“We gonna have us a vote.”

Sammy’s bullhorn tones split the air.

“What we gonna vote about?”

“We gonna elect us a leader.”

“But ain’t you him?”

“I is, but I ain’t been democratically elected.”

“Oh…”

“We needs another candidate. Who’s gonna stand agin me?”

Sammy’s Glock discouraged pretension so nobody came forward. 

Then Hoppy’s grandmother’s billy goat got nominated.

Being as how most people couldn’t read, a vote was a pebble in a bucket. White for Sammy. Black for the goat.

Somebody must have misunderstood. Badly.

The Slashers’ new leader had yellow eyes and made Sammy look kinda nice.

©️jj 2018

A taste of The Dragons of Andromeda, sequel to The Arks of Andromeda, by W.H. Mitchell which is out today.

On the planet Aldorus, outside the city of Regalis, a sanitation robot roamed the grounds after the park had closed for the night, emptying the rubbish bins of trash left by people during the day. On a set of six wheels, the trashbot rambled along from one bin to another, lifting each with a pair of robotic arms and dumping it into a hopper.

Near midnight, the trashbot was checking bins by the lake when sounds began drifting from the dark somewhere off the main trail. Unlike the animal noises common during the night, these were different, faint and rhythmical.

As the compactor in his body pressed a clump of paper cups and a small raccoon into a tidy cube, the robot rambled over the carefully cropped grass to a cluster of bushes. Peering through the branches, he noticed an outcrop of rock and the entrance to a cave. The drumming clearly was coming from inside.

Organics, the robot thought, are always up to mischief.

He entered the cave.

Inside, a group of seven people sat around a fire, the flickering light casting shadows on the walls.

This doesn’t look like a picnic, the robot thought.

In sackcloth robes and with hoods over their heads, each person also wore an amulet in the shape of an eight-pointed star, a black pearl in the center. 

One of them pounded a large drum in his lap while the others chanted:

FROM THE VOID

THE OLD ONES COME.

THE END IS NEAR,

AS HEARTBEATS DRUM.

BOW YOUR HEADS;

RECEIVE YOUR FATE.

CHAOS REIGNS;

THEIR LOVE IS HATE.

BURNING FIRE

FROM SKY WILL FALL.

PRAISE THE GODS!

THE END FOR ALL!

A Bite of... W.H. Mitchell

Q1: What do you most enjoy about writing your books and why?

Bringing the “world” of the Imperium Chronicles, with its landscapes and characters, is my favorite. Building an ecosystem has taken a lot of time and populating it with people who are interesting is a lot of fun. 

Q2: If you had to choose which character you are most like in your books, who would it be and why?

In some ways I identify with Henry Riff, the hapless romantic in love with someone who doesn’t love him. That reflects how I was for much of my younger life (prior to getting married), when I felt out of my league most of the time. I also like my robots. They too are outsiders in a lot of ways.  

Q3: Are you more of a cat person or a dog person and why?

Although I pretty much love all animals (except humans), most people would probably say I’m a cat person. I’m both highly curious and skeptical of the world around me, and spend a lot of time sleeping. On the other hand, I hardly ever use the litter box except in emergencies.

W.H. Mitchell in his own words

Born and raised in Omaha, NE, W. H. Mitchell has called Kansas City his home for more than a decade. With a degree in English from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Mitchell’s writing has been compared to “Frank Herbert through the eyes and voice of Douglas Adams.” He currently lives in Olathe, KS with his wife and two cats.

You can follow W.H. Mitchell on Facebook, Twitter and his own website.

The soldiers had taken him. Strapped like a beast across the hindquarters of one of their snorting horses. Their leader looked down his prodigious nose at her. 

“Just be thankful we have no orders for you.”

Then he spat in her face.

She kept that face blank until they were over the hill, then fell to her knees with the sobs racking her whole body.

But that was seven whole months ago, and the secret she had kept hidden since that day was now at her breast suckling greedily.

She gave him his father’s name and taught him to hate.

©️jj 2018

CHAPTER NINE
Bristol airport, eight days later, and Anna and Sam’s flight landed bang on time. They collected their bags from the carousel and went to find Paul, who saw them coming through the arrivals gate and unfolded himself from his position lounging against a pillar.
“Good time?”
“Excellent. I’d recommend marriage just for the honeymoon,” Anna giggled. “Lots of sex and sun. I’d always sort of looked down on the Canaries. But inland Grand Canaria is lovely, and the house we rented is gorgeous.  Sam’s folks loved the area, and he went there often as a child. He has lots of friends on the island. So we were sociable in the evenings and solitary during the day. It was fun. It was therapeutic. We had the best time.”
By this time they were in the short stay car park and Paul was opening the tailgate of a brand-new bright red Range Rover Evoque.
“You been treating yourself?” Anna asked.
“Nope. Your new husband has been treating you. It’s yours.”
“What? Sam! You bugger.’
“Do you like it?”
“I reckon. Gimme the keys Paul. If it’s mine I get to drive.”
He obliged and she got into the driver’s seat.
“Oh. It’s very close to the other Range Rover controls-wise. Good. I can manage.”
The drive home was fairly quiet, as Anna was concentrating on her new car, and Sam was just content to watch her. Paul lounged in the back seat enjoying Anna’s almost childlike amazement in her new toy and Sam’s obvious delight in her happiness.

Back at the old rectory, as soon as Sam and Anna got out of the car, Danny opened the front door and Bonnie flew out. She hurled herself at Anna making pleased little noises in her throat. Anna sat down plump on the floor and threw her arms around the wriggling furry body.
“Did you miss your mum, Bonnie?”
Bonnie pushed Anna flat onto her back, and stood on her chest, licking and wagging.
Sam dropped into a crouch beside them and fondled Bonnie’s ears.
“We’re home now, Bon Bon.”
Bonnie got off Anna’s chest and threw herself at Sam. He caught her and stood up with his arms full of happy dog.
“Silly girl,” he said lovingly.
“Come on Anna. Get up off the cold floor,” Danny laughed. “Come inside. Coffee machine is on.”
Paul hauled their bags out of the car, grabbed the keys and locked up.
“In,” he said firmly. “We have news.”
Anna and Sam followed obediently, Sam still carrying Bonnie, who had her chin on his shoulder and was looking blissfully happy. In the kitchen, he put her down carefully and she trotted around wagging her tail.
“To look at her now, you would think she had been properly miserable without you,” Danny said ruefully.
“Instead of properly spoilt,” Anna grinned. “I bet she slept on your bed…”
Danny actually hung his head, and Paul laughed.
“Told you she was taking you for a ride, Dan.”
Then he turned a laughing face to Sam and Anna.
“Messed up our sex life good and proper. Wouldn’t let him touch me…”
Anna laughed appreciatively.
“She don’t do that to us. Though we do get dirty looks. And she only sleeps on the bed in the camper.”
“You know she has our number, so what did you expect…” Paul laughed. “But sit. We are big with news.’
Sam manned the coffee machine and Paul opened some very expensive biscuits.
“The home made ones are all gone.”
When they were seated at the table Danny opened his mouth, then shut it again.
“Out with it bro.”
“Two things. First, and most important, we’re getting married.  ASAP. Second, we have our new appointment. It’s back to DC, but this time I’m to be minister with special responsibility for liaison with the African American and Native American communities. It’s a heck of a step up the ladder. So…”
Anna got up and kissed them both, while Sam wrung their hands joyfully.
“So indeed,” Anna grinned. “When exactly is ASAP?”
“That depends on you and Sam.”
“Because?”
“Because we’d like to be married from here. There are very few people we want around us. You two are most of them. But.”
“Okay. So why the but. Why would we not want that?” Sam asked in genuine puzzlement.
Paul smiled.
“You really don’t see it, do you? It might not be good policy to have a gay wedding at your house, Doctor Henderson.”
“Oh fuck that. And it’s Mister Henderson, if we’re being silly.”
Anna grasped Sam’s hand and squeezed.
“So. That’s you told. Do you want a party here afterwards?”
“Not a party, but if we get a morning wedding, lunch for a dozen and a bit. If that’s not being cheeky. And we get to pay for stuff.”
Sam laughed at Danny’s flushed face.
“No sweat. Anna will  have a whale of a time cooking and organising, and we’ll all just do as we are told. How much time do we have before you go back to the States?”
“Ages,” Paul said with a smile. “The appointment doesn’t start till the first of February. We kept our condo as we had an inkling we would be going back to DC, so there’s no house hunting involved. Means we don’t need to leave until mid-January. We do have to take a bolt to London. We need to see about re-letting the flat, and Danny has to go bow politely to some very senior mandarins. That’s next week. Other than that we are as free as birds.”

Jane Jago

The room smelled vaguely antiseptic, and the only sound was the clink, clink of teeth falling into an enamel dish.

“There. All done.”

The dentist pulled off his mask and smiled down at the now toothless three-year-old in his chair. 

“No more toothache now.” 

He reached in his pocket and pulled out a shiny sixpence. 

“That’s for being a brave girl.”

When the child and her mother left, hand-in-hand, his assistant grinned wolfishly.

“That’s a hundred this month. One more month like this and the tooth fairy will owe us enough to buy our own practice.”

©️jj 2018

Come on gran, Carpe Diem they said
But the pillow is soft to my head
I have doughnuts and milk
And my jammies are silk
So, f**k it, I’m staying in bed

© jane jago 2017

It was quiet in the garden and Leonore sunk to her knees, grateful for solitude and silence. As the sun dipped below the horizon a cool, white moon illuminated the jasmine that crept up the side of the garage. The heady scent filled the air, and a cloud of tiny white moths gathered among the star-like flowers.
Suddenly almost unbearably weary, Leonore lay back in the cool grass. Tears pricked behind her eyelids as a cold weight settled on her shoulders. She sat up and hugged her knees to her chest, feeling the cooling air against her hot cheeks.
How long she sat in silence she didn’t know, and then she heard a voice. 
“Alone and sad? Why so?”
Her eyes snapped open, but she could see nobody. 
She heard a chuckle. 
“You will only see me if you close your eyes.”
She obeyed and found herself looking into a pair of golden orbs with vertical reptilian pupils. She concentrated and slowly, slowly a face assembled itself around the eyes.
“Are you a dragon?”
“I am whatever you want me to be…”
Leonore found herself laughing.
“That’s a politician’s answer if ever I heard one.”
The dragon smiled dragonishly and blew a breath into her face. She smelled menthe and cinnamon and something hot and exciting.
“Oh. I can smell you.”
“Of course you can. Now you can open your eyes.”
The dragon sat beside her. His iridescent scales seemed to gather the moonlight and reflect it back in a myriad of shifting colours. She looked at him for a very long moment. 
“But I don’t believe in dragons.”
“Of course you do. You wouldn’t be able to see me if not.”
“What do you mean?”
He showed his teeth in what looked like genuine amusement.
“It’s elemental my dear, it is only belief that makes dragons visible. Unbelievers can never see us.”
“Never?”
“Not ever. If an unbeliever was sitting next to you he or she would neither be able to see nor hear me.”
Leonore remained unconvinced, but was pleased by the company anyway. 
“What is your name?”
“I am R’u’uth. And you are L’e’onore.”
Leonore tried both names, rolling them around on her tongue as if to taste them. Finding them pleasing she laughed delightedly.
R’u’uth laughed too.
“That’s better. You don’t sound sad any more.”
“I don’t feel sad.”
“Good. But now you need to sleep.”
“Sleep. If only I could.”
The dragon breathed on her and she felt the benison of his presence.
“Lean on me and you shall sleep.”
She frowned but found herself drawn towards the shining presence as iron is drawn to a magnet. Before she knew she had even moved, her back was resting against the dragon’s smooth spicy-smelling skin. Even as she would have protested, her eyelids drooped and she drifted gently into slumber.

She awoke early in the morning with the rising sun in her eyes. For a moment she didn’t know where she was or how she got there. She stretched and heard a chuckle. She turned and spread her hands against R’u’uth’s smooth warm scales.
“Thank you,” she said softly.
He blew a breath on her and spread his shining leathery wings. 
“Until later.”

Leonore went on with her day with a lightness of heart that had been a rare thing of late. Time flew by, and it wasn’t until the sun was setting that she had leisure to think about her draconic visitor. She sat on her bed and considered the events of the last night. They made no sense, and she had just about convinced herself that he was a figment of her imagination created by tiredness and stress, when a familiar chuckle sounded inside her head.
“Where are you?”
He laughed. 
“I’m on the roof. Waiting for you to call. And you didn’t imagine me, although it was your sadness that allowed me to find you.”
“How so?”
“Sometimes when a person feels their spirit has been all but overwhelmed, a spark within them calls to their soulmate and, if the portents are correct, that soulmate can come to them.”
“Are you saying that you are my soulmate?”
“I’m saying that I must be. Because you are mine.”
“I am?”
“Yes. Of course you are. I’m a dragon. If I didn’t feel like that I wouldn’t have watched over your rest.”
“You weren’t just being kind?”
“L’e’onore. Dragons are never kind. I came to you because your soul called to mine.”
She sighed.
“Why a dragon?”
“I might as well say why a human?”
Leonore sat down plump on the floor not sure whether to laugh or cry.
“Come down to the garden, let’s talk.”
She didn’t move, and the dragon’s voice grew plaintive.
“Please come down L’e’onore.”
“I don’t understand. Am I going mad?”
“No. You are not. Just come down here. Please.”
She got up and went downstairs to where R’u’uth awaited her with the rays of the setting sun turning his scales blood red.
Leonore caught her breath.
“You are so beautiful,” she breathed and R’u’uth smiled.
“We might want to talk about that later” he said and the warmth in his voice had her feeling a tingle in the pit of her stomach but she pushed it away as perverse. Even so, she couldn’t prevent herself walking to his side and resting the palms of her hands on his sun-warmed flanks.
He turned his head and nipped her wrist with his needle-sharp teeth. She was surprised by how pleasurable the small pain felt and a blush mantled her cheeks.
R’u’uth laughed at her discomfiture but his laughter was kindly.
“Never mind lovely,” his voice was full of affection. “Come for a fly.”
Leonore looked into his eyes and felt her own excitement rise.
“A fly? Can I?”
The dragon bent the knee and she scrambled onto his back where she found a spot between his wings.
He threw her a smile over his shoulder before taking a few running steps and spreading his wings with a snap.
“We are together L’e’onore. Together. And we will fly high.”

©️jane jago

Dog sat quiet seemingly all but asleep, but when the client had finished his business the muscular animal filled the doorway. Beauty lifted herself on her elbow.

“There is the small matter of payment,” she said softly.

The fat merchant scowled pettishly. “I was not going to default.”

“This way we are sure.”

The merchant shrugged largely and counted out some coin into a dish on the dresser. Dog didn’t move.

“What?”

“My accountant says that is not the agreed amount.”

“A dog that can count?”

He added a handful more coins, and Dog’s tongue lolled in a canine grin.

©️jj 2018

Here I set my heart within your hands
Here I swore my soul unto your lands
Here I took my first breath as a fae
Here I lived until your dying day
Here I bore the child you’ll never see
Here I lit the flame to set you free
Here I kneel and weep my final tear
Here I lay a rose for you…
Here…

E.M. Swift-Hook

Artwork by Bristow Designs

The beginning of Dying to be Fathers by E.M. Swift-Hook and Jane Jago The sixth Dai and Julia Mystery, set in a Britain where the Roman Empire never left.

Pridie Nonas Maia MDCCLXXVIII Anno Diocletiani

Julia Llewellyn was at that stage of her pregnancy where she couldn’t imagine why she ever thought having a baby was a good idea. She was used to having a lithe, boyish body, that ran and jumped with ease and delight, but currently she was close to the shape of an egg and prone to sudden bouts of indigestion and cramp in her limbs. The thought of nearly three more weeks of this with the intense summer heat, was almost too much to bear. So it was with some relief that she sat in the shade in the secluded walled garden where Cookie grew her herbs and found she felt neither sick nor uncomfortable. It couldn’t last, but for as long as it did she was content to raise her face to the sun and daydream a little.
The world, she thought wryly, was rapidly turning upside down. Not only had she and her beloved husband Dai managed to get through the best part of a month without her wanting to throw something at his handsome head, but his sister, Cariad, who she had always thought of as little better than a wharfside strumpet had come home after a break to recover from a very traumatic experience and seemed to have turned over a new leaf.  She appeared to be really trying to appreciate having a good kind husband and two beautiful children. Julia still nursed doubts about the durability of this sea change, but hoped for everyone’s sake it was going to last.
For her own part, Cariad’s children, Felix and Cassia were a big reason she held on to any hope that being pregnant was worth the undoubted discomfort. The duo was one of the delights of her life.
Currently, Felix was out in the hills with his father and his uncle Dai, mounted on one of the sturdy local ponies Dai’s brother Hywel bred as a hobby. Ostensibly Felix was having riding lessons. It would have been rather more honest to say that he was having a whale of a time away from the constraints of being the only son of a very important man.
Julia idly wondered what Cariad and Cassia were up to, and it seemed to her that her fancy had conjured them to her side, because she heard Cariad calling her name urgently then Cassia’s voice sounding uneasy.
“Mam, I think Aunt Julia is asleep. Do you?”
“I don’t know, carissima. But if she is we really must wake her up.” Cariad’s musical voice was not entirely steady. Concerned now, Julia opened her eyes and sat up.
“What is it? Is something wrong?”
She had a sudden private dread that the beauty of the family must have got herself into more man trouble, and braced herself to refuse if she was to be asked to cover up an indiscretion. To her surprise, Cariad’s face was pale with anxiety and her Llewellyn blue eyes were swimming in tears.
It was Cassia who spoke. “We were feeding the ducks on the pond past the fruit trees. Mam got a message on her wrist phone from a man who is playing a game. He said he has stolen Pater and Felix and Uncle Dai. I don’t think that’s a nice game to play. Mam said we should tell you so we came straight here.”
It took a second or two for the meaning of the words to sink in and when they did her own heart tumbled in freefall with fear for Dai. Then something shifted deep in her psyche. It was cold and hard, cutting off the emotion, like a stone door slamming shut. Sleepiness banished, Julia went from somnolence to action in a single breath. She heaved herself to her feet and grasped Cariad’s cold hand.
“Come on,” she said gently, “pull yourself together and let’s see what is to be done.”
Cariad made what had to be a superhuman effort, then forced a smile. “Yes. Silly of me. It’s bound to be a mistake.”
Cassia looked at her with tolerant patience. “I was playing with Mam’s wrist phone when the message came in. I saved it for you.”
She handed over the expensive brand phone and Julia pulled up the menu on it’s curved screen and pressed the play button. The face that looked back at her was mostly covered by the dark fabric of a ski-mask except for a pair of dark eyes.
“We got your man and your son and your brother. You do as you are told and they comes to no harm. Mess us about and we’ll send you your son in pieces. Starting with his fingers.”
And that was it.
Julia felt her throat constrict as a ball of panic and rage bubbled up in her stomach. With sheer force of will she thrust it away again and pulled herself into a place where clarity of thought was possible. She used her own phone and tried Dai’s number. There was no reply and after a few desultory call tones it went to voicemail. Reaching out, she struck a small silver bell on the table beside her and a few moment later a porter stuck his face around the gate which led into the walled garden.
“Please fetch Edbert for me.”
The man nodded and disappeared. Julia gave her attention back to Cariad who hovered like a lost ghost clutching Cassia’s hand tightly.
“I think you should take Cassia indoors to see what Cookie has been baking today.” That made the little girl smile widely and begin to tug on her mother’s hand. Julia held up the wrist phone. “Can I borrow this for a bit?”
Cariad nodded, and even managed a taut smile of gratitude as Cassia towed her towards the house, chattering excitedly about cakes.
Julia input another number on her own wrist phone and Bryn Cartivel’s homely features filled the screen.
She didn’t give him a chance to speak. “Bryn. I need you here as quick as you can and you’d better bring Gallus. There’s something bad going on with the Magistratus and Dai. I’ll tell you when you get here.”
To his credit, and Julia’s relief, Bryn didn’t argue or ask for more details.
“Okay. We’re not too far away as it goes. Should be with you in ten minutes.”
As she was making the call, Edbert appeared on silent feet. Julia found she couldn’t begin to say what needed saying. Instead, she replayed the message on Cariad’s wristphone, holding it up so Edbert could see and hear. As the vile words finished, his whole body stiffened like a hunting dog scenting prey and he showed his teeth in a fierce grimace.
“Well,” he said, “we’re not having that are we?”
Hearing the message again made Julia nauseous, but she managed to dredge up a thread of voice. “No. We are not.”

To keep reading you can find the novella here.