Yep, It's Started...

Hey Everyone!! :-)

Yep, it's true, I've finally started it! The third installment in the Petri Dish Chronicles is now being written. When will it be done? I haven't the foggiest notion. All I can do is promise that I will work on it as often and as much as I'm able. If I had to guess, I'd say I might finish it sometime next year. But that's just a guess. In the meantime, here's a little sneak peek at how it starts. As always, the disclaimer is that this is a draft and, as such, it's unedited and likely full of errors and is subject to revision, revamping, and being completely scrapped and rewritten. But, with that in mind, I'm reasonably satisfied with the basics of it, at least at the moment, or I wouldn't have bothered posting it. Enjoy! :-)

Excerpt from the third Petri Dish book:
Consciousness returned slowly as Petri realized she had been staring blankly at the ceiling for quite some time. Sleep was always a challenge, lately, between the lingering nightmares and the constant background “noise” of other people's thoughts that her increase in powers made difficult to shut out. Sighing, she turned over and looked at the human woman sleeping beside her.

Despite Petri’s efforts to put the experience of her rape behind her, and Chessie’s constant comfort and reassurance, Rodney’s ghost still haunted her. She had taken men to bed since their arrival on Zanzibar but, even though none of them had been anything less than respectful and accommodating, there was always an edge of anxiety to those encounters. Petri had always been flexible in her sexual appetites, but before Rodney her preference had generally been for men. It bothered her that she was now more comfortable sleeping with women; it seemed almost like she had surrendered part of herself to her rapist. The fighter in Petri balked at that notion, and so her inability to truly relax around men ate at her.

But Wema was a special case. There was no conflict in Petri’s feelings about enjoying Wema’s company because it was impossible for anyone to be in Wema’s company and not enjoy it. The woman was several years Petri’s senior, but she had a joie de vivre that made her seem young and vibrant. Petri was so used to a constant struggle just to survive that Wema's ability to simply take in and appreciate all of life's experiences was something of a revelation. There was no calculation in Wema, no working of angles or searching for an advantage. There wasn’t even any expectation. Wema took people as she found them, and accepted everyone for who they were. Being with Wema was like putting down a burden Petri hadn’t even realized she'd been carrying.

Petri gazed at her lover, studying her features. In her sleep, Wema lay on her side, facing Petri, and her face was slack, lacking the glow and vibrancy of her personality. Things that one never saw when her sweet exuberance radiated from within became apparent. Her nose was long and a bit crooked, her cheeks wide and heavy of bone, there were fine wrinkles at the corners of her eyes and mouth, her lips were thin and pale, and her jowls had begun to soften and sag. As someone who, out of necessity, had made a study of how society viewed beauty, and the consequences one was likely to face for failing to meet those standards, Petri couldn’t help but note such details.

However, like Petri's own magnetism, Wema’s charm wasn’t tied to simply being the sum of her parts. When she had worked as a dolly, Petri had made an art of being exotic. She played the siren and lured clients in with the promise of something new and exciting. That persona gave Petri the ability to pass her non-standard features off as something different and interesting, rather than just flawed and unattractive. But Wema’s appeal wasn’t a façade the way Petri’s had been. If it were, it never would have worked; no one was that talented an actor. Wema's magic lay in the fact that she was genuinely thrilled by each new experience and person life sent her way. It was the unstudied nature of her enthusiasm that made it work for her; that drew people in. Wema actually liked everyone she met, and so everyone she met tended to like her.

Yeah, that's it for now. I'll post the whole first chapter when it's done, but I thought I'd at least give you a taste. If you haven't already read the first two books in Petri's story, what are you waiting for? ;-) You can grab your copy of the first book, Rainbow Dreams, at the link below. Happy reading!