Category: The Friday 56 Page 6 of 15

The Friday 56 for 9/9/22: An Easy Death by Charlaine Harris

On September 9, 2022

In Currently Reading, News/Misc., Quotations, The Friday 56

This is a weekly bloghop hosted by Freda’s Voice.

RULES:
The Friday 56 Grab a book, any book.
Turn to Page 56 or 56% on your ereader. If you have to improvise, that is okay.
Find a snippet, short and sweet.
Post it.

from Page 56 of:
An Easy Death

An Easy Death by Charlaine Harris

“We need to talk to you,” the woman said.

Maybe the man was looking a little harder, because he finally spoke. “We could come back in the morning,” he said, his voice quiet and even.

She half turned to him to say something, and he made a little hand gesture. She shut up. But she wasn’t used to taking hints. She was the boss.

“Any time is better than now. But most likely I won’t do whatever it is you want,” I said.

“Why?” She just couldn’t stop herself.

I picked the simplest reason. “I don’t want to have nothing to do with you,” I said. My mother would have given me the evil eye for bad grammar, but she wasn’t there and I was out of civil.

The Friday 56 for 9/2/22: Hell of a Mess by Nick Kolakowski

By HCNewton

On September 2, 2022

In Currently Reading, News/Misc., Quotations, The Friday 56

This is a weekly bloghop hosted by Freda’s Voice.

RULES:
The Friday 56 Grab a book, any book.
Turn to Page 56 or 56% on your ereader. If you have to improvise, that is okay.
Find a snippet, short and sweet.
Post it.

from Page 56 of:
Hell of a Mess

Hell of a Mess by Nick Kolakowski

“Where are we going?” Fireball asked as he escorted Jen down the steps, careful on the wet concrete. His heavy back. pack bounced against his spine, the straps too loose.

“No idea,” Fiona said. The station would protect them from the rain and wind, at least. With no trains running, they could safely walk the tracks to another station. Hell, it wasn’t impossible they could make their way back to the house while staying underground.

But what if the system floods?

You have a point, she told the treacherous demon in her head. Past hurricanes had ruptured tunnels and retaining walls, filling half the subway system with toxic water. For years, politicians insisted they were spending the money to ensure such a thing never happened again, but since when could you trust anything they said?

She would just have to risk it. And yet she hesitated at the top of the stairway, frozen by a vision of whitewater foaming down a tunnel, sweeping away anything in its path, drowning anyone foolish enough to try and take refuge deep in the earth…

The Friday 56 for 8/26/22: Down the River unto the Sea by Walter Mosely

By HCNewton

On August 26, 2022

In Currently Reading, News/Misc., Quotations, The Friday 56

This is a weekly bloghop hosted by Freda’s Voice.

RULES:
The Friday 56 Grab a book, any book.
Turn to Page 56 or 56% on your ereader. If you have to improvise, that is okay.
Find a snippet, short and sweet.
Post it.

from Page 56 of:
Down the River unto the Sea

Down the River unto the Sea by Walter Mosely

“Your mother sent me, Jacob.”

“She did?” One eye opened wide while the other strained for sight.

“You okay?”

“They hit me. They hit me hard.”

“Did you steal that money?”

“Are you going to take me home?”

From the looks of him I would have said he was midtwenties, but he spoke like and had the manner of a child.

“Not right this minute, but if you answer my questions truthfully, I’ll do my best to prove you innocent.”

That’s when he started crying.

The Friday 56 for 8/19/22: The Art of Prophecy by Wesley Chu

By HCNewton

On August 19, 2022

In Currently Reading, News/Misc., Quotations, The Friday 56

This is a weekly bloghop hosted by Freda’s Voice.

RULES:
The Friday 56 Grab a book, any book.
Turn to Page 56 or 56% on your ereader. If you have to improvise, that is okay.
Find a snippet, short and sweet.
Post it.

from Page 56 of:
The Art of Prophecy

The Art of Prophecy by Wesley Chu

It took her old eyes several squints in the darkness before she sighted the small figure dangling halfway down. At the base of the wall was a cluster of soldiers, with Sinsin standing just below the boy as if positioning himself to catch him if he fell. What by the enlightened imprint of Goramh’s ass was that fraud still doing here?

Taishi focused on the boy. Whatever credit she had given Jian for thinking outside the box last night was immediately wiped away by his trying to rappel down a hundred-foot wall with fifty feet of rope. Even more stupid was that it had taken him climbing all the way to the end of the rope before he realized he was in trouble.

The Friday 56 for 8/12/22: One Decisive Victory by Jeffery H. Haskell

By HCNewton

On August 12, 2022

In Currently Reading, News/Misc., Quotations, The Friday 56

This is a weekly bloghop hosted by Freda’s Voice.

RULES:
The Friday 56 Grab a book, any book.
Turn to Page 56 or 56% on your ereader. If you have to improvise, that is okay.
Find a snippet, short and sweet.
Post it.

from 56% of:
One Decisive Victory

One Decisive Victory by Jeffery H. Haskell

Jennings sat back, staring intently at the map. She manipulated the controls, zooming in on the compound and rotating it clockwise to look at the building from all angles. “I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but… what about a compromise?” she asked.

From the expressions on the other marines, Nadia suspected those words might never have escaped the sergeant’s lips before.

The Friday 56 for 8/5/22: Composite Creatures by Caroline Hardaker

By HCNewton

On August 5, 2022

In Currently Reading, News/Misc., Quotations, The Friday 56

This is a weekly bloghop hosted by Freda’s Voice.

RULES:
The Friday 56 Grab a book, any book.
Turn to Page 56 or 56% on your ereader. If you have to improvise, that is okay.
Find a snippet, short and sweet.
Post it.

from Page 56 of:
Composite Creatures

Composite Creatures by Caroline Hardaker

The house already felt different.

We’d taken down our meagre Christmas decorations the day before (we’d only hung them up so the house looked festive for the party), and though the place felt lifeless now and drained of colour, that wasn’t why it was odd. The passageway seemed lighter and the doors further away, as if I was psychically stretching out into every room on alert for sharp things or towers likely to fall. I was a thousand eyes cast across the floor and tingled with electricity, ready to release a bolt.

I dropped the folders at the bottom of the stairs and flung my soaking boots on the shoe pile. Art and I gave each other a look and then began to walk the mile up the stairs, Art balancing the box carefully in his arms. My hand kept slipping on the bannister, and either because of nerves or the cold, I couldn’t feel my feet.

The Friday 56 for 7/29/22: The Shoulders of Giants by Jim Cliff

By HCNewton

On July 29, 2022

In Currently Reading, News/Misc., Quotations, The Friday 56

Since I’ve been focusing on Self-Published works here this week, I figured I’d use a self-published work for this post, too. This is a flashback to the first self-published book I can remember buying…

This is a weekly bloghop hosted by Freda’s Voice.

RULES:
The Friday 56 Grab a book, any book.
Turn to Page 56 or 56% on your ereader. If you have to improvise, that is okay.
Find a snippet, short and sweet.
Post it.

from 56% of:
The Shoulders of GiantsE

The Shoulders of Giants by Jim Cliff

The following morning, I woke up to hear noises coming from my kitchen. The clock on my bedside table read 10:14. As quietly as I could, I slid out of bed, pulled a pair of jeans on over my boxers, and picked up my Glock.

As I left my bedroom and started across the hall towards the closed kitchen door, I smelled bacon. This was bizarre for two reasons. Firstly, I couldn’t work out why someone would break into my apartment and start cooking, and secondly, I didn’t think I owned any bacon.

I took a deep breath, and kicked the door with my bare foot, simultaneously aiming my pistol at the first thing I saw, and yelling “Freeze!” The door swung open violently, to reveal a man standing in front of my fridge-freezer.

Before my brain registered what was happening, Scott let go of the carton of juice in his hand, and by the time it hit the floor, his gun was in his hand, and pointed at me.

The Friday 56 for 7/22/22: Ghost of a Chance by Dan Willis

By HCNewton

On July 22, 2022

In Currently Reading, News/Misc., Quotations, The Friday 56

This is a weekly bloghop hosted by Freda’s Voice.

RULES:
The Friday 56 Grab a book, any book.
Turn to Page 56 or 56% on your ereader. If you have to improvise, that is okay.
Find a snippet, short and sweet.
Post it.

from Page 56% of:
Ghost of a Chance

Ghost of a Chance by Dan Willis

“What’s this?” he asked as she pulled out a small key ring.

For a brief moment a frown crossed her lips, but she replaced it almost instantly with her sardonic smile.

“This is the reason I’m here,” she said, inserting a key in the lock. She turned it and pushed the door open. “Don’t touch the handle,” she said, reaching inside to switch on a magelight. “It’s got a needle coated in a nasty contact poison hidden inside it.”

Alex raised an eyebrow at her, but she just shrugged.

“What?” she said. “Don’t you have security measures around your valuables?”

The Friday 56 for 7/15/22: AMORALMAN by Derek DelGaudio

By HCNewton

On July 15, 2022

In Currently Reading, News/Misc., Quotations, The Friday 56

This is a weekly bloghop hosted by Freda’s Voice.

RULES:
The Friday 56 Grab a book, any book.
Turn to Page 56 or 56% on your ereader. If you have to improvise, that is okay.
Find a snippet, short and sweet.
Post it.

from Page 56 of:
AMORALMAN

AMORALMAN: A True Story and Other Lies by Derek DelGaudio

“Why do you think the puppeteer was there?”

“How should I know?”

I told her I wasn’t a philosopher and then accused Plato of being a lazy writer. She tried to move on and discuss other elements of the story—the shadows, the prisoners, and the inexplicable escape. But I couldn’t. For me, the story was centered around a deliberate act of deception. To gloss over that deception, and ignore the motives of the deceiver, was incomprehensible to me. The Universe wasn’t trying to deceive us when we believed the Earth was at its center. And the Earth wasn’t trying to pull the wool over our eyes when we believed it was flat. But the puppeteer in the cave was trying to deceive those prisoners. And I wanted to know why.

The Friday 56 for 7/8/22: The Self-Made Widow By Fabian Nicieza

By HCNewton

On July 8, 2022

In Currently Reading, News/Misc., Quotations, The Friday 56

This is a weekly bloghop hosted by Freda’s Voice.

RULES:
The Friday 56 Grab a book, any book.
Turn to Page 56 or 56% on your ereader. If you have to improvise, that is okay.
Find a snippet, short and sweet.
Post it.

from Page 56 of:
The Self-Made Widow

The Self-Made Widow by Fabian Nicieza

At 7 in the morning on Monday, Kenny sat in a makeup chair before his segment on Fox & Friends. He had been on the network often enough that he’d lost any sense of the jitters. The segment went smoothly. The negative was that clearly none of them had read the advance galley of his book, but the positive was that they let him do the bulk of the talking during his segment.

As he left the studio on Sixth Avenue, Kenny got a text from Albert congratulating him on a job well done. He pocketed the phone and entered the subway station. He didn’t really care. Insofar as it would help the book sell, he was satisfied, but Kenny had gotten to the point where appearing on other people’s shows wasn’t enough. He wanted his own show.

Not on a stupid cable news channel talking about the hot air of the day. Something more. A Vice meets adorable but serious Jacob Soboroff meets Columbo magazine type of thing. But for a streaming platform, with episodic storytelling, blowing the lid off unsolved murders, corporate crimes, political scandal.

He didn’t want to wait any longer. He felt he had been waiting his whole life.