I've Got a Short Story Up At Underneath The Juniper Tree!

Just a short post to say that a short story of mine is up over at Underneath The Juniper Tree!
I'm very excited about it, as the story has grown through several edits since I first wrote it and I'm proud of the final result.

It Lives... or, at Least, It Struggles to Do So...

Hey y'all! How's that for a Southern greeting? So I'm still around. I've just been uber busy with work, and life in general. The internet was down at work, and I screwed myself by streaming too much video on my own internet stick (anime, Claymore and Last Exile) and so now I'm almost over my internet stick limit, and because I'm not rich, getting charged a bunch of overage charges would pretty much destroy my world. So my internet has been spotty to say the least.

A few things that have gone on:

My little cousin graduated! Ugh, he's the 'last' cousin... the baby... *rends hair and cackles like the Crypt Keeper*

I've written a few more short stories. I CAN NOT tell you how awesome Underneath The Juniper Tree is. I implore you, go check them out. Participate in the weekly challenges. Download their first issue and sit up under the covers with a flashlight (or in this day and age, a flashlight app) and read into the small hours. Then scare yourself silly running to the bathroom before bed.

I sent out one query... I KNOW... probably early... but I've gone over Thornbriar three times now, and that's on top of the initial transcribing edit... so we'll see...

I've worked on The Bonds of Aether, my steampunk-monk-in-an-arranged-marriage-zombie-armies WIP...

I'm frighteningly close to finishing Red Chief... but I'm wondering if it's going to be 'different' enough to stand against the other Faery UF out there... time will tell I guess...

I scuba dived in a flooded horse stall....

Gotcha on that last one didn't I? Well, it's a sort of true story. But that's for another time. For now, I'm off to muck unflooded stalls...

Made of Awesome Blogfest Contest!

Okay, so I'm participating in the Made of Awesome Blogfest Contest which is being put on by Shelley Watters.

Here's my entry:


Title: Thornbriar
Genre: YA Fantasy Retelling
Word Count: 71,500

The first arrow nearly killed Beauty. If she had not had the good luck to trip over her injured coachman at just that moment, it would have pierced her breast. As it was, the black shaft of the arrow passed through her ruby curls while she was staggering sideways. The coachman cried out when she trampled his broken leg in an attempt to regain her balance, but Beauty ignored him, turning to look in the direction from whence the black arrow had come.

She could see the archer then, facing her directly, a second arrow aimed at her heart. Although he stood in the underbrush a great distance away, he seemed much closer, his features clear and strange. His long hair danced in a breeze that touched nothing else, it’s pale silver blond strands sparkling in a stray beam of sunlight. His ivory skin glowed luminously, eyes solid black. He seemed a spirit, rather than a mortal man.

“Lady Beauty!” The injured coachman pulled on the skirts of her gown, breaking her trance.

Beauty heard the hiss of air and swirled, throwing herself to the ground behind her coachman. Three arrows whistled, following her motion with astonishing speed. All missed their mark by only fractions.

When her coachman pushed himself onto one elbow to shield her, she caught sight of the archer, again with an arrow directed her way. He held this one though, his unearthly face contorted in rage.


Can't wait to read the other entries!