As I said, an update! Many ups and downs over the last few years which is partly why this has been so dead. Hi, if you’re still here. :D Missed you!
I had a point where I was starting many, many things and finishing nothing. I was beginning to feel cursed. Haha. Curses aren’t real…excuse me, need to knock on wood and toss some salt. Anyway! I resolved to break the “curse” and with the assistance and encouragement of my husband and our best friend I was able to finish SHE WHO STORMS. They loved it. They encouraged me to go back out on query so here I am!
I have a half-complete novel I am feeling my way through, but for some reason as much as I love the characters and the setting I feel like it meanders and need to figure out what is wrong. So, in the meantime I am working on something else. Another thing I am super excited about. The title is REAWAKENING SABINA. And, yes, I will surely share an excerpt at some point, but I am still in the early stages, feeling my way around the three pov characters.
Back to SHE WHO STORMS I have a little excerpt to share. Not a big one. This has been a vague, meandering post, but my tooth hurts! Still, I am going to go for a nice weekly update here and figure out this blog thing again. In the meantime:
“You’re really her.” Vlasis held out a piece of bread smeared with fish paste and a hunk of salted beef. “I didn’t think you were real.”
“Few stories lack any truth.”
“But, I mean, my uncle told tales of you.”
“Was your uncle someone who fought?”
“Nah. He said he never did. Just knew a lot of people. Helped out sometimes with the militia in Mifiliks.”
Lots of people “assisted” militias. Usually, it was not simply giving them a place to sleep or a bit of food. Vlasis watched me as I took a bite of the bread and chewed. The bread was still fresh, so the paste wasn’t needed to chew with ease, but it added more sustenance and I’d had no dinner or breakfast so was thankful for it.
“What was your uncle’s name? Maybe I have heard of him.”
“Well, no one really knows him off Mifiliks.”
“I fought there. And the islands to either side. I’ve fought across this whole archipelago, k-” I coughed on the word I’d started to say. He was not the sort to take to being called kid. “Sorry.”
“My uncle is Ceranoh. He is the governor of Liliks province.” He paused there, likely waiting for me to say I’d never heard of him. The kid was wrong.
The name had me coughing again. I knew Ceranoh. He was a rat who’d sold out plenty for a bit of coin. That he was a governor did not surprise. Men like him turned into heroes of the people. His people. My own troops had fared less well under his contract, and I bit back a grin. Here was someone I’d be honored to add to my bag.
Vlasis stared at my continued silence, so I found a more staid grin before speaking.
“I do know your uncle. Perhaps if we pass that way I might stop in and say hello. I’m sure he won’t remember me from our time so long ago.” At first, I thought this was why he looked familiar, but I could not recall what Ceranoh looked like. He certainly didn’t act like him.
The kid laughed and spit breadcrumbs all over his tunic and mine. At least he looked ashamed. “Of course, he would remember you! I will never forget meeting She Who Storms. Shall I post a letter before we leave?”
“No, no,” I said with what I hoped was a casual wave of the hand holding my beef. “I wouldn’t want him to go to any trouble. Especially since I don’t know when I might make it. I can send a note when I reach Mifiliks.” And not have to fight my way through so many soldiers when I got there. I did not feel the need to kill those who had done nothing to me.