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Random WIP Snippets

Random WIP Snippets

IDK you guys. While my current project (a standalone paranormal i’ve nicknamed Oly!Necro!Prof if you follow me on twitter 😉 ) eats my brain and grows far beyond its planned length or scope, here’s a random snippet of an epic, sprawling scifi story i desperately want to write but am too afraid to write (it’s got human augmentation/disability, f/m/m, thieves, artists, insurance investigators, and references to Donna Tartt)

From the unwritten TRIPTYCH

Agent Carmine felt the distinctive tug as the cross-planetary sweep drew to its final destination. Near-instantaneous sweep travel had its uses, but she could never quite grow accustomed the feeling that came with it, like being sucked through a straw by the force of a mach wind tunnel.

She blinked into the blinding metropolitan sun and then down at her feet, just to make sure that they were both there, planted shoulder width apart on the white plastine Arrivals platform.

“Good morning. Are you the police detective?”

Carmine looked up at the docent standing next to the platform. Hidden behind a pair of bug-eyed dark glasses, her augmented eyes swept him from prematurely balding head to the dusty toes of his shoes. In the face, he did not appear more than twenty-five.

Her stomach flipped over as she slouched down the ramp, left hand clenched tightly around the handle of her slim silver briefcase.

“No,” she said. She flicked back the edge of her jacket to reveal a holographic badge pinned to the under lapel; it displayed her picture, name, and employee IDENT mark. “I’m with the insurance company.”

The docent swallowed. “They sent me out here to meet the detective.”

“Then you’d better wait for them.”

The weather over the city burned too hot to be comfortable in a dark purple suit, and Carmine regretted the lack of foresight which had led her to dress that morning—after The Call, as the blood rushed loud in her ears from anticipation—without first checking the forecast. She shook out her arm as she walked up to the post-post-post High Modern Institute for the Arts, and shoved both tight velvet sleeves up into the crook of her elbows.

This high above ground level, all of the cloud scrapers were faced in light reflective materials that did a good job of fending off the planet’s heat, but the glare they cast cut through the darkest glasses to leave one’s eyes watering. The High Modern Institute was the same, shaped in soft, sweeping curves made to look like white adobe, but were, no doubt, composed of some recycled plastine hauled out of the ocean on the back of a fishing trawler after there were no fish left to trawl. The architects and city planners made a good show of things though, composing this sprawling slice of Old Earth against a backdrop of washed out blue vaseline sky and wispy white clouds.

Carmine stepped through the automatic doors and showed her badge to the security attendant at the turnstile. They were closed that morning, but her company’s name was enough to gain attendance to the inner lobby—even if they hadn’t seen fit to send someone outside to wait for her. From there it was a matter of presenting herself to the Customer Service desk and waiting until a managing docent could be fetched.

She slouched against the chest high counter, one sneakered foot pressed flat against the smooth surface, and her fingers clenched still tighter around her briefcase. Her dark glasses remained on while she waited so as to facilitate her examination of the Institute’s employees. The building may have been closed to the public, but it appeared that no one had seen fit to give the exhibit guides day off, and now they clustered around the lobby in little cliques, whispering and staring towards the East Wing.

“You didn’t waste any time,” a man’s voice grumbled from her left.

 <—— and some random protagonist brainstorming art cuz never say i can’t procrastinate

IDK, I just find writing scifi really scary. Anyone else feel that way?

NaNoWriMo 2016 Day 1

NaNoWriMo 2016 Day 1

nanowrimo_2016_webbanner_participantHappy NaNoWriMo 2016!

Well, you guys, it’s that time of year again, when every author in your life starts busting out the wordcount widgets. Here’s mine:

I’ve been participating in NaNoWriMo for more than a decade to varying degrees. I first learned about the event from my girlfriend–I was 14 at the time and the longest thing I’d ever written was a couple thousand words of Angel fanfiction. It wasn’t until i was 16 that I really sat down and tried to seriously write a novel for the event and even then, I only managed 16,000 words before time ran out.

Some of you may not know that The Duality Paradigm began life as a Camp NaNoWriMo novel back in the summer of 2012. That was the first time I’d ever completed the 50k word challenge and at the time I was motivated to win it so that I could get a 50% off coupon for scrivener.

That summer and that camp nano really launched me as a writer. I’d dabbled here and there, writing bits and pieces of things, writing flash fanfic and fannish shorts, but until that summer I’d never written a completed novel (of course, at the time I wasn’t FINISHED with it, but I wrote the other 35k of Duality over the rest of the summer).

Even now that I write full time, the event still holds a special place in my heart, and I still love to participate in it, even if some years I stretch the limits of the rules.

What I’ll Be Up To This Month

Technically, you’re supposed to write a *novel* for NaNoWriMo, but after writing 61k words of The Profane Series Book 2: Vaper Trail in October, I won’t lie, I’m looking to break things up this November working on 2 longer novels as well as a couple of short stories.

NaNoWriMo Day 1 Check-In

2957 words on Vaper Trail, bread baked for the month, cookies baked for Week 1 writing fuel, and now I’m going to reward myself by reading a little more HP3.

Palouse County Series Announcement

cold-press-palouse-country-1About 2 years ago I wrote a little short story called Cold Press set in rural, small town Eastern Washington. If you haven’t read it and you’re looking for something cute and fuzzy perfect for a blustery day of reading, I suggest you check it out, it’s only 99cents on Amazon and free on KindleUnlimited!

I always intended to write more stories set in this small town, but I wasn’t sure how I wanted to do it. But then, lightning strikes as it likes to do at the oddest times. Going forward, the Palouse County series will feature short stories about the quirky residents of Belleville in and around the holidays!

So, keep your eyes peeled this December for #2

Blood & Bone Series Newsbb-3d-box-set-redesign

Did you notice the subtle title change there? The Blood & Bone Trilogy is officially no longer a trilogy! Starting near the end of November I should be breaking ground on a new follow-up novel to the original trilogy! I’ve mentioned this book a couple times off hand over the last year, but I’m finally in a position to say with certainty that it WILL be coming winter 2017, sometime after I release The Profane Series Book 2: Vaper Trail.

The working title for this book is The Sanguine Solution and it picks up a couple of months after the end of The Symbiotic Law. While I ended Symbiotic where I always intended to end it, I found that there was still a lot the characters had to say and work through, especially Ethan. And there is quite a lot in their world left to explore, so I’m really excited to be opening up that series again.

You can expect more news and excerpts from book 4 in December and January so stay tuned 😉

And I think that’s all for Day 1! I’ll be checking back in later in the week and I might even have a new vid up on youtube soon about what I’ve been reading this season…

Lia’s WIP Corner

Lia’s WIP Corner

The Kingdom of Pacchia Book 3 & The Profane Series Book 2

Indy's_whipHappy early weekend my lovelies, I just wanted to drop in real quick and post some updates about whats going on in my little corner of the writing world. It’s been a busy two months since Medium Rare went live. In that time I’ve started work on three–that’s right–THREE WIPs, all of which are moving along at a decent pace.

First off I’ve got Vaper Trail underway, which will be the follow-up to Medium Rare and the second book in The Profane Series. This book picks up shortly after the end of Medium Rare and focuses on Lachlan Graham’s continuing decent into the supernatural world while Vector struggles to understand his new assignment in the FBI. Hopefully this book should be coming out around September or October of this year. I’ll be posting chapters for you to read as we get closer to the deadline.

Secondly, I started writing Book 4 in The Kingdom of Pacchia series. I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned before but I have plans for SIX books to come out in this series total and my goal is to have it wrapped up before December of this year. This series is one of my guilty pleasures and I really love writing it, but it’s been floating around in the world since August 2014 and I think it’s time I put the peddle to the meddle and finish it up for all of you super patient readers 😀Pacchia4

Book 4: The Line of Allora returns the story to King Aubrey’s POV and opens with his long anticipated marriage to Lord Riven. As new challenges crop up in their domestic lives, the political situation in Pacchia unravels and comes to a head, forcing Aubrey to make some very big decisions as High King of Pacchia.
Hopefully Book 4 should be out in the next week or two. I’ll be posting a first chapter here before it goes live so keep your eyes peeled for that! In the meantime take a gander at the cover

—>

New Projects, New Penname

My third WIP is something a little different and I was hesitant at first to announce it here but as a really widely interested reader personally I figure there are going to be other people like me out there. Basically, in between working on on my ongoing series mentioned above, I’ve started working on a new series that will be published under the pen name Anne Cooper.

Why publish under a pen name? For a couple reasons, in this case my goal is to separate genres that might not interest all of my readers. As Lia Cooper I publish M/M fiction and I don’t want to muddle that.

But while I love writing M/M and consider it my primary genre, as a lady, I like to read about ladies too. So I’ve started this sideproject under the name Anne Cooper of what I like to term my lady-centric series.

The first in this series is about a small town witch who finds herself in an alternate reality close but not quite identical to the one she knows. The series is called THE ALT MERIDIAN, and the first book is titled Beyond Death. If like me you enjoy the occasional lady-centric paranormal action/drama, I’ll be posting Beyond Death in its entirety on Wattpad as I write it.

So, that’s whats going on in this neck of the woods. Stay tuned for previews of Pacchia 4 and have and awesome weekend! Now I’m off to take a break and start building my new computer 😉

The Profane Series: Medium Rare Chapter 4b

The Profane Series: Medium Rare Chapter 4b

Previous Parts 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9

The Profane Series: Medium Rare Chapter 4b

May 2012 – Briarwood, ID

It was a ten hour drive to Briarwood. But rather than hijack the sherif’s vehicles, they dropped their entourage off in Vegas to handle the Searchlight bodies before grabbing a quick flight up to Twin Falls. From there they drove seventy-five miles due north to the Blaine County Sheriff’s Station, fifteen miles south of their final destination: Briarwood, population four hundred and eight according to the 2010 census, was situated on the edge of Sawtooth National Forest.

“Like I tried to tell you on the phone,” Blaine County Sheriff’s Deputy Billy Forest said, ushering them into the city’s small morgue facility. “The bodies we’re digging up way pre-date what you’re looking for. From the style of clothing and the degree of decay, the Briarwood bodies look like they’re from at least the forties. Maybe earlier.”

“Can I see the crime scene photos?” Vector asked in a low voice, interrupting Henderson’s automatic grumbling.

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The Porfane Series: Medium Rare Chapter 4a

The Porfane Series: Medium Rare Chapter 4a

Previous Parts 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8

Chapter 4a

May 2012 – Searchlight, NV – Vector

Vector sat in the SUV, chewing lethargically on his McDonalds fries. He could see the four FBI agents seated at a booth inside, talking about something intently.

He’d been assigned to the Bureau for just over thirty-four months and in all that time, he hadn’t even begun to figure out how to crack their human boy’s club.

It was different than it had been in Seattle, even when his own partner hadn’t acknowledged Vector’s supernatural status, at least Lachlan had been his partner. They hadn’t been as close as Vector wanted them to be, but there had been a time he would have considered them friends, if nothing else.

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Sneak Peak The Profane Series: Medium Rare Chapter 3c

Sneak Peak The Profane Series: Medium Rare Chapter 3c

Previous Parts 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

May 2012 – Julie Hobbes’s Apartment

Leg still smarting from the pain, Lachlan straightened only to feel something strong push against his chest: strong and cold. The force sent him stumbling back against Julie Hobbes’s couch. He tripped over the arm and fell to his knees with a surprised shout.

“What the hell?” he muttered under his breathing, rubbing at his sternum.

Goosebumps rippled across his arms and the back of his neck. It felt like the temperature in the room had dropped by ten degrees in the blink of the eye.

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Sneak Peak: The Profane Series: Medium Rare Chapter 2b

Sneak Peak: The Profane Series: Medium Rare Chapter 2b

Previous Parts 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

Medium Rare Chapter 2b

May 2012 – Searchlight, NV – Vector

He leaned his head back against the neck rest as their vehicle ate up the miles, turning off Joshua Tree Highway to take an older side road that eventually disappeared. At the thirty-four minute mark, they had fully transitioned to a dirt path cut between the native flora by—Vector couldn’t even imagine who would have passed this way before them. Hunters maybe? Campers? Hikers with an interest in flat desert and the occasional cactus.

He didn’t sleep, but he drifted in a light doze in the otherwise silent car, lulled by the rock and roll of the tired skidding through brown red dirt. Deputy Roberts kept the air conditioning going on high the whole time so that it felt like they were driving around in a black refrigerator.

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Sneak Peak: The Profane Series: Medium Rare Chapter 2a

Sneak Peak: The Profane Series: Medium Rare Chapter 2a

Previous Parts 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

The Profane Series: Medium Rare: Chapter 2a

12483023_10153404470691985_1313634818_oMay 2012 – Searchlight, NV – Vector

This early in the morning, when the light had not quite begun to rise over the curve of the desert hills, the temperature on his phone read a number that some would not have found fault with: a balmy 75° F. Vector’s gut, however, told him it was a prelude for a scorcher. The day was going to be hot as balls and miserable; made worse so by their destination.

He gripped the armrest on his seat on the plane with white knuckles, swallowing against the sensation of nausea threatening to get a rise out of him. Three years and he still hadn’t gotten the hang of flying around in these little Cessna CitationJet puddle jumpers.

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Sneak Peak The Profane Series: Medium Rare: Chapter 1c

Sneak Peak The Profane Series: Medium Rare: Chapter 1c

The Profane Series: Medium Rare: Chapter 1c

Previous Parts: 1 | 2

May 2009 – Julie Hobbes’s Apartment

Lachlan shook his head to clear it and threw his empty cup in the trash bin next to the front door.

Inside, the building was dark and quiet, cold in the same way buildings got when management set the air conditioning unit too high, leaving everyone to freeze in the summer despite the fact it was only late spring.

He shivered and glanced down at his hand. The words had begun to smudge from the combined heat of his coffee cup and his own nervous sweat but the unit number was clear enough. He took the elevator up to the sixth floor and got out on another empty hallway.

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