Tag Archives: Romance

An X-rated Conversation

27 Friday Nov 2015

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I started writing this blog for the escapism. At that point, I’d write shot erotic pieces, always always with some sort of fantastical element because I just can’t write otherwise. One of the things I quickly stumbled across was how boring tab A/slot B could become, both in reading and writing. And when writing becomes boring you’re less likely to want to do it. So here are a few ideas I use for how to keep the excitement in my sex scenes.

1. Change setting

This one’s easy and, as such, is commonly used. People generally engage in a bed, but there are also kitchen tables, couches, closets, on top of dryers and even public settings—whether actually done where people are watching or simply in a place where someone might catch the couple. Don’t rely on this too much simply because club sex and bending someone over the kitchen table is a bit commonplace in fiction now.

2. Change positions/roles/type of sex

Again, another easy and commonly used idea. This can range from hand jobs/bjs/anal/vaginal to missionary/doggy/kamasutra extraordinaire you name it.

3. Have something important, other than sex, occur in the scene

This is one that gets forgotten by a lot of people. Instead of making the scene a continuation of the story as a whole, the story will read as if you’ve pushed the pause button during the plot, dropped in a sex scene and then picked the story back up afterward. Everyone’s guilty of it at some point or another. The trick is to recognize it and make sure to have something other than orgasms as the focal point of the next sex scene. Which leads me to… Continue reading →

Virdaemn Maps

25 Wednesday Nov 2015

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Haunt of The Wilds eBook CoverMore unartistic maps!

These maps are primarily of the one country Haunt of the Wilds takes place within. The name Virdaemn refers to the entire plane/world as a whole so it’s a little misleading. The country itself is called Nabia.

This first map is the one I used while writing the story. As you can see, it’s all kinds of messed up. My “pass” into the Empire above the country goes straight into the water, I misspelled Neit Valley and I’m sort of falling off the left side of the page because I didn’t realize I needed more space.

I do that often, actually, since my artistic ability is nil so I tend to guess horribly wrong when visualizing spacing. You should see when I write people’s names on their birthday cards–like a little kid would do, the last couple of letters tend to get squished in. Continue reading →

Widow’s Prey

24 Tuesday Nov 2015

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Having difficulties with U, so I’m giving you W instead. They sound close enough I figured I could swap them.

I have a humanoid race in Haunt of the Wilds called black widows. They’re not actually spiders…that’d be a little too weird for me to want to write about. But they are people who essentially feed off their sexual partners, simply in a magical way rather than a gory, disgusting way.

This little vignette was supposed to talk about how black widows do their thing, but it never ended up getting too detailed, which is probably a good thing. So it’s mostly an introduction of what they are and how they’re received by most other people.

WIDOW’S PREY

“They’re everywhere, you know? A lot of folks are getting wise to their ways, but even those who know to be careful could fall into a trap. ’Cause them black widows, they’ll do everything in their power to pretend to be something they ain’t.

“My daughter—”

The man choked on his own words, looking for just a moment as if he would start sobbing. Then he swallowed the emotion with a grunt and sudden fury sparked to life in his eyes, echoing next within his voice.

“Those widows, they pretend they’re human, pretend they’re anything. All smooth talking and smiles as if they weren’t the despicable people they are. How do they live with what they do? Huh. There I go assuming they care about something other than themselves.”

“Your daughter,” I prompted tentatively. Continue reading →

Treaty between Houndmasters

23 Monday Nov 2015

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Following the aftermath of the destruction at the Games, leading members of Families and Packs from both the wild and civilized sides met at a hostel along the original treaty boundary. There, they grudgingly set down new territory lines.

Because of the altered terrain that extended slightly both north and south, the strip of land separating wilds and civilized—the Braken—was spread. Houndmaster ancients had already made the neutral territory large, not only so the space would serve to dissuade accidental trespassing, but also so it could be used as a site for annual games, yet now the Braken extended even wider out of necessity.

No houndmaster or dog could possibly cross without full knowledge of what they were doing. Not only that, but because of the dangers now existing upon the Braken, no houndmaster or dog would want to. Both sides were at least in agreement on one thing—the farther away the territory lines and the less likely sides were to encounter one another, the better. The assumption being that any encounter would result in unfettered bloodshed. Continue reading →

Song – Gently Goes the Harborman

22 Sunday Nov 2015

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For S I wrote one of the songs mentioned in Song for the Wilds. Since I can’t actually write songs, what I mean is I wrote the lyrics to a song mentioned in the book. In fact, because I couldn’t even do that without humming so I knew how to treat the rhythm, etc, I used an existing song as a base.

So, if you know the song Byker Hill, you can sort of imagine this song as a darker, slower version with completely different lyrics. Gently Goes the Harborman is supposed to be a dark lullaby, one that Caliebb knows how to play because it’s sung often in his country. Also, leys as in ley lines—using creative license here.

Gently Goes the Harborman

Ripples dodge the keels over
down beyond the broken pier
twice as many men have gone
none the way they all have feared

The ocean wakes, the harbor quakes
to hear the maidens’ tortured souls
tearing out across the waters
wafting in their misty shoals

Dip your oar and blind your eyes
to see the ocean astral leys
catch the wind and shift your heading
to where the misty maidens play

As listless ships arrive in sorrow
grind the anchors through the sand
tell the master the tide is turning
the mist is easing onto land

Dip your oar and blind your eyes
to see the ocean astral leys
catch the wind and shift your heading
to where the misty maidens play

Strip your roots and cut your moorings
breathe the dusk and evenings tide
then step beyond your fading harbor
with fractured moonlight as your guide

Dip your oar and blind your eyes
to see the ocean astral leys
catch the wind and shift your heading
to where the misty maidens play

So habormen, born in shelter
take your bearings, keep them close
never listen to the tales or
the promises of hapless ghosts

For if you hear the water’s lies
and see the ocean astral leys
you’ll be the one to shift your heading
to where the misty maidens play

You’ll gently sail beyond the harbor
to where the misty maidens prey

Haunt of The Wilds eBook CoverSong For The Wilds eBook Cover

Haunt of the Wilds & Song for the Wilds
The Wilds Duology
Both On Pre-order for Only .99c Each

Pack – Excerpt from Haunt of the Wilds

18 Wednesday Nov 2015

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I’ve been doing a daily blogging challenge for the month of November where I post short fiction pieces as teasers for my upcoming release, Haunt of the Wilds. Today, I’ve gotten to P, and since De’vii’s pack is so important to him in the books, I decided to give you a real introduction to his dogs. However, instead of writing new words as I’ve done for most of the letters, below is an actual excerpt taken straight from Haunt of the Wilds. Enjoy!

Haunt of the Wilds Excerpt

Haunt of The Wilds eBook CoverHe’d barely been on watch for an hour, Rid, Wress and Leam all making the rounds in the run-down streets attempting to sniff through the heavy scent of fire and smoke, when the door to the house squeaked open. He didn’t move from where he had propped himself up against the only standing pole that had used to serve as part of the railing. Didn’t need to. A full third of his dogs were facing that direction. And all of them, including De’vii, recognized Caliebb’s scent before he even stepped outside. Mott came running despite the fact she had been circling the nearby rotting buildings with Ens and Wit.

“What are you doing up?” asked De’vii.

Caliebb came to stand next to him, one hand trailing the worn and cracked wood railing. “Wes sort of took over Epsie’s other side and I couldn’t get comfortable.”

De’vii started to straighten, alarm sparking in his body and his mind stretching out to grab a hold of every member of his pack. “Wes is sleeping with Epsie?” Sou was already on his feet and pouncing for the door.

“It’s fine,” said Caliebb. He reached over, looking as if he was about to grab De’vii before he snatched his hand back and shoved it into his pocket. “Mi’saa has a couple of her dogs standing guard over Epsie’s nonexistent virtue. And quite frankly, I don’t think Wes is so bad as to attempt to seduce her when she’s hurting.”

De’vii didn’t share Caliebb’s same optimism over Wes’s character, but he did settle back against the wood, knowing Mi’saa was awake and would be relieving him as soon as she was done caring for her pack. Sou stalled at the door, muzzle swinging toward Caliebb before he flopped down next to Fel on the leaning porch.

“You should be in there too,” said De’vii, turning just enough so he wasn’t completely blocking Caliebb out.

Caliebb tapped the broken railing. “I told you, I couldn’t get comfortable.” Continue reading →

Nebraean Maps

16 Monday Nov 2015

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Song For The Wilds eBook CoverMaps…ha. You probably wish I had some professional artist create something resembling my countries. In fact, after looking at my photos, you’ll probably wish for someone whose handwriting you can read :P

Okay, in all seriousness, I drew the maps solely for myself to get a sense of direction when I was writing these two novels. These ones were more for Song for the Wilds (Book II) since the bulk of that novel takes place in the plane of Nebrae. The scribbles I used for Haunt of the Wilds will be shown on Nov. 25th for V for Virdaemn Maps.

This first map I drew was to give myself an understanding of how big the wilds territory was. I’m awful when it comes to pictures so hopefully these come out okay enough to see. Continue reading →

Mother of Dogs

15 Sunday Nov 2015

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Most of my teasers have been more focused on one of my main characters (De’vii) over the other (Caliebb) and there are a couple of reasons for this.

For starters, there are a few reveals surrounding Caliebb that I don’t want to give away. I do have a couple of posts that focus on him rather than De’vii’s world, but I had to be super careful. I would love to delve further into a few things from Caliebb’s past, but doing so is definitely spoiler territory.

Secondly, De’vii’s world and beliefs feature more in the duology, making him slightly more of the main character than Caliebb though both are POV characters.

And thirdly, quite frankly, the only things I want to write about when it comes to Caliebb, I can’t, which only leaves boring, unfun things. Okay, that’s probably not entirely the truth–I actually came up with a couple of neat things I could have done, but they would have required me to go massively on tangents and I didn’t want to do that. I wanted all my teasers to relate directly back to the story in some fashion. But I can’t do that with Caliebb because then I’ll give things away. Argh. It was frustrating.

It just means you get a lot more teasers slanted more toward De’vii, which is probably not a problem because my beta readers said he was their favorite character out of the two anyway.

And that, of course, in nonsensical logic, brings me to a scene that features neither character. Continue reading →

King Leamain

12 Thursday Nov 2015

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K is for King Leamain, the man given responsibility for first treating with houndmasters and bringing a portion of them north out of the wilds. This bit of history marks why there is a disconnect between the wild and civilized sides of houndmasters–those who refuse to work with other races and those who have come to live among them (mostly) peacefully.

This bit of history is important for a second reason as well, because two of De’vii’s dogs are named after Leamain and his sister Katarita.

KING LEAMAIN

During the Maddened Age, when the giant wurms still claimed a wide swath of territory across the continent of Nithe in Nebrae, natural selection had created races adept at surviving.

Some fought. Others hid.

There were the animas, who could, and would, call upon the drakes to protect them from the wurms. The crakfins, those luminescent people who made their homes in the craggiest of the cliffs and took to the water when the wurms lumbered past. The renpters, who could rip their own skin off and feed the cursed flesh to the wurms and use the wurms’ bodies to build walls of rippling flesh. The batarai, with their long, thin bodies and frail wings that took them to heights the wurms couldn’t reach. Then there were the black widows, eager to steal every talent and ability they stumbled across, giving them a range of advantages.

And, of course, the houndmasters who reigned in the deepest, darkest of the forests and who took great enjoyment out of bringing down the wurms who dared cross into their territory.

The humans who were first thrown into Nebrae through an astral portal did not have thousands of years of genetic disposition to fight the wurms. They brought skills that were different and useful, yes, but without the specific focus that would give them immediate advantage when the wurms attacked. This meant many of the first humans, criminals tossed into Nebrae from their own plane, became wurm fodder. Continue reading →

Job Board at a Doghouse

11 Wednesday Nov 2015

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AS SEEN ON A JOB BOARD IN A DOGHOUSE IN CRAFTON

PEST CONTROL

“Hoppers are overwhelming the farms in the foothills again. Will pay per set of ears. You keep the skins. Multiple farms in need, see back for addresses.”

“A feline has taken up residence outside my fences and is consistantly eating from my herd. Houndmaster and pack can keep skin and will be invited to stay within our house. Dogs welcome.”

PEOPLE
Written underneath are the words:
who can’t help themselves

“Tracker: Looking for a pack to help find a runaway. He is thirteen, human, has been taught fundamentals of masking trails and is potentially suicidal. Full offer on back is for his safe return. Will pay half of offer if you can retrieve his body if he has done the unthinkable. Please hurry.”

“Messenger: Need a runner for between the mines. Younger houndmasters preferred.”

“Tracker: Need help finding a thief. Room has been locked off and untouched so scents are preserved.”

DANGEROUS

“Hunt: A large hellion drake has come south out of Feloc’s Canvas. We are looking for multiple houndmasters to help take it down, preferably those who have worked together before. Amount on back is first offer. Pay can be negotiated.”

“Hunt: Murderer. Skilled swordsman. Has fought houndmasters before. Double pay if he is brought back alive to be executed. Dead works too.”

“Escort: I need to safely get to the Ruins of Matoxi for research. Will be staying approximately twelve days, then needing help returning safely to Crafton. Will pay all travel expenses plus hazard pay. I have a mage on retainer who can help mask us from drakes if activity is spotted. Experienced houndmasters only.”

PHP
(Pack Helping Pack)

“Three houndmaster pups needing a good home. Their dam and sire were killed on a job up near Feloc’s Canvas. Oldest is nine—she has three dogs and is capable of hunting common game. The two younger are six and five. Neither has started on their packs yet, but both are in shape and obviously were well-cared for by their parents.”

“Sick dog needing specialized medical care. Have to go south and need a second houndmaster to help support my pack on the trip. Can pay.”

“Lost pup. Last seen playing near the downtown emporium outside the mage arena. Too many scents made it impossible to track her down. Sketch included. If you have any info on her, please give it to the doghouse owners. She is lost and scared and isn’t communicating effectively within our consciousness. Please do not contact me solely to mock me—I already know I messed up.”

Scrawled across the bottom of the board, some of the words partially hidden by overlapping jobs, was: Contact doghouse owners for more information on any job. Sample contracts available for select jobs.

And hanging below that, written by a left-hander if the slant was any indication, was: We reserve the right to not post requests by those who have abused houndmaster or dog in the past.

This was for J in my A-Z Wilds Duology Challenge. Just a few sample job board offers as an idea of what might be found on one. They are usually posted in doghouses within the cities so they are only part of civilized houndmasters’ lives. This is a teaser for my upcoming novel, Haunt of the Wilds, now on pre-order for .99c.