I just want to give all of you a quick update on what’s been happening here in Sinistral Scribblings land and apologize to the few of you who may have been expecting some new short fiction this past week.

Hannah Anne Novel

Serious work has begun on the Hannah Anne novel finally, thanks to a Scriptic prompt I received last week. As I’ve been writing, all of the nit-picky details of the book that were fuzzy or non-existent have been coming into focus and falling into place. It’s been a fulfilling experience. So, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that I’ve slowed down on the flash fiction stuff.

Hannah has a last name now – “Ennis.” No one who participated in the Name Contest chose this name, but I’ll find some way to honor all those who chose Irish names because, for some reason, Hannah had to be of Irish ancestry. No other country fit her.

HANNAH ANNE ENNIS

I chose Ennis for a number of reasons. First, I love alliteration, and now all of her names are structured, “vowel/NN/vowel.” Second, Ennis is an old Irish name – an anglicized version of ó hAonghuis which may mean “unique choice” – a meaning that fits her character. I’m very big on giving characters and places meaningful names that says something about them, but I try not to make it obvious.

Speaking of characters, everybody’s favorite creepy mortician is now part of the Hannah book. Yep, Mr. Lux has been integrated into Hannah’s world. Like most of you, I like Mr. Lux and have been wanting to give him a decent story of his own. However, I don’t think he’s a strong enough character to carry his own novel – maybe a short story. In the meantime, he’s been added a minor character in this book.

Writing a novel is very different than writing very short flash fiction pieces. As many loyal readers have commented, much of my short work seems to come from something larger, or could be made larger, or something-that-means-holy-shit-where’s-the-rest? I must confess, I find writing fiction to fit into one blog post very difficult. I leave out much of what I see and hear in my mind while writing so that I can produce the short work that fits the blog format. Now, writing the book, I am free to dive into those details, descriptions and conversations that may not necessarily move the story forward, but do create a rich atmosphere.

One last thing regarding Hannah. A number of people have expressed an interest in being a “beta reader” for the book. WHICH IS AWESOME! I seriously love you guys and all the support and encouragement has been humbling. Thank you so much. I’ll be sending out the first few chapters after the holidays to those who requested them. If you’d like to beta read, just drop me a line.

As a Holiday Gift to all of you awesome people, here’s an excerpt from the first draft:

Hannah kicked the stand down and swung off the old Schwinn. Jack stood by, half-heartedly wagging his tail, watching with his rheumy eyes. The dog looked much like his master: old, thin and dried out. Clumps of hair were missing here and there and he smelled of an ammonia-formaldehyde cocktail.

Straightening her denim skirt, Hannah reached out a hand to scratch Jack’s ear when a voice like dried leather said behind her, “Hrm, he bites.”

“Jack doesn’t bite and you know it, Mr. Lux,” Hannah said to the voice behind her amiably.

“Well, hrm,” a skeletal hand the color of death grabbed Jack’s collar. “That may be, hrm, Miss Ennis, but Jack doesn’t like people.” The hand jerked and Jack was pulled away from Hannah.

Turning, Hannah confronted the mortician. Nearly a foot and a half taller than she, Mr. Lux was a personification of Death. Tall and thin, his joints showed as points through his black suit. A weak scruff of white hair wrapped his head from ear to ear, carefully combed back with Brill Creem. He bared his teeth at Hannah, which she knew to be his attempt at a smile.

“I think it’s Jack’s master who doesn’t like people,” Hannah told him firmly.

Mr. Lux’s grin grew wider, revealing an impossible amount of teeth. “The dead, hrm,” he jerked on Jack’s collar once again, though the dog hadn’t moved, “The dead have more interesting things to talk about.” He placed a hand over his breast and sketched a brief bow. “Good day, Miss Ennis.”

“Good morning, Mr. Lux,” Hannah smiled as friendly as she could. The mortician always made her skin crawl.

“Hrm, come Jack,” Mr. Lux jerked the collar once more, turned, and led the dog back the way Hannah had come.

Happy Holidays!

Can’t Fool the Blues

Work on “Can’t Fool the Blues,” my five part story being hosted by The Scholarly Scribe, was halted this week in my mad rush to get the first few scenes of the Hannah book down. I plan to return to writing part three very soon, but in the meantime, if you haven’t already, please visit David and read Part One – 1996 and Part Two – 1974. It’s some of my best work, I think.

The Master Class/Fab Four Fables

The Master Class will return for the Spring Semester sometime in January. Until then, Shannon of The Squeaky Wheel Blog, David of The Scholarly Scribe, SAM of My Write Side and myself have created a round robin style story thing called Fab Four Fables. You can read the first and second parts of our current story at my blog with In the Way of Dreams and SAM’s blog with Sinister Shadows. David will follow with part three and Shannon will close the deal. If you haven’t yet, please go read some of these fabulous writer’s work. They are all very good.

In Closing

There are a couple of other projects happening, but I can’t talk about them now. So, go read, go write and have a safe and happy holiday season!