GODSWAR: The Spear of Athena, Chapter 4

Well, they had a destination... -----     Chapter 4. "Ingram, have you taken leave of your senses?" Captain Pennon snapped. "If you are going back to Aegeia, we go with you!" "No, you do not!" Urelle saw the tension in Ingram's whole body as he kept his gaze locked on Pennon's. He's confronting the Captain of the Clan; I can't imagine how hard this is for Ingram, so soon after finding out that he wasn't the humiliating failure he thought he was. But it was his place to do this, and Urelle and the others had known it [ Continue reading... ]

GODSWAR: The Spear of Athena, Chapter 3

They were looking for answers... -----   Chapter 3. "I can only afford you a few moments," said Calladan Mystraios. "Even for you, Victoria." "I quite understand," she said. "But I believe my friends' questions should be brief. But first, how have you been doing?" "Well enough until I found myself drafted into being King-in-Proxy," he said with a half-chuckle, half-sigh. "The Academy's been doing quite well, or was when I left. A nice new crop of students, about half sponsored in." His sharp black eyes looked distant for a [ Continue reading... ]

GODSWAR: The Spear of Athena, Chapter 2

Quester and Ingram had had an unexpectedly enthusiastic greeting...   -----   Chapter 2. Quester felt his antennae flick involuntarily – the equivalent of an astonished blink. "I am," he agreed, "but from whence this amazement?" The Sorter was still staring down at him, then glanced back at the Artan. "Excuse me a moment; Guild business, you unnerstand." Without waiting for the Querent to answer, the Sorter grasped both Quester and Ingram gently by the shoulders and guided them through a set of doors and down the hall [ Continue reading... ]

GODSWAR: The Spear of Athena, Chapter 1

The Spear of Athena will be coming out fairly soon, so it's time to start snippeting! Let's take a look at what our heroes are up to... ----   GODSWAR: The Spear of Athena By Ryk E. Spoor   Chapter 1. "By the Lady's Wisdom…" breathed Captain Pennon. Ingram chuckled, with a completely silly feeling of pride as he saw the reactions of his fellow Camp-Bels to their first sight of Fanalam' T' ameris' a' u' Zahr-a-Thana T'ikon, Zarathanton, the greatest city in the world. Less than a mile distant, the pearl-grey, [ Continue reading... ]

Jamaica Blue Magic: Chapter 15

Time to look in on the other player in this game... ------   Chapter 15. Jared checked himself in the polished glass of his car’s windows one last time before walking up the white gravel pathway to the villa. He was already somewhat concerned; there was no sign of the level of security he felt was necessary, given the circumstances. There had been adequate security on Aphrodite’s yacht, a few years ago when he had first met her, but here there seemed to be no more than the standard for any private villa. He reached the door; [ Continue reading... ]

Jamaica Blue Magic: Chapter 14

Dylan learns a bit more, but all they know is, things are bad... -----   Chapter 14. Word from Filipe confirmed Dylan’s suspicions. Roberts had graduated from Dobson’s school and was indeed being funded by the "Healthy Undead" special interest group. The organization had been created in the eighties, after the League accepted more diverse groups of undead and paranormals into their ranks. Cornelius Aston had founded it… and Aston was a close friend of Wilfred Blackwell. Tying it all even closer together, Dobson had recently [ Continue reading... ]

Jamaica Blue Magic: Chapter 13

There's always an aftermath to a disaster... -----   Chapter 13. One problem with being a witness to murder, Dylan knew from his time in New York, was that the police would want to talk with you about it. At length. The paranormal division of the Jamaican Constabulary Force was no exception. He and Tina spent the next several hours separately and together, being carefully questioned about every aspect of the event—which was, Dylan had to admit, strange even from a paranormal point of view. The whole process was uncomfortable [ Continue reading... ]

Jamaica Blue Magic: Chapter 12

The investigation continues... and takes a turn Dylan did not expect... -----   Chapter 12. Since two of the three politicians were in Kingston and Dobson was staying at a resort in Negril, it was decided to focus on David Leo and Nicolai’s business meeting and conservation hobbies. It was possible other European investors were involved, and they just didn’t have enough information to assume it was a territorial dispute (at least, according to the more rational members of their group). That left the Caribbean Sea Turtle [ Continue reading... ]

Jamaica Blue Magic: Chapter 11

Let's look back in on our other viewpoint... -----   Chapter 11. Jared waited for the signal that Walküre had been chocked, and then began the process of shutting the aircraft down, going over every item on the checklist, down to physically verifying that the plane was, indeed, properly chocked and secured by the attending personnel. Jet aircraft were finicky things and needed proper care—and if you were going to depend on them when you were at thirty thousand feet above an ocean, three thousand miles from land, you had better [ Continue reading... ]

Jamaica Blue Magic: Chapters 9 and 10

Due to power outage and computer problems, I missed Friday's, so we'll start with two today. -------     Chapter 9. "Are you a witch-hunter?" Aphrodite Nicolai asked. They sat on the marble deck of her two-story beach villa overlooking the ocean. The ethereal woman was pale, with puffy eyes, and unkempt graying hair in her face. She was nothing like the vibrant, glowing being she had been the previous night. She sat on her cushioned beach chair with her legs up. "Eurydice said you were investigating the murder of my [ Continue reading... ]