Back to War’s End, and Madame Irela, who’s just volunteered to feed Michelle until Coralie has milk for her, is speaking. I’m entering this in Cambridge, but should be home (if exhausted) by the time it goes live.
“You concentrate on keeping us alive, at least until you have milk for her again.”
Coralie hesitated, but Michelle had no objections, and Madame Irela clearly knew what she was doing. “All right,” Coralie said once she was convinced that Michelle was as satisfied as she was going to be. “We need to know what we have — let’s check the emergency kit first — and discuss whether we’re going to stay here, look for a better place, or try to find help.”
“I’d say here or within a few hours walk, if we can,” Kelty said as he laid out the contents of the emergency kit. “Michelle would have brought us to some place that felt safe to her. Any ‘help’ we could find on Rakal would more likely than not be Maung-possessed. There may be a Confederation base somewhere on Rakal, but if so it’ll be well hidden and I have no idea of where it might be.”
So they have some idea of what to do once it’s light again.
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The predicament is well described as usual Sue, l love the way you involve all your characters throughout.
Glad you like it.
And they’re still in a tough situation but at least they never stop thinking through the possibilities. I’m still in awe of the baby!
So are they.
They are making plans now that the baby is taken care of. We all were concerned. Thanks, Sue.
This is the third book of the trilogy; my editor’s still working on the first.
I love seeing how characters work out their predicaments and use their wits. Great snippet!
They have a lot more to come, though not in these snippets.
Excellent as always, Sue Ann! And I hope you enjoyed your reunion!
(are you still looking for a beta? I’ve just finished with a friends MS, and I’d love to read yours!)
Reunion–93° the last day! I’m still getting back on Alaska time. Should warn you the trilogy (I’ve been posting from the 3rd book) is pretty long–each book is 125,000 to 150,000 words. My editor is working on the first book, which introduces characters and situations but I still have a problem with plot. 2nd and third are better on plot. They are a little like Tolkien’s trilogy in that all three go together–the first book ends on a real cliff-hanger. I can send any one or all three, if you’d like to give me your opinion.
I’d love to have someone look at the whole trilogy, but I ought to warn you the books are over 100,000 words each. Get back to me at sbowling at mosquitonet dot com
Great snippet! I like characters who stay calm in a crisis and focus on one catastrophe at a time.
There are more coming, though I may not put them on WWW.
It’s always great to see Coralie take control. She’s confident, but not aggressive, which is good in situations like this. Keeps the tension down.
Confident? Hardly! But she knows enough to hide it.
What a predicament, but I see Coralie is in control. I have confidence they’ll find their way out of this.
Provided she stays healthy.
Good interaction between the characters – they seem to have everything under control! Very nice 🙂
Well, a little better under control than when they were tumbling through the jungle.
Looks like I missed something on Michelle. Things are sounding complicated.
I’ve been out of town and haven’t been around to comment for the last two weeks (though I’ve posted), but they have indeed found out something important about Michelle.
I love how smoothly your characters work as a team. Creating and using an amazing ensemble of characters is one of the things I admire about your writing.
I’m not sure having that many characters is really wise, but they keep sneaking in. This is only a subgroup.
Excellent, as always. =)
Glad you think so.
Great character. She’s a take charge gal without being bossy, and she keeps them calm. Another good snippet.
History Sleuth’s Milk Carton Murders
She’s been through a lot before the courier. But she wouldn’t have taken charge on her own.
I’m glad the situation is getting better. Michelle is one great kid.
At least until they try to put a dress on her! (But I’m not planning to go that far.)
I would still like to see that. 🙂
Ooo, sounds like things are getting complicated. Great 8! Looking forward to more. 😀
Getting?
Great snippet – I love how you so smoothly weave dialogue with the action, creating tension, but also with characters one senses can handle it.
Thanks — glad you like it.
I have to agree with Susan above. Great snippet!
My people have very homely motives, even though this is science fiction.