Additional Excerpt from Smokescreen Novel

I'm still working on the Smokescreen story, which is taking a little longer than I had hoped. Nevertheless, I wanted to share another excerpt from the book. (As always, the usual caveats apply about proofing, etc.)

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I didn’t need a shoulder to cry on, but I did feel the need to vent to someone. If my best friend Jim had been around, I might have bent his ear. Unfortunately, he was off-planet, with no definitive return date. That being the case, I turned to my Alpha League mentor, Feral.

Big mistake.

“So your girlfriend cheated on you,” Feral said dismissively. “It happens. Get over it.”

I gave him a stunned look. “That’s the advice you give as a wise and sagacious mentor? ‘Get over it’?”

He shrugged. “What do you want me to say – that you’ll find someone else? That she doesn’t deserve you? Some other empty platitudes that sound nice but don’t really help you get through this?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “Although a sympathetic ear would be nice.”

Feral simply stared at me. We were currently at his place – a beautiful villa that sat on a wooded estate just outside the city limits. I typically enjoyed going there because the house (and everything in it) was custom-made for Feral, who was eight feet tall. In short, all of the furniture, fixtures, etcetera were oversized, which usually made his house feel like an amusement park. Needless to say, I was finding very little to be amused about at the moment.

“Look,” he finally said. “Do you recall when I became your mentor? One of the things we established upfront was that I was always going to be a straight shooter – that I wouldn’t sugarcoat things.”

“No worries there,” I said acerbically.

Promptly ignoring my comment, Feral said, “Obviously this thing has gotten you down. Why don’t you try to do something to take your mind off it?”

“Such as?”

“Photography. As I recall, that used to be one of your favorite hobbies. Focusing on that might keep you from constantly dwelling on this relationship stuff with Sarah.”

“Maybe,” I muttered without any real conviction.

Although photography had indeed been my number-one pastime at one point, I probably hadn’t picked up a camera in months. Truth be told, ever since I started hanging out with Jim, I’d gotten caught up in a couple of escapades that had involved us actually saving the planet. After that, photography had seemed a little humdrum.

“Well, give it a try,” Feral insisted. “It’ll certainly be a lot better than you constantly moping around about your girlfriend.”

I looked at him with a dubious expression on my face. “Do you honestly think that snapping a few still life photos will make me forget that Sarah betrayed me by going out with another guy?”

“Ha!” Feral scoffed. “That’s not betrayal. That’s just human nature – wanting to have your cake and eat it, too. Come talk to me after you’ve been on a mission to save the world and your teammate unexpectedly turns on you and tries to kill you. That’s betrayal.”