Friday Snippet #52

October 18, 2013 Monica La Porta#FridaySnippets, a small excerpt from a NA science fiction romance novel, a snippet from a novel every friday, acrilic landscape painting on foam pumpkin, painted foam pumpkinLeave a comment

Autumn is in full bloom in the Pacific Northwest, and everywhere I look is red, orange, and yellow. Some green is left here and there.

Today, I haven’t done a lot in terms of writing and editing, but I went for a two hours walk, and I painted the first pumpkin of the 2013 batch.

Waiting on the cover for Gaia, going through edits with Elios, and halfway through with Marie’s Journey as well. Crossing fingers, I might be able to publish three titles before the year ends.

From Elios:

“I have something to tell you.” I added two of the couches from the dorms to the cafeteria’s furniture and sat on the edge of the closest one to me.

Kam stood by the food counter, ready for seconds. “I’m listening.”

I tried to keep my eyes on his face. “I’m sorry for what I did last time.”

He turned toward me, his right hand in mid-air, palm up. “Well, I would be lying if I told you it didn’t affect me.”

Sweat formed on my forehead. “I know, and I’m truly sorry.”

He was back at the counter. “Why would you refuse a Share?”

I lowered my head and then forced myself to face him. “It’s a long story.”

Kam slowly looked around. “We have all the time in the universe here.”

Right. I opened my mouth to talk, but nothing came out. I cleared my throat twice before I was able to whisper, “I didn’t want to share with you that I have feelings for a human.”

Kam’s loaded tray disappeared from his hands. “What did you say?”

I cleared my voice a third time and then repeated, “I have feelings for a human.”

“You’re serious.” After a moment of hesitation, he went to sit on the coach opposite mine.

I waited a moment to confess the rest. I was feeling dizzy.

Kam’s expression changed. “Are you okay?”

“Why—?”

His eyes followed my body from feet to head and then back.

I looked at my hands and gasped. My astral projection was unfocused. It was more a ghost of my Earthly image than a proper solid projection.

Friday Snippet #51

October 4, 2013October 4, 2013 Monica La Portaa small excerpt from a na fantasy novel, a snippet from a novel every friday, amazon gift cards giveaway, current wip, digital art, fall foliage painting, friday snippet, horoor anthology giveaway, indie giveaway, notturno the fantsy novelLeave a comment

Right in the middle of Off the Beaten Path Giveaway, I’ve taken a break from the guest posts to enjoy a beautiful autumnal afternoon. Around the ridge, trees are reddening and orange leaves are falling. The air is crisp and the sky is terse.

Gaia is in the hands of the second and final proofreader. Elios and Marie’s Journey are both being edited. Gaia’s cover is almost done as well. For the first time after months, I don’t even remember how long it has passed since last time it happened, I am writing something new. Well, Notturno it’s one of those projects I started one year ago, but I never finished it, therefore it counts as new to me.

From Notturno, a NA fanstasy novel:

Dalia found the three of them more and more revolting as minutes passed. She shrank to the farthest corner of the cage, hoping they would leave her inside and never come close enough to touch her.

The woman who was now staring at her with unblinking black eyes, held a malevolent expression on her wrinkled face. She shook her head in mock disappointment. “By the end of your staying here with us, you’ll wish the mercs kept you.”

Dalia would have told her she was already of the same opinion, but she closed her mouth tight. Her new captors didn’t seem sound of mind, and she was already of the impression that anything she’d say or do would trigger their bad tempers. She shivered under the woman’s scrutiny.

“What are we going to do with you?” The woman stepped back and tilted her head one side and then the other.

“Let her work for us.” Dant joined her, and they stood side by side, looking at Dalia.

Lars walked close by and then passed them, heading straight to the cage. “That’s a great idea, methink.”

Dant seemed to think about it for a moment, and then smashed his open palm with a fisted hand. “She could work in my bedchamber.”

Dalia was now uncontrollably shaking.

“Yes! Can she work in my bedchamber too, Catal?” Lars took the woman’s hands in his and jumped up and down, like an overgrown child.

The woman, Catal, slowly shook her head, the beads at the end of her tresses noisily clinking against each other. “You never take care of things. What if you break this one? She looks too scrawny.”

“We’ll take good care of her. We’ll even walk her outside—” Dant’s hands slid up to the woman’s elbows.

Catal forcefully loosened his hold on her arms. “She is a nocturnal. Remember?”

Friday Snippet #50

September 27, 2013September 27, 2013 Monica La Porta#FridaySnippets, a snippet from a novel every friday, digital art, indie author life, nanowrimo inspired digital art, small excerpt from a dystopian YA novel, whimsical paintingLeave a comment

I have neglected my Friday Snippets long enough, but here is number fifty in all its literary splendor.

From Marie’s Journey, the fourth installment in The Ginecean Chronicles:

“Sit on the stool and give me your left arm.” The order was given with a tired tone. The old woman must have gone through myriads of branding. She turned to her right to open a big tome lying on a low table.

Marie sat as told, but before completing the task and raising her arm, she asked, “What’s your name?”

The older woman raised her eyes from the book and looked over the brazier. Surprise was soon replaced by interest in her wary gaze. “Why do you want to know? Nobody’s ever asked before.”

“So you won’t forget about me.” Marie kept her eyes on her.

The older woman tilted her head by the side, the orange-red coals illuminated the lower part of her face and her uneven teeth shone unexpectedly white when a grin spread through her face. “They call me Mala.”

“Marie.” She raised her arm then and watched as Mala chose between several branding tools neatly arranged on a low table on her left.

Friday Snippet #41

May 10, 2013May 10, 2013 Monica La Porta#FridaySnippets, a small excerpt from a science fiction nobel, a snippet from a novel every friday, drawing of seattle melting in the sun, drawing of the space needle in the sun, free short on smashwords, sea of sun3 Comments

I survived my lecture and came back to say everything went well. If the video turned out fine, it will be posted on YouTube, otherwise you’ll have to take my word for it. In that case, I’ll declare I was fabulous.

Meanwhile, in the green land of the never ending rain there was sun. Like a lot. I got freckles all over my face since I was out for long walks every day.

In other news, I decided to put Smashwords to work and made Linda of the Night free there. If somebody will report the lower price to Amazon, eventually the short will become a perma-free. I’d rather have readers taking a chance and sample my work than having the short sitting there, collecting dust.

This Friday’s snippet is brought you by my antihistaminic. At the moment, there’s more pollen than breathable air outside my room.

From Green Grass and High Tide, a science fiction novel I wrote two or three years ago and that might see an editor in the near future:

A soft orchestra of machines sounds, hissing, chirping, and the unmistakable regular thumping of a frail heartbeat, welcomed them inside Mother’s sleeping chamber.

“Come closer my dears.” A feeble voice came from the center of the room.

“Rya, my love—” Tyo’s voice broke.

Jules looked at his father and she saw etched in his face that he missed his companion more than he wanted to show.

“Mother, how do you feel?” Lucia walked past Jules and bent on the big bed that was the point of origin of every sound in the room.

Jules stood at the door petrified, barely breathing.

“I’m happy to sense you. I think I was sleeping before you entered. Tyo, how long has been since last time you talked to me? I have troubles understanding time…” Rya painfully dragged the words one after the other.

“You had an accident several years ago, and we’re keeping you in cryonic sleep until we find a way to reconnect your mind to your body,” he answered.

Jules thought that Father could have sweetened the pill, but Tyo would have never denied his beloved Rya anything, not even a harsh truth.

“Why did you wake me now?”

“Happy second century, my dear Rya. We’ve gathered to celebrate your birthday, love.” Tyo’s eyes were clouded with unwanted moisture.

Friday Snippet #38

April 5, 2013April 5, 2013 Monica La Porta#FridaySnippets, a small excerpt from a YA paranormal novel, a snippet from a novel every friday, finished writing, indie writers stories, painting of Mount Ranier, the indie life2 Comments

Late in the day, but here I am. Rainy and cold Friday. Today, I couldn’t go out for my usual walk for a very good reason. After four years in the making, I finally finished writing my New Adult novel. Not sure if it is soft scifi or paranormal, there’s an alien but neither science nor vampires involved in the story. Also, I haven’t decided on the title yet. It has been Her Book for a while, but it will probably become Gaia or The Book of Gaia. In other and equally exciting news, my editor sent me the final six chapters of Prince of War. I’m mentally exhausted, my eyes see snow flakes when I look at the screen, but I’m happy. Looking forward to the weekend.

From All the Rainbow’s Colors:

A squirrel jumps from brunch to brunch on the tree in front of my bench. Even the squirrel is pink. Can you believe it? This color is starting to annoy me, big time. I give a brief glance right, then left. Nobody is around. I outstretch my hand toward the tree, and I point my fingers at the squirrel. I shake. I’ve waited too long. I do my best to steady my fingers.

The squirrel stops on the highest branch, he looks dizzy. I finally manage to aim at the small pink cloud, and ever so slowly the color dims, until it becomes a pale shadow of the tint it was. I feel immediately better, the incoming headache retreats, the blue is now a beautiful dark green. The squirrel seems to wake up from a nap, and runs away.

I feel bad. Every single time. After. I can’t not eat. I tried. I won’t ever be black again. Never again. It happened only once, at the beginning, when I didn’t know, yet, how to stop the hunger’s pain. Since then I’m careful. I never let myself go beyond the darkest blue. There are times when I can’t stop. Once, only once, I didn’t stop before the color disappeared.

Friday Snippet #37

March 29, 2013March 29, 2013 Monica La Porta#FridaySnippets, a snippet from a novel every friday, koi drawing, small excerpt from a paranormal YA6 Comments

And here I am. Again. Sunny! All in all, another great week. Last Sunday, I posted my first video on YouTube. It was only possible thanks to my hubbie who patiently shot the video and then cut it and made it pretty. I’ll let you know that I look fat, but my accent is exactly right, and it was a surprise for a friend. In other news, I’m still exercising or walking every day, and I feel full of energy. Meanwhile, sales of my books have slowed down as expected, but I reached 51 paid downloads and that’s another new record. Plus, I’ve added a few drawings to my didlr page.

From All the Rainbow’s Colors:

By lunch time, I’m starving. I hide in the backyard, hoping nobody is going to find me, but there’s a couple sitting on my bench. From a distance, I can only see a pink cloud happily floating, but as I walk closer, some purple appears. Normally, I would leave them alone, but today I don’t feel magnanimous.

“Hi, Rachel. Hi, Matthew.” I sit on the bench, forcing them to scoop over.

“The backyard is big,” my sister points out.

“Hi, there, Ludmilla,” says Matthew, smiling his fake smile.

Everyone knows I hate being called by my name. Everybody. It’s moment like this, when I feel the urge of telling Rachel that Matthew doesn’t care for her. But, I would only be mean to her, and she wouldn’t believe me, anyway. Nobody would believe me.

“I normally seat here,” I answer my sister.

“Yes, but there is a bench over there.” Rachel is trying to be nice about it.

“I prefer this one, but thank you.” Maybe, just maybe, if Matthew hadn’t called me Ludmilla, I would’ve left.

“You are too… odd,” Rachel says, but she gets up and leaves, with boyfriend in tow.

“Thanks,” I answer to what she said, not to the fact that they are leaving.

It is true. I am odd. At the beginning, when everything started two years ago, I got scared. I was fourteen, and the colors used to give me horrible headaches. The army of doctors my parents contacted told me I don’t suffer from migraines. I’m not that sure, since I’m the one feeling the pain, not them. After countless hours of useless tests, the last specialist, a big-name professor who flew from another district, took a look at my brain, and said, “I have never seen anything like this.” And nothing else, just like that. No explanation whatsoever of why I see the colors.