened the front of his jacket as he stepped onto level footing, and he looked around. If his memory served him, the place he sought was only a few blocks to the east.

Everything had a price in Crank’s. The commercial epicenter of the Sub-socia, Crank’s drew scavengers from all sectors of the galaxy. If there was any information to be had, it would be there.

***

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!

***

Saturday Snippet: Hole In The Wall

On By jccasselsIn Black Wing Chronicles, SFFS28 Comments

Welcome to Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday. Snippets of ten sentences or less are yours for the reading!

Today’s snippet comes from Book Three of The Black Wing Chronicles ~ BARRON’S LAST STAND.

Blade and his brother Chase have a favor to ask of an unlicensed doctor working out of her home in a squalid colony. It’s not the first time Blade has sought her help.

***

Can we please come in?”

Marshall slowly turned to Blade, tearing her eyes from Chase at the last possible second.

“No,” she said. “I haven’t gotten everything repaired from your last friendly visit.”

“Marshall, please?”

She stared up at him her eyes large and devoid of amusement. “I have a hole in my wall. The wind and rain come into my house through the hole in my wall. I didn’t want a hole in my wall, but thanks to you I now have a hole in my wall.”

“I can fix the hole in your wall,” Blade said.

***

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!

Saturday Snippet: Breaking Grav

On By jccasselsIn Black Wing Chronicles, SFFS21 Comments

Welcome to Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday. Snippets of ten sentences or less are yours for the reading!

Today’s snippet comes from Book Three of The Black Wing Chronicles ~ BARRON’S LAST STAND.

Five years after HERO’S END,  Bo has been hired by a crime boss to break his younger brother out of Akita Detention Center. Once safely outside the prison’s walls, they’ve made it back to her ship — Sundance — and are preparing to break grav. Things are about to get complicated. Bo is going to learn the picket ships are the least of her concern.

***

She called out instructions to her ship all the way to the flight deck. “Sundance, get the shields on-line right away. I want full weapons systems before we raise ship. How long before the sublights and repulsors are ready to break grav?”

Already the ship’s engines were rumbling with enough power to set the deckplates into a steady vibration.

“As soon as you strap in, Commander, and run your pre-flight, you may raise ship,” Sundance pertly replied.

Bo’s lips quirked at the subtle reminder to buckle up and run a systems check before even attempting to lift off.

“You’re as bad as Edge,” she chided her ship under her breath. But, dutifully, Bo fastened her g-locks as soon as she’d settled into the pilot’s seat.

***

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!

Saturday Snippet: Cool Your Jets

On By jccasselsIn Black Wing Chronicles, SFFS20 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 ~ HERO’S END.

This week, we’re hitting the first page! In SOVRAN’S PAWN, Bo’s brother Edge commented that she needed to find some female friends. In book two, she’s found it useful to travel with her Kiara cousins, Tese (from SP) and Gena. Not only do they help her with the tricky primping that Bo hates so much, but having a pair of vivacious party girls with supermodel looks around, no one looks too closely at Bo.

As the book opens, they are getting ready to meet up with Blade and Chase at the Catarrh Endurance Rally. While Tese was working on Bo’s hair, a shipwide alarm interrupted the primping and Bo’s making a mad dash from the cargo hold to the flight deck at the opposite end of the ship. Oh, and she’s wisely carrying her shoes in her hand.

***

Grinning, Bo mounted the steps to the flight deck and slid sideways into the pilot’s seat. She dropped her shoes underneath the nav console where they would be out of the way. “Okay, Sundance, I’m here. What do you have for me?”

Bo buckled herself into the g-locks and switched over to manual control as she scanned the readouts, orienting herself quickly to the situation.

“Commander, we are entering Catarrh airspace at an illegal rate of speed,” her shipboard computer said. “Planetary authorities have ordered us to reduce speed and enter the approach corridor.”

Bo nodded. She was already on it. She keyed the braking thrusters and adjusted the ship’s course.

***

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!

Saturday Snippet: Playing The Mark, Not The Cards

On By jccasselsIn Black Wing Chronicles, SFFS24 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 ~ HERO’S END.

Last week, the Five-Point game with Bo and “Rex” started heating up with an all or nothing bet with Bo’s father’s stasis pod on the line.

***

Bo rubbed the palm of her hand against the weapon’s grip, never taking her eyes off her gruesome opponent. Timing was everything. She couldn’t accept too quickly, or he’d smell a setup. She couldn’t take too long or she’d lose him. Play the mark, not the cards. Royce’s words echoed in her mind. Bo watched Rex, waiting for the tell-tale signal that the timing was right.

His smile widened ever-so-slightly in victory.

There it was.

***

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!

Saturday Snippet: Ante Up

On By jccasselsIn Black Wing Chronicles, SFFS23 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 ~ HERO’S END.

Last week, the Five-Point game with Bo and “Rex” started heating up with an all or nothing bet with Bo’s father’s stasis pod on the line.

***

A wheezing sound that passed for laughter hissed partly from Rex and partly from the mechanics in his motorized chair. The effect was unsettling.

“Very simple, Barron,” he said. “To see my cards, you must place a Capre X2S Mergent Arms blaster on the table.”

Bo’s hand dipped to the handle of the weapon sitting snugly on her hip in its custom quick-draw rig. “You know that’s not the only weapon I’m carrying, right?”

“I would be disappointed in you if it were,” he said. “But the Capre is the only one I’m interested in. That weapon has been passed down from Barron to Barron for centuries.”

***

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!

Saturday Snippet: Negotiations

On By jccasselsIn Black Wing Chronicles, SFFS27 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 ~ HERO’S END.

Last week, the Five-Point game with Bo and “Rex” started heating up with an all or nothing bet with Bo’s father’s stasis pod on the line.

***

Her lips twitched. “Oh, I have something to offer you, otherwise you wouldn’t have consented to play me. What do you want, Rex?”

“What do you have to offer?”

She shook her head. “You have something in mind,” she said. “I’m not making an offer. What’s the price to see your cards?”

“You are not as innocent as you look.”

“That’s what they said at my trial.”

***

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!

Saturday Snippet: All Or Nothing

On By jccasselsIn Black Wing Chronicles, SFFS24 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 ~ HERO’S END.

The game between Bo and “Rex” is heating up.

***

His cracked and lipless mouth curved in a travesty of a smile. “Let’s dispense with the pretense that you’re here because of my winning personality.”

With a thump, Bo let her chair fall forward back onto all four legs. “Fine. Let’s.”

“One last wager — all or nothing on this hand,” he practically purred.

It was no secret that Rex cheated. Bo knew that he had a perfect Five-Point in his hand. It was the only thing that would beat her. She leaned forward bracing her elbows on her knees.

***

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!