Teaser Tuesday: “The Stone Sky”

So this week I’ve been reading The Stone Sky, by N.K. Jemisin, the final book in “The Broken Earth” trilogy:

The premise of this trilogy is, basically, that the Earth hates humanity and is trying to destroy it via disasters both natural and man-made.

And here you thought I only read fiction.

“Whatever you do, Schaffa will lose you. He’ll lose the one thing that has kept him human throughout the Earth’s efforts to devour his will. He’ll find no one new to love, either―not here. And he won’t be able to return to the Stillness unless he’s willing to risk the Deep Earth route again. So whether he heals somehow, or you change him into one of my kind, he will have no choice but to go on, alone, endlessly yearning for what he will never again have.” Slowly, Steel’s arms lower to his sides. “You have no idea what that’s like.”

And then, suddenly, shockingly, he is right in front of Nassun. No blurring, no warning, just flick and he is there, bent at the waist to put his face right in front of hers, so close that she feels the wind of the air he’s displaced and smells the whiff of loam and she can even see that the irises of his eyes are striated in layers of gray.

“BUT I DO,” he shouts.

N.K. Jemisin, The Stone Sky

Hmm … What does that remind me of?

Of course that’s not something any of us has to worry about … OR IS IT???

Meanwhile, having consulted the Gods of Randomness to select a Teaser from one of my own books, I present this scene from early on in Father’s Books, before the proverbial manure really starts to impact the proverbial spinning blade device:

“Next door? Where the Martins used to live?” Then: “Duh, it would have to be there, since the house on the other side is gone.”

“It is?”

“Yeah, it burned down. Looks recent. You can still smell the smoke. Don’t tell me you didn’t notice.” Richard gave a little shrug; he hadn’t, of course. Beth shook her head. “You’re hopeless.”

Richard knew better than to dispute this.

James Viscosi, Father’s Books