Julie Frost, writer

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My first original short story, Illegal Beagles, is available right here on this LJ as a freebie. Read, enjoy, feedback is adored. There is a completely optional "donate" button at the bottom if you feel like tossing a couple of bucks my way. ;)

Summary: Russell Fisk hates transporting live cargo, but a creditor has him over a barrel. So now he has to get a pack of hunting Beagles to the client, while dodging Feds and dealing with an alien passenger who's more than slightly odd. And, oh, hey, one of the dogs is in labor.

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I've had four short stories published in various venues.

"Affairs of Dragons" was published in Renard's Menagerie, which is sadly defunct. It's also available through Anthology Builder, which is where the link to the story will take you. And you can read the beginning of it here. It's the sequel to "Illegal Beagles."

Summary: A spaceship crew is hired by a mother dragon to move her eggs from one planet to another. She's in the middle of an ugly divorce and an uglier clan war. The eggs aren't supposed to hatch...

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"Bitter Honey" was published in AfterburnSF but can no longer be read online. It's available through Anthology Builder here, and it also appears in the "Fight On! Weird Enclaves and Black Pits" anthology. The link in the title will take you to a short preview, and it's available through Amazon here.

Summary: Desperate faeries raid a beehive for the honey they need to make it through a deadly winter. But at what cost to both faeries and bees?

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"Fortunes of Soldiers" was published by Cosmos magazine, with a fabulous illustration by Emrah Elmasli. You can also buy it through Anthology Builder (link takes you to a preview of it).

Summary: Two week's pay for one night's work, babysitting a spoiled asteroid heiress? Mercenary Jake O'Dell thinks all his jobs should be this easy. Until, of course, everything goes disastrously wrong.

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"Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf" was published by Darwin's Evolutions, with a fabulous illustration by Karl Nordman. It's available as a trade paperback for $9.99 (along with several other stories by several other awesome writers), or a high-quality .pdf download for $2.73. It's also available through Anthology Builder. You can read the beginning of it here, and purchase it here.

Summary: Mark Newman loves being a werewolf. But when his wife finds out she's pregnant, she attempts to cure him against his will, in his sleep. Naturally, it goes horribly wrong--and it goes even wronger when she gets a well-meaning priest involved, poor fellow.

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My author page at Anthology Builder is here. You can read more of my fiction right here on this LJ. I have a "DVD extra" from my first novel that introduces a couple of characters to each other under less-than-optimal circumstances, and you can read that here. This is one of my very favorite scenes. And I try to post a snippet every Saturday (subject to change), and those can be accessed via my snippets tag.

Most of this LJ is me whining about writing, with some Real Life and Fannish Squee thrown in on occasion. I have more information on my User Info page, or you can peruse my tags and see if anything in there looks interesting.

So. Come in, kick back, have fun. If you feel like commenting, please do.

Two editing passes later, I'm quite pleased with the Won His Soul story. However, it seems to be missing something I can't quite put my finger on, so I think I may pass it off to the Usual Suspects today and let them tear into it.

I talked to a publisher last night at CONduit and now have a new place to send the Faerie Show story, once I work up a submission packet for it. GOD, I hate writing synopses. Hate hate hate. I may talk with him further about that, because a summary for a short story is... not really industry-standard. It's a fledgling publisher and a paying market, although the guidelines page doesn't say how much they pay for short fiction. I will also speak to him about that, because it should say something there.

I saw Chewbacca yesterday. WOW, that was an amazing costume.

The Won His Soul story has an END at the bottom and came in at 15,266 words. Which gives me about 1400 words on the day.

I will probably add more in edits, because there was a subplot I wanted in there and didn't quite manage.

In celebration, have a snippet:

Leonas's head whipped around as a roaring wail sounded from everywhere and nowhere. That was all the opening Advaiel needed to lunge forward and force him back against the well with their swords crossed. "Come Home, Leo," he said between his teeth. "You're my brother and I love you. I don't want to hurt you." Which seemed a ridiculous statement, considering both of them were slashed open in too many places to count.

"And that--" Leonas also spoke between his teeth. A dagger appeared in his hand, and he plunged it home between Advaiel's ribs. I felt my own heart stop in response. "Is your weakness, Adva."

Advaiel's legs buckled as Leonas twisted the knife and pulled it free with a great gout of blood following. The angel's face was filled with sorrow and resignation both. He suddenly had a dagger of his own buried to the hilt in Leonas's chest. "It doesn't mean I won't."

Leonas gasped in disbelief as the area around the wound turned black and began to dissolve with a foul odor of rot and brimstone. "I didn't--" The blackness expanded, more quickly than I'd have thought possible. "Didn't think you had it in you, little brother." And then all that was left of him was a dissipating puddle of black and smelly ooze on the ground.

"And that was your weakness, and your pride, Leo." Advaiel dropped heavily to his knees. I leaped to his side, and he leaned against me, wings drooping. "Well. I didn't enjoy that much."

Yaaaaaaaay.

Right before bed last night, I figured out exactly the order of events for the end of the Won His Soul story. Now, I'm a pantser, not an outliner, but it seemed kind of stupid not to write down the basic points, and so I did. And now I know where I'm going and how I'm getting there. I may actually stick an END at the bottom of this thing today.

And then this morning upon awakening, I came up with a first line for the collab-fic with my RP partner, if she likes it. It will be set in this universe, which we call "Probationary Angels."

A little about my process on the Won His Soul story: This is a much more ambitious project than I usually take on. I knew going in that it was going to be long, and that it had a Big Idea of pretty large scope. In fact, it's got three of the four MICE elements (Idea, Character, Event), with some things about the Milieu also playing a fairly significant role. In order to organize my thoughts, I basically whiteboarded the thing on a sheet of paper with a pencil, which is something I've never done before.

This process worked so well that I may carry it forward to other projects. It's a lot more free-form than an actual point-by-point outline, and it let my thoughts be organized while keeping them organic and not too organized, if that makes sense. If you haven't tried it, perhaps you should. :)

Gyah, yes, I realize I promised pictures. And I will post them. Eventually. I swear. Today has been full of busy-ness, however. I scribbled 1200 words and am now sitting at 13,800, in the Won His Soul story. I outlined the coming events in a somewhat coherent manner as well, so I know how I'm getting to the end from here. I discussed a collaboration with my lovely and effulgent RP Partner for an Actual Fiction Story for submission to Writers of the Future and Other Venues. I gave Ben rabies, which is, for the record, a horrible way to die. You may consider that a warning.

I also went to the bank, and I now have enough money saved up for WorldCon to stay in the hotel and eat. All other money I save will be walking-around cashola. This weekend is CONduit, where the writer Guest of Honor is Tamora Pierce. In a fit of efficiency, I actually bought and read one of her books before meeting her, so I won't be a blithering idiot. The book was "Terrier," and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

So this post isn't a total loss for y'all, I leave you with a photo I shot five minutes from my house, of a Scottish Highland cow and calf:

( HOW CUTE ARE THESE ANIMALS. 1024x768. )

I blew right past Snippet Saturday. I didn't have anything anyway, really, so. However, I did manage to hit my goal for all three days we were in Moab, and have now cracked 12,000 words on the thing and moved my Plot forward. Go, me.

Moab was awesome, in case you were wondering, but, then, it always is. I will post up some pix tomorrow, but in the meantime I leave you with more angel wallpaper:



( 1024x600 images under the cut )

Well, I un-stalled myself on the Won His Soul story this afternoon by the simple expedient of having Kaveh's test be "his best friend is ill" rather than "some random villager we hadn't met yet is ill." And I have now cracked 11,000 words and know what his next test will be, although not how I'll get to it yet.

My job is to put my characters through as much living hell as possible. Oddly, I'm all right with that...

We love Moab, Utah. Like, a lot. Like, enough that we actually bought a two-acre piece of property there last year while I was on my extended hiatus. We also have a 1952 Willys Wagon that we take there during the Easter Jeep Safari and other times.

This weekend will be one of those "other times," as the owners of other Willys Wagons and Pickups from across the country will be gathering there for the third annual Willys Rally. So, if I am scarce online this weekend, that is why.

In other news, I bought a post office box door to make a bank out of. I have started saving $1 bills in addition to what I'm putting away for Worldcon, and the pig isn't cutting it; I wanted something with a door for easier access and these things captured my imagination when I found them inadvertently, looking for something else.

Writing? What is this writing of which you speak? Stalled. I am stalled like a big stalled thing, still 10K into the Won His Soul story and knowing exactly how it ends but with no idea how to get from here to there. Ugh.

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms on my flist, and especially to my own. <3<3<3

In honor of the day, and it being Sunday and all, what mom does not appreciate eye candy? As some of you may or may not be aware, Ben, my werewolf dude, has picked up an honest-to-capital-G-God Guardian Angel, who is played in fine style by Allu Arjun, a south Indian actor who's starred in several movies in which he manages to get his shirt off, oh, lots. He is a pretty, pretty man. Also young enough to be my kid, but. Tiny, insignificant details.

The fact that he's an angel in the RP gives me an excuse to make wallpaper of him with a Bible verse embedded. See? It's wholesome even if he's covered in blood and half-naked! And, over the next several Sundays, I'll share them with you. Not all of them are shirtless, but I hope you enjoy. :)

Thumbnails:


( Full-sized 1024x600 images under the cut. )

We open on a conversation between a mage and a demon in my current (maddening) WIP:

"What's more likely? That every single other person in the village is wrong and you're right? Or that you've taken a bit too much of your own potions and it's messed about with your mind a bit?"

I tightened my lips. "Advaiel!" He appeared a few seconds later, just as he'd promised, and I gestured at Leonas, frustrated. "Can you make him leave? Please?"

"Oh, yes, brother, I'd like to see you try," Leonas said, crossing his arms. "It should be amusing and instructive for all involved."

Advaiel rubbed his face. He looked unutterably weary. "I'm sorry, Kaveh. He's assigned to you, and evil will have its day before good triumphs in the end. Just ignore him. He hates that and it's actually a rather effective strategy. If you don't engage him, he has nothing to grab hold of."

"You're no fun, Adva," Leonas sulked. "Father needs evil in the world to show these ridiculous humans the contrast with good it makes. I'm part of His vaunted Plan, and you know it as well as I."

"You're part of no one's plan but the Evil One's. Bad enough you're trying to delude Kaveh. Deluding yourself is just sad." Advaiel huffed. "I apologize for my mannerless brother, Kaveh. He clearly has trouble overstaying his welcome."

"Well, I'll ignore him from here on out. Perhaps he'll take the hint and bother someone more receptive."

"Like your cousin Marjan?" Leonas shot back.

"I swear before God--" I leaped from my chair, and the fire flared in the hearth. "Get out. Now. Or I will find a way to bind you so far away from here you'll never return."

"Well." His tone was airy. "My work here is done anyway. Good morrow, Kaveh. Brother." And he disappeared in an overdramatic puff of smoke.

So, what've you got?

So LJRP ate my brain and a good portion of my life for a really long time. And I met some terrific people and I've had a blast, but it wasn't good for me on a professional level, because all my creative juice was going into that instead of writing I could, you know, get paid for.

But. After a discussion with my main RP partner about how out-of-control this had gotten, I've cut back on the RP and am back on the writing horse again; I've completed another short story starring Ben that is not filled with angst and death, and I'm 10K words into a novelette that should come in around 15K if all goes as planned (HAH).

During the time I was RPing, I continued subbing my stuff, and there's nothing new on the acceptance front, although I seem to be getting a better class of rejections these days, even on my older stuff, so IDEK.

Also, I'm going to WorldCon in Chicago this year; I have my membership bought and the hotel room reserved, and roomies. So that'll be cool.

Anyone still here? Or has everybody migrated over to DW because of LJ's asshattery?

So, wow, the RP that ate my brain has also, apparently, eaten my LJ. Has it really been since the 3rd that I updated this thing?

The reason for that, I think, is that, well... nothing actually interesting's happening. My life is on an even keel, the rejections are coming thick and fast, and the writing is...

Honestly? Pretty much completely stalled, right now.

But that's okay. Because I have a shiny new toy I'm playing with, and it really is the Most Fun Ever. But the thing is, no one really wants to read RP logs except people who are invested in either the characters or the people playing them, and I'm pretty sure you good folks got bored with watching poor Ben get his buttons pushed a long time ago. So while I go back and read these interactions with unseemly glee, none of you (probably) are all that interested--especially when an adventure goes on for so long that it squishes the post all the way over to the side of the page and LJ collapses it on itself. Which is when I hit the "thread" button to bring up a shiny new page, but...yeah. Seven times, bit much. EVEN WHEN IT'S AWESOME.

ANYWAY. All of which is to say that... I haven't died. I haven't checked my flist in...awhile, either, because, like I say, much with the brain-eating.

If you really want to stalk Ben (and his honest-to-capital-G-God Guardian Angel, who rocks like a big rocking thing OMG), drop me a line and I'll tell you who he is over at sixwordstories. And that right there is an awesome, awesome comm. It's like the ultimate multifandom crossover crackfic. You can find yourself anywhere, doing anything, for reals. I mean, like I say: Guardian Angel -- and one I'm pretty sure the Christians on my flist would have no problem with (I sure don't). The people who play the Divine over there are an amazing bunch and they alternately have me laughing my ass off and bawling all over my keyboard.

So. That's the State of the agilebrit right now.

This is wild. Or maybe it's just me, being overly-invested. Hell if I know.

But you know that feeling you get in your chest when you're tremendously relieved by something? Like something was stopping you from taking a full breath and suddenly you can again?

I posted a thing yesterday, as Ben, wherein he basically wakes up, hogtied (I have no idea what the etiquette is on linking stuff like this, so I will refrain for now; it's not hard to find, really, if your LJ-fu is strong). And then I waited to see what would happen. Now, Ben's made friends with an honest-to-capital-G-God angel over there (which I may have mentioned). In fact, he went looking for trouble (and found it, clearly), because he was pissed on this guy's behalf and there was nothing he could actually do. In fact, Ben wasn't the only one pissed on his behalf. I was too.

So. Am I, personally, supposed to have an actual physical reaction of relief when this guy shows up to untie him? Because I did. Funny thing, someone else showed up too, in another thread, but it wasn't the same. And she showed up first.

I...just.

And the thing is, it's all improv. There's no collusion here, no actual collaboration; just a couple of people riffing from each other as fictional characters. I have no idea who the person is who's playing the angel dude, and they probably have no idea who I am (unless they've gone poking through my userpics where I credited myself as the icon maker, then came over here and put two and two together). It's ... just ...

What is this I don't even.

Or are LJ comment notifications coming in abominably slowly?

I mean, okay, yay for tabs that I can keep open and continually refresh, but this is cramping my style. And werewolf_hacker's.

But I gotta say that roleplaying Ben last night was just about the most fun I've had in quite some time. Maybe I should be headdesking x1000 (especially over the fact that I created an RP journal for Janni on the fly), but I'm too busy giggling madly to myself.

And, okay, I'm brand, brand new to all this RP stuff, but the fact that all this happened completely spontaneously with a total stranger just hits my "that's so cool" button.

BECAUSE THAT WAS SO COOL.

Everything I have is either out on submission, published on this LJ, or published elsewhere. That's fourteen stories on various editors' desks, a novel with a couple of agents, four stories published (each in more than one place), and one story published here. I found a market on Duotrope's today called GigaNotoSaurus specifically geared to longer stories in the 5,000-25,000 range, of which I have ten. They pay $100 flat, which isn't pro rates, but it's not chump change either. Poor not!Iron Man has been languishing on my hard drive for nine months now, so it's nice to see a market that might be interested in it crop up.

Yeah, they're going to get sick of hearing from me.

Really should get busy with that synopsis so I can send out another round of novel queries...

And now I'm finally getting off my tushie and doing it. What is "this?" you ask, as well you should. "This" is posting the BeagleFic here as a freebie with a tip jar. I'm of the firm opinion that authors should do stuff like this from time to time, on the Baen Free Library model of "If they like the free stuff, they might be induced to actually buy the other stuff."

This is the story of the intrepid captain of the Inquisitive Tamandua (see what I did there? It's a curious anteater! Only more flowery), Russell Fisk, and what happens to him when he takes on a rather unusual job smuggling a pack of hunting dogs to a guy in desperate need of them before the neighbors have his head because of the rabbit problem he's caused. Fair warning, this did appear many years ago in much altered form as a Firefly story, but I've cut down my crew and added aliens. And a subplot.

So, I will shut up and get out of the way of the story.

---

Illegal Beagles
by Julie Frost


Captain Russell Fisk slouched into the co-pilot's chair of his battered interplanetary tramp freighter, the Inquisitive Tamandua, running a hand through his graying hair. "Take us off-world, Mandy. We've got work, finally." He crossed an ankle over his leg and tapped his boot on the floor with a distracted air.

His twenty-two-year-old daughter flipped some switches and began her takeoff sequence. "Neat. It's been awhile, and I'd kind of like to eat sometime this week." She noticed Russell's expression. "Um, Dad, you usually look happier when we have a job. Something about this one making you itch?"

"Why, no. You know how much I enjoy smuggling animals," he said dryly, as they broke free of the planet's gravity well. "I'm thrilled, ecstatic even. Really. But, hey. Work."

"Animals?" She grinned, pushing a lock of long brown hair behind her ear. "What kind?"

Russ leaned his head back against the chair. "Beagles, of all things."

"We're smuggling Beagles?" Amanda lifted her eyebrows. "What for?"

"Some idiot--I mean, Ben Foster, our esteemed client on Epsilon Three, that border planet they've just opened up?" At her nod, he continued. "He decided he wanted a wild game hunting preserve for small predators. Wolves and groompahs and servals and critters like that." Russ tugged at his beard. "Well, those things eat rabbits, so he imported a bunch of them. He assured the locals that nothing would get through his fences, but I've never yet seen a fence that'll keep a rabbit from going where it wants to."

( 'So, some of the rabbits got out and started multiplying like...rabbits,' Amanda said. )

Remember the flight attendant who quit his job in a really stupid way?



I dearly love Brewster Rockit.

Yeah. Have some Cowboy!Sleeping Beauty.

I fired again, more steady this time, and a splash of crimson exploded from his chest. The fire guttered out, and he slumped in his saddle, his lips moving. I couldn't quite hear what he said, but he fell to the ground in a boneless heap, and his compadres left on the run. Jock tail-wagged back to me, well-pleased with his day's work.

I jumped out of my saddle and trotted over to the rustler. Bright blood stained his lips, and his expression was unbelieving. "You..." he rasped. He was dying. Can't say I was either surprised or upset.

"Told you. We don't take kindly to rustlers in these parts."

"Sleep...forever. And may all your dreams...be terrifying." He exhaled one last time, and I thought something insubstantial and shrieking rose from his body and flew away.

"Well, what the hell," I muttered.

"Sam! Sam!" A tiny winged form hovered in front of my nose. Daneen. "We have to get you home. Right now!"

"Why? What's the matter?"

"That was a death curse! You must get home before the sun goes down. I might be able to--" She stopped and gulped. "But not out here. I'm a house fairy--my powers outdoors are weak."

"A death...what?" Events were catching up with me, and the shakes suddenly gripped me like an ague. The rustler had shot fire at me with his bare hands. Daneen was one thing; I was used to her. This was quite different.

The good news is that it's entirely possible that my Writing Buddy gave me something to hang my hat on last night. The bad news is that I'm not sure I can do the idea justice. I guess we'll see. I cracked a thousand words on it yesterday.

And, with abject apologies to John Denver:

Rejections...in my email...make me eat worms
Rejections...in my inbox...make me sigh
Rejections...almost always...look so ugly
Rejections...almost always...make me cry.

I know, I know. Cry moar, grow a thicker skin, yadda yadda. Is okay. Really. I flipped it to a (new) place that pays more. We shall see.

Send booze.

Seriously, I have no idea where this thing is going. I finished the flashback scene and am back in the present day, but I don't think my Time Bomb works and I don't know what else to do with it.

*headdesks repeatedly*

SO MUCH HATE. THIS IS WHY WRITERS DRINK.

Why did I decide to do this again?

That's what I saw when I logged onto Yahoo!Answers this morning. Hee.

In other news, I scribbled another 400 words or so in cowboy!sleeping beauty last night and moved my plot forward. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing, I don't know yet.

I'm getting a vague plot bunny of a supernatural "Survivor" type story where the stakes are death, except Carrie Vaughn and Suzanne Collins have pretty much done that already and I'm not sure I have anything new to bring to that table.

Maybe I just want to tie Ben up and torture him some more. I'm a horrible person.

I am holding...

In my formerly nicotine-stained fingers...

A Ruger LCP Raspberry .380.



Normally, I'm not much of a girly girl, but this SPOKE to me (perhaps not as loudly as the Micro Desert Eagle, but also not as expensively, because, damn, that's a $500 little tiny handgun and this was, well, way less than that). Perhaps now I'll actually get that concealed-carry permit...

well. Any-damn-thing, right now. It's barely noon, and the day has already been a trainwreck.

about the new!Ben&Janni story.

It's not actually Ben's story.

Oh, sure, he's the one getting whumped. His pain (mental, physical, and emotional) drives the plot.

But the story itself is about Angeline and how she grows as a person.

Capitalizing on this realization will require an extensive re-write that I'm, frankly, not sure I have the energy to tackle. Or even the inclination. May I just say that I love the fact that it took me 145,000 words and over a year to realize this. And by "love," I really mean "it makes me want to stab myself in the eyeball, repeatedly, with a letter opener."

I may just chalk this one up to a learning experience. This is akin to the realization I had 70,000 words into the last one that Ben was my real protagonist. At least with that one, it was an easy tweak. This one, not so much.

I hate everything I'm writing right now. I have five fic docs open and no idea where any of them is going. I should just go to the bookstore, or perhaps the coffee shop, and see if a change of scenery and an infusion of real caffeine and sugar helps the process.

The good news is that I've finished three short stories (for a certain value of "short") totaling nearly 23,000 words in the last three months. And they are all out seeking homes. So, I guess that's some sort of accomplishment, and I should hold onto that. Lord knows I don't have any other accomplishments to hold onto; I haven't been paid for my writing in over a year and a half, and it's wearing on me. I remember when this was fun.

Meh.

Where we turn the TV on for more than NASCAR and DVDs. The fall season shall soon be upon us, and here's what my viewing schedule looks like:

Monday:
7pm Chuck / NBC (premieres Sept 20)
8pm House, MD / FOX (taped, because it's on at the same time Chuck is) (premieres Sept 20)
9pm Castle / ABC (premieres Sept 20)

Tuesday:
7pm No Ordinary Family (new--but with Michael Chiklis and Julie Benz, I am so there. Hopefully it's more "Incredibles" than "Heroes," but I guess we'll see) / ABC (premieres Sept 28)

Thursday:
8pm Fringe / FOX (premieres Sept 23)
9pm The Mentalist / NBC (premieres Sept 23)

Friday:
7pm Human Target / FOX (premieres Oct 1 and then we don't get any new eps until 2011? WTF, Fox? Trying to kill another show?)
8pm CSI: NY / CBS (moved from Wednesday) (premieres Sept 24)

All we get is broadcast, but the only thing that's pinged my radar as far as "new stuff" is "No Ordinary Family." Several of our shows had their last hurrahs last year (Heroes, Numb3rs, Better Off Ted, Lost, probably a couple of others I'm not remembering right now because my brain is mush). However, I just looked at the cast list for "Hawaii Five-0" (because I remembered that I thought I was interested and then couldn't remember why) and see Daniel Day Kim and James Marsters, so I am now exponentially more interested. It's not premiering until November, apparently.