Mama Me & the Holiday Tree

#HolidayTreeNovella #RainbowSnippets Seventy-Five 12/8: Counting Points

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Welcome to this week’s installment of Rainbowsnippets*! This one is uniquely mine, but there are lots of other great snippets to read, so after you finish here click the FB link at the bottom of the post to discover other great LGBTQIA authors and their works.

 

Here comes the snow, or at least that’s what local and national meteorologists are saying: winter storm watch that’ll probably be a warning by the time this post goes live. We’re as ready as we can be, I suppose. We’ve secondary heat, water, and a good supply of ready-to-eat foods for emergencies.

The problem with living in NE TN is that we’re either on the side of or in the foothills of several mountains; we’re part of the Smokies, so the weather either 1) passes around us because of the mountains to our north and south or 2) settles in to stay a while. If it does the latter and brings heavy moisture with it, we’re done for. It’ll snow until it peters out or finds the oomph to pass over the mountains, usually the former.  They’re saying up to eight inches with ice. I know that sounds like nothing to some of you, but this is the Southern U.S., not deep south, mind you, but still south and people here have no idea how to drive in deep snow, so it’s best to stay in if at all possible.

This one’s supposed to bring the moisture, so it’s all a matter of timing and oomph.

On to this week’s writing. I’m sharing from my new holiday novella Mama, Me, & the Holiday Tree, which is set within the Appalachian Elementals Series. At 22K words in length, it’s a shorter novella, but it packs a lot of great things within its 74 pages.

The setup:  Poor Cent’s trying hard but…

“No, the Star of David has six points.” I’m trying. Gods help me, I’m trying, but Mama… Continue reading →

#HolidayTreeNovella #RainbowSnippets Seventy-Five 12/1: Denial

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We’re pushing full-throttle into the holiday season, which is always stressful for those with auto-immune and/or neurological issues. Lucky for me (read the last with decided sarcasm) I have both and they’re interlinked.

Most of my holiday shopping takes place online for good reason.

 

That said, I want to share a review for Cleaning House (released 8/1/18) that comes from a regional library publication. Local review for a local work by a local author. That means a whole bunch to me. Best of all, she liked it, which means even more, and I’ve been told the book is in steady rotation. ❤️❤️😊😊❤️❤️

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#TBT #CleaningHouseNovel #AppalachianElementals No. 5

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Yes, I’m well aware that it’s only been a few months since the release of Cleaning House – An Appalachian Contemporary Fantasy, but I’m spending the month of November featuring it in my #TBT (Throwback Thursday) series because of the recent release of the second title in the series, the novella Mama, Me, & the Holiday Tree. It’s generally good to relive the past, even the recent past, so I’ll be sharing Chapter One from Cleaning House throughout the month.

The section in orange comes from last week’s #TBT post.

  Maybe I should take up gardening.

     Being close and sweaty, their hands touching as they worked side-by-side. Cent shivered as she scrutinized the envelope. “It’s too thin to be a summons.” She went to the kitchen for the scissors but couldn’t find them, so she opted for a paring knife, sliding it beneath the taped flap to open the envelope, pulling out a single, handwritten page.

 Dear Centenary,

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#HolidayTreeNovella #RainbowSnippets Seventy-Four 11/24: Hot Stuff

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Welcome to this week’s installment of Rainbowsnippets*! This one is uniquely mine, but there are lots of other great snippets to read, so after you finish here click the FB link at the bottom of the post to discover other great LGBTQIA authors and their works.

 

This week I’m sharing from my new novella Mama, Me, & the Holiday Tree, which is set within the Appalachian Elementals Series. At 22K words in length, it’s a shorter novella, but it packs a lot of great things within its 74 pages.

The setup:  Cent’s lover, Stowne, has joined the conversation and helped convince her that she needs to spend time with her difficult mother.

“So what ornaments are we making?” I’ve grudgingly accepted the idea of spending the day with Mama.

Continue reading →

#TBT #CleaningHouseNovel #AppalachianElementals No. 4

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Yes, I’m well aware that it’s only been a few months since the release of Cleaning House – An Appalachian Contemporary Fantasy, but I’m spending the month of November featuring it in my #TBT (Throwback Thursday) series because of the recent release of the second title in the series, the novella Mama, Me, & the Holiday Tree. It’s generally good to relive the past, even the recent past, so I’ll be sharing Chapter One from Cleaning House throughout the month.

The section in yellow comes from last week’s #TBT post.

     “Can I do anything else for you?”

     Are they flirting with me? Cent looked down then back up, startling when she saw the messenger’s eyes were still on her. Taller than she was, which was unusual, a bit thick at the waist, but it was clearly muscle. A puzzle, and an attractive one at that. There was something calming about this person’s eyes. Something familiar Cent couldn’t quite place. They’re damn-near twice my size. The realization that such strength stood so close made her skin prickle in a way she’d come to miss. No wonder they’re on this route. “No, um, thanks.”

Continue reading →

#HolidayTreeNovella #RainbowSnippets Seventy-Three 11/17: Stuck

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Welcome to this week’s installment of Rainbowsnippets*! This one is uniquely mine, but there are lots of other great snippets to read, so after you finish here click the FB link at the bottom of the post to discover other great LGBTQIA authors and their works.

This past week has been interesting. I’ve been triggered and experienced passive-aggressive not-submissions to the publisher I do acquisitions for (If I can’t talk on the phone then, oh well, I just don’t have the time). Okay. And?

I’m going holiday shopping with my mother today. Let’s hope that helps because my current view of humanity rather stinks.

I’m sharing from my recently-released novella Mama, Me, & the Holiday Tree, which is set within the Appalachian Elementals Series. At 22K words in length, it’s a shorter novella, but it packs a lot of great things within its 74 pages.

The setup:  Cent’s just been berated by the homestead’s aggravating house spirit.

The first sentence, in yellow, comes from last week’s snippet.

  “Be nice to your mama.” A self-lit orb shoots across the kitchen and into the living room, trilling laughter as it goes.

Continue reading →

#TBT #CleaningHouseNovel #AppalachianElementals No. 3

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Yes, I’m well aware that it’s only been a few months since the release of Cleaning House – An Appalachian Contemporary Fantasy, but I’m spending the month of November featuring it in my #TBT series because of the impending release of the second title in the series, the novella Mama, Me, & the Holiday Tree. It’s always good to relive the past, even the recent past, so I’ll be sharing Chapter One from Cleaning House throughout the month.

 

The section in yellow comes from last week’s post.

“Who is it?” She peered through the peephole.

   “Delivery for Centenary Rhodes.” The messenger held up the envelope that’d been tucked under their arm. Ruddy-brown, almost earth-toned skin, hair that went everywhere but was short enough to go nowhere— this messenger was, well, different on so many levels. And, their, yes, their. She’d learned long ago not to make assumptions about anyone, especially those she found herself attracted to.

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#HolidayTreeNovella #RainbowSnippets Seventy-Two 11/10: Tattletale Birdie

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Welcome to this week’s installment of Rainbowsnippets*! This one is uniquely mine, but there are lots of other great snippets to read, so after you finish here click the FB link at the bottom of the post to discover other great LGBTQIA authors and their works.

This week I’m sharing from my just-released novella Mama, Me, & the Holiday Tree, which is set within the Appalachian Elementals Series. At 22K words in length, it’s a shorter novella, but it packs a lot of great things within its 74 pages.

The setup:  It’s late evening on the homestead, and Cent’s talking with Aubrey and Betty about the family’s Mama problem.

The first sentence, in orange, comes from last week’s snippet.

 Not happening, baby doll.” Betty sets her mug of chamomile and lavender tea beside mine. We went through hell up in Chicago, and the experiences helped us become the best of friends, but she’s always been able to see through me. Continue reading →

#AppalachianElementals #FictionFri The Rhodes Family Tree

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One of the major themes in the Appalachian Elementals series is family. It was central to  Cleaning House, to Mama, Me, & the Holiday Tree, and is central to Keeping House, my current work in progress. Family is also, like in many cultures, central to Appalachia. We’re traditionally close-knit, though that has somewhat changed over the last few generations. That said, I might, at a later date, take a closer look at Tess and Roslyn Rhodes’ generation (meaning write a story where they’re the MCs, but that’s for another day since I’m currently neck deep in #NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month).

When Cleaning House was a rough draft, I scrawled out the Rhodes’ family tree as it relates to Cent and her cousin, Aubrey, adding details like birth/death dates, where the magic derives from in each family member, if there’s any magic at all, and ended up with four-five generations (depending on your take), going back to Cent and Aubrey’s great-great-grandmother Amadahy, a fictional member of the North Carolina Cherokee tribal rolls (one of my own ancestors, six generations back, is listed on those same rolls, I’ve been told).

Anyway, that initial scrawl to set down a lineage has become the graphic below, an actual family tree.

Creating the family tree helped bring the characters to life, to give them roots. It helped me determine how they might have thought, their experiences,  how things developed between generations and, more specifically, where things have gone wrong. Continue reading →

#TBT #CleaningHouseNovel #AppalachianElementals No. 2

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Yes, I’m well aware that it’s only been a few months since the release of Cleaning House – An Appalachian Contemporary Fantasy, but I’m spending the month of November featuring it in my #TBT series because of the impending release of the second title in the series, the novella Mama, Me, & the Holiday Tree (info below). It’s generally good to relive the past, even the recent past, so I’ll be sharing Chapter One from Cleaning House throughout the month.

 

The brief portion in yellow comes from last week’s post.

The old bank had once been grand, but now…

     “What a dump.” Still, it was all she could afford on two part-time jobs. Cent threw her coat over the single dinette chair and flung herself, face-down, over the sheet-draped, worn plaid couch that served as both her living space and bed. Not even a fold-out. She’d finagle one eventually, but until then she’d sleep solo. Always solo. “Who’d want to come back here, anyway?” Her romantic and job prospects had been abysmal since she’d lost her full-time accountant job in a corporate down-size. For the past year, she’d divided her time between a local bodega and a small computer repair shop. Both bosses were pricks, and the bodega owner’s wife kept telling her that she’d find herself a good man if she’d try.

Continue reading →