Clockwork Dagger Posts Galore
The release of my story Final Flight means promo, promo, promo all over the place. Here are my recent posts and interviews–and there are more to come, too!
Final Flight story
Guest blogs:
– Fantasy Cafe’s Women in SFF Month: Beth Cato with The Healer as a Fighter
– “Why I Write Steampunk” at The Spec Fiction Hub
– Final Flight: A Father and Son Story in the World of Clockwork Dagger at the Qwillery
– Beth Cato on Clockwork Daggers at SF Signal
– Writing Short and Long Fiction with Beth Cato at Dan Koboldt’s site
– Writers and their Beasts: Beth Cato at J. Kathleen Cheney’s site
Interviews:
– Introducing Beth Cato of The Clockwork Dagger Series at The Steampunk Cavaliers
– Beth Cato talks about Characters, Cooking and of course, her latest Clockwork Dagger off-shoot, The Final Flight with N.O.A. Rawle
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Read MoreBready or Not: Blueberry Muffin Breakfast Truffles
Gluten-free. Basic, wholesome, raw ingredients. No added sugar. No baking involved. Tastes like a mini blueberry muffin. Oh yeah.
I have posted about breakfast energy truffles before. This is a distinct variation because of the use of dried blueberries. Mind you, those can be an expensive ingredient, but you only need 1/2 cup for the recipe. I thought the blueberry flavor might be overwhelming, but the addition of a little lemon juice does a lot to mellow it.
These are super-easy to make in a food processor or high-powered blender (though for the latter, you might need to blend this in smaller batches). It just takes a few minutes to make these truffles.
Store them in the fridge for upward of a week or two. They are perfect for a breakfast or snack!
Modified from Blueberry Muffin Energy Balls at The Healthy Maven.
Bready or Not: Blueberry Muffin Breakfast Truffles
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup cashews
- 1/2 cup almonds or use other combination of nuts to equal 1 cup
- 1/2 cup dates diced
- 1/2 cup dried blueberries
- 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 Tb lemon juice
- dash salt
Instructions
- Add nuts to food processor. Pulse until they are in pieces. Add the dates and dried blueberries, and process until they are in tiny pieces and starting to stick together
- Add the lemon juice, vanilla extract, and salt. Blend everything until it forms a big sticky ball.
- Use a teaspoon or tablespoon scoop to form balls. You might need to stir the mix as you go, as the lemon juice tends to lurk at the bottom. Use your hands to compress each ball. Store in a sealed container in the fridge for up to two weeks, or freeze between layers of wax paper.
- OM NOM NOM!
Final Flight: A Clockwork Dagger Story is out now!
Final Flight is out! This is the last (for now) of my Clockwork Dagger stories.
Another breathtaking short story from the author of The Clockwork Dagger and The Clockwork Crown, set in the same world…
Captain Hue hoped he was rid of his troubles once Octavia Leander and Alonzo Garrett disembarked from his airship Argus. But he was quickly proved wrong when his ship was commandeered by Caskentian soldiers. He is ordered on a covert and deadly mission by the smarmy Julius Corrado, an elite Clockwork Dagger.
Now Captain Hue must start a mutiny to regain control of his airship, which means putting his entire crew at risk—including his teenage son Sheridan. As the weather worsens and time runs out, it’ll take incredible bravery to bring the Argus down… perhaps for good.
Final Flight story
An excerpt of the very beginning of the story:
I stood at the rudder wheel of my airship Argus, in command of a ship I did not truly control. We flew north, destination unknown. A soldier stood several feet behind me. His pistols remained holstered—he wasn’t daft enough or desperate enough to fire a weapon in the control cabin of an operating airship—but he had already proven adept with his fists. My co-pilot, Ramsay, was currently getting patched up, as the sarcastic commentary he had offered was not kindly received.
Throughout the cabin, tension prickled beneath the surface like an invisible rash we couldn’t scratch. Everyone stood or sat rigid at their posts, gazes flickering between their gauges, the windows, and the soldiers in our midst. These were soldiers of our own kingdom of Caskentia, in green uniforms as vibrant as the sprawling valley below. They had occupied the Argus since that morning.
This was the second time in as many weeks that my airship had been commandeered. The previous time, rebellious settlers from the Waste had claimed it by force. I rather preferred them. Wasters made for an easy enemy after fifty years of intermittent warfare. This occupation by our own government was ugly in a different way.
My fists gripped the wheel as if I could leave impressions in the slick copper. The futility of our situation infuriated me. I couldn’t stop the Wasters before. And now I couldn’t stop this, whatever this mysterious errand was.
My son, Sheridan, was on board somewhere. I needed him to be safe, not snared in any more political drama. The Wasters had used him as a hostage to force my hand; I didn’t want these soldiers to do the same.
“Captain Hue, sir.” My co-pilot saluted as he entered the control cabin. I assessed him in a glance. Bandages plugged his swollen nose. Blood still thickened his thin brown moustache.
“You are well enough to resume your duties?” I asked.
“Yes, sir. I’ve felt worse after a night of leave.”
Ramsay knew his job; if only he could control his fool lips. I stepped back to grant him control of the rudder and leaned by his ear. “Corrado said this would be over in days. Bear through.”
I saw my own frustration mirrored in his eyes, and in the other crew as I walked from station to station. I muttered what assurance I could and exited the control cabin. I needed to find my boy.
Like the start of the story? Read the whole thing for just 99-cents–and that includes the first chapter of Breath of Earth!
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Read MoreSunday Quote says things never change
Read More“Times are bad. Children don’t listen to their parents and everyone is writing a book.”
~ attributed to Cicero, 106-43 BC
New Stories, Poems, and Posts
Theme of the week: novel edits. Not big scale revisions, but the more nefarious, subtle kind. The sort that requires you to squint at a single paragraph for 30 minutes to get the nuance just right.
That’s why I decided to give my brain a break and work on my website instead. That’s called “productive procrastination.”
These works have been added to my Bibliography as well.
Stories:
– “Bear-bear Speaks” in Daily Science Fiction
– “A Dance to End Our Final Day,” an very personal old favorite of mine, reprinted in EGM Shorts
– Letter S in the brand new C is for Chimera (Alphabet Anthologies Book 1)
– in the realm of nonfiction, Chicken Soup for the Soul republished online my story “Long Distance Love,” about how I met my husband
Poetry:
– “Fried Okra” reprinted in the 2016 Rhysling Anthology (and wow, is this a great anthology)
– “Dragon, Bound in Stone” in Star*Line 39.2
Guest Blog:
– “The Importance of Slides: About Beth Cato’s Story in C is for Chimera at Rhonda Parrish’s site
Interview:
– “The Importance of Slides: Beth Cato’s Story in C is for Chimera at Rhonda Parrish’s site
Mentions in other media:
– included in 10 Arizona Sci-Fi and Fantasy – Authors You Should Know — Besides Diana Gabaldon and Stephenie Meyer in Phoenix New Times
– quoted in What They Said: The 2016 LA Times Festival of Books at Book Yurt
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