Guest Darcia Helle

Today my guest is Darcia Helle. I first met Darcia online book tour group and actually won one of her books. I thought I'd ask Darcia to do something a little different for her guest posting. Instead of an interview or an article on writing, I asked her to provide one of her short stories from her anthology. Hope you enjoy - E :)



Wilted Brown Eyes
by Darcia Helle

I’ve never accidentally killed someone. That’s the thought I have as I step around the bed and peer down at him. His eyes are open but I can tell he doesn’t see anything. He’s lying on his back, framed by the edges of the black and crimson rug I’d bought to hide the wine stain on the hardwood floor. The blood leaking from his head gets lost in the crimson, making it hard to tell where the carpet ends and his blood begins.
I ease closer, looking for signs of life. His chest isn’t moving.
I’ve never accidentally killed someone.

I sit on the edge of the bed and look into his unblinking eyes. They’re brown. But saying he has brown eyes is really not telling the story at all. Brown can be dark and rough like old tree bark or light and soft like a new leather jacket. Brown has so many variables. It’s really not a color of its own but more of a category. His eyes are a wilted brown, like they’ve been left in the sun too long. Little dots of green brighten them, making me think of a crisp fall morning, before winter settles in and kills off that last bit of life.

I’ve never accidentally killed someone.

I always loved his eyes. The first time we met, he’d handed me a glass of champagne and said, “Hello. My name is Jake.”
“You have amazing eyes,” I’d said. Just like that. Words spilling from my mouth untethered.

Now Jake’s eyes stare up at the ceiling. The blood has stopped drizzling from that awful gash on the side of his head. His blood is on the nightstand. All over the sharp corner. Dripping off the edge.
I’ve never accidentally killed someone.

I sit for what might be a long time or might be a few seconds. Jakes’ eyes won’t look back at me ever again.

I’ve never accidentally killed someone.

Does it matter, really, if the act is intentional? Killing someone means they are dead, regardless of intent. Dead is dead. Right?

I’ve never accidentally killed someone.

I shake off this mantra I’ve been reciting in my head. Whether I’ve ever accidentally killed someone is of no importance. I killed Jake. And it wasn’t an accident.



AUTHOR BIO: Darcia Helle lives in a fictional world with a husband who is sometimes real. Their house is ruled by spoiled dogs and cats and the occasional dust bunny.

Suspense, random blood splatter and mismatched socks consume Darcia’s days. She writes because the characters trespassing through her mind leave her no alternative. Only then are the voices free to haunt someone else’s mind.

Join Darcia in her fictional world. The characters await you.

You can find Darcia here:
website
blog
Facebook page
twitter or @DarciaHelle

Darcia has also agreed to give away a copy of one of her books, so leave a comment and we'll do a random drawing for a copy of Enemies & Playmates, Hit List, No Justice, Beyond Salvation, Miami Snow, The Cutting Edge (fun, suspenseful story), Into the Light (not a horror or suspense story), or Quiet Fury, An Anthology of Suspense (where this story "Wilted Brown Eyes" appears) - see you all in the postings - E :)

This and That

It's been a kind of crazy week here having to deal with insurance and towing and AAA and getting daughter's car fixed but overall, I think things have settled down and hopefully she will have her car tomorrow before she goes to work.

I totally forgot to mention Friday that Susanne Drazic, the person who leaves the most comments here and who bestowed upon me the RAOK on her blog, posted a review of "The Proposal". Part of forgetting this was that I was away from my desk most of the day and it slipped my mind. For the review, drop by her blog and leave a comment.

On the sales side, I sold one copy of "The Tulip Kiss" on kindle and no sales anywhere else. I am running a special deal on my state books through the 7th of July - buy 2 get 1 for 1/2 off ($25 for three books/$50 for all six which is like buying five and getting one for free, plus no shipping costs). For more information, you can check out the JGDS blog.

I do plan on getting back to my state stories soon but I'm waiting on some other things from Heather before I get back to writing anything. She's got one more fix on "Train of Clues" and I'm thinking of trying that one out as an ebook as well just to see if it will work in that format being that it is illustrated. I'm also waiting on the cover for "Butterfly Halves" so I can get that published. Of the two persons I shared the first cover with, I've had differences of opinion on several aspects of the cover. Things I like about it, they don't and things I'm not crazy about, they like. I've passed both opinions and mine to Heather and hopefully she will come up with the perfect cover.

If you are a horse lover or even a horse rider or know someone who is, my other blind friend, who is also an author, Andi Mills, has an article here about using mini horses as service or guide animals.

This week's guests will be Jen Wylie, author of the Ever series and several other short stories, Darcia Helle, author of many suspense stories, and a special appearance by Jo Linsdell for her "Out and About a Day at the Zoo" book tour. See you all in the postings - E :)

Pacing and Maggie Toussiant (discontinuation of the 50-day blitz)

Last night was our monthly local Sisters in Crime meeting and our guest was author Maggie Toussiant. She talked about pacing your scenes, chapters and books and how to catch some of those pesky pacing problems. We also had an interactive session where she gave us two characters and we provided a little bit of background information and then we formed several small groups and had to come up with a scene - either a fast paced action, slow paced action or fast paced dialogue or slow paced dialogue. Interesting what happens with the same background information, how each group came up with different scenarios. A fun exercise in pacing.

Anita rode with me to the meeting and as usual I was the talker all the way home. I did a little brainstorming about Imogene's story thinking about the pacing of the story. So far, the three pages I've written are slow paced, narrative, not much action but fitting for where the story starts. I know the prologue will disappear because I've got the scene in my head and unsure if I've put it down on the paper yet as to when the secret comes out. I don't know if I can pull off a slow-paced beginning with a faster-paced majority of the story or not but I'm going to try. One thing that did come from the brainstorming session with Anita is that I believe this story will call for a "postlogue", not so much an epilogue but more of an "author's note" explaining certain elements in the story. Don't worry it won't be long - a couple of paragraphs at the most and will be something to the effect of: This is truly a work of fiction because after my many hours of research and the findings of historical data and other information would not make this story happen in such a way. (I know it needs some work and there will be a little more to it than that but you get the gist of the meaning - Imogene is pure fiction and there are no facts to really base much of the story on other than possible places in a different time from when the story takes place.)

I'm discontinuing my 50-day giveaway blitz as I've had only three comments (six actual but only three answered the question) on the first day and I've tried to go to my social groups and post everywhere to stop by my blog and leave a comment to be entered for whatever the day's giveaway is. Since it seems no one is interested in leaving comments, it isn't worth my time to put out there my time or effort to get readers and followers and folks who will at least just leave a comment in order to try to win whatever I may be giving away on any given day. I'll go back to my posting schedule as before - Mondays and Thursdays with guest bloggers the 4th week of the month and an occasional review of books I've read on my kindle.

The end of this month, Jen Wylie and Darcia Helle as well as Jo Linsdell are my guest bloggers and there will be free ebooks during Jen's and Darcia's days. Jo will be a guest on my blog two more times as part of her 3-month blog tour and a free ebook will be given away on her last appearance. I will probably do some occasional giveaways during the next couple of months. I haven't really decided.

I hope you all will still at least read my blog and see what I have to say. See you all in the postings - E :)

Come visit me at Darcia Helle's place

I'm the guest on Darcia Helle's blog today and it was a doozy of an interview - lol. Fun, but some of those questions had me thinking. Click on the title of this posting and stop by and see what kind of probing questions Darcia asked. See you all in the postings - E :)

Book review - The Cutting Edge by Darcia Helle

I finished reading A Cutting Edge last week or the week before and am just now getting to the review.

The Cutting Edge has a double meaning - a hair cutting place and the fact that Skye's shears are razor sharp and could easily cut through skin and veins if she so choose to do so.




Skye Summers is a hairdresser and has been for many years. Over the years, she has grown to dislike her job since she has to put up with the crazy women, and men, who sit in her chair, rambling on and on and driving her insane. She starts fantasizing about killing her clients and how she could get away with it. Enter the "Mass Avenger" unbeknowest to Skye, who happens to be a new client one Wednesday evening (the evening reserved for the men of the town). The Mass Avenger also has a double entendre (the killings are occurring in Massachusetts as the story is set in a small town in Massachusetts and he is avenging all the masses).

As I read further and further, I almost hoped that Skye would eventually knock off one of her clients or her husband's ex-girlfriend who is the mother of his child and uses the child for stupid stuff - trying to cause problems in the marriage (I dealt with a few of the issues similar to what Skye dealt with when my husband and I were first married, whereby his ex-wife would use their daughter who was 5 at the time to call our house and ask for money - stupid stuff). Skye was only a fantasizer but the Mass Avenger was real. Skye becomes the fascination of the Mass Avenger who feels a kinship with her but she doesn't realize this until the end. Skye does quit her job and states that "a serial killer saved my life" when it is all said and done.

As I read through the story and several new male characters were introduced, I kept thinking I knew who the killer was but it turned out I was wrong. For a fun look into a stylist's perspective of the daily doldrums of this type of profession, check out Darcia Helle's The Cutting Edge.

You can find out more about Darcia and her books here. I look forward to seeing more from Darcia.

Want to find some new authors?

If you like learning about new and upcoming authors, you may be interested in stopping by and checking out the newly created forum where authors and readers can join in discussions about upcoming books - E :)