Read Online Written in Stone (A Books by the Bay Mystery) by Ellery Adams - Free Book Online

shreds once a month, I’d still write. I’ve scribbled sci-fi stories since I could hold a pencil. I think we were all born with the writing chromosome. We can’t stop. It’s a part of our genetic makeup.”
    Millay snatched the bottle of beer from Harris’s hand and headed to the sofa. Flopping onto the soft cushions, she kicked off her trademark black boots and put both feet on the coffee table. She gave her toes, which were encased in pink and green argyle knee socks, a satisfied wiggle and then pulled a stack of papers out of her messenger bag.
    “Okay, Harris ‘Watson-and-Crick’ Williams, just promise not to turn into a total sellout when you finally get published. Half of the authors on the bestseller list don’t give a crap about the quality of their writing anymore. They discover a profitable formula and wham!” She snapped her fingers. “All they do after that is pump out the same book over and over again.”
    “That’s still an accomplishment. I can’t imagine what it would be like to write more than one book,” Laurel said. “The whole process is so unpredictable. I was cruising along on
The Wife
. It was practically writing itself until, at about sixty thousand words, I hit a wall.”
    Olivia gave her friend a sympathetic look. “You’re trying to sort out some big issues right now, Laurel.” She paused and then gently asked, “How are you and Steve doing?”
    Laurel shrugged. “Okay, I guess. Better.” She took a sip of chardonnay. And another. “We’re being so polite to each other now. So careful not to hurt each other’s feelings. It’s weird. I hate all the tiptoeing.”
    “You just need to have a huge fight followed by drunken make-up sex,” Millay said. “Smash some plates, rip off some clothes, and you’ll be good to go. You can say please and thank you
after
you’ve done the horizontal tango.”
    For a moment, Laurel’s eyes went wide, but then she laughed. “Actually, you’ve given me a great idea for my next chapter. Thanks for curing my case of writer’s block.”
    “I won’t charge you. This time,” Millay said wryly and then glanced at Olivia. “So what gives? Where’s the chief?”
    “Late again,” Olivia said. She’d been wondering the same thing. “But he knows the deal. We start on time as long as the author’s here. Ready, Harris?”
    Harris devoured the last prosciutto roll on his plate and nodded. “Fire away.”
    Olivia looked down at her notes. Harris’s science-fiction novel featured a complex heroine named Zenobia. Following the tragic death of her parents, this young woman had unexpectedly become the ruler of the entire Zulton race and was tasked with relocating her people from their dying planet to a more viable one.
    In the first half of Harris’s book, Zenobia had successfully maneuvered through a political minefield and honed her skills as warrior. However, she refused to bend to the customs of the nobility and spent most of her free time alone in a simulation room.
    During Harris’s last critique session, the Bayside Book Writers had pointed out that they knew very little about Remus, Zenobia’s new planet, and he’d responded by having Zenobia lead a team into a vast cavern system in search of a valuable mineral. In one of the deeper caves, Zenobia’s party had been attacked by a creature unlike any Zenobia or the Bayside Book Writers had ever encountered before.
    Olivia thought he did a good job with this scene, though she still had difficulty picturing the beast in her mind. Apparently, so did Millay.
    “Is it part dragon or part alligator?” she asked. “I get it that’s it big and drools and has four eyes, but I can’t really see it.”
    “But it’s sci-fi,” Laurel argued. “He can’t compare it with things on Earth. If he says it had the head of a crocodile, it takes away from the sense that everything is alien.”
    Millay offered suggestions on how Harris could describe the beast more effectively, while Laurel