Midnight Snack- Flash Fiction by Laura Bickle

Midnight Snack
By Laura Bickle

Something jerked his tail. Hard.

Sparky awoke with a start. Instinctively, he clutched his Gloworm toy close to his body, its plastic face lighting up. Sparky lifted his spade-shaped salamander head, blinked sleepily.

His tail trailed off the edge of the bed into darkness. He slowly reeled it back from the edge. His tongue flickered out of his mouth, sticky from sleep. He smelled the sour, corrupted smell of a ghost. Ghosts were like roaches. They came at night, creatures feeding off the emotional debris of humans. Annoying pests.

Sparky’s human lay stretched on the other side of the bed, asleep. Anya’s head was jammed under the pillows, muffling her oblivious snoring. Sparky shoved his beloved toy closer to Anya for safekeeping.

He padded to the edge of the bed and peered, upside-down, into the blackness. Something pale and diaphanous seethed under the bed. Sparky pressed his feathery gill-fronds forward, hissing.

The thing in the darkness hissed back. It scuttled forward, charging at Sparky. Sparky snapped at it, and it retreated.

Sparky lashed his tail in irritation. Stupid little spirit. Probably had hitched a ride with some of Anya’s garage-sale relics. He hopped back into bed, stomping over Anya. He planted his feet in her ribs and licked her shoulder to wake her. Anya was a Lantern, a spiritual medium who devoured ghosts. She’d eat it for breakfast. If he could get her ass out of bed.

“Sparky.” Anya wrapped her arms over her head, mumbling: “Go back to your bed.”

The salamander glared at the pet bed on the floor in disdain. That was for dogs, not elemental familiars. Insulting.

Sparky mewed insistently. Anya swatted at him, knocking the Gloworm off the floor.

Sparky huffed, emitting a raspberry-like sound from his gill-fronds. He hopped down to the floor to rescue his toy from the thing under the bed. If Anya wasn’t going to wake up, he’d have to get rid of the ghost himself.

White light oozed from under the bed. The pathetic little ghost wasn’t even powerful enough to coalesce into a shape with fixed boundaries, just a puddle with tendrils reaching for the toy. When the ectoplasmic fingers touched the Gloworm, the plastic face lit up.

Not my toy!

Sparky pounced on the ghost, tearing into it with his powerful salamander jaws. It squeaked and growled, but Sparky didn’t let go. The ectoplasm felt cool in his mouth as he shredded it, like a dog with a wet newspaper. Three or four quick gulps, and the ghost was gone.

“Mmmph.” Anya slurred, snagging the toy to toss it onto the bed next to her.

Sparky leapt up beside it. He stretched his distended belly out beside Anya’s hip, belching a sulfurous bubble of gas.

From the mound of pillows, Anya snored.

Sparky rolled his eyes. Keeping this human safe was tough work for a familiar.

Get more of Sparky in Laura Bickle's Embers and Sparks, you can even read a guest blog form his point of view at The WormHole

EMBERS

Anya Kalinczyk #1

Pocket Juno Books

Mass Market Paperback, $7.99

ISBN: 978-1439167656

April 2010

“One of the most promising debut novels I’ve read in a great while… I’d highly recommend this book to anybody who reads fantasy. It reminds me in many regards…of another exceptional first novel…Emma Bull’s seminal War for the Oaks, and there’s not much higher praise that I can give.”

—Elizabeth Bear on Tor.com

“Bickle has something great in Anya. Embers has everything: demons, ghosts, dragons, love, sex, police, and murder.”

—M.L.N. Hanover, bestselling author of Darker Angels

“Gritty but never grim, Embers is a truly urban fantasy, where the soul of a city haunts every page. I can’t wait for more of Anya and the unforgettable Sparky!”

—Jeri Smith-Ready, award-winning author of Bad to the Bone and Shade

Unemployment, despair, anger--visible and invisible unrest feed the undercurrent of Detroit's unease. A city increasingly invaded by phantoms now faces a malevolent force that further stokes fear and chaos throughout the city.

Anya Kalinczyk spends her days as an arson investigator with the Detroit Fire Department, and her nights pursuing malicious spirits with a team of eccentric ghost hunters. Anya--who is the rarest type of psychic medium, a Lantern--suspects a supernatural arsonist is setting blazes to summon a fiery ancient entity that will leave the city in cinders. By Devil's Night, the spell will be complete, unless Anya--with the help of her salamander familiar and the paranormal investigating team --can stop it.

Anya's accustomed to danger and believes herself inured to loneliness and loss. But this time she's risking everything: her city, her soul, and a man who sees and accepts her for everything she is. Keeping all three safe will be the biggest challenge she's ever faced.

A free excerpt is available here.

EMBERS is available now from Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.

SPARKS
Anya Kalinczyk #2
Pocket Juno Books
Mass Market Paperback, $7.99
ISBN 978-1439167687
September 2010

The second book in Bickle’s series about Anya Kalinczyk is just as wonderful as the first—Anya is a compelling and likable protagonist and Bickle does an outstanding job in her portrayal of the city of Detroit; there are ruins, yes, but also hope in the ashes. Anya never takes herself too seriously and there is a scene in a baby supercenter that is absolutely not to be missed. (4 stars)
- RT Book Reviews

...a charming and inventive read.
-Elizabeth Bear, Realms of Fantasy Magazine, December 2010


WITHOUT A TRACE...

Anya Kalinczyk is the rarest type of psychic medium, a Lantern, who holds down a day job as an arson investigator with the Detroit Fire Department—while working 24/7 to exterminate malicious spirits haunting a city plagued by unemployment and despair.

Along with her inseparable salamander familiar, Sparky, Anya has seen, and even survived, all manner of fiery hell—but her newest case sparks suspicions of a bizarre phenomenon that no one but her eccentric team of ghost hunters might believe: spontaneous human combustion.

After fire consumes the home of elderly Jasper Bernard, Anya is stunned to discover his remains—or, more precisely, a lack of them; even the fiercest fires leave some trace of their victims—and she is sure this was no naturally occurring blaze. Soon she’s unearthed a connection to a celebrity psychic who preys on Detroit’s poor, promising miracles for money. But Hope Solomon wants more—she’s collecting spirits, and in a frantic race against time, Anya will face down an evil adversary who threatens her fragile relationship with her lover, her beloved Sparky’s freshly hatched newts, and the wandering souls of the entire city.

SPARKS is available for pre-order from Amazon and Barnes & Noble

A free excerpt is available here.

 

A Review of Sparks by Laura Bickle

Five Fangs for Sparks by Laura Bickle

The urban fantasy genre has a wonderful new heroine in Anya Kalinczyk.

Laura Bickle's urban fantasy world is complete and unique. In a genre drowning under the weight of vampires, witches and werewolves Bickle's character Anya, a Lantern, is something different and refreshing. And the fire elemental Sparky the salamander- brilliant. The two of them together make a wonderful team that I really enjoy reading about.

The books display the darkness and despair that circle around the real city of Detroit while showcasing a fictional side that we don't see- the world of spirits, elementals and all sorts of darkness feeding off the despair. The backdrop is perfect. And Anya is believable- she's not hip or decked out in leather like some urban fantasy heroines or is she an all powerful creature battling the darkness alone, thought the possibilities of what she is to become are there and she is developing naturally in her role.

In the second book of this series, Sparks, Anya who is a rare psychic medium called a Lantern is trying to keep up with her day job as a Detroit fire investigator. Her newest series of cases raise some crazy questions and point to spontaneous human combustion- but what may be behind it is ghosts.

But how and why?

Turns out a local celebrity/con artist may be behind the ghosts and the spontaneous fires but how?

Anya has to put everything on the line to stop the ghost collector- all while trying to protect Sparky's recently lain eggs.

Sparks is even better than the first book Embers.

The interaction between characters is much more detailed and fleshed out, Anya's character is also fuller and richer and I loved the introduction of a new character Charon the ghostly connection between this world and the underworld. I really hope to see more of him in upcoming books.

I do question Anya's taste in men- first Drake another Lantern but also a firebug not to mention a little off his rocker, now Brian a highly intelligent tech geek who does government work- top secret work. He seems nice enough but something about his ethics and his murky aura make Anya wonder about him. I honestly don't think the two of them mesh- their whole code of ethics and thoughts on ghosts are totally different.

Sparks gives us (and Anya) some new information about Anya's past and her origins which are quite surprising and I am looking forward to seeing where that little twist takes the story in future books.

And here's the part that really got me in the book...they discuss spirits. Do they have feelings, a consciousness and does it matter if they do?

Anya feels the ghosts are still a part of humanity that they matter, Brian and another ghost hunter disagree.

I think that if humans are who we are because of our souls and the souls turn to spirits when we die how can what essentially makes us who we are not be important?

That's something to think about isn't it?

Sparks was a fantastic fiery read that I couldn't put down until it was finished. If each book in this series just keeps getting better I can't wait to read the next installment.

If you are looking for something out of the ordinary in the urban fantasy genre- this series is one to try. Not a vampire in sight, no werewolves either but you'll get lots of ghosts and elementals and Lantern or two.

Here is the book description from the back of the book:

WITHOUT A TRACE

Anya Kalinczyk is the rarest type of psychic medium, a Lantern, who holds down a day job as an arson investigator with the Detroit Fire Department—while working 24/7 to exterminate malicious spirits haunting a city plagued by unemployment and despair. Along with her inseparable salamander familiar, Sparky, Anya has seen, and even survived, all manner of fiery hell—but her newest case sparks suspicions of a bizarre phenomenon that no one but her eccentric team of ghost hunters might believe: spontaneous human combustion.

After fire consumes the home of elderly Jasper Bernard, Anya is stunned to discover his remains—or, more precisely, a lack of them; even the fiercest fires leave some trace of their victims—and she is sure this was no naturally occurring blaze. Soon she’s unearthed a connection to a celebrity psychic who preys on Detroit’s poor, promising miracles for money. But Hope Solomon wants more—she’s collecting spirits, and in a frantic race against time, Anya will face down an evil adversary who threatens her fragile relationship with her lover, her beloved Sparky’s freshly hatched newts, and the wandering souls of the entire city.