SFFSat 24/11/12

This is my snippet this week for SFFSat. SFFSat is a place where a number of authors post snippets from their written works, and give the opportunity for comments, support and encouragement. Please also explore the other blogs that are part of this set - you can find the information here.

My snippet this week is again from Sorrel in Scarlet. Sorrel has crashed in the Chasm, but has gained aid from a trio of men - unfortunately, they don't seem to speak her language. They are taking her back to their encampment, but a gorge blocks their way.

CONTENT ADVISORY: this snippet again contains an amount of bad language. Sorrel is not a lady.

    Blondie pointed at the rope bridge again.

“Volging lafquass, Blondie!” I swore. “You expect me to cross that?” Knowing that he couldn't understand me only added to my vituperation.

   There was nowhere else for me to go. I just had to find the strength and get on with it. I scowled at Blondie again, and stepped onto the bridge.

    Believe me, I'd much rather be in an aeroplane at ten thousand feet than on a fragile rope bridge forty feet over a churning river. The spray from the rapids meant the ropes were slick, and as I moved over the walkway the roar of the water became deafening. The universe is fundamentally unfair – all that water, and I couldn’t do anything to quench my thirst.

 Comments and brickbats welcomed!

SFFSat 17/11/12

This is my snippet this week for SFFSat. SFFSat is a place where a number of authors post snippets from their written works, and give the opportunity for comments, support and encouragement. Please also explore the other blogs that are part of this set - you can find the information here.

My snippet this week is again from Sorrel in Scarlet. 

CONTENT ADVISORY: this snippet contains an amount of bad language. Don't blame me - blame Sorrel. I've asked my heroine to temper her language - she told me to volg off. So now you know who is to blame.

This is the very beginning of Sorrel in Scarlet.

Any landing you can walk away from is a good one.

This wasn’t.

I crawled out of the wreckage of the dead triplane, grabbing at the jasq to take that, at least, with me as I twisted out of the ripped canvas and broken spars. Blood was oozing from the gash in my side, and from the gash in my head, and probably from the other gashes I hadn't spotted yet.

Merik was dead. A branch had skewered him cleanly through the heart. His face had a look of surprised annoyance. I howled obscenities at the lafquassing scarlet trees that had wrenched the aeroplane into the ground and killed my friend, and more obscenities at Wrack, wherever he might be. I use too much foul language at the best of times - Tolly used to complain that I couldn't complete a sentence without saying 'volg' or 'lafquass' - but now I discovered just how wide a vocabulary of swear-words I possessed.

 Comments welcome, as always!
 

SFFSat 10/11/12

This is my snippet this week for SFFSat. SFFSat is a place where a number of authors post snippets from their written works, and give the opportunity for comments, support and encouragement. Please also explore the other blogs that are part of this set - you can find the information here.

My snippet this week is again from Sorrel in Scarlet. My eponymous heroine is in the jungle with a group of people. They have just fought and slain a hideous monster - a ruzdrool, which Sorrel barbecued with magic. One of the others has been injured by the horror, and everyone is fussing over the victim.

I glanced at Korhus. “Is the ruzdrool poisonous?” I asked.

Wrack, beside me, murmured condescendingly “She means venomous.” I gave him a venomous glare.

“I don't think so” Korhus answered, “It can kill without it.”

I took a deep breath, glared at Wrack again, and turned back to Korhus. “I actually meant poisonous” I said mendaciously. “Can we eat it?”

 

Comments and brickbats welcome!

SFFSat 3/11/12

This is my snippet this week for SFFSat. SFFSat is a place where a number of authors post snippets from their written works, and give the opportunity for comments, support and encouragement. Please also explore the other blogs that are part of this set - you can find the information here.

My snippet this week is from Sorrel in Scarlet. My eponymous pilot heroine has been captured by graalur (orcs, effectively), who are occupying a farmhouse.

We were going into the kitchen, and I was hungry again. If they were going to give me breakfast it might be worth being captured. I glanced around at the graalur with the sword at my back and said "Breakfast?" in a querying tone of voice, this time in lloruk. Of course, most likely they couldn't speak lloruk. My old school reckoned that knowing the lloruk tongue was a sign of erudition and good breeding.

These were evidently erudite, well-bred graalur. The one with my sword replied harshly in clear, recognisable lloruk "Not for you. Walk!"

All right, so they were evil, erudite, well-bred graalur.

Comments and brickbats welcome!