Showing posts with label WIP. Show all posts
Showing posts with label WIP. Show all posts

Friday, 8 February 2019

Writing news

I managed to sell TWO short stories in January!


My erotic-horror story The Witch's Need is going to Lustcraftian Horrors at Infernal Ink Books.

My fairy story My Son, My Daughter has been contracted to a non-erotica collection.

Today we've been working out a new cover for Lust in the Dust - there'll be a BIG announcement about that collection at some point soon, but I'll say no more at the moment.

Oh, and I'm currently writing a fantasy story that scares the hell out of me ;-)

Wednesday, 6 September 2017

Not waving but drowning

Ancient Terror by Leon Bakst (1908)

I've been writing a short story this week!

Don't get too excited for me - I'm really struggling to find the right balance between story and erotic action without stretching it to, like, 10K. But AT LEAST I'M WRITING - and at the moment anything counts, damnit.

The God Below is set in the aftermath of the fall of Atlantis. Given how well-known that theme is these days, and how much Edwardian/Victorian artists liked their classical scenes full of dramatic action, there are surprisingly few paintings on the subject to be found - and those not by mainstream antiquarian artists.

Nicholas Roerich: The Last of Atlantis (1928)

Never mind. Who needs pictorial inspiration for the violent end of civilisation, when it's all around us anyway?

Friday, 26 May 2017

Erotic horror

Franz von Stuck: The Sin (1893) 

No, I'm not talking about the current state of publishing...

I was asked in an interview during my last blog tour what it was that I'd like to write but haven't done yet. And I said that I'd like to write some real erotic *horror* - not "dark fantasy", but no-holds-barred horror. Which would make for an, ahem, interesting combination with erotica, because there is WAY more (self-)censorship in the erotica genre. As a society we're far more scared of being corrupted by sex than by violence.

Anyhoo, this last week or so while I've been away from the blog I've been writing a longish short story which is definitely Erotic Horror. And should break several rules of good taste. And might be a bit triggery.

Also I visited my parents.

(No connection.)

Watch this space 😉

Monday, 1 May 2017

Eyecandy Monday special: The Prison of the Angels preview

Every Monday I post a naughty scene for your entertainment!

Today's excerpt is a bit special. To mark my completion of The Prison of the Angels, here's a preview excerpt:

Jean Delville: L’Allégorie de l’Enfer, 1899


At that moment I heard Egan’s door thump open on the opposite side of the corridor. I caught my breath and braced myself for the crash of his fists on my own door.

Oh no. My dream. I was only dozing. I didn’t—did I?

But there was silence.

I sat hearing only the race of my own heartbeat. No accusations; not even the sound of his feet stomping away down the hall. Just silence.

What is he waiting for?

Me?


I pushed myself to my feet, pulled on a tank top shirt just long enough to afford me some decency, and went to the door. I could feel a trickle of sweat running down between my breasts. The handle felt slippery under my fingers.

Egan was standing on the other side of the door, one muscular arm braced against the frame, wearing nothing but the pair of gray briefs he’d presumably gone to bed in. The sight nearly sent me into meltdown then and there. His expression was grim, but not a word passed his lips. His pupils were still horribly dilated.

I searched his face for any sign of light, but saw none. It was the expression, I thought, of a man who had heroically fought the good fight against his inner demons—and lost. I took a step backward into my room and he followed me, pushing the door to behind him.

Are we going to fight? To kiss? To talk? I don’t want to talk. Not now. I want you to touch me.

We stood wordless in that dim yellow light, like we were stuck in amber.

Then I looked down. I wasn’t jiggling about naked in the snow now; just clad in a sleeveless top that was so tight my erect nipples drew a bar across the stretched cotton. Egan wore even less. And unless he had taken to smuggling a length of lead pipe sideways under his briefs, he was finding even that garment uncomfortably constricting. He loomed so close to me that I didn’t even have to step forward to put my hand on that imprisoned shaft and feel it kick against my palm.

Oh. He’s had enough of dreams and teasing. He needs sorting out. Now.

I looked up into his eyes, wondering if he would say anything, and wondering what I should say. But we’d run out of words, both of us.

Did he want me to carry on where I’d left off in the snow? To bend over the bed? He was hard and burning under my hand as I squeezed him through the soft cotton. Oh. Oh. Oh.

He stooped a little, just enough so that his cheek brushed mine, his breath on my ear and neck. I’m used to thinking of myself as tall and gangly, no delicate flower—but it suddenly came home to me how much bigger he was, so much muscle and bone. And that was before I recalled his history of extreme violence. It rather appalled me now to think how I’d had the gall to tease him; we’d shared rented rooms and a pup-tent and even a bed in our journeys together, and I’d never given him enough credit for his restraint, or his honor, or his kindliness.

He could have had me at any time.

Oh, that thought made me run wet.

I’d had my fill of taunting him, for the moment. Now I wanted to give him everything he needed. Keeping one hand on his Calvins and running the other down the glorious hard undulation of his torso, I sank to my knees until my hands could meet. My lips pressed the flat wall of his stomach. Then I slipped my fingers under the elastic of his briefs and pulled them down. His cock bounced free hard enough to give my face a hot, silky slap.

Oh you beauty…

I took him in my mouth, all the way, and I heard the quietest of sighs he uttered. That was all he did for a long moment; just stand there, almost motionless, as I sucked gratefully at his strong, beautiful length.

Then he touched my cheek. “Is that all you want?” he rasped.

No. Not all.

My mouth was too full to talk, so I shook my head. Only when I’d wrapped a hand firmly around his girth did I release him from my lips, and used my hand to pull him with me, step by step, as I crawled backward across the floor.

Wednesday, 12 April 2017

Wednesday, 5 April 2017

Revision notes


A glimpse here into my novel revision process... I've been writing myself a lot of notes! Usually after getting out of the shower (where much of my inspiration comes to me) muttering "Must write that down! Must write that down!"

Having completed the first draft, the next stage is to go through and make sure I've included everything I want to include (descriptors, emotions, foreshadowing) and check the logic of the plot flow. That means working backwards a lot of the time - I know for sure that Egan has to have a gun in scene X, so where did it come from? Is it the same as the one he had in scene M? But didn't he have that knocked out of his hand? So either he must have picked it up again (alteration) or it's a different one he got in scene T (alteration), but in the latter case then he wasn't using it to threaten someone in scene O, and if I take out that threat then how do I draw attention to the drawer he got the gun out of which happens to contain something else important?
... and so on.

Checking your plot backward (A happens because B has happened because C happened etc) is one of the best writing tips I've heard. It shows up plot holes SOOOOO well.

Wednesday, 16 November 2016

WIP - The Prison of the Angels update

Joys of research: boy have I found some Crazy on the web. 

I've never written a novel so fast. Part 3 of The Book of the Watchers: The Prison of the Angels is already standing at 35K words. It helps that I know the characters so well by now, I guess!

The action so far has gone from here:

Minot in North Dakota
To here:

"Photo by DAVID ILIFF. License: CC-BY-SA 3.0"
To here:

Setback: I watched Angels and Demons and saw that Dan Brown had beaten me to all the best sites in Rome, damn him...

My go-to sites are Wikipedia (of course), Bible Hub, the Vatican, (for its rather wonderful virtual tours) .... and oooh look: 101 Lokis

Milja's character has evolved in quite radical ways - anyone who complained that she was 'too reactive' in Bk 1 isn't going to have a leg to stand on now. Egan has turned out to be kinky AF. Penemuel has acquired a personality that surprised me. Poor Azazel is still struggling to cope with human ways.

I'm in the process of finally answering a bunch of questions that have been deliberately left hanging since the first volume -

  • "Why did the Nails work?" 
  • "Why have only three out of four archangels made an appearance so far?" 
  • "What does God Himself think about all this?" 
  • "What is Uriel plotting? Why do the other archangels shun him?" 
  • - and most disturbing of all: "What the hell is Egan's problem?!" (OMG OMG OMG)

I've introduced the Blasphemous Plot Revelation.

I'm a pantser, of course. At this stage my characters are approaching a big action scene. I don't actually know what the result is going to be or how Milja is going to get out alive ... but I do know that things are going to go REALLY BADLY WRONG at this point.

I can't wait to find out how :-)

Friday, 30 September 2016

Herding angels

Viktor Mikhaylovich Vasnetsov, Angel with a Lamp, c. 1885-1896
This is a roundup of what's been going on with The Book of the Watchers trilogy, for those of you who have not been following my Facebook mutterings like they are Holy Writ.

Book 2 (previously known as The Valleys of the Earth) is finished (it came to 86.5K words), edited, and sitting on the desk of a publisher who has expressed keen interest. I'm not going to say anything more until such point as we have signed a contract, but fingers crossed!

At 2a.m. the night before I sent it off, I decided to change the titles of both Book 2 and Book 3. I'm waiting for feedback from the publisher on the first of those.

Book 3 is now definitely going to be called The Prison of the Angels instead of the possibly-misleading The Treasuries of the Stars. All titles are quotes from psychedelic best-seller The Book of Enoch.

I have started writing Book 3!  Yes, I was planning to take some time off and do something fun like my tax-return, but the angsty sex-scenes for Book 3 are making such a commotion inside my skull that the only way to save my sanity is to get them out on paper.

Today this was part of my research:



I'm sure you'll agree it has potential for a smoking-hot sex scene... lol

Thursday, 1 September 2016

The last battle

Gustave Dore, illustration for Paradise Lost

FINAL CHAPTER!!!

I WILL FINISH "THE VALLEYS OF THE EARTH" THIS WEEK

You are going to hate me ...
... cliffhanger ending


Wednesday, 24 August 2016

The End is Nigh!

Paradise Lost by Emile Bernard, 1868 – 1941

I'm up to 77K on The Valleys of the Earth and about to launch into the final extended scene. Things may be about to get a teensy weensy bit violent, but I'm sure that's fine in a romance, ahem. At least I now know exactly how the novel ends! (I also know how the first three chapters of the sequel go, but that's just got to wait.)

So there are no more surprises awaiting me for this volume ... probably. My heroine Milja managed to broadside me this morning, mind...

It's repeatedly asserted in The Book of Enoch, my go-to sourcebook of angelic craziness, that those women who slept with the fallen angels were taught magic as a consequence and became "witches" or "sirens" (depending on translation). I've treated this as an organic bodily change wrought by angelic influence/body fluids, not learned spells. So Milja has been developing some interesting new abilities throughout the series...

Vol 1: Cover Him with Darkness
  • She finds it physically impossible to cry
  • Cats love her, dogs hate and fear her
  • She can see ghosts, sometimes
  • She can tweak chance to give herself unusually good luck (small magics)
  • She has vaguely prescient dreams
  • She can pull other sleeping people, and angels, into her dreams to interact with them

Vol 2: The Valleys of the Earth
  • During a sexual encounter she can speed-heal her own wounds, or her partner's
  • It's very possible she can reverse this to do harm through hate-sex, though she hasn't actually tried
  • She's immune to disease (which is very helpful when visiting Ethiopia, believe me)
  • She can see in the dark
  • She can order certain animals around ... or at least scare them away
I'm trying to keep her powers witchy and low-key, and not to just pull another one out of the hat whenever it's convenient for the plot. But given that she started off as an ordinary human and she's hanging out in the major league with the big angelic boys, it's nice to be able to redress the balance of power slightly and give her some more effective agency.

Wednesday, 17 August 2016

Going up a Gere

I've been fantasy-casting the movie of my Watchers trilogy again... and I reckon I'd let Richard Gere from Autumn in New York audition for the Archangel Uriel.

He has the right hair.
Hair matters. It's my movie, damnit.

"Can you do massively snobbish sexually-frustrated villain, Richard?"

I've just been writing a Uriel scene for The Valleys of the Earth. At 70K I'm now entering the endgame of the novel. This scene was a masterclass in pantsing because I had no idea how it was going to end when I started.
  • I knew I had to get my protagonist out of her current Dire Peril (... she is always in dire peril)
  • I knew what would happen if it was an erotica book, but it isn't
  • I knew what would happen if it was a really mean horror story, but it isn't
  • I didn't want her to get rescued by one of her allies, just for a change
  • I didn't want her to give in to Uriel's manipulation
 So I started writing and ... ended up researching the Carboniferous period.

Writing is weird.

Monday, 8 August 2016

Blue Monday - special Valleys of the Earth preview

Every Monday I post a wicked excerpt for your entertainment.

Today's excerpt is a bit special, as it's a first draft from my work-in-progress,  The Valleys of the Earth, and I'd be genuinely interested to hear if anyone has feedback about the morality of this short but pivotal sex-scene.

I get a lot of posts across my social network from progressive people who characterise any sexual encounter that falls short of enthusiastic, fully-informed, legally-constituted, consent as rape, and all rape as equally heinous.

I do think this scene is all sorts of nonconsensual murky grey ethical mess, though maybe not in the ways the protagonists see it. I'd be interested to know, if anyone else has an opinion, which - if either - of my characters do you think guilty of rape?

  
Satan, Sin and Death by William Blake
Here's some context: 

  • Egan is running a high fever from a wounded and infected arm and is not in full possession of his mental or physical capacities. The scene opens with Milja trying to cool him down with ice-water.
  • They both are immensely attracted to each other, and care for each other deeply.
  • They both have really good reasons not to have sex with the other, and so haven't done it.




I could feel the heat in my cheeks, too. Egan was massively guarded and private in his self. Touching him felt like being admitted to a mystery, and treading on holy ground. I owed him respect and humility in my care for him. Gentle, unhurried strokes, tender over the black blooms of his bruises. Concentration, seeking out the feverish heat to sooth it. Patience, taking my time, returning again and again in my attempts to comfort him and sooth the fire in his flesh.

While the slow burn kindled in mine.

"I love you, Milja," he said, shocking me out of my reverie.

"That's the fever talking," I said with a hoarse little laugh. "Shush."

"No. I see you being put through ten types of shite, pushed places no one should have to go, and in the middle of it all you shine. A rose in a storm. That's what I thought when I met you ... a rose in a storm, whipped around by wind and rain. Strong and beautiful, and loyal. Too loyal. Does he even know how hard this is, what he's asking of you? Does he care?"

"Don't." My cheeks were burning now. "Don't talk about him, please."

"Okay. I don't want to talk about him. Let me talk about you. You don't have to do this, Milja. You don't have to carry this burden. The end of the world is not your responsibility, one way or the other. Walk away. Be happy."

Oh, he would break my heart.

"Egan ... please ..."              

"I want you to be happy. I want things I've no right to want. When I hold you, oh Christ. The temptation. I can't ... it's so hard not to want those things."

He lifted his good hand and grabbed mine, his grip shockingly strong. I'd presumed him weak. Startled, I met his gaze. It was wider than natural, almost glassy. My heart was banging against my breastbone. I tried to form words but couldn't bring them to life.

"Your lips now. I think of your lips under mine. I think of your body under my lips. I want to fuck you Milja, that's the truth, because I'm a piece-of-shit sinner and that's how my love feels, all wrapped up my lust and what I need - and I'm sorry, I can't stop thinking about you. About how much I want you."

"Oh God."

 "Do you think about me?"

I'd never realised before that blue is the colour of pain. I thought I might be trapped by those terrible blue eyes forever, drowning in his anguish and mine. "Yes," I breathed, the admission nearly breaking me.  

"This?" He pulled my hand down lower, over the sheet, pressed it down firmly against the cotton. Every muscle in my arm contracted in shock - but he did not let me pull away. He held me there, and so I looked. The thin sheet was soaked and plastered against his body, hiding nothing. Not the thick ridge of his erection trapped between my hand and his hard stomach, not even the subtle twin plum-shaped swells of his balls.

Oh. Oh oh oh.

He burned against my palm, a feverish wedge of need trying to push open the doors of possibility. "Please," he groaned, tightening his fingers around mine to squeeze his shaft and rub up and down.

 "Egan..."

"Please Milja." His hips twisted. "Oh God please." Sweat speckled his upper lip anew. The ache in my core rose like a heat plume to meet the ache in my heart.

He's beautiful, I thought, and simultaneously; This is so wrong. I dropped the towel and reached in with my left hand, grabbing his little finger and pushing it back to break his grip and peel it away from me. I pushed his good hand back up onto the pillow, leaning in to pin it with my weight. He didn't have any leverage to resist me.

My breath caught in my throat.

Poor poor Egan. Aching and desperate and helpless. Pinned on his back while his swollen cock raged and wept for release. Just like Azazel had been before I freed him.

After all these years, the darkness beneath the mountain was still there inside me. I had him at my mercy, and that mercy ran slick and hot through me until it escaped down the inside of my thighs.

My hand hadn't moved from his cock.  I squeezed him again.

"Ah Jesus, yes," he cried. Egan never blasphemed.

You need this? You need this? I wanted to bite his parted lips until they broke again and bled, and if I'd had the reach I might have. I can make no excuses for what I felt, or what I did. There was a dark tide of lust rising in me - and even though yes, I could explain, it makes no difference to my guilt. I felt bad for him, yes. He was handsome and sweet and he loved me, yes. No difference.

I loved him, in a way I couldn't even bring myself to think about.

No difference.

The fact is, he was hurt and he was helpless and that made me want to fuck him right now.

 And that's why I didn't let go of his thick cock. I kept hold of it through the cotton and I rubbed it even harder and thicker, until his heels dug into the mattress and his hips danced. I worked him slow and hard and pitilessly, until, his head was thrown back and his throat distended with strain and the blood ran down his chin from his split lip, until he was gasping and rigid and begging incoherently.

Until he came, under the sheet, calling on his saints and his God.

I drank in every cry, every detail. I kissed his bloody lips and lay beside him, cradling his head to my pounding heart.

And only then did I come out of my trance.

Wednesday, 3 August 2016

How it b-Egan

Some research notes for Egan's backstory

Over the last two days I've written 5000 words for The Valleys of the Earth, which is incredibly productive for me. It's involved a lot of research, and not actually getting dressed until dark.

  • I've changed a major character's name
  • I've got my protagonist out of her Ethiopian imprisonment without stretching credulity too much
  • I've had to decide on a getaway airplane, and I'm settling on the Beechcraft King Air turboprop ... for reasons of size and seating layout. You have no idea how hard it is to stage a private face-to-face discussion on a plane.
  • I've introduced demons to my world - demons, not fallen angels.

  • And I've finally got Milja and Egan back together and talking. And a great big chunk of that has been uncovering Egan's dodgey background in Special Ops, and how he came to work for secretive agency Vidimus (Latin for "We Have Seen"). It all gets a bit gory and shooty and sad.
 I had to do this for F Leonora Solomon because she squeeeeeeed all over Egan in Cover Him with Darkness and I rashly promised her more revelations :-)

  • I still have to research a bunch of military details ... I foresee a few afternoons with my Delta Green supplements, because RPG rulebooks are actually really useful for this sort of stuff. DG is written by almost entirely by military/gun nerds as far as I can see.
  • Oh yeah. It turns out Egan has had a major revelation/change of plan all on his own, which rather took me by surprise when he announced it mid-conversation. Bloody characters! I actually sat there with my mouth open, staring at the screen, and said, "Well, well. Really?!" 
 Still, I'm willing to run with it... let's see where it goes!

Sunday, 5 June 2016

I am in blood stepped in so far

Magazine illustration by Fritz Hegenbart 1864–1943
I've hit 41K on my wordcount for The Valleys of the Earth, which means that notionally I am halfway through!

Plotwise, the excrement is about to hit the rotating blades in great quantity.

(Also I just wrote "wordcunt" so I think I should stop and eat)

Wednesday, 18 May 2016

Jigsaw plot

This is where I am with my WIP right now:


At 35,000 words - coming up to half way - I've finally got my characters to Ethiopia, thus totally justifying my holiday there last year. And hell yes, I'm using those thousands of photos I took for reference purposes. I WANT TO GET IT RIGHT ... not that anyone reading the novel will care. *sigh*

As a die-hard Pantser, at 35K I've also hit the point where the writing process becomes really complex - a bit like doing a jigsaw where every piece has to be hand-carved as you go along. I'll sit down to write a new scene, moving the plot an other notch forward. But inevitably I also have to go back to one or more previous scenes to add a few lines of dialogue or a single adjective, to tie that scene into the new one. I have to make sure that the characters can proceed logically from one action to the next instead of making gigantic lucky guesses, and that they can look back on past scenes and suddenly realise the significance of a event or observation. That means a LOT of infilling of details.

I flew thousands of miles to take this photo, I'll have you know.
Three times now I've had to go back and insert entire new scenes that round out character motivation, or that will have the desired plot effect eight chapters down the line. And more embarrassingly, I've also had to backtrack to remove stuff. But just once.

Every scene must pull its weight. There's no padding.

I go to bed every night thinking about plot and wake up every morning thinking about plot. I've grown increasingly non-verbal around Mr Ashbless, as I'm constantly trying to keep every story detail in mind until I can get them written down.

Don't marry a writer, folks. Or maybe check if they are a Plotter or a Panster first!

Sunday, 15 May 2016

Buns of Evil


I've been going through my old photos from Ethiopia for research on this current novel ... And I would just like to point out what a fine fine butt the Devil has.

Wednesday, 16 March 2016

I'm not a Weirdo, I'm a Writer

... honestly, Officer... I just happen to have a lot of research material!



Yes, it's time to dive into the research rabbit-hole again!
Yes, I am writing a story about necrophilia.
No, it's not erotica - it's horror. And I hope to scare the hell out of myself :-)

Don't worry, I won't be inflicting any excerpts on you poor innocent smutsters, lol!   :-D

Wednesday, 10 February 2016

Satan is the white guy

Phwoar warning! The Archangel Michael has just walked into my WIP, The Valleys of the Earth. And he looks a lot like this:


Actor Martin Sensmeier
Angelology is notoriously vague - all the different angel systems invented over the centuries contradict each other wildly - but for these books I'm going with the line that there are four archangels: Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel and Michael, because those are the ones told to hunt down the fallen Watchers in the Book of Enoch.



I introduced Uriel in Cover Him with Darkness and he looks like this in human form:


Raphael was also briefly glimpsed, because he was the one who took Azazel down, and I decided there was no reason whatsoever for him to look Caucasian - so I modeled him on the long-haired historical heroes of the Chinese cinema industry I grew up with. Because hair.

Actor Leslie Cheung
After that, I thought "Well ... let's go with the notion that the four archangels are assigned to the four compass directions / Quarters of the Earth. Uriel's clearly the North, so Raphael is the East." (I'm assuming that the "centre point" of the world is Jerusalem/ the Garden of Eden / the Middle East here, for the sake of argument.)

Michael, the warrior-angel, obviously watches over the West. Gabriel hasn't shown up yet, but he'll look African when he does.

And if you've read CHWD, you'll know that Uriel is also Satan.
Heh.

Monday, 14 December 2015

Blue Monday special

Every Monday I post a naughty excerpt for your entertainment!

Today I'm giving you a sneaky preview glimpse of my work-in-progress, Falling Deep, which I aim to finish by the end of the year...

Liz has been taken to Glastonbury for a corset fitting:


“Is this a social call?”

“Lizzy here needs to be fitted for a corset. One that will please Yohan.”

I do, do I? Right. Liz had never worn a corset, unless one counted the cheap basque for that Rocky Horror party way back in college.

Madame Moone raised an eyebrow. “I see.”

“Nothing too uncomfortable,” Liz muttered. She’d never considered herself the least interested in women, but she was finding it hard not to look at Madame Moone’s dramatic décolletage. It drew the eye invitingly, as if just begging the viewer to plunge face down into that deep cleft.

“Shall we get some measurements?”

“Fine.” Somewhat ungraciously, Liz stripped down to T-shirt and skirt, staring determinedly at the shelves as Madame Moon stretched a cloth tape measure along and around various parts, noting down each assessment. Waist and hips, back length, underbust, boobs – even, disconcertingly, her throat. The whole process made her squirm inside, feeling as if she were being reduced to an object.

“Shall we go into the back room, and take a look at the different designs?” asked Madame Moone.

“Okay.”

“I’ll wait out here,” said Moira.

The back room was tucked away behind a red silk curtain. It was a little darker than the front parlor because there was only a round skylight overhead, leaded with a spider web pattern, to admit daylight. Sharp spotlight gleamed on the wares displayed. As soon as she stepped over the threshold, Liz realized that this was where the scent of leather emanated from. The undergarments in this chamber were of a completely different order to the flirty, lacey, feminine teasers out front. Everything was made of leather - stiff or supple, and almost all red or black. Corsets with laces yards long, studded gloves, high collars, even a full-length ballgown in supple midnight skin. A lot of cows died for that one, she thought.

And masks. Carnival style, mostly, but one on a wig-stand was a full-face hood with hooks around the mouth to lace it closed.

This is hardcore.

“The specialist stuff then,” she remarked wanly. She felt out of her depth. This was not something she’d ever really seen outside of a music video.

“We have a devoted clientele. Do you like leather?”

“Um … I’ve not really thought about it. I guess I’m vanilla or whatever you call it.”

Madam Moone smiled indulgently. “Have you worn a corset before?”

“Nope.”

“Well, how about we try some different corsets on you, so we can see which style suits you best? That way you can get used to how it feels, and give me some idea of comfort levels for lacing.”

“Fine, I guess.”

“Can you undress down to your bra and knickers, please?” She turned away and opened a drawer. “We’ll start with a long-line one I think.”

Liz opened her mouth, then found she didn’t have anything to say. Given what this was all in aid of, it seemed a bit pointless to be shy now. At least she’d put on matching undies this morning, for once. She laid her skirt and shirt over a rack and accepted the corset Madame Moone offered her – a chestnut one with decorative brass-colored hooks. “Wow - Brown?”

“Steampunk. It’s very popular at the moment. Now, if you slip it round like that … you do up the busk at the front first. Work from the center outward, it stops the clips popping … that’s right.” She pulled the snug sheath up into the correct position, wriggling it round over Liz’s hips. “Now I’ll lace it at the back. It’s a lot easier if you have someone to help you, for sure. With the laces … you work in toward the middle, from hips and shoulders, so that when it’s tightened you’re cinching the waist area. Straighten your back. Now, tell me if this is in any way uncomfortable.”

The cords made little purring noises as she pulled firmly upon them. She had strong hands, and Liz had to brace her feet to stop herself being unbalanced. It wasn’t uncomfortable, though the constriction around her lower ribs felt a little strange. She found herself taking shallow breaths, which made her bust heave.

“There you go,” said Madame Moone, laying hands on Liz’s bare shoulders and turning her to face a mirror. “What do you think?”

“Wow,” said Liz after a moment. The results were little short of spectacular. If she ignored her pale legs poking out below, it was definitely a sexy look. Her bosom was plumped up to become an astonishing spectacle, her waist emphasized, and her hips made to swell in a delightful curve. It made her feel terribly wicked.

“Now you need to keep your shoulders back, and your spine straight. Never droop. What do you think? Do you like it?”

Liz loved it. Which was helpful, as the next twenty minutes were spent trying out different permutations of hip- and bust-line, whilst remembering not to stare too much at the other woman’s cleavage as it flitted before her eyes. The longer corsets were definitely was more flattering, to Liz’s mind. There were fewer unsightly bulges that way. She liked the steampunk styling too, but Madame Moone shook her head.

“Yohan Ywen’s tastes are more conservative. Have you met him yet?”

“No. I’ve met several of his brothers though.” They exchanged a coyly conspiratorial smile. She knows, thought Liz. “What’s he like then?”

She shrugged, her curtain of hair flicking back over one shoulder. “Strict. You’ll get on best with him if you have a bit of a submissive streak.”

Liz grimaced. “That’s a shame. I’m more the bolshy sort – Moira will tell you that.”

Madame Moone began folding corsets away into boxes, as Liz spun to admire herself in a deliriously slutty scarlet number. “Is that so?”

“We’ve had a few vigorous disagreements.” Liz wandered over to a tall display and peered at the wares arrayed within. “What’s that?”

“That?” Madame Moone looked over her shoulder. “It’s a flogger. You can pick it up.”

Liz plucked the object from the rack. It was bright turquoise – the color was what had drawn her eye – and made of some sort of suede, both the stiff braided handle and the many narrow thongs. She felt it up and down. It looks gorgeous. And so soft! “Does it hurt?”

“That one won’t – it’s very light. It might sting a very little. Here - hold out your hand.”

Automatically Liz passed the little whip to the proffered grasp. Madam Moone didn’t smack it down on her open palm though, as she expected. She just trailed the soft thonging up and down the bare skin of Liz’s inner arm, making her burst into giggles. “That’s … quite nice!”

“The idea is to sensitize the body and make it responsive to all sorts of sensations.” Up and down, to her shoulder and back. The lashes slapped down lightly on her hand at last, with the tiniest of stings.
“It’s good for stimulating the breasts.”

“No!” she said, appalled and delighted.

“But your bottom is a lot tougher of course. Want to feel?”

Shaking her head at her own daring, Liz put her hands on the sideboard top and stuck her bum out with a cheeky wiggle. When she turned her head to the side she could see herself in the mirror, red corset and clashing pink panties, with the tall woman lifting her arm behind that rounded target. The first swish impacted like a thousand tiny kisses and she squeaked, “Oh!” The matching blow even up the compliment on her other cheek. “Ooh, that’s …”

“Of course,” interrupted Madame Moone, “it should really be applied to the bare arse for full effect.” So saying, she snagged the lacy cloth of the seat of Liz’ s knickers, pulling them right up into the bum-crease and baring her cheeks. The tug became quite firm – a wedgie of sorts. To Liz’s chagrin the drag of the cloth across her clit area sent a frisson through her from core to toes. And just as the thrill awoke in her flesh, the flogger descended sharply, the stinging tips going off like fireworks under her skin.

Damn right it didn’t hurt - at least, not in a bad way. The shock was enough to freeze Liz where she stood, though. She was still trying to wrap her head round whether she liked what was happening or not, when Madame Moone released her grip and stepped back. That was when Liz saw it, picked out by the pale light from above – either Madame Moone was smuggling a length of thick hose down her jodhpurs, or she was sporting a fat curved cock under the tight fabric

Friday, 4 September 2015

When I'm famous, this will be a collector's item

I have the handwriting of a ten-year-old

I thought I'd show you the sophisticated and extensive planning wot I do for my books. This is the timeline for the first two novellas in the Lover's Wheel quartet -  Summer Seduction and Falling Deep. 

Since the action takes place over a whole year and is intimately tied to the change of the months, the pagan festivals and even (gods help me) the signs of the Zodiac, the timeline's really important. And fiddly! I'm currently writing the last scene for Falling Deep - though it is a long and complex BDSM scene so I'm not quite as close to finishing as I'd like to be.

"Smudge" is the name of my protag's cat. The letter codes at bottom right are shopping discounts for a shoe website. I have no recall whatsover of the significance of the Fifty Shades date.

And the design showing through the back of the scrap paper? It's for a Sami shamanic drum, of course.