Book Promo And Vignettes by Luke, Mary Catelli and ‘Nother Mike

41 thoughts on “Book Promo And Vignettes by Luke, Mary Catelli and ‘Nother Mike”

1. “So Master, we can feed on the Life Force of Animals not just Humans? What do lizards and insects taste like?”.

   “Well my young Apprentice, we would have to feed on hundreds of insects to survive. But insects and lizards taste stale as compared to mammals and birds, let alone humans. But remember, feeding on humans and Ultras will get you in big trouble with me and I won’t stand in the way of those you want to kill you.”

   1. How odd. Perhaps the older the species type, the staler the taste?

      1. The Master is one of the Ancient Ultras.

         The Ancients taught the Modern Ultras much about how to use the Ultra Powers but have little interest in the “Why” of the Powers. 😉

2. Many years ago, we were making breakfast on Saturday morning. Eggs, toast, juice, various toast to use up bread.
   “Mom, how long have we had these?” holding up the Thomas’s English muffins, found behind the toaster.
   “At least three months ago?”
   This is why three generations no longer eat them.

   1. Hmmm… if 3 month old English muffins weren’t moldy, I’d be wondering about the preservatives in them myself!

3. “Master Jacques, your apprentice is today Faerie’s greatest hero,” Nymue exclaimed. “Since his summoning last night, he has overthrown a tyrannical ogre, rescued King Alberon from deathly peril, and restored Avalon’s fruitfulness through sheer purity of heart.”

   The baker arched a sardonic eyebrow. “And this excuses letting brioche get stale?”

4. And now a tale
   About a large, important bale
   of diplomatic mail
   that must be delivered without fail
   before it gets stale
   but that’s a minor detail
   as it can’t be sent by rail
   and slower transports pale
   Only an atomic rocket will prevail
   If augmented with a solar sail.

5. “Dusty in here.”
   “Yeah,” the two space suited figures clomped their way out of the airlock and into a cavernous bay. Their suit lights illuminated drifting dust particles and dull steel plating.
   “What the heck did they use this for? Bay’s all wrong for lighter cargo, too puny of thrust for heavy.” Delgado asked in her thickly accented soprano. She was the shorter and slighter of the two.
   “Bum barge. Station packed ‘em into cryo capsules and shipped off those who couldn’t make their cred.” Wake spoke with the gutteral growl of an old belter, his voice grown rough with the damage caused by bad air mixes, bootleg whiskey, and time.
   “Shipped ‘em off? Doesn’t make a whole lot of sense there boss, gotta say.”
   “How so?” The two carefully climbed down into the bay. Tall stacks of cryo pods surrounded them in lines going fore and aft.
   “Well, boost costs credits. Airmix isn’t all that expensive in comparison.”
   “True,” the taller man grunted. “But it’s not just air. Food, water, power. All of that stuff plus maintenance to keep the hull pressurized, the power flowing, and all the rest. Man’s got to make his own way, Del.”
   The younger woman remained silent as she digested this. The old ship groaned, its metal bones flexing as heat from the docking clamp and their own boots seeped into it. She flinched as something bright caught her eye, flitting away in her suit lights.
   “Just trash. Equalizing pressure and opening the lock stirs things up is all.”
   “Yeah.” She turned back, following along as he slowly made his way aft.
   “Just how old is this thing? Station’s never had a problem with too many people. Not that I’ve heard of.”
   “Old. Probably fifty, sixty years I’d guess.”
   “Older than you?”
   “Maybe.” The man kept walking, hiding a wince.
   “So they were taking people and putting them in these bum barges because they couldn’t pay. Okay, fine. Where were they going then?” Ahead of her Wake was cranking open a small hatch that was barely the size of a large dinner tray. He shined his light inside, illuminating a crawlspace.
   “Through here,” he said, putting action to his words. She squeezed herself in after him, marveling at how easy he made it look.
   “They sent ‘em lots of places. Mostly groundside. Some asteroid habs. Some places they could either make their way or starve.”
   “Sounds horrible.”
   “Probably. But what was they going to do? Let ‘em stay, suck up resources, maybe contribute to the slow deterioration by passively increasing entropy?” There was a pop and a panel fell out ahead of them.
   “Well that’s convenient.” Wake slithered his way through the hole, dropping down and out of sight. She followed, grumbling softly under her breath.
   “But they were people, boss! You can’t just go around letting them starve to death!”
   “They didn’t. They put ‘em on bum boats and sent ‘em far away.” The space they were in now was filled with engines, generators, conduit runs and pipes. A soft amber light glowed beneath thick layers of dust and grime.
   “Standby mode. Looks like there’s still a little bit of power left in this old heap.” Delgado heard him chuckle as he pulled tools from his belt pouch, fiddling with the old console and making something in the deck beneath her boots hum.
   “Still, though.”
   “You’re right, they didn’t want folks to starve. At least not where they could see ‘em, I guess. But it takes work to keep any artificial environment running. Lot of it, point of fact.”
   “My point is they never would have starved on the station. The farms make ten times as much food as we’d ever eat! I know, I grew up on one of them.” Wake waved her over to a heavy looking lever, mirror to the one he had under his left hand.
   “On three. One. Two. Now!” As both levers slid down with a dull *thunk!* the humming sound grew louder. Lights began to glow, first red, then a dirty yellow.
   “And that’s power. It’s not going anywhere through the ship yet, but the gennie’s running.” He sighed, cracking his knuckles. Then his neck and his back.
   “The point was, Del, that that food is worth something. So’s the air, the power, the water. Somebody has to bust their ass to grow that food, manage the air system, keep the power running and the water clean and drinkable.
   “Folks what didn’t earn their keep weren’t worth making somebody like you a slave to do their work for free, just because somebody was too lazy to get off their butt and do something for it. There’s always some like that. But you can’t take care of them all. If you try, you just get more of ‘em. How hard would you work, if you could get all that stuff for free anyway?”
   Delgado bit her lip in thought.
   “Tell you what, Del. You got a cat, right?”
   “I do. Socks is still little, but he’s sooo cute right now! My sister sends me videos of him every day.”
   “Right, so you take care of Socks. You feed him, give him a place to sleep, water and all that. What if you had two? Could you afford it? How about ten? Ten little cute fuzzballs. How about fifty? Could you handle fifty? Food, water, kitty litter- got to keep that living space clean- vet bills and all?”
   “Uh…”
   “That right there’s why. Why they made the bum barges.” Wake peered over the pipes leading from the fuel reservoir to the massive engines beyond the now lit generator room.
   “Now let’s see if we can’t get this old girl some horsepower so we can save a little once we get her back to the yard.” Delgado shook her head at her boss’s antics. She could see the grin on his face in her mind’s eye, even if he was looking away from her right now. Still acts like a little kid, even if he’s old enough to be my father. Or maybe grandfather.
   “Wait. What’s horsepower, boss? For that matter, what’s a horse?”

6. Thank you

7. Oh, Fight Before Christmas is a Good Read! 😀

   1. Thanks, Paul! Glad you enjoyed it! And thanks for including it in the promo, Sarah.

8. I certainly wasn’t expecting these two to run with it. Then again, one of them is The Scary One and she’s been wanting to show up here for a while, so…

   —

   Antanas landed in an out of the way alley and made one final check for his mission. There wasn’t a mirror nearby but thankfully he didn’t need one. All he had to do was extend his hand, channel astral energy, and before he knew it four stars formed the item he needed. He smiled a devilish smirk as he checked himself over. His shirt, tie, slacks, and greatcoat were immaculate, as was his hair. His sword was ready at his side as well, looking the part of a high class caster’s blade instead of the demon weapon that it actually was. Satisfied, he dissipated the spell and turned around to leave, only to find himself staring at an unwelcome face. A silver-haired woman stood watching him with a smile so serene that it frequently left the mortals who saw it uneasy. For Antanas, though, this act of hers had grown stale quadrillions of years ago.

   “To what do I owe the pleasure, Spooky?” he asked, his words dripping with contempt. “Here to stop me?”

   “Not at all, Archon of Audacity,” the woman replied, unfazed by Antanas’ childish nickname for her and tone of voice. “He intends for you to succeed tonight.”

   “Well, next time you see the Overlord tell him it gives me all kinds of fluffy bunny feel-goods that he’s going to let even my rump contingency plan succeed,” he retorted, giving her a theatrical eyeroll. “If His Majesty will even sully himself by speaking to you of course.”

   “He even speaks with the Fallen Star. Why would He not speak to me?” she asked, her eyes shifting from blue to pink as she spoke.

   “Ugh, never mind. You never answered my question either, Spooky. If I’m not going to have to go through you to get to Martin why are you wasting my time here?” Antanas grumbled, his green eyes flashing with arcane power as his anger grew.

   “I simply wish to confirm that this is what you want to do, Archon of Audacity.” she answered, her pink eyes changing to the same shade of green as Antanas’ after she blinked.

   “Do you even have to ask?!” he snapped, barely keeping his hand off of his sword. “I’m finally going to put the Order out of its misery tonight and with them gone things will change. The Unholy’s gone soft, Spooky. If he won’t take the fight to the Overlord’s mortal lapdogs I will.”

   “Surely that cannot be your only goal, Archon of Audacity.” the woman said, tilting her head slightly.

   “Sorry, Spooky. The mortals have a concept called ‘Op Sec’ and telling you anything more would violate that,” the demon replied, his face twisting into an arrogant smirk. “Now are you going to step aside or am I going to have to go through you after all?”

   “You will not,” the woman answered, gracefully stepping aside. “I shall merely find myself a vantage point to observe.”

   “Good. You won’t be disappointed,” Antanas said, walking past his visitor before pausing briefly. “He doesn’t appreciate you doing this, you know. None of them do. Ask Tristiel about his hound some time.”

   “I spoke to the Bringer of Despair just a few moments ago, in fact,” she replied, her placid smile unchanging though her eyes were now a watery hazel. “He is in fine spirits as always given the sin he carries.”

   “Of course you did,” Antanas remarked, rolling his eyes in disgust. “Anyway, put up your feet and enjoy the show, Spooky. You’ll remember this one for the next quadrillion years.”

9. “The bread’s stale,” called a kitchen maid.
   The cook looked at them. With a sigh, Ava followed Delia and Charlotte-Rose out of the kitchen.
   “Really,” said Delia. “They expect us to cast spells of the highest import as soon as our studies are done, and they don’t trust us yet?”

10. “I hate the tourist areas of space stations,” Danica said, tossing her long auburn hair over her shoulder. “The air always smells stale.”
    Deputy Corbin pinched the bridge of his nose. “That still doesn’t explain why you were bothering cow-spiders.”

11. And, she would have to find a place to stay before what she carried turned stale. They had no true traveler’s rations in the house, and she could not linger long enough to buy even at dawn.
    Her mouth twitched. It could be bought at night, no doubt, from markets that she did not know, and would not trust if she did. Best if those who ran such markets never even realized that she was fleeing into the night.
    For a moment, she dreamed of brazening it out, but Maximina would never allow the theft of something magical go unpunished.

12. It had been a second-rate amusement park at best: outdated roller coaster, rides that looked more at home in a traveling carnival, peeling paint, the smell of stale popcorn permeating the air. But decades later, long after shutting its gates forever, Griselda treasured the memories of their place, Maryland Adventure.

13. On the couch, Max was still asleep as Cari crept from her bedroom and quietly rifled her refrigerator.

    Eggs? Three. That will have to do.

    Cheese? Enough, maybe.

    Bread? Yes. A quarter-loaf, not moldy, but damn, it was stale.

    Fry-up it is, Cari thought. He’ll like Eggs in a Basket.

14. By the way, do other commenters find themselves wanting to edit their own comments mere seconds after posting them?

    1. Often!

    2. In German, there’s the wonderful word Treppenwitze for the perfect comment or quip that springs to mind—the moment you set foot on the steps as you leave the gathering. We need something like that for “I could have phrased that so much better” and/or “Oh, there’s typo/autofill/punctuation problem!”

    3. Never! (Would this face lie?) [Very Very Big Crazy Grin]

    4. No. I instead find myself wishing I had a bit more discipline and discretion before hitting post. I work towards being better next time.

15. The air in the compartment had the stale flavor of cheap air filters and someone in the section being sparing with moving the breathable. Which is why they put the bodies there, four deep and wrapped in cheap plastic to keep the mess down. I flipped open my knife and got out the gene scanner. Well, let’s get started, and I carefully cut the plastic open.

16. “What you’ve got here is the interstellar equivalent of a stale check.”

    “But it’s a digital letter of credit with a quantum key. It’s supposed to be completely counterfeit-proof.”

    “Counterfeiting isn’t the problem. Time is. The longer it sits around, especially if you’ve got superluminal travel involved, the more likely you start getting decoherence. Then there’s no way to make sure the actual money is still in the issuing bank, short of contacting the bank directly. And you know how much that costs.”

17. Armando Delavega winced as he chewed the stale cracker. In another time he would have considered it barely suitable to be fed to the pigeons and most certainly not to be given to his prize Koi. He had eaten the Koi already and was glad to have the crackers now.

18. Nice group of books today! Thanks!!!

19. “We’ve ordered in too much bread. We need to sell it all before it goes bad.”
    “I know! We can have a ‘Stale!'”
    Evan rolled his eyes. “Kill me. Kill me now.”

20. I stole a stollen. It was stale, but I was hungry.

21. “I’m getting stale,” complained Rilchiam the wizard. “Just look.” He cast a fireball. It fell to the ground ten feet away and sputtered out. “It’s been too peaceful since we put Good King Melchior back on the throne.”

    “Missing the days of battle, murder, and sudden death?” asked his friend McDougal, a retired warrior.

    “Yes.”

    “You want something to do that’ll give you thrills, excitement, and heartbreak? Something that’s a challenge even to the most skillful practitioners?”

    “Lead me to it!”

    “Take up golf.”

    Two weeks later the sound of thunder came to McDougal as he was relaxing on the veranda. A column of black smoke rose in the distance. “Och,” he said, looking at the ripples in his whisky. “He’s in the bunker again.”

    1. Now why wasn’t McDougal playing golf? 😈

       1. Friendly fire?

          1. 😀

       2. Oh, dear. I’m usually better at avoiding plot holes.

          1. Obviously they are so unequal that it’s not fun for either of them.

    2. Long ago, when men cursed and beat the ground with sticks, they called it witchcraft. Now they call it golf.

22. DoesSpockhve zbeardin this universe

    1. Spock is a fictional character thus doesn’t really exist (bearded or otherwise) in this universe. 😉

    2. And having seen who this is, he’s now blocked.

       1. I wondered about the “why” of that person’s question.

          It appears that my suspicions were correct. 😦

          1. The weird thing was putting that on a post that wasn’t even vaguely political.

             1. Yes, that was weird.

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