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Sunday, January 30, 2011

Random pic Sunday


Not the usual item you see on a 
rooftop.
Okay - I understand sunbathing ... but I think
this is taking it a little far.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Excerpt Thursday - Two today!

I thought I'd post from two different ones today.
Mystic Perceptions and the work in progress
After the Silence


Mystic Perceptions

Jac looked around the empty parking lot, not even sure
why anyone would ever be here. She glanced back at the
two men sitting in the car. They’re going to think you’re
crazy. She turned and walked over to the spot that had been
pointed out to her.
It wouldn’t be the first time someone thought she was
crazy, she frowned at the broken asphalt ground, and it
probably wouldn’t be the last.
Taking a deep breath, she knelt down and placed both
hands on the ground. There were glimmers of vibrations.
She focused harder, nothing solid enough to grab a hold of.
Moving her hands slowly, she tried a few more places.
~ * ~
“What is she doing?” Reid growled.
Brent shrugged. “I’m not sure.” He looked over in the
direction she was looking. “Does she see something in the
field?”
“Maybe.”
Looking away from her, Brent studied his partner.
“Why exactly are we doing this again?”
Reid rubbed his forehead quickly, and then glanced
back to her. “Because we’re out of ideas--and she has
looked at the same things we’ve looked at all along and
come up with something to follow every time.”

Nodding, Brent turned back to look at her. “She’s
presently looking at an empty field, surrounded by nothing--
pretty sure she’s seeing the same thing we did here.” He
watched as she walked slowly back towards them. “Why do
we have to wait in the car?”
“I don’t know.” The frustration was clear in Reid’s
voice.
Both men swung around in their seat to look at her
when she got in the back seat. Briefly she smiled. “Next.”
Giving his partner a scoffing look, Brent turned back
around.

AFTER THE SILENCE
When the super viruses began to increase was when the panic rose, the day that everyone old enough to rationalize knew there might be an end coming.  No medications seemed to work any longer, the germs had learned to overcome being suppressed.  If you did survive a major ailment, you were no longer a simple human; you became a mutated version of one and something that everyone feared. Diseases were no longer named or classified, there was just the virus.  It became a new specie, never the same symptoms or horrific details but still called one name. It turned out to be one specie that no one could placate with meaningless promises or hope to control.   
By my twentieth birthday the only members of my family that remained were my father and brother. Unknown illnesses had claimed my two sisters and our mother.  I had gotten one of the viruses and the doctors said I was a rare miracle because I had escaped death and obvious mutation.  Yes I had survived and even though we never discussed it, I too was now some sort of sub human specie.  Of exactly what no one knew, I’d never tried to discover it, it was just something that I could feel was now inside me and something my family feared but never quite said so.  I learned my lesson though and stayed as far away from anyone that didn’t look to be one hundred percent healthy.  I wasn’t pushing my luck.
The world at this point had slowed down.  If you came in contact with anyone that sneezed or even looked unhealthy in any way – you went the other way as fast as you could and quarantined yourself for a few weeks.  No one was safe, no one escaped the invisible killers that took ten times the amount of the population that the natural incidents did.  There were no longer burials for anyone that passed to the next life; the laws now said bodies were to be cremated.  Even in death you were something people were afraid of, that your corpse would somehow still manage to infect them. 
What did this mean in numbers?  A metropolis that once claimed millions of residents could be as low as a few thousand.  It was terrifying and it was now the reality the entire planet lived.  Births were fewer and fewer each year.  Survivors of the virus weren’t able to breed, no one could explain the whys though, but even those that had always been healthy weren’t having children. No one wanted to bring a child into this.  Most adults at this point weren’t certain if they wanted to live in this.
Oddly enough, we still had our advanced technology, if you could afford it.  Everything went to the highest bidder.  Those that couldn’t afford it lived in what everyone once called olden times.  The few elderly that had existed when life was slower and without high tech were the scholars now and reveled in being useful in society once more. It was their knowledge that brought the population back to what might be considered almost living.
My father in his paranoia when it all began started hording just about everything that could be accumulated.  We had enough food, clothes and supplies to last the length of this life time.  At first we had all looked at each other like he had lost all sense of sanity. His paranoia turned out to be wisdom few had.
As my twenty-first birthday passed, we lost him to yet another unknown disease.  This left my older brother and I on our own and not all together sure we knew what to do about it.  My brothers’ friends that had survived to this point all adopted me as their younger sister and responsibility.  I can’t even express my lack of enthusiasm to having six older male brothers trying to rule my every move.  Eventually they relaxed and began to teach me how to survive and if necessary defend myself.  It was a world where no one liked to walk alone any longer.  We weren’t safe from those that hadn’t quite made the transition of the times smoothly.  Many were what I’d say as stark raving mad – even though I often thought they’d just taken the easy way out and not dealing with reality might be the best at times.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Random pic Sunday

Blurry pics that work!

Might have been driving a little fast when this was taken -
completely missed what I was aiming for, but the blurred 
tree turned out just fine.
;)


As did the blurred flames...


Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Excerpt Thursday - Twice Cursed

Here's another excerpt from Twice Cursed...

She heard him walking towards her. When she moved one arm he was standing over her, glaring down at her. “Sorry, I was right,” she said softly. Whiskers appeared beside her and without one nasty or haughty thought stretched out beside her so her head was across Maddy’s hip. Running a hand over her friend’s furry head, she looked back up at him. His facial expressions were changing so rapidly, she didn’t even want to ponder a guess at what was flying through his mind. “Might as well sit. I have some figuring out to do.”

Colin sat down a few feet from her and studied her. “So, if you’re a...I can’t believe I’m going to say this, witch or whatever, then undo this.”

Maddy frowned. “I’m more of a witchling, than a full fledged witch.” Did she really have to pour out her whole miserable existence to a man she didn’t know? “There’s been a few, um, hiccups in my abilities...”

He leaned closer and looked at her. “Did you do this to us?” She shook her head and he realized that from the upset expression on her face, she didn’t want this anymore than he did. “Define hiccups.”
Maddy bit her lip. “Well... I sometimes don’t always get the uh, desired outcome to my castings.” His eyebrows shot up.

“Desired outcome? You’re telling me you can’t then?”

Maddy leaned up on her elbows. “I didn’t say that. I know I can or would at least like to.”

Colin ran a hand through his hair. He had gone from looking mildly confused to very stressed. “Okay, so what do you mean by desired outcome?” He had no idea what he was asking, then again before today magic and witches were some-thing from cartoons and movies.

  Jacqueline Paige


Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Piracy

Normally I don't post on my own blog on the days
I'm on Romancing the Muses Blog - but today is
different.
Click on the pic to hop over to Romancing 
the Muses to find out why not all
pirates are sexy!

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Random pic Sunday

This one I took (or tried to) on my phone ...
I'm not sure if it was due to the fact I was
driving while taking this pic or what but it
came out looking like a painting instead of a
photo.

  Jacqueline Paige
http://jacqpaige.webs.com/

Friday, January 14, 2011

Excerpt Thursday (Friday) - Twice Cursed

For some reason or other blogger wouldn't let me post my
excerpt yesterday - so we'll just pretend this isn't late...

Twice Cursed

Will the curse's secrets be unraveled in time?

“There is just no way to tell you this without you thinking I’m completely insane.” He sat there giving her a puzzled look. “Do you believe in magic, Colin?”
He smirked. “Like a magician?”
Maddy shook her head. “Um, no. Although a few that play at that game of illusions do have special abilities. I’m talking about magical people, who can do spectacular things...”
Colin smirked again. “Like witches?” He chuckled. “Are you an actress; is that what you’re trying to tell me?”
The kettle whistled. Maddy turned to pour it. “No, I’m not an actress. I’m a hereditary witch.” She fiddled with the tea bags, not wanting to turn around and see his expression.
“I see.” He really had no idea what to say to that.
She knew by his tone he was probably plotting on how to leave as soon as possible now. “I’m not sure you do. Have you ever seen someone do something that you just couldn’t ex-plain? Or thought you were seeing things?” She shrugged. “We’re really not supposed to use magic in the general pub-lic, but some do, at a terrible risk.” She glanced over to look at him. His look said it all: he thought she was a weirdo.
“Okay. Uh, so is there a reason for telling me this?” Why did the beautiful ones always have to have some sort of mental flaw?
Maddy turned from the cups and crossed her arms over her chest. “Yes, actually I do.” She hesitated for a few sec-onds. “When we were leaving the museum I thought I felt a trace...that’s kind of a feeling you...my kind get when magic has been used close by or to you...”
“A trace?” He studied her for a moment. “Again, why are you...” He looked like he really wanted to give her a chance. Just in case she wasn’t insane.
She let out a quick breath. “I think something was done to us...the pains hitting, but then leaving just as quickly.”
Colin raised one eyebrow at her and crossed his arms. Now he probably just wanted to go home. “I’m sure there’s a much more...sane explanation for this.”
Sane? Of course he thought she was insane. How did she prove to him she wasn’t some lunatic?


  Jacqueline Paige


Sunday, January 9, 2011

Random pic Sunday

From a distance I thought this was a real tree 
among all the other real trees...



I was wrong.


It's a cell phone tower disguised to blend.


Friday, January 7, 2011

Twice Cursed is coming soon

I love sharing new covers, it's my favorite part
of the publishing process (except the writing part).

Twice Cursed will be released by Whiskey Creek Press
in February!!


Blurb:

Maddy is the oldest witchling to ever attend the Hidden Cove Academy, having been cursed as a teen; she’s forced to have a solitary life outside of her own magical community.  With her magic so dangerously unpredictable, she rarely takes the chance on mixing with the general public.
From one harmless trip to a museum she finds herself spellbound yet again by an invisible boundary, caused by a three hundred year old curse, dictating that Maddy must stay close to the stunningly sexy Colin.
Being stuck with a tall, dark, incredibly lick-able stranger can’t be all that bad, right? Until they discover if they get too close the spirits bound with the curse will take over their bodies ... at the same time if they’re too far from one another the curse will kill them both.
Will the curse's secrets be unraveled in time or does certain death await them both? 


I'll be sharing excerpts in the next few weeks.

  Jacqueline Paige

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Excerpt Thursday - Salvation

Salvation



Two centuries of not existing is about to change...

Grasping the steering wheel, she slowly lowered her forehead
to rest on it. A strange, yet familiar feeling prickled across the
back of her neck. She didn’t raise her head, just smiled into the
steering wheel. “You could do something to help.”
She lifted her head slowly, afraid to move too fast, and turned
to look beside her. She watched the image of the man she’d been
seeing for years become clearer. If she focused hard enough, he
would almost appear to be real. Many times over the years she
thought she was seeing things, possibly ghosts, but it was only
ever him.
He gaped at her, his shock more than obvious. “How...you can
see me? Truly?”

Randy sat there wanting to reach out and hug him.
Hallucinations didn’t talk—did they? His voice was rough and
deep, and she’d never been happier to hear someone speak. “I
more or less sense you most of the time, but if I focus hard enough
I can see you.” She looked at the scar across his left cheek. “You’re
very clear today.”
He frowned. “And you can hear me?”
Randy tried not to grin. “I’m answering you, aren’t I?”
“That’s impossible...”
“And yet, here we are talking and being all visible-like.” She
looked at him, from his long ebony black hair down to his black
worn boots.


Available at Eternal Press, Fictionwise, Chapters/Indigo, Amazon and other sites.

 Jacqueline Paige