Gingerbread Men

This little snippet is from a stand alone book called Gingerbread Men.  It is set in a future where mostly everyone is gone; (like in Steven Kings: The Stand or The movie I Am Legend).  This book is like two stories that are interwoven to make one. the main characters are Jordan Campbell (Doyle) & Jess Campbell.  This snippet is the prologue and tells of the very violent beginnings to their lives.  Jordan and Jess are not a couple in this story except in the prologue.

Gingerbread Men: PROLOGUE

I suppose I should start off with the last thing I can remember from my past... it’s complicated; so I won’t go into great details. I’ll just stick to the main facts, well here we go...

I had been in an on again off again relationship with Jess Campbell for almost three years, when I came home one day to find that he was not alone, no need to say what they were doing, but suffice to say that I blew my top... I called them every name I could lay my tongue to, and then threw them out, the unit was in my name; Jess was sometimes my live in visitor.

I stayed in the apartment for three days, I was too ashamed to face the neighbours, whom I was sure heard every little thing that I had said, I wondered how many of them had known about Jess and my best friend Alyson. Not much went unnoticed in our building, they would never come right out and tell me, but they’d whisper behind closed doors and for me that was enough... anyway I digress so I must return to the facts.

For three days I had wallowed in my own pain at how I could have been so blind, but I had put the three days to good use, I had rid the apartment of anything that would remind me of Jess. I boxed it all up neatly to have it returned, the only thing I destroyed were the pictures that featured the both of us the rest I gave to him. I gave him anything we had brought together only keeping what I knew was mine. It all fit into five boxes.

The funny thing is while I packed those boxes I thought it was strange, almost sad that after three years that’s all we had gotten together. Our lives together fit into those five boxes. I felt a great weight lift off my shoulders during the packing; this was the first time I had ever packed up his stuff, and I knew it was the right thing for me to do. I felt free.

The hardest part was picking up the phone to call him, having to hear his voice... I breathed a sigh of relief when his brother Conner answered, I explained that I wanted Jess’s stuff gone and he agreed to come straight around and pick it up. I had never liked Conner, not even as a friend, and as uncomfortable as I was in having to be under his questioning and mocking gaze, I was grateful that I didn’t have to face Jess and the humiliation he would make me feel... or he would smile that smile and my knees would go weak and I would give in just like I always did... you think I don’t know that I’m a fool where Jess is concerned... but I loved him, but we won’t go into that bit of insanity.

I’d just made a coffee when a knock came at the door, it couldn’t be Conner already he was still at least twenty minutes away... my heart all but stopped when I looked through the spy hole and saw Jess’s smiling face... It looked as though I was going to have to face him after all.

“Hello Jess,” it was the only thing I could think of to say... I never even got the ess out before I was knocked flat on the floor... not by Jess, he’d never hit me, he didn’t believe in hitting people. So he had his friends do it for him, Alyson... my supposedly best friend’s foot caught me just below the rib cage but I managed to roll with the kick.

My mouth was bleeding as I looked up at Jess who was calmly sitting on the couch watching as his friends beat me to death. His smile faltered momentarily as I pushed myself up enough to stand. There were three of them Alyson and two guys I had never seen before... I don’t mind telling you that I was scared shitless. I knew I wasn’t going to make it out alive, this had always been my worst fear a slow and painful death and Jess knew it.

I couldn’t even comprehend what Alyson was screaming at me my attention was focused solely on Jess and that smile. The two guys hit me from either side and I felt my legs break, I had never felt such pain before in my life.  At that point in time I was willing myself to die as they rained blow after blow upon me... and that’s where my memory stops.

*~*~*

That was almost a year and a half ago now... to be precise it was fifteen months, eleven days, six hours, four minutes and the seconds keep ticking by. I only found out two hours ago that I was still alive, when I woke up here and they called me Mr Campbell.  I nearly had heart failure as I saw the silver ring on my hand.  Jess immediately sprang to mind and I’m ashamed to admit that I was only capable of throwing up at the whole idea. The thought of Jess being anywhere near me was enough to make me fall apart. That smile... the smile I had always loved, now filled me with unsurmountable amounts of terror... but it wasn’t the case; as they were leaving the room I heard them mention Conner.

My mind raced was this some cruel joke, some sort of twisted revenge for all the times I had ignored him completely. I didn’t know, but I was sure I was going to find out. They told me he would be arriving shortly.

By the way did I mention that the year is now 4320, and my name is Jordon Doyle... that would be Jordon Campbell now, and I am twenty one years old, though I must have missed my last two birthdays, not that it matters?

I should also tell you a bit about our world and our way of life... there’s not much to tell really. Basically the world has changed, there really isn’t any system to things, we seemed to have depopulated, and nobody really knows why, or how, all they know for sure is that over the last twenty years the earth just shed itself of about three quarters of each species... now those who survived are gathering together all set on making the same damn mistakes that brought this down on us in the first place

This is where my story begins and my life becomes complicated.

VERY COMPLICATED...

Weekly Read

Light and Sirens by: Stephani Hecht.

This is book three in the series: EMS Heat.  Though you could read it as a stand alone book; I recommend you read the series from the beginning as the characters interact throughout all the books.  Yet out of the whole series this is the one I read the most, because I love the main characters: Lucas Harris who is a nurse & Matt Shaw Who is a medic... the story line is set in and around Flint , Michigan.

Seriously though, this book has it all, there is laughter and tears (& yes, I recommend tissues be within reach while reading this book).

I loved the way Ms Hecht has shown the bond of love and friendship in this group of people that work in and around the St. Michael's Hospital.  Sometimes you will love them and other times you just want to slap the hell out of them; that is until you read their story and realise why they behave the way they do. That is when you fall in love with them all over again.

Ms Hecht has neither glossed over the hurt that the characters feel; nor has she made their happiness seem to bubbly.  The characters in this series; when you read about there lives they seem real, because the shit that happens to them is what is happening to people in everyday life.

Other series I can recommend of Ms Hecht's to read are:

The Drone Vampires.

The Lost Shifters. (I love this series).

Friends to Lovers.

Tall, Mean, & Darkly.

I haven't as yet read her Blue line Hockey series & the Archangel series but by the works of Ms Hecht's that I have read so far both in series or as stand alone books, I know that I will enjoy them immensely.

I will end off with my favourite lines from this book:

Lucas didn't know how much he was ready to share, so he decided to distract Jessie.  "Did I really make an ass out of myself on the dance floor?"

Jessie bit his bottom lip, almost as if he were holding back laughter before he said, "You did the Worm.  Does that answer your question?"

"Oh, my God.  Did I really?"  Lucas scrambled to remember exactly what dances he had done and most of what he recalled wasn't pretty.

"Well, you mostly laid on the floor and wiggled some.  But you screamed I'm doing the worm! I'm doing the worm!  So, we all knew your intent."

"Damn."  Lucas held his hand to his stomach as he realised he would have to go into work and face a whole bunch of people who had witnessed that.

Jessie cocked his head to the side.  "Actually, it looked more like a slug to me, but I don't think they have a dance move called that."

"Damn," Lucas repeated, sinking even lower.

What's the Goss'?

Firstly I want to say thank-you to Tiffany, who helped me make a decision as to whether or not to keep Tash as a workable story.  Feedback is a marvellous thing; it really is.

Well for the last couple of days I have been working on a bit of everything.  I am at loose ends as to what to settle on.  Plus, I have been cleaning out my office and finding all sorts of scribbled story line ideas.  So for the next couple of days I will post snippets of different things and get you guys to tell me whether I should keep it or toss it.

Today's snippet is what I am thinking might be good for another blog story.  It is called: The Freedomers... I have mentioned it before.  Just a refresher the main characters are Zephaniah or Zeph (Chance Merrick ) & Nate (Nathaniel Taylor)

SNIPPET

“You people make me sick!”  Chance spat out as he stared at the half starved rabble before him.  He wasn’t prone to outbursts of anger; but of late, they were becoming more frequent.  “When are you going to realise that.  To them, you are nothing.  To them, you were an experiment that went wrong; or for your sakes, went right.”

“But the bible says...” Chance Glared at the woman who had spoken out.  It was Amber.  It was always Amber.  She had for the past six months been his biggest adversary; but she had also been the one that had kept him alive; by stopping the others from killing him.

Chance sighed as he spoke again, “Your bible is wrong.”  He spoke slowly, letting every word sink in so that they all understood exactly what he meant.

“What are you saying?  Are you telling us that there is no God?  That heaven doesn’t exist?”  Amber asked in her usual forceful manner.  The distrust she felt for this creature was evident to all.  She heard what he had said, but she didn’t want to believe it.  For if she had to believe it, than she had to disbelieve everything she had ever been taught throughout her whole entire life.

“Not as you remember him.  My people were never quite sure where you got that notion from.  At first it suited them, but now it doesn’t.  They are tired of it, and they are tired of you.  Your annihilation has begun,” he watched the fear grow in their faces.

“And why should we follow you?  You’re not even a man yet.”  Joshua pushed his way to the front until he stood beside Amber.  At thirty four he was the eldest, and thought he should be in charge.  He thought that he should lead them; and not this creature that was part of the problem itself.

Chance extended his wings until they just showed past his shoulders.  “I will never be a man,” he whispered, “but, I know how they think.  I know their strengths, their weaknesses, their defences, and their failings.  Do you?”  He directed his words straight at Joshua.  As a Tilly walked towards him, Chance automatically pulled her down beside him.  His arm went around her shoulders and held her against him.  Golden hair framed her face as she began to fall asleep.  He turned his attention back to Joshua.  “You are right, you have no reason to trust me, none at all... except, the moment I killed one of my own to save one of yours, I went from being one of the hunters, to one of the hunted.”  His eyes drifted over them all.  “I am not a God to be worshipped, nor am I one of his angels...  I am just another being trying to survive.”

The hush that had fallen over the group erupted into a babble of voices, as each person present demanded to be heard.  The only ones not speaking were Merrick, and the now sleeping Tilly.

“People... People, listen up.”  Amber shouted to make herself heard over the noise.  No matter what resentment she felt towards this creature he was right.  He knew what they did not.  He knew what they needed, and if they were to survive then they needed him to teach them; and teach them soon.

“People... You all know that I have more reason to hate Merrick than most of you, but he’s right.  If we are to beat them, than we have to do it together and that means everyone.  Forget what you were in the past, for that life no longer exists, nothing matters except our survival.”  She turned to Chance, “Well Merrick, what have you got to say?”

Chance shifted the sleeping girl in his arms her hand slid around his back to grasp hold of one winged appendage in her sleep.  “We have to get off the surface of this planet.  We need to get underground.  The deeper the better.  They have trouble reading what is below this planet’s surface.  They...”

“Earth!  This planet you keep referring to has a name, this planet, is called Earth!”  Grant’s deep voice overrode Chances words.  This was the first time that Grant had ever spoken up in a group discussion, and with that one small sentence he had gained the collective respect and admiration of everyone present, including Chance.

Chance thought about it for a while.  He had never heard it called that; and if he had it had never really meant anything to him.  He had only ever heard it referred to as DXT5069B... but Earth had a nice ring to it.  He looked at each of them in turn before he spoke again.  “They have trouble detecting what is below the Earth’s surface,” his eyes finally coming to rest on Grant.

“Mallory, bring whatever maps we have of the area.  Jace, Zane, Grant, go out and get more wood, but be careful, we don’t know what’s out there.”  As Amber spoke, Chance noticed that not one person questioned her authority.  They actually listened to her.  If these people were going to survive, than they had to unite under one person; and that one person was Amber.  He, himself, would never be able to lead them.  They would never fully trust him.  They were unwilling to look past his physical appearance, and they would never see that he was fighting for the right to survive just like the rest of them.

Just A Thought

I found this beginning of story among my clutter in the office and wondered if I should keep it to work on or toss it out.  So I am going to put the first two pages I wrote up and see if it catches an interest.

The story is a one off called: Tash;  It is set slightly in the future and is about Toby Ashwood (Tash) who was married at birth due to a debt that the family could not repay, &  Gideon Thorpe who was the fifteen year old boy of a wealthy family that he was married to.  When Tash's father died he ran away, only to come back twelve years later as a friend of Gil Thorpe; Gideon's son.

Please forgive any Typo's and bad punctuation:

TASH: CHAPTER 1

The shit was about to hit the fan and he had no way of stopping it.  Starr had always said that one day his past would catch up with him and now here it was slapping him in the face.  As they approached the high wrought iron gates Tash wondered whether the sound of his heart beating was as loud to Gil as it was to him, it felt as though hundreds of horses were galloping across the open plains like in many of those old movies he had seen that Starr had so lovingly kept.  How often had he joked about his sincere devotion to his collection of antique movies?  Now he just wished he was at home snuggled up on the couch instead of standing here waiting for Gil's retina scan to end and allow them entry; a slight breeze tugged at the strawberry blond curls at the nape of Gil’s neck.

Tash was conscious of the abundance of security focused on this one gate, right now he could see three cameras aimed straight at them and wondered whether Gideon Thorpe was somewhere inside at this very moment watching them.  If so, would he recognise him, and if he did, then what did she intend to do about it?  Had he changed much in the last twelve years?  Tash felt nervous as it had been a very long time since he had last stood in the same room as Gideon, he couldn’t stop his stomach from somersaulting with anxiety.

Was he doing the right thing?  His gut instinct was telling him to run, to turn around and run like there was no tomorrow, run away and never look back.  On the other hand his heart and his head were telling him to go through with it; to get it over and done with or he’d never be able to move on in his life.  Tash’s chest ached with indecision as he realised the momentum of what she was about to do.

Tash forced himself to stare straight at one of the cameras; he wondered if all the security was meant to keep people out or all those who entered in?  ‘But,’ he supposed if he owned and ran three quarters of all the sectors in this city, then the security wasn’t such a bad thing, there were all kinds of weirdo’s and freaks running around out there.  Tash released the breath he had been holding at the sound of the locking mechanism being released and then it hit him.

“Gil... Gil I can’t do this.  It’s not time, I need to go home.”  Tash whispered as he backed away from the opening.  It terrified him that he had been willing to complicate his own life beyond all reasoning.  “This is a mistake,” goose bumps erupted all over his body; he needed more time.

Gil turned and stared at his frightened face.  “Tash,” he stepped cautiously towards him, “Honey, what’s wrong?”  Gil had never seen Tash like this before, he looked absolutely scared stiff.

“I can’t do this... I need more time,” he shook his head.  “It’s too soon, I’m just not ready.”

“It’s alright,” Gil whispered soothingly into his hair.  Gil enfolded Tash into his embrace “I’ll look after you... I promise I won’t let anything bad happen,” he marvelled at how fragile Tash felt; how much Tash needed him at this moment.  “I will always protect you, you know that, don’t you?”

“You won’t be able to stop it...  If I walk through that gate something bad is going to happen, and you will end up hating me.”  Tash whispered even as he allowed Gil to pull him into enemy territory.  The Gil that smiled at him now seemed like a total stranger to him; he was different to the Gil he had known all year.  To the Gil that had been in love with Starr.  The shy clumsy Gil that could light up a whole room just by smiling.  Why wasn’t that Gil here now?  That Gil would understand his need to flee.

It was now or never... wasn’t this his destiny?  Wasn’t this where he belonged?  He might belong here, but that didn’t mean that this was where he wanted to be.  Then what the hell was he doing here?  What had possessed him to agree to come here?  Tash shuddered at the thought of all those cameras following him.  Tash tentatively placed his hand in Gil's as they started the slow walk up the driveway; his hand felt comfortable in Gil’s grasp, they had done this a lot since Starr’s death, whenever he had needed a shoulder to cry on; Gil had been there with a big box of tissues in hand.

On Writing & Other Things

Sometimes I think that my computer hates me; no seriously... I have spent the past two days tidying up all the manuscripts I am working on, and putting pictures on the covers.  Oh, I know they won't get used, but I feel better knowing that something is there... anyway, I was putting in page numbers etc... and on some MS's the cover is blank and on others there is a 0... and for the life of me I can't figure out how to get it to go away.

I am in the process of trying to put all my character notes from my varies note books onto the computer; it is long and boring job I can tell you; mind you, I keep getting sidetracked from what I am supposed to be doing... which doesn't help at all.

also I have to catch up on some reviews for two different groups that I need to do (ebook addicts and The Rainbow Awards).  Plus I am trying to get everything up to date before I fly out to Atlanta.  Only 32 more days to go... not that I am counting.

Sidetracked

Yes it happened again! I am so blaming my friend Taylor V, for getting me sidetracked yesterday.  I was planning on spending the afternoon working on Real You; but after a conversation with Tay, I ended up looking at pictures all afternoon. But boy I can't be cranky at Tay, because they were some awesome pictures.

My daughter saw a picture and has decided that I need to write a scene around it, so that I can put it in my story: All The Pretty Things... which is number 12 in my series: The Lines Of Marsden.  It is a story that revolves around Maffa (Mathew Farnell), who is a werewolf & Lorenz Bowen, who is a member of the Faeries that come to seek an alliance with Michael Marsden, who is king of the Vampires and his followers.

They mate by accident; but by both races it is for life... which leads to some misunderstandings, and very funny moments as these two characters try and sort out there relationship.

I can guarantee that this will make for a fun story to write at the moment I just have notes lying all over my office.  Man I think I need to get myself more organised. I can see that I will have a busy time ahead as I juggle all the projects I have on my plate.  Well, at least if I get bored I will be able to switch between each story...

Weekly Read

Sean Michael: Unlikely Hero.

I would just like to start off by saying that I absolutely love this book.  I would recommend it to anyone as it truly is a beautiful story... Ms Michael has done a fabulous job in the telling of this tale.

This story brings tears to the eyes and tugs at the heartstrings from the very first page... From kidnapping of a child to the reunion of two men that are still so much in love, even after nine years have passed.  It took something bad to happen to bring Brock Vencenza & Eric Wilson back together... and the love of Josie that will keep them together.

I loved the fact that with so much hate in the story, Ms Michael let Brock & Eric's love shine through... Never once did their love for each other and Josie ever fail... No matter what life and family threw at them they stood strong.

I can guarantee that tissues will be needed while reading this story... possibly many times.  I have been a fan of Ms Michael's for as long as I have been reading MM books... two other series of hers that I love are: The Jarhead series & the Between Friends series... Oh and I couldn't forget First Steps.

On that note I will leave you with my Favourite lines from this wonderful story that is Unlikely hero.

"My papers.  My papers are in the desk at home.  The legal stuff.  In case.  Bee you have to know I still love you.  Fuck, I hurt."

"Shh. Once I get Josie settled, I'm calling my lawyer.  Everything's taken care of, I swear."  He made sure that he had Eric's eyes.  "You know me -- when I say I take care of it, it's taken care of.  Now you need to pull it together, because that little girl wants nothing more in this world but to see her daddy."

"Tell me you heard me.  Please."

"I heard you, Eric."  How could he not have?

"Okay."  Eric seemed to go boneless. "Okay."