Guest author: C. S. Boyack – The Hat, an excerpt from a new novella

Posted on January 14, 2018 by Sue Vincent

Sue, I really appreciate the chance to visit your blog once again. You’re sure welcome over at my place any time you need it.

In most blog tours it’s kind of traditional to provide an excerpt of some kind. I don’t want to give out any spoilers, but this is a fun part from the beginning of chapter two. It gives you an idea of how the main characters interact.

To set the scene, Lizzie just placed the hat on her head and he magically transported her to a different location. I hope you enjoy it.

TWEEEEE! TWEEEEE!
“Stop,” the hat said.
TWEEEEE, TWEEEEE, TWEEEEEEEEE!
“Stop, stop, stop. What the hell is that?”
“It’s a rape whistle,” Lizzie said.
“Rape whistle? Does it run them off, or call them in?”
TWEEEEE, TWEEEEE!
“Oh, God, stop.”
“Why should I? Where is this place?” Lizzie looked around at a darkened room. Only the faintest bit of moonlight came in through the window.
“This is your cabin,” the hat said.
“I don’t have a cabin!” Lizzie grabbed the hat with both hands and pulled. “Let go of me!”
“No. You have to do something first.”
“Oh, I’m sure. What kind of kinky shit are you into?”
“What? No. Look, just sit down. Over there in that rocker.”
“No.” Lizzie opened the door and ran outside. Her city was gone. There were no lights anywhere, and a million stars twinkled overhead. She froze. Complete silence other than a few rustling leaves. “Where the hell have you taken me?”
“I’m gonna tell you everything, but first I need you to sit in that chair.”
“I don’t want to sit in the chair, because you want me to.” She pulled at the hat once more, but it wouldn’t come off.
“Look, would some light help? I promise I’m not going to hurt you.”
“Said every serial killer in history.”
“I’m a hat. What am I going to do?”
“I don’t know. You managed to abduct me, so I’m projecting from there.”
“Please, if you walk around back, you can throw the power switch and turn on the lights. Everything’s better in the light, right?”
Lizzie tentatively walked around the cabin. She felt her way along the pitch black moonless side. Paint flaked off the clapboard siding, but that was all she could determine.
The hat helped her find the electrical box and she threw the switch. The cabin remained dark. “Oh, yeah, that was a big help. Is this where your friends jump me?”
“What? I ain’t got no friends.”
“I’m not surprised.”
“Look, go back inside, turn on the lights, and sit in the chair. That’s all I ask.”
Lizzie felt her way back around the cabin, and tried to snatch the hat from her head once more.
“You need to stop all this nonsense and give me ten minutes. Fifteen, tops.”
“Fine.” She threw open the door in hopes of hitting anyone waiting on the other side.
“Switch is to the right of the door.”
Lizzie found the switch and turned on the lights. Tongue and groove boards started at the floor and ended at a wainscoting about waist level. Yellowed wallpaper led from there to the ceiling.
“See. Not so scary. Just a cabin.”
“Easy for you to say.”
“Look, sit in the chair, then I’ll let go.”
Lizzie slid the wooden rocker across the floor, in case it was a trap of some kind. She plopped into it and crossed her arms. “Fine, you have ten minutes.”
“Okay. This is pretty simple. Without turning around, tell me what’s on the shelf behind you.”
“I don’t know, probably a collection of women’s heads.”
“You’re not trying. Concentrate, but don’t look.”
An image clearly came into Lizzie’s mind. She stood and ran to the shelf. “This is a picture of Grandma.”
“Pretty cool, right?”
“And this is some of her needlepoint on the wall.”
“I told you, this is your cabin now.”
“But how did all this get here?”
“Now that’s a good question. Have a seat, take me off, and I’ll tell you all about it.”

***

The Hat is a paranormal superhero kind of story. It’s a novella in length, so a decent afternoon is about all the time it takes. I hope the snippet of Lizzie and the hat getting acquainted whetted your appetite to read the rest of it. You can get your copy on Amazon for 99¢.

THE HAT

Click the title of pictues to go to Amazon

Lizzie St. Laurent is dealing with many of the struggles of young life. She lost her grandmother, and her living arrangements. Her new roommate abandoned her, and she’s working multiple jobs just to keep her head above water.

She inherits an old hat from her grandmother’s estate, but it belonged to her grandfather. This is no ordinary hat, but a being from an alternate dimension. One with special powers.

Lizzie and the hat don’t exactly hit it off right away, but when her best friend’s newborn is kidnapped by a ring of baby traffickers, Lizzie turns to the hat for help. This leads her deep into her family history and a world she’s never known.

Lizzie gives up everything to rescue the babies. She loses her jobs, and may wind up in jail before it’s over. Along the way, she and the hat may have a new way of making ends meet.

Humorous and fun, The Hat is novella length. Wonderful escapism for an afternoon.

About the author

I was born in a town called Elko, Nevada. I like to tell everyone I was born in a small town in the 1940s. I’m not quite that old, but Elko has always been a little behind the times. This gives me a unique perspective of earlier times, and other ways of getting by. Some of this bleeds through into my fiction.

I moved to Idaho right after the turn of the century, and never looked back. My writing career was born here, with access to other writers and critique groups I jumped in with both feet.

I like to write about things that have something unusual. My works are in the realm of science fiction, paranormal, and fantasy. The goal is to entertain you for a few hours. I hope you enjoy the ride.

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Find all Craig’s books on Amazon

The Experimental Notebook of C. S. Boyack

A speculative selection of micro-fiction and short stories. These were designed to be short reads for your commute, coffee break, and other times when readers are pressed for time. This book contains a bit of science fiction, some fantasy, and paranormal stories.

“The Experimental Notebook of C.S. Boyack” is a delightful – and occasionally scary – collection of short stories that combines humor and horror with a dash of fantasy thrown in for good measure.
Boyack wanders all over the literary map with this small collection and readers will, I think, be delighted with the tales he has to tell. A young woman who has been abused by a bully sees him get his comeuppance from a very unusual source; an alchemist plots his revenge on the world in the ruins of his home and… well, suffice it to say that Boyack will hold your attention with this collection.” Extract of Amazon review by Mike Billington author of Corpus Delectable

The Experimental Notebook of C. S. Boyack II

A second collection of short stories and micro-fiction. Every story can be read in a single session. This time there are a few tributes to the pulp era. Stories include science fiction, paranormal, and horror.

“The second Experimental Notebook by C. S. Boyack is another adventure into some entertaining and downright genius short stories. The beauty of most of the stories is they grab you right in the beginning and then lead you down a path you never expected. It is a path that you are glad you traveled but where it comes out is an unusual surprise. “Extract of Amazon review by John W. Howell author of My GRL.

Will o’ the Wisp

There is something evil up Bergamot Holler, and it’s been targeting the Hall family for generations.
Patty Hall is fifteen years old. She loves stargazing, science fiction, and all things related to space exploration. This leaves her perfectly prepared for the wrong problem.
Patty is afraid her mother will send her to a care facility if she tells her what she’s seen. If she doesn’t figure things out soon, she’s going to join her father in the Hall family cemetery plot.
Patty has to come to grips with her own physical handicap, face the wilderness, and an ancient evil all alone if she’s going to survive.
Will O’ the Wisp is suitable for young adults. It involves elements of suspense, and is set in the mid 1970s.

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About Sue Vincent

Sue Vincent was a Yorkshire born writer, esoteric teacher and a Director of The Silent Eye. She was immersed in the Mysteries all her life. Sue maintained a popular blog and is co-author of The Mystical Hexagram with Dr G.M.Vasey. Sue lived in Buckinghamshire, having been stranded there due to an accident with a blindfold, a pin and a map. She had a lasting love-affair with the landscape of Albion, the hidden country of the heart. Sue passed into spirit at the end of March 2021.

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