Tag Archive: controlled dreaming


WWW logo rect

It’s Sunday again, and time for Weekend Writing Warriors (click on the logo above) and Snippet Sunday (click on the logo below.) Today I’m posting 8 sentences from my first published book, Homecoming available in all formats from Amazon, Barnes and Noble and iUniverse.

This continues Roi’s controlled dream from last week.

Get away! Keep running! But Snowy was frozen in shock just long enough for the gasping giant to grab his arm and swing him against the wall, hard enough that Snowy felt bones splinter. The guard must have felt it, too, and known he was in trouble for damaging his owner’s property. His eyes flicked to the balcony railing, and he made a sudden dive for Snowy. Something in Snowy’s mind knew the guard’s intention and struck out is frantic self-preservation, and at the same instant Snowy was inside the guard’s mind, somersaulting over the balcony railing and falling, screaming, to the stone-paved floor below, while the slave he had intended to destroy before  it could communicate what he’d done huddled on the balcony above ….

If you’ve been wondering about that “I think I killed a man,” this is what Roi remembers.

Next week I’m going back to to the hang gliding in Tourist Trap.

Snippet Sunday logo

WWW logo rect

It’s Sunday* again, and time for Weekend Writing Warriors (click on the logo above) and Snippet Sunday (click on the logo below.) Today I’m posting 8 sentences from my first published book, Homecoming available in a variety of formats from Amazon, Barnes and Noble and iUniverse.

This is a continuation from last week, with Roi as he is forced to relive a memory.

Snowy had learned so early that he could not remember learning that crying, struggling, or any expression but happiness or eagerness to please would bring uncontrollable pain. He knew how to keep his owners happy, if anything he did could manage that.

Still, he hated being a catamite. He wanted to strike out, and kick, and struggle, but he knew better than to think he could get away with it. So he hated and ran, head down and arms pumping as he returned along the balcony to the slave quarters.

Corner ahead – better slow down; one of the guards might be – was! – coming the other way.  But neither his body nor the mind inhabiting it responded in the slightest to his concern. Horrified, he tried to rouse himself, knowing to the smallest detail what was to come, but helpless to do anything except to keep running until his lowered head slammed into the guard’s groin.

Not a good move for a slave.

*Oops, I scheduled this for Saturday instead of Sunday by accident, so you’re getting it a day early.

Snippet Sunday logo

WWW logo rect

It’s Sunday again, and time for Weekend Writing Warriors (click on the logo above) and Snippet Sunday (click on the logo below.) Today I’m posting 8 sentences from my first published book, Homecoming, available in a variety of formats from Amazon, Barnes and Noble and iUniverse.

Last week was a break, with an excerpt from the sequel of HomecomingTourist Trap. This week I’m going back to Homecoming, but to a point a little after the scene with Derik and Roi. Just remember that Roi was originally called Snowy.

“If you feel like hitting someone, run it off,” Snowy’s mother had told him. “Just make sure you’re running in the direction your owner wants. You’re not likely to get in trouble that way.”

Snowy had done a lot of running in the six months since he’d been sold away from his mother. Six months? Wait a minute, that had been years ago. Not that he’d liked his mother’s owner, or the overseers who gave most of the orders. But this new owner, and the brutes he expected to keep his slaves in line, left him half sick with fear.

Wondering about the italic portions? The controlled dreaming Roi is being subjected to has that effect — he cannot change the memory, but he is simultaneously remembering and reliving it.

Snippet Sunday logo