Six Sentence Sunday: 27 Mar '11

Today's six (okay, seven) sentences come from Flipside's chapter two. More of Johanna on the alternative Earth, though she doesn't know that yet. She's about to meet the MMC-- and some creatures a whole less pleasant...

The crashed airship lay in a crumple of twisted metal some three hundred yards away. Smoke curled up from several points and the crackle of flames carried on the still air. Had anyone survived? Johanna couldn’t see how, but then she’d not even imagined such a craft five minutes ago.

She’d not imagined the grey-skinned creatures that materialised from the rocky outcrops either. They resembled nothing familiar, were utterly alien, with large black eyes and protruding jaws that housed fearsome teeth. Their hides were wrinkled like an elephants, yet they walked with their weight on their hind legs and the long-clawed fingers of their front curled under like a gorilla.

To those wanting to join in, the rules are simple:

1. pick a project – a current Work in Progress, contracted work or even something readers can buy if you’re published
2. pick six sentences
3. post ‘em on Sunday

Further information (and more snippets) here.

Six Sentence Sunday: 20 Mar '11

Six sentence from Flipside, continuing from last week's snip:

She thought of the earthquake. "I hardly think so."

"No time to argue."

With that, he grabbed her hand and dragged her back down into the excavation. Johanna tried to tug loose, but his grip was like iron. She tossed a nervous glance over her shoulder. The things swarmed to the edge of the pit... then stopped. She frowned in puzzlement, wondering why they'd done that, but a yank on her arm made her attention shift.

And six from the Steampunk Western that arrived in my head over last weeked (described as Pride and Prejudice meets Wild Wild West), simply because I want to share the fun:

Steam belched into the sky like a twisted version of the Indians’ smoke signals. From her vantage point on the ridge, Samantha Bennett eyed the ugly black engine - and the parallel steel tracks that carved a scar through the countryside - with severe distaste. The foreign and unwanted sound of hammering as workmen fitted another length of rail echoed off the embankment, drowning out birdsong.

Another tree crashed down, causing her roan mare to snort and paw the ground with one hoof. Sam patted the warm neck.

“I know, Madison. I know.”

To those wanting to join in, the rules are simple:

1. pick a project – a current Work in Progress, contracted work or even something readers can buy if you’re published
2. pick six sentences
3. post ‘em on Sunday

Further information (and more snippets) here.

Six Sentence Sunday: 13 Mar '11

Still with Flipside, my steampunk sci fi romance. So far, our heroine, Johanna, has accidentally discovered a portal to an Alternate Earth in the ruin of a temple in Giza. After witnessing a flying ship crash, she saves the pilot by fighting off creatures she's never seen before. But they're not giving up that easily:

"We need to run," she said and started towards the Sphinx, not sure if Sir William would be there or not but having no idea what else to do.

"No," gasped the pilot. He pulled away and looked at her. Half a head taller, he had short black hair, brown eyes and a vicious-looking gash down the left side of his face. "The temple is our only hope."

To those wanting to join in, the rules are simple:

1. pick a project – a current Work in Progress, contracted work or even something readers can buy if you’re published
2. pick six sentences
3. post ‘em on Sunday

Further information (and more snippets) here.

Six Sentence Sunday: Flipside

For this week's Six Sentence Sunday, I'm posting more on the in-progress Flipside. Here, Johanna has fled an underground temple after an earthquake only to fiind things outside are no longer the same:

Johanna bolted for the exit, feet tripping one over the other in her haste to be outside in the open air.She stumbled out and crashed against the wall of the excavation pit, gasping and heart pounding. A shadow blotted the sun. Her breath caught in her throat as she looked up.

A dirigible flew over the desert on a faint rumble of a steam engine and a billow of grey smoke, its silver-white sides gleaming. Though she’d seen them before, none had been quite this big... and it was not the only one.

For those new to this, the rules are simple:

1) pick a project – a current Work in Progress, contracted work or even something readers can buy if you’re published

2) pick six sentences

3) post ‘em on Sunday

Further information (and more snippets) here.

Six Sentence Sunday: Flipside

Here we go again! Flipside is a Steampunk Sci Fi Romance, set in Egypt 1880 and the world of the (as yet) unnamed aliens that our heroine Johanna Seymour encounters.

For Six Sentence Sunday, here's the very rough opening paragraph, as written about five minutes ago:

Thirty degrees in the shade felt hotter than it sounded. Johanna took the pith helmet off and wiped her forehead with a handkerchief that was already damp with sweat. She would not complain – she'd fought so hard to accompany the great Professor Flinders-Petrie, faced so many disparinging voices about her gender, her lack of expertise. Only Sir William had valued her enthusiasm and linguistic ability. So no complaints: she would not be the little woman, the fragile flower that wilted in the heat.

Even if the heat was so very draining.

 Read more SixSentenceSunday here.

Six Sentence Sunday: 20 Feb '11

Ironhaven
Sci fi romance
WIP


Dusk brought the already cold temperature down even further as the sullen red sun sank beyond the horizon, taking the scant heat of day with it and freezing the snow-covered sidewalks. It made them precarious unless one had the right footwear.

The spikes on the underside of Lucian's boots broke through the crust of ice, the echo of the crunch rebounding off the surrounding buildings. It was the only sound that broke the still air, but he paid it no attention: too wrapped in misery at his parents' betrayal and despair at his fate.

A freezing fog billowed, chilling his lungs. Night was not a good time to be abroad, but he had nowhere to go since he refused to return to his ancestral home, empty now except for memories he did not want to revisit. He had no plan, no hope.

Nothing.