P D Ball’s Newsletter No. 7

Hello! I hope you are doing well. Hopefully the May flowers are popping up where you are.

Contents:

First Words

A couple very short, short stories

Other Book Promotions

First: Progress

Book 5 is being written. I’m about 30% of the way through and, because Cayce starts her journey to understand her crazy powers alone, this one is going to be different. Alone in a wilderness full of monsters. Hungry monsters. Thankfully, she has a bunch of foxes and ravens along for the ride.

If you want to contact me, your thoughts on the newsletter or writing, I’m at pdballwrites@gmail.com

Short stories:

Instead of a background research discussion, I’ve included two very short stories I wrote based on writing prompts. Prompts are sometimes useful to get the creative energies flowing.

Prompt 1: He walks to the living room and finds himself dead on the floor.

"Oh my god!"  I quickly rushed over to the body, noting the blood on the ground, bits of torn clothing, a discarded knife. Blood on the blade, bloody fingerprints on the handle. Worse, it was leaking all over the hardwood floor.

I'd have to clean all this up. What a mess!

Put my finger on his neck. My neck!  This is crazy. Nope, no pulse. Yup, that's a body. My dead body. And that's my favorite shirt, hole ripped through where the knife must have entered. Not on the seams, no chance I'm getting this shirt repaired. Sigh.

Well, I query to myself, what's the best way to clean this mess up without making more?  I could call a cleaning company. Checking, nope. No body removal services. EMT?  No, looks like they prefer to rescue people, not corpses, and they don't offer any cleaning services. Police, perhaps, but that would almost certainly give me a lot of attention and, importantly, they also do not clean.

And I didn't like attention, not one bit. I mean, there I was, on the floor, dead from attention!

Garbage bags and duct tape would have to do, I guess.

Fortunately, the blood seemed to be coagulating. That meant less fluids, at least for now, messing up my apartment. That was good.

I went over to the thermostat and turned the temperature down, put on the AC. Might as well slow the process as long as I could. Then, headed for the kitchen, got the necessary supplies, and went to work, humming the latest pop songs. Soon, the body was as cleaned up as it could be, moved to the side, no longer leaking all over my living room.

After that, pretty typical. Mop, mop more, wash floor on my hands and knees, soap and water. Good thing this was hardwood!

It took a long time, perhaps four hours, but I also vacuumed and dusted the house. Check the electricity usage - well within accepted limits, nothing too strange here, no red flags generated - plug in the electric mop, vacuum, and the other cord.

What would I do with the body?  My body?

That's when the phone rang. Fortunately, its screen was unlocked by my face. "Hello?"

"Hi!" said a pleasant woman of youthful sounding age, in a confident voice, "I'm calling you from the Home Android Service and-"

"Alright. Yes?"

"We regret to inform you that the android cleaning model you purchased has a recall on it. This recall is listed as dangerous. Please turn the unit off immediately. We have a team on the way to pick it up. You will be fully reimbursed."

______________________________________________

Prompt 2: Sometime after first contact, humans discover alien video games. The aliens are mortified because many of their games feature humans as villains, but for some bizarre reason the humans are flattered.

"How . . . how did they know where to hit us?"

"I don't know, Thirefon. I don't know.  But you're the last warrior left on this planet and it's up to you, now.  Go and fight the humans."

___

The corporal looked over to his new friend, Thrimmg, "Wow, you guys made a video game where we smash your planet?"

"It is such that yes."

"How realistic is this?  Like, the intro video showed a bunch of military bases being destroyed."

"Yes, our games as real as make them."

"Man, this translator sucks." He picked up the video console and re-ran the intro video. "So, here, this base here, that's your main base?"

"It is such that yes."

"Huh.  And these are your best defenses and how the bad guys exploit them?"

"As real as we make them, yes."

"Thank you, Thrimmg, you've been a real help.  Uh, hey, let's play the game now.  Is it possible to play the humans?"

"Such is not, no."

"Alright, no problem. Hey, how much is this?  I think our fleet commander would love to play!"

Other Author Book Promotions

These are book sales from May 15th to June 17th. Some of them look pretty good!

Rogue Amongst Royals -- Book Launch

https://storyoriginapp.com/to/J1qdVF5

Book sales here!

Summer Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books in Kindle Unlimited!

These guys don't have an image, but they do have a lot of discounted and Kindle Unlimited featured books:

https://storyoriginapp.com/to/0cAOld4

May and June Book Sales here!

New Author to check out

Jessica A. McMinn released a new novel and two free prequels. She’s from Australia and this is her book:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BTMZQGFB

A dead goddess.

A broken sky.

A world wasted by magic.

Princess Amikharlia wants one thing in life: control of her own fate.

On the eve of her wedding, Amika flees her homeland, seeking the truth behind the mysterious magical abilities she'd kept hidden since childhood.

Taking up the life of a demon huntress, Amika uncovers a madman's prophecy that would have her revive an ancient goddess—and destroy the world in the process.

Will Amika become a pawn in another man’s game or continue her fight against destiny’s shackles?

As a dark and dangerous power begins to rise, she must make her choice soon.

But is laying the world to waste truly the way to save it?

The Ruptured Sky is the gritty first installment of the dark fantasy quartet, Gardens of War & Wasteland—an epic adventure that blurs the lines between good and evil with a diverse cast of morally grey characters, perfect for fans of Anna Stephens, Mark Lawrence and Robin Hobb.

Two free prequels are here:

https://jessicaamcminn.com/2395-2/

The Collector’s Lost Things

Rei-Hai Shaw is a Collector, and he is very good.

At just thirteen years old, Rei became the youngest recruit ever to join the ranks of the Tower, the shadowy organisation that oversees the fulfilment of Whyt’hallen’s darkest requests.

Favoured by the masters but distrusted by his peers, Rei comes to learn the price of his accolades when the Tower demands more than the simple procurement of trinkets.

They want him to steal lives, too. When his latest missions thrusts him back into the world of his childhood, Rei is painfully reminded of all he left behind—and what he can’t bear to lose again.

Call of The Huntress

One night. One blade. One chance at infamy.

Homeless without a coin to her name, the runaway Princess Amikharlia tries to make a living for herself in the old capital of Ciraselo. 

Shunned by the mercenary guilds and failing as a serving girl, Amika yearns for something more—something dangerous.

When a travelling hunter comes to town, Amika discovers just that: a plot to capture a rare and deadly monster from the realm adjacent. 

With her blade in hand, Amika joins the hunt, ready to make her mark on the world.

But as blood begins to spill, she discovers she’s in too deep—and that there is more of her to fear than the sharp edge of her sword…