I See You (Oracle 2) is now available for pre-order.
Disclaimer: I’m not a pastry chef. I’ve baked these many times, and I’m always happy with the results but I’ve just written up the recipe – including the metric conversion. Please let me know if you spot any typos. 🙂
Some visuals:
Step 2:
Step 7:
Step 8:
Step 10:
I’ll cut the individual squares into four and add them to my Christmas baking gift boxes. The brownies are crusty on the edges and densely chewy on the inside. I’ve served these with vanilla ice cream, and a swirl of caramel or fudge sauce. But they’re awesome on their own.
Enjoy!
… and all was lovely and well.
Though, I wouldn’t complain about having more hours in the day devoted to writing. 😀
GIVEAWAY CLOSED. WINNER TBA
Okay! It’s time to get serious about celebrating the upcoming release of I See You (Oracle 2) on December 17, 2015! WHOOT! WHOOT!
Would you like to win an autographed paperback of I See Me (Oracle 1) and an eARC of I See You (Oracle 2)?
You would?
Okay then!
To enter: Comment below and tell me about your favourite tattoo – one you have or one you would consider getting. Let me know why it’s your favourite, please.
I’m seriously considering getting Rochelle’s butterfly tattoo myself:
Notes/Rules: OPEN INTERNATIONALLY. Each comment will be assigned an entry number. ONE winning entry will then be selected via random number generator. One entry per person. Please make sure to fill out a valid email address in the comment form. Email addresses are not collected for any purpose other than notifying the contest winner.
If you haven’t commented on the blog before, or you comment from a different IP address, the comments are moderated. So don’t worry if you don’t see your entry right away. I will approve it, then assign it an entry number.
Giveaway closes SATURDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2015 at 8 p.m. PST.
<3 <3 <3
WARNING: THE FOLLOWING EXCERPT MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR I SEE ME, ORACLE 1
Click here for the OPENING 500 words of Chapter One
Click here for the second 500 words of Chapter One
CHAPTER ONE CONTINUES (2):
I glanced over at the cash counter. Sid and Lina were still wrapped up in their electronic devices. The laundromat was otherwise empty.
I looked back. The butterfly was gone.
No. It had flitted away to dance over top of the grubby glass entrance.
“Ah, geez.” Sid spoke from behind me.
My stomach bottomed out as I turned to look back at the counter. Could Sid see the butterfly? How the hell was I going to explain my tattoo flitting around the storefront windows?
“That old guy is back,” he said.
“What guy?” Lina didn’t look up from her iPad.
“The Chinese guy who just wanted to watch the dryers last week and kept asking for Oreos.”
I snapped my head back to the front door, actually hurting my neck with the sudden movement.
An ancient-looking Asian man was grinning at me from the sidewalk beyond the door of the laundromat.
Chi Wen, the far seer of the guardian dragons and my old-as-ass mentor, had apparently decided that his typical gold-embroidered white robes and sandals would stand out too much in Yachats. So he was now clothed in a baby blue, oversized short-sleeved T-shirt emblazoned with a fuchsia pink Cake in a Cup — Taste the Magic logo. The shirt hung almost to his knees, his cargo pants ended at his lower calves, and he was wearing black combat boots to complete the ensemble.
“Don’t call him Chinese like that,” Lina snapped as she stood to cross back to the dryers she was manning. “You don’t like people calling us Indian.”
“He’s homeless.”
“How does that make any difference?”
Chi Wen opened the glass door, triggering the bell as well as allowing a warm gust of the sunny day inside.
The chime of the bell mystified him, and he paused — still grinning madly — as he looked around for the source of the sound. Instead, he saw my butterfly tattoo fluttering over his head. He lifted his hand and the butterfly landed in his palm.
“No, no!” Sid called out from behind the counter. “No sit here. No watch. Go. Go!” For some reason, his previously perfectly-articulate-though-accented English broke down as he confronted one of the nine most powerful beings in the world.
“Wait,” I said. “That’s my … grandfather.”
Sid eyed me distrustfully. He was wearing a canary-yellow turban today. I was fairly certain it had been tangerine orange last week. I wondered if there was a religious significance to the color. I’d been coming to the laundromat for a few weeks now, and Sid and Lina accepted my business but didn’t particularly like me. It might have been my full arm-sleeve tattoos, or the weird white streak that wouldn’t take the jet-black dye with which I colored my hair, or maybe they didn’t trust anyone under twenty-five. Which was cool, because remove ‘under twenty-five’ from that misgiving and neither did I.
To be continued …
I SEE YOU (ORACLE 2) IS NOW AVAILABLE FOR PREORDER.
RELEASING DECEMBER 17, 2015
Categories
Unexpected treats
So this insanely gorgeous crystal pen holder just showed up in the mail. <3 It’s a sneaky gift from writer friend, C.A. Newsome. <3
When Carol Ann asked for my mailing address last month I assumed she needed it because she’s doing all the heavily lifting for the booth we’re sharing at Bookcon in Chicago next May.
Sly, Carol Ann! And, thank you so much! Now the nib of my Parker fountain pen won’t dry out in-between writing sessions!!
Now, what little gift should I send Carol Ann in return? Some chocolate perhaps? 😀
I See You (Oracle 2) is now available for pre-order.
Categories
Oracle 2: Excerpt 2 of 3
WARNING: THE FOLLOWING EXCERPT MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR I SEE ME, ORACLE 1
Click here for the OPENING 500 words of Chapter One
CHAPTER ONE CONTINUES:
The purple butterfly was hovering — suspended in the air — about an inch above the gray, heat-resistant liner of the ironing board. I’d been about to press it into place, and now … this.
No, wait. I could see the butterfly patches — all three of them — still placed carefully over the darned tear in my faded jeans. It was my butterfly … my butterfly tattoo …
What the hell?
The translucent black butterfly tattoo flicked its wings as I slowly flipped my left palm up, confirming that the spot on my wrist was now blank. Yeah, my wrist was now tattoo free.
My stomach twisted, fear shooting through my chest and limbs in a cold wash, though the mid-July day was lovely and warm.
I carefully set the iron down. The butterfly flitted upward until it hovered a few inches from my nose.
Then, inexplicably, it … it … kissed my cheek … as if it were playing with me.
Oh, damn. Now I was hallucinating playful butterflies.
No.
Not hallucinating.
Seeing.
I saw.
Usually visions of the future. Though not my future. And not for the last year and a half. Not even a blip, not even a hint of white mist or a headache. Not since Portland and Blackwell. Not since meeting Jade Godfrey and Chi Wen.
I was an oracle. Well, usually.
Apparently, I now also saw my tattoos coming to life.
That wasn’t disconcerting at all.
I wrapped my fingers around the raw diamond necklace that hung over my black tank top, between and just below my breasts. The magic of the stone and the large-linked chain of rose gold from which it hung tickled my fingertips with tingles of static electricity. The necklace had belonged to my mother, who’d died twenty-and-a-half years ago — at the moment of my birth — from injuries sustained in a car crash just outside of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Jade Godfrey had repaired the chain of the necklace and somehow tuned its magic to my oracle magic, which helped me control the visions. I told anyone who asked that the massive fifty-thousand-dollar diamond was just a crystal — but very few people talked to me voluntarily, let alone asked me personal questions. Yeah, I was a bit off-putting. I didn’t mind. I wasn’t a big fan of people anyway. Well, I liked certain people. A lot.
My demigod mentor, Chi Wen, was the far seer of the guardian dragons. He said I should be able to ‘pull forward’ the ‘focus’ of the necklace to help me ‘navigate’ the visions. Yeah, I had no idea what the hell that meant.
I narrowed my eyes at the manifestation. The butterfly was impervious to my glare, though, so I considered whether I should try it without my tinted, white-framed, bug-eyed glasses. Everyone else seemed put off by my weird pale gray eyes. Though I seriously doubted the butterfly cared about appearances.
To be continued …
I SEE YOU (ORACLE 2) IS NOW AVAILABLE FOR PREORDER.
RELEASING DECEMBER 17, 2015
My butter tart recipe, as promised.
Disclaimer: I’m not a pastry chef. I’ve baked these many times, and I’m always happy with the results but I’ve just written up the recipe for the first time – including the metric conversion, as requested – so your results may differ.
Butter tarts are a Canadian thing. I bake them every year for Christmas. I’ve chosen a rustic, whole wheat short crust pastry because I believe it compliments the sweetness of the filling. But feel free to use the butter tart filling in your favourite pastry. Or hell, for super busy mom’s and dad’s or nonpastry making people, buy the frozen tarts at the grocery store and simply mix up the filling. That’s how my mom made them for many years and I loved them just as well as a kid.
According to my handwritten notes, I decided I wanted to make butter tarts back in December 2008. I apparently tried two different pastry recipes and settled on the one written on the righthand page below. And obviously tweaked the filling as well.
Here’s what I’ve translated for you:
Some visuals:
Step 5:
Step 6:
Step 9:
Step 12:
Enjoy!
I don’t bake a dessert specifically for Christmas dinner. I figure the meal is crazy heavy and exceedingly filling on its own. I just plate a selection of baking – tarts included – and drop the platter in the middle of the table, allowing my guests pick and choose. But I have served these for dessert after a ‘light’ seafood chowder on December 24th, warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Do you have a favourite butter tart recipe? Please share your modifications or suggestions in the comments. I’m thinking of drizzling these with chocolate (of course, LOL).
ETA: Paula, a fellow Canadian, says she successfully omits the raisins and the tarts are still tasty. But I would worry that they need the raisins for substance.