TIW Novel entry :-) Chapter 1...

January was difficult. Broke my wrist in December, trying to recover from that, and handed in the first Chapter of the TIW novel (see first half of it below).
I also had an idea for a kid's book, an idea for a Dr Seuss book, and an idea for a sequel to...
'How to Build a Castle in Seven Easy Steps'...which is still out there, waiting for a home...
http://www.amazon.com/Build-Castle-Seven-Easy-Steps-ebook/dp/B00SOZYR6G

Here's the first half of Chapter 1 of my TIW Novel entry "Along Bobbed a Peanut"...I might change it as I go on, though...

Chapter One

"Have you noticed..." began Nigel. His partner-in-crime, Horris, opened one eye from his early morning nap and glared. "Have you noticed..."

"Not yet, no," replied Horris.

"...that certain chocolate bars these days are smaller?" He held up an empty wrapper of an example he'd eaten much earlier for all to see. The two of them in the boat. "They weigh exactly the same but..."

"What's your argument, Nigel? That as the years have passed, chocolate factories across the globe have surreptitiously recalibrated their machines, millimetre by millimetre, milligram by milligram, to decrease the size of their products and increase the weight of their packaging so that their loyal sugar-toothed consumers continue on in their sad little cocoa-driven lives, unaware of this atrocious, villianous conspiracy?"

"Err...yeah, something like that, yeah." Nigel dropped the empty wrapper into the boat and glanced over the side. "They're not biting this morning, are they?"

"No." Horris shifted his fishing hat to cover his forehead and continued with his nap. It wasn't long before Nigel woke him again, moving the boat and splashing water. "What are you doing?"

"Eating," munched Nigel.

"What? You into sushi now? And when did you start catching fish with your hands?"

"I don't, I mean I'm not, erm...I'm eating peanuts." Horris heard the crunching.

"Peanuts? I thought you'd eaten everything you brought?" Where had he stashed them?

"I had."

"Then..." Horris shifted his hat back up to cover his bald patch and opened both eyes. He saw Nigel scooping peanuts from the river. "Since when do peanuts come from the water?"

"Since now, I guess," smiled Nigel, who seemed happy and content with his find. Looking up river and down, Horris observed a thin line of peanuts floating on the surface of the water, moving with the flow. "Not very salty, though, but they hit the spo..."

Tasting a single peanut floating by, Horris noticed they sat in silence. Nigel's face had turned white, his arm like stone, with his hand hidden under the water.

"What is it?" asked Horris. Last time he'd seen Nigel this spooked was when he'd lost his change down at the Mad Cat and couldn't get that last short. Nigel slowly lifted his hand, water dripping into the river. "What is...holy shit!" Nigel gripped a thin, white wrist, a feminine hand hanging limp from the joint with the connecting arm disappearing into the dark depths...