NEVER SUBMIT – Snippet 03 of …
roamUNEDITED
QBBS Merideth Reynolds, Queen’s Suites
“Bethany Anne,” Merideth, the Operations E.I. for the QBBS Merideth Reynolds spoke up from the speaker. Although Merideth could have routed the information through ADAM, they tended to let it work like others expected. “Scott says he is ready to pass Yelena, Ashur and Bellatrix, plus their five children through if you are ready?”
Bethany Anne blinked again, then jumped out of her bed, rushed into her closet, sliding out of the nice suede shirt she was wearing to grab an old t-shirt and threw that on. Tossing off her pajama bottoms, she slid into a pair of leather pants.
Puppy nails can scratch, and if they happen to get their fur all over her, the t-shirt was much easier to wash or just ditch. She couldn’t remember if the puppies would shed, but no use chancing it on her nice suede top she liked to lounge around in.
Walking back out of her closet, the closet doors shutting behind her as she wrapped her hair in a pony tail, she called out. “Ok, let them in.” She passed through her bedroom’s doors to enter the more family type room in her suite.
Just in time to get ambushed by five German Shepherd puppies.
Two came at her from the front, two from the couch, jumping off the arms right behind each other and one was trying a sneak attack.
Bethany Anne kept walking, but disappeared.
Scott, listening from the doorway but not able to see smirked when he heard a ‘YIP!’ of surprise, followed by another yip as it sounded to him one of the puppies had landed on the other.
“So, letting them in early are you?” Bethany Anne, now only two feet in front of her guard had caught his face full of glee.
His eyes darted back to where she was supposed to be and then back to where she was, staring at him with her arms on her waist.
“Aaaahhhh,” Scott started, but then Yelena’s voice, coming out of the suite’s meeting room, saved his traitorous ass.
“Oh!” Yelena came around the corner to see Bethany Anne outside her own suites doors, “There you are!”
“Hello Yelena!” Bethany Anne smiled and waved to the woman before looking Scott in the eyes. “Just remember, the Saint goes both ways,” she whispered as she walked past her guard into her suite.
There was a ‘chuf’ behind him and Scott turned his head and looked down at the large white Dog, “Yeah Ashur, I think we are both going to get it for that effort.” Behind Ashur, Bellatrix chuffed as well and Scott smiled, “Yes, I know you told us, but it was funny, right?”
Bellatrix shook her head and turned around to go back into the room. Scott shrugged to Ashur and turned back to watching the hallway. Scott’s position there was a little ceremonial as anyone making down the long hallway through Merideth’s scans were already checked for damn near everything. But, the Queen’s Bitches would be here even if standing here was a completely superfluous action.
No one was going to see Bethany Anne, without at least one of the four checking them out, first.
—
“Take a seat, Yelena,” Bethany Anne pointed to the couch. “Not you, white mountain of fur and fakery. Get your hairy traiterous ass back up with Scott. You two can console yourselves while the women figure this out.” Ashur chuffed, stuck his nose in the air and jogged back out of the room.
Bellatrix, Yelena’s all black German Shepherd that had been saved on an operation in Europe jumped up on the couch and Yelena sat next to her, with one of her legs on the couch, one hanging off. Her black hair matching the female German Shepherds exactly. Bellatrix chuffed and Yelena smiled and responded to her friend, “Yes, Ashur really didn’t want to stick around to chat about this, so he’s happy bullshitting with Scott up front.”
Bellatrix put her head down, and watched her five puppies roaming around the room. Well, four of them did. Matrix, one of the boys, all black except for four white socks sat next to Bethany Anne on the couch, watching the three of them talk.
Bellatrix chuffed to Bethany Anne who regarded the female, then slowly raised an eyebrow, “Your shitting me, right?” Another chuff, “Seriously? All five of them?” Bethany Anne looked up to Yelena who shrugged her shoulders.
“I know, right? It’s like five individual little puff-balls who usually can’t agree on what they want to eat all zoomed in on one idea and now it is written in stone.”
Bethany Anne chewed on the inside of her cheek. “Where are they on their maturity level?”
“Probably late teens, human wise.” Yelena answered before Bellatrix chuffed, “True, Matrix is pretty focused.”
Bethany Anne turned to look down at the black male who looked up at her, but whose eyes were vacant. “Why does he look like he isn’t with us right now?”
Bellatrix chuffed and the sense of someone was home returned to Matrix’s eyes. He barked back at his mom and turned to Bethany Anne and turned his head sideways. “Ok,” Bethany Anne spoke to the pup, “You got my attention, what is it Matrix?”
The little guy barked twice, “Uh,” Bethany Anne turned to look over at Yelena, her brow furrowing. “Ok, I get that the five little ones want to search out and find their human mates, but why is Matrix talking to me, but I don’t get the idea he is talking to me? With Ashur as my mate, wouldn’t that be wierd?”
“Ahhhh,” Yelena looked between Matrix and Bellatrix, “Any help here, Trix?”
There was a few moments of chuffing and high pitched barks, with an occasional lower bark from Bellatrix as the two ladies listened to the conversation between the dogs.
After a little while, Bethany Anne’s eyebrows went straight up.
TOM!
Yes?
Have you been talking with Matrix?
Yes.
How are you doing that?
I can reach out and speak to minds, Bethany Anne, so long as the other minds are capable of communication and the puppies, like their parents who have been through the Pod-Doc are certainly capable of communication.
What …uh…what have you been talking about?
He likes to talk about space and being ‘out there.’
Out where?
Space.
Yelena noticed the Queen was having an internal discussion and waited. Then, Bethany Anne closed her eyes and put her head in her hands, “Is everything ok?” Yelena asked.
“Yes,” she answered, then changed her reply, “No.”
“What’s wrong?” Yelena asked, worried what could have changed Bethany Anne’s carefree attitude from a moment before.
There was a pause before Bethany Anne answered. “My resident Alien has acquired,” she peaked out from between her fingers, looking down at Matrix who was staring back up at her, his little tongue hanging out. “A four-footed friend who wants to go see space with him. Which means seeing space with me, too.”
Matrix sat back on his haunches a braced a little straighter before barking up at Bethany Anne.
So, can he stay with me? Tom asked his best friend in the Universe.
Bellatrix chuffed and Matrix turned to look at his Mom, and barked back.
“Ashur!” Bethany Anne called out to get her companion’s attention.
Scott called back into the room, “Sorry, he left a couple of minutes ago to grab something to eat.”
Bethany Anne slowly lifted her head and leaned back on the couch, allowing her head to rest back, and looked up at the ceiling, “That little shit knew,” she grumped after a moment or two, “I’ve been played.”
Yelena was able to successfully keep a grin off of her face, but Bellatrix chuffed and Matrix jumped into Bethany Anne’s lap. She barely noticed him curl up in her lap as she absently petted the young German Shepherd as her mind was on a million other things as she stared up at the ceiling.
Yes, Yelena had to agree, you’ve been had.
How the hell, Bethany Anne was wondering, Does one have a ride-along alien that acquires a dog he can communcate with? Who thinks this shit up? Seriously, somebody needs to stop this damned asteroid, I need to get off…
Bethany Anne could tell TOM was talking and the pup was, as far as Bethany Anne could tell, communicating right back.
Fuck my life… she thought as she realized she was petting Matrix and rolled her eyes in exasperation, One more fucking time!
FROM MICHAEL >>> ROFLMAO!
I love how this time, it’s TOM that gets a puppy. When the idea of having the Puppies find their partner (similar to Ashur finding Bethany Anne so long ago) and Yelena and Bellatrix (Their Story is HERE) I wondered just who was going to get matched up? (BTW, puppies have been something my wife has been on me to do and having them all match up has been something Stephen Russell has been wanting to occur since last year… (Smirk – I mean, last year was just two weeks ago.)
Ok, some characters I thought were natural connections, but I didn’t think about TOM…you know, no body TOM?
But, I think Matrix will make a good partner for TOM and I’m curious where that friendship will go, myself.
Now, the last three (3) days have been killer. We released the second Reclaiming Honor book, and today we are releasing the second Terry Henry Walton Chronicles book too!
Then, I’m heads down finishing up NEVER SUBMIT.
If you are looking for an awesome book or two, check out both series! I think you will find you enjoy the new characters and the explanations about what is happening on Earth while Bethany Anne is checking into the stars.
If you find yourself confused on just when certain series exist in the timeline, don’t hesitate to look it up on this chart! https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwImbYUAN598RVZ0dTZwRG9Oakk/view
This snippet, we are going to focus on the second book in the Reclaiming Honor series I did with Justin Sloan.
Claimed By Honor: A Kurtherian Gambit Series (Reclaiming Honor Book 2)
Michael has moved on, can his Justice Enforcer make a difference?
Does the Sun come up in the morning?
The New York City-State wakes up and their world has been shaken to its core. The Enforcers have been scattered, but they aren’t finished. This vampire is but a bump in their road to keeping the city-state in the hands of the CEO’s.
The Were’s are involved, some leave, some stay and new alliances are made and an old one broken.
However, in the end, it always comes back to heart and determination.
Something that you often have to find for yourself, when life beats you down and Valerie is made of the right material to see it through.
Check Out More about Claimed By Honor (or purchase it) Here at Amazon!
NEVER SUBMIT – Snippet 02 of …
QBBS Meredith Reynolds, All Guns Blazing – Special Room
The door opened, and the massive amount of people already present in the room looked over to see Bobcat step in, closing the door behind him before he nodded a confirmation to Lance.
The room was large, well over thirty feet by twenty feet and had two places for people to come in and out. One for those who were part of All Guns Blazing, the other for potential guests.
What it didn’t have was a marking or designation sign on the outside of the door. This room was as close to being unknown as the group could make it.
Right now, it had a veritable who’s who of Etheric Empire notables sitting around a table inside of it.
Starting with Lance Reynolds and his wife, Patricia. Frank Kurns and Barbara Nickers, John and Jean, Eric and Darryl (Scott was on duty), Gabrielle, Stephen and Jennifer, Barnabas and Tabitha, Ecaterina and Nathan, William, Marcus, and now Bobcat finally made everyone that Lance had called very discreetly to meet him here.
Other’s couldn’t come because they had to make sure to do their best if Bethany Anne came around, looking for some of those missing.
Basically, they needed to lie their asses off if she came around, hoping she didn’t read their minds.
Now, thanks to Bobcat, he knew his daughter was having a discussion with Ashur, Bellatrix, and Yelena and he needed to get this meeting going.
“Thank you for joining me, it has come to my attention that we need to deal with a rather sensitive situation related to my daughter and one of her vices.” A few eyes raised up around the table, not understanding what the Queen’s father was talking about.
Lance looked around and slowly nodded his head, “You guys and gals don’t see it, do you?” He frowned, “Ok, I will lay it out. She is about to have a birthday in a few weeks…”
Lance got interrupted by multiple people talking at once. He put up his hand to quiet everyone down, “No, I don’t mean her human birthdate, I’m not that stupid.”
“She loves you and all,” Patricia patted her husband on the arm, “but she would kill you and I’d have to say I would understand.”
“If I could only be so lucky she would stop at that,” Lance chuckled. “I can only imagine what she could do that would be ever so much more painful.”
“Saint..” Bobcat started, before everyone at the table joined in with him pronouncing the creed, “Payback is a bitch!”
Everyone laughed as Lance just kept his lips pressed together and nodded his head in agreement. “Yes,” he admitted to the slowly quieting group, “Saint Payback WOULD be a bitch, so, I’m going to use the date TOM tells me is the closest to the actual date he would consider her turned. Since even Bethany Anne doesn’t know…”
“Why wouldn’t she know?” Gabrielle questioned.
“Because she was under for so long,” TOM’s voice came out of a speaker in the wall. A few turned in their seats before realizing what good was it to look at a speaker except to hear better?
TOM continued, “After the disaster of turning Michael, I felt that I should take my time and do it right. I followed the changes and got lost in time myself. Days and nights mean nothing when you are inside of a spaceship, so I didn’t follow them. I’ve researched the information from inside my ship, and I’m pretty confident that the actual date of her conversion is the fourteenth of June.”
“So, we have a little time,” Gabrielle considered, tapping a finger on her lips.
“Bethany Anne has a vice?” Tabitha asked aloud, a few turning in her direction, “I mean, other than cussing? Hell, she doesn’t even drink liquor that I can ever see.”
“Oh, she drinks it,” Bobcat replied, “It just doesn’t do anything to her Nanite body. It will rip through the alcohol in the drinks like nothing. She doesn’t get drunk.” he finished.
John smirked and pointed at the man, “You DID try to drink her under the table,” Darryl and Eric started chuckling.
Bobcat shrugged, his face turning red, “Well, I had beaten so many of the Wechselbalg, I thought why not give her a try?”
“It was,” William agreed, “One of the first times I’ve ever seen him incapable of walking a straight line after a drinking contest.” He put up two fingers and acted like they were walking in the air, the fingers swerving all around.
It was, Lance considered, very drunk pair of fingers.
“Which is to say,” Marcus interrupted, “We got it on video for research purposes, of course.”
“If it was for research purposes,” Bobcat jumped back in, “Then why the hell do you guys play it on a loop in the lab?”
William shrugged, straight-faced. “We are researching how long it takes for you to make a comment about it each time,” he looked over to Marcus who picked up his tablet and hit a couple of buttons on the screen.
Turning the tablet towards Bobcat, Marcus had a spreadsheet with a graph on it, “See?” He pointed to the left part of the screen. “Right here you can notice a sharp decrease towards the zero horizontal line. It seems it took you about,” Marcus turned the tablet back to himself to look at it, “four days and twelve hours to get tired of the video.”
“It’s been fourteen days,” Bobcat grated out.
“Yeah, but we’ve had a bet …” William continued before Lance cut in.
“GUYS!” They turned to the Leader of the Etheric Empires’ defenses, “Save it for later, ok?” The three men nodded.
Bobcat stuck two fingers up, pointing to William, then his own eyes, then to Marcus and back to his eyes again before mouthing silently ‘we will talk later’ to the both of them.
William smiled, and Marcus tried to stifle a laugh.
Barbara, sitting next to Frank, asked, “You said vice earlier Lance, is she cracking or something?”
“Oh, nothing like that,” Lance agreed, “It’s just you know that we are about to leave the system and we need to get a jump on handling a potential problem before it becomes a real problem. I’m sure none of us want to see her suffer withdrawals.”
Lance looked around to all of Bethany Anne’s closest friends and allies before asking, “How are we going to solve her Coke addiction?”
FROM MICHAEL >>> Ok, who didn’t think the Queen had an addiction? I love that last phrase, and wonder just how many readers might get confused between Coke (Cola) and Cocaine? I hope, by book 15, it’s precious few :-/
I want to step aside for a second and say that my success is NOT in a vacuum. No, I’ve been supported at home (obviously, trying to accomplish what I have in just 15 months WITHOUT home support? I don’t know…I wouldn’t want to try it) as well as fans, beta readers / editors, editors, fellow authors…well, the list could go on.
I do, however, want to set aside a paragraph to say ‘thank you’ to a person for helping me get through the dreaded burn-out phase of writing last year. She happens to be an industrial psychologist who focuses on the industrial production of creative works (kind of an oxymoron, if you think about it – and I’m sure I’m screwing up exactly what she studies, but I digress.) We’ve all been trained to believe that art is muse, whispery like the wind, unable to be captured, contained and studied.
Apparently, it can.
Now, she has hundreds of papers and books and profiles on the non-fiction side of things but only recently through the loving support of her husband, John and those of us in the 20BooksTo50k group did the Research Scientist put down her clipboard and do that which she studied.
Write Fiction.
That can NOT have been easy. It’s always one thing to know the numbers back and forth, it is completely another to place your creative endeavors out for others to read and based on their own subjective opinions cheer you on, or … not. While she might have all of the knowledge and (as far as I know) take any criticism with the aplomb of Spock, I have to think she is no different than me when hitting publish, biting her fingernails, looking above the desk and wondering…
Will it be liked? Is it enough to continue getting these creative stories out for the world to see?
So, like any Indie Author who publishes, she has to work through the awareness aspect (marketing).
One of the ways to produce awareness of one’s work is when those you have helped get a chance (like me) to return just a smidgeon of the help and share the fact there is a new Indie Author out there… 😉
And I would like to introduce you to her.
We Are Not Prey
How DEEP is a mother’s love?
Can determination and honor carry you among the stars?
A story of loss and discovery, We Are Not Prey, balances the darkness of despair and the joy of new beginnings. This science fiction adventure blends magic and technology with the adventures of Ruth, a normal human, pushed into extraordinary situations.
Ruth’s transformation takes her from Earth to worlds and situations of which she never dreamed.
Click Here to see more of WE ARE NOT PREY (Or Purchase / Kindle Unlimited)
NEVER SUBMIT – Snippet 01 of …
UNEDITED
QBBS Meredith Reynolds, Operations and Observation Area
“Shit.”
“Gesundheit,” Maria Orsitch, standing next to Bethany Anne, replied.
Bethany Anne turned to look at the German leader, “I’m sorry?”
“What?” Maria stopped looking at the mesmerizing display of colors from the Yollin Annex Gate and turned to notice Bethany Anne looking back at her, puzzled. Maria thought back to what she had just said and asked. “Didn’t you sneeze?”
Bethany Anne smiled, eyebrows raised. “Noooo, I said shit.”
Maria made a small ‘o’ with her mouth, “Sorry, my mistake. However, while I have you talking,” she pointed out at the gate on the screens, “Why aren’t we moving forward?”
Bethany Anne thought about that question for a second and shrugged, a glint of mischievousness in her eyes.
“Shit,” Bethany Anne replied, completely straight-faced.
Now it was Maria’s turn to stare at the young Queen, trying to figure out how she was joking. In the few weeks since those from New Schwabenland had arrived on the Merideth Reynolds, Maria had been in Bethany Anne’s company quite a bit. Enough to both enjoy and be the target of her, at times, wicked sense of humor.
It was time to play twenty questions, “Is that in English?” Maria tossed out.
Bethany Anne smiled, “Yes, English.”
Maria put a finger to her mouth before asking, “Pedantic or vulgar?”
This time, it was Bethany Anne who had to pause, “Um, let’s go with a vulgar way to say a proper word.”
“Ok, so waste,” Maria agreed, nodding her head. “So, the reason we aren’t moving forward is either an engineering issue or a convenience problem?”
Bethany Anne nodded her head in agreement this time but didn’t clarify which of the two answers might be right.
“Hmmm,” Maria thought a moment. “Most of the people on this Asteroid are Americans, yes?” Bethany Anne nodded her agreement, “So, most of you have not used a bidet in your lifetimes?”
It was just a bit over half of those on the asteroid were Americans, but Bethany Anne wasn’t trying to split hairs, here. She shook her head in the negative.
“I presume the engineer or team that helped design the restrooms were European?”
“South African, I think,” Bethany Anne clarified then paused a moment after she got that split-second far away look in her eyes. “I’ve been corrected, German.”
Maria Orsitsch nodded her head, “How many rolls are you short?”
Bethany Anne smiled, “It all depends on the quantity of months or years we decide are sufficient to change over. While we could certainly force the issue, I’ve been told there are a few things where it might be wise to bend a little. Right now, I’m being informed I should bend another eleven days due to the production schedules on Earth and how many rolls are presently shipping out across the world.”
“Just how many rolls of toilet paper are we discussing?” Maria asked, finally confirming the product that was causing the Etheric Empire from going through the gate.
“Assuming a quarter million people, an average of eighteen months, using fifty-seven sheets per person and a double-ply roll of five-hundred sheets we will need approximately seven-point-seven billion sheets or fifteen-point-four million rolls. If Earth’s manufacturing capacity is thirty-four million rolls per day, I’m told to let them acquire this paper over a little time, not to just order that many for a single day delivery.”
Maria blinked a few times, “How much money is that?”
“At least ten million priced in bulk, closer to fifteen million for something pulled off Amazon,” Bethany Anne answered.
There was another pause, “How does Amazon deliver here?” Maria asked.
“They don’t!” Bethany Anne chuckled. “ADAM puts in a particular address for a building, one not in use. We doctor up the location a couple of hours before delivery to look official enough, and we accept delivery by shipping container, or containers. We get to the site, accept the delivery by a shipping container. Leave one or multiples behind and boost the one delivered up to orbit at night. We have a pretty large skeleton ship that we now use to connect all of the containers together. Once we have enough, it is pretty damned rigid, and with its own E.I. to deal with each of the gravitic engines attached, it gets moving in our direction.” Bethany Anne put up a finger to stop Maria, “Don’t ask me how it works beyond that, my little head,” Bethany Anne made motions with her hands, fingers opening wide, “explodes!”
Maria closed her mouth. She was, in fact, about to ask more technical questions. Each time she turned around, there was something new and exciting happening here in this woman’s Empire.
Now, if Maria could just turn Barnabas’ head in the right direction, life couldn’t possibly get any better.
From Michael >>> I’m in a bit of a daze, right now 🙂
You see, we (meaning myself and all of the collaborators in the Kurtherian Universe) are working hard to pull together at (author stops typing, and starts counting on his fingers…last time he did this, he fucked up.) So, five collaboration author’s books released, five more in production (meaning we have started books together, we have nothing new out) and two more verbal want to join, but nothing will happen for at least three months or more with them).
These books cross genre’s (I suppose no big surprise there…)
We have released: Post Apocalyptic with Terry Henry “TH to my Friends” Walton (from book…12 – We Have Contact) by Craig Martelle. We have Dystopian in Justice is Calling (Reclaiming Honor) with Justin Sloan, Paul C. Middleton’s The Boris Chronicles #03 is released (Revelations), our first female collaborator (of at least three, perhaps five women who are working or will work in the Universe so far) has released a fan favorite Bellatrix over Christmas. Natalie is busy on a three book series anchored by Stephen and Jennifer called The Dark Years series (those three years between books 13 and 14) and of course, a name most of my fans don’t need an introduction to, TS Paul with our collaboration called The Etheric Academy series, first book is Alpha Class.
You can click on any of the links above to be taken to the US Amazon.com to see what’s up with those books. I’ll try to do better on another snippet with laying them out.
For those who want sizzle? That’s coming with a series on the Queen’s Rangers. I’m waiting to hear back from an author who I was talking with on a Sci-Fi sizzling series… You know, the ones that would make me blush to write? Yeah, the ladies seem to have NO trouble writing them 😉
For those who like their romance a little less sizzle, JL Hendricks is going to write a story with our very own Peter and Todd during the Dark Years.
There are two additional MAJOR events in Earth’s timeline AFTER Michael and Bethany Anne meet back up and leave the planet… I am collaborating with CM Raymond and LE Barbant on a series set generations later…You know, when people of history become people of myth and Nanites have seriously messed up humans… Possibly for the better, depending on what people do with the new abilities and powers?
However, Bethany Anne and Michael won’t be lost after book 21…They are just going on a honeymoon with those closest to them. Think of it as a five year mission to seek out… 😉
I hope you enjoy the HELL out of NEVER SUBMIT when it gets released, we are in the third ARC baby, and Bethany Anne is going to fuck up some aliens who get in her way…
The Queen Bitch is coming for them, and those who have been top dog get introduced to a new Alpha and her team.
Because if there is one thing Bethany Anne will never do?
She will NEVER SUBMIT.
THE DARK MESSIAH – Snippet 11 of …
UNEDITED
He reached under his jacket and pulled out two pistols. Todd whistled. “These are locked to me, you try to use them? Well, this Boss Childers won’t need to worry about the area around here as we will all be blown to kingdom come. So, if it is all the same to you, I’m placing these back in the holsters, and you have my word I won’t draw them.” He turned his right pistol and held a small button above the trigger.
All four heard a click.
“Turned off,” he told them and did the same for the second, “now both are turned off.”
“Or on,” Jeremiah spoke up.
Michael snorted, “So, this whole time I have been with you guys, I had my pistols off? I don’t think so, and neither do you.”
Sarah Jennifer’s eyes narrowed. What kind of technology and guns did this guy have? Was he a plant by Childers?
He holstered the two pistols, and they heard the snap as he placed the leather back over them in the holster. The guys figured they had him if he played foul, they could take him with enough time to spare.
“Now, it’s time for you to learn why chivalry was needed in the first place, Sarah Jennifer.” he told her, “because, in my day, a woman understood why attacking a man was a poor idea.”
The FDG or Force de Guerre never understood why Sarah Jennifer was faster than almost everyone in the group, except TH.
He knew, but he never shared the reason with anyone.
All Sarah Jennifer knew was she could kick ass. Men, women, it didn’t matter. She didn’t like being told she was about to be put in her little woman’s place by a smirking man in her own yard.
But she wasn’t a fool, either.
She cricked her neck and assumed a position with her right leg behind, only half her body now facing the guy, “Whenever you are ready to feel my size seven’s up your ass,” she told him, “bring it.”
“Why is it,” Michael asked as he started walking towards her, “that after so long being absent, I have to hear about size seven shoes coming from a female’s mouth again?”
“Boss” Childers’ town – West of Denver, Colorado (United States Post-Apoc)
“Have you ever,” Jack Childers asked his second in command as the two of them walked through the small fortified town, “wondered how men dealt with having to turn the other cheek before the apocalypse?”
The two men topped over six feet tall. But Jack was at least thirty pounds of hard muscle larger than his hatchet man, Russell Wood. They stopped walking and looked around. “Seems to me,” Russell turned away to spit into the dirt, “without that damned bitch for some of the slaves to run to for protection…”
“Or even giving them ideas,” Jack interrupted.
“Point, giving them ideas,” Russell agreed. “Life will be a little easier to deal with around here.” Russell nodded towards the mess building, “you going to pop the cork over there?”
Jack turned around to see where Russell was nodding, “Jacqueline?” he asked as he turned back around to his partner.
“Yeah,” he agreed, “Got to say, you called it on that one. She turned into a real beauty. Might be something to get ready for tomorrow night’s festivities.”
“Huh,” Jack turned back around and started rubbing his chin, “That might not be a bad idea. Damn, I could go with getting a little pre-victory slash before…” the two men turned towards the front gates when the clanging started.
It was the signal for visitors, not a danger signal.
Although visitors could be a danger, as well.
Russell started walking towards the gate, Jack only half a step behind him. He looked over his shoulder at the Boss, “No rest, or sex, for the wicked, eh?”
Jack chuckled, “Maybe not tonight, but that wine only get’s better with time.”
The two men laughed as they approached the gate to find out two men from Sarah Jennifer’s had arrived, wondering if they needed an extra hand or two?
South of Douglas Mountain, old Colorado (United States Post-Apoc)
The fool was walking right at her, not even trying to setup.
This man was stupid. She would spell it out in capitals for damned sure. What a world class shit-head.
She darted forward, using the strength from her back leg to come at him faster than most anyone she had ever fought before. She tossed a right, a left and then followed it up with an uppercut.
CRACK!
Sarah Jennifer hit the dirt to her right and rolled twice before coming up eyes blazing, eyeing the man who had just casually knocked her ass silly. She put up a hand to feel if her burning cheek, and her teeth, were still a part of her body.
Behind the two of them, Todd leaned towards Dirk, “Did he just block both of her punches, capture her fist and backhand the shit out of her?”
“Shhh!” Dirk answered in reply, then “Yeah, I think so. It went so damned fast I’m not sure.”
Michael turned to face the woman, “Not bad, but it’s going to take a lot more to get those,” he pointed to her feet, “anywhere near my ass.”
Sarah Jennifer’s eyes narrowed. “You surprised me.”
“No, you are cocky,” he replied. “Too much time being top bitch.”
“Fuck…” She started towards him, “You!”
“Oh God,” Jeremiah whispered, “She really, really hates to be called a bitch.”
“Ready for your spanking?” Michael asked her once. Her eyes, almost flaming mad, opened wide. Then she ran at him, ready to pound the smirk off his perfect face and make him swallow his damned teeth.
Using her momentum, she jumped, kicking out at him.
The pain, when it hit, was intense. He pivoted too fast. He used his left arm to stop her kick cold. But, he hit her in her shin with power she wasn’t expecting. His right arm was held out, and he let her momentum carry her right onto his fist, knocking her breath out of her. She damned near bounced off of him, to slam into the ground, dirt and dust billowing away as she rolled, painfully over a few times making sure she didn’t get kicked easily.
She couldn’t breathe in enough at the moment to curse him out. Her shin, however, was cussing the shit out of her.
“So,” he asked the woman, lying on the ground, trying to find enough breath to struggle to get back up, hopping on her left leg due to the pain in her right. “Now we get to the point where you decide if you want to accept reality or allow your pride to put you right back there,” he looked to the ground, “again.”
Her eyes darted to the three men on horse, all of them eyes wide open at the spectacle.
“You should always believe,” Michael told her, in a calm voice, a teaching voice. “There could be someone out there who can take you. Just because you may never have experienced it, doesn’t make the reality an impossibility.”
Sarah Jennifer, able to breathe again, spit out, “I’ve been bested once, but not by anyone not in the FDG.”
“So, my lack of pedigree is the problem?” he asked, his eyes questioning. “I was told I had to prove myself to you to be included in teaching what the term chivalry really means.”
“You, however,” he continued, “need to prove to me that a lady is inside that body for chivalry to have any meaning.” He turned to look around. “Obviously, the original meaning of chivalry is absent.” He turned back towards her, “I’m referring to the more modern version of chivalry including manners, especially to the weaker, or fairer, sex.” He nodded in her direction.
“And if I tell you to get the fuck off my land?” she asked him.
Jeremiah heard Todd whispering, “Please don’t do that, oh please oh please oh please oh please don’t do that…”
“This is your land because of what?” he asked.
“Hard work, and a willingness to keep it,” she answered.
“Then you would be a fool to turn away an offer to help,” Michael told her, “And I’ve not been accustomed to helping idiots.”
Sarah Jennifer was trying to figure out the man’s meaning. His abrupt answers took a second for her to parse, “So, you are saying you would leave because telling you to leave is foolish.”
“Indeed,” he answered her.
She gritted her teeth. Why the hell couldn’t he just answer ‘yes’ like everyone else? She used her hands to start knocking the dirt and dust off of her clothes. It irritated her to know he didn’t need to be cleaned at all. “Fair enough,” she jerked her head towards her guys, “I’m too prideful for myself to keep you here, but I’ve been told that as a leader, your pride is what you swallow most.”
Michael nodded his agreement.
She turned towards Jeremiah and started walking towards him, calling out over her shoulder. “You got a last name?” She reached out for Michael’s sword, Jeremiah handed it down to her. She started back towards the man.
He reached out and accepted the sword, sliding it inside his jacket and connecting it somehow underneath it.
“Yes,” he replied. His eyes looking out into the dark.
She put her hand on her waist, “Ok, thanks for making me play twenty questions, what is it?”
He looked over to her, “Nacht.”
“Good to know,” she told him, stepping around him and heading into the house, “Place to sleep is that way,” she pointed towards the crew house.
None of the men noticed the fear in her eyes as she walked up the stairs to the porch.
—
Michael accepted the bowl of stew Jeremiah had provided. He deflected their questions about his martial skills and speed.
“Don’t you think not cleaning boots is enough for tonight?” He answered Todd. “Otherwise, you and I can have a physical discussion where you are too busy to ask me questions I obviously don’t care to answer.”
Todd stopped bugging him after that.
Michael stepped out of the crew house about midnight. A minute later, Jeremiah stepped out with him.
“Hey,” Jeremiah stepped up next to him.
“Good evening, Jeremiah.” he replied.
“Don’t be too hard on Sarah Jennifer. My family would say ‘she’s good people.’”
Michael grinned, “Anytime three men are willing to die to protect a woman?” he told him, still looking into the night as if he actually saw something in the dark, “the woman … is good people.”
“I’m not sure how much you can help, Michael,” Jeremiah chose to look into the dark as well. Why the hell not? “We need a damned savior for this to go in our favor tomorrow.”
Michael chuckled, the sound wasn’t peaceful. “I’m not an angel, nor a saint, Jeremiah.” He told him, “and certainly not a savior. Someone I love very dearly would tell you I’m just a stubborn, obstinate, pain in her ass.”
“Where is she?” he asked. “Sorry if you have lost her.”
Michael looked up at the stars eyes flitting from one to the next wondering which one she might be fighting around right now. “Oh, I might have misplaced her for a while, but I haven’t lost her.”
—
Michael was leaning against that same post the next morning when Sarah Jennifer stepped out of the house. She eyed him, then set her shoulders and stepped off the porch, heading in his direction.
He raised an eyebrow at her in question.
“Firewood,” she told him, “we need some. You willing?”
“Of course,” Michael answered, stepping off of the wood porch of the crew building. “Which direction are you clearing?”
“Huh, hadn’t expected you to know that,” she turned and pointed to Michael’s right, “about half a mile that way. You will find a small hut with the tools in it. I’ll send a lunch and one of the guys about noon to grab what you got so far.” She turned back to him, “Be back here by dark. I think I know Jack Childers well enough to know he likes using the dark to ramp up the fear.”
“I’ll be here in time,” he promised. Then started walking in the direction she had provided.
—
“You did WHAT?” Jeremiah, usually pretty quiet, hissed in anger at Sarah Jennifer.
The two of them were in her office, and it was late afternoon. Dirk and Todd had come back with two loads of firewood. More than they would need for days.
“I told him Jack wouldn’t be here until dark,” she replied. Only slightly annoyed with him for getting angry at her.
“Help me understand, SJ,” he told her, his false calm evident, “why you sent our one seriously badass guy away? He is going to get caught outside of the fight and not be able to help us. If he were to do anything, they will just track his ass down and kill him. Otherwise, he will need to run to keep his own skin.”
“Look, I don’t expect you to understand,” she replied. “But there were a few stories that the FDG whispered, and they all came from Terry Henry.”
“God!” Jeremiah burst out, “That man was not a god! Not everything that comes from his mouth is Gospel!”
She leaned across her desk, finger pointed, eyes angry, “Then you tell me how many times you have heard ‘Nacht’ as a name before?”
“WHAAAT?” Jeremiah answered, not following her logic at all. Typical female argument tactic. “The hell does Nacht have anything to do with this?”
She leaned back with a thump, “Because TH always said that if you should ever, ever meet someone that seemed too good to be true, with the last name Nacht, to leave them the fuck alone.”
“We ARE leaving him alone!” Jeremiah argued. Then he pointed back towards the north, “the PLAN is we are not going to tell Childers to leave him alone!”
“Doesn’t matter,” she replied, her voice growing tired, “He is gone. He can’t get back.”
He shook his head in frustration, “You just screwed our best chance of living through this, SJ.” Jeremiah stood up, pushing the chair back. He eyed her, the anger that wasn’t in his voice, clearly in his eyes, “The best chance for a savior for this colossal fuck up and you just pissed him away.”
“He’s no savior, no messiah, Jeremiah,” she whispered to the empty room, he had already left her office fuming and exited the back door. She looked out, seeing the darkness coming in the sky, the shakes taking her.
“He’s a dark messiah,” she finished pronouncing to the empty house.
FROM MICHAEL >>>
This is it…the last 48 hours (or less) before The Dark Messiah, my second series in The Kurtherian Gambit, goes live.
I’m a little anxious to admit to you the truth. Why? Because Michael is such a fan favorite (which, I hadn’t realized way back in book 9) and the question becomes…
Can I do justice to him?
Will this new story discuss a little the new Michael…The guy he was kinda of becoming, but isn’t all the way and what would he do if he doesn’t have Bethany Anne’s …errr, calming influence on him?
Well, I’ve found out and very soon, so shall you.
PLEASE, enjoy the season, it has a lot of meaning. The book will be there later to be enjoyed…But really, do enjoy the book when you have time – Ok? And let me know on FB or Amazon Forums or in the reviews itself.
Also, I’m going to ask you to consider this gift: Do a review of someone’s book for Christmas, as well. A favorite author…someone who doesn’t have but a few reviews.
Us Indie Authors love that present!
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL
And to ALL a Very Kurtherian Night!
Michael Anderle
The Dark Messiah – Snippet 10 of …
UNEDITED
Sarah Jennifer looked out over her yard, her dark, vacant yard, and snorted.
Not one.
Not one damned man decided to stick with her. Well, except for Jeremiah, Todd and Dirk. She knew why the guys really stepped off the property here by the house. It was easier for the other dickless dirtbags to put their tail in between their legs and run away.
She turned and entered the house. What was done, was done. She wasn’t going to change anything by screaming in annoyance when it was her feelings that were hurt, not her concern with dying.
Her old Merc leader, TH, had told her one time, you do what you got to do. Most of the time, it will come out alright. Occasionally? Well occasionally it might come up snake-eyes and you just hope that when you close your eyes a final time, you can be proud of yourself.
That was over ten years ago. She considered what she had built out here in the Fallen Lands and considered it good. She’d helped over a hundred souls through the years and pulled a few out of a bad future. Now, she had three who were willing to walk into Purgatory with her.
She stopped in the kitchen, and started the coffee water to boiling on the old pot-bellied fire stove. It helped heat the house and warm the body.
And hopefully, the soul when all of this was done.
“Hellooo the house?” a strange voice called out.
Sarah Jennifer turned towards the door leading outside. She pushed the coffee pot off the main heating area and walked back towards the back, grabbing a rifle on her way.
It would be stupid not to be careful.
She took a sidestep into the viewing room beside the door and looked out. In the faint light, she could see her three guys up on their horses, surrounding a tall man in a black trench coat, the light reflecting off his bald head. He was looking around the yard and the obvious lack of activity for such large buildings, the horse stables mostly empty.
Bastards had even taken the horses she had provided them.
With her men behind him, she considered it safe enough. She set the rifle down and walked around to the door, opening it and stepping outside.
—
Michael looked around, his lip twitching. He could see the signs that there should be at least another fifteen people minimum here right now.
All this woman had was the three guys behind him and now, him.
Seems like the other side might need to bring another thousand if they wanted a shot at this.
His cold eyes turned back towards the house when he heard the slight grating of wood on wood. He caught the motion and saw the concealed area she was using to check him out.
Him and his bald head. How very Yul Brynner of himself.
Fortunately, the bastard nanocytes that had his hair wrong, didn’t consider his eyebrows too. He was having enough of a problem dealing with his chrome dome up top. If he didn’t have his eyebrows, he might decide it just wasn’t worth living any longer.
He snorted, perhaps Bethany Anne was right. Just a little.
He could be rather vain.
He could hear her close the viewing door and move around. The main door opened up a second later and an attractive, somewhat older, woman stepped out. Her figure cast in shadows with the lights around the yard.
She nodded to the men behind him and then, spoke to him.
—
“Mister, can I ask why my guys here are bringing you around? I can only trust that these miscreants informed you we expect to be attacked tomorrow?”
“Blunt,” Michael replied.
She raised an eyebrow, “Do you have a problem with blunt?” His little smirk annoyed her, “Do you?”
Michael pursed his lips, “I don’t. I doubt you can be more blunt than a couple of women I know.” He thumbed at the guys behind him, “And, these men did inform me that there was going to be a little activity here tomorrow.”
She threw an annoyed glance over at Jeremiah.
Jeremiah put up his hands, “Hey! I told him the details. He said he wanted to come along.”
Sarah Jennifer stepped off the porch and started her way towards Michael, “And what details would that be, Jeremiah?”
Before Jeremiah could answer, Michael answered. “Probably forty, maybe fifty guys coming here to burn down the place, take you whether you like it or not and the expectation they will all end up dead.”
Sarah Jennifer threw a glance at the guys. Dirk leaned forward as he sat on his horse and hissed quietly, “Way to go get her pissed off!”
Sarah Jennifer pointed to the men, “that’s going to be boot washing for all of you, bad attitude!”
“How about …” Michael interrupted, drawing her ire as he put his hands behind his back, and started circling Sarah Jennifer. He looked her up and down.
“What are you doing?” she asked, but quickly countered his walk, keeping him ten feet away, and now focused on this stranger.
“You are favoring your left leg, be careful when you announce that.”
“How about I use my supposedly weak right leg and kick your ass with it?”
“Well, if you are just going to be angry,” Michael replied, his hands still behind his back, “I’d still suggest using your left leg, more power.”
Her eyes narrowed, “what was your suggestion going to be?”
“I understand from Jeremiah that if I cuss around you, it might be a boot washing if you can best me in a fight?”
“Or soap in your mouth, but we happen to be out soap, so maybe horse dung instead?” she told him. The thrill of a good fight already loosening up her muscles.
“Oh, I’m not worried about horse dung ever reaching this mouth,” he told her, his right hand coming around and pointing to his face. “However, how about we agree if you can’t take me, then these guys are absolved from any punishment?”
“You are a cocky one, aren’t you.” She proclaimed. Good, she liked them cocky.
“No, you mistake confidence for cocky,” he told her.
“What weapons?” she asked, “I see a sword and a couple of pistols if I’m not mistaken.”
Michael stopped and cocked his head, “You aren’t, but if you want weapons, feel free to go get some.”
She stopped circling as well, “I always enjoy feeding a cocky person their foot to chew on the best.”
“Well,” he reached under his jacket and pulled out the Wakizashi. Her eyes opened a little.
That was a beautiful piece of work, and it had been taken care of very nicely. She couldn’t spot any dirt on the scabbard, at least not in the dark.
“Jeremiah?” Michael spoke out and when he knew he had the man’s attention, he tossed the sword in its scabbard to him, “I’ll expect that back in a moment.”
“Wow, let me change that to super cocky,” Sarah Jennifer told him.
Michael turned to look at her and smirked, “oh, I’m just getting started.” At that comment, she raised her own eyebrow in surprise.
No one pushed her buttons on purpose and got away with it.
FROM MICHAEL>>> WORDS COMPLETE BABY! WOOHOO! Damn, I LOVE when I get to say that.
It means I get to write the Author’s Forward, and then after the JIT team I get to hit PUBLISH. Except, this time it isn’t a Bethany Anne book, it’s Michael’s.
Is it going to fly? Will the fans like it? Damn, I sure hope so. (totally not hiding my head under the desk, biting my nails off….yet.)
We will all find out in less than a week, won’t we? 😮
Ad Aeternitatem, folks!
Michael
Book for today?
So, there is this super cool author over in England (Mark E Cooper) that I’ve seen around the author areas and I was honored that he was reading my books, and sending out stuff to his own fans (he’s been in the business a lot longer than I). He was so effusive, that he had me blushing. (Which, let’s be honest, I can be totally ok with…I’m not so humble it doesn’t feel GOOOOOOD!) 😉
Anyhow, I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned his books before (months ago), but thought why not return the favor? I didn’t know he was going to promote me, so (shhh), I’m not telling HIM I’m promoting him…
Yet…
His latest book in his series is out!
Incursion: Merkiaari Wars Book 5
The war games are on, but the real battle has just begun…
The Alliance is ready for the war games. The spectacular show of innovation and strength may change the way war is waged, but on far-flung worlds, devastating incursions have already begun. The Merkiaari are back, but news can only travel as fast as a foldspace drone.
Captain Eric Penleigh of the 501st Infantry Regiment looks forward to an easy assignment. All he needs to do is evaluate the best cutting-edge tech the Alliance has to offer and make nice with new alien allies. But when preparation for the games turns into a deadly war, nobody will be ready for what comes next…
Incursion is the long-awaited fifth book in the Merkiaari Wars series. If you like breathtaking space battles and heart-pounding military sci-fi, then you’ll love Mark E. Cooper’s latest entry in the beloved space opera saga.
This book is WIDE (not in Kindle Unlimited)
THE DARK MESSIAH – Snippet 09 of …
UNEDITED
“Helloooo the fire!” a strange voice called out.
Jeremiah, Dirk and Todd all turned towards the voice, Dirk sliding out about twenty feet into the trees off to the side.
“Not looking for trouble, guys,” the voice called to them. “Just looking to make a difference and get some questions answered. May I approach?”
Jeremiah called back, “Who you with, stranger?”
“Just myself, recently landed in these parts,” the voice called back.
“C’mon in, but behave yourself.” Jeremiah allowed, “we ain’t got much, but what we got, we will share.”
The man entered the dim light of the fire and Jeremiah’s eyebrows went up. He was damned handsome, didn’t have a lick of hair on his head nor could he see any scars on the man.
And he carried himself like a warrior.
“You can come out of the tree’s, Dirk,” Jeremiah called out, “If he was here to harm us, I imagine he might have already done it.”
Todd looked over to his friend, “and you say this because why, the black coat?” He turned back to the stranger, “no offense, the black coat is impressive. But Jeremiah here,” he threw a thumb back at his friend, “is way too impressed with clothes. He was certainly born in the wrong age.”
“No jackass,” Jeremiah replied, and pointed to the stranger, “Because he balances like a cat, he’s got at least one pistol I’ve seen and something else underneath that coat. I’d guess a sword. He knew where,” he pointed to the trees where Dirk was just becoming visible as he returned, “Dirk went and he wasn’t bothered by coming right up to us. So,” he turned back to the stranger, “is it just you, or do you have another out there waiting to come in?”
“No,” the stranger told them, “it’s just me. I overheard what you were talking about, so I have a basic understanding of what you are up against. So … I thought I might see if it is a fight I want to join.”
“Let me get this right,” Dirk scratched his nose, “you mister, might want to join the three of us,” he pointed to his friends, “and one lady against thirty to forty guns?”
“You said she was worth ten herself, right? Doesn’t that leave, at best, ten for each of us?” The stranger asked in a no-nonsense voice, “I don’t know about you guys, but in my time, we tended to pride ourselves on being better than the ladies.”
“Stranger, you got a name?” Todd butted into the conversation.
He turned towards the man, his cool eyes seeming to bring the temperature down a moment, “yes, it’s Michael.”
“Well, Michael,” Todd continued, a little less boisterous, “unless you have been in the FDG, you might have a little problem with Sarah Jennifer. I’ll be willing to bet you a boot cleaning…”
“Excuse me, a what?” Michael interrupted, “A boot cleaning?”
“Ahhh,” Jeremiah tried to explain, “it has less to do with money and more to do with embarrassment. No one likes to lose a bet and be made to clean boots, it’s humiliating.”
“And the FDG?” Michael prompted.
“You from another country?” Dirk asked, “You never heard of the FDG?”
“Can we pretend I’m from another time and leave the real history out of it?” Michael asked, pushing a little soft velvet over steel tones into his voice.
All the men agreed that was a splendid idea.
Michael mumbled, “Glad to know one damned thing still works.”
“The FDG,” Dirk answered, “is Force de Guerre. They started over a century ago. They come in, they kick ass, they leave. Made up of a lot of damned impressive people. Many are really strong, or really fast. They try and keep a little normalcy out here in the Fallen Lands.”
Michael bit his tongue, he would follow up on that term, later. “So, they are a police force?”
Todd and Jeremiah both snorted, “I wish,” Jeremiah answered, “if we had a police force, the three of us wouldn’t be rushing forward to die in a couple of days.”
Michael’s eyes narrowed, “And why do you think you are going to die?”
“Because chivalry,” Todd answered, eyeing his friend, “makes us dead.”
Michael raised an eyebrow, “Oh, then I definitely want in on this.”
“Why, you have a death wish?” Dirk asked, amusement coloring his voice.
“No,” Michael told him, his voice going cold, “I just have something against those who would wish a woman, dead.”
FROM MICHAEL >>> DAAAAMMNN… Last 4 chapters, last 10-12,000 words…21 chapters down, ready to rock and roll (as soon as I post this.
Just finished a long chapter this morning where some …errr…Wow, that would be giving away too much. Suffice to say, Michael finds himself falling back away from the ‘new and compassionate Michael’ that Bethany Anne was working on.
BUT! It was with permission, so what’s a man to do? Well, the book title is called the DARK Messiah for a reason! 😉
Now, need some more Kurtherian Gambit to feast your eyes on? Well, we have Books coming out this week, including hopefully by Christmas Eve, a Frank Kurns Special for Bellatrix which might have a few scenes with your favorite lady, as well.
Plus, the TH Chronicles following one of The Authors favorite characters from books 12 and 13 and introducing a new character that I’ve grown to love.
This time, she’s a were…
Michael
Want some other reading options today? Check out a friend that helped me when we had the great Justice Is Calling kerfuffle earlier in December. This author has a special where you not only get the first book in the series for FREE $0.00 (Including Kindle Unlimited – this is a time sensitive sale) but IF YOU LIKE AUDIO – Snag the Audio book For $1.99 as well.
Four (4) book series 😉
Lichgates: Book One of the Grimoire Saga (an Epic Fantasy Adventure) Kindle Edition
The final page will leave you breathless…
When Kara Magari uncovers a secret door in the middle of the forest, she discovers (and trips through) a portal to a hidden world full of terrifying things: Ourea. She just wants to go home, but the natives have other plans for her. She clashes with immortal shapeshifters, is carried off by a dragon, nearly dies on several occasions, and somehow becomes the master of an ancient book of magic called the Grimoire. Every time she thinks she’s safe, her new “friends” show their true colors.
Kara needs an ally, or she might not survive Ourea’s monsters. She drops her guard when Braeden, a native soldier with a dark secret, vows to keep her safe. And though she doesn’t know it, her growing attraction to him may just be her undoing.
For twelve years, Braeden Drakonin has lived a lie. The Grimoire is his one chance at redemption, and it lands in his lap when Kara Magari comes into his life. Though he begins to care for this stranded girl, there’s something he wants more.
He wants the Grimoire.
Welcome to Ourea, where only the cunning survive.
THE DARK MESSIAH – Snippet 08 of …
UNEDITED
South of Douglas Mountain, old Colorado (United States Post-Apoc)
The three men ate sitting around a tiny fire. It was a little chilly, but they dared not build anything larger. The stress up at the main house was already getting tense.
The size of the fire matched the size of their spirits. Small and not much help warming them up.
Jeremiah looked out at the landscape and blew out a heavy breath. He turned back and nodded to the two of them, “Todd, Dirk, I got to ask, and I’m going to lay it out right up front, I’m staying.”
Todd, about six foot two inches and thin as a sapling tree snorted, “You know it’s our death’s right? Sarah Jennifer ain’t going to go down for any man. She will take her size whatever-the-hell-they-are boots and shove them up Childers’ ass, guns blazing before she accepts any of his deals.”
“Seven,” Dirk answered. Both men looked at him, “What?” He shrugged, “Common size for women, it isn’t strange or anything.”
“She had you clean them, right?” Todd asked, “Caught you cussin’ around her?”
“Damn right she caught me cussing,” Dirk admitted, smiling at the memory, “I slipped and popped myself in the mouth trying to pull some leather. It hurt. So, I go off and say shit or something like that. I turn around and there she is, glaring at me like my mom or something. I figured, ‘what the hell’, so I went ahead and let loose with everything I could remember.”
“Got them all out of your system?” Jeremiah asked.
“Yeah,” Dirk admitted.
“So, did you screw up again?” Todd asked, “Just curious, took me three times to start looking around myself.”
Dirk smirked, “One other time.”
Todd turned to Jeremiah, “You?”
“Oh, no.” Jeremiah shook his head, “My mom was hell on wheels about cussing. So, I learned early to treat all women as ladies.”
Todd nodded in the direction of the house, “That why we all making our last stand?”
Jeremiah turned in the direction of the house, “No, not for me. Sometimes you realize that when civilization cratered, morality took a beating. Justice died and ethics took a sabbatical.” He turned back to the two men with him, “Ain’t ever gonna come back unless someone is willing to take a stand.”
Dirk pointed to Todd and then Jeremiah and finally at himself, “So, the three of us against thirty…or more right?”
“Well, say it like that and you make me want to tell Childers he needs to bring another twenty or so. Don’t forget Sarah Jennifer is worth probably ten of those sad sacks.”
“And her armament.”
“You ever seen it?” Dirk asked, looking between the two men.
“Her guns?” Jeremiah asked.
He never got to answer, a call came out of the night.
—
Michael had been walking for a day already. It had taken him three solid hours to figure out how to Myst again, and go through the damned hole up at the old base.
At least he had decent clothes again.
Bethany Anne had provided money. While he kept some, he figured it would probably be useless. He had on jeans, a black shirt, and for some insane reason, her guards had provided him a black leather trenchcoat.
It did help hide his two pistols, apparently Jean Dukes Specials. He read the instructions carefully before locking them to his palm print. With over five thousand rounds, he figured he would be good for a while. But, he had no idea how often this new world would require … attitude adjustments.
He practiced with the pistol, turning up the kinetic kick from one to ten and back down. Ten had impressive destruction. John’s note to him explained how the pistol used etheric generated magnetic something or another and how the rounds were made to replace them.
Basically, he figured out, he had a tiny rail-gun in his hand. Technology ahead of its time and probably still ahead of this time, as well.
Well, he sure hoped so. He was sure that rail-gun technology would be pretty nasty stuff to deal with if it was pointed at him.
Finally, she provided two Wakizashis and one Katana. He left the Katana behind as being too impractical and kept one Wakizashi, the two pistols, two sets of clothes and scrounged for soap and other stuff pushing it into a leather bag he slung over his shoulder.
He had no shampoo. He spent an extra hour looking for any damned shampoo but the base was dry. He passed a mirror at the hour mark and saw his reflection.
Making a face, he realized the soap was sufficient. He still had no damn hair.
It took him another two hours to once again attain his Myst form and make it back up and out of the base. He was pushing himself and had made it halfway down the mountain when he suddenly dropped out of Myst form. This resulted in an ass over appetite, arms and legs flailing, tumble down the slope. He travelled more than a hundred yards, introducing himself to hundreds of small rocks and stones and bouncing off of one damned large rock in the process.
He laid for a minute, just muttering “OOOOwwwww” over and over again.
Finally, he turned over and stood up, trudging back up the hill, grabbing his bag and thought about why he was having trouble with skills he had honed over a thousand years.
“Focus,” he muttered, “It’s got to be focus.” Some time later, he saw the campsite, the tiny fire burning like a lighthouse beacon for him.
>> FROM MICHAEL – THANK YOU EVERYONE who is helping w/ the Queen Bitch edits! The is SUCH a relief…believe me. Right now, we are about 9 days from releasing The Dark Messiah.
I have about 20,000 more words to write (I just gave Chapter 18 to Stephen Russell.) I always split my longer books up into 25 chapters…So, 6 chapters to go. 😉
We are releasing NOMAD FOUND in a few days…And we are looking to release (we hope) TS Pauls Book and Paul C. Middleton’s book “very, very soon” as well.
JUSTICE IS CALLING (With Justin Sloan) is doing very well. Thank you ALL who have bought it, enjoyed it and reviewed it (or bought it and enjoyed it, too!) You have already changed an author’s life. It’s been pretty cool being his partner, and seeing the possibilities open in his eyes for himself as an author, and his family as Valerie takes hold.
Not read it? Check it out HERE and see if you want to read it this weekend.
THE DARK MESSIAH – Snippet 07 of …
UNEDITED
The small town was less town as it was a stronghold. Men and women came in, some left again, others stayed. Either they were persuaded this was a safe location … or they stayed, as slaves.
The young woman, attractive, used her sense of touch to grab the next plate.
Others asked the Boss why he kept an obviously deficient girl in the camp?
Too many thought that a blind girl couldn’t listen and think for herself. But in that, they would be wrong. She hadn’t always been blind, that was a new development which had occurred when her group had been attacked. She had left her pack against her dad’s wishes and decided to travel the Fallen Lands. Seeking her fortune, he told her, was a damned fool’s journey.
She had yelled back that she would just be a damned fool then.
Now, she couldn’t see. For her kind, it was almost unheard of. She should have healed from the damage by now, or be dead.
She wasn’t dead. The hours in front of a tub of water washing dishes and occasionally in front of a tub washing clothes, was proof she was still alive.
But she could hear, much better than normal humans and she had heard the Boss’s answer.
He was just waiting until she was old enough so he could bed her. Didn’t the rest of them see how beautiful she was going to be? He was waiting, he told the men, for the flower to be as beautiful as she would ever be before plucking it.
Jacqueline always kept a knife secreted on her body.
This flower, she had decided, was going to have thorns.
Deep under the Denver base.
The E.I. woke up.
It had been in passive mode for almost eight-two years, by the records it kept. The normal intrusions into the base had been logged and it had obediently uploaded the information to the E.I. resources in outer space. Placed there by TQB Enterprises when they had used this base.
Well over a hundred and fifty years before.
The base E.I. was hidden behind tons of rock that had been dropped before the old government could try to force their way into this hidden server room.
However, the E.I. was still connected, still recording, and still updating the records to the E.I.s in outer space.
It logged the human which had found the supply closet. Then, the human left for a couple of hours before it triggered the alarms which brought the E.I. online.
It was in front of Storage Location D.D. 2. The E.I. watched, patiently, as the human stayed in front of the door for three hours before it seemed to disappear off of it’s sensors.
The E.I. stayed on full alert for another twelve minutes, then it changed its parameters for wake up and went back to sleep.
Never realizing the human had gotten inside a secured room within the base.
FROM MICHAEL >>> Ok, about 50% done with the writing. Chapters 1-4 are w/ the final edit before they come back to me. I just sent chapter 13 (out of 25 to do) to Stephen Russell.
Lot’s of action going on and I have to admit, a real tear-jerker for me personally. I don’t know if others will find it so touching, but it got me right in the tear ducts and squeezed them for all it was worth…
I was seriously praying my wife didn’t walk in on my, wiping my face as I was type-type-typing on my laptop.
It looks like we should have a very Kurtherian Christmas this 2016. ;-).
WHAT’S BELOW?
Michael-Scott Earle is a really good friend I encountered through the 20BooksTo50k group. He has a new series (he is also a super-fast writer) coming out on Thursday and IS ON PRE-ORDER FOR $0.99 RIGHT NOW.
He is the author of many series. One he is very known for is the Destroyer series. This time, he isn’t doing stuff quite so dark 😉
He asked if I would mind mentioning his new series, as he has high hopes and knows my readers are freaking voracious… And let’s face it, most authors WANT to get in front of you. I answered of course, what are author buddy friends for…Well, ok, buying drinks, but OTHER than that, what else are they good for?
Yeah, ok, helping to decide where to bury the body…But WHAT ELSE…
Oh, for Pete’s sake, mentioning new series to their fans… (This could go on all night if I don’t stop here).
Till next snippet – Michael.
Wings of Justice (City of Light Book 1) Kindle Edition
Welcome to Petrasada. The City of Light. The City of Clouds. The City of Joy. It is the last bastion of human life floating miles above an endless desert world.
And a string of serial murders are threatening to tear the city apart.
Anelia Orba is the newest rookie in the magical winged police force of Petrasada. She is inexperienced, naive, paired with a resentful partner, and fully expected to fail. But when a strange clue takes Anelia off the procedural path, she’ll have to overcome the odds before the City of Light falls to darkness, and she loses everything she cares about.
CHECK OUT THE BOOK HERE ON AMAZON – AND PREORDER IF YOU LIKE
THE DARK MESSIAH – Snippet 06 of …
UNEDITED
OLD DENVER BASE FOR TQB
The front living room had the couches removed. There was a round table, with two chairs.
A table stood in the middle, a piece of paper in the middle. Michael walked past the table and went to the bedroom.
It had their bed, made up. He looked around but there was nothing else in the room. It looked like an empty room one might find at an old motel, it was so devoid of anything personal. He opened the closet, but it was empty.
“No clothes. Couldn’t you have at least left behind some clothes, baby?” he muttered. He stepped into the bathroom.
Clean.
He stepped out and made his way into the brighter main room. Heading straight for the table and the note, it was time to see what this was about.
“Dearest Michael,
Your clothes, if you should need them, are in the locked area near the Team BMW area. You should be able to Myst through the opening we left you at the top. I don’t know what you would want to wear, so I left you everything from suits to jeans and a few items in between.
John and the Group left you a surprise.
Further, there are weapons for you as well.
I leave you these things because you made me a promise, one I expect you to fulfill.
You had better return to me, or when I am done with the Kurtherians, I will figure out how to go back in time and kick your ass.
All my love and my heart,
Bethany Anne.”
Michael stood there for minutes, reading and re-reading the note. She expected him to return and she was waiting. He calmly folded the note and put it in the pocket on his chest. The outfit he had on might be ugly, but it had a lot of pockets.
He turned and walked out of the suite and took a slight left. He needed to go about a half mile around the front and to the other side of the airplane hangars where Team BMW’s area used to be. Obviously, his love had taken the fight out into space. And by the look of things, something must have happened here on Earth either before or after she left.
Something that had caused them to leave Earth, and apparently for her to lock up their area and make it look like it was dangerous to check out. He suspected they had washed it down with radioactivity sometime in the past so geiger counters would scream.
Well, there wasn’t anything he could feel floating here at this time. He sure hoped he wasn’t wrong and didn’t glow in the dark now. That’s all he needed to see in the mirror.
A bald head that reminded him of a light bulb at night.
South of Douglas Mountain, old Colorado (United States Pre-Apoc)
The seven men decided to camp away from the main house this evening. Two of them nodded to each other and the first, the one with dark hair, walked out away from the fire to guard against the chance of someone trying to sneak up on them.
It wasn’t likely to happen, but this evening, it was as much to protect against those from their own group coming up to the fire and listening to the talk as it was to protect from others who might wish them ill.
The second man, David Tellison, waited ten minutes to make sure his friend was properly down the path. Once the time was up, he walked beside the fire which the other five guys were sitting around, drinking a form of coffee that they made out of some bark off a tree and clapped his hands to get their attention.
“Ok, I know the rumors have been heard by everyone. So, I’m here to figure out what you guys are going to do when Boss Childers’ men attack Sarah Jennifer. I’ll tell you this straight up. She has been good to me, but she ain’t been good enough to me so that I take bullets for her. I ain’t waiting to be stuck there, guns in front and guns in back of me.”
Jackson spit over to the side, behind the log he was sitting on , “I figure he has what, forty guns?”
David nodded, “That’s the low count, he can afford more.”
Jackson chewed on a bit of jerky, “Wouldn’t be right to leave Sarah Jennifer and run over to Childers’ group.”
“I’m not suggesting we go join Childers, even I know that would be a dick move,” David retorted.
“Dick move or not,” Buddy spoke up, from his log next to Jackson, “It’d be easy money.”
David nodded to Buddy. The man was strictly out for himself and David figured if the best he could do was make sure six out of the seven men here didn’t join Childers, then that was something for Sarah Jennifer.
That night, five more decided to leave the employ of Sarah Jennifer and seek their fortune somewhere else.
Somewhere that didn’t have thirty or forty men gunning for them.
FROM MICHAEL >>> So, right now I’m about 25,000 words into the The Dark Messiah book (1/3 of the way.) I would / should be further, but holidays and collaboration release etc. etc.
So, not much here so I can go there and continue writing!
We have the following location(s) for snippets for the other series (or books out) right here!
Justin Sloan – Reclaiming Honor Series – Book 01 – Justice Is Calling
CHECK HIM OUT HERE: http://www.justinsloanauthor.com
BOOK IS LIVE HERE https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MQM45QD
Facebook Page for the Series: https://www.facebook.com/ReclaimingHonor
TS Paul – The Etheric Academy – Alpha Group 01
CHECK SCOTT (and the snippet) OUT HERE: https://tspaul.blogspot.com
Craig Martelle – Terry Henry Walton Chronicles
CHECK CRAIG (and the snippets) OUT HERE: http://www.craigmartelle.com/apps/blog/
Facebook Page for the Series: https://www.facebook.com/TerryHenryWalton/
Paul C. Middleton – The Boris chronicles
CHECK PAUL (and the snippets) OUT HERE: https://betrayedbyfaith.wordpress.com/2016/12/09/revelations-snippet-1/
THE DARK MESSIAH – Snippet 05 of …
UNEDITED
Outside an old military Base – West of Old Denver, Colorado (United States)
Confusion was the first thought.
Michael looked around and considered confusion to be his second, third and damn near fourth thought as well.
What happened?
He walked, bare ass naked, through a base that had seen better days. When he pulled open a door and it dropped off of its hinges, he had to agree it was probably years or decades.
Perhaps a better century?
Michael walked into the old command center. It was dusty, a broken window in the front allowing the weather in. A few leaves were lodged in crevices.
Empty.
He pressed his lips together and moved further into the base inside the mountain trying to understand what had happened. Each room he checked was cleaned of anything relevant. He found no computer equipment and more than that, he found no lights which worked.
It was chilly, so the time of year had to be fall, at least. It took him an hour and the only thing he ran across was a small supply room. He did find clothes of a sort. They were old work clothes, a single suit. He snagged a tan pair, but made a face.
They weren’t his preferred style. However, he was clothed and that had to be worth something at the moment.
He walked across the base, the car parking lot empty and went to where he had lived with Bethany Anne. The building was not only empty; it was boarded up. Not a type of boarding because windows were busted, no, this was boarded up to keep people from going through something important inside.
This was professional and it had the faintest marks that shows warnings about radioactivity. Which seemed ludicrous. His time in the Etheric enhanced his ability to discern energy, and there was nothing related to Radioactivity he could feel.
Well, he hoped there wasn’t. His lack of hair was bothering him and all he needed to do was get a fresh dose of radiation of screw any chance of hair growing back. He could still regenerate from wounds, that he had figured out after falling out of the Etheric, using the limbs of a tree to slow his rapid descent.
He willed himself to turn into Myst, that amorphous state which allowed him to disappear and fly, moving through gaps that only air could flow through.
Except, he was still standing right in front of the boarded up living quarters, looking fairly stupid.
He turned to view around the area he was standing, but there was nothing but the old, time run-down base and a bird that was flying overhead about a quarter-mile to the north.
And, he wasn’t in his Myst form at all.
“Ok, something broke that used to work,” he muttered, “like my hair.”
He made a fist and tapped on the board where the door should be. Hollow.
He made a fast, sharp punch and the board cracked. He did this twice more and reached in with his left hand, pulling out pieces of the board noticing the thickness of the wood.
They really didn’t want anyone in here.
Tossing the chunks of wood behind him, he grabbed a few more pieces and pulled, yanking them off. He found a metal crossbeam and smiled. Something he could really get a grip on. He set his feet, his eyes glowed red and he pulled, the strain on his muscles felt good, felt warm, felt like…
CRACK!
A huge, ten-foot-tall by four-foot-wide chunk of the wood was breaking out of the protective surrounding. Michael frowned. He felt both stronger, and weaker at the same time. It was as if his energy was deeper. His connection to the Etheric was beyond his previous ability.
But his muscles didn’t work nearly as well. He flexed his arms, rolling his shoulders to test his body and had to agree.
“Now, this is damned embarrassing,“ He was out of shape for the first time in over a thousand years. “Can’t let Bethany Anne see me like this. I’m hairless, and in desperate need of a work-out, or five.”
He took a step to the side and yanked three more times on the steel beam and finally the huge chunk of the wall cracked and he tossed it to the side, dust coming up from the ground where it made a resounding crash.
Behind the opening was the door that went into his apartment.
“Nothing ventured, nothing gained,” he checked the door knob, and it was locked. “Of course it is,” he kicked it open. What was inside, surprised him.
FROM MICHAEL >>> I’m writing this on Wednesday afternoon. I’m sitting in Todd’s P.U.B. next to the Aria hotel after finishing the burger (only a handful of fries. The burger was fantastic, but NO…ROOM…LEFT!)
Anyway, I wanted to mention something that was really cool to wake up to yesterday morning. When I woke up, way early for here as I’m still on Central Time (2 hours ahead) I grabbed my phone and started seeing if there was anything I needed to deal with.
Well, I was on the Facebook Group and reading the posts when I got to the one below. I have to tell you, it was a super cool feeling to read the post that I copied below, and to see the huge amount of outpouring support for Brandon Barr and the people in the group really supporting one of our team.
Just like I think anyone in the Etheric Empire would do, for someone in their group.
I had nothing to do with the request, didn’t know about it, didn’t read anything for about ten (10) hours after it went live and all of this support happened.
I might have shed a tear.
Special thanks to my collaborator, Justin, who wrote the original post and to all of the fantastic authors who are supporting Brandon Barr as our way of helping him.
Feel free to do something, do nothing, or just send good wishes his way. There is a free book below, a book for sale and, for those interested, his Youtube channel.
I’m supposed to promote between the 11th and 17th, so I’ll put his book up in a snippet again next week. I did it early because it feels like giving a Christmas gift…I just want to do it now, not wait!
Take care until the NEXT Dark Messiah Snippet!
Michael
FROM JUSTIN SLOAN –
Team 20Books: We have an author going into the hospital tomorrow because his leukemia has returned, and a couple of us thought it would be an awesome sign of support — to show him we care and we 20Books authors stick together — to do one week of featuring him in our newsletters (also social media and all that, of course). The author is Brandon Barr, and I checked with him first to make sure this would be appropriate/ wouldn’t make him uncomfortable. He’s actually doing YouTube videos about it, which you can check out. (Link below)
So, would you be willing to sign up for a day, starting Sunday and going through that Saturday, that you’d be willing to share? It’d be great if we could have at least one author a day, preferably more. Let’s put an even bigger smile on his face!
Dates: 11-17 and CM Raymond will follow up with the sheet to sign up 
🙂 – if those dates don’t work, please still share when you can. It’s awesome that we can rally together like this! (But let’s try to do it together)
LINKS:
YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaQbFWrJcQD1VKG_Zeb-TXQ
Free book on Instafreebie: Ella Dethroned (Fantasy or Science Fantasy, or Fantasy Romance) https://www.instafreebie.com/free/MrVYO
First book ($2.99): https://www.amazon.com/Dangerous-Visions-Son…/…/ref=asap_bc…