I love doing the Nocturne Bites, which are 10k word stories, usually set in the same world as my Nocturnes (in this case it's the Of Angels and Demons series). These quick little stories are a chance to explore a secondary character featured in a longer book, that I didn't really want to write a full story for. In ANGEL SLAYER the heroine meets a halo hunter, Michael Donovan. The guy is mysterious cool, and he hunts for halos for a living. Angel halos. Yep, the real deal that fell away from the angel when it decided to Fall to earth.
Funny thing about those divine halos, no one would recognize one as something that belongs to a heavenly being. Actually, they look like a rinky-dink Hasbro toy, made of dull metal and flexible, and often they can be found in ragged old boxes of junk at garage sales. People don't know what they are. They are rumored to give hope to the mortal who holds one. But the real power is only realized when its original owner (the angel) holds it. That angel can then wield the halo as a weapon (these fallen angels are the bad guys, remember) or if placed above their head, they can claim their earthbound soul and become human. Not a lot of Fallen go for the claiming the mortal soul thing. Why would they when they possess untold power in angelic form? Though, a few desire their souls so they can live with the mortal women they love.
Michael Donovan collects the halos. Yet now, he's an urgent reason to find as many as he can. You see, vampires are using halos to lure the Fallen with hopes they'll mate with the Muses. It's sneaky and downright nasty, on the vampires' part. So Michael is going to do everything he can to keep the halos out of vampire hands.
Who's the heroine of the story? Erm, she's a vampire. :-)
You can read the prologue and first chapter at my website! I hope you enjoy the story!
Michele
11 comments:
Can't wait to get my hands on Halo Hunter. I LOVED Angel Slayer. NOT happy about the time gap between books (whine whine whine) :)
Michele, you always come up with such interesting plot lines.
Writing a short story scares the heck out of me. It seems as though it'd so much more difficult than long. And since it scares me, I should probably try it some day!
Michele - your mind fascinates me - so do do you stories. What a clever idea. Can't wait to read about Michael - especially after reading the teaser
ArkansasCyndi, yep, the timeline for pub dates on this series isn't the best, but that's why the publisher is tossing in a few short stories in between the full length ones, in hopes it'll tide readers over.
Helen, I used to fear writing short. Now I love it. It is a challenge, but after you're finished you really feel like you accomplished something.
Michele, LOVE the premise of a halo hunter! Makes me want to go to some yard sales and see if I can find one! So cool! Congrats on the release!;)
Michele: Your imagination is awesome! And I love that you can tide readers over with the short stories. I have written a very few but it's fun.
My release day too! I'll blog on Thursday, but my CRUSH ON YOU is out today. The first in my "Three Kisses" trilogy.
Leanne, wouldn't that be cool if you could find one at a yard sale? Don't pass over that dull metal ring next time you see one! :-)
I love your cover, Christie! Those purple shoes. Num. Yay, for new releases!
Wow. Could you possibly pack anything more inventive and interesting in one 10K story?
Angels and vamps and halos and fallen/falling. . . the lure of power. . . sexy vamps and halo-hunting. . . what was MIchael again? I lost track. But I want it. BAD.
Can't wait to NOOK it, Hauf!
The Nook is B&N, right? How do you like it, Betina? Do they give away free stories at B&N like Amazon does? I love my Kindle, but I have such a huge TBR pile on it! One good thing about those eReaders; no one knows how high your TBR is. ;-)
Michelle--
I love the concept. Very clever.
And I'm glad you said the thing about you having a release every week because for a minute I thought I was crazy.
"Again? Seriously? What date am I on? Oh, it really is Michele."
Yay you!
Heh, Deb. It's weird, but it seems like most of my books come out in the beginning of the year, and lately with the Bites it almost doubles the releases, and they're all kind of crammed in a few months. I have a feeling if I have a year with only one book out, I just won't know what to do with myself. :-)
Truly, I am thankful for every book I publish. It means readers are buying my books, and (hopefully) enjoying them, and that means I get to keep on writing the stories I love.
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