Changeling – AUMCF – Chapter 6

Saturday, February 7, 1998

Tommy bought a newspaper and a large coffee at the first filling station past the mall, and he ran the car through the auto-wash to get rid of the layer of road film that had built up on the body panels of the Audi in the last few days.

He drove across town and past the airport, until he arrived at the Amarillo Gun Club. In the mostly empty parking lot, he turned on the radio, unfolded the paper, and settled back to read while he drank his coffee.

He glanced around at the low-key white buildings, and then checked the other cars to see if perhaps someone else was also waiting for their mark.

Someone on the range kept firing a gun, a large caliber handgun judging from the sound.

Tommy returned to sipping his coffee while he read. He’d been around guns at the clubs so often that a hand cannon could go off right beside his head, and aside from needing to rub his ear, he wouldn’t flinch.

Figures…

So I’m just checking in with an update. We’re no where near having an internet connection or a proper phone line in the new place. It’s looking like it may be December or even January before I’ll be back online. Fear not, for I shall work soon to load the blog with scheduled posts, even if I have to work out of an internet café.

I’ve had a shock with an old friend contacting me to tell me about the death of another friend. This is weighing on my mind a lot right now.

About the only other thing to report is that I’m writing for NaNoWriMo, and I updated my word count using the first week’s output, a slim 24,000 words for Mmmm…Crunchy! I expect to finish early, which is why I’m also working on another story, Candy Takes the Rap. During my best day this week, I cranked out a full 11,800 words. Yes, in one day.  Booyah. On the downside, mostly they were smut about ass sex, or violence or bad comedy. Whatever the case, it was mostly crap and mental masturbation. I like it anyway, and hubby keeps asking me what’s so fucking funny every time I burst into evil laughing.

Okay, time to run away from this cold room and get back to my warm room. See you again whenever. (Lousy Italy telecoms…mutter, mutter)

Changeling – AUMCF – Chapter 5

Saturday, February 7, 1998

Jenny woke up aware that Tommy was watching her. He was feeling guilty for merging his soul with hers, but now that he had, she also knew the reason why.

Everything he’d done had drawn her in, and even if his affection for her was genuine, his sole motivation for pursuing her was to bring her in on his scams.

Tommy thought, It was a gamble whether or not I would be compatible with you, but I knew after I triggered your full transformation.

Jenny nodded. “I gave myself away by changing personalities when Marcus spotted you.”

Changeling – AUMCF – Chapter 4

Friday, February 6, 1998

Dropping into the back passenger seat, Tommy glowered at his uncle during Henry’s fast walk around the front of the grey Audi Quattro sedan. As soon as he was settled in the driver’s seat, Tommy asked, “Were you trying to make a believable distraction?”

“No, Matilda’s in bad shape again.” Henry started the engine and pulled the car away from the curb. “I called to check in with Kevin, and he said that Jasmine went to Goodnight to cover the bills. Dr. Cavanaugh cleared out our saving account for the room deposit and to make baseline tests.”

Tommy groaned, slumping back on the seat. His head lay on the top, and he scowled with a brooding expression out the back windshield. “Thanks, Henry. I thought I already had enough problems trying to figure out how to train Jenny, and now you tell me that we’re so broke that my cousin has gone back to hooking.”

Changeling – AUMCF – Chapter 3

Friday, February 6, 1998

Jenny hunched in her seat in front of her desk. She hoped to distract herself by reading her e-mail, and what she found was a new message from Amber:

Marcus/Jenny,

You’ve gone and gotten quiet on me. Then again, what I had to show you was pretty shocking, so I guess this may be our last message for a while, depending on whether or not you answer this one.

I’ll just make a brief update. You should be happy to know that since you’ve left, I’ve mostly been on “pet supplies” to keep me going. I have had one or two strong cravings that required going out, but I only ate junk food. I hope you understand what I mean, and I hope you can forgive me for slipping even farther away from my old self. Dimitri took something from me, and there’s no way for me to recover it now. For better or worse, this is who I am now, and if that offends you, I’ll understand.

I hope that even if you don’t want to see me or Vicky again, you will at least reply to let me know what you think. Maybe I’m not your girlfriend anymore, but I still care about your opinion.

Um…so, that’s the news from our side of the state. How are your magic skills now? Are you still playing with water? Or have you figured out any other tricks yet?

Your…friend?

Amber

Jenny sat back, frowning as she read the letter over. She could guess that junk food meant that Amber had sought out criminals to kill and feed from.

Changeling – AUMCF – Chapter 2

Thursday, February 5, 1998

After dinner, Tommy leaned over and whispered, “We should go to your room to talk privately.”

It was not a question, and Jenny wanted to be angry with him. Instead, she blushed and started nodding. She had no idea what he had in mind, but there were no coherent thoughts in her head, only two jumbled masses of loosely related chaos. One stream of sentiments was driven by her excitement to learn more about Tommy, and the other by her fear of him.

The fear didn’t stop her from getting up from the table. She excused herself, muttering that she wanted to talk to Tommy in her room. Her throat dried up, and her voice came out as a squeak.

She risked a glance around the table and confirmed that everyone was shocked by her behavior. Even Simone looked surprised by her sudden interest in Tommy.

Jenny blushed and dropped her head, following Tommy into the hall. He slowed down again to match his pace to hers as they walked to the stairs.

Now entering an offline zone…

Tonight, we will start sleeping over at the new apartment. This will mean no internet connection unless I walk back over here to use the connection, and that may not be on much longer anyway.

I’m going to load up the blogs with serial fiction for November without 4th draft edits. This means that they will have to be edited again before they become “official” canon and get stored on the stories archive. There will not be any nonfiction rants or rambles, just serial fiction posts from Changeling, and both blogs will carry the story for now, to suit your reading preferences.

The telecom provider is predicting 3 weeks of down time, and that was in line with my predictions to hubby. (Huzzah, I’m psychic! I can foresee epic bullshit weeks in advance.) If it goes past that point, I’ll put in an extra week of buffer chapters, and if it goes past that, well you’re stuck until I get back. Sorry.

One last thing: thanks for stopping by. Hopefully I’ll be back to my regular rants and rambles sooner than December.

Changeling: An Urban Musical Crime Fantasy – Chapter 1

A brief note from the author:

Welcome, readers, to the first book of Jenny/Marcus Wrigley. Before we get started, I want to take a moment to introduce you to the narrator, who never takes the time to introduce herself in this tale, or in her past storytelling efforts. She’s worked as the narrator in Touched, Blood Relations and Shadow Walker, and this will be her last story with Jenny/Marcus before Apollo takes over the role in the next book.

(Yes, there already is a next book, and you’re either going to love the new narrator, or call for my slow burning death.)

But this narrator, objective and distanced, is Shiva, a demigod of death and destruction. In this world, Shiva used to be a male demigod, but he castrated and then transformed himself into a female.

He did this after his followers stoned another demigod to death, Mars. Mars could partially be blamed, since he refused to transubstantiate to avoid physical injury. In effect, his stubborn male pride kept him fighting even after he’d been grievously wounded with a cold iron blade.

Shiva decided that wasn’t how he wanted to go down, and he became a she. Shiva stepped away from the Earth as a physical presence, but she remained behind as an insubstantial observer. She follows people of interest to her, people who lead lives of extreme violence or darkness. You might say that bloody death is her fixation.

This is how she stumbled across Amber, and how she met Jenny. She’ll tell you the story of how Jenny uncovered her genetic heritage and discovered her true calling as a bard. Shiva won’t mention herself, but she is present in every scene. She is omniscient, knowing everything as it happens.

This is her last book with Jenny. So Shiva wanted me to pass along this message to you:

“For the last time, there’s no such thing as head hopping if I know everything! It’s not my fault if you get confused following the thoughts of multiple characters in the same scene. If I’m confusing you, I hear Barney has picture books with little words.”

Uh…Shiva doesn’t get out often.

Sorry about that.

Right, on with the story…

Chapter One

Thursday, February 5, 1998

Amarillo, Texas

If the biggest spell you can cast is water the size of a baseball, you’d better pray for an invasion of sprites. Marcus Wrigley stopped humming to snort at the thought, and with his focus lost, the ball of water floating in front of him dropped.

It splashed on the grass before he could capture it again.

A review for Haunting Sins…

Becky, AKA: Shutsumon wrote up a review of Haunting Sins, with an overall score of 3.5 out of 5, and a fair warning about the adult content. She wrote:

I liked this novella a lot. It’s wonderfully creepy and atmospheric with a subtle increase in terror and not too much gore. This is just how I like my horror.

You can check out the full review here.

I want to thank Becky for reading the story and for the review.

What the hell is an Urban Musical Crime Fantasy?

In the world of dark fantasy, there is no hero more maligned than…the bard. That’s right, while everyone just adores demon slayers and witch hunters, and there’s plenty of love for good witches and half-demon heroines, the fact is, there’s not much love for the bard.

I can understand why. Their power comes from singing, and to make a book about them, you’d have to make a musical. And who in their right mind would try to sell a dark fantasy musical?

Fortunately, I am not in my right mind.