Saturday, August 27, 2011

Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday #10: Always Be Prepared

Welcome to #SFFSat – Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday - a chance to post snippets from a piece of speculative fiction. Want to join in? Check out the site and links to other great speculative fiction authors at Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday and follow the hashtag #SFFSat on Twitter.

I decided to put up another snippet from my MG superhero story, Woodland Girl and the Mechanic.


For reference, the Woodland Girls are basically a Girl Scout-type organization in the story (they sell fudge instead of cookies, though).




“We caught a mobster the first night out!” Maria said. “Lucky! I wish there was a criminal catching achievement pin. I have my advanced criminology pin, but that’s just for doing fingerprinting. Kind of dumb mobster if you ask me. What was he doing in an alleyway robbing some old guy? Aren’t all the mobsters all like millionaires from selling drugs and making shop keepers pay them money so they won't break their windows?”

Fingerprinting? What kind of stuff did they expect normal Woodland Girls to be doing?

10 comments:

Ian Peaston said...

I like this a lot! Looking forward to more! It's a very easy style to read, and very intriguing, which I know is anything but easy to write. Want more of this Woodland world!

Misa Buckley said...

Advanced Criminology badge? LOL, that put me in mind of Phineas and Ferb's Fireside Girls :D

Fun snippet!

J.A. Beard said...

Thank you for your kind words, I may actually pick this back up again, as I'm almost finish with the draft of my fantasy work.

J.A. Beard said...

Misa,

Originally, I had the idea of just wanting to play around with a MG super-hero story, as it is an age where, in many cases, cynicism hasn't totally overwhelmed people and taking cues from things like comic books doesn't seem ridiculous on the face of it. Kind of the antithesis of something like Kick-Ass (of course, he had no actual super-powers).

With that in mind, Phineas and Ferb was actually a partial influence for this story at a basic level

I liked the basic concept (someone who can invent unlikely things and a bizarrely hyper-competent girl scout) and kind of treat it in a less zany way. Well, in so far as a Girl Scout-analog with actual super-powers is less zany.

No laconic British step-brothers or platypus secret agents though (even if that would be funny) or evil scientists people mistake for pharmacists.

Sue Ann Bowling said...

Are the last two lines intended to be part of the text or an editorial comment? I like the idea of a criminology badge - er pin - been too many years to remember what they were given for when I was that age.

J.A. Beard said...

The entire story is told in the 1st person POV of a boy named Jared.

So those last two lines are his thoughts.

Anonymous said...

I really enjoyed this piece, the humour was present throughout without trying to be funny.

Anonymous said...

I really enjoyed this piece, the humour was present throughout without trying to be funny.

Pippa Jay said...

This took me back to my days of reading Enid Blyton. That mobster is going to have lost some serious street cred if a bunch of girl scouts took him out!

LaurelCKriegler said...

Great fun! I could carry on reading this for hours. More please :-D