July’s Story of the Week is an excerpt from the book I’m working on. It takes place on a flight from Seattle to Europe, and Louie, Our Heroine, finds herself in the middle of an evil alien plot to take over the world. Reluctantly, she tries to help save humankind, mostly as a side effect of trying to save herself.

(Intro below; click on Story of the Week in this post or on the top right after About to read the whole scene.)

On the long flight from Seattle to Amsterdam, listening to B.B. King’s Live from the Cook County Jail pour into her ears, Louie remembered the first live concert she attended. She‘d read in the paper that B.B. was coming to Seattle, and decided to buy tickets she couldn’t really afford. She used the excuse of giving them to her then-boyfriend for his birthday, but although he knew who B.B. King was, it was obvious to them both that the gift was really for Louie. Back then she was working at the writing and math tutoring center at one of the local community colleges, making barely above minimum wage, and still dating the wrong kind of guy.