The Lacanto Project

Here's another snippet from THE LACANTO PROJECT, my dystopian science fantasy novel for which I am seeking a home. THE LACANTO PROJECT is not all grim. There are some humorous characters trickled in, like Hag, the soothsayer who keeps an eye on events to make sure the prophecies come to fruition smoothly. In this scene, Hag comes to remind Devon that he has a job to do.

***

Devon jerked his head back inside, banging it on the window’s edge. Hag stood behind him dripping wet, the thick pig’s ear necklace she wore covering most of her face. Her crooked nose jutted from its center like the tail of a boar’s ass. She looked like a life-sized troll doll dressed up for a slumlord’s barbecue. “What are you doing here?"

Hag glanced down at his days-worn clothing and shook her head. “I was wondering the same about you.”

He just about laughed out loud at the sight of her. “I’m fixing a window. Did you come here to give me news or to torment me?”

The Lacanto Project

Here is another snippet for #ssfsat from my dystopian science fantasy novel THE LACANTO PROJECT for which I am actively seeking an agent/publisher. THE LACANTO PROJECT  is about an assassin who discovers that she is the genetic link necessary for the rise of a prophet in a dystopian world.

In this scene, Devon takes Nashi to the morgue to identify the body of her slain mentor.

***

Devon led Nashi to Vault-18 and pulled open the square door, bringing a body with it. Holding up the lantern so that its light reflected down on the corpse, he snapped back the sheath that covered the cadaver and stepped aside.

She shut her eyes for a moment and then gazed at the gray body, haunting in the dim light, and she suddenly went numb.

“Well?” Devon said in a razor sharp tone.

Nashi took a deep breath. She had seen hundreds of dead people, most having been her victims, either killed during practice or on her missions, but she had never seen one she knew as intimately as Tamron. Viewing his naked still body lying on the metal slab left a hollowness in the pit of her gut. It were as if a piece of her lay on the table.

Devon hung the lantern on a hook above the vault and moved the corpse’s head from side-to-side. She saw the small puncture wounds behind Tamron’s earlobes, an indication to the tortuous nature of his death.