Bad Idea- Flash Fiction

By: Etta Jean

"At what point is this a bad idea?" Eliana asked her cousin warily as they crept outside the castle walls.

"At the point where Alex and Maduin find us and yell at us." Mai felt no fear as she trudged into the trees. She had wanted to go exploring, and at thirteen, she was finally starting to really develop in her angelic gifts.

Eliana didn't feel quite so confident. Not that she didn't have faith in her magical gifts as a Wizard, or her younger cousin's gifts as a Shaman, but, well, she always felt a tiny bit more comfortable when Maduin or Alexander was around to babysit. "At the risk of being the voice of reason, I kinda don't think we should have ditched our guardians. Also, Alexander knows everything you do, Maitena. He's going to tan your hide."

 "If he can catch me."

 "He'll clip your wings and have no problem."

 "For the love of the elements, Eli, you wanted to explore too!" Mai swung around on a glower. "Just go back if you're uneasy."

 "And leave you alone? Oh, hell, no. Then my hide is toast." She closed her eyes on a sigh as a growl rose on the air. "Do I get to say I told you so?"

Mai turned quickly and scowled as several monstrous beasts lumbered out of the trees.

Her sword appeared in her hand, and though her heart tripped madly, she kept her nerves down. She had to protect Eliana. Wizards were much squishier than their Warrior and Shaman counterparts. "You blast. I stab."

Eliana drew her wand and gulped back a yelp as a beast lunged at her. Mai cut it down first and then went after the others. Eliana started casting Sun spells, and the energy blasts either obliterated beasts entirely or made them easier for Mai to kill. The cousins seemed to be winning, but Mai looked a bit bloody. She did not have time to heal herself.

One beast made it past Mai and knocked Eliana flat. She threw her arms over her face as it lunged for her, but it never landed. She cautiously lowered her arms and saw a familiar figure standing in front of her. He turned and narrowed his red eyes on her, and she gulped.

"Uhm. Hi, Maduin."

Mai thought she had gotten all the beasts only to hear a growl and jerk around sharply. The monster never reached her; a bullet took it down first. She slowly turned around and found her guardian looming behind her, and his violet eyes had turned black with fury. She winced as she realized the sight she made. "Uhm."

"We found the point where it was a bad idea," her cousin muttered. "And I definitely told you so."

###

~ Thank you for reading! This story comes to you from a dear friend of mine! She is celebrating the release of her newest novela called Shadow On The Sea. While the story you just read above is not actually IN the book it IS about two of the characters in the book. Think of it sort of like a deleted scene! 

I know it has been about a week or so since my last post. My school started and I am preparing for a Sci Fi Convention so I have been a bit busy. I hope to get back to blogging regularly by June though, once I get into the swing of these electrical engineering courses. 

We hope you enjoyed the mini story and please take a moment to check out Etta's links before you leave! ~

-----

Shadow On The Sea

The world of Ceres has been ruled for millennia by the winged race known as Lightlings. When the Chalice Kingdom celebrates the birth of the next crown princess, they have no idea just what events have been set into motion. The beautiful angel has a special, shadowy, gift, and only by learning to control it will she be able to claim the lover rightfully hers by destiny, and save her world from an evil bent on consuming them all.

Find it on Amazon!

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00WDEMR6Q

Also check out Etta's website and blog!

http://www.ettajeanfantasy.com/ (signed copies available)

http://ettajeanfantasy.wordpress.com/

You can also find her on Facebook as well as sign up for her mailing list: http://www.facebook.com/ettajeanfantasy/

Alternatively, you can send her e-mails to: ettajeanfantasy@gmail.com

Wrapping Oddly Shaped Presents And Expanding Your Mind

photo credit: Randy Auschrat via photopin cc

You are on your own if you try to wrap a guinea pig!

What better way to exercise your brain and increase your own human potential than to learn some new origami this holiday season! I know how to make an origami frog, which comes in handy when trying to entertain your little kiddos, but this is really useful! Want to wrap that really odd shaped present?

Like, maybe you are that super cool parent that got their kid a model Millennium Falcon for Christmas! (yeah, we know you really bought it so you could play with it too!)

 Look what I found on! The Meredith Vieira Show  This is an awesome way to solve this problem!

Post by The Meredith Vieira Show.

Reviewing Jasmines Got Talent

Book Description:

Jasmine the miniature-schnauzer returns in another dreamy adventure! In this one, she's going to show off her talent and maybe win a prize! Join her as she takes the stage in third Jasmine Dreams book.

***** 5 Stars! Perfectly Delightful! *****

I give Jasmine's Got Talent 5 stars for quality, entertainment, and adorable illustrations!
Jasmine's Got Talent is a charming and delightful story written for young children by author Maria Rochelle. This book features awesome 'squeal worthy' illustrations by illustrator Jo Linsdell. My favorite of the characters was the cat, Diamond! Jasmine will surely inspire your little ones to want to be the star of the show too!



Find out more here!

Kindle http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PO3Y3JM

Goodreads link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23593299-jasmine-s-got-talent

Author website: http://writermariarochelle.blogspot.com

Illustrator website: http://www.JoLinsdell.com

Rivi- Tangled in Christmas Lights- Short Story

photo credit: bloomgal via photopin cc

A Christmas Mini Story
Featuring the characters from The Alien Mind

Every year I set up our family Christmas decorations the weekend after Thanksgiving. I had just climbed into my attic to drag down the Christmas boxes when I heard the familiar chime of our door alarm. My heart stopped. The door was supposed to be locked, I'd checked it just moments ago!

Thoughts raced through my mind of my three yr old playing Tron on the Wii in his room. I looked around for something in the attic I could snatch up to use as a weapon.

Plastic driveway candy cane? Eh, seems decently hard enough.

"V.L.? Why are you in your ceiling?"
Ugh, I'm still not quite used to the name change! But wait! What's SHE doing here?! She's not even supposed to exist!
"Um- Rivi, is that you? How did you get in here?" I ask, hanging my head through the open attic door.
"I can manipulate matter remember? I just flipped the inside of the lock. I did try ringing your doorbell first." Rivi answered quickly.
By this point I had recovered sufficiently enough from the shock that I was ready to play along with whatever delusion was playing out in my head.
"Oh yeah, I forgot- we still don't have that fixed yet." I grabbed one of the smaller boxes from the top of the decoration boxes stack and dropped it through the attic door, "Catch!"
Rivi caught the box by levitating it mid air and lowered it carefully to the ground.
"Weren't you afraid of breaking the ornaments in there?" Rivi asked. "I mean, I caught them, but what if I hadn't?"
I shrugged before I realized she couldn't see me from down there.
"That one is just a bunch of tangled Christmas lights." I answered.
"Christmas lights?"
"You've never seen Christmas lights? Hold on! You'll love this!" I answered while crawling back over to the attic ladder.
Once I made it down I pulled out the wad of Christmas lights and stuck the outlet end into the wall.

"Oh WOW neat!" Rivi exclaimed as the wad of wire and tiny bulbs lit up in multiple colors. "Want me to untangle them for you?"
"You can try if you'd like. I'll go get the rest of the boxes."
Rivi held her hands over the tangled ball of lights and levitated them off the floor. Back and forth she waved her hands around the ball loosening it little by little. I climbed down the ladder with the second box and looked around for Rivi... she wasn't in the hallway any longer.

Now, my house isn't very big so I didn't have to look far to see her standing in the middle of the living room with a ginormous moving web of lights over her head. She'd loosened the ball, that's for sure but now it was just an even larger unmanageable mess!

"Rivi- Wait!"
"I've got this," She said, "Um, wait, no, Oh NO!"
Rivi lost control of just a few pieces of the unwieldy web and suddenly it came crashing down all around her entangling her in the middle. Lights were everywhere, both of my cats freaked out. One cat darted off down the hallway and the other arched its back and hissed like Rivi was something that now needed to be pounced on.

I couldn't help it, I laughed and laughed and laughed.

"Not funny," Rivi said glumly blowing her hair out of her face from under the tangled web of lights.

"Next time it might help to unplug the strand before trying to unravel them!" I said still laughing.

"I'm sure your system of storing lights could use some improvement too!" Rivi said with a motion toward the box the lights had been unceremoniously shoved into the year before.

She has a point...

***

Hope you enjoyed this little holiday scene- I plan on inviting more of my other characters over for my holiday party this year so don't be afraid to come on over and join the fun!

While we are at it- what is your favorite way of storing those strands of Christmas lights... does your method keep them from getting tangled?

***

Find The Alien Mind on Amazon!

Did you like this post? If so you might enjoy my book!

For adults and teens alike, it is truly a science fiction adventure for the whole family!

If you'd prefer an autographed copy straight from the author you can buy one here as well!
Autographed Copy:$13.00 + Shipping

 

Illustrating Jasmines Got Talent

Tell us about your latest release?

Jasmine's Got Talent! has just been released in both kindle and print formats. It's a children's picture story book written by Maria Rochelle and illustrated by me. This is the book blurb:

"Jasmine the miniature-schnauzer returns in another dreamy adventure! In this one, she's going to show off her talent and maybe win a prize! Join her as she takes the stage in the third Jasmine Dreams book."

How was this collaboration born?

Another client of mine, Kathy Mashburn, told Maria about me at a writers group they both attended and showed her a copy of A Birthday Clown for Archer. Maria then got in touch and we started work on the first book in the Jasmine Dreams series.

What's the hardest part of illustrating this series?

The fact that the characters, both animals and people, are based on real life animals and people. Maria sends me photo's of them and then I turn them into the characters in the book. It's not just some random dog. It's a specific dog with a personality and owners that are excited about their pet being in the book. I have to capture the real dog whilst also keeping to the style of illustration used in the series. Sometimes it's easy. Sometimes it's a real challenge.

How do you go from photo to finished character?

I usually start by doing a sketch based on the photo I'm sent. This helps me get a feel for the animal and gives me a clearer idea of the basic form. These sketches are done pencil on paper. I then scan the sketches so I have a copy on my computer to use as a guideline when creating the digital version of the character. Using Adobe Illustrator, and the sketch, I then create the final character. I simplify the sketch and add colouring to adapt it to the style used in the series. Afterwards I add the accessories and develop the personality of the character. I then send the character cards to Maria for approval.

Where can people get a copy of the book?

It can be found on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PO3Y3JM

Where can people find out more about working with you?

At my website http://www.jolinsdell.com/. On site they can find information on my "work with me" page, read testimonials from people I've worked with, see examples of my work, and find out more about the projects I'm involved with.