Nikki: “If I were to tell you the whole story behind that conversation I just had, I’d be making you an accessory to obstruction of justice. Is that what you want?”
William: “No, but I do like when you get all judicial on me.”
Monthly Archives: July 2015
“Nikki Blue: Source of Trouble” now available on NetGalley
William and David … an excerpt from the chapter “Little Candle of Hate”
William Osborne’s POV:
My first call the next morning wasn’t to Nikki. I had freaked her out enough with stories of me being tailed. I wasn’t ready to tell her my car had been torched yet, especially until me or the police figured out who did it. If The Bridge was behind it and not the Scientologists, we were both in way over our heads.
So I called David, the twit, to see what he had to say. I had sent him and Virgil copies of my “Cruise Missiles” manuscript about two weeks ago and hadn’t heard a peep outside of an email acknowledging they had received it.
“Hello Bill,” David said on the fourth ring.
“My car got torched last night.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. Where?”
“Outside my condo in Miami Beach. Do you know anything about that?”
“Why? Are you accusing me of setting your car ablaze?” he gasped, totally offended, like it was beyond all comprehension.
“Well, it’s either you guys or the assholes you splintered off from … like a fucking lab experiment that went from bad to worse. So how about we set all our cards on the fucking table right now and get this the fuck over with!” I yelled.
“Are you quite done screaming at me and falsely accusing The Bridge of crimes I didn’t know about until 30 seconds ago?”
“So that’s your story? You know nothing about it?”
“Why would I?”
“I’ve been followed around here, around Coconut Grove … hell, my life was outright threatened there. I’ve been tailed in Clearwater, too. If you claim it’s not you guys harassing me, then I have to assume it’s the COS because of my book. I submitted my manuscript to you and Virgil two weeks ago and neither of you have said a word. You said you’d back me up with protection once I finished the book. Well, it’s done. I demand some security now, especially given what just happened here last night.”
“Bill, I’m afraid I have some bad news for you.”
“There’s a fucking surprise.”
“The manuscript you submitted is woefully lacking.”
“Oh is it? Let’s hear your expert opinion, David. Please. Don’t hold back.”
“We don’t think it’s up to your usual standards for one thing. And at 235 pages, we feel you’ve come up rather short, literally and figuratively. Virgil has been consulting with one of our publication specialists and will be getting back to you with some suggestions to improve the book. We’ll also extend you a generous rewrite deadline of September 1st.”
I cackled into the phone like a witch on crack. “Are you done with your critique yet so I can have my say?”
“You wanted the cards laid on the table …”
“Here are my cards then. Take what I wrote and stick it up your smug little ass because that’s the last word I’ll ever submit to you guys. Virgil came down here last year spouting off about letting the artists have creative control and you guys not interfering, and then you pull this bullshit. You’re all a bunch of liars, crooks and con artists … fear-mongering assholes who …”
“You still took our money, Bill. You signed the BIP membership, too.”
“All under false pretense. You were never gonna pick me to go to Mars … just like you were never gonna publish my book as soon as your boy Peter set his sights on Nikki and found out later she was dating me. That guy’s even older than I am. He can have any woman in the world with his looks and his Bill Gates wallet, and yet he wants Nikki just for sport. Because of him, I’m out. It has nothing to do with one goddamn word I wrote because none of you hacks knows a goddamn thing about writing. All you know about is manipulation and intimidation and power … just like COS.”
“Ah, there’s the passion that’s lacking in your book about Scientology, Bill,” the twit replied sarcastically. “You’ve found it at last. Now go rewrite your book.”
“Eat me. My next book will be about The Bridge, asshole! I’ll show you how to burn bridges! And I’ll do it with a fucking flamethrower, not a fucking Molotov cocktail!”
“Better get busy. I hear there’s a nasty hurricane blowing your way that just might douse your little candle of hate,” he sneered before hanging up on me.
I ran to the balcony and hurled my phone as far as I could toward the Atlantic.
From “Nikki Blue: Source of Trouble”
Pub date: 10-9-15
NetGalley ARC date: Available now!
Nikki and Chris … excerpt from the chapter “Money Trail”
Nikki POV
I showed Chris the check for $25,000.
Nikki: “Could you just say no to this if someone offered it to you?”
Chris Mercer: “Probably not.”
Nikki: “Probably not?”
Chris: “Well, I guess I’d want to know who is signing the check before I could, you know, totally accept it and feel great about it,” he said, squinting at the check more closely and making entirely too much sense for my agitated state to handle. “Is that David Michael guy pretty cool?” he had to add, twisting the knife through my gut even further.
Nikki: “No, I’m pretty sure he’s a complete asshole, at best, from my brief interaction with him on Tuesday,” I forced myself to admit. “But he wasn’t the one who made me the offer.”
Chris: “Hmmm.”
If that was the best Mr. Positivity could come up with for a response, I knew I was screwed.
Nikki: “OK. Send a search party if I don’t call you or Steve by this time on Monday,” I said before crashing through the door.
From “Nikki Blue: Source of Trouble”
Pub date: 10-9-15
NetGalley ARC date: Later this week
Mars talk … from the chapter “A World Without Guns”
Judith Feld:
“The early colonists will be forced to work together or they will die. The Red Planet itself will govern every second of their existence.”
Peter van Wooten:
“So we shouldn’t debate whether there ought to be guns on Mars?”
Judith:
“No, there will be enough threats to human life on that planet. Trust me. Guns would be incredibly superfluous.”
Nikki:
“As someone who suffered a gunshot wound when I was 17, I find Judith’s answer more refreshing than scary. I would be willing to risk my life to go to a world without guns.”
Excerpt from “Nikki Blue: Source of Trouble”
Pub date: 10-9-15
NetGalley ARC date: Later this week
Full cover reveal … by Damon Za of South Africa
Click it for a better look!
Steve, the newspaper reporter …
Steve Pearson:
“Ask interesting questions, yeah, that’s what I do … 24 hours, 7 days a week. Even in my dream the other night, I asked the Dalai Lama how to get to Saratoga Race Track. I was lost somewhere in New York. I thought he could enlighten me.”
To Nikki:
“So … what’s it like getting shot?”
From “Nikki Blue: Source of Trouble”
Pub date: 10-9-15
Steve and Nikki …
Steve Pearson:
“I wanna be you when I grow up … the girl who can’t be stopped by bullets, the girl who takes down pedophile mayors, the girl with the dragon …”
Nikki:
“Will you please shut the hell up?!! You’re talking all over my audio!”
From the upcoming “Nikki Blue: Source of Trouble”
Pub date: 10-9-15
Quotes from “Nikki Blue: Source of Trouble,” #3
Adam Upton:
“Nikki, wait up! I didn’t mean to laugh. You’re the last person in the world I’d call a quitter. You didn’t quit on me, even though I lied to you and tricked you with the LSD,” I shouted.
She froze on a rocky hill about 20 feet above me. I’m pretty sure she would’ve gone to the top without me if I hadn’t yelled what I just yelled as fast as I did. The “LSD” part seemed to echo all around us. I thought it was a pretty rad effect until a guy and his young son came climbing down the trail, past Nikki and eventually next to me. I stood there smiling and nodding at them like an asshole.
Quotes from the upcoming “Nikki Blue: Source of Trouble,” #2
William Osborne:
It took a lot of booze for me to maintain my doomsday courage. Fortunately, Rey’s liquor cabinet was stocked better than some corner taverns. I’d expect nothing less from a Puerto Rican player who told me he grew up drinking Don Q rum for breakfast.
jack chaucer books and screenplays 