Putting the Blog on Ice...

Okay, so this is probably the hardest blog post I’m going to write, but I am putting the blog on ice for a while.  How long is a while?  Honestly, at this point, I’m not sure.  It definitely looks at this point like it will be months.  The truth is, as the few of you who read this all ready know, I haven’t been able to put my full energy into this for a while now.  I realized while writing this that it had been far too long since the last Crystellen post, which isn’t fair to any of you, or to the characters (as odd as that sounds), or quite honestly, to myself.  Right now I’ve got too many things going on – trying to get into grad school (again), taking classes currently,…

So, I am putting the blog on ice for the indefinite future.  Which is sad, because the last thing I want to do is pull a Stargate Atlantis (or SGU, for that matter) and stop before the story’s finished, but I think it will allow me time to focus on other priorities, not to mention I’ll get rid of that guilty feeling of “I should be writing my blog now,” when I’m doing something else.

Treasure Hunters, do not despair, for I will eventually write the conclusion in the Emerys Treasure series, but it won’t be this year.  L  However, they will return, and when they do, I will announce it here. 

Thank you again for all of your support and interest.  I sincerely appreciate it.

Humbly yours,

Cliffie Coates

As Perceived by Crystellen 14

Losten looked over at me.  Finally, my sister’s beau noticed I was there.

“I need you to come with me,” I said.

Losten stared at me as if I wasn’t real.  Good grief, I thought, is this guy that dense?  How long was he going to stare at me before he spoke?

“I’m not going anywhere with you,” he finally managed to say.

I continued to stare at Losten.  I had hoped Losten would come willingly, but it didn’t look like that would be the case.

“Dude,” I said, as I continued to stare at him, “I need you to come with me.  It’s about Em.”

He cleared his throat.  “I’ve been here before.  The last time I went with you, I wound up in the river.”

Oh, great, I thought.  He thinks this is a cassidium dream.

I smiled.  “And, what was the worst thing that happened?  My sister made out with you until it stopped.  Was that so bad?”

“I was terrified.  I believed I was drowning and got a horrible headache.  I’m not going anywhere with you.”

It occurred to me that the library was not a great place to have this conversation.  I glanced around, and noticed somebody standing at a copy machine fifteen feet away.  He probably couldn’t hear us, but just to be on the safe side, I said, “We can’t talk in here.  Let’s talk outside.”  Plus, I thought, I need to get you outside anyway.

I stood up from the table and looked down at Losten.  After a long pause, he put his stuff in his backpack and followed me from the table.  As we walked out the building past some smashed plants, I opened my purse and retrieved my schnarkite lipstick.  I had hoped I wouldn’t have to use it, but this was quite possibly a matter of life and death for my sister.  Plus, it wasn’t like he’d be the first guy I kissed. 

When we arrived outside at my car, Losten spoke.

“I’m not getting in with you, not after what happened last time.”

I walked over near my car and turned to face him.  “Get in.”

Losten stared at me for a moment as if I wasn’t real.  “Tell me what’s going on first,” he said.

A breeze blew my hair in front of my eyes.  I brushed it out of my face and opened the passenger door.  “Please get in.  For Em’s sake.”

Losten walked over to where I stood.  Good, I thought, he’s close enough that this shouldn’t look too obvious.

“Tell me what’s going on first,” he said.

“Bend over,” I replied.  “We’re in public.  Let me whisper in your ear.”

Losten bent down as requested.  Before he knew what was happening, I pulled him forward and kissed him on the lips.

He squirmed for a moment to get away from me, but I held him close.  I wanted to make sure the schnarkite had time to absorb into his lips.  Plus, anyone who was around would be made uncomfortable by our display of affection, which would cause them to look away.  Thus, it would be easier for me to get him into my car.

“What was that for?” Losten asked when he finally broke free of my grasp.  He staggered backwards.  I folded my arms and grinned. 

He leaned against my car.  I could tell he was about to pass out.  After a moment I pushed him inside it, lifted his legs, and shut the passenger door.  I glanced around the parking lot.  Nobody appeared to have noticed. 

I got in my car and drove down the road.  Before we left the parking lot, I pulled out a napkin and wiped my lips.  No reason to leave the schnarkite on my lips.  Plus, the last thing I needed was to have Em’s boyfriend’s saliva in my mouth.

I glanced over at Losten.  I hope that’s the last time I have to kiss you, I thought, for both our sakes.

An Update

Hmm...well, I didn't quite mean for it to be the whole summer since I posted a Crystellen update, but that seems to have somehow happened.  (Not that being too sick to write for a whole week helped, which I got over just in time to take a planned trip, and now I'm plotting out the next element in my career change.)

Okay, enough whining on my part:  I guess what I'm wanting to say is that she's coming back, hopefully next week, but at this point my schedule's so up in the air I'm giving no guarantees (especially since my past guarantees have been, umm, well, let's just say "not faithfully executed.")

Fear not, fellow Treasure Hunters - She will return!*  

*unless the Manicotti get to me first  ;)

A Second Tale of Emerys Treasure!

Finally, "A Second Tale of Emerys Treasure" is available Here!  

Thanks for your patience and interest everyone...  :)

Just a Few More Days...

Okay, well, Crystellen was supposed to return this week, but I have been spending quite a bit of time on an unrelated writing project.

However, Crystellen will return next week, along with Emerys, Cat, Emily, Losten, and Robert, as by this time next week, the sequel should (hopefully) be available!!  :)

Cheers & thanks for your patience!

~Cliff

Crystellen Will Return...

Crystellen will return...just not this week.  :(

I have been busy getting "A Second Tale of Emerys Treasure" converted, as well as working on another novel not part of the Emerys Treasure series, but everyone's favorite slightly sassy mermaid will return next week!

Until then, happy Treasure hunting!  :)

As Perceived by Crystellen 13

I didn’t know what was wrong with Emerys, but unlike Cat, I didn’t rule out Broken Tail Syndrome.  Not that I thought Emerys had had sex with Losten; I knew my sister too well for that.  But, maybe she had fallen so deeply for the guy that the mer-gene had released the chemical into her body that starts Broken Tail Syndrome.  Given the sadness she was now experiencing, if the chemical had been released into her body previously, then perhaps the heartache she was now suffering was causing the chemical to attack the mer-gene and was slowly destroying it.  In a few weeks, would my sister start to age like a normal person?

 

Then again, sometimes I thought that nothing about our biology made any sense.

However, I needed to get to the bottom of my sister’s dismay.  Not that it was my fault, but still, I felt that I had probably contributed to their disagreement.  At the very least, I hadn’t helped. 

Thus, I made up my mind, once I had finished speaking to Cat, that Losten needed to make amends with Emerys.  For whatever he’d done.  Emerys still didn’t seem to be getting any better, so this might be a matter of life and death. 

However, after everything that had happened, there was no way Losten would come willingly.  After all, I had poisoned him once; he had no reason to trust me.  Plus, even though he wasn’t Manicotti, I still didn’t know what kind of man he was.  Could he be trusted with my sister’s heart? 

I was going to find out.

That evening I walked into my grandmother’s room.  “Grammy,” I said, “do you still have the shnarkite powder you told me about years ago.”

Grammy smiled and walked over to a box on her dresser.  She retrieved a bag of pale blue powder and handed it to me.

“Don’t use too much,” she said.  “This stuff’s potent.  You don’t want to kill whoever the boy is.”

I smiled.  “Don’t worry, I’m not going to kill anyone.  I just need to use it to persuade someone to come with me.”

That evening I took a small portion of the schnarkite powder and placed it on the end of my lipstick.  Then, I replaced the cap and put my lipstick in my purse.

The next day I drove to David L. Mays Community College.  Emerys had talked enough times about her tutoring sessions that I knew where she met Losten on campus.  And, if he was as clueless as I suspected he might be, he most likely would still be there.  I’d heard Emerys tell Mom the other day that he had called her cell phone and left a message like nothing had happened.

I parked my car and walked up to the library.  I didn’t know exactly where in the library they met, but I figured it couldn’t be too difficult to find.  I walked through the main door and looked around.  In front of me sat the librarian at the front desk.  At a table a little ways to the left sat Emerys’ brown-haired beau.

I walked over to where he sat at a table and stood beside him.

He didn’t take his eyes off his notebook.

Good grief, I thought.  Losten’s so into what he’s reading, he doesn’t even see me here.  How’d he and my sister ever meet, given how clueless he is to the world around him?  At this rate, I’d be surprised if he even knew that he was the cause of my sister’s vexation.

I pulled the chair back from the table.