#ThursThreads has Moved

Good morning. If you're looking for #ThursThreads it has moved to my new blog location:

https://siobhanmuir.com/blog

Come on by for the same great challenge, whole new location. And we're closing in on the end of Year 8!

Siobhan

Snippet Sunday - A Walk in the Sand - Jedi Mind Trick

Welcome to the Snippet Sunday on the Weird, the Wild, and the Wicked. Thank you so much for visiting. If you choose to comment today, I really appreciate it. The snippets are from my upcoming release, The Ivory Road: A Walk in the Sand, a science-fiction/fantasy romance serial. Book 1 in the Ivory Road Serial. This new story will be released on this Monday, February 23, 2015.Woot!

In this snippet, Iliana, a Hollywood actress, finds herself somewhere she doesn't expect. And now she has company. She doesn't know how she got there or where there is, but she just wants time to figure everything out. Unfortunately, the company has other plans, and the wrong name.

Crowe paused, cocking his head and Iliana froze. He scanned the space where she’d been crouching with a sharp look.

Please don’t see me. Please don’t see me.

She resisted the urge to close her eyes as she hunkered down under a ground palm. God, I hope there are no scorpions using this as a home. The man named Crowe crouched and met her eyes, a frown creasing his brows.

“Kyra? Is that you?”

Iliana supposed it was too late to do the Jedi mind trick—this is not the woman you’re looking for—but she definitely didn’t own the name he called. She shook her head and he grimaced.

“Please, Kyra, we need your help. My colleagues won’t do you harm.”

Busted! ;) There are several great authors on the Weekend Writer Warriors list and in the Snippet Sunday Facebook group. A few of my favorites are Charley Descoteaux, SJ Maylee, Gem Sivad, Goran Zidar, Veronica Scott, and Sarah Wesson.

Here's the blurb for The Ivory Road: A Walk in the Sand:

The adventure of Ivory’s lifetime might just be the death of her…

When it comes to make believe, A-list actress Ivory is a professional. But when a desert hike takes her across a dimensional rift, her real-life self, Iliana Rory, must separate fantasy from reality. The man she swears is the costar in her next movie might share the same surname and appearance, but there are no sets in this Mr. Crowe’s world, no props, and no director to yell “cut” before blood is spilled.

With a fortune in stolen treasure and the forces of the Knalish army hot on their trail, Brandon Crowe and his partner, Ahmad, must cross a desert neither of them knows well. Mistaken for their guide, Iliana seizes any chance to stay ahead of the army and survive in this new world.

Adventure straight out of a Hollywood blockbuster might be on Iliana’s bucket-list, but she never dreamed there’d be the real possibility of death when the end credits roll. A Walk in the Sand is the first story in the four part serial recounting Iliana’s journey along the Ivory Road.

#ThursThreads - THREE YEAR ANNIVERSARY - Winners

Week 156 of #ThursThreads #Year3 Anniversary had so many fantastic tales. I'm honored to see all of the returning writers come to tie a tale. And welcome all the new folks! Thank you for coming to tie your tales and for helping me celebrate these three years of flash. Here's to several more years. Great thanks to Cara Michaels for judging this week and for starting us off all those years ago. Check out the #ThursThreads #flashfiction group on FB to keep up with news, etc.

After the winners are notified and they have chosen their prizes, the folks who tweeted the hashtag #ThursThreads will be thrown into a drawing for the remaining prizes. I'll announce the winners here on the blog and on twitter. Thank you all for participating and coming back to write!

Entries:

• Kelly Heinen | @Aightball
• Anne Chowdhury | @TwiAddictAnne
• Rafe Brox | @etcet
• Greg Nance | @acenance
• Anna Lund | @AnnaLund2011
• Sheilagh Lee | @SweetSheil 
• Siobhan Muir | @SiobhanMuir
• Bill Engleson | @billmelaterplea
• Josh Peters | @joshbgosh
• Daniel Swensen | @surlymuse
• Olivia Starke | @OliviaStarke
• David Shakes | @theshakes72
• Charley Emma | @lindorfan 
• Mary Decker | @mishmhem
• Cate Derham | @Cate_Derham
• Sandi Layne | @sandyquill
• Decadent Kane | @Decadent Kane
• Charles W. Jones | @ChuckWesJ
• Jason Lefthand | @jasonlefthand
• Lizzie Koch | @Lizzie_Koch
• Miranda Kate | @PurpleQueenNL
• Chris Cantley
• Silver James | @SilverJames_
• Louisa Bacio | @Louisabacio
• David A. Ludwig | @DavidALudwig
• Eric Martell | @drmagoo
• Lynn Peters | @RoryBrazen
• Nellie Batz | @solimond
• Ruth Long | @Bullishink

Cara says: Dang, you folks gave me some great reading (and tough decision making) this week. Thank you all for writing! After reading through a couple times, deliberating, then revisiting the dozen or so stories vying for honors, here are my choices:

Winners Announcement:

Honorable Mentions

Nellie Batz | @solimond

Cara says: This story is a heartbreaker. As though her sense of losing her friends wasn’t hard enough, the transition to clarity regarding Violet’s true circumstances hit me right in the feels..

Ruth Long | @Bullishink

Cara says: The bones of this story idea intrigue me. Is the MC some sort of cyborg or mechanical man? The action is concise and doesn’t bog down the snippet. The final ‘framework’ exchange gave me a good laugh.

Josh Peters | @joshbgosh

Cara says: The whimsical nature of the story caught my attention, and this tale struck me as a poem or painting captured within a narrative. Lovely work.

Week 156 #Year3 Winner

Daniel Swensen | @surlymuse

Cara says: In 250 words, this story delivers a full-fledged world concept begging to be explored. If this was the excerpt behind the cover, this is a book I would take home. I would even take it to bed (because I want to keep reading, ya pervs). And damn, but I loved Ora’s, “Tell them I died here” line. She’s a hero after my own heart.

The cavern crawled with blue lightning. Pillars of stone shrugged dust into the dwindling air.

The company was closing the hyperspace shunt. Its pale oval flickered, a hundred meters high. The financial rulers of a planet light-years away had heard the cries of a thousand colonists and turned its face away in shame.

“Ora, we’re leaving.” Thain slung his rifle, glaring at the milling crowd on the wrong side of the portal. The marines had formed a perimeter to keep them in. No need; they huddled, terrified, wailing for all that was about to be lost.

Ora looked at her hands. Red with dirt. Dirty with blood. She knew too much of these people.

“If they stay, I stay.”

“To what end? You can’t help them.”

She tapped the glossy curve of the learning chip behind her ear. Worth more than this colony and everyone in it. The company would be furious -- and very far away. “With what I know? Yes, I can.”

He gripped her arm. “Ora, they’ll kill you. They’ll come to resent you and they’ll kill you for being one of us.”

“I want them to know we haven’t abandoned them to die here.”

“That’s exactly what we’re doing,” Thain whispered. “You can’t just give up--”

“Giving up is exactly what I’m not doing.” Ora unclipped her company badge and pressed it into his grubby palm. “Tell them I died here.”

She turned and walked away, listening for the final crack of the closing portal.

Congratulations Three Time Winner Daniel, Nellie, Ruth, and Josh! Don't forget to claim your badges and display them with pride. You certainly earned it!

Pass on the great news on Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus, Tsu.co, shiny mirrors, Morse Code, and signal flags. Check out all the stories here. Thanks for stopping by and happy reading! :)