SFFSat 26/10/2013

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.


This week's snippet is again from Sorrel Snowbound, and carries on from last week's extract. Sorrel has reached the surface. 
A steamcar has chugged up the hill towards her, containing two men in uniform.

The man in front scrambled down. His uniform was as smart and clean as a tramp's. That didn't bode well, either. 'All right,’ he grumbled through an unruly moustache. ‘'and over yer papers.’

Papers? Volging squum! I hadn't taken my papers with me on the raid of Wrack's mansion. So I had nothing I could proffer to this thug. 

 

To my surprise, my interrogator didn't instantly tell me I was under arrest. 

 What will the officers do? We will find out next week.

As always, comments gratefully received! 

SFFSat 19/10/2013

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.


This week's snippet is again from Sorrel Snowbound, and carries on from last week's extract. Sorrel has reached the surface. A steamcar has chugged up the hill towards her...

The two men sitting uncomfortably in the leather chairs were both in some kind of blue-grey uniform. As the chugging monstrosity drew towards me, I stood to one side to let it past.

It didn't, of course. The man in front hauled on a lever, and bellowed something at his colleague. Said colleague also yanked at a lever and twisted a large wheel, and the trike slowed. The high-pitched screech of metal binding on metal that put my teeth on edge confirmed my assumptions about the quality of its engineering. Brakes didn't need to make that sort of noise. It did grind to a halt, though, and engulfed me with foul-smelling smoke and fumes. I watched it, wondering if it would start to roll backwards down the hill again. To my surprise, it didn't.

Next time we will find out what befalls our heroine at the hands of these dubious newcomers...

As always, all comments will be gratefully received!

SFFS 12/10/2013

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.


This week's snippet is again from Sorrel Snowbound. Sorrel has reached the surface and confidently decided she can cope with whatever she meets. The first such encounter is chugging towards her...

The contraption that chugged up the hill towards me, struggling to achieve the speed a good runner could manage without breaking a sweat, was belching an unpleasant mixture of grey-green smoke and dirty steam. The three wheels were wide and heavily-treaded brass, each five feet across, with no visible suspension. The thing had to be hell to ride. 

The central chassis was brass and iron, studded and unnecessarily heavy, with a large tank over the single rear wheel for its liquid coal, and two seats, one above and behind the other, between the front wheels. In the middle of the trike was a vertical boiler like a bottle topped with two black funnels, surrounded by the churning gear wheels of the engine. Strapped onto the side were more cylinders and leather pipes, their purpose not immediately apparent. 

I could recognise a work of fine engineering when I saw one. This wasn't it.

 

As always, comments gratefully welcomed!

SFFS 5-10-13

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.


This week's snippet is again from Sorrel Snowbound (with a slight tweak to add the cue-word for the week). Sorrel survived her short flight on a boulder (see last week's snippet) and has reached the surface. She now has to decide what to do next.

I had to go north, to get moving and find out where I was. With a little luck, I could hitch a lift on a cart or a steamcar. Get into familiar surroundings, and get myself to Werintar, and go from there to the aerodrome. What could possibly go wrong? 

My twisted, evil subconscious instantly came up with a detailed list, complete with graphic illustrations and even some sound effects. Sunstroke, robbers, starvation, dragons, fevers, runaway traction engines, broken bridges, snowdrifts, fires, crashing aeroplanes, earthquakes, lightning strikes, hallucinations... 

I began to chuckle, my mood lifting as my imagination came up with increasingly improbable perils. I had faced everything the Chasm could throw at me. Down there, they had real monsters – ruzdrool, graalur, lloruk, scortuliqs. If I could handle them, I could put the boot to the surface threats, no trouble. 

    Overconfident? Sorrel? Never...

    Comments, as always, are very welcome!