Alphabet Soup for Sylphs

By LJ McDonald

Sylphs. Earth, Air, Water, Fire, Healing, and Battle. They come to the human world to find love, but are betrayed and made into slaves instead, except for in one place. In Sylph Valley, they're allowed to live their own lives and those lives are filled with humour, angst, fury, and passion.

Twenty-four short pieces to accompany the novels in the Sylph series by L.J. McDonald. Enter their world.

• Language: English
• Publisher: LJ McDonald
• Release date: Apr 1, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476455341

LJ McDonald

I first started writing in 1986, when my grade ten English teacher read some of my poetry and said that I had talent. I was so floored at the concept that I started writing short stories. My parents weren't quite so thrilled that I was doing something that took my away from my schoolwork, so I arranged to write a novel for two school credits, thereby turning writing into homework. Those two credits resulted in the creation of the novel Cure for the Phoenix, which I haven't read in over twenty years and which will likely not see the light of day. Even now I remember it as being quite clichéd, though my husband likes it. I did make some attempts to get published over the years, and almost made it at one point, but other things were on my mind. To me, not submitting was easier than dealing with rejection slips, so I stopped trying. I did still keep on writing though. It's true that for writers, it's a compulsion. I just never considered the idea that anyone other than my husband would want to read any of it. That changed when I picked up a book titled Moongazer by Marianne Mancusi. It had an ad in it for the Shomi Romantic Fantasy Novel Writing Contest, where the winner would get a guaranteed publishing contract in Canada and the United States. I mentioned it to my husband and he nagged me until I entered the first three chapters of The Battle Sylph in March of 2008. Sometime after that, I was wandering the Shomi site and found a link to a page detailing what features the judges were looking for. Other than my book being fantasy, I hadn't done a single thing on the list and figured I must have lost. My husband said, okay, wait for them to confirm that, then ship it out to the next company. You're not hiding for the next twenty years this time. So, time passed, and the contest closed. The day after the winner was chosen, I was emailed by someone at Shomi who did confirm that, yes, I'd lost the contest, but the head Editor liked my three chapters so much he wanted to see the rest of the book. So I had a minor heart attack and sent it in. I then heard nothing until November 2008, when I was contacted by Chris Keeslar, Senior Editor for Dorchester Publishing, asking if the book was still available. I said yes, as were the four sequels. A week later, he bought the first three books in the series and I had another near heart attack. I also decided I needed an agent. It's a lot easier to find an agent when you submit emails with subject lines that read "I have a guaranteed publishing contract for three novels - need an agent". Within a month, I'd signed with Michelle Grajkowski with the Three Seas Literary Agency, and the rest, hopefully, will be happy history for everyone.

Book preview

Alphabet Soup for Sylphs

by L.J. McDonald

Published by L.J. McDonald at Smashwords

Copyright 2012 L.J. McDonald

Cover by L.J. McDonald

Editing Assistance by C.A Szarek

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

Thank you for downloading this free eBook. You are welcome to share it with your friends. This book may be reproduced, copied and distributed for non-commercial purposes, provided the book remains in its complete original form. If you enjoyed this book, please return to Smashwords.com to discover other works by this author. Thank you for your support.

Table of Contents

Introduction

A is for Allowed

B is for Blocks

C is for Cold

D is for Devotion

E is for Eyeball

F is for Forever

G is for Grass

H is for Hate

I is for Ignite

J is for Jeopardy

K is for Killer

L is for Lift

M is for Moo

N is for Nag

O is for Outrage

P is for Pissed Off

Q is for Questions

R is for Ruined

S is for Secret

T is for Temptation

U is for Undone

V is for Victory

W is for Welcome

X is for Xenolith

Y is for Yellow

Z is for Zen

Afterword

Books by L.J. McDonald

Connect with L.J. McDonald

Introduction

As of the writing of this introduction in March 2012, there are three full-length Sylph novels and one novella published. They're titled The Battle Sylph, The Shattered Sylph, and Queen of the Sylphs. There's also a novella titled The Worth of a Sylph in the anthology A Midwinter Fantasy. All of them are published by Dorchester Publishing and available as either eBooks or trade paperbacks.

Back in the middle of January, I came across a writing challenge on the Internet where the author writes a series of snippets based on the alphabet. I hadn't been able to release anything about the Sylphs for a while and thought it would be a great idea to keep me in practice and be a gift to my readers. So, over a period of time that lasted somewhat longer than twenty-four days, I released Alphabet Soup for Sylphs on my blog. Each day was based around a new word in alphabetical order. It was both a lot of fun and a source of periodic frustration for me, and the pieces went over well.

While I was working on the challenge, I decided that once it was over, I'd take the whole thing, clean it up, and release it as an eBook for people to keep. As I'd originally handed it out for free, I never planned to charge for it, so if you paid money for this, I'm sorry. You shouldn't have.

Smashwords has let me turn this into an eBook that's available over a wide range of formats, which I definitely like. Hopefully you'll like it too. I've gone over the original blog entries and tightened up the prose. I've also put a section at the end where I go into some detail about what I was thinking with each section, for those who are interested in that sort of thing. I even created the cover art, which is something I don't think I ever want to try and do again. At least, I really don’t want to try and draw any more sylphs!

Before you start, keep in mind that this was done as a companion piece for the books, not a stand-alone. The individual sections offer a wide range of styles and characterizations, but also assume at least a basic understanding of the universe. I didn't put any spoilers for the unpublished books, but there are some that could be taken that way for the books that are out. To decrease the number of spoilers, I’ve gone through this version and changed a few things to try and keep from giving too much away to someone who perhaps hasn't read the books.

Oh, one last note. I used Canadian spelling in this, so my American readers should expect a lot of strange appearances of the letter U.

I do hope that you enjoy.

L.J. McDonald

7 March 2012

A is for Allowed

Blue still couldn’t believe it was true.

He was here now, in this strange, harmless world, bound to a woman who felt like a Queen to him. More, despite how there was a hive, he wasn’t nameless in it.

We’re allowed to do whatever we want? he asked, staring at everything and still amazed by all of it.

Yup, Heyou said, grinning. Anything.

Blue turned his head to look at the other battler. He felt light-headed, drunk, stunned. We can belong to females of our own?

Absolutely. That’s one of the best parts.

And change shape to whatever we like?

Sure. I recommend ‘handsome man.’ That one’s always popular. It’s way better than ‘giant eyeball’ or ‘multi-armed snake creature.’ Just ask Dillon.

And we don’t have to worry that the Queen will reject us?

Heyou shook his head. Solie would never do that. He raised a finger. Mind you, she won’t sleep with you. You have your own master for that.

So we protect this valley now?

Yep. Heyou was starting to look bored. We really are free here, you know. Honest.

So I can kill any man I want?

Uh, no. Heyou frowned. We’re not allowed to do that. The grin returned. But the rest of it makes up for it!

B is for Blocks

No!

Betha wanted to pull her own hair out in frustration. Lizzy, you’re ten years old! You’re too old to be playing with blocks. You should give them to your little sisters.

No! Lizzy shouted again, tears of rage in her eyes as she shook her head in vehement denial. Betha found herself wishing her husband were here. Lizzy never misbehaved when Leon was around. A moment later, she steeled herself. She could deal with this without him.

I never raised you to be so selfish, Lizzy Petrule.

Lizzy shook her head again, her pigtails flying. No! They can have all my dolls and the wooden rocking horse and even my paints, but not the blocks!

Betha was startled. You’d give all your other toys away? Just to keep some baby blocks? Why?

Lizzy wiped her eyes. They’re important to me, was all she would say.

Betha would never understand this child. Fine, she snapped, wishing she didn’t feel as if she were giving in. Keep the blocks, but you will share all your other toys, understand?

Yes, mama! Lizzy cheered, all her tears gone as she hugged her mother. Betha