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Serial: Lost Rainbows Chapter 5 – They Find the Gold and the Rainbows

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Lost Rainbows by Connie Cockrell

Lost Rainbows by Connie Cockrell

Chapter Five – They Find the Gold and the Rainbows (Lost Rainbows – Serial)

By Connie Cockrell

Shamus O’Malley is on a quest to recover the Leprechaun Kingdom’s magic rainbows and gold before the rainbows are lost forever. To do so he must travel to the new world where he finds the evil wizard, David Bannon, intent on using the magic from the rainbows and the gold to conquer the Leprechaun Kingdom. He also finds an ally, Becca Bannon, the wizard’s niece. Can Becca and Shamus recover the rainbows and gold and defeat her wizard uncle?

This entry is part 5 of 16 in the series Lost Rainbows

Want to start this serial from the beginning? Click here for links to all available chapters.

They Find the Gold and the Rainbows

She led him into the house. He was impressed. The floors were polished wood, fine paintings hung on the walls and stuffed furniture filled the rooms. The walls were painted in quiet, restful colors, pale yellow in the dining room, sage green in the parlor. They walked though the house to the kitchen where she opened a door. Stairs led down. “His lab is down in the basement.”

He followed her down. Becca walked him through a long hallway. There were doors on either side, all closed. She stopped at another door and set of stairs. “I’m not supposed to go into his lab without permission. But I want to prove to you we do not have your things.” She went down, Shamus right behind her, two flights of stairs. The stairs ended in a short hallway, with a door at the end. She opened the door and went in.

Shamus’s mouth hung open. It was all white tile on the walls with silver shelves and glass beakers and odd-shaped glassware. A long black-topped table was in the center of the room near the door. Becca walked him around the table. There were machines lining the walls, small lights on the front of them. Shamus could feel the power of them, though he didn’t know what the power was. At the end of the room, a sheet was draped over something tall.

“You see,” Becca said to him. “These are all Uncle’s things. Not yours.”

Shamus walked over to the sheet and pulled it down.

Becca rounded on him. “You mustn’t do that. Uncle will be angry.”

“I’ve seen this before, Miss Becca. I jumped through it in my world and landed here.”

Again her eyebrow rose. “Your world?”

“Yes, Ireland. I’m a leprechaun.” He gave her credit for not blurting out, “There’s no such thing.”

“My mother used to tell me stories when I was a baby, about fairies and leprechauns and the early gods of Ireland.” Her face was wistful. “They were nice stories.”

Did she, now? “What do you remember?”

“Leprechauns keep their gold at the ends of rainbows. They love music and can play many instruments and dance. Many were cobblers. That’s shoemakers, you know.”

He nodded. “It’s all true, Miss Becca. I saw the thief send our gold through a mirror just like this, then go through it himself. I followed but the mirror was closing. I landed outside your gate.”

Becca shook her head. “I don’t know. It doesn’t sound like my Uncle David. He’s quite kind. He took me in when my parents died. He told me he loved my mother but she loved Daddy first.”

Shamus was uncomfortable with this personal information. He just wanted to find the gold and get back to the sidhe. “What about all of those rooms in the basement above us. He could have stored the gold there.”

She frowned. “We could look, I suppose.”

They put the sheet back on the mirror and went back upstairs. They opened all of the doors on the left, then began opening the ones on the right. The door third from the end was locked. Becca looked at Shamus. “This doesn’t mean the gold is here.”

“Can you get the key?”

“The housekeeper hangs them on a hook over her desk.” Becca’s gray eyes became fearful. “Ms. Como doesn’t like me to go near her desk. She gets very cross when I misbehave.”

“You’re not misbehaving, Becca. You’re helping a traveler in need.”

She sighed. “That is true. Wait here.” She opened the door to the room they had just checked. “I’ll get the keys.”

Shamus nodded and went into the store room. Becca closed the door. He sank to the floor and leaned against the wall beside the door. The room stored art. Paintings were stacked one in front of the other on the floor to his left. At the back were sculptures. Some stood by themselves on the floor, others were on tables. He closed his eyes. It had been a long night and he was tired.

 

#

 

He started awake at the sound of the door opening. Before he could move, Becca was inside and closed the door.

“I’m sorry it took so long. Ms. Como was at her desk. I had to wait for her to leave.” She pulled the keys from her pocket and jingled them softly.

Shamus stood up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. “I fell asleep. Did anyone follow you down here?”

She shook her head. “No, no one pays any attention to me.”

He stared at her. She seemed serious but he wondered how it was that the adults responsible for such a precocious child would ignore her. Shamus eased open the door and the two slipped out into the hall. He closed it and they hurried to the locked door. Becca searched through the keys. Ms. Como had each one labeled. “That makes it easy,” Shamus murmured.

“I think this is the one.” Becca held up a key. “It’s the only key that isn’t labeled.” She stuck it into the lock and turned it. The door opened and they slid inside. Becca turned on the light as Shamus closed the door. He turned quickly when she gasped.

In front of them were three dozen brass pots of gold. Becca blinked. “I didn’t believe you,” she told Shamus. “I’m sorry.”

He walked to the pots and stood there, staring. “That’s all right, Becca. It was a little hard to believe.” Shamus walked slowly around the gold but stopped at a table against the wall opposite the door. “Look at this.”

Becca hurried over as he picked up something colorful. “What is it?”

“It’s the rainbows that go with the pots.” He held up one – it hung limply from his hand. “It’s not as bright as it should be.” He examined it closer. “It’s fading.” Shamus thought through all of the lore surrounding the rainbows. He’d never heard of a rainbow fading. Then again, he’d never heard of them being stolen either. “We need to get these back to my land. I have no idea what will happen if the rainbows completely fade to gray.”

Becca turned and tried to pick up a pot. She strained a bit, then stopped. “It’s too heavy, Shamus. How will we move them?”

The sound of the sword leaving its scabbard made her turn to her companion. Her eyes went wide.

“Don’t be afraid. Our swords are also wands. I can move the pots with magic.” He held the sword out, pointed at the pots, but nothing happened. A look of fear crossed his face. “It’s not working. It’s as though the magic is gone.”

“We don’t have magic, Shamus.” Becca looked worried, too. “We use machines and science to do things.”

 

~~~~~

 

Lost Rainbows

To be continued…

Come back for more! Look for the next exciting installment each Wednesday.

 

You can read more of this story serially on this website for free or you can buy it and read it now at: Apple, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, or Smashwords today!

See more at: Wattpad.com or https://www.facebook.com/ConniesRandomThoughts

 

Thank you for reading. You can support the story by commenting or leaving a review. Buy my other books for more reading pleasure. If you’ve enjoyed this chapter, please spread the word, tell a friend or share the link to the story by using the share buttons to your right. The author is part of the Forward Motion Flash Fiction Friday Challenge and the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour.

© 2015 Connie Cockrell

Monday Blog Post: Spring is here

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Daffodils, Connie Cockrell

Daffodils by Connie Cockrell

Above is a picture of some of my daffodils. The really early ones, the miniatures have been up for two weeks. The tall ones, with the orange centers, just started blooming. I have a few late bloomers in the beds as well so I’ll have daffodils well into April. I also began my gardening. Saturday I pruned the dead wood out of my blackberries. I have let them run amok all over the ground. I really should trellis them and prune them back. I suspect they’d produce better if I reined them in. I still have to trim my rosebushes, they still have dead blooms on them from last fall. I had really wonderful roses last year after pruning them back very hard.

My book signing for March 21st at the Scoops Ice Cream store here in Payson is just a handful of days away. If you’re in town on the 21st between 1 and 3pm, stop by to grab an ice cream and chat. You can find both of these events and the July Book Festival on the Where Will I Be? tab on this website. I’m featuring my latest book, Lost Rainbows, but I’ll have my other books there to buy as well.

The month has been so full of Fair planning and Festival planning that I haven’t written or edited as much as I should have. However, I wrote two flash fiction stories last week but only posted Sixty-Four. The other one became a long telling instead of showing and needs a lot of editing to become presentable.

The Payson Book Festival planning is moving right along. You can see the information on www.PaysonBookFestival.org if you’d like. Kick-off pricing on author tables is now over. There’s still time to sign up for a table, though. You can share a table, too, to make your costs less. Fill out the Author Registration and get that in to us so we can reserve you a table. Author registration closes at the end of April so we can put the program together. You’re not an author? Then mark your calendar to come to Payson for July 25th to meet us. We’d love to chat with you.

My short story, After Math, came back from my content editor. It has a few more comments but I haven’t had a chance to take a close look at it. I’m hoping to get that polished up and off to a magazine soon.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today.

Lost Rainbows released January 25th! I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy it and my other books at: Apple, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, or Smashwords today!

Monday Blog Post: March is Here!

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InD'Scribe Conference

InD’Scribe Conference

Big news, I’ve signed up to attend my first ever writer’s conference. It’s called InD’tale Con and is being held in Palm Springs, CA on September 17 – 20, 2015. I’m pretty excited. I’m catching a ride with another author from Payson and I expect we’re going to have a lot of fun. If you’re around Palm Springs at that time, stop by my signing table and say hi!

I’ve also arranged a book signing for March 21st at the Scoops Ice Cream store here in Payson. I put info out on the radio, the newspaper and put up posters all around Rim Country. If you’re in town on the 21st between 1 and 3pm, stop by to grab an ice cream and chat. You can find both of these events and the July Book Festival on the Where Will I Be? tab on this website.

I’ve managed to create a couple more chapters in my All About Bob story. Poor Bob. I’m being pretty mean to him. I’ve also begun the planning and outlining for my next Brown Rain book, not sure what I’m calling it yet. Rest Stop, has come to mind. Anyway, in this book Alyssa will be the main character though Kyra will have a lot to do as well. I’m planning to write it during April’s Camp NaNo. I still need to edit Mystery at the Fair. I’d like to release that in May, and have it ready for the summer reading season and for the July Book Festival and the September conference.

The Payson Book Festival planning is moving right along. You can see the information on www.PaysonBookFestival.org if you’d like. Kick-off pricing on author tables, half price now ends March 15th. Hurry, sign up for a table, you can share a table, too, to make your costs even less. Fill out the Author Registration and get that in to us so we can reserve you a table. They’re going fast at this great price.

I’ve sent my short story, After Math, to my content editor. I hope I’ve rewritten it enough to change the feel of it and make my main character the girl I had in my head. I’d like to get it circulating, maybe even sold.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today.

Lost Rainbows released January 25th! I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy it and my other books at: Apple, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, or Smashwords today!

Serial: Lost Rainbows Chapter 2 – Taking His Leave

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Lost Rainbows

Lost Rainbows

Chapter Two – Taking His Leave (Lost Rainbows – Serial)

By Connie Cockrell

Shamus O’Malley is on a quest to recover the Leprechaun Kingdom’s magic rainbows and gold before the rainbows are lost forever. To do so he must travel to the new world where he finds the evil wizard, David Bannon, intent on using the magic from the rainbows and the gold to conquer the Leprechaun Kingdom. He also finds an ally, Becca Bannon, the wizard’s niece. Can Becca and Shamus recover the rainbows and gold and defeat her wizard uncle?

This entry is part 2 of 16 in the series Lost Rainbows

Want to start this serial from the beginning? Click here for links to all available chapters.

Taking His Leave

Shamus was in his room, putting the last things he needed in his rucksack. As he buckled the leather straps, a knock came at his door. When he opened it his heart skipped a beat. It was Lyeen, dressed now in a plain, light-green lambs-wool frock, a white linen blouse underneath, lace at the blouse’s collar and cuffs. He stepped back and bowed. “Princess Lyeen.”

She stepped into the room. “I see you’re nearly ready.”

He nodded, his heart beating so fast he could barely hear. “Yes, Princess.”

“Be at ease, Shamus. We’ve known each other since childhood.”

He bowed again. “True, but we’re no longer children.”

She sighed. “Also true.” She looked around. Shamus had made the court-appointed space comfortable, despite the fact it was one of the smallest apartments a courtier could get. He had painted the room a light green so it resembled the light drifting through a clear pond. On the small window-sill opposite the door, a potted rose grew. A single blossom was just unfurling, yellow as the sun. On either side of the window, under which stood his bed, his father’s weapons were displayed. The sword was mounted on one side and bow and arrows on the other. One end wall held a tapestry his mother had woven. It told the story of the family O’Malley. The other end wall held framed, pressed ferns and flowers. The wall on the right side of the door held hooks over a chest for his clothing. On the other side of the door he’d hung drawings and paintings he’d done.

“I like it,” she said as she turned back to him with a smile. “I see much of you in this room.”

“Thank you.” He moved to the bed where the rucksack lay. “I leave as soon as I stop by the armory. I want to get a better sword.”

She looked at him. His shirt was the color of lichen, a blend of grey, green and olive. His jacket and pantaloons were sage green as was the wide-brimmed hat, lain on the bed beside the rucksack. An overcoat also lay on the bed. It was the traditional coarse wool, curly side out, to be worn in inclement weather. “You don’t like your sword? Isn’t that your father’s sword?”

“It is Father’s sword, but I don’t like it for this task. The magic in it is too weak. If I’m to pursue thieves bold enough to steal from the King, I need a more powerful weapon. Father will understand.”

Lyeen nodded. “Of course.” She paused and looked him in the eye. “I have something for you.”

Shamus’s heart, which had begun to slow its rapid beating, sped back up. He repressed the desire to wipe his forehead.

She pulled a pale green silk kerchief, sheer as gossamer, from the bosom of her dress. “This is for you, for luck.” She smiled as she tied the kerchief to his left upper arm. “May it bring you home safely.”

He could hardly believe his luck. They’d always gotten along as children and she’d treated him with kindness and respect during his time as a courier. But this was more than he could have hoped for. Maidens, especially princesses, didn’t give their kerchiefs away lightly. “Th…Thank you, my lady.” He bowed low to hide the blush on his face.

She turned and walked to the door. He heard her open it, and he stood upright. She bowed back. “Good luck, Shamus O’Malley.”

#

Shamus left his father’s sword in his apartment and procured a more powerful sword from the armory. His kind used swords for war and as magic wands. He was sure the thief had used powerful magic to steal the rainbows and wanted to be ready with a weapon capable of fighting back. The King met him in the courtyard where flickering torches lit the cobbled space.

“Majesty.” Shamus bowed.

“Rise, Shamus. I want to wish you luck.”

“I appreciate the blessing, Sire.”

King Shadenan looked around the courtyard. “No horse?”

“No, Sire. I plan on taking the magical roads. I can move faster and the magic used to move the gold will be more apparent.”

The King clapped him on the shoulder. “Good plan. I can see my trust in you is merited.” Shadenan grew somber. “Take care, boy. I would send a platoon with you if any of those sniveling courtiers had an ounce of courage.”

“I appreciate it, my lord, but I can move faster by myself.” He paused. “Did Draum have any other news?”

The King shook his head. “Nothing pertinent to your quest.” Shadenan glanced at Shamus’s upper arm. “I see you have received another blessing.”

A blush crept up Shamus’s neck. “Aye, Sire.”

The King nodded. “Be careful. We don’t know if the monster is still about.” He stepped back and Shamus bowed.

“I’ll send word if I can.” With that Shamus turned and strode out of the sidhe gate.

~~~~~

Lost Rainbows

To be continued…

Come back for more! Look for the next exciting installment each Wednesday.

 

You can read more of this story serially on this website for free or you can buy it and read it now at: Apple, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, or Smashwords today!

See more at: www.ConniesRandomThoughts.wordpress.com or https://www.facebook.com/ConniesRandomThoughts

Thank you for reading. You can support the story by commenting or leaving a review. Buy my other books for more reading pleasure. If you’ve enjoyed this chapter, please spread the word, tell a friend or share the link to the story by using the share buttons to your right. The author is part of the Forward Motion Flash Fiction Friday Challenge and the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour.

© 2015 Connie Cockrell

Monday Blog Post: Am I Catching Up?

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February, Gardening, Parsley, Connie Cockrell

February Parsley by Connie Cockrell

 

I had a great time speaking on the 18th, last Wednesday at the Arizona Professional Writers monthly meeting.  I talked about my adventures as an Indie author, provided a hand-out with a ton of great links and sold a few books. Many thanks to everyone who came.

Also on the 18th was the first installment of Lost Rainbows as a serial. It’ll be posted on my blog and on Wattpad (www.Wattpad.com).  I’m ConnieCockrell on that site. It goes live on Wattpad  Wednesday, the 25th.  A new chapter will be released each Wednesday for 16 weeks. Enjoy. I’m also posting my monthly contribution to Chicklets in the Kitchen on the 25th so it’s another banner Wednesday for me. I’ll be showing you how to make gluten and dairy free oatmeal-raisin cookies. Yum! Please feel free to share those posts with friends and family.

The Payson Book Festival planning is moving right along. We’ve begun the Sponsorship drive and you can find a form on www.PaysonBookFestival.org to contribute if you’d like. We have a Kick-off pricing on author tables, too. Half price now through mid-March. Hurry, sign up for a table, you can share a table, too, to make your costs even less. Fill out the Author Registration and get that in to us so we can reserve you a table. They’re going fast at this great price.

The warm weather here has caused the green onions to come up and self-seeded parsley to start sprouting.

February, Gardening, Spring Onions, Connie Cockrell

February Spring Onions by Connie Cockrell

The fruit trees are starting to bud out too. Several flowering trees in the neighborhood are already blooming. It’s too soon, of course. If my fruit trees bloom now, they’ll get frost blasted for sure and I won’t get anything. I keep telling my trees to go back to sleep. I don’t think it’s working. We haven’t had rain in a long time, I may have to water. Ack!

I also volunteer for the Northern Gila County Fair. (www.NorthernGilaCountyFair.com) We’ve come very close to cancelling the fair because we didn’t have enough volunteers. Fortunately, we did a big newspaper and radio push and several people stepped up to help us out. Yay! The 61st Northern Gila County Fair is a go!

The Book Festival and the Fair have been taking a lot of my time this month and I haven’t done much writing because of it. But this week has no appointments so I think I can get back to my writing. My All About Bob story has been languishing long enough. I also need to edit my November story, Mystery at the Fair and finish editing my short story, After Math, so I can re-start submitting it to magazines. Lots of writing still to do, so I’d better get cracking.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today.

Lost Rainbows released January 25th! I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy it and my other books at: Apple, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, or Smashwords today!

Flash Fiction Friday Story: Escape

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Fractals, Plasma,

SubAtomic Plasma by AsaLegault via www.deviantart.com

Captain Jan A’Mungo’s forehead glistened with sweat as her brown eyes shifted over the displays on her pilot console.

“Jan, your ‘fro is drooping. You’re not worried are you?”

“That’s ‘Captain’ to you while we’re on the bridge, Pete. Husband or not I’ll write you up.”

“Hey!” Jack Ender, weapons master and general illicit cargo mover intervened. “The damn Patrol is on our butts. Can we save the marital squabbles for another time?”

The comm system crackled with static then broadcast its message. “Cargo ship Epona. This is Captain Bartholomew Ho of the Galactic Patrol ship GUS Orion. We have you on our scanners. Surrender now and your sentence will be reduced to life in the Gehenna penal colony.”

Jan punched console icons and made sure she was on the opposite side of Nodens 5, ducking the cargo ship into the planet’s cloud cover.

From his seat at weapons, Jack Ender craned his head around to stare at his Captain. “Uhh, Captain, we’re in the atmo.”

“I know,” she snapped. “Would you prefer to be in the Orion’s tractor beams?”

“Jan, we have a hold full of weapons for the rebellion. Why are we on the planet?” Her husband, Pete Ostrander, had six screens of data showing both atmospheric conditions of Nodens 5 and the echos of the Orion’s scanner signals.

“Are you piloting this boat or am I?” Jan snapped. Her ship was too small to fight the battleship hovering outside the atmosphere of the fifth planet in the Nodens system. It’s engines were too weak to outrun the other ship. She didn’t have a lot of options. “Find me a way off of this rock and away from that battleship.”

“We could just stay on the opposite side of the planet.” Jack had all of his weapons on standby and it wasn’t much. The weapons system had two missles in the launch bay and two more on the rack. The laser beams were ready but the charging mechanism would take too long to recharge if he overused the lasers against a battleship. His blaster was on his belt, he never went anywhere without it, but it would be useless if the battleship held the Epona in a tractor beam.

“As long as the Orion doesn’t deploy a couple of shuttles to the Lagrange points.” Jan used her jumpsuit sleeve to wipe her forehead. “Any other ideas?”

“I heard Gehenna isn’t that bad. We could surrender. Live a life of bliss with farm animals and heavy labor,” Pete mused from his chair on the opposite side of the bridge from Jack.

Both Jan and Jack snorted. “You, milking cows?” Jan hiccupped as she laughed. “That’ll be the day. Any other ideas?”

Pete studied the three screens showing the planet. One screen had atmospheric data. “What’s the classification of this rock?”

Jan tapped a symbol on her touch screen. “Ummm. It’s dang close to Earth normal. Why?”

“Can you sneak us around to the sunset line?”

She studied the screen. The Orion was moving slowly to the planetary east. “Yeah, why?”

“Well,” Pete rubbed the three day old beard on his chin. “We may be able to use plasma bubbles to escape.”

Both Jan and Jack swiveled their chairs around to stare at him.

“It’s old school, I give you that.”

“What do you mean?” Jan loved her husband but his interest in old technology drove her crazy.

“Look, keep us at the equator. Around sunset naturally occurring plasma bubbles will form in the atmosphere. We can use that to escape.”

“What are you talking about?” Jack grew up on a space station and had spent all of his ten years since his eighteenth birthday on spaceships.

“It’s electrons. Plasma is just positively charged atmosphere. The ions form a cloud of sorts, lighter than the surrounding atmosphere then it rises, like a bubble in boiling water, to the top of the atmosphere.”

“What’s that got to do with us?” Jan wasn’t putting the picture together at all. She just needed to escape from the Orion and get the cargo to the waiting rebellion.

“A plasma bubble deflects signals.” Pete grinned at his partners.

Jan took a moment to process that information. “As in their scans can’t see us?”

Pete nodded.

“How do we find one of these bubbles?”

He shook his head. “We don’t. We make one. Big enough for us to hide in the middle and hold it until the Orion moves off.”

“How do you do that?”

“I can use the ship systems to generate a magnetic shield in a spherical grid around the ship. I’ll stream ions inside the grid. That forms the bubble. If we work it right, we can modulate the edges to make it look natural and drift the bubble along the planetary sunset line at the upper edge of the atmosphere until the Orion leaves or we can sneak off.” He leaned back in his chair, hands behind his head.

“No way.” Jack snorted and turned back to his console.

Pete’s hands flew down from his head as he sat forward in his chair. “Yes, way. It can be done.”

Jan closed her eyes. If she lost the ship to the Orion, all of the weapons would be lost and her crew would end up on Gehenna. She took a deep breath. “Yeah, do it.”

She and Jack watched, nerves stretched tight as violin strings, as Pete tapped console keys. “It’s done. Just drift us westward.”

Jan set the controls to hover and depended on atmospheric winds to carry the ship along. She didn’t want to leave any engine trail. It took eighteen hours. The tiny crew cheered as Jan’s screen showed the Orion heading back out into space.

“Secure that magnetic field,” she ordered. “We have a cargo to deliver.”

The End

968 Words

Find more of the Forward Motion Flash Friday Group here: http://www.fmwriters.com/flash.html

Monday Blog Post: Freedom of Speech

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Pen, Pencil, Newsprint, Charlie Hebdo

Pen and Pencil on Local Newsprint in support of Charlie Hebdo by Connie Cockrell

A more serious blog post for me today than I usually write. I refer to the terrorist attack on the French newspaper, Charlie Hebdo. My blog picture today is a reference to the French demonstrators using a pencil to make their point. An old saw goes, the pen is mightier than the sword. This is the truth, I think, at least in the long run. In the meantime, blood flows in the streets.  I wasn’t going to comment on the attack; it was days ago, after all, and so not very timely for today’s blog post. However, Sunday I see in my internet news feeds, that there were demonstrations in Pakistan against the French demonstrations. They feel Charlie Hebdo’s satire is a direct attack on them.

I can sort of understand. If someone says something bad about one of my family, I’m offended. How much more so if someone says or draws something unflattering about my prophet? However, hurt feelings aren’t an excuse to go around shooting people. You feel insulted, go ahead and draw a caricature of God, or Jesus, or Budda, or Krisha. My feelings might be hurt, but no one dies.

So in my own little protest, I’ll be using the above picture of pen and pencil on a page of my local newspaper to support the freedom of speech. It’s not much of a protest in the larger scheme of things but I want people to know that even if I disagree with someone’s spoken comment, written statement, or drawing, that person has every right to say, write or draw it. I spent 20 years in the Air Force defending that constitutional right. I’m not going to stop now.

I’ll update my writing, gardening, and hiking next week.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today.

The Downtrodden: a Brown Rain Story released November 22nd! I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy it and my other books at: Apple, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, or Smashwords today!

Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour: January – New Beginnings

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Spring Flowers

Connie’ Flowers by Randy Cockrell

Hello and welcome back to the Merry-Go-Round Blog tour. I hope you’re as excited about the New Year as I am.

I have a number of new projects planned for 2015.

First, I’m finalizing my story, Lost Rainbows. I received the prompt for this last January and a few of my fellow Forward Motion authors took the prompt too. Every story is different though a few of us went with the obvious, a story about leprechauns. While I generally wanted the story to be short, it turned into a novelette, 16,000 + words! I’m in the final stages of editing then I’ll self publish by the end of this month. Oh, I’d better hurry. It’s halfway through January already!

I’m working on a class, How to Write a Series Extended, from Holly Lisle. The class started last June and I’ve written 2 novelettes so far in my series. I call it the Brown Rain series. I hit a real milestone in December as I was catching up on the lessons. I’ve got a loose plan for the third book and I’ve regained the excitement I had at the start of the class. That book will get written this year. It may get published this year, or may not. Depends on when I actually write it.

In November I stepped outside my comfort zone and wrote a cozy mystery. I’ve just started editing it this month. Since finishing those Series classes in December, I’ve gained more enthusiasm for this series, I call it the Jean Hays series, as well. I already have an initial idea for the next book here as well. I’ll use the methods I just learned to flesh out my idea. No idea, though, when I’ll be able to write it. It may end up being drafted in November for my NaNo novel. I’ll see how things work out.

I also want to gather 5-10 of my flashes, do an edit, and put them in a collection to publish. Probably a SciFi/Fantasy collection as I haven’t done one of those yet. What’s nice is that I can expand on the stories. I don’t limit myself to just 1000 words after I’ve posted them as flash fiction stories on my blog. I can flesh them out a little more.

I’ve put up as a goal to publish 6 books this year. So far I’ve talked about 3, so I’ll have to get writing if I’m going to put up half a dozen books.

Other plans, to participate in May’s Story a Day challenge. I seem to be able to write about 10 short stories in that month. Always a good thing as it gives me more fodder to send to contests, submit to e-zines, and add to my own collections.

So that’s it. Lots of work planned. Lots of stories to be written. Tons of fun to be had. Hope your year is as productive as you’d like it to be.
The Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour is sponsored by the website Forward Motion (http://www.fmwriters.com). The tour is you, the reader, travelling the world from author’s blog to author’s blog. There are all sorts of writers at all stages in their writing career, so there’s always something new and different to enjoy. If you want to get to know the nearly twenty other writers check out the rest of the tour at http://merrygoroundtour.blogspot.com!  Up next: Jean Schara

Flash Fiction Friday Story: Yawo and Zanque

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Lioness

Lioness by JoygasmPie via www.DeviantArt.com

Yawo and Zanque were born a day apart to first cousins. It was tradition was to name children in alphabetical order. Names at the end of the alphabet were always considered unlucky, being the end and not the beginning.  The women were shamed, having had the bad luck to bear children, sons at that, at the end of the community’s alphabet. Their aunt, always cunning, managed to bear a daughter next, a name beginning with an ‘A’, Anaria. The young women suspected witchcraft but as the wife of the chief, it was pointless to accuse.

The boys grew in beauty and strength. Shunned by the rest of the children, they depended upon each other and despite the Aunt’s efforts, little Anaria stayed close to Yawo and Zanque. When the boys were seven they were sent, as all boys their age, to watch the cattle. Yawo yawned in the mid-day heat. “They tease us, cousin. Set to watching in the heat of the day. They know the lions will not come when it is so hot.”

“They want to catch us, Yawo. Asleep or playing.” The boy stood up and stretched. They will not find us lax. We are the end but not lazy.”

Little six-year-old Anaria toddled up to her cousins. “Hi.”

She sat in the dust in the shade of the middling tree and with a few twists of grass made a doll. She offered it to Yawo. “You are the oldest, you get the first gift.”

Aware of the sacred ties of females and males, the boy bowed and accepted the gift. “You honor me, young Anaria.”

She made another and gave it to Zanque. “For you, fierce fighter.”

He bowed and accepted her gift. “You honor us, cousin.”

The girl stood. “It’s time, warriors. Look outward.”

The boys were confused but did as she bid. Zanque hissed. “To the north, my cousin. The lion prowls.”

The boys both spied a lioness creeping through the dry grass, nearing the cattle herd. “You go left, cousin,” Yawo whispered. “I’ll go right.”

He eyed his young female cousin. “Stay, honored female.”

She bowed and sat crosslegged under the tree. “I await your return.”

The boys crept out, spears in hand. The lifeblood of the tribe was at stake if the lioness should take even a single cow.

Yawo hefted his fire sharpened spear. It was one thing to creep up on the stuffed skin the hunt masters hung in the forest. It was quite another to sneak up on the best hunter in the savannah, who was ready to shred a boy too brave for his own good.

On his side Zanque moved as silently as he could through the dry grass. He stopped to rub his hand in the dust, the better to grip his spear. He worried that the lioness would attack before he was ready to defend his cousin.

What about the rest of the pride? Yawo thought. Where are they? He risked a peek above the grass heads. He didn’t see any lions but that meant nothing.

Both boys took deep, calming breaths as the hunt master had taught them. They could feel each other across the expanse of grass. They crept forward until they could each hear the soft huffing of the lioness. This time of year they knew she was hunting to feed her cubs. That made her even more dangerous.

On a hunch, Yawo gave a soft hiss. He stopped and listened. To his right he heard a gentle whuff. The lioness raised her head, he could see her ears. He did his best to quiet his rapid heartbeat.

On the other side of the lioness, Zanque heard both noises. He regripped his spear. The lioness was after the tribe’s cattle. Worse, his best friend and his female cousin were in danger.

Both boys crept closer, gripping and re-gripping their spears. The lioness prepared to spring. The boys saw the grass shiver. They readied their spears and when the lioness sprang both boys let loose their spears.

The giant cat screamed. The herd thundered away. The boys ran up on the lioness, paws twitching in the dust. Two spears arrowed from her body, one on each side. They were still standing there when their cousin, Anaria, appeared between them.

“Good kill,” she told them.

Elders, alerted by the big cat’s screams ran up. “What happened?”

“They killed the lioness,” young Anaria told them. Her eyes never strayed from the elders. “My cousins have saved the herd.”

The men bowed and the eldest waved others to pick up the cat and the boys. A procession into the village caught Anaria’s mother unaware. Chanting by the men overrode any objection she had. The girl stood behind the boys as the lioness was skinned and fangs and claws removed.

The boys gave Anaria both fang and claw to honor her. The hide was divided between the boys who gave the skins to their mothers. They kept a fang and a claw each which they made into necklaces.

After, the boys and Anaria grew to adulthood. Anaria became the high priestess and her cousins the leaders of the tribe. It became common for boys to have names from the end of the alphabet. Just in honor of their chieftains, of course.

 

The End

884Words

Find more of the Forward Motion Flash Friday Group here: http://www.fmwriters.com/flash.html

Monday Blog Post: Starting a New Year

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New Year, New Year's Eve, Snow, Lighted Tree

New Year’s Eve Snow by Randy Cockrell

Happy New Year to you and your families. The holidays are over, we’re still digging tinsel out of the carpeting and the new eating and exercise plan is still operational. Whew. 2014 was a tough year for a lot of my friends and family. I’m hoping 2015 is much, much, better. One way I’ve found to help me make my year move along on an even keel is to have a plan. Yeah, I know, but I’ve used goals for decades to help me organize my thoughts about what I need or better yet, want, to get done during the year. Additionally, it’s great to look back in December and go, “Whoa! Look what I’ve accomplished!”

Here are the major writing things I want to accomplish in 2015.

– Publish 6 more books

– Turn my wordpress blog into a full-fledged web site

– Participate in the April and July Camp NaNo’s and the November NaNo

– Complete the Holly Lisle World Building class and the How to Write A Series Expanded class

– Submit short stories to contests on a schedule I’m developing.

– Increase speaking appearances and opportunities to sell my books

– Participate in the Payson Book Festival as an author

I know, it looks a bit overwhelming. I didn’t talk about continuing to produce a flash story every Friday for my blog, or any personal stuff like travel, gardening, projects, volunteer work, you know, life stuff. All of that has to be done as well.

Goals help me plot out a work/life balance. If I see I’ve really scheduled a lot of writing stuff, I can back out on the plan at the beginning of the year and cut myself and my hubby some slack for running off and going camping or travelling.

What do you do to plan out your year? Just take it as it comes or jot down some things you’d like to accomplish? Go ahead and share in the comments. I’d love to hear from you.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today.

The Downtrodden: a Brown Rain Story released November 22nd! I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy it and my other books at: Apple, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, or Smashwords today!