Steve had confronted Silvertail with a very new wrinkle in this little charade they're going to play... ----- Chapter 7. Steve had to admit there was a vast satisfaction in seeing the patrician features of Varatraine nee Silvertail go slack-jawed with shock. "Er . . . I beg your pardon?" I need something to keep my mind off the other issues. This conversation hasn't fixed them, just . . . temporarily reduced my panic mode. "You haven't thought this part through, Silvertail. Oh, if it's easier for you, you can pop [ Continue reading... ]
Princess Holy Aura: Chapter 6
September 1, 2017 By Leave a Comment
Well, the first battle has been fought; now comes the aftermath, which may be harder than the fight was! ----- Chapter 6. Silvertail watched tensely as the pact was fulfilled and Princess Holy Aura was finally reborn. Let it work, he prayed. In the name of all we have sacrificed, in the name of all that was and could be, let this not be a failure. With eyes that could see what ordinary mortals could not, he watched as Stephen Russ' mortal frame dissolved in light, a core of brilliance forming into a new shape both [ Continue reading... ]
Princess Holy Aura: Chapter 5
August 30, 2017 By Leave a Comment
Well, he'd gone and done it now... time for the henshin (transformation) sequence! ----- Chapter 5. The silver burst from his body and he became the light, flying outward, making a universe of argent and white touched with rainbows, a whirling cyclone of light that chimed and rang and sang a song of triumph and rebirth. Steve felt a body reforming, electric warmth like a hot shower on a cold, cold day curling around and defining every line, every curve that was coalescing from pure light, tingling like a brush of [ Continue reading... ]
Princess Holy Aura: Chapter 4
August 28, 2017 By Leave a Comment
Steve had a rather momentous decision to make... ---- Chapter 4. The white rat's warning hadn't faded from Steve's mind in the last few days. Though Silvertail hadn't said anything about it since, Steve knew that the one-week deadline was already pushing what Silvertail thought was safe. But there were still questions . . . over and above the ones he'd already been wrestling with. With a sigh, Steve dumped his laundry basket out on the bed before speaking. "Silvertail, I've got another question—one that's been [ Continue reading... ]
Princess Holy Aura: Chapter 3
August 25, 2017 By 2 Comments
Steve was about to have visitors... ----- Chapter 3. "Hey, he's kawaii, Steve!" Silvertail held himself still as Richard Dexter Armitage reached out a finger to gently stroke his white fur. Kawaii? Japanese quoted in reference to anime, obviously. Not surprising that Mr. Russ' friends have similar tastes. He had already noted the multiple posters of science fiction and fantasy shows of all types, reinforcing his impression of Stephen Russ—along with a wall case filled with weapons ranging from the mundane [ Continue reading... ]
Princess Holy Aura: Chapter 2
August 23, 2017 By Leave a Comment
We continue snippets of my forthcoming Magical Girl-based novel. When we left off, Steve had been asked to do something that seemed physically impossible... ----- Chapter 2. Steve goggled down at the slightly oversized rat with its overly-shiny white fur, tiny golden crown, sitting on his hind legs and regarding Steve with a far too knowing look. "Become what?" "Mystic Galaxy Defender, Princess Holy Aura," Silvertail repeated calmly. The repetition of the ridiculous phrase left Steve speechless. He would have [ Continue reading... ]
Princess Holy Aura: Chapter 1
August 21, 2017 By 4 Comments
Today I begin snippeting Princess Holy Aura. The book is due out in very early December, and the eARC usually comes out three months before that, so the snippets will probably overlap with the eARC to some extent. Here we go! PRINCESS HOLY AURA Part I: The Princess and the Rat Chapter 1. The screaming came from the alley to Steve's right; it was high-pitched, the voice of a child in terror and pain. Steve found himself sprinting down the alley before he'd even consciously realized what he was going to do. This sure wasn't [ Continue reading... ]
On My Shelves: Spider-Man: Homecoming
August 17, 2017 By Leave a Comment
This movie (plus small segments in Captain America: Civil War) represents the third depiction of Marvel's flagship hero Spider-Man in fifteen years. The first, starting in 2002, was Tobey Maguire in Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2, and Spider-Man 3. Andrew Garfield rebooted the role in The Amazing Spider-Man and The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Now Tom Holland takes up the webslinging role. Unlike the prior two incarnations, this version of Spider-Man doesn't bother us with the origin story. In that, I think the movie does depend on the viewer having [ Continue reading... ]
On My Shelves: The Delirium Brief
August 8, 2017 By Leave a Comment
In the prior Laundry Files novel, The Nightmare Stacks, the UK was invaded by a desperate army of super-Nazi magic-wielding Elves. Fortunately, the army was defeated when the innocent young vampire (er, sorry, PHANG) agent captured the heart of the Elven Princess and the two of them defeated her Evil Stepmother and Evil Overlord Father, thus making her the All-Highest. Of course, all this troperiffic goodness was filtered through the twisted nature of the Laundryverse, but still, it was surprisingly upbeat; eldritch horrors notwithstanding, [ Continue reading... ]
On My Shelves: Tom Derringer in the Tunnels of Terror
August 1, 2017 By 1 Comment
Lawrence Watt-Evans has been one of my favorite authors for years, and I've liked many of his books. I've previously reviewed his first entry in the Tom Derringer series; it's good to finally see the next of Tom's adventures. The Tom Derringer series takes place in a world superficially like our own in the late 1800s – but one in which "Adventurers" of the pulp sort are a real thing, where there are mysterious cities of gold, ancient cursed temples, hidden worlds of unknown races of men, and so on. Tom himself is the son of a [ Continue reading... ]
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