Unless you haven't had any news updates in your world recently, you're hearing all the same stories we are about the eclipse this week. The last one 7 years ago would have been partially visible from here, had Mother Nature not decided it should be cloudy all day. This one should be mostly visible from my house, on all the maps I've seen, they're showing us in the 90% range, which is pretty good. We'd have to drive a good six hours to see it in totality, but I'm okay with 90% right now. I think the last time I saw one in totality was before my oldest was born, so it's been a while. I think the next one that will be a big deal in our area isn't for about twenty more years. I'm okay with that, too. We often get to see lunar eclipses here (when Mother Nature cooperates), and I love seeing those, too.
If you aren't yet signed up to get my newsletters, I'm going to point out the sign-up block at the bottom of the page. I don't usually send them unless I have news or an event (I have tried to do them more often, but it seems silly to send a newsletter when I don't have something big to share with you, and I know I hate getting newsletters when there doesn't seem to be actual news in them), and I am going to send a few in the next month about the booksigning I'm attending in New Jersey the first weekend of May. After that, you won't hear from me until I have book release news to share (though I hope that won't be too long now).
I've been getting things done so far this weekend, and have a few more things I'd like to check off my to-do list before I call it a day today. I put beans in the crockpot last night, so the house smells amazing right now, and the rest of dinner prep will be quick, which means I should also have some writing time this afternoon. Before I get to that, though, I have a quick snippet for you today from Hunting Medusa.
===============
Kallan Tassos sat at the foot of the mountain, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel of the rented truck. Getting to the Medusa had been a lot easier than he’d been led to believe. He wondered why.
She was also a lot prettier than he’d imagined.
Sure, he knew the original Medusa had been so beautiful and confident she’d angered a Goddess. But this one wasn’t what he’d expected. She had short, dark hair framing very expressive blue eyes. Somehow he’d imagined long, blonde hair for a woman whose hair turned into snakes. And cold eyes like those very reptiles. Maybe not with a mouth that made him wonder how she’d taste.
He frowned, tapping his fingers faster on the wheel. Someone had left out a lot of details in the legends. Or the reality had changed much in the generations since the last Harvester had done his duty in killing the monstrous Medusa.
He shook his head. No, his imagination was simply working overtime. And when he got home to Baltimore—or even when he went to Greece to visit Uncle Ari at the family’s ancestral home—he needed to find a willing woman, as it had clearly been too long if he was finding his quarry so attractive.
When his phone rang, he hesitated for a second at the name on the tiny screen. He finally thumbed the button after the third ring. “Stavros.”
“I hear you may have a promising lead. It is past time one of us killed this monster.” His cousin’s everyday accent thickened when he was excited, and judging by the way Greece flavored his words, he believed they were getting close.
“I’m sure one of us will,” Kallan said mildly, drumming his fingers on his knee.
“I keep imagining taking her head after all this time. Perhaps before I do, I can make her pay a little for her family’s existence.”
Kallan frowned. Stavros didn’t care who knew about his penchant for cruelty.
“Where are you now?”
Again he hesitated. He rarely lied, and never to his family. “Oklahoma. I’ve found some information on a young woman closely related to the last Medusa that perfectly fits our profile.” He didn’t feel bad about the lie, since he knew his cousin would be there within twenty-four hours if he told him where he really was and that he’d found the Medusa.
“Where are you heading?”
“Northeast.” He hoped Stavros would be satisfied with the vague answer for now. But he didn’t want his cousin breathing down his neck. Stavros had a vicious streak miles wide, had ever since they were children and just beginning to explore and use their individual talents in their hunt for the Medusa. Kallan could undo any lock with just a touch. Stavros could sense and undo any magical spell he found in his path. When they were teenagers, Kallan had seen him use his magical skill to kill innocent animals just because they were nearby. On occasion, he’d used any handy weapon or his bare hands, simply because he could. Kallan knew Stravros’s cruelty had intensified in recent years based on things not only Stavros had mentioned, but whispers from his other cousins. While he knew as well as everyone else in his family the sort of monster the Medusa was, he didn’t think it necessary to make her suffer the way Stavros would. Especially now that he’d met her.
“Ah. Well, I wish you luck in your hunt, Cousin. Goddess bless our quest.”
He repeated the mantra, then thumbed off the phone, thinking. Hopefully his cousin would take the lack of a specific answer to mean Kallan was simply searching and not really onto a solid lead. That would keep Stavros on his own hunt and out of Kallan’s way.
He smiled grimly, turning the key in the ignition. Now he had plans to finalize. Supplies to purchase. He put the truck in gear and steered the vehicle back toward Ellsworth.
Now that he’d found her, the Medusa would die by his hand.
================
Now it's time for me to step away from the computer for a while to get a couple things done--I'm back to work on the book room, packed up two more boxes of books to sell yesterday, and hope to get at least one more today, and I need to start looking at my booksigning prep list to make sure I have everything ready to go in a few weeks (don't forget to sign up for the newsletter below if you want more information!).
Are you looking forward to the eclipse this week? Can you see it at all from where you are, or are you traveling so you can? Or don't you care about it? I'd love to hear, either way. And if you're nearby, I'd love to see you next month...
