Here everyone! A little later then I planned to have it up, but here it is! The excerpt thread! Come on now, don't be shy - let's see what crazy, dramatic, inspired or funny prose you've come up with! Doesn't have to be anything special, could be as short as a line or as long as a chapter, just what ever you feel like sharing. :D (Try to keep it to a reasonable length, m'kay?) And yes, you can repost what is on your profile page if you don't feel like finding anything else.
To start things off I offer up my own excerpt, from the passage into Fväria (unedited, naturally. It is NaNo after all.) -
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The next morning the fog had not abated. In fact little was different from when she had fallen asleep the night before. Sparing the strange weather little thought, other then to cast a wish out that it would not snow, the group continued in silence. They each held to their own thoughts, and no one made a sound except for Tolo’s humming. The way the tune seemed to go back and forth, repeating some sections over and over it appeared that he was composing a new song.
Trebuchets lined the remainder of the passage, one on each side ever few hundred feet. And other machines as well, most unidentifiable. Thought the light remanded unchanging, it felt to be about now when, abruptly, timber gates loomed up out of the mists. They rose up to the top of the wall, the lantern the hang just on the other side were still lit, sending frightening, flickering shadows through the mists. Alyeska stopped dead at the sight, halting the whole group. The gates were thrown open and the signal fires on the top of the walls on either side were still lit, and yet not a soul seemed to be guarding it.
“Creepy,” Nickolai breathed, internally Alyeska agreed with him. It was creepy, like a scene from the stories told to frighten child. She shuddered and willed herself to step forward, to not be frighted by the harmless walls.
Banners lay against the gate frame, limp in the motionless air. One lay so that the image upon it could be seen, it showed the signa of a crane in white upon a water blue field. A long, curled circular script was carved into the wood over the gates. She could not read it, and she did not even recognize it, so she doubted that any of them could. On the other side of the gates, which they passed through in uneasy silence, hands upon weapons the whole way, the road began to descend and the passage wall fell away.
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The forum is eating my formating. ;_; Ah well, go forth and post my friends!
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Mat-su Valley Co-ML
Yay for the Trebuchet Club!
50,058 / 50,000
Nov 21, 2007 - 14 15
Your excerpt sounds exciting...and you are inspiring. Ok...here's my excerpt from the opening.
******
Working title: Devil Star
The pager screamed it's alert. Karen Dillon struggled awake from
a deep sleep and reached for the small black box in its re-charger. An
adrenaline charge hit her bloodstream and she came fully awake in time
to hear the message.
"Cedar Ridge ambulance report to the area behind the High
School. Male trauma victim."
The impersonal voice relayed the other available information as
Karen grabbed her jeans and stepped into them. She pulled on her
Justins and dashed for the door, running her hand through her short dark
curls. No time to comb her hair. The pager had awakened Karen’s mom,
and now June stood in her bedroom doorway.
“I’ll get Ginger off to school, honey.” June said.
“OK, Mom, I may not be back by then.” Karen told her.
June Porter is also a widow, and has lived with Karen and 15 year
old Ginder since they moved to Cedar Ridge four years ago. She teaches
English at the high school.
She hoped that her clothes were on right-side out. She grinned as
she thought of Erica with her red silk pajamas on wrong side out on the
call last week and remembered how nonchallant she had been.
Karen ran the half-block to the ambulance garage and was there
when the other crew members arrived, with blue lights flashing on their
vehicles. She took great pride in her fast response time. Tonight it was
four minutes flat...check that...this morning: her watch showed 2:12 a.m.
Ed jumped in the driver's seat as Karen hopped aboard, and
ducked into the back of the vehicle followed quickly by Erica Schultz.
Erica pulled her long blonde hair back and tied a loose knot in it.
The air was still warm. It usually cooled off before morning in the
high desert of western Colorado, but now the dry air retained the heat of a
promising spring. Karen hoped the mosquitos weren't hungry. They
always seemed to find her, and she hadn't taken time to spray herself with
repellant.
Karen picked up the mike to let dispatch know they were enroute.
"I wonder who it is." Erica voiced the question in Karen's mind. In
an area this small, it was nearly always someone you knew.
They sped the ten blocks to the edge of town, lights and siren
warning traffic. Home plate on the baseball diamond behind the High
School was circled with people. Karen recognized most of the curiosity
seekers. The same ones that always appeared when there was an
emergency. She grabbed her trauma kit and pushed her way through the
crowd, moving quickly to the young man on the ground. His eyes were
open but he didn't seem to focus. His face was too white; his lips had a
bluish cast. Blood was everywhere. It looked like the boy had struggled
with his assailant.
She recognized the sandy haired teen-ager as Josh Hillerman, a
boy in her daughter's class, a close friend to Ginger. Karen knelt beside
him and automatically put her fingers on his throat to locate the carotid
artery and assess his pulse rate.
"Josh, can you hear me? Josh, can you tell me what happened?"
The boy didn't respond. His expression didn't change. His shirt was
soaked with blood. Karen quickly cut his shirt away with scissors to see
where the blood was coming from. The wounds on his chest and
abdomen appeared to be stab wounds. The charm hanging from the gold
chain around his neck looked like a miniature bow and arrow.
His respiration was ragged and bubbly sounding. At least three of
the wounds appeared to be deep lung punctures. His chest cavity would
be filling with blood. The crew worked quickly to stabilize his vital signs.
Karen knew that his chances were not good. It was a long 40 miles to the
hospital. She listened as Erica relayed his vital signs to the hospital and
requested the Air-Life helicopter.
Josh shuddered and began trying to talk. Karen leaned closer to
hear what he was saying.
"Oshosi. He...."
"What, Josh, I can't understand." Karen brushed his hair back.
"Just try to relax, Josh. We're taking you to the hospital. They'll fix you up
as good as new."
"Oshosi punish...Sorry...Sorry..." The rest was incoherent.
Erica turned from the radio. The pitch of her voice indicated her
distress.
"The chopper will be able to land here at the ball field, Karen.
They'll trade us gurneys. Should be here in ten.”
"Time enough to get this IV going and intubate. Erica,hand me a
number 16 and ringers."
Ed had already put the MAST pants in place to boost Josh's blood
pressure. Karen expertly started the IV, automatically rotating the needle,
bevel up, as Ed and Erica inserted the number six endotrachael tube and
checked for airflow. Karen adjusted the flow from the bag of ringers.
"I'll see if I can get hold of Steve and have someone go out to the
Hillerman ranch." Karen knew that the hospital would need to have
Josh's parents on hand, and that the Marshal's office was the logical
agency to get them there. She thumbed the mike to try to contact Steve by
radio, but then she saw him coming through the crowd.
Josh was still losing blood when the chopper crew took over. Karen
said a prayer to herself as she watched the helicopter rise above the
town. The crowd was unusually silent. It was one of their own this time; a
kid that they all knew. Karen wondered if anyone in the crowd was
responsible for Josh's injuries. She studied their faces for any unusual
reactions, her police training taking over automatically. Everyone seemed
stunned, unbelieving just as Karen herself felt. Who would do something
like this? Was it a fight or an unprovoked attack?
I wonder what he meant...Oshosi punish? Who or what is Oshosi?
Maybe she had misunderstood, but she ralayed Josh's words to Steve
and he left to inform the boy’s parents, and provide them with
transportation to the hospital.
Karen turned to walk back to the ambulance, nearly colliding with a
tall blonde man. He was well over six feet, golden curls disheveled and
framing his forehead. His not quite straight nose and firm jaw
accentuating his rugged good looks. His jeans had mud on both knees.
Karen recognized him from watching the news on KFXJ...and his blue and
white plaid shirt from moments ago.
"Oh, you were helping me with the IV. I appreciate that.
Sometimes there just aren't enough hands."
He held out his hand in a gesture of friendship.
"I'm Grayson Barnes. Can we talk for a minute?"
"About this mess? I suppose so, is this for the TV News?" Karen
extended her own hand. "I'm Karen Dillon."
"I just moved to Cedar Ridge with my daughters. I don't like what is
happening here. Maybe we can change it." Gray had wonderful eyes.
Green, with gold flecks. They bore into hers with a look of concern and
honesty. The hand that still held hers was callused and strong, but warm
and secure feeling.
“I’ve been investigating reports of animal mutilations at some of the
local ranches. It seems to be following the same pattern here as in some
of the other small towns in Western Colorado. I wondered if some of your
people might have heard anything, if there might be a connection to what
happened to that boy tonight.” Gray said.
"I need to go down to the ambulance office to make out reports.
Why don't you come along. We can put the coffee pot on and talk there.
Ed and Erica will be doing their reports too."
"That sounds good...I have my car, want to ride with me?" Grayson
Barnes had a grin worth a million dollars.
Karen unconsciously ran a hand through her short curls, trying to
smooth the towsled hair into something approaching neat, without much
success.
"Is Ginger your daughter? She was at my house last night with my
daughters." Grayson Barnes' deep smooth voice seemed to soothe
Karen's frazzled nerves.
"Yes, my pride and joy. But you know how that is. Your twins are
lovely young ladies." Karen visualized the two blonde girls. Margaret and
Emily. Certainly not identical twins. Beautiful girls, but they didn't look
alike at all, nor did they favor their father. Margaret was taller than Karen,
about 5’8” and Emily a couple of inches shorter. They were classmates
and the kind of frineds to Ginger that only teenaged girls can master.
Karen knew that Grayson Barnes had moved to town recently, and
was affiliated with KFXJ-TV from Grand Junction. She had heard from
Ginger about the twins' father being divorced and having custody of them.
Apparently he had moved to Cedar Ridge for the same reasons she had.
The small town environment was attractive to a single parent who wanted
safety and stability for his children.
Major crime was a rarity in Cedar Ridge. It was a quiet town with a
population of about 2,500. Most of the area’s employment was related to
the area’s dwindling cattle ranches, or hunting guides for the abundance
of mule deer and elk in the area along with the occasional bear or
mountain lion, though recently Exxon had been hiring for experimental
processing of the oil-rich shale of the mountains. It looked like that
company was going to turn out to be a major employer. This time they
were trying an in-situ process to extract the oil with some measure of
success. Chevron and Shell were doing a lot of exploratory drilling for the
natural gas that was abundant in the area.
The ride to the station was short, and as predicted, the other ambulance
personnel were busy with reports. After introductions, Karen started
coffee, listening closely to the speculations on just what had caused Josh
to be the victim of such a brutal attack. No one seemed to have any real
answers at this point.
50,170 / 50,000
Nov 21, 2007 - 18 28
“You can't do that!” Jass managed, once he'd wrestled his way from Riley's grasp. “The pope banned it!”
“The pope bandit? What?” Riley responded, frantically splashing Trisha to keep her at bay.
“No! The pope banned it!” Jass responded, carefully inching to a better position, hand in position to splash.
Riley gave Jass an odd, odd look as he carefully moved back from Trisha. “The pope bandit? Did he steal the pope's hat or something?”
Jass stared blankly for a moment, then cracked up. “No, you idiot! The pope banned it! Banned! Like a... ban! He banned naked water fights.”
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...why yes, I was at a lack of plot bunnies. How did you know?