Not Dead But Writing!

"That Is Not Dead Which Can Still Type"

Hello Blog! Boy, it's a bit dusty in here ... *blows cobwebs off Blogger*

This is the BIG UPDATE POST just to let you know that Janine Ashbless survived the lockdown and is still (sorta) around. In fact ... *fanfare*

🎺 I'VE GOT A NEW SHORT STORY COMING OUT!!! 🎺

My story The Witch's Need is due to appear in Lustcraftian Horrors, edited by Hydra M. Star, which is currently up for pre-orders on Amazon, due for release in August!

 Lovecraft never intended for his mythos to be overtly sexual, but the Great Old Ones are horny for human flesh and all those hybrids don’t just create themselves. Within Lustcraftian Horrors lies thirteen glimpses into the sexual adventures, dominance, and violations the Elder Gods and their kin visit upon the unsuspecting human world. Consider your triggers warned and prepare to enter the void.

I shall be posting an excerpt from my story in due course; but here's how it opens...

After the first day of her trial, they moved Agnes Pritchard to the crypt of the village church for safekeeping overnight. Since she hadn’t deigned to plead her innocence, the Witchfinder John Samuels had declared her a more-than-usually-arrogant and dangerous sorceress, and no one wanted to have her on their land overnight, not even in a guarded barn. If she had denied the charges then they would have kept her awake all night, working in teams to walk her up and down without rest, in the hope of causing her to summon her familiars and so prove her guilt. But there was no need in this case. Her contemptuous silence was as good as a confession.

* * * * * * * * * * 

It is in many ways an incredibly appropriate story to introduce this roundup of my news. It also may well be the most appropriate story on which to bow out as Janine Ashbless, if that is to happen. 

Those of you who have no idea what Lovecraftian fiction is might struggle with the rest of this blogpost! 😋 Any description of what I've been doing for the last two years is going to reference him and his Cthulhu Mythos. MY WRITING DREAMS HAVE ALL COME TRUE so please forgive my allcaps and blog silence! 

If you'd asked me at any time in the last three decades what I would most like to be known for writing, it wouldn't be for erotica. I would have said "I want to write Call of Cthulhu for Chaosium."

And that's what I'm doing right now - which is why I've put the erotica and even the horror fiction on the back-burner. Chaosium Inc. is a major roleplaying games company, and I've been working freelance for them. First I contributed to the forthcoming Rivers of London RPG. And then I was handed the humungous task of reworking Cthulhu by Gaslight, their Victorian setting for the Call of Cthulhu game, into a new and improved edition. I've had some experience with running Victorian horror LARP, but this is on another level altogether, so basically I've been researching and writing non-fiction for the last year. The first Gaslight book has been turned in and I'm hard at work on the second. I am wonderfully, stupidly, happy, and also a bit cross-eyed from hyper-focus.

This is my life now

I've not been blogging much because this blog belongs to Janine Ashbless, erotica writer - and though there is some overlap in readership with my horror and gaming interests (and there are many posts to prove it), it would be a distinct and confusing change of direction to start talking tentacles all the time.

Will I be writing more smut in future? Who can say? The current puritanical publishing atmosphere does not make it rewarding or inspiring. Sinful Press (very much missed) is only one of the many presses, small and large, to have closed their doors recently, and my optimism has run low. It is probably a lot easier to self-publish than to go through endless cycles of submitting stories, waiting months (sometimes years) for publication, and crossing fingers for payment - just to see the anthology/press pulled from the shelves. I'm re-releasing as much of my own stuff in e-format as possible, but it will only take one censorious move from Amazon to destroy decades of work.

I'm not planning for the future. I'm enjoying what I'm writing NOW. And Now is awesome 💝💝💝

My Janine Ashbless Facebook Page is still ticking over.

And I am active on Facebook under my Keris McDonald name