This month, we’ve got the smell of bleach, wine, small-town Arkansas, and more. To submit a first line, email booklifeeditor@booklife.com.

All the Dark Souls

A.M. Dunnewin

“She found him on the side of the road, bruised and bleeding but not entirely unconscious.”


Beauty Beheld

Zariah L. Banks

“On a chilly Friday evening, my boyfriend and I walk into his parents’ home for family night.”


Because of Mercy (The Coin Trilogy)

PD Dawn

“Rose’s gaze slid over her father’s shoulder to the wide open hills beyond.”


A Cocky Catch

Annika Champenois

“He entered the house and smiled at familiar surroundings. Cozy kitchen. Light wood furniture. Worn couches.”


Computer Love: A Digital Anthology

Ricardo Pierre-Louis

“Marley used to hate the smell of bleach, but overtime grew to love it.”


Decanted

Linda Sheehan

“Marciel erased the asymmetrical portion of the figure model’s right breast and corrected it with his pencil.“


The Girl Who Broke the World

Renee Hayes

“The fourth World War, later known as the oxygen war, killed billions of life-forms in the year 2032.“


Harper’s Rescue: A Novel of Redemption in the Civil War (The Shiloh Trilogy)

Sean Gabhann

“The riders saw the turkey vultures circle the cloudless sky for an hour before they crested the low ridge where the Mayfield Road began its descent to Camp Creek.”


Her Own Legacy (Château de Verzat #1)

Debra Borchert

“ ‘Wine flows in your veins.’ Grandmama brought her lorgnette to her eyes, examining the underside of a grape leaf.”


Hidden in the Shadows

A.D. Vancise

“After five years of being away, Evie Day hated the fact that she was back in Woodsville, Arkansas. A small town in buck-ass nowhere.”


Just Looking

Matthew Tree

“I was watching the tornado: a piece of string jiggling punily away within spittin distance of the horizon.”


The Key to Kells: A Key Murphy Thriller

Kevin Barry O’Connor

“Dying tonight was not an option. Tomorrow, maybe, or the next day, who knows. But not tonight.”


Tell Me Everything: An Rx Chronicles Book

EeJay Enekwa

“Freud himself would have been proud of the way the office slash counseling room was designed.”