MALLARA AND BURN: ON THE ROAD
Frank Tuttle
Published by Sizzling Lizard Press at Smashwords
Copyright 2011 Sizzling Lizard Press
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment
only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people.
If you would like to share this book with another person, please
purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading
this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your
use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your
own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this
author.
Cover (courtesy of Beth
Morgan)
Table of Contents
Foreword
The Ringed Round
Night Stand
The Asking and the Vow
The Helpers
Foreword
The very first professional fiction sale I
ever made, Night Stand, is included in this collection.
Night Stand sold to Marion Zimmer Bradley's
Fantasy Magazine. MZB herself was the publisher and the editor and
the slush-pile reader and the author of some of the most direct and
scathing rejection letters ever to grace the public mails. Really,
her rejections were that good; writers compared them on writing
discussion boards, almost boasting at the severity of them.
I got quite a few of them from MZB before she
passed away.
All of them were deserved. She helped me
recognize -- and avoid -- a few of the flaws in my own writing
style. For that I will always be grateful.
I got lucky in another respect, too. My very
first published short story was illustrated by none other than
Vincent Di Fate. The illustrations he did for Night Stand were
beautiful, were works of art all on their own. The title image,
matted and framed, still hangs in my study.
Mallara and Burn went on to enjoy several
more short stories in various other publications. I think my
personal favorite is The Ringed Round, which is a Halloween story
with a Christmas twist.
I'm always eager to hear what readers have to
say. And one of the best things about e-books is how easy they make
it for authors and readers to communicate. So if you have any
comments, be they praise or scold, feel free to email me at [email protected] .
too, please visit my website at www.franktuttle.com !
I hope you enjoy traveling along with Mallara
and Burn as they see to the magical well-being of the Five Valleys.
Oh, one last thing -- a huge THANKS to Beth Morgan, who once again
created a brilliant cover! Thanks Beth!
THE RINGED
ROUND
by Frank Tuttle
"Looks like the storm is over," said Burn,
who hovered in the shelter of a grinning Ollow's Eve pumpkin. When
he spoke, his voice set the candle within the pumpkin to
flickering, and Mallara's frown deepened at the thought of Burn as
the spirit of Ollow's Eve.
"Any villagers still lurking about?" asked
Mallara.
"Not a one," said Burn."Thank the rain."
Mallara sighed and stood."Good," she
muttered."I'm not in the mood for an audience."
As if there will be anything to see here
tonight, she thought. Dancing bones on Ollow's Eve. Bah. There's
nothing here but a prehistoric ring of badly-carved stones and a
weary Sorceress with a blister on her heel.
About her, rain-water still dripped and
splashed from the circle of twelve tall stones the Tothish
villagers called the Ringed Round. Probably half of the traditional
Ollow's Eve twelve dozen carved pumpkins scattered about the Round
were still lit, their candles having braved the storm; Mallara was
thus surrounded by glowing orange eyes and wide, toothy grins, each
pumpkin face lit by red-orange flickers and each casting small
quick flocks of shadows.
Mallara looked away from the leaning old
stones and the leering pumpkin-faces, threw back her wet hood, and
sought out instead the moon or the stars. The sky above was inky
black, though -- the rain might be gone, but the clouds hung low
and thick.
"We won't be checking the alignment of Stone
Seven against the north star tonight," she said.
"Pity," said Burn, still in his
Frank Tuttle
Published by Sizzling Lizard Press at Smashwords
Copyright 2011 Sizzling Lizard Press
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment
only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people.
If you would like to share this book with another person, please
purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading
this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your
use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your
own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this
author.
Cover (courtesy of Beth
Morgan)
Table of Contents
Foreword
The Ringed Round
Night Stand
The Asking and the Vow
The Helpers
Foreword
The very first professional fiction sale I
ever made, Night Stand, is included in this collection.
Night Stand sold to Marion Zimmer Bradley's
Fantasy Magazine. MZB herself was the publisher and the editor and
the slush-pile reader and the author of some of the most direct and
scathing rejection letters ever to grace the public mails. Really,
her rejections were that good; writers compared them on writing
discussion boards, almost boasting at the severity of them.
I got quite a few of them from MZB before she
passed away.
All of them were deserved. She helped me
recognize -- and avoid -- a few of the flaws in my own writing
style. For that I will always be grateful.
I got lucky in another respect, too. My very
first published short story was illustrated by none other than
Vincent Di Fate. The illustrations he did for Night Stand were
beautiful, were works of art all on their own. The title image,
matted and framed, still hangs in my study.
Mallara and Burn went on to enjoy several
more short stories in various other publications. I think my
personal favorite is The Ringed Round, which is a Halloween story
with a Christmas twist.
I'm always eager to hear what readers have to
say. And one of the best things about e-books is how easy they make
it for authors and readers to communicate. So if you have any
comments, be they praise or scold, feel free to email me at [email protected] .
too, please visit my website at www.franktuttle.com !
I hope you enjoy traveling along with Mallara
and Burn as they see to the magical well-being of the Five Valleys.
Oh, one last thing -- a huge THANKS to Beth Morgan, who once again
created a brilliant cover! Thanks Beth!
THE RINGED
ROUND
by Frank Tuttle
"Looks like the storm is over," said Burn,
who hovered in the shelter of a grinning Ollow's Eve pumpkin. When
he spoke, his voice set the candle within the pumpkin to
flickering, and Mallara's frown deepened at the thought of Burn as
the spirit of Ollow's Eve.
"Any villagers still lurking about?" asked
Mallara.
"Not a one," said Burn."Thank the rain."
Mallara sighed and stood."Good," she
muttered."I'm not in the mood for an audience."
As if there will be anything to see here
tonight, she thought. Dancing bones on Ollow's Eve. Bah. There's
nothing here but a prehistoric ring of badly-carved stones and a
weary Sorceress with a blister on her heel.
About her, rain-water still dripped and
splashed from the circle of twelve tall stones the Tothish
villagers called the Ringed Round. Probably half of the traditional
Ollow's Eve twelve dozen carved pumpkins scattered about the Round
were still lit, their candles having braved the storm; Mallara was
thus surrounded by glowing orange eyes and wide, toothy grins, each
pumpkin face lit by red-orange flickers and each casting small
quick flocks of shadows.
Mallara looked away from the leaning old
stones and the leering pumpkin-faces, threw back her wet hood, and
sought out instead the moon or the stars. The sky above was inky
black, though -- the rain might be gone, but the clouds hung low
and thick.
"We won't be checking the alignment of Stone
Seven against the north star tonight," she said.
"Pity," said Burn, still in his
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