Jaz’s Roots
Many of you had Granny May pegged—in the early fifties she spent her off-duty hours fighting beside a behemoth of a creature named G’onasc to help the good guys win the Daemon Wars, a series of intense battles between humans, demons and vampires designed to change the course of history. Her specialty was demon slaying. But it didn’t start out that way…
“Come on, May, please! We have to go now!”
May Kelly opened her eyes. The red-skinned, white-horned demon standing over her didn’t even make her grab for the sheet that had bunched around her waist, revealing pink and green striped baby doll pajamas. After all, she’d had this dream scads of times. Enough to know that Joe wouldn’t have cared if she were naked. He’d arrived scared and rushed, his entire attention focused on helping her escape before something truly awful burst through the wall, shredding her like the grass clippings Pop faithfully raked off the lawn and into the trash every week after he mowed.
But she wasn’t back in Arcola threatening to bang her head against the quaint brick streets if Mom asked her why she’d broken up with that nice Lew Marshal again. She was sleeping in her refrigerator box of an apartment in Queens, trying to get some rest before pasting on a fake smile and kissing up to all the hoity-toities who strolled into the Waldorf Astoria like they expected the uniformed crowd to scurry forward and worship in their shadows. And this was just a familiar old nightmare from which she would wake up extra tired. Note to self: stop drinking coffee while watching The Lone Ranger before bedtime.
“May, don’t make me throw water on you!” Joe grabbed her by the shoulders and lifted her to a sitting position.
“Ow! That’s not supposed to hurt! And you’ve never smelled like garlic before. That’s it. I’m waking up.”
“Good! The Great Taker has decided your dreams are far too prophetic for anyone’s good and he’s sent two of his finest siordents after you.” Joe swung her out of bed and over his shoulder in one smooth motion that made May feel rather like a laundry bag. With her stomach pressed against his shoulder, she realized she badly needed to relieve herself. And that was when she knew the nightmares had finally come true.
Tune in for more of May and Joe’s adventure on Thursday.
This entry was posted on Monday, November 24th, 2008 at 10:13 am and is filed under Jaz Parks . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
November 24th, 2008 at 10:23 am
Poor Granny May!
November 24th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
Me thinks Papa Lew may not really be “papa”. : ) Or I watch too many soaps.
November 24th, 2008 at 3:24 pm
Hey! Then Granny May was some sort of a Sensitive too!?
November 24th, 2008 at 3:37 pm
I agree with Jackie B
November 24th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
Joe seems to be a highly motivated sidekick. Wondering if he’s even human. And, cool, new terminology = siordent and G’onasc. Can’t wait for details. Wondering if you are using the word Daemon as in helper (i.e. Golden Compass) or the alternate spelling for demon? Kudos, Ms. Jen, you’ve done it again. What a great early holiday treat!Many thanks.
November 24th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
You’re not the only one Jackie; I watch way too much prime time television to not think that (and I see one too many wives cheating).
Either that, or we’re both “glass half empty and that bastard just spilled it” to look on the bright side.
November 25th, 2008 at 2:05 am
That’s what I admire about an anuthor of your calibre, the ability to create a new world through a novel, then instead of leaving the poor readers (i.e me, scratching our heads and asking questions) you go and create short tales not only on Jaz but other people who are important to the story. Filling us in on back story, and tales that never made it into the book.
All I can say is thank you.
November 25th, 2008 at 6:58 am
Oh my golly! (: (:
Dang thats cool!
Granny May was cool (:
November 25th, 2008 at 8:18 am
On the one hand, I agree, Marissa. I’d never want to wake into one of my nightmares! On the other hand, this experience is what kept her from devolving into a plastic-wrapped product of her parents and her time, and put her on the road to becoming the wry, wise lady we see glimpses of in Jaz’s mind.
I think I’d better keep that nugget of info to myself for now, Jackie B, but hopefully you’ll be able to figure it out eventually.
Well, kind of, Vale. A Sensitive is a person who has died and been revived again either through natural (like CPR) or supernatural (like Raoul!) means. That hasn’t happened to Granny May. But, yes, she does have extra abilities. I’ll try to detail those a little better for you in snippets to come.
All I can say, Samantha, is time will tell.
G’noasc (pronounced Joe Nash by humans) is most definitely inhuman and highly motivated. More on him later. History refers to this era as the Daemon Wars, maybe to put a pretty spin on the fact that the world was nearly eaten by the devil’s minions.
You’re welcome, Emma. Granny May fascinates me, and I’ve always wanted to write about her. Glad you guys are interested too!
I think so too, Taylor!
November 25th, 2008 at 10:34 am
I wouldn’t want you to spoil anything! It’s too much fun reading the story bit by bit and seeing how right I am or how horribly, horribly wrong.
So it was Raoul…: )
November 25th, 2008 at 12:39 pm
I cannot wait for the next instalment, this was such a cool wee teaser. And what a lovely way to start the day.
Penny
November 25th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
Has Joe been mentioned any time before now? Maybe I’m thinking of Kevin Nash, but the name sounds familiar.
November 25th, 2008 at 1:47 pm
Thanks for the explanation, Ms. Rardin!
And I completely agree with Penny, it just helps making your day better! I’m so looking forward to Thursday!
November 26th, 2008 at 8:46 am
Glad you’re enjoying it, Penny!
Yeah, Jackie B, when we all wrote that little story together back in June, I began with May and Joe in the middle of a rather sticky situation.
You’re welcome, Vale. I realized Thursday was Thanksgiving, so I may post the next installment late tonight (Wednesday) since we’re doing the family thang tomorrow.
November 26th, 2008 at 1:00 pm
Hi Jen. Thanks for that June mention; easy to find in the archives for us newbies. What great fun putting that together! Of course Jaz comes from a long line of magic – how very cool!
Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone!
November 26th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
I really, really love these books. I just read all four of them in 3 days and I cannot wait for more. I like this Granny May blurbs. I knew when I was reading that they was more to her then meets the eye. Keep up the great writng.
November 27th, 2008 at 9:59 pm
Thanks, Robin! This kind of encouragement is what keeps me working hard at the laptop! (Which is pink, by the way. I find this bit ‘o trivia so hilarious. Don’t know why. Just do!)
November 28th, 2008 at 1:08 am
wow! thats so good. she sounds just like Jaz
keep it up!