My good pal, Sandra Odell, is having fun on Facebook, inviting friends to volunteer to be Tuckerized as a character in an off-the-cuff novel excerpt. She’s good at it, but that’s no surprise. I already knew what a wonderful writer Sandra is.
According to Wikipedia, Tuckerization is the act of using a person’s name, appearance and personal characteristics in an original story as an in-joke. The term is derived from Wilson Tucker, a science fiction writer, fan and fanzine editor, who made a practice of using his friends’ names for minor characters in his stories.
Sandra’s stories aren’t always for the faint of heart, but she has an amazing eye for detail and a way of driving a story home you’ll remember for awhile.
Here’s what she wrote for me:
K.C. brought the gunner’s chair around, found her target, and pressed down on both triggers. Sonic shot ripped through the kraken’s tentacle. It tumbled into the frozen waves, sending up a spray of blood and brine. The attack skimmer rocked with the waves crashing over the deck. Overhead, crew sounded off above the din: “Fore here!” “Nets here!” “Anchor here!” “Where’s aft? Carl? Can anyone get eyes on Carl?”
What had begun as a hunting trip had turned into an ambush. It was only a matter of time until the kraken pulled us down.
K.c. didn’t spare me so much as a backwards glance. “Get another belt ready!”
She was a big woman, the only one of us big enough to handle the kick of the main gun. Tall, heavyset, short white hair whipping every which way in the wind. She looked like everyone’s grandma, if their grandma had been a heavy-armor veteran. I grabbed another ammo belt and slammed it home. “Go!”
K.c. grinned like a reaper and swung the chair around, searching for the next target. “Come on, you bastards.”
She opened fire.
I love it. Thank you, Sandra!
