Circulating around Facebook in various incarnations is a list of rather clever two-line horror stories. One WriteOn Joliet member posted such a list on our page, prompting another member to suggest we compose our own, in honor of October and Halloween, etc.
So this weekend, nibbling on pen cap and musing possibilities, I realized two things. One, the lazy selfish author in me would want to incorporate any two-line soundbites I'd write for mere exercise into a novel (Why waste them, right?). Two, the thought-provoking effects of the two-line challenge resembled the book quotes I'd pull and post on Facebook before the release of a book. We call them "30-Day Countdown Quotes."
Unfortunately, we I posed those of
Staked! a year ago, thinking release was imminent.
My point is that the purpose of the exercise and my countdown quotes are the same: to tease the reader and whet the appetite for more. So instead of writing a random series of two-line stories and pulling my attention from my latest work-in-progress, I've chose instead to read some (or all) of those countdown quotes.
And since I'm approaching the end of John's portion of
Before the Blood - some 50,000 words later and rather bittersweet - I pulled a few lines from each of the chapters. Feast on these, vampire fans!
They entered the birthing chamber, and he recoiled against the stifling stench of sweat, human waste, and blood.
Why was it always blood? Prologue
1) With her spirits sucked as dry as an old orange, Lucetta edged between old Miss Polly and the end of larger sofa and pretended to enjoy a conversation about corns and smelling salts. Chapter 1: One Magical Christmas
2) On Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation when Abbot was in town, father and son attended High Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral, its Federal-style architecture and plaster ceiling and walls resembling home: hard, beautiful, and cold. Chapter 2: Tasting Immortality
3) Despite its abundance of guests, Spencer Inn felt as still as a forgotten cemetery; the kitchen lacked bustling and laughter. Reality hit John like a brick in the face. Chapter 3: Keys to Heaven
4) John never realized someone so pure of heart had ever walked the earth. Certainly such a woman never passed through the doors of his father's home. Chapter 4: Maid to Order
5) As he tried to save her immortal soul with pleas for repentance, she wove a hypnotic tale of the sinister plot against her, spurred by jealousy of her healing powers. Thus, she reeled him in, thread by thread by thread. Chapter 5: Post-Graduate Studies
6) As John had requested, Della had provided a copy of the invitation and the guest list. Many were his father's colleagues. Good. Chapter 6: Shedding the Cocoon
7) The first lesson was inside another tenement apartment, not far from Hewes Music Hall. The children, a girl and two boys, along with their parents, were busy rolling cigarettes. This was no small operation; as a group, they turned out thousands each week. Chapter 7: Music Halls and Garbage Cans
8) "Look, Agnes and I get on jolly well," Henry said, "and if that isn't sufficient grounds for marriage, then what is?" Chapter 8: One for the Memory Books
9) John stopped short, wondering how the man had moved so quickly, until the stranger stood before him, leaned close, and sniffed his neck. Chapter 9: The Contract
10) John unbolted and unlocked the door, then paused, as his stomach took a sickening plunge. He hadn't yet figured out Kellen, but John knew one thing. This wasn't the way Kellen had left. Chapter 10: Crossing the Rubicon
