Speechless in Achten Tan: Book 1 of The Sands of Achten Tan, page 28
I’ll admit, this has never worked quite so well on a complete stranger before. Maybe she’s heard about me. I lean in, testing the limits of this arrangement. She doesn’t give an inch, which places us chest to chest, and hers is just as pleasing up close as it was from across the room.
“Are you new in town?” I murmur.
Her dark eyes turn up to mine. I’m half a head taller than her, just the way I like it.
“I’m just passing through. Here today, gone tomorrow. So why don’t you show me a good time while I’m here.” She leans in to speak and her breath whispers along my cheek. Her hand is moving again, sliding across my chest and scraping my jaw. She pushes up on her toes, her mouth hovering close to mine.
“What’s the best view in Achten Tan?” she asks. Her scent is tantalizing. A salty, flowery combination I can’t place. I want to inhale her. Better yet, I want to taste her. I swallow, my mouth suddenly dry, and take a last gulp of my drink. She watches my mouth as I lick my lips, her pink tongue darting out to wet her bottom lip.
“Best view in Achten Tan is from the top of Chief’s Rib, where I happen to live.”
She nods in a type of weird satisfaction, like I got the answer right. I look down again, the girl is practically plastered to my front, which is good… or bad… because she’s going to feel...
Her smile widens and her hand is on the move again, sliding down, down, down…
I catch her wrist before her hand can go any further. I'd like to continue this but I can’t do it in the middle of Jezebone's. They don’t allow that kind of thing here unless you’re paying for it.
“How about I give you the tour?” I ask.
“Of your rooms?” I thought she wanted to see the view, but apparently, she’s as eager as I am.
“Sure. Of my rooms. This way…” I pause, waiting for her name.
“Tara. Tara Phenix.”
Acknowledgments
The first person I need to thank for bringing this story and this entire book into the world is Chris Van Dyke.
On May 27th 2020, during the first year of the COVID-19 lockdown, while we were all sheltering in place and going out of our minds, Chris posted a message on Twitter: "Does anybody want to play a game with this collaborative writing idea I have?" 30 different writers, scattered from Dubai to Alaska, answered the call.
The rest is history.
“Speechless” started out as an 1,800 word short story in Skullgate's inaugural anthology, Achten Tan: Land of Dust and Bone, which came out on August 17, 2020, and also included Kamal and D'or's story, “Devastation Song.”
During NaNoWriMo 2020, I expanded "Speechless" into an 85,000-word novel.
The second person I need to thank is Sarah Houck, who held my hand, even though we were 9,500 km away (Alaska to Israel), and was there for me during that crazy month of writing 2,500 to 5,000 words a day, talking me through the finer points, adding hearts and fire emojis for the romantic moments, and shipping my characters harder than I did...
Thanks to my editor, Colleen Storiz, who painstakingly combed through my manuscript, cheered me on, and didn't hold my lack of commas or my love of sentence fragments against me.
I wouldn't have gotten this far without the support of the Skullgate Media staff; Chris Vandyke, Colleen Storiz, Chris "Terry" Durston, and Diana Gagliardi.
Thanks to my beta readers Vishaka Sriram, Kirsty Rorke, Clem Moulaert, Emma Gryspeerdt, and Emma Whitehall. My proofreaders Sevannah Storm, Elise Carlson, my mum Beverly Iancu, and Aunt Lynda Schwartz. And all the other members of the Twitter writing community who were there for the whole trip.
Thanks to Allison N. Moore for the use of Valla and Sozi, Diana Gagliardi's vision of the cursed caverns, and all the rest of the Achten Tan pack who each placed their own building blocks to create the wonderful world "Speechless" takes place in: Gabrielle Awe, Jesse Nolan Bailey, Ian Barr, Darius Bearguard, Jonathan Beck, Kyle Beers, Dan Berison, Benjamin Blattberg, Elvira Canaveral, Gregory Coley, Darby Cupid, Chris “Terry” Durston, Diana C Gagliardi, Erin Rae Hoffer, Sarah Houck, Debbie Iancu-Haddad, Roger Kristian Jones, Vincent LaBate, Allison Moore, Iseult Murphy, Chapel Orahamm, S.L.Parker, Sarah Remy, Rosalind Dando, CD Storiz, Imelda Taylor, Chris Vandyke, Kelly Washington, and Paul Worthington.
Thanks to everyone who contributed their fantastic art-work. Headers and break lines created by Etheric Tales and Edits (@DesignsEtheric). The cover art was by Fay Lane (@faera_lane), while Alysa Avery did the initial character design. And the amazing maps at the start of the book were drawn by Aaron Hockett for the original anthology and reprinted here.
And last but not least, thanks to my family Yuval, Shavit, and Shahar, who occasionally asked if I was “still writing that book about the ants?", and also "What's for lunch?"
Nothing like hungry kids to bring me back down to earth from climbing giant ribs and riding G'ants, and No. They don't want to eat ribs with tar sauce... 😄 What was I thinking?
About the Author
Debbie Iancu-Haddad is a Jewish Israeli author living in Meitar in the Negev Desert.
She spends her time taking part in anthologies (seven to date with two more on the way), writing VSS on Twitter, and buying way too much stuff online. Her goal is to promote body positive characters and include characters dealing with physical challenges. #ownvoices
For her day job, she gives lectures on humor, laughter yoga workshops and chocolate workshops, and sees how often she can make her two teenagers roll their eyes.
Find her online at www.debbieiancu.com or Twitter, Amazon, or Goodreads.
Debbie Iancu-Haddad, Speechless in Achten Tan: Book 1 of The Sands of Achten Tan
