I, Effing Feline, present for your edification and wonderment another snippet from my pet human’s WIP, The Seven Foot Cupid. You may thank me by sending donations of fresh salmon. Yum!
On a planet with a new human colony, unexpected dangers abound. Ember Dayle is one of the intrepid people whose job it is to deal with the unexpected . . . but today’s her first day back after an accident. The plastic surgery to her face looks good, but it doesn’t look like her.
Ember continues to explore the strange new hole in the ground that forms a ‘skylight’ into an important cave..
Ember unclipped the multi comm from her belt and adjusted it with a quick, sure touch. “Audio recording is now on,” she said into the comm. “This is Ember Dayle, senior encroachment officer and team lead, examining skylight AQ-49.”
She spoke the date, spatial coordinates, and her assignment number. Then she videoed the hole from several angles. “The hole cuts through…” She paused to take measurements with the multi-com’s lidar, which illuminated the rock with laser light and measured the reflection with a sensor. “Eighteen inches of basalt?” she said incredulously.
That was paper thin. Fear of falling if the ground crumbled threatened to overcome her, but she managed to beat it back.
Why was the hole round?
Answer: because someone had drilled it, obviously.
But who? And why?
She could guess the answer to the last question. This spot was miles from the nearest permanent habitation. Someone had wanted no witnesses to anyone going into this illegal skylight, which gave them access to the long, tunnel-shaped cave.
Be sure to visit the hooks by other fine writers in the Book Hooks blog hop.
The Seven Foot Cupid
Book One in the Passion Island Trilogy
A locked-in-together romance
Ember prides herself on handling anything her newly colonized planet can throw at her. After a head injury shakes her confidence, she’s determined to prove herself again. She gets her chance when she’s ordered to explore a mysterious new cave.
Tyler, an explorer from a rival town, is given the same task. Like Ember, he’d been in an accident – – but his entire team died, leaving him drowning in survivor’s guilt. When he meets Ember, he’s drawn not only to her beauty and toughness, but by how well she deals with her accident.
Booker, a naïve Apprentice Cupid for a secret organization, receives his first assignment: get Ember and Tyler together. His strategy: lock them in an abandoned cabin together so they ‘get to know’ each other.
He doesn’t realize he’s locked them in with . . . something else. Something dangerous. Something no human has ever seen.
Ed Hoornaert (Mr. Valentine) 
When do you think this will be coming out, Ed?
Beginning of the year. I don’t have a firm date yet. If I worked this the way I usually do, it’d already be out, but I want the trilogy to come out bing bing bing . . . on every month. That means waiting until all three are at least drafted before considering publication. I’ve learned my lesson (more than once! Talk about a slow learner) that I rush books out the door at my peril.
Shivers Something no human has ever seen. I like the mix of suspense, horror, and humor.
Effing Feline has a winner here, Ed. Can’t wait for it to come out. When, exactly??
I can’t say, exactly. See my answer to Lisabet, above.
Nice hook!
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Dee
#PMInc
Thanks, Dee!
You’ve hooked me
Don’t worry, Janet. I practice catch-and-release.
Very suspicious. A drilled tunnel in the middle of nowhere.
Tweeted.
Suspicious, yes. Why would anyone do that?
Skylight or oubliette?
I like the way you think! It’d be a totally different book, but it’s still a great idea.
A tunnel in the middle of nowhere? And why did they change her face? Catch the salmon feline! * tosses a big piece*
Effing wants me to tell you that he failed to catch the salmon, so he wants you to throw more.