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Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Teaser Tuesday

Here's a short teaser from Mystic Taxi. Henry has a conversation with his demon-possessed cab:

"You hate Wanda because she's an exorcist, don't you?" Henry asked Mystic.

"Yes."

He nodded. "She was born that way, you know. It's not like she chose to have a life killing demons."

Mystic had no response to that. Her silence spoke volumes.

"I don't blame her for what she is. Look at me. I'm no paragon of Hellspawn virtue. I'm not a model half-breed."

"You… are… good… person."

"Thanks. But I doubt Wanda thinks so. Have you seen how she looks at me? Like she'd try to kill me the minute my back was turned."

The laugh track from a studio audience chortled through the Victrola horn on Mystic's radio.

"What's so funny?"

"Seen… her… when… your… back… turned. You… wrong."

"Yeah?" Now he was curious. "How so?"

"Not… try… kill… you. Kiss… you."

Henry frowned. "I must have given you the wrong oil for your engine today. You've gone loony." But it did make him wonder. As lovely as Wanda was, he couldn't help thinking those full lips of hers might be deadly for someone like him. What if she sucked out his demon soul? Not a risk he was willing to take.

Silence from the cab.

Henry asked, "Do you think Wanda—?"

"Shut… up."

Mystic had never told him to shut up before. He must have struck a nerve.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ha! Love it. It makes me very interested in your worldbuilding.

I have an excerpt up on my blog, too, if you want to take a look.

sue laybourn said...

I love your work. It really has a clever, different spin on it.

Courtney Allison Moulton said...

OMG Loooved this!! I want a demon-possessed taxi... ^___^ This was just great all over. You rock!

JenWriter said...

Funny. Love it. :)

Gretchen said...

I friggin love that taxi.

Unknown said...

Love the idea of a possessed taxi! Love the idea of your protagonist taking relationship advice from one even more. Very nice!

Julianne Douglas said...

Awesome! I love your style--short sentences, but quite evocative. I bet this one will sell in days!

Creative A said...

Great excerpt! Now I find myself making all these theories about why Mystic talks in spurts. Can you explain, or is that a no no at this point?

-CA

Karen Duvall said...

Thanks, everyone! Those are all wonderful compliments.

Julienne, I'm so glad you noticed those short sentences because most of them don't start out that way. I chop and refine and chop some more to keep from getting too wordy.

LOL, Creative A! Mystic's speech is choppy because she's grabbing words from various radio stations she finds on the airwaves. One word might come from a song, another from a talk show, another from a newscast. Male and female voices all mixed and strung together. She steals laughter from laugh tracks. Ha!

Barbara Martin said...

Smart taxi.