A CHRISTMAS STORY: Flash Fiction Style

Nov 30 2011, 6:45 pm

Six-year-old Callie Dunn heard a sound. Not that sounds were unusual on Christmas Eve, but this particular sound had purpose. Meaning. As she fancied herself an investigator of all things unusual, a girl of sound mind and a practical manner who gave up childish thoughts of faeries and dragons way back when she was five—including those that involved a large man in a red suit who delivered Christmas gifts to children out of the kindness of his heart—she decided to investigate.

She hopped from her bed and climbed onto her window seat to search the thick, dark night. Or it would have been thick and dark had her house not been lit up like a beacon for weary travelers. And, no, she did not live in an inn. As her bedroom was at an angle to the main house of her semi-affluent parents, the same parents whose lax attitude toward Internet shopping made them prime targets for identity theft, she could just make out the chimney and part of the rooftop. If she strained hard enough, that is. 

And there he was. The man in the red suit. The one they called Santa Claus, a name she was in the middle of researching due to its inherent religious symbolism and the fact that she found the possible pagan connotations fascinating. She rolled her eyes as she watched him fumble around on the roof. The lengths her father went to. Hopefully, he wouldn’t fall off. Their medical coverage was seriously deficient when compensating for income loss due to a serious medical condition or injury. 

When she turned to go back to bed, she stopped short and looked up. Her father was leaning against her dresser—the one that had been clearly influenced by postmodernism and yet bore the intricate symbolism of Mayan culture in the etchings along the frame—his arms crossed over his chest, a mischievous smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

“Anything interesting out there?” he asked.

Callie’s jaw dropped to the floor. She picked it up and ran back to the window, her eyes wide as she studied the man in the red suit. He threw a huge bag over his shoulder and strolled along the rooftop until he was out of sight. She looked toward the ceiling and listened as a booming voice ordered his reindeer into action, calling them each by name. Hoof beats sounded across the roof, the scraping of a sleigh taking off, and then silence settled around them.

Her father knelt beside her, a huge grin brightening his face.

Callie blinked and gazed at him, her expression the epitome of astonishment. She glanced back out the window then back to her father. “I think we were just robbed.” 

22 Comments

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Nov 22 2011, 3:42 pm

So, so much to be thankful for, namely READERS!!!!! 

Thank you guys so much and have a safe and happy holiday! ~D~

2 Comments

Scrabble Scramble!

Nov 15 2011, 12:38 am

LITERAL ADDICTION and BOOK MONSTER REVIEWS is sponsoring a fun contest called SCRABBLE SCRAMBLE. 

Here is today’s entry: 

Good luck, everyone! 

~D~

17 Comments

THE NEW DIGS!

Nov 1 2011, 4:02 am

So, my fabulous web designer and I thought it would be super fun and just really cool to let Charley and Reyes have their own websites. Yep! I know, right?

We had so much fun with this and I think they turned out really well.

Charley’s is a semi-official business site that outlines her PI skills and the fact that she is pretty much a freakazoid.

www.davidsoninvestigations.com

And Reyes’s is actually the website from Second Grave on the Left, the one that loony stalker Elaine Oake set up to, well, stalk him.

www.reyesfarrowuncensored.com 

AND COMING SOON!!!

Soon (as in really soon, like tomorrow some time), we will unveil the new Young Adult website featuring, you guessed it, the YA series, the first of which comes out in April. WOOT!

www.daryndajones.net

So, enjoy!!! And def let me know what you think!

~D~ 

12 Comments

FIRST GRAVE GIVEAWAY: UK EDITION!

Oct 28 2011, 11:07 pm

Hello beautiful people! 

I received a beat up box in the mail that came all the way from the UK, and guess what was inside. I’ll give you a hint: 

These are UK editions of First Grave. Aren’t they gorgeous??? 

And you know how I love to share gorgeous things.  

So, I am giving away FIVE signed copies! 

*Comment below for your chance to win. 

I will do a drawing via random.org on Halloween, my very favorite unofficial holiday. 

GOOD LUCK!!! 

*International entries are accepted with the understanding that I will only send out one copy. If it doesn’t make it, I will apologize profusely, but won’t send out another. I’ve had too many international packages go astray and it is getting too costly to resend every time this happens. So sorry! But try anyway! You never know, it could just make it! 

123 Comments

THE NEW SALE!!!

Oct 11 2011, 2:40 am

QUICK UPDATE!

So I just wanted to let you guys know that 4 & 5 in the Charley Davidson series sold!!! Woot!

Here’s the official announcement in Publisher’s Marketplace:

“Darynda Jones’s next two new books in the CHARLEY DAVIDSON series, a continuation of the “Grave” novels featuring a private investigator by day and grim reaper by night, to Jennifer Enderlin at St. Martin’s, by Alexandra Machinist at Janklow & Nesbit (NA).” 

While that announcement may seem unassuming, it was VERY assuming! (LOL. I don’t even know what that means, but it sounded funny in my head.)

Don’t have release dates yet or anything ultra-cool like that, and right now they are titled FOURTH GRAVE BENEATH MY FEET, and FIFTH GRAVE OFF THE BEATEN PATH. However, that could change and likely will. You just never know.

THANK YOU SO MUCH TO MY AMAZING AGENT, ALEXANDRA MACHINIST, AND TO MY INCREDIBLE EDITOR, JENNIFER ENDERLIN!!! 

45 Comments

Illicit Potions of the 16th Century

Sep 27 2011, 1:36 am

Okay, I admit it. I’m really bad about blogging. So how about a super short story instead? Something fun and magical. I love seeing what I can come up with in under 500 words. So, how’s this?

With the reluctance of a fly surrendering his life to the spider, Anna Alicia Armament laid down the pencil she’d been chewing on when Professor Swift called time. He eyed her from over his round spectacles, cradling a timepiece with one long white hand while the other kept a firm grip on his silver cane. She pursed her lips in disappointment, worried what her parents would say when they found out she failed the test on Illicit Potions from the 16^th Century not once, not twice, but three miserable times. And she was fresh out of excuses. “My head feels stuffy,” would surely not work again.

“I take it you did poorly?” he asked as he limped toward her, the floors creaking under his weight, his robes stirring up a cloud of dust behind him. “Again?”

All makeup tests were performed in the supply closet if other classes were in session. Which they were. And the supply closet was horridly dusty, a fact she’d incorporated into her excuse to take the test a third time. But no more.

“Potions are not my strongest subject, Professor.”

He tucked his timepiece away and picked up her paper. “Ah, I see that.” After a disappointed sigh, he turned abruptly and said, “Off you go. The others have probably been dismissed for lunch by now.”

Anna tucked her ancient books into her knapsack then paused and took a deep, empowering breath. Closing her eyes and crossing her fingers, she said, “But you could give me an A anyway.”

When she opened her eyes again, she saw that he’d stopped and turned back to her, his brows furrowed. She took a wary step toward the door.

“Of course you’ll get an A. What else would you get?”

As Professor Swift turned to record her grade, she blinked several times in disbelief. The illicit potion from the 16^th century she’d brewed just that very morning and swallowed just that very hour actually seemed to have worked.

Before the professor could change his mind, she hefted her knapsack over her robed shoulder and hurried out of the room, refusing to let guilt get a foothold. Honestly, if they didn’t want the students using the stuff, they shouldn’t teach it.

At the last second, she ducked back into the closet and said, “Have a wonderful day, Professor.”

For the first time since her orientation two years earlier, he smiled at her, his grin a scraggly, crackly thing that threatened to break his face in two. But his eyes sparkled with promise. “Thank you, Miss Armament. I believe I shall.”

2 Comments

Next on the agenda… ALBUQUERQUE!

Aug 23 2011, 11:01 pm

Hey beautiful peeps!!!

I have a full agenda this week and, well, the coming weeks as well, but I wanted to let everyone know what was going on in The Duke City. Lots to do!

THURSDAY

Thursday there is a discussion and signing with fellow author, the wonderfully talented Gabi Stevens. We’ll be at the Esther Bone Memorial Library in Rio Rancho at 6:30 pm.

Click here for more details on this event.

FRIDAY THRU SUNDAY

Bubonicon is from Friday to Sunday with a plethora of events. For me, it means two panels with some of the best authors in the biz.

Click here for more details on Bubonicon #43!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here are the specifics of the panels:

• Panel #5 – BEYOND THE GODDESS & THE

WHORE: DYNAMIC FEMALE CHARACTERS

Diana Gabaldon, Darynda Jones, Jane Lindskold,

Walter Jon Williams. MOD: Yvonne Coats

• Panel #10 – ZOMBIES, ANGELS & WEREWOLVES,

OH MY: FUTURE TRENDS Darynda Jones,

Susan Krinard, Debbie Lynn Smith, Sam Sykes.

Moderator: Betsy James

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Do those sounds fantastic or what? There is also a mass autographing session on Saturday at 4:00 pm. Woot!

SUNDAY

And finally Bookworks is hosting a signing on Sunday from 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm.

Click here to learn more about Bookworks!

Busy week! Hope to see you there!

~D~

2 Comments

COOKIES!

Aug 19 2011, 3:08 am

No Comments

WOOHOO!!!

Aug 16 2011, 8:56 pm

13 Comments