Darkind Promises is the working title of my current short novellette.
Here is a behind the story, on the story and a sneak peak snippet as well.
Last year when I turned in “The Galloping Ghoul of Hockomock Swamp” it was my first time working with Rebel Ink Press. I prayed for a good editor for my fledgling piece. TGGHS was to appear in its first form in an anthology. This year we’ve pulled it out of the anthology and published it under it’s own title and cover– but thaaats another story.
In any event Dawn was assigned as my editor and when I got back my revision letter I knew she’d gotten me and my sometimes quirky voice. I mean who else would create a costume choice to dress one of the hero’s, an early colonial– in a peacock costume at an erotic night of halloween debauchery. Ike wouldn’t wear the costume but still….
I won’t quote what Dawn wrote back to me after we completed the business on that piece. I was flattered and gushed to myself for weeks. I couldn’t share the news with my partner at the time because, I felt she was threatened by my success and somewhat resentful of any attention I garnered in the sphere of my writing world. But thaaats another story too….
The gyst of the email from Dawn was that she loved my voice and wanted to see anything I’d ever consider writing m/m romance. However, would I be open to giving f/f a shot.
Now at the time… I didn’t think F/F had an audience of any substance. I’ve since met lots of lesbians who really want genre romance that suits their taste. LOL. You go girls!
In any event, I thought about it. I had casually written a bit of f/f in a role play. Because of mixed feelings at the time in the co-creation of that work I didn’t want to touch it. So, I had a bit of an idea and pitched that to Dawn and RIP. She said, write it!
After that decision, my life continued to unravel. However, I wrote. I wrote when I wanted to. I wrote when I didn’t want to. My Critique partner highlighted some issues that had written me into a corner. So I wrote some more. I looked at the corners I’d written myself into and wrote some more.
I felt insecure. I felt depressed. My whole life continued to turn itself inside out. One more time, I thought. It’s for the best I said. It was for the best. Somehow that doesn’t make the pain any better.
Monday morning at 5something am, I finally finished the story line and pretty well fleshed out draft of Darkind Promises at 15,349 words. From here the clean up and editing won’t take that much time, I’ve done quite a bit as I rolled along over and over again making myself write when I didn’t really feel much like writing. Now, I feel good and had to share.
Blurb (Draft)
Darkind Fairy Maura comes to the human dimension on a search and rescue mission for one of her race. The success of the mission rests on her wits and the skilled aid of her feline tracker Zelia. Unfortunately, Zelia is experiencing unpredictable shifts between feline and human forms.
Maura distracted by the sultry woman in her bed, struggles to stay focused on their quest.If they are unable to figure out how to gain control of Zelia’s shifting, all hope is lost for success of their mission as well as any possibility of their future together.
Worse yet, an ancient evil targets Maura, fascinated by her fae heritage, wanting to use her for his own pleasure while his schemes for power wind toward conclusion.
Zelia is willing to risk becoming trapped in feline form and losing the love she’s found with Maura if it means she can save her mate. Maura searches for the strength to abandon the quest for her lost ‘sister’ and move on. She wants to claim a future of a loving life with Zelia.
Excerpt (Draft)
…Verruca considered her handiwork. The cat’s eyes seemed over large for its face. Perhaps it was just the surprise at the transformation.
“No, no, no better but still not completely right.” The wizardess flipped through pages of a book. “Cat’s the size you are now are pets in the Earth Dimension. However, the color is all wrong. There are no house cats with the odd spotted pattern of your fur. Fuss and bother.”
She lay the book down on the table by her hip, studying a picture from the pages. “Now, that color will do nicely. I’ll just have to add another layer to the spell.” She paused to reassure her feline companion. “It will be fine.” Then shrugged, reconsidering. “It should be fine.” She checked the book one more time, clapped her hands and pronounced “Orange Tabby.” The dark spots on the animal’s creamy tan fur stretched, elongated and ran into a pattern of strips that swirled around becoming orangish color on the cat’s fur.
The crone walked around the animal looking down at her handiwork. “Yes this will do, quite satisfactory, if I do say so myself.”
The cat spoke for the first time. “Satisfactory?” The animal’s voice sounded like it emanated from the bottom of a well, a remote, shrunken sound that modulated through a range of helium-induced tones. “This is far from satis-factory, you cronish hack.”
“Now now, don’t get your fur in a twist you’ll get a hair ball or something.” She put her long index finger against her lips and breathed a “shhh” sound against them.
The cat let out a plaintive yawoll.
The wizardess scooped up the cat, dropping her into an oversized shopping bag. “Hush now, I can’t have one of the Solidarian see me leave here with a suspicious looking earth dimension animal.” An angry muffled meow answered from the bag making the old wizardess chuckle.
Zelia had no idea the ride she was in for. No problem, it would make a woman out of her. She was too comfortable in feline form. Verruca often wondered if Zelia would just go feral, and live in the jungle. The tracker had known hunting and loss, causing her to pack away her softer emotions. Human form had only revealed her weakness. She used it on her rare visits to civilization to scratch her itch with the warrior, Imal. While he was a tasty diversion, Zelia was deserving of so much more. Verrucca smiled. Time to knock her out of her comfort zone, and maybe in doing so she might find balance, perhaps even a chance for real happiness.
Enjoy!
Eden Glenn 