Well, not really.
But I really do have a preorder, a sale, and an excerpt to share.
Memento Mori is now officially up for preorder, and looks absolutely GORGEOUS with its cover from Seedlings Design Studio.
To celebrate that, I’ve put A Time Traveller’s Best Friend
at 99c for this weekend, over all store-fronts.
Amazon||Kobo||Smashwords||iBooks||B&N||Google Play
(It will be a part of Patty Jansen’s 100 99c SciFi/Fantasy books promo, too, so check out the others! I can particularly recommend Suzannah Rowntree’s Pendragon’s Heir, and A.K.R. Scott’s Inharmonic—both of which I own).
Memento Mori will be out September 26th, so don’t forget to preorder! And finally—have an excerpt!
–oOo–
“Good news, sir!”
Mikkel looked up warily. Arabella sounded cheerful, which was nothing out of the ordinary, but her idea of good news and his were often so radically different that he couldn’t help feeling the first dragging tendrils of dread close around his chest.
“Don’t look like that, sir; you’ll like this.”
“Will I? Is it something that’s likely to get me arrested?”
Arabella appeared to think about that. “I shouldn’t think so, sir. Actually, it’s Marx and Kez who’ve been arrested.”
Mikkel sat bolt upright. “When? Where? And who managed it?”
“A small Time Corp cruiser. They were making their normal patrol to show a few new ensigns the ropes and stopped to investigate something fishy. They’re requesting help because, and I quote: ‘This is too big for us and we don’t want to make a mess of it.’”
“Wait.” Mikkel’s eyes flicked to Arabella’s face. There was no sign of the prim smile that meant mischief, but he was still suspicious. “What about being hit on the head? Am I likely to be hit on the head?”
“No, sir,” Arabella said, slightly reproachfully. “Didn’t I promise I wouldn’t let them hit you on the head?”
“Only because you said you’d knock me out first. I don’t like this.”
Arabella blinked. “Really? I thought you’d be pleased!”
“Marx and Kez managed to be captured by a glorified baby-sitting cruiser?”
“Ah. I see what you mean.”
Mikkel sighed and brought up the vector controls on the pad beside his chair. “We’d better get down there before they scar the new ensigns beyond repair…”
***
“I don’t like this job, Marx.”
“Whose fault is it that we’ve got to do it?”
“Ain’t mine!” instantly said Kez. “An’ I don’t wanna be messin’ wiv stuff Marcus wants!”
“Marcus is dead.”
“Yeah, well, ’e’s got an ’abit of turning up when you don’t expect ’im. Wot if he’s in this time as well?”
“I checked in the Core,” said Marx patiently. “No, shut up, kid; I checked. I killed him thousands of Relative Year Units ago, and the Core says he’s safely in the Institute this year. He won’t travel out for another year.”
“Yeah, well—”
“Shut up, kid,” Marx said again. “He’s not here. And if he shows up, I’ll blast his flamin’ head off again. Happy?”
Kez sounded gruff. “Yeah. Orright. You better.”
“Then get a wriggle on. That cruiser’ll be by in a few RMUs; we want to be done before it shows up.”
“Oi. Shove over. This is my bit.”
“What does it matter who does what bit?”
“It don’t, but this is my bit.”
“I should have left you in the Upsydaisy.”
Kez blew a raspberry at him, showering him with a fine mist of spit. “Yeah? How you gonna get this done wivout me, then?”
–oOo–
Enjoy! And if you want to know what job it is that Kez and Marx are currently engaged upon…well, you’ll have to preorder, won’t you?