Immortallo

Monday, March 8, 2010

IMMORTALLO Prologue and First Chapter

Prologue: The End of Everything

By the time TickTock Bear arrived at the Silk Queen’s palace, crossing leftwise the shimmering forest of dream trees, it was already too late.
He kept his right paw, shattered by cannon fire, tucked snugly in his waistcoat pocket, afraid of the bloody mess of fur and bone it had become. The chain from his pocket watch had become caught on a stony brier and snapped; he feared taking the watch from his pocket and then dropping it or losing it. TickTock Bear knew that a watch needed a chain, to keep it safe, to keep it secure, to keep it never more than a chain’s length away from its owner. So while he could feel the mechanized clicking and tapping of the watch’s workings, he dared not check the time it kept.
The sky held a color of bruised purple, and crackled and throbbed with ultraviolet lightning. The thought occurred to TickTock then, that he alone might be left. Even the clouds were dying--rolling across the horizon only to stiffen, and then crack and flake. The pink flakes stung his eyes and made his fur heavy and matted. They tasted as bitter as ash.
“The sun is gone,” TickTock whispered. Something in the forest laughed, and TickTock swung around sharply. He turned his head from side to side slowly until it occurred to him that it might be the forest itself that was laughing. He pushed onto the palace with haste.
What if he was the only one left? What could one tiny bear do to stop this madness?

You didn't know it, but today is the first day of the rest of your life. Well, everyday is the first day of the rest of your life, but please allow me to engage in a little hucksterism today as I proudly announce the release of my new novel IMMORTALLO. It's currently available directly from the publisher's website, using this handy link. It should be available from Amazon shortly in a print edition, but the Kindle version is up as we speak. The first two chapters are up for free at the Immortallo blog, and since I'm not allowed to sell eBook versions of the book for less than the Kindle version, I would never do anything like include a link to a free PDF of the book. That would be wrong. All of us here at Stately Tressel Manor (meaning me and the cats, right now) are immensely proud of this book and hope you check it out in one of the many forms it's being made available. Preferably the one that makes us the most money, since these cats need to eat. Thanks for your time.