This weeks post, inspired by one of our author’s holiday sweets is a good way to bring in a sweet New Year, for those of us who are superstitious, and I am. However since I have no excerpts in my stories involving ice cream, I’ll have to pick another sweet favorite food. It is an ingredient often found in ice cream, at least the good flavors. This is an excerpt from my upcoming novel Pazuzu’s Girl. We’ll call these peanut butter excerpts:
Morpho shook out her brilliant blue hair in front of the mirror behind the door of her pink room. She threw on her torn leather jacket over a ruffled pink sock that passed for a mini-dress. She flounced down the stairs, grabbed her Tinkerbell backpack and the peanut butter toast her father’s servant had left, and plopped her skateboard on the tiles of the front porch. One of them dislodged as she jumped the board down the steps.
A loud chatter emerged from the thousands of grasshoppers that hid throughout the partially eaten lawn and manicured bushes. She heard them as though they spoke in English.
I know you’re mad at me, but was that really necessary? Lugal just fixed those. Are you angry with him as well? A couple of grasshoppers fluttered after her and hitched a bumpy ride on the strap of her pack before crawling up to her shoulder.
She rolled her eyes and did a rattling jump just for their benefit. “No, Dad. I’m not mad at him. And not everything I do is just to piss you off.” Her lips set in a grim line and she rode in silence.
The grasshoppers twittered and hung on as she took the curbs as hard as possible. Then to what do we owe your sunny mood?
She glowered. “I’m a freak. We are freaks.” She whirled her finger in a circle to include everyone around her in freak-dom.
You dyed your hair blue. That’s generally not what people do when they are trying to avoid attention, her dad gently reminded her.
“I’m laying my cards on the table. We have to replace the lawn and shrubs every couple days because you eat everything in the yard. And everyone thinks Lugal is your love slave. Our differences aren’t exactly ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell.’ By the way, we got another fine from the stupid housing association. They’re threatening to send pest control.”
The grasshoppers chirped. I’ll deal with them. And I thought you liked Lugal.”
“I do like him. But you might want to let him know everyone thinks he’s your boyfriend, partner…whatever.” She flipped her board up and stormed into the school hall, late for class, as the grasshoppers flitted away.
Thousands of grasshoppers emerged from nooks and crannies throughout the denuded sod in front of 248 Rowan Street, Ken Caryl, Colorado. As they flooded into the hallway of the house from the moist April breeze outside, the swarm of glittering wings and golden-brown bodies condensed into the figure of a tall thin man with golden eyes, black hair and slightly canine features around the mouth. Pazuzu, Demon of the Air and the Southwest Wind, stalked into his suburban home to deal with the four-hundredth letter from his homeowner’s association and ruminate on how to handle an angsty teenage daughter.
2nd Excerpt:
Just after ten at night, Morpho ran into the house, her skateboard slung over her shoulder as JD’s Z-28 revved away. The ‘study session at the library,’ complete with a dime bag of weed twenty miles from the library, had obviously been less eventful than whatever storm had hit the house. She knew exactly what storm that was: her dad’s temper. As soon as she saw Lugal sweeping up glass, her breath caught in her throat. She began cycling through alibis in her head.
He didn’t even look up. “Your father is not here. He went away to calm down, so as not to attract attention.”
She swallowed hard. “Uh…”
Lugal looked up then, pinned her with eyes as black as the night sky, and smiled. “It had nothing to do with whatever you were not supposed to be doing tonight.”
She let out an audible sigh. “No attention, huh? That’ll work until daylight. Any idea when the Master of Subtlety will get back?” She picked her way to the empty cupboard and spied some debris on the floor. An empty peanut butter jar with the plastic half-eaten poked from underneath the door. She moaned, rescuing the jar, and dredged the last of the peanut butter from the bottom with her finger. “He couldn’t leave me the peanut butter? He doesn’t even like peanut butter! So what happened to piss him off this time? Oh, the HOA meeting?” She asked with her finger in her mouth.
Lugal shook his head. “No, though he was in a foul mood when he returned. It is complicated.” He continued cleaning up.
“‘Complicated’ meaning about my mother. Or about his psycho ex-wife. Grown-up stuff, god-stuff he’s all secret about.” She started sweeping up the glass, found a big chunk and picked it up. Lugal took it from her and put it in the plastic waste basket.
“Yes. Complicated.”
“He’s getting worse, isn’t he? This is the third time he’s lost his cool like this in two years. The last time, we had to move.”
Lugal didn’t say anything.
Pazuzu walked into the kitchen, his face tense but composed. Lugal nodded and continued sweeping.
“So did you hear from the harpy?” Morpho asked her father.
He glowered.
“You know I’m not a kid anymore. Why won’t you even talk about her? I can handle it,” Morpho said, hand on her hip.
“No. Go to bed. I will deal with this.” Pazuzu flicked his wrist and some of the debris in the room whumphed into flames. Morpho grabbed the extinguisher next to the stove and buried the beginning fires under powder. She turned to her father, waving at the smoking dust. “What the F! Lighting things on fire is not dealing with them.”
“I was disposing of some of the debris.”
“Don’t help.” She put the canister down, picked up a powder-covered, charred chair and sat down. “So if she’s psycho, why don’t you just get a restraining order? This girl Michelle at school, her dad got a restraining order against her last boyfriend. He kept showing up at their house, playing a ukulele outside her window and blasting the radio with their favorite song.”
Pazuzu covered his eyes with his fingers. “Don’t tell me things like that. And don’t sit down as if this is a discussion. You have school in the morning. Go to bed.” He pointed to her room.
“Do I still have a bed? Why do you get to throw temper tantrums but if I—” Her commentary withered when her father glared at her. She glanced nervously at Lugal.
He returned her gaze evenly, without a blink.
She swallowed. “I’m going.” She wandered past the message machine on her way to the stairs. If there had been a call from school, it had been taken and cleared.
Lugal nodded toward her room. “You have to tell her soon.”
“What can she do against a demoness? Knowing what stalks us will only terrify her.”
Lugal answered in a dry voice. “Have you ever known her to be terrified by anything? Not even by you.”
“But she can do nothing and she shouldn’t have to. I am her father. I protected the children of countless tribesmen for the price of a goat or oil or a prayer, and then I failed her mother. I already failed my son. I will protect my daughter!” The last statement was a growl that shook the remaining wood cabinetry.
His dark servant gave him a calculating look. “Master, the witch is much stronger now. You do not have…the hold over her you once did. Trying to even find her is like following smoke, gone when we look closely. The Tablet that used to bind her is missing and her power grows. She may even have the blessing of Enlil.”
Thunder built behind Pazuzu’s yellow eyes and then he slumped into a chair, surveying the half-demolished ground floor, his own altar to his weakened position on Earth.
End excerpts
I hope you enjoyed the excerpts. Pazuzu’s Girl will be released on February 10th from Journalstone Books. And I hope you have a sweet ice creamy and peanut buttery New Year. Though, I have to say that this topic is bad for my New years resolution, which was to lose 20 pounds. And ice cream, particularly with peanut butter in, is one of my favorite foods. A hot fudge brownie sundae is absolutely my Kryptonite.
Check out more delicious excerpts at our other carnies sites:
http://www.refractedlightreviews.com Danny Snell’s Refracted Light Reviews
http://pattilarsen.blogspot.com Patti Larsen, Author of The Ghost Boy of MacKenzie House, the Hunted series, and the Hayle Coven novels.
http://courtneycolewrites.wordpress.com Courtney Cole, Author of Every Last Kiss, Fated, Princess, and Guardian. Also a contributing author in The Glassheart Chronicles.
http://wrenemerson.wordpress.com Wren Emerson, Author of I Wish and a contributing author in The Glassheart Chronicles.
http://laurasmagicday.wordpress.com Laura Elliott, Author of Winnemucca.
http://nicoleawilliams.blogspot.com Nichole A. Williams, Author of Eternal Eden, and the upcoming Fallen Eden. She is also participating in the Glassheart Chronicles.
http://fisheramelie.com/blog/ Fisher Amelie, Author of The Understorey, as well as a contributing author in The Glassheart Chronicles.
http://amyjonesyaff.blogspot.com Amy Maurer Jones, Author of The Soul Quest Trilogy as well as a contributing author in The Glassheart Chronicles.
http://thewarriorseries.blogspot.com T. R. Graves, Author of Warriors of the Cross.
http://ctefft.blogspot.com Cyndi Tefft, Author of Between
http://pjhoover.blogspot.com P.J. Hoover, Author of Solstice, The Emerald Tablet, The Navel of the World, The Necropolis.
http://www.aliciamccalla.com Alicia McCalla, Author of the upcoming science-fiction novel Breaking Free.
http://heathercashman.com/better_off_read Heather Cashman, Author of Perception.
http://www.abbiglines.com Abbi Glines, Author of Breathe, and the upcoming Existence and Vincent Boys.
http://cidneyswanson.blogspot.com/ Cidney Swanson, Author of Rippler.
http://cherischmidt.blogspot.com, Cheri Schmidt, Author of Fateful, Fractured, and Fair Maiden, Fire Dancer
http://www.lexusluke.com/, Lexus Luke, Author of Manitou, The Sky People Saga, Fire Breather
http://www.suzyturner.com/, Suzy Turner, Author of December Moon and Raven, Dragonslayer
http://kasi-kcblake.blogspot.com/, K. C. Blake, Author of Vampire Rules, Elephant Trainer
http://hereventuality.blogspot.com/, Gwenn Wright, Author of Filter, Ring-Leader
http://kimberlykinrade.com/, Kimberly Kinrade, Author of Bits of You, Pieces of Me and Forbidden Mind, Prestidigitator
http://jlbryanbooks.blogspot.com/, J.L. Bryan, Author of Paranormals series- Jenny Pox. Tommy Nightmare & Alexander Death
http://darbykarchut.com/ Darby Karchut, Author of Griffin Rising, and soon Griffin Fire
http://puttingpentopage.com/ Heather Self
http://brynabutler.wordpress.com/ Bryna Butler, author of the Midnight Guardian series
What’s new this week?
NEW RELEASES!
Question: When your mother is a powerful witch and your father is a soul-sucking vampire, what does that make you? Answer: Cursed. With all the beauty and charm of a Siren, but cursed as a blood-sucking succubus, Empusa longs for love and a normal life. Neither of these can ever be hers, because the only thing she brings to anyone she loves is death. Em lingers in the mortal world, hiding from her father and existing in a lonely life. Until she meets Brennan. With golden hair and a radiant smile, he captures her heart and awakens it from slumber. But Brennan is more than he seems. And in a relationship where life itself hangs in the balance, is love ever really enough?
Against all expectations, Samantha Ruiz has survived attacks by two of Helmann’s deadliest assassins. She’s alive, but she’s far from safe. Helmann is planning a second Holocaust and wants Sam to play a starring role. Will, meanwhile, separated from Sam by an ocean, seeks a way to prevent Helmann’s apocalypse. Along with Sir Walter and Mickie, Will plays a deadly game sneaking into Geneses’ facilities, discovering unsettling clues as to Helmann’s plans. The clock ticks down as Will and Sam discover just how much they must be willing to sacrifice to stop Helmann. UNFURL, the powerful conclusion to The Ripple Series, will leave fans breathless.
Gemma’s parents have put enough rules around her relationship with Harrison that she feels like she’s living on parole. But she wins one battle—a summer job working for Harrison’s step-father. It is the perfect chance to spend the steamy, hot Florida days with her boyfriend. It’s also a great distraction from the cellphone hiding in her underwear drawer—her only contact with Gabe, the mystery man who’s stalking her.When she confronts Gabe, he tells her that her parents are not who she thinks they are, and Harrison has the gall to believe him. Surrounded by conflict, Gemma doesn’t know what to believe, and it takes a trip back in time for her to glimpse the sickening truth.
Thanks to her parents, she returns to the present to find the love of her life no longer exists. His family line was broken and now, so is she.
This betrayal forces her to seek out Gabe. Setting aside her fear of the truth, she must trust this man and learn what he can teach her… otherwise, she’ll never get her boyfriend back.
Syd has what she’s always wanted. Thanks to her demon’s sacrifice, she is finally normal. Why then does she want her magic back so badly? It really sucks to find out Brad was only into her because of her power. And even Quaid is keeping his distance. Her loss couldn’t have come at a worse time. A storm is brewing, one that could devour the entire world. Syd refuses to accept she will never be a witch again, doing everything she can to track down the Chosen of the Light and rescue her demon. If only the ordinary life she’s been building didn’t interfere.
16 year old Karlie has had a pretty normal life… But when her Mom dies she is force to move over 1,000 miles away to live with her Dad. That’s when things start getting weird. She can’t explain the earthquakes that nobody else feels, or why she no longer sleeps. But most of all she doesn’t know why she trusts Shane so much, even though his Dad wants her dead. Suddenly, Karlie’s normal life is turned upside down and she enters a world she never dreamed could really exist.
BLOG TOURS!
FREEBIES!
Nothing says Happy New Year like Halloween! For the first 12 days of 2012, free chapters of 13 on Halloween’s AUDIOBOOK available!
Click here to gather around a fire and hear how Roxie’s birthday wish comes true when she receives a birthday gift that’s literally out of this world!
http://www.authorlaura.com/#!booksJUST AROUND THE CORNER!
Pazuzu’s Girl by Rachel Coles will be released February 10!
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