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Six Sentence Sunday

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It’s Six Sentence Sunday again. That’s right! A unique chance to travel around cyberspace getting a 6 sentence glimpse into the pre-published and published works of various authors. I’d love to hear from you. Happy travelling!

From my newly released romantic suspense, Backlash. My main characters, Chase and Lily, find themselves forced to ride together in a truck searching for a missing 13 year-old boy. Things are not going well.

“You’re being ridiculous, you know.”

Hell. On. Earth. It had to be. Where else would he find himself stuck in a confined space with someone who looked and smelled like candy coated chocolate and thought like a Rottweiler? 

Hope your enjoying Six Sentence Sunday!

Backlash is Available from The Wild Rose Press  [  Amazon Paperback ]   Amazon Ebook  ]   Bookstrand  ]  All Romance Ebooks  ]

 

Fiction Friday

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So, I’ve been reading! At one point I had three books on the go. That’s very strange for me. I generally stick to reading one book at time, with one on deck and one in the hole. All other months, except for July, August, and December, I have a book club book on the go. Hopefully. Usually I’m falling behind the eight ball on that one. This month is no exception.

Let’s start with that one. Room by Emily Donoghue. Room is the story of a five-year-old called Jack, who lives in a single room with his Ma and has never been outside. When he turns five, he starts to ask questions, and his mother reveals to him that there is a world outside. Told entirely in Jack’s voice, ROOM is no horror story or tearjerker, but a celebration of resilience and the love between parent and child.

I’ve started it and it’s so engaging and fresh. But it’s the beginning. My problem is a mistrust of words ‘no horror story or tearjerker’. I guess I’ll find out!

 

The one I’ve finished. For the first time ever I picked a book because I saw it on Facebook! Jillian Stone’s The Seduction of Phaeton Black. Loved it! A bit Steampunk, a little Sherlock Holmes-ish, hints of the erotic, some Paranormal bits.

Unfairly linked to Scotland Yard’s failure to solve the Whitechapel murders, Phaeton is offered a second chance to redeem himself. A mysterious fiend, or vampire is stalking the Strand. After a glass and a consult with the green fairy, he agrees to take on the case.

On his first surveillance, Phaeton pursues an elusive stranger and encounters several curious, horrifying beings. But the most intriguing creature of all is a Cajun beauty who captures him at knifepoint and threatens to spirit away his heart.

What a delightful book! Mary Balogh at her best. The Proposal is Book 1 of the Survivors’ Club series and Gwen, Lady Muir’s story. Gwen, wealthy, aristocratic widow after a troubled marriage, has resisted remarriage for many years. But at last she is restless and believes she could find contentment in a marriage with a quiet, refined man. Large, powerful, dour Hugo, Lord Trentham, is reluctantly in search of a practical, capable woman of middle class origin, like himself, to help with his newly busy life after his father’s death. When he rescues Gwen after she has sprained her ankle on a deserted beach, they feel a mutual dislike and resentment of each other.

I’ve only recently learned of Saskatoon author, Anthony Bidulka. His books sound awesome. I’ve been busy adding his books to my TBR pile! A gay wedding gone bad. A missing groom. An unsullied reputation at risk. Enter Russell Quant, cute, gay and a rookie private detective. With a nose for good wine and bad lies, Quant is off to France on his first big case. From the smudgy streets of Paris, he cajoles and sleuths his way to the pastel-coloured promenade of Sanary-sur-Mer.

Back in Saskatoon, Quant comes face to face with a client who may be the bad guy, a quarry who turns up in the most unexpected place and a cast of colourful suspects: the vile sister, the best friend, the colleague, the ex-lover, the lawyer, the priest, the snoopy neighbour—are they involved? Or is someone else lurking in the shadows? As he works through his case, Quant juggles his detective gig with the responsibilities of a personal life brimful of captivating personalities.

Have you discovered any new authors lately? Read any good books? Added anything to your already teetering TBR pile?


 

Six Sentence Sunday

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Once again it’s Six Sentence Sunday. Here it’s cool and overcast, the perfect day for sampling a variety of tasty fictional snippets.

In this snippet Chase, my hero, is enjoying a quiet moment of introspection.

He hated tranquil and quiet. He preferred noise and movement. Life after nine in the evening. Anonymity.

And more than one degree of separation between him and his high school sweetheart, for fuck sake.

Then again,maybe not so much enjoying as twisting the proverbial knife in the wound.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by and check out my contribution. As always, I love hearing from all of you. Have a great Six Sentence Sunday!

Imagine That

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Imagery takes a person, place, or thing and puts them in context for the reader. It aids us in getting to know an unfamiliar character by giving us, the reader, the sense of walking around in someone else’s shoes.  Not only through sight and sound, but what she tastes, touches, and smells. By using the senses you can create a clear and specific image, a certain tone or mood. It’s in the use of strong verbs and specific nouns and enhancing the right, not every, detail.

When I think of imagery, I think of this passage. I can picture that mass herd of caribou as a living entity as it swarms and moves over the land. I can feel the tiredness of the couple as they try to keep up day after day. It speaks to me and it paints that picture we writers strive to create for our readers.

 “And they came in waves. Streams of animals pouring like some liquid over the hilltops, expanding, contracting, spreading across ridge crests and passes. We followed for as long as we could each day, were overtaken when we camped for the night, and dragged our leaden limbs out of frosted sleeping bags in the mornings, to start a day of trying to keep up, all over again.” -Karsten Heuer from first weeks “Being Caribou”

So, I’m reminded that as I revise it’s not simply a tree but a specific kind of tree. Perhaps it’s a ripped Grateful Dead t-shirt instead of a shirt. It’s the corner of East Hastings Street and Gore Avenue not down the street. It may be a gun, but it’s also a specific make and model. That guy is not simply homeless. He’s called Chain Man for the ropes of chains looped around his neck. It’s his job to carry those chains, day in and day out, on the streets of Eastside Vancouver. Rain or shine, like a mail carrier with his bag of mail.

Be the image ugly or beautiful, the trick is to have it appear natural and in character. Not simply a niffy sounding descriptor, but true to my voice and style as a writer. There is no need to bedazzle the reader with my genius and clever hand with literary devices. They are useful only in their ability to help enhance the reality of the situation. Kind of like how we use salt and pepper to season a plate of food. We don’t need to pour them over every morsel. We taste first and see where it can be used to improve the favor using a delicate shake or one twist of the grinder.

The Highwayman by Alfred Noyes

The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees,

The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,

The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,

And the highwayman came riding–

Riding–riding–

The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn-door

 Do you have a favorite author with a talent for imagery? A movie you’re willing to watch over and over again for the scenery? (Mine’s Pride and Prejudice) What’s your best loves literary device?