Tag Archives: Author’s Notes

Virdaemn Maps

25 Wednesday Nov 2015

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Haunt of The Wilds eBook CoverMore unartistic maps!

These maps are primarily of the one country Haunt of the Wilds takes place within. The name Virdaemn refers to the entire plane/world as a whole so it’s a little misleading. The country itself is called Nabia.

This first map is the one I used while writing the story. As you can see, it’s all kinds of messed up. My “pass” into the Empire above the country goes straight into the water, I misspelled Neit Valley and I’m sort of falling off the left side of the page because I didn’t realize I needed more space.

I do that often, actually, since my artistic ability is nil so I tend to guess horribly wrong when visualizing spacing. You should see when I write people’s names on their birthday cards–like a little kid would do, the last couple of letters tend to get squished in. Continue reading →

Nebraean Maps

16 Monday Nov 2015

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Song For The Wilds eBook CoverMaps…ha. You probably wish I had some professional artist create something resembling my countries. In fact, after looking at my photos, you’ll probably wish for someone whose handwriting you can read :P

Okay, in all seriousness, I drew the maps solely for myself to get a sense of direction when I was writing these two novels. These ones were more for Song for the Wilds (Book II) since the bulk of that novel takes place in the plane of Nebrae. The scribbles I used for Haunt of the Wilds will be shown on Nov. 25th for V for Virdaemn Maps.

This first map I drew was to give myself an understanding of how big the wilds territory was. I’m awful when it comes to pictures so hopefully these come out okay enough to see. Continue reading →

An Adorable Brand of Macabre

04 Sunday Oct 2015

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I made a deal with the adorably sweet guy next door before I discovered his fascination with masks. And, God, do I wish I meant those fancy theater faces or those old-fashioned masquerade pieces. Those I could handle since I’d dated my share of Broadway wannabes.

These ones were damn spooky in their own unholy place of honor on his wall.

“Do you like them?” Albert asked, his blue eyes sparkling with unrestrained excitement. He had a boyishness about him. A youthful exuberance. Something I’d given up on a decade or two ago.

“They’re interesting,” I said, making sure not to show my hesitation.

“Handmade, every single one.” He raised his wine glass toward the wall to point out a particularly lifelike one. “Created from the dried and treated skin off of some of the more notorious criminals in the state. That one is from a man who went on a four year murder spree across three states. You may have heard of him. Nathan Woton. Picked up women during the winter every year and would leave their bodies in shallow graves on the beach after raping and murdering them. If you put his mask on you can actually see how he would go back, walk along those stretches in the spring and summer to see if they’d been uncovered yet. I was actually able to help attribute seven more women to his victim count, women who had washed up elsewhere or hadn’t ever been found. His memories are intense.”

I swallowed a little too much of my wine in astonishment and did my best not to glance toward the door, focusing instead on Albert’s handsome profile. Continue reading →

Wish Delivery

07 Monday Sep 2015

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Wish Delivery

Copyright © Emmi Lawrence

All rights reserved. No part of this story may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without permission from the author.

Short Story (2100)

September eighteenth dawned like any other. Mostly clear. Slightly cloudy. Humidity on the low side for the end of summer.

I could hear the squeak of the school bus stopping outside the cul-de-sac of townhomes. Bright cheerful voices. Youthful ones. Laughing.

With a groan that tasted of bitterness, I shoved my pillow over my head and squeezed my eyes shut in the hopes that life and its pointlessness might fade away with a few more minutes of sleep.

Then the firehouse began a long low tone, signaling to my muggy brain that very soon it would be the irritating cry of sirens that would come screaming down the drag. So I reluctantly tumbled out of bed.

Not twenty minutes later I sat at my grooved kitchen table staring at my coffee and listening to those sirens and wondering why I’d bothered taking off. It wasn’t as if I had plans other than to sit on my couch, watch a Netflix marathon and eat delivery. Which now, as I stared morosely into my coffee, I realized that wasn’t a plan at all and certainly was an embarrassing way to spend my thirty-fifth birthday. Continue reading →

Coming Together

02 Sunday Aug 2015

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As Greg placed the pieces together, the rounded curves sliding into place seamlessly, the brown hair in the puzzle began to flutter, as if an ocean breeze had caught the visible strands. He watched for a few seconds, then sifted through the bulk of the pieces until he found the other portion of the man’s forehead. He attached it to the couple of pieces of cloud and sky and hair he’d already put together, then blinked when the forehead crinkled.

He glanced from the connected grouping of puzzle pieces to his condensating beer, then to the pile of freshly opened pieces. Bits of residue from the box decorated the table, calling attention to themselves when he sighed. He returned his gaze to the portion he’d just put together and shook his head because the hair no longer fluttered and the forehead had gone as smooth as it’d been when he’d first picked it up.

For a long time Greg worked quietly. Sorting the colors. Connecting the edges. Separating sky and ocean from beach and man.

The tight bathing suit, bright orange and black, easily went together. The legs extending down from it almost looked the same as the sunny piling above the pier that ran along the right side of the puzzle, but he found them as the pier grew longer. He thought, for just a moment, that he saw droplets sliding along the man’s knee after placed the pieces, but when he looked again, the telltale sparkle of sweat had disappeared. Continue reading →

Dream (Curtain Chasers: Book Three) Published

15 Wednesday Jul 2015

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DREAM (Curtain Chasers: Book Three) has been published. It is the third and final novella in a gay paranormal romance trilogy. About 42k words long. You can read chapter one below. Be warned, explicitness involved.

Dream - Curtain Chasers Book 3Death is part of Clay’s job, but not generally part of his life. That changes when tragedy hits close to home. Now, he’s forced to start a hunt within his own town. And he has to do it without Jacob by his side.

But not even Clay’s partner, Danica, has faced this danger before, a danger no one has ever discovered how to kill. When an old enemy appears demanding Clay’s help and the police complicate matters, the power of the otherworld invades the town.

With Jacob out of reach and choices limited, Clay watches all his dreams of their future morph into one long sleepless nightmare.

Warning: This novella features fettered spirits, unclaimed dreams and a proposal gone awry.

CHAPTER ONE

Clay had wanted to go with yellow gold and black platinum, but he hadn’t liked the way any of them looked. Plus, he’d decided that gold signified a wedding band, so he’d ended up buying a black platinum ring with the tiniest edges of silver. Simple, with just a hint of humor in the beveled edges.

He’d thought about adding a quote on the inside of the ring, but lacked the creativity to come up with anything romantic, yet not cheesy. All of Brianna’s suggestions had been over-wrought clichés that had made Clay cringe and finally scrap the idea altogether.

Except, now that he held the ring between thumb and forefinger, he wondered if he should have engraved something like the date they’d met or their full names. Too late now. Besides, Jacob probably wouldn’t care. Clay hoped, at any rate. Continue reading →

Pawned Photos

05 Sunday Jul 2015

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Pawned Photos

Copyright © Emmi Lawrence

All rights reserved. No part of this story may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without permission from the author.

Short Story (Approx 1900)

The first photo showed up on an otherwise normal Thursday morning. I found it tucked under the cash register, the bottom edge showing just enough to have me scouring my mind for when it might have been hidden. The photo itself had me blinking in surprise to see a twenty-something man with short spiky brown hair grinning back at me in an obvious selfie. The watch display from my pawn shop was fully visible behind him.

I immediately checked my alarms, both the ones bought from ADT and the ones I’d commissioned from a spellcaster. Then I did an inventory, starting with the watches. By the end of the day, I still hadn’t found anything missing, though I had discovered that the man had obviously used my computer, my camera and my printer in order to leave his surprise.

Needless to say, I was angry. Continue reading →

Grave (Curtain Chasers Book 2) Published

15 Monday Jun 2015

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GRAVE (Curtain Chasers: Book Two) has been published. It is the second novella in a gay paranormal romance trilogy. About 37k words long. Read Chapter One Here!

*ALLEY (Curtain Chasers Book One) will be on sale through June 15th-June 17th for only $0.99.*

Links for ALLEY: Amazon | iBooks | Kobo | Nook | Scribd | Inktera
Links for GRAVE: Amazon | iBooks | Kobo | Nook | Scribd | Inktera

Grave - Curtain Chasers Book 2A few random facts about this novella:

1) I did not make up any of the strangely named born-agains mentioned in this story. I am, however, tweaking them to my benefit so they are more in line with my system.

2) There are less chapters, but more words, in Grave than in Alley.

3) I created a short glossary to include in Grave and only added it to Alley afterwards.

4) In my original outline, one of the small twists at the end went the opposite direction. I found that it would have made the ending a little more drawn-out and clunky so I scrapped that idea. Can’t say more without giving it away.

5) The character of Ella was created for a different novel. In that story she only exists via emails. I wanted to keep her that way for Grave, but, you know, things happen and that wouldn’t have made sense. Plus, I think she was annoyed at not having a real voice.

6) Grave has my favorite cover in the trilogy.

Twisted Bronze Arms

07 Sunday Jun 2015

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Twisted Bronze Arms

Copyright © Emmi Lawrence

All rights reserved. No part of this story may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without permission from the author.

Short Story (Approx 3000)

I couldn’t keep still. Despite twisted bronze metal for my arms and legs and glittering sapphires for my eyes, I found ways to shift my body into unnatural positions. The statue on the other side of the iron gates and rusted portcullis turned his face, just slightly, so he couldn’t see and though I scoffed and called to him to join me, he refused to even acknowledge my existence.

That was what happened when built second. Second best, second born. I’d heard that somewhere, somehow. Probably one of the artisans as they’d melted and molded my body into shape. A shape I immediately slouched off in favor of more comfortable positions, because I did not want to spend all eternity standing with my arms outstretched as if welcoming refugees to clamber over my limbs.

Some days I whirled around and leaned upon the wall to enjoy examining the tiny city dwellers who spent most of their time eating and sleeping or finding ways to irritate one another. I assumed there were many things I didn’t get to see go on when they were inside their homes and businesses, but my curiosity didn’t extend to those things. Thus, I stood outside that gate on a pedestal for a long while before I discovered one of their more wondrous secrets.

It happened at night, while I’d been attempting to morph my stiff body into a dance move I’d seen a young girl perform in the street a few days prior. The two guards hurried up the staircase and plastered themselves to the left of the doorway of the watchtower. Head level. Continue reading →

Nothing But Seaweed & Other Stories Published

29 Friday May 2015

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Nothing But Seaweed & Other Stories has been published. This collection is made up of six stories that were originally published here on my website. There is no change to any of the stories. The specific stories included are listed at the end of the description. They are all M/F and were written in the same general style.

Nothing But Seaweed - Version 2 - High ResolutionNOTHING BUT SEAWEED
& Other Stories

M/F Fantasy Romance Shorts
14k words
Amazon

The sea-foam cavalry’s beauty is only surpassed by its cruelty.

Imeline and Quinn have grown up together, bonding over their shared love of watching the sea-foam cavalry pass in the night on its way to defend the roads outside their town. After years of flirting and teasing, the two finally sneak down to the beach to see the cavalry arrive upon the shore.

But when the sea-foam cavalry thunders out of the ocean, its protective nature devolves into something more sinister. Imeline is left to wonder if her love has been misplaced because now neither her life nor Quinn’s will ever be the same and their budding romance seems a hopeless endeavor.

This collection also includes the short stories My Sister’s Shoes, Under the Black Stars, But Flesh Among the Storm, Bed of Starlight and Every Wine-Flavored Exhale.