Samantha begins volunteering at Willow House, where an unfamiliar uniform, new responsibilities, and a community depending on her make the disguise harder to escape.

Chapter 28 – Chez Gloria

Torn from his own world and stuffed into the body of a villainess, facing the end of a doomed route he himself wrote, "Amelia" must navigate a world she really should know - too bad she was never great at worldbuilding.

Stuck in a world she (maybe) created, Amelia quickly finds that reality has filled in the details she failed to describe. The characters who were so flat when she wrote them now have nuance, and motives. The kingdom she wrote into existence is experiencing internal strife she never even thought about. And let's not even get into the complexities of the magic system, or the demon that forced her into this situation to begin with...

Oh, and then there's the fact that she's about to be arrested and executed... but surely she can come up with a way to write herself out of that, right?

...Right?

On Tuesday, August 8, I summoned Victoria. It was the first time I’d had my Victoria here on a work day since the first time I brought her here accidentally, and the intent was to see how well my ability to just briefly direct her mind to do things allowed her to do useful stuff while I was working.

Chapter 27 – Caught

Hastily I threw the keys into their place in the desk drawer and slammed it shut. I had just time to retrieve my tray and restore the smoky glass to its position on top of the paper when the office door was flung open to herald the entrance of one formidable woman. More than ever, I needed to have my wits about me and all the luck in the world if I was to get myself and the intelligence I’d gleaned away in one piece.

“What on earth… what are you doing here?” she vociferated.

No.

No, no, no, no, no.

Mark Lansing never wanted to stand out. He was perfectly happy disappearing into a football huddle with the rest of the team until one play made him the talk of the town. Thrust into a spotlight he never wanted, every choice can reshape his future, and every decision could transform him in ways he never believed possible. Mark’s destiny will be determined on the field … assuming he can figure out how to dress the part.

Gloria, What To Do With My Purse

I was sitting in the front lobby of my wife’s beauty salon. The Turnabout Gurl Salon recently changed hands, now a prestigious salon that oozes femininity. A typical late Friday afternoon occurrence with me, now something I look forward to since they have changed hands.

The décor has changed, the uniforms the stylists wear have been upgraded, and their level of business has doubled. So much to see now, the stylists new dress a work of art. Brief, lacy, form fitting and along with some towering high heels a real sight to take in.

Chapter Seven: Kitsura-kai

The attention kept growing. I started to notice it not just at work, but everywhere I went.

The transport wagon appears one morning with Luthan, who has a request to attend an accident victim. Ursula returns with it to Foti Lane, where the patient is found with several broken bones. After taking the victim back to the Clinic and doing what she can, Luthan has some surprising news for Ursula.

The Voyage of the Visund

A tale of Anmar by Penny Lane

110 - Emergency Call

January means performance reviews. The forms have been in everyone's inboxes since the second week of the month - self-evaluations, peer feedback requests, the annual accounting of what you did and what it was worth. I've been filling mine out in the gaps between client work, in the gaps between other things.

Dave stares too long over the cubicle partition at nine-fifteen.

A Marvel of Womankind

“She hasn’t said anything interesting on her mobile since we started listening in. Why would she try to use it at the most critical juncture in the operation?”

The Technical Sergeant had a point. Either Nadya was totally innocent of being involved in nefarious activity, or she and her compatriots were real professionals.

“Well, if I can give her sufficient reason to need to contact her friends, she might just be tempted to break the rules. And we don’t want that; we need her to bring your guys to them.”

“OK, we can block her mobile.”

CHAPTER 54
I looked to my right, and Maz simply conformed to habit, her smaller binoculars already out of her handbag to be slung round her neck, and a quiet litany of bird names commencing. Susie laughingly said, “Didn’t realise you were a twitcher, Maz”

“I’m not. Welcome swallow”