Let's get back to Buckley, shall we?

[seanan_mcguire]

It's time for some free fiction. Hooray! Halloween may be over, but there's always time for one more trick and one more treat before the sun sets on the holiday for another year.

In "Snakes and Ladders," Frances Healy is preparing to take her little girl out for a fun night of trick or treating. Of course it's safe. How could it be anything but for young Alice, when she has her heavily-armed mother and her ghost babysitter right there by her side? Unfortunately, some people have other plans for the holiday, and those plans aren't nearly as sweet as candy...

You can download the new story now from the InCryptid short fiction page.

This also serves as your discussion post.

Comments

[vixyish.livejournal.com]

I LOVE THIS STORY I LOVE THIS STORY I LOVE THIS STORYYYYYYYYYYYYY

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

So many religious rituals were born here!

[sylphon.livejournal.com]

I can see a whole lot of trouble in the future from some of them :-)

Great story, thanks so much for sharing it with us!

[ghoti.livejournal.com]

Thank you! You are so very good to us, always.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

<3

[jesslyn hendrix (from livejournal.com)]

Thanks much! Always appreciate your fiction--free or not!

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

You are very, very welcome.

[beccastareyes]

I love the ending. And Alice is demonstrating a level of cleverness here.

(I was chuckling at Fran and Naga's conversation as they dealt with the snake cult. Because why snakes, really?)

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Alice isn't stupid. She's just sometimes violent before she's smart.

[reedrover]

Loved it! This is great survival food when stuck on interminable conference calls at work.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

I am glad to have helped!

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Excellent.

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

[anne_d]

I can't tell you how much I needed cheering up after a week of flu, and how much I adored this. Alice is certainly Fran's child - I think I hurt myself laughing.

"Snake cults, always snake cults". You mean like " At first we thought they were just another snake cult"? *dies*

Thank you, Seanan, this was a delightful treat.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Snake cults are a serious concern!

Alice is most definitely her mother's daughter.

[universal-gm.livejournal.com]

I thought you'd be amused by exactly what went through my head when I saw this post: "No, no, no! There CANNOT be a new InCryptid story today! How am I supposed to make up for missing my word count goal yesterday now?!" So, yeah, I apparently consider reading InCryptid stories a higher priority than writing my own stuff.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Awwwwwwwwwwwwww. <3

[geekhyena.livejournal.com]

It was so great to meet Naga after hearing him mentioned. I hope we see more of him! He reminds me a bit of T'kaa from the Immortals Quartet, in all the best ways.

Also, I think Fran would be amused to find out that eventually there would be a kitten cult: it's called the Internet ;p

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

He'll be around a bit.

[calico-reaction.livejournal.com]

YAY!!! Can't wait to read it!

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Yay!

[danceswithlife]

Thank you so much for the story! It was great.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

I am glad you liked it.

[marooux13.livejournal.com]

Half way through the story I was Oh sh%&!!! Those crazy rituals, those crazy people, great story!!!

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Hee, yay.

[evieeros.livejournal.com]

BWHAHAHAH poor Jonathan!

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

His life is pain.

[vettecat.livejournal.com]

Yay! Thank you! Great timing, it's been kind of intense here lately... so nice to have a new story to enjoy. LOVE the ending!

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

I am very glad.

[lazzchan.livejournal.com]

Wow, I must've missed this when you first posted it, but wandering around your website today rewarded me. :) Thank you for writing this, I was jumping up and down with happiness and gleeing and omg, snake cults. I was laughing so hard over that. I love how little bits of what's happening with Fran and Johnny crop up later with Verity and Alex and Antimony. :D Thank you for writing this!

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Very welcome!

[grassrose.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Very welcome.