Thursday - Code Blue excerpt #MFRWAuthor #BWLAuthor #Suspense #Medical #hospital #nurses

     He crouched in the cemetery that embraced three sides of the hillside parking lot across from Bradley Memorial Hospital. A massive family marker shielded him from view, yet allowed him a clear view of the steps, the street and the door of the Emergency Room. Dark clouds slid across the surface of the moon. Lights, set high on poles around the perimeter of the lot sent finger shadows groping among the cars.
     The watcher straightened and edged from behind the granite marker. White puffs of vapor from the shallow, rapid breaths he took coalesced around his face. He held his body as rigid as a tombstone. As he waited for the evening nurses to end their tour of duty and hurry across the street to their cars, his narrowed eyes focused on the brightly-lit hospital entrance. Every night for a week, he had watched while excitement and anticipation had circled like a swarm of hornets. Would she come tonight?
     "I'll never leave you." When he was eight, Mommy had said the words that had become his litany. That broken promise had brought him here.
     He stared at the steps. When would Susan come?
     When Mommy was a patient, Susan had been her favorite nurse. He had liked Susan, too, but she hadn't stopped those other people from hurting Mommy. His shoulders tensed.
     "I'll never leave you. They'll have to kill me first."
     The night Mommy had died was etched into his memories. On that dreadful night, he had begun his plan to make them pay.
     Mommy would be unhappy about what he meant to do. To her, nurses were special and Susan more wonderful than the rest.
     He rocked from his heels to his toes. The last time he had disobeyed, Mommy had threatened to tell everyone how bad he was. He had promised her he would be good. His hands curled into fists. Sometimes he wanted to feel the heat of accomplishment so much he felt sick.
     He gulped a breath. Tonight the heat would blossom and he would feel powerful again.
     Susan was like Mommy. She would tell. He chewed on his lower lip. Her death would free him to still the people who had hurt Mommy on that dreadful night.
     His smile became a grimace.
     He had trusted Susan but she had failed to keep Mommy safe. Though he wished to see the others dead, Susan had to be first. He had laid his plans carefully, and while he had considered all the things that could go wrong, days had become weeks and then months.
     The bright lights across the street caught his attention and stirred his hopes. She had to come tonight. He wanted to be free.
     His hand brushed Mommy's tombstone. He pressed his fingers against the engraved letters of her name. He cocked his head and listened to the whisper of the wind.
     "Nurses give so much to others. Someone should take care of them."
     Mommy's husky voice thrummed in a corner of his mind. Her face appeared. Tears spilled from her eyes. He shook his head. Why should he listen to her when she had left him?

My writing life

Last week passed in a sort of blur. With helping a granddaughter get her education on track again and doing the read-through of the galleys for the upcoming The Henge Betrayed -- Refuge I didn't get as much done as I wanted.

Galleys for me are intensive. I print the book out and then go through line by line using a ruler to isolate each line. I don't read the story but look at the words. But I finished and got rid of typos, wrong words, and print errors. Sent it off but still haven't seen the cover or have an exact release date. One of these days I'm going to sit down and see how many books I've published. I don't consider novellas to be books or short stories either. One can't explain the way you feel when you see the galley and you know the book will be real. I won't even try.

One day I'll make a list. Should be fun.

Here is the opening page of The Henge Betrayed -- Refuge

Alizand prowled about his bed chamber. He paused beside
the window and pushed the heavy draperies aside. Another day
of confinement. Since the day his step-brothers had invaded the
suite, forcing Alizand to reveal his affinity for Fire, he’d been a
prisoner.

At least the guards at the door believed he couldn’t leave.
They didn’t know about the hidden sections and the secret rooms
and passages to be found beyond the walls. Though Alizand could
slip away, he should wait until night lest his room be checked.
Dom Senet often made random visits during the day. Only when
Alizand’s personal guard appeared could he escape these chambers.
The corridors and places he could go had to be kept secret.
He was bored. He even missed the tedious lessons he’d
been given by the clan elders during the short time he’d been
acknowledged as his father’s heir. Having his affinity exposed
had ended the dream of being deemed fi t to become a prince.
No one who could use one or all of the elements could rule the
princedom of Wesren.

He stared at the tray on the table. A maidservant had delivered
the food a short time before. Though he had eaten nothing
since yesterday’s midday meal, he had no desire to break his fast.
The back of Alizand’s neck prickled. Trouble approached.
Which of the many enemies he’d collected in his fourteen years
of life came to upset his day?

The door opened. Before the guard could announce the visitor,
a tall man entered. His ash blond hair hung in a single braid.
Black leather riding clothes gleamed in the light from candles set
in glass-shielded sconces on the wall. His dark green eyes sought
and held Alizand’s gaze.

A smile appeared on Dom Senet’s face. Alizand felt like a
tabby surrounded by a pack of ratis. He forced himself to breathe.
How could one man raise such a high degree of terror? Though
Alizand’s legs felt unsteady, he forced himself to remain on his
feet.

“Dom Senet.” A sense of pride filled Alizand’s thoughts. His
voice hadn’t cracked or risen to a high pitch to reveal his inner
quaking.

The dom stroked the multi-colored gem he wore about his
neck. The gold chain glinted. “I have questions for you to answer.”

Questions, Alizand thought. What kind of trick was this?
He couldn’t relax his barriers or forget his suspicions of the dom.
Was this a new way to fool him into becoming the dom’s puppet?
Alizand needed to respond. To remain silent would expose his
fear. “What do you want to know?”

“About your kin, the children of your father’s step-brother.
I have a great need to fi nd them. Poor lost children who need a
home and a guardian.”

Alizand’s hands clenched. His friends had saved his life when
he’d been injured in the aftermath of the destruction of the henge.
With them, he’d been Zand, a person and not a creature to be
used. “I don’t know where they are. I told my father I didn’t and
I say the same to you.”

"I think otherwise.” The dom moved closer.

Alizand clung to his determination to resist. He felt icy
touches trying to push beneath his surface thoughts and invade
his memories. He pressed his hand against the gem beneath his
tunic and strained to hold firm against Dom Senet’s invasion.
“How could I know where they’ve been or where they’re going?
I’ve been a prisoner here for weeks.”

Dom Senet ran a finger along Alizand’s cheek. “And I imagine
you have no idea how the child escaped the circle room.”

“What child?” Though he had released Ky, he didn’t consider
her a child. The pressure in his head built until his vision
and balance wavered. “Is there a circular room in your suite?”
The pressure vanished so suddenly Alizand’s knees folded and
he fell into the chair.

The New beginning

As I said in yesterday's blog, I headed in a new direction with the opening of my new start. If you want to see what the original opening was. you can read the first two paragraphs that I posted last week. Here goes for the new one.

Ashlea
"The time has come." Ash bolted upright. Her heart pounded like a maddened drummer hammering a staccato rhythm. Her gaze swept the room. Her companions slept. Had someone spoken or had the words been an event in a dream she couldn't remember. When her heart slowed, she cautiously opened her senses to read the winds of the keep. With her affinity for Air she found the only person awake was the doma and the words hadn't been hers.

Fingers of moonlight slid through cracks in the shutters of the windows. She eased her feet into her slippers and crept across the room to peer outside. A gasp sounded when she saw the birds, one white and one dark, circling above the keep. She rubbed her arms to erase the chill of the late winter cold. "Mama. Papa," she whispered. "What does your appearance portent." Since the destruction of the Wesren henge the birds had appeared as an omen or a warning. What was the meaning now?

Interview -- Allie Boniface

I met Allie several years ago at a local chapter meeting. She has a nice voice for romance. Allie was a finalist for an EPIC Ebook Award.

1. What's your genre or do you write in more than one?

I started writing in contemporary romance and have published 5 novels in that genre. I still love that niche, but I’m currently tackling my first YA (young adult) novel, for something a little bit different!

2. Did you choose your genre or did it choose you? If more than one you can just focus on one or more than one.

I didn’t really realize I was writing romance until one of my early critique partners told me I was! I’ve always loved the complexity of interactions between people, and I love a happy ending as well, so I guess it makes sense that I’d be drawn to the romance genre. However, I’ve also recently become more interested in Young Adult, in part because I teach high school students, and I love to hear what they’re reading and enjoying.

3. Is there any genre you'd like to try or one you wouldn't?

I don’t read sci fi or fantasy, so I probably wouldn’t write in either of those. Beyond that, I like experimenting, so we’ll see what comes!

4. What fiction do you read for pleasure?

Lately I’ve been reading quite a bit of YA, both for research and pure pleasure (I’ll recommend John Green here as an author everyone should read). I also read historical romance, women’s fiction and sometimes a little horror (I’m a Stephen King fan) as well.

5. Tell me a bit about yourself and how long you've been writing.

I live in the lower Hudson Valley (New York) with my husband, who’s also a teacher, and have been writing seriously for about 10 years,

6. Which of your characters is your favorite and why?

Oh, that’s so hard to choose! I do love Eddie West, the hero in the first romance I ever wrote (Lost in Paradise). He’s strong and sexy and has a soft side and everyone who reads that book seems to fall in love with him  He’s also one of the first characters who really didn’t change through all the revisions of that book.

7. Are there villains in your stories and how are they created?

One of my favorite villains is Sean McCabe, a corrupt police chief who stalks the heroine across five states in my contemporary romance One Night in Memphis. He was a lot of fun to write!

8. What are you working on now?

As I already mentioned, I’m in the middle of revising a draft of my first YA novel. I’m really enjoying this project because I get to write in a very different voice – first person, present tense. I’m also fortunate enough to hear this voice all day, every day, at my teaching job!

9. What's your latest release and how did the idea arrive?

One Night in Napa just released in print – it’s my third “One Night” novel, which unfolds over twenty-four chapters and twenty-four hours. I was actually driving on a long-distance trip when this idea came to me, about a daughter who leaves home when she finds out a huge family secret – and then has to come back home to protect that secret, years later.

10. How does the book open? Show the opening scene. -- 400 to five hundred words.
It actually begins with our hero, who you will see has his own issues to deal with…

Grant knew it was going to be a long day when he woke up and couldn’t remember the name of the woman lying beside him. His head throbbed. His stomach roiled. Late morning sun slanted across his face, and he squinted. He lifted himself onto an elbow and ran one hand over his stubbled jaw, then rolled over and stared at a digital clock he didn’t recognize.

He heard the sound again, the one that had jerked him from sleep. Somewhere across the room, his cell phone beeped. What the he—? Was it the weekend yet? Or was he supposed to be at work? Why did the room smell like vanilla? He groaned and struggled to pull sense from his sleep-muddled brain.

“Babe?” A manicured hand snaked out from the covers and caressed his bare chest. “Everything okay?”

Babe? He blinked and the room swam into focus. “Um, yeah.” He slipped from between satin sheets, planted one foot on a throw rug, and ended up on his ass next to the bed.

She giggled.

He swore under his breath and pulled himself up. The room was small, decorated mostly in pinks and lavenders. A collection of candles sat on a pink-and-white dresser across the room and, for one horrifying moment, he thought a Hello Kitty stuffed animal stared at him with black plastic eyes. He shook his head and looked again, and the cat changed into a pink dragon with wings. Still a stuffed animal, though. He kept his gaze on the ground so he wouldn’t see any others. Near the door, his keys, phone, and boxers lay in a heap beside a leopard-print bra and something made of clingy red fabric.

Grant licked his lips and silently called himself a few choice words. Again. I did it again. Maybe his father was right, after all.

He searched the bedroom until he found the golf shirt and shorts he remembered wearing the night before. Shots of tequila, he recalled. And a blonde at the end of the bar with a gorgeous rack and pouty lips who wouldn’t stop staring at him. His two vices, served up neatly at Mick’s, the local watering hole conveniently located at the end of his block.

“Shit. I’m late. Really late.”

Now he knew what day it was, because he only hit Mick’s for their Thursday night wing special, which meant it was Friday. The day of his final interview with Francesca Morelli. And his last chance to please his father or lose his job, condo, and sports car in one fell swoop. He swore again and opened two doors before he found the bathroom.