Excerpt from (From the Distant Past) a WIP

Kat is part alien and part human. Jar'san is her artificial intelligence implant. Nolan is the human man she is falling in love with. Feeling unneeded Nolan has left her in Hawaii and sailed away in his boat. Nolan is unaware the she is not fully human. 

Glancing at the desk, she saw his cell phone next to her purse. Turned off. “Damn him. He’s trying to avoid talking to me.”

“Jar’san!“ she shouted.

“Yes Kat,” the AI answered immediately.

“I don’t care how you do it…but find him. If he doesn’t want to be around me anymore, then he’s going to say it to my face and not in some damn note.” Hurt clutched at her heart squeezing it tight. Anger seethed and brought her blood to a boil. 

“Okay Kat.”

She sat on the bed with her legs crossed. Her foot kicked and twirled as she waited impatiently for Jar’san to search.

“Kat, he filed a trip log this morning. He’s heading for Australia. That’s the place he was bound for when we first met.”

The nausea returned but this time it had nothing to do with her drinking the night before. “How long ago did he leave?”

“According to the sailing plan he filed, he left about three hours ago.”

She burst into motion. Not waiting on the elevator, she raced down the stairs, hailed a cab and fidgeted in the back seat with barely concealed irritation, while it took her to the warehouse. Rushing inside, she removed her halter top while running across the floor toward her capsule. “You aren't going to get away from me that easy mister.”

Ripping her shorts and panties off, she donned her original panties and slapped the triangles in place. Hastily, she buckled her weapons belt around her waist. Dashing for the door, her furled wings burst into being on her back. Outside she spread them wide and leaped into the air. Flapping them furiously, she climbed into the sky and turned in the direction Jar’san instructed.

“I do hope no one sees you,” Jar’san quipped.

“I don’t care if the world sees me.” When the island fell behind, she increased her altitude. “Locate him.” She ordered, in a clipped mental voice. Her thoughts burned through her mind, riding on the waves of the anger and hurt she felt.

Accessing the GPS, Jar’san complied. After flying for about an hour, he addressed her. “Found him.”

“Good, show me.”

She followed his directions, and soon spotted the tiny speck of his boat on the horizon. Although it seemed like a dreadfully lengthy time, she gained on the boat and at last, flew directly above it. Furling her wings, she dropped from the sky like a stone toward the boat below. At the last second, her wings spread to halt her plummeting fall and she landed lightly on the rear deck.

He must have heard the swoosh of her wings, because he turned in the pilot’s seat to face her. His eyes grew wide as silver dollars and his jaw dropped open.

****

“Kat? How? How did you find me? How did you get…?” His initial expression of surprise changed to one of shock. “You have wings?”

Her wings shrank and became hidden behind her back. “I have a lot of abilities you aren’t aware of. Being able to fly is just one of them. We can talk about that later, Mr. Nolan Steelson, but right now there’s something far more important we need to discuss. Why did you leave?”

As he climbed down the ladder getting closer to her, he answered. “I thought I explained it in my note. You don’t need me around anymore.”

“Maybe I should be the judge of whether I need you anymore. I like having you around more than I can begin to tell you. Maybe you don’t like being around me. If that’s the case then say it to my face, here and now. If you do, I’ll fly away and you won’t have to deal with me anymore.” Tears formed in her eyes. She scrubbed at them angrily.

“It’s not like that…”

“Then, tell me what it is like.”

“I feel so useless. I don’t want to be a burden or someone unneeded just hanging around. I think that’s part of the reason Leah broke up with me. She believed she would have to support me. I can’t stand that thought.”

“Oh please.” She snorted. “First of all, I’m not fuckin’ Leah. You’re not a burden and you’re certainly not useless.”

“There’s something else.”

His feet shuffled slightly. He was clearly, uncomfortable, and wanted to say something but was afraid to.

“What? What else,” she snapped.

He took the remaining steps across the deck that separated them. Pulling her into his arms, he kissed her on the lips. “I want more from you than just a platonic friendship,” he said, when he broke their kiss. “I don’t want to force myself on you in that way.”

“Wow.” She licked her lips and smiled. “Do that some more. I like kissing you…a lot.”

“Kat.”

“Don’t Kat, me. Reading about it and watching it in movies is no comparison to the real thing. Damn.”

Pulling her close, he kissed her again. Deeper this time, with tongues twisting.

“So,” she said, in a near breathless whisper. “You’d like our relationship to be a more physical one? I have no problem with that.” She smiled. “No problem at all.”

“Are you sure?”

“When the hell are you going to turn this boat around and head back to Hawaii. We’re getting farther away all the time. Maybe I should shoot you in both legs to keep you from running away again.”

“You’d honestly shoot me?”

“Damn right I would if it kept you near.”

He stepped back and gazed at her from head to toe. “God, Kat. You’re nearly naked.”

“Does it make you uncomfortable seeing me this way?”

“Oh yes. Uncomfortable to the max.” Turning, he clambered up the stairs. “Uncomfortable in a good way.” He said over his shoulder and chuckled. “The more I see, the more I like what I see.”

He turned the boat and headed back. The next time he looked at her, she had put on her dress. “Damn that’s too bad.” He mumbled, thinking he’d said it too low for her to hear. Her wink and smile quickly told him otherwise.

“Just wait until we get home.”

“Huh?”

“You heard me.” She chuckled.    

THE END----or is it?

THE END --- or is it

Today I'm going to talk about ending a story. What is your preference? Do you prefer a story that leaves off with many unanswered questions or one in which the conflict is resolved? It may end in an HEA (Happily Ever After) a HFN (Happily For Now) or it may have an unhappy ending, but it has an ending.

My personal preference is stories that have a conclusion, even if they are a part of a series. I dislike ones that end with the conclusion in limbo or worse yet in the middle of a scene. I've read some of these and come away from them dissatisfied. My opinion is, if a reader buys a book he/she is entitled to a complete story. One that has a beginning, a middle and an end. This even if it is a short story. There may be unanswered questions that will be answered later in the series but the story and the main conflict is resolved.

But leaving things unfinished is a great way to get the reader to buy your next in the series you say. Maybe they will or maybe, like me, it will discourage them from doing so because they assume the next in the series will end the same way and the next and the next. There may not even be a conclusion in the last book of the series. Sort of like a TV series that is discontinued and never ends. I read a story once, granted it was a short story, but it ended in the middle of a sex scene and I mean right in the middle. It left me saying, "what the hell?" and thinking maybe I hadn't downloaded the complete story.

Now don't misunderstand me, I like series. I've written several of my own. They are popular and when you're lucky enough to develop a following your readers will like them. If your stories involve the same characters the reader will grow to love or hate them increasingly as the series continues.

What I try to do is solve the major conflict in the story. I write HEAs so my characters end on a happy note. If it is part of a series, I will write further after ending the story and introduce new conflicts to be solved in the next book of the series. If there is a villain, he may escape to create problems in the next book. Or maybe the next in the series will have a new villain, but at the end of each of my stores the hero/heroin characters are left anticipating what the future seems to offer. Another method I use to entice readers into reading my next book, is to add a teaser, an excerpt from it, after the end of the current book.

What are your thoughts? What kind of ending do you like? As always, comments are welcome. 

Have a fantaboulous day and write on.

Gary  

An excerpt from one of my current WIPs

Naa'dia is a very bad girl.

Excerpt (unedited)  

Standing under the warm spray she was not surprised when moments later the door opened and Faris joined her. He slipped behind her and wrapped his arms around her. Lifting the bottle of body wash from its tray, he filled his hand and began lathering her. Of course playing much attention to soaping her breasts and her sex. Naa’dia closed her eyes and settled back against his chest. She let him caress and scrub her relishing the feel of his hands on her.

“Did I ever tell you how pretty you are?” he asked.

“I believe you mentioned it but then we were coupled and I contributed your words to the heat of the moment.” Her lips stretched into a grin.

“Yes, well we aren’t engaged right now. Not yet and you are.”

Turning to face him she forced him back against the shower wall and pulled his hands above his head. She held them there with one hand. With her other hand she reached back and shut off the spray of water.

Feris cocked an eyebrow. “So we’re done showering?” he asked.

“You’ll see.” Leaning in she fitted her lips to his mouth savoring his taste. Naa’dia traced a fingernail over the upper curvature of her left butt cheek. A flap of skin curled back revealing a small storage space embedded there. She removed an inch square object from within and palmed it. With the back of her hand, Naa’dia smoothed the flap back into place. Not a trace of the hidden compartment was visible.

Feris’s groan of pleasure was barely audible in her mouth when she caressed the back of her hand from his neck and down to his groin. Naa’dia pressed a tiny button on the plastic like square. The object lengthened forming a handle. Pressing another button caused it to hum to life.

Naa’dia leaned back while still leaving her lips pressed to his. Her mouth muffled his scream of agony when she plunged the electrified tip of the vibro-knife into his belly. She cleaved upward opening him from groin to neck. The knife blade, sharp enough to cut through metal, slashed through chest bone as if it were no more than butter.

She broke their kiss stepping back further. His mouth formed a scream of anguish but no sound issued from it. His vocal cords had been severed. His eyes twitched wildly nearly bugging from their sockets. Naa’dia reached up with her free hand and used both of hers to spread his arms wide. Her fingers curled into his and pulled him from his feet. Each pulse of his wildly racing heart sent out a crimson spray to bath her.

His futile kicking soon slowed as Feris weakened from the massive loss of blood. With a finale spasm he sagged, only her hands held him up. His bulged eyes narrowed, becoming fixed and dilated with the glazed stare of death. Naa’dia released her grip letting his body crumple to the stall floor. For a few minutes she stood reveling in the feel of the sticky red liquid that coated her entire front.

With a sigh of regret she turned once more, opened the water faucet and rinsed. Removing the pulsation shower head, she washed down the walls of the stall removing the splatters of blood. Leaving his body on the floor, Naa’dia stepped out and calmly toweled dry then replaced the collapsed knife in her butt cheek compartment.

She picked up her discarded clothes, opened the cabin door a crack and peeked out into the short hallway. To the left, the hall opened to the bridge. Listening carefully, she heard Molly stir there. Naa’dia dashed across the aisle into her own room. With her door closed safely, she tossed her clothes on the bed. Naa’dia slipped on a lose red and white layered skirt. The elastic waistband hugged her waist. Next she shrugged a loose white blouse over her head. For a moment she considered shoes but discarded the idea. Lastly she spayed on cologne

“Even though I showered it wouldn't do for Molly to smell blood on me.” She chuckled. “Especially her husbands.”

Entering the hall, Naa’dia raised her voice. “Molly?”

“Here Naa’dia,” Molly answered and raised her hand over the seat back to show her location.

“Care for some company?”

“Sure.”

“I’m going stop in the galley and get a drink,” Naa’dia said as she sauntered quietly down the hall. “Can I get you anything?”

“A diet soda would be nice.”

“Diet soda coming up. I’ll be there in a sec.”

Naa’dia stopped at the galley and poured each of them a drink. When she entered the bridge she handed Molly her drink and took a sip of her own before setting it into a cup holder. Molly took a drink and placed hers down also. Naa’dia leaned down and pressed her lips to Molly’s.

Molly pushed her away in panic. “Don’t. Feris might see.”

“I don’t think so. When I came down the hall just now I heard shower water running.”

“Still––

“Don’t you like it when we kiss?” Naa’dia puckered her lower lip.

“You know I do.” Molly raised her arms in supplication. 

Comments welcome.