Hi all! Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend and
for those of us in the U.S., having a great Fourth of July celebration filled
with barbecues, fireworks, and family fun.
What goes better with summer holidays that a heaping dose of science fiction
and fantasy and what better place to get your fill than over at Science Fiction
Fantasy Saturday?! Make sure you stop by
and check out all the great authors who post their work at
SciFiFanSat.blogspot.com. This week’s
snippet for me comes from a short story, Snips And Snails, which explores how
we view fear as society evolves. In the
previous snippets, we met up with a captive monster and found out his captor
was a small boy and his closet the creature’s prison. This week, we have the first real interaction
between the two.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Its high moon,
bloodling, and one your age should be in slumber.”
Oblivious to the creature’s reprimand, the boy
dragged him across the room.
“Don’t be such a wuss. Come on, I want to show you something.”
Wild
patches of hair sprouted up and down the creature’s arms, legs, and
shoulders with a long black tuft banded behind its head. Well-muscled and scarred arms hung down to
its knees with leather strappings wrapped around each wrist and across the bare
orange skin of its chest. A massively
wide head, home to two rows of sharpened teeth, frowned as the mismatched duo
stopped near the boy’s computer.
“Didn’t I tell you boys don’t wear dresses?”
The creature stared down at the animal
skin wrapped around its waist and bound at the center with a blackened snake
skull that had been passed down to him from his father.
“It
is more of a kilt, bloodling.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I hope you enjoyed the snippet and comments are always welcome and appreciated.
I love the interaction between the two of them! Very believable.
ReplyDeleteThanks Pippa. It was fun taking it from a more visual form with dialogue to text. Glad you liked it.
DeleteYes! For heaven's sake, never call a kilt a dress!
ReplyDeleteOyyy! Especially a four hundred pound creature from the netherworld.
DeleteThat kid's lucky the creature isn't Scottish!
ReplyDeleteI somehow don't think he'd care, Patrick, but the story may have ended a lot sooner.
DeleteHaha!! Nice. I love this. I wonder if he's wearing anything under the kilt... o.O
ReplyDeleteHa. Even closet monsters need to have their share of secrets.
DeleteWonder what the kid's found on the computer.
ReplyDeleteThat should hit by the next snippet. Stay tuned. Appreciate the comments, Sue.
Delete"Bloodling" needs to realize that kilts are the height of fashion. You can tell him I said so!
ReplyDeleteGreat snippet. I really enjoyed it.
Ha. Thanks! Maybe he's checking out a fashion website and wants to share the do's and don't's of what to wear next season. Yeah. Probably not.
ReplyDeleteGreat snippet! Love the description, especially "Well-muscled and scarred arms hung down to its knees with leather strappings wrapped around each wrist and across the bare orange skin of its chest." I also loved the line about boys not wearing dresses. I can't wait to read more.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Nicole. I've always been fond of this story. Glad everyone is enjoying it. I really appreciate the comments.
ReplyDeleteWow, a lot of great detail in this snippet. A very visual look at the two of them moving across this little boy's room--greatly appreciated as the image in my head didn't do the story justice. I don't know what the young man has planned, but it'll be great to see how the monster reacts, as he seems to be fine with humoring him.
ReplyDeleteIt's a definite surprise. I hope. We'll see how far the creature's limits can be tested. Thanks, Jalisa!
ReplyDelete