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Strange 1st Encounter: The Finalists

…but first, Nalini’s winners: Mardel and Sue A. Both of y’all get either an autographed copy of Slave to Sensation or Visions of Heat. Email me with your info and choices and we’ll get you all squared out. Thanks again to the uber-talented Nalini Singh for coming by to play with us.

And now… the moment you’ve been waiting for… the finalists [and BFF Ann and I have decided some people should be banned from entering every month, otherwise I should just set up a monthly direct deposit into their accounts. You know who you are… (there are three of you) *grin*] for this month’s writing contest are…

Winner to be announced Friday, September 14.

[Samantha]

Snake McClintock, long, lean, and mean. He was probably actually a pussycat. She stared at his ludicrous leathers and prodigious weaponry. He looked like an 80’s movie reject. Flat and outdated.

Of course, images on movie posters usually were flat. She backed away, lest someone think she wanted to see “Snake Rides Again”, toward the lure of popcorn and massive sodas. The lobby was nearly deserted. She carelessly turned to make her selections with Glen, the concession boy, and bumped into something solid.

“Oh! I’m sorry…”

Her words died in her throat.

He looked harmless, just a guy in a jean jacket with dark hair, but he didn’t respond with normal politeness in kind.

He just stared.

The lights of the box office behind cast an oddly dark halo around him in the dim lobby. She strained to see his features more clearly, but her eyes watered and his face seemed to blur into regular, pleasant lines.

She’d been spending too much time watching shapes drift across a screen in dark theaters, instead of sleeping.

“Sorry,” she said again and walked to the concession stand.

She hunched her shoulders, shivering from the warm, but disturbingly lingering aura of contact. She brushed at it like a spider web, following him with her eyes. He turned down the hall where the movie she had come to see was showing.

She got a chocolate bar and a small drink instead of the normal gut/bladder buster combo and walked into the theater. She scanned the darkness and sparse population.

He wasn’t there. She breathed a sigh of relief and slid into the cocoon of her seat, leaning back to watch the previews.

One shadow divided itself from the rest and slipped unseen into the seat at the end of her aisle.

[Shannon]

A light tap jerked Amy’s attention away from her growing rage at what was clearly her tampered with, refusing to start car. She turned, ready to rip into whoever it was…and stared.

White-blond hair in casual disarray, strands falling across a disturbingly ageless face marked only by a thin scar dragging across his cheekbone. Luscious lips were curved into a faint smile, and the look in his unusually dark eyes was taunting. Daring her to do something.

Not that she would. She listened to her instincts, and she didn’t need the long look to know that for all his slender build, this man was more than capable of doing anything he wanted. It was the way he leaned against her car, arms crossed, head cocked, poised and still, a snake about to strike, clinging to the shadows even in the lights overhead.

Against her better judgment she stared. Because everything about him seemed to invite it, even as a subtle something told her to run. Long legs crossed in front of him, encased in tight jeans that she couldn’t resist following up with her eyes, her breath catching when she hit just below that low waistband.

The sheen of the knife there sparked her recognition.

Amy tried to look for an escape, but all she could see was him as he slowly uncoiled, overwhelming her senses as he stepped toward her, adrenaline heating her body as cool fingers brushed over her skin.

“I know you.” Her voice trembled, faded. “You’re…”

“I wish,” He sighed, more beautiful than the police sketch had been able to capture. “I wish that you didn’t.” His voice wrapped around her, hands clamping down, moving faster than she could react, pinning her to the hard length of his body. “I really hoped it could be different.” One hand fastened her mouth closed.

Then she was being dragged into the shadows in the arms of a killer.

[Carrie Lofty]

Sticky with beer and sweat, Kara wiped the bar and flicked her attention to the stage. Again. And again.

Paul was singing. Shouting, more like. Moaning. Dredging up the guttural pain of a man possessed. His ground-glass voice climbed over her shredded nerves and laid claim. Enraged chords shook the ramshackle club with the violence of a twister.

He owned the stage — eyes rimmed red, hair smashed into rowdy clumps, thready highways of veins on his forearms. Wearing a black Stratocaster low over his groin, he pumped the guitar in primal rhythms. A gunslinger. Bang, baby, shot you down.

His music pushed wild thoughts into her head: a woman cumming, strangled with her own hair… a chambermaid raped behind a spiraling staircase by the young master of the house… a crying man finding nerve enough to stab his unfaithful lover. Bad choices and choices taken away.

Punks, Emos, sorority sisters in their fuck-me pumps — who was listening didn’t matter. He scratched out his heart and handed it to them. Then he punched them in the face. The crazy reverence of his audience made him taller, stronger, more beautiful, wearing their manic applause like a king’s robes.

Everyone knew where he’d be in five years — topping the charts, draped in A+ groupies, reclining on a mound of cocaine the size of the brand new Lotus in his eight-car garage. And Kara just happened to be tending bar, having threatened the welfare of her boss’s scrotum to land a shift that night. Idiot. She’d be a Darwin Award nominee to stab herself on a sharp edge like Paul, strapping into a roller coaster with a half-finished track.

But she devoured his body with smoke-stung eyes and waited for him to come order a Stella. He always did. Right after the club closed.

[MadBatLou]

Nina had never had much use for the geek squad in the basement. When her computer didn’t work, she called, things were done, and everyone went on with their lives. But they had never hired a geek like this one.

The new hire stood in her doorway, a faintly amused expression on his face. He was built on the lean, almost elegant proportion, with close-cropped dark hair and a pair of shoulders that reminded her of a swimmer she’d dated in college. She had never liked glasses, but then she noticed the eyes. Good lord. A luminous greenish grey that shouldn’t have been quite so nice, but really was.

Her raised a questioning eyebrow at her stare, and the corner of his mouth lifted with a incredulous smile. “Problem?”

She stood and straightened her skirt. “Yeah, the payroll program isn’t working.”

He walked over to the screen and sat down, moving a stack of her papers out of the way with his elbow.

“Look, I’m really in a hurry,” she snapped, “and I’d kind of—“

He stood up, and suddenly she was looking at the hollow in his throat. She had to swallow hard. His voice seemed to move slowly up her spine. “You’re putting special characters in a numbers field.”

“Wh-what?”

“Characters,” He murmured even more softly, “in a numbers field. Zero through nine I will allow. Maybe even a decimal point. No more.”

She cleared her throat. “How do you know that?”

He stepped back, and the room seemed far cooler. He smiled. “Because I wrote it. And that’s what the error message says.” At her expression, his grin widened. He sketched a small bow, then swaggered down the hall. “No special characters.” He called over his shoulder. “Remember it.” She realized she had nothing to say.

You know the drill: Vote for the best one, log your pick in the comments, and the one with the most votes gets 50 Amazon bux and a copy of Boundless. And Ultimo Bragging Rights. Winner announced Friday, September 14. Good luck, babies.

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 8th, 2007 at 6:48 am and is filed under Contests and Free Stuff. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

59 Responses to “Strange 1st Encounter: The Finalists”

  1. fiveandfour
    Posted: Sep 8th, 2007 at 7:00 am
    1

    As per usual, they were all terrific. But I vote for Samantha. I’ve always had a soft spot for the movies.

  2. Shiloh
    Posted: Sep 8th, 2007 at 7:14 am
    2

    Samantha!

  3. Carrie Lofty
    Posted: Sep 8th, 2007 at 8:14 am
    3

    Thx for including me, Dionne.

    Vote: Shannon.

  4. Lorelie
    Posted: Sep 8th, 2007 at 8:15 am
    4

    I vote for Carrie, fo’ sho’!

  5. Jambrea
    Posted: Sep 8th, 2007 at 8:56 am
    5

    I vote for Shannon.

  6. Patti Ann Colt
    Posted: Sep 8th, 2007 at 8:57 am
    6

    All fantastic. Congrats ladies! I vote for Carrie.

  7. Liz Powell
    Posted: Sep 8th, 2007 at 9:19 am
    7

    Awesome entries; somebody hose me down…!

    But I gotta vote for Carrie. She totally rocks!

  8. Samantha
    Posted: Sep 8th, 2007 at 10:15 am
    8

    MadBatLou - mmm, hot geeks ;) .

  9. SweetNSourGirl
    Posted: Sep 8th, 2007 at 10:23 am
    9

    I vote for Carrie who had me at fuck me pumps.

  10. Shannon
    Posted: Sep 8th, 2007 at 10:25 am
    10

    I vote for myself, cause I live in hope ;)

    MadBatLou has a really nice one, though.

  11. Jage
    Posted: Sep 8th, 2007 at 10:34 am
    11

    Shannon, don’t know why, I keep reading that post over, I want to know know about the words that got cut, lol.

  12. Jage
    Posted: Sep 8th, 2007 at 10:34 am
    12

    minus a know, and add in a ‘I want to read the rest of the words that got cut’.

    Sorry.

  13. April
    Posted: Sep 8th, 2007 at 11:52 am
    13

    …I have decided some people should be banned from entering every month, otherwise I should just set up a monthly direct deposit into their accounts.

    You could do what radio stations do and say, “If you’ve won anything from us in the last 30 days, you can’t play.” :)

  14. Bettie
    Posted: Sep 8th, 2007 at 1:02 pm
    14

    All the entries were good reads, but Carrie’s has had my vote since I first read it. If it was a movie, I’d have been (mentally) shouting at the screen, “Watch out, girl, that man is bad news!” Great job.

  15. catie
    Posted: Sep 8th, 2007 at 2:07 pm
    15

    Jesus they make it almost impossible to choose, don’t they? I’m going with the first Samantha’s entry. :)

  16. C.M.
    Posted: Sep 8th, 2007 at 3:40 pm
    16

    I’d want to read both Samantha’s and MadBatLou’s stories, and I had a hard time deciding…

    Samantha’s guy seems a bit more of a bad boy, though. More threatening. Left wanting to know more. Vote goes to her!

    But I soo want to read MadBatLou’s story.

  17. Tracey
    Posted: Sep 8th, 2007 at 5:14 pm
    17

    I’m a bit of a geek myself, and have a soft spot for hot!geeks, so I definitely have to go to MadBatLou!

  18. Mona
    Posted: Sep 8th, 2007 at 7:07 pm
    18

    I vote for MadBatLou

    Geeks are in!

  19. Tiffany
    Posted: Sep 8th, 2007 at 7:19 pm
    19

    Great job, ya’ll!

    I vote for Carrie!

  20. Melanie
    Posted: Sep 8th, 2007 at 8:24 pm
    20

    Shannon. Mos’ def. Her entry is just so freaky. And kinda makes me want to do some sexy, sexy fanart of the guy at the same time.

  21. Shell
    Posted: Sep 8th, 2007 at 8:29 pm
    21

    I vote for Shannon!

  22. Kelly Schaub
    Posted: Sep 8th, 2007 at 11:27 pm
    22

    Carrie’s entry rocks. I vote for Carrie!

  23. Julie
    Posted: Sep 9th, 2007 at 5:49 am
    23

    MadBatLou…something about that just grabs me!

  24. Eliza
    Posted: Sep 9th, 2007 at 5:59 am
    24

    I totally wrote a poem:

    I love boys who emote
    And so, Carrie’s got my vote

  25. Samantha F
    Posted: Sep 9th, 2007 at 6:19 am
    25

    Shannon all the way!

  26. Ann Aguirre
    Posted: Sep 9th, 2007 at 8:18 am
    26

    Shannon.

  27. Katie Ann
    Posted: Sep 9th, 2007 at 9:41 am
    27

    MadBatLou! (Mmm, computer geeks…)

  28. Eilonwy
    Posted: Sep 9th, 2007 at 10:13 am
    28

    Vote: Shannon

  29. Tumperkin
    Posted: Sep 9th, 2007 at 10:57 am
    29

    Tough one. I really like Madbatlou’s piece and would like to read more of that but honestly I don’t think it meets the brief. The hero seems like a sweetie - not a badboy. To me the baddest of the lot was Shannon’s - I felt her character was dangerous and unpredictable. I like my badboys cold as ice and Shannon’s was positively arctic.

    So my vote goes to SHANNON.

    Oh and Bam - on the ban front, April’s right : you should have a proper rule. That way people will know whether to bother entering before they write something. Just a thought :)

  30. Stephanie
    Posted: Sep 9th, 2007 at 11:00 am
    30

    I really liked Samantha’s!!

  31. April
    Posted: Sep 9th, 2007 at 11:14 am
    31

    Took me until now to actually read the entries, lol.

    OK. While I don’t think the story would end well and the character’s way too freaky scary to overcome his hotness for my comfort, I think Shannon’s entry best met the brief.

    But like many others, I would SO buy the book that goes with MadBatLou’s entry.

    Shannon for the Win. MadBatLou for an Honorable Mention.

  32. Nikki H.
    Posted: Sep 9th, 2007 at 3:22 pm
    32

    MadBatLou. She had me at “swimmer”. {fanning face waiting for hot flash to subside}

  33. Josie
    Posted: Sep 9th, 2007 at 3:51 pm
    33

    I think I have to vote for Shannon because I would love to find out what happens next. Carrie’s is a very close second!

  34. kate r
    Posted: Sep 9th, 2007 at 4:36 pm
    34

    all of them? seriously.

    I have to say Carrie but that’s because I did eenie meeeeenie

  35. MadBatLou
    Posted: Sep 9th, 2007 at 4:54 pm
    35

    Aw, guys. I really appreciate your kind comments. And thanks also for the nod, Dionne.

    I’m writing the rest of this story, so it’s really encouraged me to hear folks say that they’d read more. Thank you:)

  36. Susan Higginbotham
    Posted: Sep 10th, 2007 at 5:54 am
    36

    MatBatLou, by far!

  37. kate r
    Posted: Sep 10th, 2007 at 6:07 am
    37

    but Tumperkin, if she banned you, where would we go to read your stuff?

  38. bam
    Posted: Sep 10th, 2007 at 6:09 am
    38
    Author Comment

    For the record, Tumperkin can send me ANY of her stuff and I will post it for y’all.

    *lightbulb. dashes off to email Tumperkin*

  39. shuzluva
    Posted: Sep 10th, 2007 at 9:39 am
    39

    The hottest guy I’ve ever seen in an office was IT at my last job. And when I say hot, I mean he had it all. Chiseled cheekbones, dark wavy hair, strong chin, slightly bent nose, huge green eyes, tall, and yes, nice muscles (IT was allowed to wear collared golf shirts, lucky me)!

    So, MadBatLou, you’ve got my vote. Can’t wait to see how this turns out.

  40. Stien and Andi
    Posted: Sep 10th, 2007 at 10:50 am
    40

    I would say Shannon, although Samantha’s is pretty good too. Oh hell, they are all very good…

  41. mommy NAP
    Posted: Sep 10th, 2007 at 11:17 am
    41

    I think I like Carrie Lofty’s

  42. Bettie
    Posted: Sep 10th, 2007 at 11:34 am
    42

    I’m writing the rest of this story, so it’s really encouraged me to hear folks say that they’d read more.

    Adding my call for more, more, more!

    some people should be banned from entering every month

    Banned from posting to the challenge, or just banned from consideration? I love the contest as a writing exercise. Since I never know what the topic will be, it always gets me thinking in a different direction. There’s a deadline (there’s no motivation like a deadline). The word limit forces me to think very carefully about what I want to say, and to eliminate over-used or useless words.

    Winning the GC once was nice–and once is enough for me. The real prizes are: I’ve started three stories from pieces I wrote for these contests and I’ve found writers whose books will be an autobuy for me the instant they’re in print.

  43. Kate Diamond
    Posted: Sep 10th, 2007 at 6:17 pm
    43

    Any entry that starts with the word “sticky” is good by me.

  44. Carrie Lofty
    Posted: Sep 10th, 2007 at 8:16 pm
    44

    So is that a vote for me, Kate? ‘Preciate it.

  45. dionne
    Posted: Sep 10th, 2007 at 8:52 pm
    45

    Banned from posting to the challenge, or just banned from consideration?

    Aw, hell, bettie… i ain’t ever banning anyone from the challenge. Banned from consideration, I mean. I LOVE reading your entries!

  46. Jess
    Posted: Sep 11th, 2007 at 5:46 am
    46

    I vote for Carrie Lofty!

  47. Maya
    Posted: Sep 11th, 2007 at 8:18 am
    47

    Carrie - most evocative!

  48. skatergurljubulee
    Posted: Sep 11th, 2007 at 9:48 am
    48

    Gotta vote MadBatLou. I have a thing for really HOT geeks. I’m married to one and have to read anything that has to do with them. This sucks! I want more!!! ARRGH. s lol

  49. Camilla Bartley
    Posted: Sep 11th, 2007 at 1:32 pm
    49

    Carrie rocks!

  50. Leah
    Posted: Sep 11th, 2007 at 2:00 pm
    50

    I vote for Shannon

  51. Bre
    Posted: Sep 11th, 2007 at 2:16 pm
    51

    MadBatLous is good but Shannons is more up my alley. Her guy is the most sexy, imo, and most badass.

    Shannons got my vote.

  52. Marilyn Brant
    Posted: Sep 11th, 2007 at 2:58 pm
    52

    I enjoyed reading all of these, but my vote goes to Carrie!!

  53. Ruth
    Posted: Sep 12th, 2007 at 4:46 am
    53

    Carrie gets my vote!

  54. skyerae
    Posted: Sep 12th, 2007 at 5:24 pm
    54

    Shannon, that is definitely a bad boy encounter.

  55. lone
    Posted: Sep 13th, 2007 at 7:02 pm
    55

    i vote for shannon

  56. SilverRose
    Posted: Sep 13th, 2007 at 7:07 pm
    56

    I totally vote Shannon :D

  57. Cori
    Posted: Sep 13th, 2007 at 7:42 pm
    57

    Shannon!

  58. Amanda
    Posted: Sep 13th, 2007 at 8:02 pm
    58

    Shannon!

  59. Kyokyogirl
    Posted: Sep 13th, 2007 at 8:15 pm
    59

    Vote: Shannon

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