Sample of Iron Bloom

So, my novel about a superhumanly tough female warrior is coming out later this week, and as such I thought it'd be nice to show some of it off before the big release. Pretty tame so far, but hey... the action will REALLY pick up!

It was the glint of sun off steel that caught her eye. Rose stopped, basket of freshly picked herbs in hand, and stared into the Whit family's barn door through which she had seen that misplaced sliver of light. While metal was common enough on a farm, most farming tools were made of dull iron, and Rose had only seen light reflected so sharply off honed steel—like a sword blade. Inside the barn, she thought she glimpsed a bulky shape, moving with stealth and speed. A thief?

Her first thought was to run for help. But how long would it take to get back? Likely too long, for the Whits. She should go warn them, she thought. Yet she worried to let the burglar out of sight, and perhaps give him a chance to catch her off guard later. What if the Whits weren't home? If so, she would have to confront him alone anyway. She would not escape herself only to leave him here, free to ambush her neighbors.

Rose set her basket down in the grass and crept towards the barn, knowing now what she meant to do. It wasn't that she wasn't scared; her heart pounded in her chest, and sweat moistened her scalp and tunic. Though she had long played at being a warrior with her friends, to confront real danger was an altogether different matter. But she would do all she could to protect the Whits and their innocent child. So she entered the barn, carefully picking up the hoe just inside the door.

The man's broad back came into view to her left, and Rose raised her hoe to strike. Then she hesitated. What if this was no thief, after all? Despite his armament, he could be a family friend, or even an agent of the crown on legitimate business. She could not just attack, with no knowledge of his intentions.

"You!" she said in what she hoped was a commanding voice. "What are you doing here?"

He turned, and immediately she realized her mistake. The feral gleam in his eyes, the smirk that pulled at his thick lips—he could be nothing else but the kind of villain she had suspected and feared. "Are you the daughter, then? A big one you are, but I don't mind. All women scream the same." His huge sword came up, gleaming like flame.

On the verge of panic, Rose swung at his face. He parried easily, and countered with a slash she barely managed to deflect. The hoe was poorly balanced for use as a weapon, and she was hardly an experienced warrior in the first place. The robber pressed his assault, battering relentlessly at her, and she found herself retreating across the hay-strewn floor. She felt her back bump up against the far wall, and in desperation tried to force him back with a sudden burst of offense.

For a moment, he seemed to falter against her flurry of quick pokes, and she thought she had a chance. But then he cut through the hoe's shaft with a well-placed blow, and the next thing she knew an impact like a heavy punch slammed into her middle. She felt herself shoved back, driven against the wood behind her. Then the pain hit, a world-shattering explosion tearing through her body. For a moment she was blind, but stubbornly she blinked her vision back. Slowly, her attacker came into view.

Rose stared at the man as he loosened his belt, his wide, greasy face split with a lusty grin. His breath reeked of rotting meat, and she ached to run screaming out of his reach. But she couldn't scream because her mouth had filled with blood. And she couldn't run because his sword impaled her just below the ribcage, nailing her to the wall.

She could barely breathe, and when she inhaled blood spurted out around the edges of the wide blade. The wound should already have killed her, she knew, but the freakish vitality which kept her alive now prolonged her suffering. She wasn't just going to die, but her killer would also rob her of her last dignity. He dropped his trousers, and his smile widened while he watched her squirm. He reached out to pull her pants down, and blood ran down her chin as she hissed with outrage. She did not know if the sword would get in his way, but he would surely just pull it out if it did. As his fingers brushed her waist, Rose made her choice. Her hand snaked down, snatching the paring knife from her belt, and she plunged it into the side of his neck.

He stumbled back, eyes bulging, and fell clutching his throat. A choking gurgle accompanied his feeble twitching, and then he was still. Rose wanted to retch at the act, but nothing except blood issued from her mouth. She looked down at herself and swallowed. It was tough to do with the liquid continuing to well up in her throat. Damnit, she didn't want to die! Her wound was surely mortal, but she would never give up as long as she drew breath. She was too young to die, nor would she burden her parents with the grief of losing their only child. Resolving to get free, she grabbed the hilt of the sword skewering her and hesitantly gave it a tug.

It had barely begun to move when her blood-slick hands slipped along and off the hilt. The sudden motion jarred the blade, and more blood gushed out around it. She would have fallen from the pain, but the sword held her upright. It hurt like a hot coal inside her lung... but if she stayed here, she would have no chance at all to live, and she pulled again, harder this time. The world blurred into a red haze. And then the sword came free of the wall. Rose stumbled forward and fell, her face smacking against the packed earth below. She hardly felt that, though; the sword twisted inside her as its hilt hit the ground. Now she knew what real agony was like.

Rose put her palms against the ground and pushed, raising herself to her hands and knees. She began to crawl forward, her body protesting with every move. Okay, at least she was moving—she just had to hang on, somehow. Her legs slipped and slid in warm wetness she knew had leaked from her body. She couldn't even breathe without pain, and flecks of blood flew into the air as she exhaled.

No, she didn't want to think about what that meant. So instead, she concentrated on finding something to help her stand. She'd never get anywhere crawling like this. Turning back towards the wall, she groped at it and pulled herself up to lean with her shoulder against the wood. It felt solid, as she wished she did. She was a big girl, but right now felt weak as a lamb. Even so, it surprised her to be able to do as much as she did. She'd always had a hearty constitution, but now it was proving stronger than she ever imagined.

She took a step. Damn, it made her feel dizzy. She took another, and another. Her ears picked up the sound of footsteps, carrying with them a morsel of hope. She would surely welcome the arrival of a member of the Whit family right now. She'd saved them from the marauder who had stabbed her, and if they could just get her some help she might have a chance. One hand clutching the hilt of the sword in her trunk, she staggered towards the sound.

A small figure stepped into view and stared at her with wide eyes. Rose felt instantly sorry for being here, wondering how many nightmares the child would have over the sight of her transfixed body. "D-Danny?" she found herself spitting out. "W-where are your parents?"

He yelped and dashed away. Rose kept walking, impossible as it seemed that she would find help before passing away. But then, the boy reappeared and said in a voice small with terror, "Lady, help. Mom and dad are hurt."

She didn't ask him how or why, but followed him dazedly to a sparse bedroom. There, she realized she had arrived too late. By killing that villain in the barn, she thought she'd kept him from doing harm. But he had only gone to the barn after visiting the main house. Before her lay the slashed corpses of Danny's parents, and Rose covered his eyes though it was far too late.

She led him from the room, the world spinning around her. "D-do you have a wagon, or a cart?" she asked as she tried to fight off the dizziness.

"The cart's broken. Are my parents going to be okay?"

Rose didn't know why she wasn't crying. She should have been crying. Maybe her body knew it couldn't take the strain. Not knowing how she was supposed to answer, she said, "I'll keep you safe."

"You got stabbed," he observed, reminding her she should have been dead.

"Yeah, I did. Come on, let's go."

He tried to resist her feeble pull on his arm and whined, "But what about my parents?"

"They're dead," she finally said, unable to think of any better wording. Though she had not known them well, her heart broke for the anguish in Danny's eyes. He remained tight-lipped for a moment, sniffing softly, then started to wail. Though she knew there was little comfort she could give, Rose hugged him and began to stroke his hair.

#

When Rose arrived half an hour later in her hometown of Hullel, many a villager greeted her with shocked gapes and piteous stares. "This is Danny," she gasped to no one in particular. "He's an orphan. Somebody needs to take care of him." She reached out towards a young woman nearby, who screamed just as her strength gave out and she fell to her knees.

"Help her, someone help her!" the woman cried. Rose felt two men take her arms and legs, shouting unintelligibly, and the world blurred around her as they carried her away.

"What on earth happened to you?" the surgeon they brought her to asked while they laid her on her side upon a cot. The air smelled of blood and sickness, and the little infirmary seemed darker than she remembered. "Did you have an accident playing with your father's crafts like last time?"

Rose would have smiled, if only she had the strength. Glen, he was named. He had treated her two years ago, when she'd sliced her forearm playing with one of her blacksmith father's swords. "No, I made the mistake of thinking I could fight."

He looked at her wound and shook his head. "I assume you saved the boy; I applaud you for that. It was a good thing to do."

The sadness in his eyes frightened her more than a bit. "What's wrong?" she asked in a quivering voice.

"You're wounded very badly."

Well, that was obvious. She could barely stay awake. "Am... am I going to die?"

He frowned, hesitating, but replied at last under her insistent gaze, "This isn't something a person can survive. I'm amazed you've lived this long."

Her heart sank as she took in his words, and realized everything was getting even blurrier. Was it the tears in her eyes, or something worse? "It's really that bad?" Glen nodded, and Rose exhaled a red mist. A spasm wracked her body. "Pull it out. I want to be able to lay on my back."

"It'll kill you faster," he whispered.

"Doesn't matter."

He extracted the sword from her body, and despite the hopelessness of the situation stitched closed both sides of her wound. "Maybe the gods will look after you, Rose."

"I haven't done nearly enough for that. Call my parents here, will you?"

To his credit, Glen got Rick and Lise to her bedside with fair haste, and they looked at her with stricken faces as the doctor told them of her injury. Soon, Lise began to sob. "You stupid girl," Rick said with desperate force, his large callused hands clenched tight with fear. "How could you let this happen to yourself?"

She cringed at her father's distress, but said, "I didn't try to get hurt—I was just taking a walk when I saw this ruffian snooping about a farm, so I decided to try and stop him. Maybe if you had actually let me carry a sword, I wouldn't have a hole through me right now."

"You cut yourself open the last time you had a sword."

"Yeah, but I've been practicing."

Lise looked at her husband and choked out, "At least she would have had a better chance than unarmed."

Rose squeezed her mother's plump hand and smiled. "I killed him anyway, you know. Just took more out of me than I'd have liked."

"Please don't leave us, Rose. You're our little light."

She resolved then not to die, no matter what medical knowledge had to say, and nodded. "Mom, I'm not going to. Promise, okay?"

Sequel to Gothic Warrior and the Dark Man...

is out. More epic girl fighting... oh wait that sounds inaccurate, more like epic girl vs male MMA champion fighting.

Also my novel is coming out later this week!

Very Cool New Book Matching Site

Bookmatchers.com is a great new site which allows you to tell them what you like in a book and get recommendations based on that. You can search by the profession/type of main character, themes, amount of violence or romance, and all sorts of other things. I highly recommend it.

Announcing this a bit late but...

here's my latest! A little longer than my previous ebook though still not a full novel (coming in a month or so), and it's urban/contemporary fantasy rather than my usual heroic fantasy... but the heroine is every bit the great warrior, though in a slightly different fashion than most. If you want to get a sense of how just check out the preview! :)

Kindle Ebook Out!

It's not fantasy like I usually write (unless you count unrealistic fighting as fantasy) and is only a 4 page short story (don't want anyone to feel ripped off if that doesn't sound beefy enough for the $0.99) but does feature over the top action as a badass male fighter faces the challenge of his life against a tough girl who will back down from nothing. Brutal fisticuffs!

For The Cheap Alcohol Lover Part 2 - Best Hard Liquor Deals in Brooklyn

As I did promise a list of the best bottom shelf spirits according to me, I should probably deliver... and I will do so.

5 - Georgi is the first bottom shelf liquor I tried, and it is a solid one. Decently priced (of course), it tastes smooth and is good for mixing with beer and other beverages. Notably, it also comes in a stronger blue variant for when you want to feel good especially fast.

4 - Canadian Mist holds the distinction of being the most expensive brand on this list, but is still the cheapest whiskey I've found. It mixes well with other dark drinks like cola, and is good for a change.

3 - Los Generales is the cheapest tequila I've been able to find, and has the bomb burst of flavor uou'd expect from a tequila. Other than that, it's notable for coming in gold (dark) and silver (light) varieties, and being available for $10 a liter in NYC not including tax.

2 - Castillo is probably the best tasting brand here, in that it tastes exactly like Bacardi (and is apparently made in the same factories). Nuff said - but it also comes in light and dark versions, and for $10 a liter.

1 - Alexis, also known appropriately as Princess (of vodka) Alexis, is as cheap as they come at under $9 a liter including tax. Somehow, it also tastes better (richer and deeper flavored) than other similarly priced brands and the more expensive Georgi. Simply the best!

The Horse Seducer

Interesting title? Actually, it's the title of another one of my old stories, this one not set in the same world as the others I've posted so far, but another light romp featuring a hardcore girl warrior possessed of a different attitude and a creature that... well, read on to find out!

THE HORSE SEDUCER


Two sets of iron-shod hooves drummed against packed soil, breaking the silence of the little-used road.  "What's wrong with you, Sir Kyle?" Ann asked from the saddle of her old bay steed.  "You've barely talked to me!"

The veteran knight looked back at his petite teenage charge and sighed.  "It's not you.  I don't usually talk that much while traveling.  You didn't have to come along with me, you know.  You could have just stayed in the castle."

"And done what?  Dress up?  Do my hair?  Paint my nails?"  The blonde princess of Perfia scowled.  "That might be fun for a little bit, but it'd get boring fast.  I'd rather be out here, in nature's company.  Besides, if you get to follow me around and annoy me all the time, why can't I do the same to you?"

"I'm your bodyguard, not the other way around."

"Yeah, well, you may be my bodyguard, but you're not my master.  You can't tell me what to do."

And he obviously hadn't, though he wished he could have.  "You should have at least brought a different horse.  I don't think that farm animal of yours is used to traveling through the wilderness.  He's in quite a poor mood, and as you don't know how to care for a horse, I'm the one who has to deal with it."

Ann looked down at her humble mount, a far cry from the white warhorse she normally rode.  "Well, I wasn't going to bring my Snowwind.  Not when we're going after horse thieves."

With many reports of horses disappearing on the frontier near the Tallpony tribe lands in recent weeks, Kyle had taken it upon himself to investigate.  Of course, he hadn't expected Ann, who had been recovering from an arrow wound to her lung, to follow him.  Unfortunately, the intrepid princess had found out about his mission and, against her physicians' advice, promptly joined him.

Though she could very often be annoying, Kyle had to admit he somewhat liked the girl.  She had slain Baron Toorick last year, preventing the lustful noble from raping an innocent woman, without hesitating over the political fallout of the killing.  There needed to be more people who acted with such pure intent.

Kyle had already questioned the Perfian settlers nearby, who suspected the Tallponies of the horse thievery, and now intended to speak with the tribespeople themselves.  As he and Ann approached the cliff which marked the end of Perfian dominion, an arrow flashed through the air past the princess' horse.  The bay steed reared, kicking, and threw its rider from its back.  Then it turned and bolted away.

"Shit!" Ann said.  "I hate archers!"

Well, her horse certainly wasn't trained to hold steady against them.  Kyle got a glimpse of a slim form among the bushes and said, "Show yourself!"

Another arrow flew, and a clear, crisp voice replied, "That was your last warning!"

Behind him, Kyle heard Ann yelp in pain.  "Warning?!  You shot me!"  His glance back revealed her plucking an arrow from her shoulder.

The archer's voice grew nervous, as if he had not intended to hit her.  "U-um, the next shot will kill you then!"

Glimpsing the archer once more, Kyle charged his position.  For a moment, he stood his ground, aiming his shortbow.  Then he turned to run, but the knight was almost upon him.  Catching the back of the man's deerskin cloak, Kyle grabbed his bow away and turned him around.  He was little more than a boy, perhaps fifteen.  Of middling height, the toned youth looked taller with his long, graceful limbs.  Right now, though, his bronzed skin had grown paler with fright.

"No, I'm sorry!" he said.  "I didn't mean to hit her!"

Ann advanced, sword in hand.  "Let me at him."

"Don't kill me, please don't kill me."

Kyle held the irate princess back.  "I think he's telling the truth about not meaning to hit you.  And I don't want the blood of a child on my hands."  He turned a sharp glare upon the boy.  "But I am going to make sure your father gives you the discipline you need."

"My father will not punish me!  I will be lauded for standing up to you horse thieves!"

"Horse thieves?!" Ann growled.  "I'm the Princess of Perfia!"

Kyle added, "We came here looking to see who has been stealing our people's horses, actually.  We thought it might have been your friends."

"And we thought you were the ones who were stealing our horses," the archer sighed.  "Wait, how do I know you aren't just saying that to take suspicion off yourselves?"

"If we were the thieves, why would we be so merciful to a man who tried to kill us?" Ann snapped.

"I didn't try to kill you!  But I suppose I believe you."

Kyle gave the youth back his bow.  "Yes, and we could ask the same question of you.  But I believe you too."

"Now what?"

The knight shrugged.  "Maybe if you could show us where the horses were taken, it would help in tracking down these thieves."

"I do not know every place, but I do remember the most recent one.  The thieves have already taken eighteen of our best stallions--they must be stopped soon!"

"Wait, only stallions?"

"Yes, only males."

Kyle was certain this fact held some significance, though he didn't know what yet.  "And do the horses' tracks mysteriously stop after a distance as well?"

"Yes."  So they probably were the same thieves.

"So what's your name, boy?"

"Ikkogaidrihal--or you can call me, Reed Flies-In-The-Wind."

"All right, Reed.  Let's go thief hunting."

Ann grunted.  "Oh no, you don't.  First, we find my missing horse, and then we can look for thieves."

"You really need a horse that threw you and ran away?"

"If I come home without him, my father will think it was my fault.  I don't want him to be mad."

"It is your fault, for bringing a mount with inadequate training."

Ann frowned.  "Whatever.  I'm still going after him."  She turned away, beginning to scan the ground for the horse's tracks, and Kyle knew he was beaten.  He had to stay with her, to keep her safe.

"Change of plans, Reed.  Let's find that horse."

#

They had been walking for a while when Reed said, "Hey, it smells like a mare in heat."

Ann gave a dubious frown.  "You can recognize the smell of a mare in heat?"

"My people are very close to horses.  I think your mount has found a friend."

"Out here?" Kyle asked.

"There are wild horses.  We have surely almost caught up to your horse by now; his tracks have indicated a walking pace for some time now.  Let's hurry up."

They quickened their pace, and were nearly on top of Ann's horse when a fearful whinnying filled the air.  The panicked equine burst from the forest, running faster than Kyle had thought possible for the sluggish animal.  A long, flexible length of white flesh as thick as a man's waist shot out from the trees after it, clamping the circular maw at its end onto the horse's lower thigh.

"What the hell is that?!" Ann cried.

Kyle ran at the strange limb and hacked at it with his sword, denting the resilient flesh but making little more than a scratch on the tough hide.  The thing released Ann's horse and swung towards him, snapping at him with its jaws.  Then, the rest of the creature walked into view.  The snakelike appendage was a neck, attached to shoulders which towered seven feet in the air.  The barrel-like torso below them walked on all fours like an ape, ambling forth on long great-knuckled arms and stumpy legs.  Though it looked clumsy, Kyle knew such a body was capable of frightening speed.

The snakelike neck darted at the knight's face, and its impact against his shield knocked him to the ground.  An arrow from Reed's shortbow sprouted just behind the frightful maw, but seemed barely to penetrate the hide.  Kyle tried to thrust at the snapping mouth, but it bit down on his sword and tore it away.  Scrambling up, he backpedaled away.  The creature bit at his shield again, and to his shock tore the metal boss away.  Several of Reed's arrows protruded from its neck and torso, but they had little visible effect.

Ann had not moved, though her sword was drawn, and Kyle realized she was scared.  He'd thought her afraid of nothing.  "Princess!" he yelled as he drew his humble dagger.  "Fight, damnit!"

Still moving hesitantly, Ann tried to sneak in at the beast from the side.  She took a deep breath that seemed to strengthen her resolve and chopped at the joint of its shoulder and neck.  The flesh was not so flexible here as on its neck, and the wound she made bled freely.  But the monster retaliated with a terrible blow from its great fist, and the princess was sent flying to land in a heap.  The fanged maw broke off its assault on Kyle, turning towards the vulnerable girl.  Swooping down, it clamped down on her shoulder, arm, and upper chest.  She began to scream.

Shrieking in agony, Ann still managed to stab repeatedly at the bottom of the neck as it pulled her up and into the air.  But the blows were barely penetrating, weakened as she was with pain.  Blood rained to the ground, and Kyle feared for her life.  Dropping his shield, he picked his sword up in a two-handed grip.  He charged, swinging the blade up overhead and slashing down with all his strength.  It bit deeper than any previous blow, and blood sprayed.  Still not enough.  The maw reared high to face Kyle and released Ann, dropping her on top of him.

Kyle barely lowered his sword in time to avoid impaling her, and her falling body knocked him to the ground.  He almost made some scathing remark, only for his breath to catch in his throat as he saw how badly she was hurt.  The bite wound ran in a semicircle from her trapezius muscle to her lower bicep; the wicked teeth had ripped open her left breast.

Pushing her off himself, Kyle stood and met each snap of the great maw with a hacking blow of his sword.  "Get away from her, you beast!  You won't have her, or me!"

Ann stood to aid him, though her shirt was soaked through with blood and her left arm hung limp.  Her sword blows carried little force now, but she kept trying.  The monster's neck was a pincushion of shortbow arrows, and Kyle wondered how many arrows Reed had left.  He doubted they would be enough.

"This isn't working!" the Tallpony said.

The great neck swung, batting Ann to the ground.  She tried to raise herself up on her good arm, but the earth was covered in her blood and she had little strength left.  The maw swooped down, but Kyle thrust his sword diagonally past the teeth and stabbed into the side of the inner mouth.  Throwing all his weight against his sword, he pinned the maw to the ground.  "Trying shooting into it!"

Reed crouched to aim into the open mouth, but at that moment it snapped shut, biting down on and breaking Kyle's sword.  It rose again into the air, triumphant.  Invincible.

Ann pushed herself up from the ground with a scream of pain, thrusting up into the roof of the monstrous mouth.  "Hurry!" she gasped as she wedged the crossguard of her sword between two teeth.

Reed's arrow flew past the girl's sword and down the mighty neck, hitting with a wet smack somewhere deep inside.  The monster retraced its mouth towards its torso, hands reaching up to clutch at its neck.  A dull moaning issued from its maw.

Ann drew her dagger, looked at it, and shook her head.  "My sword..."

"Take mine," Reed said as he pressed a slender blade into her hands.  Obviously, he had no intentions of getting close to the monster even in its wounded state.

Kyle strode up to the cringing beast and slashed at its chest, making a small cut.  It backhanded him, with much less power than before but enough to knock him down.  Ann lurched in, stabbing below its armpit.  It hugged itself, but stumbled into her and trampled her as she fell so that she lay writhing in pain.  Kyle chopped into the base of its neck, and it staggered.  He hit it again, and it could not muster the effort to strike back.  Instead it tried to limp away, far too slowly to have a chance at escape.  Even so, it took nearly a minute of attacking before it fell, and another two to make it still.

#

"So that was the horse thief?!" the knight asked as he began to stitch Ann's enormous wound.  She had lost a ridiculous amount of blood, broken her collarbone and two ribs, and looked white as a sheet.

"It must have been a demon," Reed said in a bewildered tone, "a demon that eats male stallions."

"I hope that was the only one of those things," Ann whispered.

Kyle shook his head, frowning.  "I doubt it, unless it really was a solitary demon summoned to eat our horses.  Even a thing like that probably wouldn't have eaten so many horses in such a short time.  But we'll be ready next time."

"Better bring a ballista."

"Well, that's what I'm thinking.  That was... damn!"

"Do you need a place to rest?" Reed asked.

"Ann can rest.  I'm going back to Perfia to report--and get help!"

"But you're my bodyguard," the princess said.  "You've got to stay at my side and protect me."

Before Kyle could reply, the bay horse walked into view.  It had hidden during the battle, and finally showed itself now that the monster was dead.  "Look, at least we got your horse back.  So Ann... can you ride?"

"Of course," the proud girl said.

"Then you can come back with me to Perfia, and rest in the castle there."

"Hey... you tricked me!"  But Kyle knew she wouldn't take back the assertion of her strength.

"Still think following me here was a good idea, princess?"

"You would be dead if I hadn't been here."

"Maybe.  I wouldn't have been tracking down your horse if you weren't here."  The knight smiled.  "But you did well."

Ann returned his smile.  "To answer your question, of course I still think it was a good idea.  Well, let's get going.  It was good fighting with you, Reed!"

The Tallpony waved them goodbye as they mounted their steeds.  "Farewell, friends!  Your names will be remembered as demonslaying heroes by my people!  Kyle and Ant, right?"

Kyle smiled as the princess corrected Reed.  It had been a hell of a day, and he felt beyond exhausted.  But nothing really bad had happened, and he was alive.  It was enough for him.