btbaker

[btbaker]

[btbaker]

Changeling - excerpt from chapter 17

In honor of my foster mom’s passing last week, I have decided to share a little excerpt from Changeling. This is where Trinity begins her education under the Harnesses. Trinity learning how to cook is based loosely on my own experiences in the kitchen with my foster mom.

Lynn was to be found in the kitchen, just like she had said. Her back was to Trinity when the girl entered, stirring a boiling pot of stew and adding herbs to it. “Are you always going to be so late?” she questioned without turning to Trinity. “Should I reign in my youngest so that she gets you to your other lessons on time?” Her voice was not threatening, but it had a distinct strictness that told Trinity that she was not to mess around.

“Sorry,” she muttered shamefully. She averted her gaze; this reminded her of those times when she was a young child being reprimanded by her mother for things she could not remember, but she knew must have happened.

“Do you know how to cook?” Lynn continued as though nothing had happened.

Trinity’s eyes widened fearfully. One time she could remember clearly involved an instance when she had decided that it would be a wonderful idea to make chicken in the oven, only it had ended with a fire in the kitchen that she had been unable to put out, and the fire department had to be called. She flushed at the memory. It was one of the few she could actually remember, and because of that, it was vividly etched into her mind.

“I take that as a no?” Lynn frowned thoughtfully.

“Sorry.”

“Trinity, you need to stop apologizing for things that are no fault of your own.” Lynn turned to face Trinity, and her eyes held a very fierce gaze that seemed to pierce through Trinity, making the girl slightly uncomfortable. “Although I think at this point, you really should have already learned how to cook.” Her eyes narrowed dangerously, and had they still been on Trinity, she thought she might have died of fright.

“I thought you were going to teach me magick and history,” Trinity said pointedly.

“Cooking has everything to do with magick,” Lynn replied, grinning as she returned to her cooking.

“How so?” Trinity sniffed. She folded her arms across her chest, watching every one of Lynn’s movements.

“Both cooking and magick follow very specific recipes.” Lynn replaced the lid on the pot and set it for a low simmer. “Now for the side dish,” she said distractedly. She turned to Trinity. “I think you should make that.”

“M—me?” She choked on air.

“Yes, you,” Lynn replied calmly, smirking slightly with amusement. “Cooking is one of the most important things you could possibly learn.”

Trinity had to agree. Cooking, at least, had some practical application, though she was still confused as to how that had anything to do with magick. She clenched her teeth together, hoping that would keep Lynn from suspecting how afraid she really was of this task. “I’m really not that good at cooking.” She averted her eyes to her feet.

“That’s why I’m going to teach you. The point of all of these lessons we’re giving you is for you to learn important skills,” Lynn said. “Now, I think that a Caesar salad would go nicely with the soup.”

“Salad?” Trinity raised her eyebrows skeptically. She flinched when Lynn nodded. “Anyone can make a salad.”

“Still, you’re going to follow the directions I give you.”

She sighed heavily. “Is this really necessary?”

“Yes. Now go to the fridge; there should be a bag of lettuce in the bottom drawer. In the freezer, you’ll find the chicken strips.” She trailed off as she walked over to the pantry to retrieve a bag of croutons while Trinity was left to locate the ingredients she had listed off.

“What now?” Trinity asked, sounding bored.

“Grab the cutting board and knife, and chop up the lettuce and put it in this bowl.” Lynn handed Trinity a large wooden bowl. She watched like a hawk as Trinity took a large cutting knife and attempted to slice the lettuce. “Stop.”

Trinity cringed. She flinched away as Lynn came up behind her and directed her on how to properly chop up the lettuce. Her movements were stiff, and Lynn gave her pointers on that as well. She dumped the lettuce into the bowl when she was finished, and upon Lynn’s directions, started chopping the tomato. Again, Lynn had to take control.

“There’s no need to be afraid of the knife,” Lynn said as Trinity dumped the tomato into the salad. “The knife is a tool. Almost as old as I am,” she joked with a wink.

“What now?” Trinity asked in a sigh.

“Dump a couple handfuls of croutons in there, and we’ll call it good. It is best to allow everyone else to decide how much cheese and dressing they like on their salad.”

Trinity relaxed, glad that this experience had not ended in complete disaster. She cleared her workspace and went to put the dishes in the sink. The knife slipped from her hand and landed between her toes.

She squealed in fright as she jumped back. In the commotion of the near miss, she tripped over her feet and fell to the floor, landing with a loud thud and a painful grunt.

“Trinity!” Lynn gasped. She dropped the ladle into the soup and rushed to Trinity’s side. “Are you alright?”

“I think so,” she groaned. Her heart pounded in her chest, and her vision grew hazy, but no blood was spilt. She struggled back to her feet with Lynn’s help.

“Go sit down. I’ll clean up.”

Tears burned in her eyes. They were not welling up because she had nearly lost a toe. No, her focus was mainly on the damage done to the floor.

“What happened?” Mercy came skidding into the kitchen, panting heavily as she looked around.

“Nothing major,” Lynn answered calmly. “Trinity dropped a knife, and it frightened her.”

“You alright, Trinity?” Mercy turned to the girl.

“I’m fine,” Trinity sighed impatiently. Her face burned with embarrassment and shame.

Mercy waited a moment more, watching for signs that Trinity really was not all right before finally reassuring herself that Trinity was fine. She nodded and flitted out of the kitchen with a lithe glide.

“What do you know of history?” Lynn asked when things had settled.

“That it’s in the past?” Trinity responded with a snort.

Lynn physically cringed at the words coming from Trinity’s mouth. “It is part of our culture. Many parts of history are still very relevant today. For instance, the Synod of Whitby of 664. Great year, 664. Hilda Herericsdaughter ran the Synod. She was later canonized as a saint. Amazing woman, Hilda. Very well learned, too. She was not very judgmental, which for the time was a rare gift. Really glad that the Celtic tradition won out over those Catholic buffoons.”

“That’s not how I remember my histories.” Pierce stood in the doorway, frowning. He kept his eyes on Trinity, watching for any signs of the underlying violence she seemed to display in his presence.

“Were you there?” Lynn demanded haughtily.

Trinity grinned smugly. She had been about to fall asleep during Lynn’s lecture about the Synood of… Whitbi? She couldn’t remember what Lynn had called it, not that it mattered to her. Now, she was simply entertained by the prospect of Pierce trying to pick an argument with her.

“No,” Pierce admitted.

“Then don’t tell me how history played out.” Lynn sniffed. Pierce seemed to think better of contradicting the matron of the house, and nodded a polite farewell.

“Where was I?” Lynn asked. Trinity shrugged. The older woman spent a moment muttering to herself before eventually going to a shelf and pulling down a book. She flipped through it until she found a particular page, read for a moment, frowned, and tossed the book aside.

[btbaker]

Like the Harness family, there is more to Trinity than meets the eye. While her character arc has her starting out as a damsel of sorts, she makes the choice to learn how to fight the monsters who hunt her, and in doing so learns that she is more than capable. Her journey is written for those who battle with their trauma because she shows that it can be overcome.

Each of the Harness family is written to show that trauma cannot be overcome alone. Lynn and John are the mother and father that Trinity needs. They show her that parental love can be found and is deserving. Alex is the oldest sister who not only teaches Trinity how to fight, but also that the monsters CAN be fought. Mercy is the older sister that Trinity doesn’t want but needs. She is there to support Trinity with the psychological recovery that must take place in order for Trinity to rebuild who she is to become. And Molly is the one who offers the unwavering calming force that holds the family together.

[btbaker]

I love you tragedy I love you corruption arcs I love you doomed relationships I love you character succumbing to their fatal flaw I love you codependency I love you characters doomed to die from the start I love you road to hell paved with good intentions

[btbaker]

Time passed. Trinity’s belly continued to grow, and everyone settled in for a siege. Alex’s efforts to find the vampires’ lair had still not paid off; it was as if the vampires, when they struck, would manifest out of thin air.

The New Year came and went, and Llwynog Drwgg celebrated with fireworks, followed by a vampire attack. If the vampires had been hoping to take them unawares while everyone was making merry, they were sadly mistaken. Trinity had never seen a roman candle used so creatively before.

Lynn’s magick, worked nightly while Trinity slept, began to have noticeable effects. The pain in Trinity’s abdomen faded to a dull throb most of the time, though it still spiked when she grew angry or fearful. In place of the pain, her cravings grew far in excess of what might be expected in a normal pregnancy. She found herself drawn to nasturtium and squash flowers, mushrooms, and, bizarrely, pottery clay. Mercy informed her that cravings were normally the result of deficiencies caused by the growing babe taking more resources from the mother, and could normally be addressed by identifying the vitamin or nutrient that was lacking and taking supplements to provide what was missing. No amount of prenatal vitamins could stymie these cravings however, and so Trinity resigned herself to snacking on the normally despised button mushrooms, and Mercy found her some bentonite clay to eat in small amounts.

Her lessons also began to pay off. Her spelling and grammar had improved a bit, to the point where it was no longer quite so laborious to write in her journal. Her progress with Alex was slower; history lessons were easier to follow now, but Trinity still found it difficult to stay awake. Despite her fears, Alex didn’t beat her when she got answers wrong, but her disappointment when Trinity would fall asleep was formidable; the redhead did not appreciate her time being wasted. Trinity could distinctly remember a day when Alex had arrived for the lesson with her left arm covered in bandages, having had a close brush with a particularly bestial vampire the night before. When Trinity found herself nodding off in the middle of an account of the Boxer Rebellion, Alex had closed her book with a snap, startling Trinity awake. Her face was a thundercloud, and Trinity suddenly noticed the dark circles under her eyes. As Alex left without a word, Trinity felt the beginnings of guilt. Not enough to apologize, but enough to pick up the book Alex had left behind, and spend the rest of the time allotted to the lesson reading it.

Her combat training wasn’t going as smoothly as she would like either, but that was largely due to circumstance; staying limber with a burgeoning belly was a losing battle. Still, Trinity persevered; she would learn to fight, and she would someday kill the creatures that wronged her.

When she wasn’t in her lessons, her time was her own. At first, she shut herself away in her room, finding the solitude she had longed for now that things were settling down into a pattern. She had spent so long wishing everyone would just leave her alone, that when she finally got what she wanted, she was determined to isolate herself as much as possible. She quickly found this made things worse. Even with her sketchbook to keep her busy, she would find herself spiraling into the depths of despair, which would in turn exacerbate her pain.

So she began to join the family in the evenings again, nestling into a corner of the couch while they all watched a movie, or read aloud, or simply chatted. They welcomed her, whether she remained silent or joined in, and if Tommy or Selena would occasionally try to draw her out of her shell when she wasn’t ready, Mercy was there to remind them to give her space. In her way, Trinity appreciated their efforts; it meant they thought she had something worthwhile to add to the gatherings, even if she wasn’t able to right then.

At times, she would eschew both company and solitude, and explore the house. If anything was going to convince her of the existence of magick, it was going to be Llwynog Drwgg itself.

The house had many strange effects, as Trinity eventually came to learn. It was impossibly spacious, for one. The effect was subtle; the house was plenty big both inside and out, but individual rooms seemed to be as cozy or roomy as the occasion required. Sometimes she’d even find rooms she hadn’t seen before, even though Mercy had given her the grand tour weeks ago.

Electronics on the premises either performed worse, or developed functions that the manufacturer had never intended. The dvd player in the living room was merely opinionated; it wouldn’t play movies it didn’t like. Stanley Kubrick’s entire filmography was banned, apparently, and it had the strangest habit of playing black and white episodes of ‘Zorro’ at odd hours of the morning.

Cameras on the other hand, tended to break.

She had found a disused Polaroid camera in a closet with some of Mercy’s old things. Thinking to supplement her journal, she took it out and searched for a suitable subject. She found the three sisters downstairs; Alex and Mercy seemed to be arguing, while Molly attempted to make peace; no new occurrence around here. Alex and Mercy were too different in their viewpoints and too similar in their personalities.

She raised the camera to her eye and snapped a picture before they had even realized she was there. The flash startled them, and Alex raised a hand as if to stop her.

“Wait, don’t—”

But it was too late. The camera spit out its picture, sending it fluttering to the ground before Trinity could take it, and then began to smoke and hiss, filling the room with an acrid smell before bursting into flame.

Trinity yelped and dropped the camera. Fortunately, Molly swooped down and scooped it up, bearing it away to dispose of safely.

“What the hell?” Trinity exclaimed. She bent down to retrieve the picture.

Alex sighed heavily before sauntering over to examine the picture over her shoulder.

“Oh look Mercy, this one’s a daguerreotype,” she remarked to her sister.

“Better than the time that disposable camera produced some sort of holographic display I suppose. What are we wearing?” Mercy asked.

“I’m in my old uniform, the eighteen-twelve one, though I was never that curvy back then. You’re in your original Red Cross duds, but your hair’s cut short, and Molly is unsurprisingly, unchanged. Same dress she’s been wearing all day.”

“As terribly anachronistic as usual then,” Mercy said, taking the picture from Trinity. She and Alex turned and wandered out of the room, still discussing the picture, leaving an incredibly baffled Trinity in their wake.

“What the Hell?” she said again to the empty room.

After that, she was as distrustful of tech as Alex was. When Mercy tried to give her a video game console as a late Christmas present, Trinity was hardly surprised when it quit working after a week. Better that than some of the other options, really.

She stuck to her sketchbook and journaling for diversions, but even when the game console had been working, distractions only went so far. The gulf of despair was always there, looming at her feet. One misstep could send her falling into the depths. And once it had her, it could be the work of hours to surface again.

From “Changeling” chapter 26

This passage and the artwork were done by A.L. Travenbran. This is perhaps one of my favorite passages in the work for its foreshadowing and some important character development. It also shows one of Trinity’s more likable moments.

I think that the artwork that A.L. Travenbran did was from over ten years ago.

[btbaker]

Tommy suppressed a chuckle. “Could you imagine the panic if everyone knew what was really out there? The Program’s job is to keep certain things under wraps. We have positions open, if you’re interested.”

“She’s too young, Tommy,” Mercy said, suppressing a groan. She shot him a warning glare. “We’re here to help her, and then we’re going back home.”

“She already knows about—”

“Tommy!” Mercy barked, annoyed.

“Right—sorry, Doc.”

“Call me that again, and I swear vampires will be the least of your problems,” Mercy growled under her breath.

“Turn the other cheek, Mercy,” Pierce advised.

“Hey, if she wants to knock me around a bit, I’m hardly going to complain.” Tommy smiled lasciviously.

“Insufferable lech. How have you not been fired for harassment?” Mercy frowned bemusedly.

“A criminal lack of oversight,” he confided jokingly behind his hand. Then more seriously, “Also, I stop when asked.”

“Liar,” Mercy scoffed, “You never know when to stop.”

“I do too,” he retorted.

“You’ll flirt with anything that moves, and sleep with more besides.” She pointed an admonishing finger at him.

“Hey, the world is filled with all sorts of people.” He spread his arms wide. “And there’s something to admire in every one of them. But I’m not an animal.”

-except from Changeling, Chapter 11

[btbaker]

This was a fun trope to write in Construct. Each character had to overcome one of their greatest flaws in order to survive.

one of my very favorite obscure story tropes is when there’s an episode/plotline/tabletop campaign session where the conceit is ‘each member of the gang gets trapped in a specially tailored dream/nightmare/illusory mindscape and has to break out’

[btbaker]

Whenever I am taking a break from writing my current manuscript, I spend time editing and submitting my complete manuscript “Changeling” to literary agents. Perhaps this weekend I will go back to writing new content.

[btbaker]

I’ve had to take a mental break and put a lot of my projects on the back burner for the past couple years, but I’m back now.

The past couple years have been hard, to say the least. I’ve had to say goodbye to some pets as I tried to nurse them back to health. And then my husband was in the hospital for around a month fighting for his life due to a mass on his spleen. While he made it through the surgery to remove half his spleen, the recovery process took a toll on both of us both physically and financially. We almost lost our house.

I also recently discovered that a lot of my struggles have been due to having ADHD all my life. I’m on the correct meds now, and that has helped a great deal in my creativity.

I have worked on an overhaul of Changeling with my coauthors A.L. Travenbran and Saebre Lark. I am very excited to be back working on this project, as it has been a source of love and joy to work on, despite some of the heavier themes this book portrays.

One of my favorite aspects of Changeling has been the cast of characters and how they intermingle with each other. I wanted to write a book that shows some of the complexities of dealing with trauma and how different people respond in vastly different ways.

It is the first book of a series. Currently, we are working on editing the second book while I am sending Changeling off to agents in high hopes of getting representation and a partnership to help navigate the brutal market of traditional publishing. I am also working on drafting the fourth book of the series when I have the time and inspiration to do so.

[btbaker]

I am excited to finally announce that my novella "Catfish" is available for preorder. It will be officially released on 06/09/2023.

Marina has always been in straight relationships. Sure, she’s fooled around with another woman before, but it was never anything serious. After things end with her boyfriend, Randolph, she enters into an online support group. There, she meets Jo, and she quickly becomes enamored with her and begins to explore more of her sexuality and discovers her true self. She quickly becomes entangled with an online relationship that is more than she bargained for. Will she lose herself?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BN55KGPM/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1ZMR5X16A5MN7&keywords=catfish+bt+baker&qid=1669228760&sprefix=catfish+btba%2Caps%2C975&sr=8-1

[btbaker]

Catfish - Preview

Exciting news! I am working on a short novella titled Catfish, based loosely on real events. Here is a short preview of what is to come. No release date as of yet.

Chapter 1

“You need to dump him.” Those words were not what I wanted to hear, but deep down, I knew that I needed to hear them. 

I had been with Randolph since I started my undergraduate degree in History. It was a long four years of dating him. In the beginning, he was everything a respectable boyfriend should be. He was patient and kind. He could make me laugh. What was more, my father approved of him, and my father distrusted every boy that I dated. 

“Marina, seriously. He doesn’t treat you with respect.”

“Alexa is right,” Vladd added with a grim frown. “He’s an asshole, and if he’s saying those stuff about Triston, you need to get rid of him.”

Vladd was referring to the argument that Randolph and I had gotten into just before the winter holidays. In that moment, I was beginning to wish that I hadn’t ranted about that argument. When Randolph found out that Triston was going to be at the Yule celebration, he had told me that he wasn’t going, and that he wanted to rape Triston.

“Not for any sexual gratification or anything, but to correct his unnatural affliction.” His words rang in my head. The unnatural affliction that he was referring to was the fact that Triston was transgender. He was wrong, but that was beside the point; he was threatening to rape one of my close friends. If Vladd knew the half of it, I was afraid that he would drive out to Randolph’s house three towns over and beat the shit out of him. 

“I can’t…” I muttered meekly. I was afraid of him. He had a temper when things didn’t go his way, and he had a broken keyboard to prove it. He also had guns, and lots of them. I was also keenly aware of the fact that men with his mentality killed their girlfriends. 

“Marina, look at me,” Vladd insisted. 

I looked up at him. Our eyes met, and a chill ran down my spine. Whatever Vladd was about to say was going to be law, and I would be made to listen and see reason. 

“Randolph is abusive. If you don’t leave him, it’s going to get worse.” 

He was right; I knew he was right, and I didn’t like it any better than before. Still, I felt trapped. I knew that my father wouldn’t support me in breaking up with Randolph. When I mentioned wanting to before, I was practically interrogated. In the end, I decided to stay with Randolph, and I was beginning to seriously regret that decision. Staying with him then was making leaving him now all the more difficult. 

“Are you afraid of him?” Alexa guessed. 

Bingo. I was afraid of him, though I wouldn’t openly admit it. Both Alexa and Vladd expected more from me. Their lessons about inner and outer strength taunted me, almost like I hadn’t learned anything from those lessons. 

“Marina, if he so much as lays a finger on you, I’ll murder him, and there will be nothing left for the coroner to identify,” Vladd added. 

I flinched at his words. I really didn’t want anyone to die. Alexa always said that made me too soft, and that I needed to embrace the part of me that didn’t care if people got hurt. Of course, we all joked that she was a sociopath. In truth, she frightened me more than anyone else in my life. She was always the sort of person to watch the world burn, and study the effects with a scientific approach. 

[btbaker]

From now until September 10th, Trials and Turbulence is available for free on kindle. Click on the link below for your copy.

https://www.amazon.com/Trials-Turbulence-B-T-Baker-ebook/dp/B07F9RNR5G

Queen Maire never fancied a wedding, especially to any of the princes her council have picked out for her. After one of her councilmen try to force her hand, her faery godmother rescues her, and ends up saving more than just her life. Now exiled, she must fight to take back her throne, and risk everyone she holds dear to do it.

[btbaker]

From now until September 5th, Apartment 38 is available for free on Kindle.

Jackie Jones is a High School Social Studies teacher by day, kinky slave by night. None of her friends or colleagues know about her life outside of work. She has been in a steady relationship with her girlfriend for eight months. In a single night, their lives are uprooted, and they must find a way to compromise or risk losing everything that they have built.

Click on the link below to get your copy. And as always stay tuned for more news and updates.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DBF9715/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i0

[btbaker]

Oak House is going to be available for a free promotion on Amazon Kindle starting August 31st, and will run until September 4th. Click on the link below to get your free ebook copy of this short story. Stay tuned for more promotions.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07CKSJPNK/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i3

James Carter has a dead end job as a waiter at the Oak House. In the course of a single night, he loses everything, but that opens a new door with new possibilities. He finds comfort and safety in the arms of his unexpected savior, but not all is as it seems on the surface.