We’re well and truly into autumn. The days are mostly filled with wind, clouds, rain, and the occasional tease with some sunshine. Leaves are turning–unfortunately the birch trees on our property go a sickly yellow, unlike some nearby oak trees. It’s that time of year to finish any pruning and raking leaves. It seems like we just did this!
With the Major League Baseball wildcard games underway, the number of college football games shown were cut in half. I did see the highlights of the Michigan-Indiana game, with Michigan increasing their record to 6-0 as a result of beating Indiana 31-10. The Ohio State and Michigan State game was televised. Unfortunately, the outcome for Michigan State, while expected, was disappointing nonetheless, as they fell 49-20 as Ohio State increase their record to 6-0.
Here’s this week’s quote (Compliments of http://www.wisdomquotesandstories.com/):
“A word of encouragement during a failure is worth more than an hour of praise after success.”
So who was born on this date in history? Let’s find out who in the writing world was born on October 9th, the second Sunday of the month:
Salimbene di Adam, Italian chronicler; Claude Gaspard Bachet de Meziriac, French mathematician and poet; Jan III van Foreest, Dutch lawyer, poet and mayor of Hoorn; Giovanni Mario Crescimbeni, Italian literary and critic (Arcadia); Mary Ann Shadd Cary, American-Canadian publisher and anti-slavery campaigner, 1st African American newspaper publisher (‘Provincial Freeman’); Stephanus Jacobus du Toit, South African theologist and journalist (Afrikaner Bond); Ivo Andric, Yugoslavian novelist (Bridge on Drina, Nobel 1961); Marina Tsvetaeva, Russian poet (The Train of Life); Mário de Andrade, Brazilian writer, photographer and modernist; Bruce Catton, American historian and writer (Civil War); Léopold Sédar Senghor, Senegalese poet and 1st President of Senegal (1960-80); Harry Hooton, Australian poet; Jens Bjørneboe, Norwegian poet and writer (Dikt, Jonas); Michel Boisrond, French film director and screenwriter; Jill Ker Conway, Australian-American author, first female president of Smith College; and Pierre Mertens, French-Belgian writer (Lettres Clandestines).
Any names familiar to you? There weren’t any for me this time. Whether you recognize anyone on the list or not, if today’s your special day I hope you have a great one!
My Work in Progress
I’ve put work on Frozen Conquest on hold pending a decision regarding the names used for some of my characters. Since whatever is decided will not only impact Frozen Conquest but the next two novels in the series, I need to pause at this time.
The sixteen posted chapters received another eight reviews this week, bringing the total to 266. As always, plenty of good suggestions to improve my story and I’m greatly appreciative of the support.
Here’s the next snippet:
“I believe we have a security breach.” He glanced at Felix. “An unknown individual is apparently using clandestine means to communicate outside the organization even everyone signs the nondisclosure agreement saying they understood such communication is forbidden.”
Felix swallowed. I’ve only sent one message through the dark web. How did Emmanuel find out?
“I’m pretty tied up doing some special projects for Brown, so I thought Felix would be the perfect candidate to help you out.”
“I-I am?” Felix glanced between the two men.
“Sure. Next to me, you’re the best person on the team.” Emmanuel smiled. “What do you think, Sawyer?”
“It’s your call, but if you’re satisfied with Felix lending a hand, I have no problem. Speaking of hands, I need some assistance on the ice with a Sno-Cat. I skidded off the frozen path, and the machine was stuck. Could you both give me a hand? With three of us, it should only take a few minutes. The rest of the security team is tied up, or I’d get them to help me.”
“Sure thing, Sawyer.” Emmanuel stood. “Felix and I will get our gear together and meet you outside in ten minutes.”
“Excellent. We’ll take one of the larger machines in case we need to tow the other one back.”
* * *
Fifteen minutes later, the three men climbed into a Sno-Cat, with Sawyer being the wheel. “Should take about twenty minutes to get to the stuck machine. Hang on, as I’m going to use a shortcut over the ice.”
Maneuvering off the normal path, Sawyer gunned the engine as they bounced over the icy terrain.
“Is that your machine up ahead?” Emmanuel pointed to a dark smudge on the horizon. “You were well off the beaten path.”
Sawyer laughed. “Brown pays me well to search for alternate routes around crevices. It’s exciting work but can be a bit dangerous.”
As they approached the abandoned Sno-cat, Sawyer pointed to the left of the machine. “If you look closely, you can see there’s a crevice not far from where I got stuck. I was trying to go around it when my little accident happened.” He parked behind the first machine.
The men climbed out of their warm Sco-cat and inspected the other one.
Felix pointed to the left side. “Looks like some damage—something fell off.” He glanced around and spotted a red and white piece of metal near the crevice. “There it is.” He slogged through the snow toward the damaged part.
As he bent down to retrieve it, he slipped on the ice.
“Wait a minute, Felix. I’ll help you.” Sawyer stepped next to Felix. “Here, take this rope and tie it around your waist. I’ll hold you while you step closer.”
Felix did as instructed and inched his way forward. He began to turn toward Sawyer.
A dark shape hit Felix on the shoulder, propelling him toward the crevice. “Hey! What are—”
Sawyer gave Felix a final shove, and he fell through the thin ice.
Iaaaaaahh!
In an instant, Felix was gone, his body disappearing into the deep hole.
Sawyer turned to Emmanuel. “That’s another problem sorted. At this rate, you’ll have to keep working for Brown to pay your debt to me.”
Perhaps another snippet next time.
With the pause on Frozen Conquest, I’ve started work on a new series. The first novel will be called Temples of Abydos. The first three chapters have already been posted to the two online subscription writing sites I use and have received twenty-seven reviews thus far.
Here’s the blurb:
History professor Sylvie Burness and her husband, Charles Wilkie, a renowned Greek archeologist, are seeking a new project after spending years cataloging Celtic sites throughout the United Kingdom.
Long fascinated with Egypt, Charles proposes an excursion to one of the lesser-known locations, Abydos, a historic city that played an important role in ancient Egypt. Sylvia agrees and together they plan their trip.
Unbeknownst to them, an unethical antiquities group called Guardians of Shadows are using one of the Abydos temples as their hideout.
Will Sylvia and Charles be able to evade this group and escape with their lives or will they be entombed in Abydos for generations?
Promotions
This month The Kurdish Connection and Dangerous Alliance will be participating in a Kindle Unlimited Thriller Series Starters promotion. Only two books per author, and there are currently fifty-one participating.
https://books.bookfunnel.com/ku_thriller_series/t7qp6i4ek8
Five of my novels (all but Revenge) are also participating in a Mayhem & Motives: Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Reads. This one allows five books per author and there are currently eight-one novels participating.
https://books.bookfunnel.com/mysthrillsus-oct/utj2oamorr
This brings us to an end for another week. I hope you found something of interest. If you have any suggestions for a topic you’d like to read about, please let me know. Until the next time, thank you for reading and hope you drop in again.
© Copyright 2022 Randall Krzak. All rights reserved
