Defiance

(Legal: Thanks to David Willicome for the artwork above.)

Heinrich groaned and slapped at the ‘snooze’ button on his alarm clock. The voices stopped.

Head felt like a toilet; he’d gamed too long and hard last night, and his body was showing all the signs of it: Over-Shock.

No more than 2 days at a time, they’d said, otherwise you’re training the body to disengage from the brain. Didn’t sound so bad, in theory. Last night’s nosebleed, however, had been a wake-up call.

Flicking on his holowall—a 3D simulated projection of peace and tranquillity that neatly hid the dim walls of his lifecube—he trudged over to the fridge and opened it and quickly downed a carton of OJ. The bitterness singed his tongue, the artificial flavours mixing and sending a rush of endorphins screaming through his sluggish cortex.

Update 27/04/13: Absence Makes the Nose Grow Longer

Crumbs! I can’t believe it’s been almost a month since I last posted. Recently, I’ve been weighed down by romance novel edits, but they’re finally done, so my next piece should be up here soon …

In the meantime, aspiring authors should check out yWriter5, a word processor/story tracker application. yWriter5 streamlines the process of planning out a novel, allowing characters, plot arcs and chapter/scene breakdowns to be easily tracked and edited. It’s a little clunky—’Free writing software designed by an author, not a salesman’ says the website—but very flexible.

It’s also very free. Get amongst it,
MalarkyGetsTheGirl

‘Neath Extract

Dear readers,

I’m still working on Smarmbeard, so until then, here’s a short extract from a novel I’ve been struggling with.

Enjoy.

*    *    *

It was a common enough problem: Sarah had no motivation to get out of bed. Warm and cozy in her eiderdown cocoon, in her world of lemon-scented fabric detergent and flannel sheeting, her body felt weightless; her arms, legs and head were bits of heavy-packing foam, like the stuff she’d once seen at that decrepit self-storage unit years previously.

She and Zoe had been moving house at the time.