Showing posts with label Geek Love. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Geek Love. Show all posts

Wednesday, 19 September 2018

Lust in the Dust: call for submisssions!


I'm SO stoked!

I had the idea at a Smut by the Sea convention a couple of years back, and now at long last I'm going to be editing a short story anthology for Sexy Little Pages:  LUST IN THE DUST 💕💖💗

Here's the blurb:

It’s the end of the world as we know it.

Civilisation has fallen. Peace and plenty are ideals barely remembered. Everything we used to rely upon has crumbled away, and pleasure is something few can afford. Every joy has to be fought for. When all the trappings of a civilised life are taken away, all we can hope to truly call our own are our bodies and our hearts. In the ashes, we make alliances where we can, and find solace and humanity in unexpected places. And maybe even a little hope for the future…

I’m looking for tales of post-apocalyptic passion. Obviously this can mean Mad Max-style science fiction but I’m also open to stories with a contemporary, fantasy or historical setting – anywhere where civilisation and the rule of law has crashed and burned for any reason, throwing us all back onto our own resources. The aftermath of a terrible war, a zombie invasion, the claustrophobic confines of a bunker – these are all settings where human stories can be told, and where there is life there is sex! Go on, surprise me — and turn me on, of course.

Full details and submission links can he found on the Sexy Little Pages website. The call is open to all and I will be reading blind, so my choice won't be down to Big Names or who I'm friends with. Note that there are strict formatting rules (like anonymising the document) so PLEASE click through and read them carefully before submitting your manuscript!

The last editing gig I did was for Geek Love - you can read all about my commissioning style here.

The deadline is - rather appropriately - the 11th November. So what are you waiting for? 😍😍😍

Saturday, 30 June 2018

The future of smut


Some of you might remember me way back on social media saying that I hoped to edit an anthology sometime soon. Well, it wasn't "soon" but it IS going to happen - I haz official dates!

I'm delighted to confirm that I'll be editing a new anthology of erotic fiction for Sexy Little Pages, and the call for submissions will go out on the 17th September and close on the 19th November 2018. I can't give away any more details yet, but it's going to be darkish and there will be lots of room for SF and Fantasy elements if that's your writing preference 😍 So writers, be ready!

This is the first volume I'll have edited since the collectors' limited edition Geek Love and I'm looking forward to it SO much! In line with new SLP processes (of which I totally approve), submissions will be read blind, so even if this is your first story you'll be judged on a parity with established authors.


If your typing fingers are already too itchy to sit still, SLP have just launched a call for submissions for the first in this current tranche of anthologies - Rule 34 Vol.2 , edited by Zak Jane Kier.You've time to write for both! Go you!



Monday, 1 February 2016

Blue Monday

Every Monday I post a naughty excerpt for your entertainment!

Today's excerpt is quite frankly as much a surprise to me as it is to any reader. I found out this weekend that my story Grinding was reprinted last year in Wetware: cyberpunk erotica. Don't worry - it was with permission! There was just a wee bug in the communication about publication dates, lol!

Grinding first appeared in the very limited hardcover anthology Geek Love so I'm delighted to see it now available to a wider audience, in such talented author company, and in an anthology with such an illustrious editor.

Late-night gamer Joe has accidentally encountered a succubus - one who in habits the world of a certain MMORPG nothing like WoW, absolutely nothing at all...


“Would you like to fuck me, Joe?”

“Um. I guess.”

That’s good enough. I step right out of the monitor into the mundane world. Instantly I feel the aether tighten, resisting my presence. It wants to reject me because this isn’t my realm. Only Joe’s acquiescence allows me purchase.

Bereft of my touch, he leans forward and stares into the monitor at his lonely avatar. “Damn. Where’ve you gone?”

“Behind you.”

He swivels round abruptly, the casters of his chair squeaking. His jaw sags a little. I’m right there in his room, and he can’t help being a bit freaked out. He can see me, and I look just as I did on-screen.

“Shit. You’re gorgeous.”

I am. Of course I am. I shine with an inner light that nothing in the mundane world has, and what’s more, I’ve dressed up to please him. I’m short and slender and the color of a caramel sweet, just ready to be sucked. My emerald eyes are slanted and the ram’s horns that curl up and out of my forehead are almost buried in my thick dark hair and all the beads and flowers and scarves braided into it. My clothes are flimsy rags of crimson silk, held on by narrow straps that threaten to give way under the strain. They are garments that emphasis just exactly which bits of my body he can’t see—yet.

“Hello Joe,” say I, sauntering over and settling down in a straddle across his lap. He doesn’t know where to look: at my face or my breasts or my spread thighs. I’m just heavy enough to make him believe in me, without being the slightest bit uncomfortable. Of course I can be as heavy as lead, should the need arise.

“Hi,” he says, swallowing. His hands drift to my legs, cautiously, and test the satin of my skin. His fingers slide all the way to my crotch but stop just short of the translucent silk flap that shields my sex. “Wow.”

Smiling, I lift my tiny skirt to reveal a mons as soft and smooth as a bird’s breast, split by a delectable crease. He slides his thumbs in, one from either side, stroking the tender folds and searching out my heat.

“Best. Dream. Ever,” he says faintly.

That makes me giggle. Wriggling my hips to encourage his exploration, I keep my own hands busy by finding the thick ridge of his cock under the denim of his jeans. It’s quite solid already, so I rub the heel of one palm up and down its length. Then I locate his fly zipper and tug it down. His cock is hot and sticky and keen, and with a few twists and a lift of his hips I manage to fetch it out into the open air. It bounces up, ruddy and engorged, hairy about the base. I’m impressed by its size and congratulate myself; I’ve picked a good one here. I can smell the savory sweat of his arousal and it makes my mouth water. “Oh, this is nice,” I whisper, wrapping one small hand about his shaft.

He grins, goofy and unfocused, as I lick my middle finger lavishly and use it to caress the swollen head of his tool. It weeps a drop of pre-cum.

“What’s your pleasure, Joe?”

“Me?” His gaze meets mine and his eyes are full of confusion. His hesitancy is kind of endearing. I’ve known men who’ve stuck their head between my tits by this stage. I’ve known men who push me down between their legs and stuff their cock in my mouth. To be honest, I don’t mind one way or another, so long as they don’t erupt before they’re inside me.

“I’m here for you, Joe. This is your dream. What do you want to do to me?”

He licks his lips. Then his gaze drops to my out-thrust rack and he lifts both hands to cup me. I’ve a small frame but full breasts and big, pert nipples, which swell and harden as his thumbs slide over the sheer cloth.

“Yes,” I urge, not needing to exaggerate my pleasure as he flicks and circles them. My hips writhe and I press into his hands. I can feel my sex juices gather and swell. He makes a small questioning noise in his throat and then pushes my top up altogether to reveal the twin orbs heaving beneath. I am not, strictly speaking, a mammal—but I am sweet to the taste, as he finds out when he stoops over me and fastens his mouth over my left tit.

Oh, that feels good. Oh, that’s just wonderful. The pleasure of suckling him makes me moan low in my throat and writhe against him. I arch my back, losing my grip on his cock as I clasp his head to me, turning him from tit to tit, urging him to suck and lick. My pussy nuzzles against the hard jut of his erection.

That’s not enough for Joe. Without warning he clasps his hands about me and pushes me right up
over him, his lips pulling from my teat and scouring across the flat of my stomach instead.  I plant one bare foot on the arm of his chair as he gets where he wants and buries his mouth in my pussy. Our balance is insanely precarious, and doesn’t last: the computer chair tilts back suddenly, leaving Joe half-recumbent and me practically straddling his shoulders, clinging to the air by my fingertips. It’s a good thing my balance is preternaturally good. And a real woman would be heavy enough to tip the silly office chair over altogether and bring us both crashing down.

I writhe upon his face, kicking out one foot and nearly taking out his monitor, spreading my sex lips, sinking my pussy onto his wildly lashing tongue and withdrawing it again to let him lick and nip and capture me anew. Oh, he’s sweet. I can feel the arousal building in me like a furnace. I’m going to come, soon. On his mouth. While his cock stabs the air behind me.

And that would be very bad, at least for him. If I don’t consume semen as I come … well, I have to eat something.

Wetware is for sale on Amazon US :: Amazon UK

Friday, 6 June 2014

Shanna-nananananana ... Batman!


I had an extra special day in London recently - extra special because I went to meet leximaven and fellow Geek Love editor Shanna Germain, who was on a working trip to England!

It was so fabulous to meet up after all these years we've known each other online, and to sit in a restaurant for a couple of hours with her  and her partner Monte Cook, and chat about everything from smut and gaming to politics and dogs. She is just as smart and friendly and wonderful in real life as she is online, all despite the jet-lag and the rubbishy English weather (Well, she's from Seattle. She's braced for rain).

And as a bonus treat for myself, I made sure to visit the new British Library for the first time.
Newton, by Eduardo Paolozzi

The British Library is the legal repository of every book published in the country. Somewhere in there* are my own novels, heh heh:


But you've probably spotted the pink signs. I went to the Comics Unmasked exhibition, which was a total trip through my own reading past. Everything from wife-beating-newspaper-cartoon Andy Capp (ugh) through Misty comic for girls (my personal gateway drug) to 2000AD and the much-missed Crisis and the thaumaturgic head-fuck of Promethea. Very political and absolutely fascinating. It hosts a lovely section on Sex too ... which has a mysterious indie strip referencing a women's sex-shop called Sh! ... I'm not sure what connection that has with the Sh! I know and love today :-) 


Little extras include one of Dr Dee's original magical grimoires, manuscripts by Crowley, Dave McKean puppets and Dredd's helmet from the recent movie.

If you have any interest in comics, pop culture or art, I totally recommend this exhibition, which runs until 19th August. But won't let you take photos indoors.



*or possibly in their warehouse in Boston Spa, Yorkshire, which is actually a LOT closer to where I live, but not so cool.

Wednesday, 19 March 2014

Call the Midwife

Look at me - I'm like a proud midwife! Look what those babies have done!


No less than three of the stories I was involved with choosing and editing for Geek Love have been accepted for reprint in The Mammoth Book of Best New Erotica 13 - edited by Maxim Jakubowski and out at the end of this year (or possibly the start of 2015).


The authors and stories that so thoroughly deserve this honour are:

Kirsty Logan - The Purpose of Tongues (a Japanese coffeeshop f/f)
Jesse Bullington - Porn Enough at Last  (a post-apocalyptic manga-loving threesome)
Haralambi Markov - Pages and Playthings (dystopian superhero group craziness)

I'm so glad that Geek Love has received some recognition for the frankly awesome writing talent that went into it. Three out of forty-five stories (and it was nearly four, but one author declined) from a single anthology is a very good proportion indeed. Maxim always leans toward the literary in his erotica, and his choices are spot-on.

Go Geeks!!

Wednesday, 15 May 2013

Harry's game

This picture just reminds me of Harry's story: Pages and Playthings
Haralambi Markov has been running a series on his Alternative Typewriter blog about "Women in Genre." In this instance that means the fantastical fiction genre, not erotica, by the way :-)
For Day 28 he chose to feature Shanna Germain and myself (as an "inexplicable dual-mind entity" lol). I'm so chuffed!

(Harry wrote us a story, Pages and Playthings, that I knew I wanted for the Geek Love anthology as soon as I read it - even though I wasn't sure I was smart enough to understand it! A dark and distopian tale of omnisexual superheroes and malevolent books, it's one of those haunting my-head-is-exploding reads.)

So colour me delighted. Thanks Harry!

 Women in Genre, Day 28

Friday, 12 April 2013

My BABY!!


It's here - clocking in at a respectable 1 lb and 14.2 ounces, my bouncing baby hardback copy of Geek Love! How I adore it - from its cute little contents page to its lovely little Kickstarter credits!

And of course I will bore you all with baby pics, as is my right:

What a pretty face!

It's got its daddy's eyes...

And its mommy's, um, mouth ...
It's got its endpapers from Uncle Lee and its pin-up from Auntie Jen
 But I am particularly proud of p102:

And, seriously, it's got my arse...

If you didn't back the Kickstarter, you can of course still buy the e-book
 (PDF version recommended)

Wednesday, 10 April 2013

Eastercon: the photos

So at Easter, I went to ... Eastercon!

It might look sunny, but snow was piled up on the sidewalks.

It's an annual SF/Fantasy convention with an emphasis on books rather than other media, and it's been going since the 1940s. Wow!

The first thing I thought when I arrived was, "Goddamn, I should be wearing a beard."

There were a lot of panel discussions, and  I sat on two of them.
"Editing and Being Edited", in which I tried my best to plug "Geek Love":

Me sitting next to Bella Pagan of Tor books - probably the nearest I'll ever get to a mainstream publisher!

And "Robert E Howard and H P Lovecraft," which - despite the serious faces - was a lot of fun for me because I ranted about the sexuality in their work and everyone else looked a bit nervous:

NB: Sarah Newton is currently writing the "Achtung Cthulhu!" game ... I want!
I also attended a lot of panels, and watched the new season premier of Doctor Who in a hall with 700 rabid fans ...


... and went out for a curry (well, it was Bradford, it would be crime not to) and did a (mostly clean) reading:


And watched a couple of Lovecraft films and signed some books and ate a ton of junk food and TALKED to loads of people, old friends and new ones and total strangers. And I met Paul Cornell at last.

I had lots of fun, and though I'd describe myself as too introverted to cope with this sort of thing for long, I seem - bizarrely enough - to be signed up for two more cons this year - Nine Worlds Geekfest and World Fantasy Con. I'm exhausted already!

Here I am with Adrian Tchaikovsky, author of the Shadows of the Apt fantasy series:

See? I so need a beard...


Adrian and I co-wrote a novella, Reading Between the Lines (NOT erotica: dark fantasy) a while back, and it's about to be published by Pandemonium Press this May.




Isn't this the most beautiful cover by Vincent Sammy!

Pandemonium specialise in high-quality extremely limited edition collectable print runs, so you'd have to sign up to their newsletter to get even a chance of ordering this book. But I think it's sorta cool.

Wednesday, 3 April 2013

Grinding - excerpt


Well, the e-version of Geek Love is now available for purchase, and the hardbacks are on their way to their Kickstarter backers ... so here's an excerpt from my fiction contribution to the anthology: Grinding.

You may spot the subtle WoW references ... and the minotaur ...



Time was, when humans guarded their souls. They’d fence them about with prayer and rabbits’ feet, with four-leafed clovers kept in a pocket or medallions of the saints. In those days it was only when they slept, and their souls wandered away from their bodies, that I could find them and feed.

It’s so much easier now.


These days they just can’t resist sending their souls off—quite unchaperoned—into dreamworlds I could never have anticipated. For me, it’s a banquet. I feed and feed, and though I’m never sated—it’s not in my nature to be sated—I’ve almost forgotten the ravenous hunger of earlier centuries.


Take this man, for example. His avatar is a huge, bull-headed humanoid with broad shoulders and fists like hammers. I can’t help liking that promise of masculine virility, though I know that appearances here rarely correspond to fleshly reality. But what really draws me is the way the soul-light shines so brightly in it. Not everyone gleams like that. He’s inhabited this avatar for years, and invested a great deal of himself in it.


I find him among the luminous fungi of a great marshland, killing giant wasps. It’s late at night and he’s on his own. I only approach mortals when they’re alone … It wouldn’t do to have them colluding. The name tag hovering over his head reads Andrija Rade Dragan Popovic, Technomancer at Large.


“I have what you need,” I tell him.


“Hold on,” he answers. His voice, even through Ventrilo, is pleasantly deep. I like that in a man. He kills one last wasp with a flame spell and then stands still. I feel the cold ping as he tries to click on me with his mouse.


“Who are you?” he asks, curiously. “You’ve got no name. No icon.” He means the identifying texts that hover over every other avatar, the marks that reveal their guild and name and which side they are on in the endless skirmishing. I’m completely anonymous. No one in the game is anonymous.


“I’m Zee. And I have what you need, Andrija Rade Dragan Popovic.”


”You mean—a captive firefly?”


“Hah. No.”


“What, then?”


“This.” I step in to touch the bull-man, running my fingers down his chest and sliding them between his thighs. Avatars weren’t designed with genitals, of course. But that doesn’t stop him from feeling me grip his cock, straight through his soul to his flesh. My touch is like an electric charge, galvanizing his shaft and filling his balls with roiling heat. I hear his gasp over the microphone. And now that I’m in contact with his soul, I can look through it, straight out of his computer monitor. I can see him sitting bolt upright in his chair, his eyes wide with shock. He can feel my hand.




Some of them log out and run at this point. Not many, to be fair.


“Okay,” he says, his voice betraying strain. “This is a dream, right?” He’s tall, in the flesh, with nut-colored hair that sticks out at the front and a square face just starting to soften about the chin. He’s wearing a heavy metal T-shirt, but it’s nice and new and clean. No over-muscled warrior then, but attractive enough.


“Of course it is,” I answer soothingly, stroking his ballsack and feeling it tighten in my hand. I can see a room full of files and books and DVDs behind him. It looks like a domestic study. “Do you like it?” I ask.


“Uh. Yes.”


“Are you alone?”


“Yes. My … Everyone’s gone to bed.”


“What’s your real name, Andrija Rade Dragan Popovic?”


“Joe,” he whispers. His eyes look glazed. I can see him groping at his crotch, but he can’t intercept my hands. He can only feel the effect they’re having, and it’s making him buck and bite his lip.


“Would you like to fuck me, Joe?”


“Um. I guess.”


That’s good enough. I step through his avatar and right out of the monitor into the mundane world. Instantly I feel the aether tighten, resisting my presence. It wants to reject me because this isn’t my realm; only Joe’s acquiescence allows me purchase. I glance around. Everything out here looks flat and dim and unreal to me. I was right about it being a study in a house, and it looks lived-in and comfortably cluttered. There are Lord of the Rings figures on the higher book shelves: his, I guess. There’s a plastic toy tricycle in the middle of the floor: not his.
 

Bereft of my touch, he leans forward and stares into the monitor at his lonely avatar. “Damn. Where’ve you gone?”

“Behind you.”



Buy via Stone Box Press

Saturday, 30 March 2013

Geek Love goes hard!

Just to show you the hardback versions of Geek Love, which have been delivered from the printer, signed, and are about to be posted out.  I am so proud of this beautiful book, and my small part in making it a reality!



This is the Kickstarter version of the book, btw, for our hundreds of wonderful backers. It includes some fancy extra bits like a centrefold and printed endpapers and the Backers' Pages.
An e-version is on sale via Stone Box Press and coming soon to Amazon.
A general (slightly stripped down) hardback version will be available later in the year (we're looking at May at the moment), but we're letting our Kickstarter backers have all the shiny fun first. Because we love them!


.
Shanna Germain looking chuffed to bits, as well she ought!
 And here's an early not-really-a-review from Lisabet Sarai over at Oh Get a Grip

These tales are everything I personally seek in erotic fiction: original, gorgeously crafted, and seriously sexy. Geek Love is more than just a collection of wonderful stories on a theme that resonates, though. The book is a work of visual as well as literary art.

And she's right, too, about it being a labour of love.

UPDATE: When Shanna tried to upload it to Amazon, they rejected it and suspended her account. So it's only going to be available through Stone Box / Drive Thru from now on.

Thursday, 28 March 2013

EightSquaredCon


Tomorrow I'm off to EightSquaredCon (this year's name for Eastercon, which has been running since the 1940s!), the annual British fantasy, sci-fi and speculative fiction convention - which is happily being held in the Grim North of England this year, yay!

There are tickets at the door if you want to come along!

Here's the timetable and the programme description.
It looks really good! There are loads of panels I'm interested in seeing, from"The Magical British Countryside" to "The Changing Portrayal of Gender and Sexuality in SF and Fantasy" to "E Nesbit v. C S Lewis: a FIGHT TO THE DEATH". Ahem.

Of course we will ALL stop on Saturday night to watch the new Doctor Who!


I have four working stints:
  • On Saturday at 10 a.m I'm taking part in the panel on Editing and Being Edited
  • And at 12 Noon I will have a little table in the book signing hall, for an hour of people wondering who the hell I am.
  • On Sunday at 6pm I'm part of the Head to Head: H P Lovecraft and Robert E Howard panel.
  • On Monday at 12 Noon I will be reading from my work, and I'm totally proud to be paired up with Trans activist and founding member of Feminists Against Censorship, Roz Kaveney

I've never been on a convention panel before. I'm never had a formal signing session. Eeeeeeeek! And I'm not sure how they will take to an erotica author. I'm a niche genre within a niche genre ... Hell, I'm niche within erotica - compare to all the 50ShadesofVirginSeducedbyaRichBastardBDSM-alikes out there...

But I'm hugely looking forward to the Lovecraft panel. He's my favourite racist hypochondriac recluse of all time :-)

Anyway, it's a chance to pop my head above the parapet.
And spread the word...


Monday, 4 March 2013

Eyecandy Monday

Censored by Pinterest


Oh boy am I in a big fat angry sulk with myself.

While I was away, I got a web-mail from Pinterest saying that one of my pictures had been taken down because it was Too Rude (and went on to threaten me with having my account closed if I had any more pics like that up):

"We don't allow nudity—photos that show breasts, buttocks or genitalia—on Pinterest."

The picture (Pinterest kindly included a link to my source, which was somewhere on Tumblr) was of a bare bottom. A spectacularly attactive bare bottom, but nothing ruder than a pair of buttocks.

I was going to post that pic here today ... BUT...

I accidentally erased the e-mail. And didn't realise. So I haven't got the source and, it turned out, I hadn't ripped the picture to my hard drive. Big Mistake.

So - 1
I've posted a picture that Shanna Germain had censored by Pinterest from the Geek Love Pinterest account for the same reason (note that it shows no breasts, buttocks or genitalia, but it got censored anyway).

2 - Can anyone find me that pic again? I've become obsessed with its perfection!

  • B&W artsy
  • Female bottom.
  • She's wearing a narrow but complex chain belt, strongly reminiscent of a belly-dancer costume
  • Appeared on Facebook in June last year.

And 3- If you were the person who signed up to follow my Pinterest boards and then was offended by a bottom on a board that I have tried to keep really rather restrained, and decided to report me ... will you PLEASE STOP FOLLOWING MY BOARDS, FUCK OFF AND MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS.


Sunday, 23 December 2012

Pinus* envy

Well, it must be nearly Christmas - after months of work the Geek Love anthology is finished and sent to Kickstarter backers (Whooohooo!), and the tree is up and decorated ...

But I'm sulking because my Christmas tree doesn't look nearly as cool or geeky as these:

OMG a Dalek tree! How sweet and yet threatening!

Books ...what if you need to reference one mid-holiday?


Dead bicycles

Oh WOW!

I want a Godzilla tree :-(



* Xmas trees in the UK are more usually Fir (Abies) or Spruce (Picea) than Pine (Pinus). But I am a pun-whore.

Wednesday, 19 December 2012

The towering ego


My old ego-shelf was overflowing, so Mr Ashbless made me a supersize new one, with room for foreign editions and everything.
Well, I've got to have space for Geek Love!

Don't worry, I'm sure my ego will expand to fill the empty spaces ... ;-)

Wednesday, 12 December 2012

With thanks


This box sent from the States is full of "Thank You" cards which I am to write for our Geek Love kickstarter backers residing in Britain.
That'll take care of the rest of the week, then!

Oh ... I may nip out to the cinema at some point too...

Friday, 7 December 2012

When I was 45 ...


Yes, it's my Birthday Blog Post, in which, every year, I look back with a critical eye on my life and check whether I need a kick in the ass or should just give in and collect my coffin.

When I was 45, for the first time ...



  • I saw geek-god Alan Moore live! And Jonathan Coulton! My nerd apotheosis...
  • I wore a cheap-n-slutty glow-in-the dark minidress to a blacklight party
  • I reported someone on Facebook for abusive language
  • I visited Florence, Barcelona and Ravenna.
  • I saw Mumford and Sons in concert!!!

  • I crawled around an Etruscan necropolis. Two, actually!
  • I went by motorhome all the way from from Italy to England, and right through the Alps in a tunnel.
  • I ate samphire (salty).
  • I swam in a freshwater lake (in Italy).


  • I got my PADI open water scubadiving certification.
  • I saw Mathilda, and Stomp, and Jesus Christ Superstar, all live.
  • I appeared in a national newspaper - the Express.
  • My name was mentioned in The Bookseller, on BBC Online, and ... by the Canadian Broadcasting Company!
  • I backed something on Kickstarter. It still hasn't turned up.
  • I co-edited the fiction for Geek Love, which is just the coolest anthology ever, and the highest-backed fiction project on Kickstarter. I found I rather like editing other people's work, mostly because I am mean.



  • I was headhunted and contracted to write the first volume of The Book of the Watchers for Cleis.
  • I went to Eroticon 2012, which was great but exhausting. Still not sure I can cope with 2 days in 2013!
  • I had 10 short stories published. I'm definitely not going to manage that many next year!
  • I went to a burlesque show.
  • I slept in a yurt (I say slept ...), and watched the stars through the roof hole while possibly not entirely free of the influence of mind-altering substances. My hippy weekend.


  • I went to the London Book Fair and hung out with the editors of Samhain and Ellora's Cave (No, not at the same time. Hell would freeze over first, I suspect).
  • I got my kit off and posed butt-naked for photographs that'll appear in public. In Geek Love, in case you were wondering.
Other firsts ... Heh. Not telling!
So: 45 was the year of sex, drugs and ... folk music.
And geeks.

I'm definitely not dead yet :-)

Sunday, 11 November 2012

No word of a lie



Probably the single most common error in erotic writing, judging by my experience of editing.
;-)

Sunday, 28 October 2012

All is revealed


. . . though not just yet!

This carpet-o'-nerdy-stuff on my kitchen floor is the preparation for the start of a very special photo shoot I did yesterday for the Geek Love book.

It took seven hours.

Results are pending, while the photographer-who-may-not-be named (she has a clause in her day job contract saying she "may not bring the company into disrepute"!!) selects, crops, tints ... and photoshops out that unfortunate insect bite.

I'm . . . not sure if I should be scared. Or proud. Or whether I've just taken leave of my senses.