Tag: News/Misc Page 7 of 26

The Friday 56 for 2/3/23: The Silk Empress by Josef Matulich

The Friday 56This is a weekly bloghop hosted by Freda’s Voice.

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

from Page 56% of:
The Silk Empress

The Silk Empress by Josef Matulich

He poured tea for both of them into little glass cylinders with fancy silver handles.

“The British, and perhaps the court of the Emperor, are not very wise. Because they have a problem with rats, they hunt down mice and squirrels.”

Algie thought on that as he took a sip of his tea, strong, sweet, and heavy with lemon and spices. “Is that a metaphor,” he asked Zdan, “or a problem of translation?”

Zdan laughed out, displaying his strong yellow teeth. “I will miss your visits, British boy!”

The Friday 56 for 1/27/23: The Perception Of Dolls by Anthony Croix, edited by Russell Day

The Friday 56This is a weekly bloghop hosted by Freda’s Voice.

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

from Page 56% of:
The Perception Of Dolls

The Perception Of Dolls by Anthony Croix, edited by Russell Day

“I can remember that evening, when the three of us were eating dinner in the caravan, he stank to high heaven, he’d been sweating like a pig all day. Me and Steve weren’t saying much, we were both sulking like a pair of kids and Jed was rabbiting away 19 to the dozen. If I thought about it at all I guess I thought he was chattering to cover the silence. You know the how people do, they get caught up in someone else’s argument and talk out of embarrassment. But I don’t think it was that at all. He was hyped up about finding the flights of stairs didn’t match. I remember Steve asking him if that was unusual in houses of that age. I don’t remember the answer, but I know it went on for a long time and the crux of it was Jed just reiterating that he’d checked, checked and triple checked the results and there was an anomaly. He kept coming back to that word, anomaly.

“I slept in the house that night. Partly I wanted to get away from Steve, but mostly I wanted to get away from Jed’s chatter, and his BO.”

The Friday 56 for 1/20/23: The Hero Interviews by Andi Ewington

The Friday 56This is a weekly bloghop hosted by Freda’s Voice.

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

from Page 56 of:
The Hero Interviews

The Hero Interviews by Andi Ewington

Gwenyn: …These bastards are a heroic pain in the arse. My turnip crop is ruined! How am I supposed to recover from this?”

Me: “I—I don’t know…”

Gwenyn: “That’s not even the worst part of it. The worst part is knowing that while I’m here picking up the pieces of our life, the ‘heroes’ responsible are probably patting each other on the back as they head off to celebrate their success by getting blind drunk in the nearest tavern!”

Me: “I’m sorry—”

Gwenyn: “Why are you apologising? It’s not your fault; you’re not one of those hero types, are you? It’s not your mess that was left here to rot. What am I supposed to do with a giant Dragon corpse? You think I’ve got it bad now, just wait another week—the stench from that thing will be almost unbearable. We’ll be forced to move away until the next summer at the earliest—that’s a large portion of our coin for the season lost to these so-called heroes.”

The Friday 56 for 1/13/23: Lost in the Moment and Found by Seanan McGuire

The Friday 56This is a weekly bloghop hosted by Freda’s Voice.

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

from Page 56 of:
Lost in the Moment and Found

Lost in the Moment and Found by Seanan McGuire

On the other side of the door, where the shop should have been, a jungle stretched all the way to the horizon, fat, round-trunked trees dripping with vines and flowers, their twisting branches reaching for the sky like the spread fingers of enormous hands. Something moved in the deep foliage, and brightly colored birds perched on the vines, clacking their beaks and calling to each other at the sight of her.

It wasn’t possible. It wasn’t logical. It wasn’t real. It couldn’t be real.

Antsy stepped through the door. Only one foot; she was at least clever enough to leave her other foot solidly on the wooden floor of the thrift store. One of the vast, bright-petaled flowers was close enough for her to lean over and pluck it before retreating back through the door and closing it behind her. The flower didn’t disintegrate when pulled into the thrift store. It remained in her hand, bright and blooming, petals almost the same color as a good, ripe watermelon.

She stared at it, trying to understand how this could be happening.

The Friday 56 for 1/6/23: Pieces of Eight by Peter Hartog

The Friday 56This is a weekly bloghop hosted by Freda’s Voice.

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

from Page 56% of:
Pieces of Eight

Pieces of Eight by Peter Hartog

I positioned myself behind the chair next to Deacon, my hands resting on its curved back. Beyond the windshield, Empire City blurred, blended streaks of shifting colors without beginning or end. Night had long fallen, soaking the world beneath a snowy abstract blanket where truth slept with lies and deceit. So many thoughts crowded my mind vying for my attention: the Flynns, the One, Pop, Ivan and the bratva, Jack, Mahoney, my feelings for Charlie.

And Leyla.

“It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones,” I quoted quietly.

I shook my head in bemusement. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had been right. My brain-attic was near capacity. Questions bounced around in my mind, banging off of dusty facts, clues, details and other minutiae, a vast amorphous jumble that up until now, had formulated little to no answers.

The Friday 56 for 12/30/22: E.B. White on Dogs edited by Martha White

The Friday 56This is a weekly bloghop hosted by Freda’s Voice.

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

The rules say I can improvise, and I almost never do. But I have to this time–I had a snippet of another book picked out, and I was okay with it, but I wasn’t completely sold. Then yesterday I came across this and just had to repeat it.
from Page 57 of:
E.B. White on Dogs

E.B. White on Dogs edited by Martha White

I would like to hand down a dissenting opinion in the case of the Camel ad that shows a Boston terrier relaxing. I can string along with cigarette manufacturers to a certain degree, but when it comes to the temperament and habits of terriers, I shall stand my ground.

The ad says: “A dog’s nervous system resembles our own.” I don’t think a dog’s nervous system resembles my own in the least. A dog’s nervous system is in a class by itself. If it resembles anything at all, it resembles the Consolidated Edison Company’s power plant. This is particularly true of Boston terriers, and if the Camel people don’t know that, they have never been around dogs.

The ad says: “But when a dog’s nerves tire, he obeys his instincts—he relaxes.” This, I admit, is true. But I should like to call attention to the fact that it sometimes takes days, even weeks, before a dog’s nerves tire. In the case of terriers it can run into months. I knew a Boston terrier once (he is now dead and, so far as I know, relaxed) whose nerves stayed keyed up from the twenty-fifth of one June to the sixth of the following July, without one minute’s peace for anybody in the family. He was an old dog and he was blind in one eye, but his infirmities caused no diminution in his nervous power.

The Friday 56 for 12/23/22: Pet by Akwaeke Emezi

The Friday 56This is a weekly bloghop hosted by Freda’s Voice.

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

from Page 56 (and 57) of:
Pet

Pet by Akwaeke Emezi

He was threaded with nothing but gentleness. Even when he fought, Redemption fought for the beauty of what his body could do, for the frailty of being human, the power and vulnerability tangled up in being flesh. It wasn’t personal; it wasn’t about his ego. It was about being alive. She remembered when he’d explained this to her, when she’d asked him why he loved something so violent.

“I don’t hold violence in my hands,” he’d answered, holding them up in front of his face…She watched as he rotated his wrists to look at his palms and then the backs of his hands, a few nicked scars marking his knuckles.

You fight, she’d said. Of course you hold violence in your hands, she meant.

Redemption heard what she hadn’t said out loud, and shook his head. “Here,” he said, tapping his chest. “Here is where I hold it, and I look at it and I fold it into something aise. Even when I fight, it’s not about letting it out. Especially when I fight.”

The Friday 56 for 12/16/22: Sacrifices by Jamie Schultz

The Friday 56This is a weekly bloghop hosted by Freda’s Voice.

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

from Page 56 of:
Sacrifices

Sacrifices by Jamie Schultz

“You know they’re chock-full of demons, right?”

“I don’t know that. This is the twenty-first century. We tend to be extremely careful about calling aberrant behavior demonic possession when it might simply be mental illness.”

“Seriously? Under these circumstances?”

“None of them appear to have any history with the occult, that I can turn up, let alone the kind of lengthy history that results in end-stage possession . . .” Elliot spoke quickly and precisely, dressed it all up with technical-sounding jargon, but a note of uncertainty clung to her voice like a parasite, sucking the life out of it.

The Friday 56 for 12/9/22: Radio Radio by Ian Shane

The Friday 56This is a weekly bloghop hosted by Freda’s Voice.

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

from Page 56 of:
Radio Radio

Radio Radio by Ian Shane

He picks up the box to indicate that his ten years at this company could barely fill a cardboard box. “My last bit of advice that you’re going to ignore is to not give these bastards a reason.”

This is the best bit of advice he’s given me. It doesn’t sound so stupid when it comes from someone who’s not in an authoritative position. “Yeah,” I say softly. “Thanks.”

Tony makes his move to the door. “Hey, Tony,” I say, stopping him at the threshold.

“Yeah.”

“I’m gonna miss you, man.” Tony chuckles a bit. “No, you won’t.” He smiles at my seemingly transparent attempt at comfort. “But thanks for saying so.”

I walk to the doorframe to watch him walk away from the station for the last time. I felt a subtle sense of loss as I saw him turn the corner. It’s the sort of loss an FBI agent might feel after putting away a mob boss that was the subject of a three-year probe. He was a worthy adversary. We were like Eliot Ness and Al Capone, Dr. Richard Kimble and the one-armed man, Batman and The Joker.

The Friday 56 for 12/2/22: Aether Powered by James T. Lambert

The Friday 56This is a weekly bloghop hosted by Freda’s Voice.

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

from Page 56 of:
Aether Powered

Aether Powered by James T. Lambert

…if I figured it out myself, I could make even more. Build flying cars. Hell, sell conversion kits to make regular cars fly! Airplanes without wings, no airports, and a lot less fuel. Replace Boeing. Why think small? Replace NASA and build ships that go to the moon without fuel. Mars in days instead of months. And no weight limits.

Carol must have seen my eyes glaze over. “Snap out of it! You aren’t Henry Ford. Hell, you’re not Ford Fairlane! You know nothing about manufacturing, venture capital, entrepreneurship, or even patent law. Yeah, someone could turn this into a multi-billion-dollar industry, but you are not that guy. Take the money and run.”

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