Snippets of June

pinterest board: the white sail's shaking

First off, I'm pleased to announce that there is a sale going on throughout the month of June for The Soldier's Cross and The Shadow Things Kindle e-books.  They will each be available for 99 cents until June 29th, so if you haven't had a chance to get them yet, here it is!  For more information and updates, including a link to the free iPad "Kindle" app, you can check out my Facebook page.

On to the subject of this post, proper.  Last month I didn't participate in Katie's "Story Snippets" meme, partly because of the almost-summer rush, mostly because I forgot until about two days until the end of May.  To make up for my brainlessness, I'm getting in to the June collection a little early.  For those of you who have not investigated this blog-series yet, you can take a peek at Katie's blog at Whisperings of the Pen to join the fun.

june snippets

“Sir?”

Tip dashed the salt out of his eyes and glanced sidelong at Marta. She had turned up her collar and shrunk down into it, and she blinked cat-like at him from the little shelter her cap gave her. When he turned she held out to him a dark, damp bundle and said, “Your coat, sir.”

 - the white sail's shaking

Tip’s eyes wandered off, scanning the witching expanse of sea and the white bodies of the gulls, real ones now, whirling over it like foam. He moved, trying to keep the weight off his left leg.

- the white sail's shaking

[Marta] was off-duty and Tip found her with a half-dozen other seamen, sitting and talking round a table while Scipio waddled between them and vied for every man’s attention at once. One of the ordinaries and the carpenter’s mate were playing a game, but the sharp staccato of their dice halted when they caught sight of Tip; the gossip dithered into awkward silence. Only Scipio went right on being coy, coming over and attempting to shimmy up his master’s leg.

- the white sail's shaking

His vision blurred; the shadows had gone strange and elongated, peppered by brilliant flashes of red that burned behind his eyes. You’re a fool, Tip Brighton, he thought; but that was nothing new, and he ignored himself.

- the white sail's shaking

Decatur eyed him sideways, more as though he were solving for the variable of an equation than as though Tip was of any concern to him.

- the white sail's shaking

“I told you I was a c…oward,” he said, holding the c with his tongue so that it would not catch. “You didn’t believe me.”

- the white sail's shaking

The world split.  Pain drove through Regina's heart like cold fire; her thoughts shattered to the far corners of her mind.  Screaming and roaring, snatches of discordant songs, battered her in wind and waves and darkness.  There was nothing beneath her, nothing above her, nothing around her - there was no her.  The dragon had opened its jaws, and the void of its mouth consumed identity, consumed existence.  Of Regina there was nothing left.

- tempus regina