Life and Writing

Time is apparently a thing with me. I just noticed the other day that it had literally been YEARS since I’d done a blog post. Kinda crazy.

This blog starts with some of what has happened in my personal life, then goes on to the part about writing and Avatar. Feel free to skip ahead, if you want.

So, what have I been doing? Well, I can tell you that much of the time since my last post has been filled with a fair amount of illness. Not cancer, thankfully, but there are other diseases that aren’t cancer that can still reach out and destroy your life a piece at a time. My wife and I are fighting through it and things seem to be getting a bit better. At least they’re to the point where we are both reaching out and trying to emerge from the isolation we’ve been living in.

Work has, of course, been a huge disappointment. I realized recently (I’m apparently a bit slow) that it really has little to do with the actual job. I rather dislike writing software – a lot, at this point. But I could be happy doing it if I could find the right place TO do it.  I’m searching, but it ain’t easy, that’s for sure.

Anyway, for me, Corporate American is not that place. As I’ve learned, once the corporate types come in and take over a company (as they have where I’m working now), they destroy it. Thankfully, where I’m working now still isn’t nearly as bad as the hell hole I spent all those other years in, but it’s still getting there. So I’m looking for a new job this time, although I don’t have any illusions that what ever new place I find will be better. But since in Corporate America, you can’t actually get a raise anymore, if you want more money, you have to change jobs. And I not only want, but kinda need, more money at this point.

I’m trying to find a way to use the software skills I have in a non-corporate environment, but both my physical local and the fact that I need to maintain a high level of benefits, reduces my options rather sharply. Worse, as the years have passed, I, like so many in the middle class, are finding that the rich are destroying us. No matter how hard I seem to work, I fall further behind every year.

Okay enough of that shit — on to writing. I have a ton of crap in my scrap pile at this point and I still work on Avatar on occasion. I’m actively trying to make working on Avatar more than an occasional thing because I really do want to finish book two. Life will sabotage you however, unless you’re really focused, and it’s often quite hard to fight through that. I’m still about ten chapters past where I’ve posted, so that’s something. I’m also trying to think through some decent plots of a couple of other books, like, for instance, another Sex Witch book. I kinda liked that world and have a ton of ideas for it.

This all brings me to Patreon. I was kinda shocked to find that I had a patron. I tweeted about it, and discovered that two more people signed up right after. I immediately wanted to put up something, ANYTHING, so that these folks wouldn’t think I was ignoring them. Thing is, I didn’t want them to feel ripped off so I couldn’t just throw something up there and charge them for it.

I’ve been thinking about how I should do this Patreon thing, and for now, what I think I’m going to do is set up two levels. The first level is just about Avatar support. You pledge a dollar per chapter, and every time I post a chapter, you’re asked to pay your pledge. Now I think it’s important to keep in mind that you can (and should) limit your dollar amount per month. So if somehow I posted like, 20 chapters of Avatar in a month, and you pledged a dollar per chapter, you will only be charged up to your limit for that month (a dollar, two, whatever you decide). So… one dollar per chapter. There’s a link to my Patreon on the sidebar there. Don’t worry if there’s no listing on Patreon about the pledge levels — I’ll go in as soon as I can to set that up. And remember, you are ALWAYS in control of how much you spend.

The people who have already pledged aren’t pledging at a dollar per writing — they’re pledging more than that. I’m kinda shocked and very grateful. For those people I will probably charge when I post an Avatar chapter, but I will also post something else I’m writing that only they’ll be able to see. Perhaps it’ll be a chapter of two of a book I’m thinking of writing. Perhaps I’ll post, chapter by chapter an entire book and it’ll be up on Patreon before I put it up for sale on my regular site. I would love to give these folks (and the ones who pledge a dollar) the Avatar chapter before it goes up in the general public, but that, I think would be unwise considering who some of the characters are. As I’ve noted ad nauseam, Americans are really hypocritical assholes when it comes to sex — even totally fictitious sex. Well, many of them — my fans all rock.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Where the hell did the time go?

(Time stand still)

I’m not looking back
But I want to look around me now
(Time stand still)
See more of the people and the places that surround me now
Freeze this moment a little bit longer
Make each sensation a little bit stronger
Experience slips away
Experience slips away

–Rush

So where the hell did the last year or so go? It breaks my head that it’s been that long since I’ve posted anything to this blog.

The other thing that breaks my head (and that I find amazing and awesome beyond belief!) is that there are still people who are not only following my few posts, but are still reading my stuff — including Avatar — which, from the audience’s point of view, I’ve completely neglected.

I’m here to tell you that’s not exactly true.

So to get this out of the way: I have been working on Avatar, albeit slowly. Part of the issue is that my life changed in ways that make it difficult to find time to write, part of it is that there was a big plot-knot I’m working through (although fortunately I think I’m close) and part of it — sadly — is that writing isn’t the priority it once was.

Don’t get me wrong, I still like to write but I’ve had to shift my focus to other things. Some of that is by necessity and some by choice. Avatar really is something that I want to finish, and I will.

Avatar was supposed to be a piece that I could use to test various writing techniques and learn about writing. One thing I can say I’ve learned is DO NOT POST AS YOU WRITE AS THAT WILL EAT YOUR HEAD! Especially if anyone pays attention to what you’ve written, and let’s face it — if you’re writing, you want people to pay attention to it. Anyway, that path leads to madness. If you fucked up something important in chapter 2, you might not discover it until chapter 30, at which point it’s canon, and if you change it There Will Be People Who Notice!

Hence the plot-knot thing.

Now I’m willing to bet that there are people who saw the letter after this latest chapter number and are thinking, “Fuck, are you serious? I don’t want to read about her! I want the other stuff! The REAL Avatar.” Sorry guys (and gals, if there are any reading this), but I have the chapter timeline laid out the way I do for a reason. And there will be more ‘real’ Avatar chapters coming and soon. Not ‘geological’ soon either, but you know, soon soon.

Okay, so now onto boring stuff that has nothing to do with Avatar or writing and that you can skip if you’re only interested in Avatar.

A few years ago I decided I needed to lose weight and get into better heath. The additional comment by my doctor of “or you’ll probably shorten your life considerably and get a bad disease soon” added weight to that. So I did. Lost a bunch of weight and have kept all about about 5 pounds off. I do that by watching what I eat and by working out 5x a week. Said work out consists of mountain biking and spinning, but mostly roller-blading (which I’ll be doing as soon as I finish writing this).

In order for me to do these awesome things, and not kill myself (literally!), I wear a heart monitor. No, I’m not going to keel over — my average rollerblading speed and distance is over 9mph for 6-8 miles. But still, I need to keep track of the heart rate and make sure I don’t over do.

Where am I going with this? Well… I started using an ap called Cyclemeter. It was a great program and I really liked it. However, when (in a fit of insanity) I went over to an android phone (BIG FUCKING MISTAKE), I needed to switch to another program. The one I chose was Runtastic.

As you might have noticed from a few of my tweets, I’m not amused by their shit.

The program does a good job in a number of ways. It will connect with a heart rate monitor, it will map your route, tell you on a mile basis how far and how fast you went and give you some other useful information.

It will also continually advertise to you, pushing you to buy their gold level (a yearly fee even after you’ve already paid for the base ap!), doesn’t give you a way to export your data (that I’ve found), forces you to their website to get additional stats (which you don’t get anyway unless you pay extra every year. And it ain’t cheap.), and isn’t very configurable on the iPhone. In short, at the end of the year, I’m going back to Cyclemeter, which I hope hasn’t been fucked up in the year that I haven’t been using it.

If you’re going to have an ap, don’t push shit in people’s faces — it just pisses them off. Don’t remove functionality after they’ve bought the fucking thing either (like being unable to get the top speed/mile that you skated and only being able to get the pace — which is fucking useless if you’re skating and not jogging, at least for me). They even took away a voice that I liked — annoying but not critical. And, like most software nowadays, unless you pour money into it (or tweet at their asses) you can forget about support.  Finally, it’d be nice if they’d get off their asses and redo the sound class so it doesn’t hook into the sound for the phone video. Because what happens is if you’ve recently watched a video, whatever you set the sound for in that, is what Runtastic will use.  So if you’ve turned the sound OFF, you have to stop what your doing, go to the video, turn up the sound, and then you’ll get sound back in the ap.

Anyway, other things I’ve been doing to try and get some sanity in my life include going to Cons, making scale models of space ships and slowly learning how to make cosplay props. I won’t go into the reasons why I’m doing those things because it’d be boring, but I mention it so that you’ll understand some of the tweets that I’ve been tweeting.

Oh yeah, and I have been writing, even things other than Avatar. A lot of stuff goes into a scrap pile that, when an idea ignites (like, for instance Sex Witch), I run with. That hasn’t happened since Sex Witch, but honestly I think that’s because every time I sit down to write out an idea, the first thing that comes to mind is why I’m not working on Avatar, which makes me kinda dread sitting down and writing. It’s hard to get past that sometimes, but I’m working on it.

Anyway, that’s it for now. If you’ve read this far, thanks. If you’re still following Avatar, double thanks and if you’ve been buying any of my books quintuple thanks (I skipped a few there, but hey, if you buy my shit I’m really grateful!). I know people have asked if I’ll ever publish Avatar for pay — the answer is no due to the incredibly stupid laws across the world. If you want to contribute to Avatar in that way, you can either give money to StoriesOnLine or drop a couple of bucks into my Patreon.

Pen

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Sex Witch — Chapter 2

I hope those of you who read chapter one liked the book, maybe even enough to go buy it.  But if you want a little more, then here it is, the second free chapter of Sex Witch.  Enjoy!

Chapter 2

Once out of the shower, it didn’t take me long to figure out what to wear. I didn’t have a lot of clothing with me and what I did have was casual clothing chosen to make me look like a teen — one that might not be quite legal. I also had one set of clothing that definitely made me look like a jail bait slut, and one LBD — complete with four and a half inch heels.

I chose the dress and the heels, of course. I also chose a very nice, very sexy, green thong for underneath. If this afternoon had taught me anything, it was that I was probably going to soak right through what little material was there in a short time, but at least it was something that she could order me to take off. Maybe I could figure out a way to let her look up my dress and tease her. It was short enough that I’d be able to flash her, but not so short that it was inevitable that I would when I sat down. There was no bra for the dress as it had (minimal) built in support. If I got excited my nipples would definitely be showing, but I was guessing she’d enjoy that.

The heels weren’t quite slut heels — certainly they weren’t as extreme as some of the club wear I’d seen — but they were most definitely come-fuck-me heels. I didn’t add stockings because I thought she’d like my legs bare. I added a pair of earrings that looked nice, but weren’t particularly expensive and a purse that was a knock off of a Fossil bag. I looked in the mirror and added just a touch of makeup here and there. Glancing at the clock showed it was time to get moving.

Before I did though, I pulled out my iPhone and put in my code to unlock it. While it might look a regular iPhone, it really wasn’t. There were several different codes I could use on the lock screen, one that would let me in, one that would send a panic signal and one that would allow me to use some of the standard looking apps in a decidedly non-standard way. In this case, I used what looked like the messenger app, but when combined with the lock code I used, gave me a way to transmit a secure text to my control. It also left no record of any texts sent or received.

“Heading out to meet. Everything OK.”

All I received back was a period, meaning my check in and status had been received and there were no changes in the plan or other information I might need. I locked the phone and tossed it into my purse, then left to go to Arianne’s room.

Harrah’s in Atlantic City doesn’t actually advertise their high end suites — I guess because most people wouldn’t be able to afford them anyway. I found my way to Arianne’s tower and her suite with no trouble — having memorized its location before I’d even met her — and knocked on the door. She arrived quickly to open it, and I was once again greeted by her dazzling smile and those crystal blue eyes.

My oh my was she gorgeous. Like me, she was in a black dress, but rather than being short, this one flowed around her body, draping almost to the floor and showing every curve she had. One side was slit almost to her waist and the front was enough of a V that I could see she wasn’t wearing a bra. She also wore high-heels, classy, and very sexy. Her hair was pulled back in some kind of complicated braid, and she had on a necklace of black stones that held some kind of pendent. Each ear had a small stone in it, something blue that matched her eyes, and like me, she’d added a touch of makeup. Not that she needed it. My body grew hot as her eyes traveled over what I was wearing.

“You look very nice,” she said, gesturing me into the room.

“I hope it’s not too much for where we’re going,” I said.

“I wouldn’t worry,” she replied. “There are many places to eat here — what would you like for dinner?”

“I have no idea,” I replied. “I was originally planning on heading out to the boardwalk and finding something down there.”

“We could do that — although I think we’re a bit over dressed,” Arianne replied. “However, there are some excellent restaurants right here in the casino. Would you care for Italian? Mexican? Or perhaps surf and turf? They serve an excellent steak.”

“Steak sounds good,” I said.

“Steak it is,” she replied, then walked over to the phone and pressed a button.

“Hello yes,” she said after a second. “Two for the steak house.” There was a pause. “Fifteen minutes. Yes, that’s fine. McCormick. Thank you.” Then she turned to me. “Shall we go?”

“Sure,” I said.

We took the elevator down and headed towards the Steakhouse. On the way there, as we were passing a roulette table, she stopped.

“Would you care to place a bet?” she asked.

“I don’t really do all that much gambling,” I said with a nervous smile.

“How about if I cover your losses,” she said with a smile.

“Uh, sure?” I replied, not really sure where she was going with this.

Then she leaned close and said, “Sit down, then place a twenty dollar bet on a number.”

I had limited cash for the week, but I could spare twenty bucks. And, of course, if I got in dire straits I could always get more money, but I’d have to be in pretty deep shit to break my cover like that. I gave the dealer twenty and took the chip she gave me. I was about to place it on red, but Arianne stopped me.

“Pick a number sweet,” she urged.

Well, it was only twenty bucks, but if she was going to force me to gamble and run out of money, that would be bad. I looked at Arianne, who just smiled and nodded at the table. Without looking away from her, I slid the chip onto the playing area. Arianne’s smile grew and she nodded at the table, directing my attention there. I saw the chip had landed on the number twenty-seven.

The dealer closed the betting, then spun the wheel and dropped the ball. It bounced around quite a bit before settling down, but damned if it didn’t settle right on fucking number twenty-seven. I looked at Arianne in astonishment. Just like that, I’d gone from having twenty dollars to seven-fucking hundred.

“Congratulations!” said the dealer. “Care to place another bet?”

“I, uh… no… uh…”

“Yes, she will,” said Arianne. “Perhaps on a three number bet?”

I shrugged, then pulled the twenty dollar chip to place it on a three number slot. Arianne rolled her eyes and removed that chip and replacing it with two, one-hundred dollar chips — the table max. Once again the wheel was spun, the ball was dropped and, once again, I was a winner — this time of twenty-two hundred dollars. In two spins I’d gone from twenty dollars to twenty-nine hundred.

“Fantastic!” smiled Arianne. “Now we can go eat.”

“Cash out miss?” asked the dealer.

“Uh, yeah, sure,” I said, unconsciously passing a hundred dollar chip to the dealer. We picked up the rest and headed to the cashier where I took the money in cash. It was good walking around money and I sure as hell wasn’t going to turn it down.

We slowly strolled hand in hand to the restaurant, giggling and laughing. I tried to believe that what had happened was just luck, but I knew it hadn’t been. Arianne had done something. Still, I put it out of my head because the Corrine I was playing at the moment would have no reason to believe it was anything but luck.

“Well,” I said with a big smile as we got to The Steakhouse, “I guess dinner’s on me?”

Arianne waved her hand.

“No,” she said. “I was the one who invited you, remember? Instead, perhaps you’ll consider extending your stay.”

“Maybe I will at that,” I said, leaning towards her. She showed no hesitation at all when she leaned down and kissed me. And it was clear to anyone watching that it was a lover’s kiss. Funny, I didn’t care who saw it either.

There were a few people waiting, but as soon as Arianne gave her name we were whisked away to a very private table with a nice view. Usually I sit so that I can keep an eye on the room, but Arianne had me sit in the chair facing the window with the view outside. She sat to my left but the table was small enough that she could easily reach me. We were given the Chef’s Specials and menus, then left alone.

“So it seems you are a lucky gambler,” she said after we’d chosen what to eat.

“I don’t really gamble,” I said, “so I wouldn’t know.”

Of course, I did know how to gamble. I knew the rules and the odds for all the games and I knew how to act at the tables. She didn’t need to know that though.

“Really,” she said, raising one eyebrow. “So you’ve never played at roulette?”

“Gods no,” I said. “That was a first.”

“I see,” she said, her smile just a little sly. Like she somehow knew I was lying. I thought back and wondered if I’d done something that showed I was more comfortable at the tables than a first timer. Then I remembered the tip, and mentally cursed.

Had that raised her suspicions? Maybe. But to know for sure, she’d have to be able to read my mind, and if she could do that well, this entire mission was an exercise in futility and I might as well go home now. Well, after dinner. And, hopefully, more sex. I was still worked up.

We continued to make small talk as we ate and she made sure to touch me often. Each touch, even if it was only my wrist, sent a pulse of lust through me, and I hadn’t even gotten through the main course before I had to put down my fork so I could control myself. I was already sopping wet, and soon I’d need to get to the restroom to clean up — otherwise anyone with a nose would be able to smell how aroused I was.

“Are you okay?” she asked with a knowing smile.

I looked at her, somewhat unsteadily.

“You know I’m not,” I said in a low voice. “You’re driving me crazy.”

“Really?” she said, in mock surprise.

“Yes, really,” I said, smiling and a little embarrassed.

“Does this disturb you?” she asked. “I can stop.”

I had the feeling that she would, too, if I asked. But I could tell she didn’t want to. This was a subtle sort of domination and she was really enjoying it. So was I, damn it.

“You don’t have to,” I said, looking down at my plate.

“Careful sweet,” she said. “If you let me continue like this there’s no telling what I might do to you tonight.”

That thought made my insides completely melt. I didn’t know what she would do to me either, and that was exciting.

“It’s okay,” I replied, taking a gulp of the very good wine.

“You must be sure,” she said. “I don’t want to scare you away.”

“You won’t.”

She leaned close.

“Promise that you will obey me tonight, and I promise to give you the most intense pleasure you’ve ever felt,” she whispered, leaning close. “But you must obey me. Do you understand?”

I nodded.

“Tell me,” she said. “Say you will obey me.”

“I,” I swallowed, “I’ll obey you.”

“Good girl,” she smiled. “Now I do not expect a robot. I understand you’ll want to tug on your leash a bit. Understand if you do, I might… punish you.” She smiled. “Just a bit.”

I blinked and a vision of me kneeling on the bed and her slapping my ass was so intense my pussy clenched. I opened my eyes only to watch her hand grasp my breast and roll my nipple, crushing it even harder than she had at the pool. I gave a choked gasp and froze. The pain was intense, but so was the lust it inspired. Funny, I was okay with rough, even very rough sex, but I’d never thought of myself as a masochist. Was I?

“I understand,” I said once I could breathe again.

Sweat dotted my spine and I felt damp under my arms. Arianne leaned close and inhaled.

“Mmm, you smell so good,” she said. “Are you wearing perfume?”

“Uh, no, just um, deodorant,” I said.

And it clearly wasn’t working very well, since I could smell not only my arousal, but a bit of sweat too. Nothing gross, fortunately, but if she didn’t like it, I’d have to run upstairs and clean up. Not shaving under my arms had changed my scent and I wasn’t used to it.

Arianne moved her lips until they just brushed my ear and whispered. “You smell like sex. I like that very much.”

She sat back in her chair and picked up her wine glass. I could swear her eyes were glowing. Not like bright beacons or anything, but a warm, subtle kind of glow. Not knowing what else to do, I picked up my fork and ate some more steak. As horny as I was, I was also still starving, which was odd since we’d had a big lunch and I don’t usually eat that much.

We continued with dinner, and Arianne continued to drive me bat shit crazy. After the main course had been cleared away, she had coffee brought for us, and one piece of something sinfully chocolate. She insisted on feeding it to me, slowly cutting small pieces with a fork and holding it out for me to take with my mouth. I had to reach for each bite, and I know there were people watching us. If that wasn’t bad enough, she put her hand up under my dress, on my sweat-damp thigh and slid it up to my soaking pussy. Her fingers eased under my thong and coated themselves with my essence as she fiddled with my ring and rubbed my clit. I was still required to lean forward to take bites off the fork while she did that.

She fed herself too, and after she’d turned me into a quivering mass, she pulled her hand out from under my dress. Her fingers were coated with my clear discharge and I actually moaned as she slid one finger around her lips, then pushed it between them, sucking it clean. The finger was quickly followed by a forkful of cake.

“Oh, now that is very good,” she said. “You taste divine. Later, I will taste you right from the source.”

I gripped the table, trying hard not to orgasm. How the hell was she doing this to me? Yes, I’m a bit of a slut — maybe more than a bit, and I’m not ashamed of it in the least. But if she kept going like this, I might get to the point where I couldn’t resist her. A thread of fear trickled through me. Was she using magic to do this? Oh fuck, oh fuck! Why hadn’t I thought of that earlier?

What we knew about magic was only from second hand accounts and the videos we had. That was the whole reason I was here; to try and get close to one of these people and get some solid intel. Was she using magic to arouse me? It was possible. I knew she had used it at least once tonight, because there was no way I’d just happened to win two spins back to back at the roulette table.

And what would I do if she was using magic on me? It wasn’t like I could stop her. Besides, I had a mission to complete, so I couldn’t just walk away. Well, I could, but I was determined not to fail. I guess I just had to hope that I wouldn’t do something to make her suspicious. It wouldn’t do to have her start asking me awkward questions if I couldn’t resist her. Because if she was using magic to make me feel like this — and she had to be — who knew how much more control she could gain over me? Damn, this mission was more dangerous than any of us had thought.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“Uh, sure,” I said, trying to smile. Why did the fear have to excite me on top of everything else?

“You looked like you might have just cum,” she said, with a smile. “At least, I would think that if I hadn’t seen it at the pool today.”

Fortunately, it was dark enough that she couldn’t see the deep red I know I was turning.

“You know that you’re not allowed to cum, yes?” she said. “Not without permission.”

I swallowed and nodded. Shit, that just made me want it more.

We finished dessert and Arianne let me calm down a bit before we got up to leave.

“I should probably visit the restroom,” I said, as we stood up.

“Hmm,” she said. Then, to my shock, “Why?”

“What?” I asked.

“Why do you need the restroom?”

“I uh, should probably clean up a little,” I stammered.

Arianne tilted her head as she looked at me.

“No,” she said. “I would prefer you didn’t. I like how you smell and I like how you taste. Now come, it’s time to go upstairs.”

I stared at her in astonishment. Had she really just forbid me to use the bathroom? She took my hand, pulling me close and running her other hand down my side.

“Yes,” she said. “I rather like you like this. Come, it’s time to go.”

I was in a bit of a daze as I followed her to the high rollers area. Apparently they knew her well enough that they didn’t even bother asking for ID as we breezed past. I knew I should be focusing on the mission and not losing myself to this woman, but I couldn’t seem to focus on anything except how aroused I was. This was so not professional.

We stopped at the open bar and she got some Scotch. I took a glass of wine, but I didn’t plan to drink it — my head was fucked up enough already. As we walked away towards the tables, she pulled me to the side.

“Unless I give you a signal, don’t bet more than a hundred dollars over the minimum bet,” she said. “You’ll still lose some of the big ones, but I feel lucky tonight, so you’ll probably walk away a winner. And even if you don’t, I’ll cover you for the three thousand you’re starting with.”

“You don’t have to do that,” I said. “I don’t need to bet.”

“But it’ll be more fun if you do,” she replied, her eyes sparkling. “Do you know how to play craps?”

“Not really, no,” I said.

She gave me a quick overview — which I didn’t actually need — then we headed to the table.

There a fair number of people up here, but the area was laid out well enough that it didn’t seem crowded. I didn’t even notice the ever-pervasive smell of cigarette smoke — something that you couldn’t seem to get away from in the other portions of the casino. In fact, now that I thought about it, I hadn’t smelled it downstairs either, at least when I was with Arianne. That was odd.

Once we got to the table, Arianne handed the dealer her card. I didn’t have one, of course.

“My usual and three thousand for my friend,” she said.

The dealer quickly gave us chips, mine with two five hundred chips and the rest in hundreds. Unlike downstairs where the max bet had been two hundred, here that was the minimum bet. Sheesh. Well, easy come, easy go.

We waited until the shooter crapped out and the table was cleared, then we placed our bets. I put down the minimum, of course. Arianne dropped a thousand dollar chip down on the pass line and another on the field. The game was on.

I have to admit it was exciting. Arianne had told me to bet when and where she did, and I mostly followed that advice. We did lose a bit, but we won more. In an hour, I was up ten thousand dollars and I have no idea how much Arianne was up. She decided to take a break and we left the table, milling around until we came to a roulette table. Arianne tossed a thousand dollar chip down on a single number, and lost. She shrugged it off and we kept moving while I struggled with the idea that she’d just thrown away a thousand dollars.

All of the games you could play downstairs, you could play up here, although I didn’t see any slot machines. I guess they were in a different area. I was somewhat surprised that Arianne didn’t seem interested in poker or black-jack, but she avoided those for some reason. About forty-five minutes passed before we circled back to the craps table. I should mention that Arianne’s hands had not been idle all this time. She kept playing with my body, pushing my arousal up and down at her whim. I was sweating under my dress and hoped I didn’t look too much like I’d just been fucked. Because I hadn’t been, but damn I was unbelievably horny.

We had only been back at the craps table for a few minutes, when I felt Arianne stiffened next to me. I glanced up, wondering what the problem was, but saw nothing that caught my attention. Before I could ask her what was wrong though, a hand slid around my waist, then moved up to almost cup my breast — and it wasn’t hers.

“Well, well, what have we here?” came a man’s voice.

My first instinct involved dropping him, but thankfully I didn’t listen to it.

“Hands off, Bob,” came Arianne’s voice. It was soft, but so full of menace I was immediately alarmed.

“Aw, did you come up here with this pretty little thing?” he said, pulling me into him.

Okay, that was it. I grabbed his hand, getting a grip on his thumb, twisting it and turning my body as I pulled out of his embrace.

“Ouch!” he said, letting go. “Damn, you got a feisty one this time!”

Bob was tall. About six-four, and well built. He was wearing a cowboy hat, tight jeans, a dress cowboy shirt and boots. He wasn’t really a bad looking guy, but there did seem to be something a little off about him. He had a smile on his face as he looked down at me, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes.

“What’s your name, darlin’?” he asked.

I didn’t know exactly what to say. Clearly he and Arianne had some problem between them, but my briefing didn’t include it. Perhaps it was something that had recently developed. Hell, I’d just met him, and I didn’t like him.

“I thought you didn’t like craps,” cut in Arianne. “Not enough skill required, you said. Are you here to lose more money?”

“Aw now don’t be like that,” he said, still keeping his eyes on me. I felt more than a little exposed, and I wasn’t happy about it. “I’m just tryin’ ta be friendly, is all.”

Arianne took hold of my arm and pulled me to her.

“I’d settle for you just being polite,” she said. “Preferably at different table.”

“Hey, it’s a free country,” he said. “I think I might just play here a bit.”

I had the feeling that wouldn’t work out well for him, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to say anything.

“It’s your money to lose,” Arianne said with a shrug. I walked over to her other side using her body as a barrier. I’m sure it looked cowardly, but I didn’t want to be the cause of a scene, and I just knew this asshole would cause one if I was in reach. Plus, I didn’t know what I’d do if he put his hands on me again.

It turned out that playing at our table was a costly mistake for Bob. He dropped about fifty k in a half hour, and he didn’t look happy about it. Arianne bet against him every time, and she never bet wrong. By the time he walked away, she was up a good sixty or so thousand and even I had added another twelve thousand to my stake. The amount of money floating around was unnerving, to say the least.

When Bob finally had enough, he turned to Arianne.

“When you want to play a game with a little skill, come find me,” he said with a sneer.

She smiled sweetly at him and watched as he walked off.

“Be careful of him,” she said. “He can be quite vindictive.”

“I bet,” I said.

“Come,” she said, taking my arm. “Let’s sit for a while and have a snack. There’s no need to let Bob ruin our night.”

We ordered some food from one of the waitresses who never seemed to be far from the players. I guess with people dropping that much money, the casino wanted to make sure they got good service. Although I hadn’t realized it until Arianne said something, I was really hungry. I didn’t know why because I’d had a big dinner, but whatever. She still insisted on buying, so I got some cheese fries. Yeah, I know, low class. Whatever. They tasted good.

The teasing started again while we waited for the food, and I was panting and needy by the time our waitress returned with it. Arianne insisted on feeding me the fries — one at a time — while whispering very nasty suggestions to me. I was kind of a mess by the time the fries were gone, and I had to pee very badly.

“Why don’t we both go?” said Arianne, when — my face beet red — I asked if I could use the bathroom.

So off we went to the lady’s room.

I don’t think I’ve ever been in a restroom quite that nice. They didn’t have someone handing out moist towels, but there were couches and makeup stations, in addition to the usual. Before I could head to the toilet though, Arianne stopped me.

“What?” I asked.

She just smiled and pressed me back against the hard marble of the sink top.

“I think I want to taste you now,” she said.

Fire rushed through my veins and I swear I could actually feel my clit throbbing in time with my heartbeat.

“Someone might see us,” I protested, although I didn’t bother to try and squirm away. If this was what she wanted, I had every intention of giving it to her. My mission was to get close and stay close. If she wanted a toy to play with, I’d be the toy. At least, that’s what I told myself. I wasn’t about to examine my motivations any closer than that.

“They might indeed,” she replied, her expression telling me she didn’t care.

Crap.

Before I could say anything else, she was kissing me, and I was pushed to the razor’s edge of an orgasm. She broke the kiss just long enough to tell me I wasn’t allowed to cum yet, then returned to it while adding her hands to my breasts. She was rough, very rough, kneading them, and squeezing and pulling my nipples, but I was off in Neverland or something and even the pain felt good. Or maybe it made the pleasure feel especially good. I’m not sure — thinking wasn’t my strong point right then.

She helped me up onto the countertop — and when I say helped, what I mean is she just lifted me up and put me there — and then pulled up my dress and adjusted my position so I was right at the edge of the counter. She squatted to get between my legs, then moved my thong out of the way. I was briefly worried that I was too wet or smelled too strong because well, I could smell my arousal, but she just gave a satisfied purr, pushed the crotch of my thong out of the way and slid her tongue across my bald pussy.

 

I stopped breathing. I stopped thinking. Hell, time stopped, as I exploded into an incredibly intense orgasm. It lasted forever, although with time not moving, I had no idea how long forever was. The next thing I knew, I was leaning my sweaty forehead against her shoulder trying to get enough oxygen in my system to stay conscious.

“You taste delicious,” were the first words I heard. “I will eat you for a long, long time when we are finished here tonight.”

Oh crap. Crap, crap crap. She must have only had her tongue in my pussy for like, five seconds, and I’d had a nuclear level orgasm. I had no idea if I could survive anything longer. She must have known what I was thinking though, because she pulled back and kissed me again. I could smell and taste myself on her lips, which, of course, shot my arousal through the roof again.

“But you came without permission,” she purred.

“I’m sorry,” I said.

“I will punish you for that.”

My pussy clenched. I wanted it. I wanted her to punish me. Hell, I wanted her to do whatever she wanted to do with me.

“Okay,” I said.

“Now,” she said, helping me off the counter, “if you still need the toilet, I suggest you go and quickly. I want to play a little longer before we go back to my room.”

I tottered off to the stall, and sat down to release my bladder, still in a daze. Holy shit. If that was just a minute in the bathroom, there was no way I’d survive an hour, never mind an evening, with her.

“Meet me at the bar when you’re finished,” she said after a moment. “Don’t play with yourself.”

With that she was gone. I finished peeing, then left the stall and put some water on my face to cool off and try and regain some control. What the hell was going on here? Was she using magic on me? She had to be. Crap. Maybe I was in too deep.

I suppose I should have been paying more attention when I exited the bathroom, but I was still flustered by what Arianne had done to me, and was focused on the promise of more pleasure to come. So I almost walked into someone when I exited, and by the time I realized who it was, it was too late.

“Well hello there, li’l darlin’.”

 

Posted in BDSM, Stories | 4 Comments

Chapter 1 of Sex Witch

I said that I would post the first two chapters of my new book here, for your viewing pleasure.  Well, here is Chapter One of Sex Witch.  I hope you enjoy it!

Chapter 1

I watched her from the hot tub where I was sitting. The cabana she’d rented was right across from it and well, she wasn’t exactly easy to miss. It was obvious to me she knew people were watching her and she liked it.

I’d seen pictures and video of her, but she was even more beautiful in person — her body nicely displayed in a white bikini that left little to the imagination. She wasn’t particularly big breasted, but I rather doubt anyone looking at her was complaining. Certainly I wasn’t.

She was tall — but most people are compared to my own five foot three; well-muscled, but sleek, like a cat, with dark hair that fell almost to her waist and crystal blue eyes that I couldn’t wait to look directly in to.

She had tattoos, as well. One was a colorful dragon done in mainly in black, red and gold, crawling up her right leg with its head peeking just above her slim waist and its tail wrapped like a band around her ankle. It was incredibly detailed and the colors were far more brilliant than any tattoo had a right to be. Her left bicep had a line of what looked like Celtic knot work around it, and on the right side of her neck was a symbol that looked like a tribal symbol. Oddly, when I didn’t focus on it I could swear it looked like it should be something else. I knew from her bio she had a few more tattoos here and there, but her current position hid them from me, because the bikini sure as hell couldn’t.

She didn’t know me yet — but I was sure I’d get her attention eventually. After all, that was why I’d been chosen.

Soon, I hoped, she’d come into the tub and I could strike up a conversation. I would do my best to seduce her, and from what we knew of her interests, I should have a decent chance.

As I mentioned, I’m short — only five three. Like my target, I also have a lean build, and am lot stronger than I look. I’m very slim, so my just about B-breasts look a little bigger than they are. I have short red hair, styled in a pixie cut to make me look much, much younger than my twenty-five years, and rather large green eyes. I know I’m pretty, and I know I’m her type.

I don’t have any tattoos, but I have five earrings in my right ear, and three in my left. I also have a very small septum ring and both my nipples are pierced. Our data said she went for that kind of thing, and while I wasn’t happy that my nipples and, um, my pussy, had been pierced, at least I hadn’t needed to get any tats. I like them, but in my line of work that kind of identifying mark is a no-no. The piercings I could remove when this was all over — tats would be a lot more problematic.

And so I waited — trying not to watch her — as she lounged in the warm heat of the dome.

Harrah’s, the Atlantic City casino we were in, has a huge, fantastic pool area situated under a large glass dome. There are palm trees, a bunch of hot tubs and a large pool in the middle of it all. Arianne, my target, had rented what they call a cabana — which was really just a slightly private area with a couple of waterproof couches, a low table and a small fridge. There were curtains that one could pull back for some privacy, but it wouldn’t be all that private.

As places go to try and pick someone up, the casino wasn’t bad at all. If things didn’t work out here at the pool, it was likely she’d be at the club tonight and would pick someone up there. That someone would be me — I hoped. But it would be better if it didn’t get that far. Much better if she approached me. As I said, we knew I was her type.

And who, you might wonder, is ‘we’? Well, let’s just say we’re a government agency and let it go at that. We’re not real official because quite frankly, if the tax payers found out what we were created to investigate, there might be a bit of a problem. You see our area of investigation isn’t one most people believe exists, outside of a few new agers and some teenage D&D groups. But not believing in something doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist and certain people had come across proof, or enough proof, to bring it to certain other people’s attention. Thus, our agency was born.

The agency has been around for about ten years, and in the past few, they’d sent other agents to attempt what I was trying to do. They’d all failed, but being new and out to prove myself, I was sure I wouldn’t.

So who was I trying to get close to? Who was I trying to investigate? Simple: A Mage.

Yes, you heard right, a Mage.

Now the government would never officially admit that magic exists, and I’m sure that there have been officials who knew about these Mages for quite a while. But it had apparently taken some before someone with enough clout was able get our agency set up and running so they could be more formally investigated. Presumably, the mages have been around a long time, but up until about fifteen years ago, they’d hidden their tracks very well  No one knew for sure why they were starting to get sloppy, but the working theory was that they weren’t – there was just a hell of a lot more surveillance going on. But someone upstairs — way upstairs — decided that there were Mages, and we were going to find out what they were up to. Which is where I come in.

I was recruited as an agent after my first year of college. I’m quick with languages and my interest in martial arts has been lifelong. I’m also pretty smart, and electronics and hacking around computers comes easily to me. My dad was a Marine who died in battle, and my mother was, and still is, in the Air Force. She isn’t in the field though, she’s a rather high level intelligence analyst. I guess I get my interests and skills from both of them, although truth be told, my mother doesn’t think much of me putting myself in harm’s way.

So anyway, I was recruited, provided with extensive training in various disciplines, and now I was out on my first solo mission.

Usually a law enforcement agency has to play by various rules. You know, like the Constitution, state and federal laws. Our agency pretty much just gives a nod to those types of laws because the people we’re investigating have been — covertly — classified as non-US citizens on US soil. I’m not real sure how I feel about that, but I will admit we need to know more about them. Anyway, as a result, we play more by CIA rules, just on American soil. We’re not quite so strict about little things like seducing and sleeping with someone to get information from them. Or to forming a slightly deeper attachment to someone so we can infiltrate their organization — which is why I was sitting in a hot tub in an Atlantic City casino.

They’d have sent a man, but my target — Arianne — didn’t appear to be interested in men. And I looked very much like the kind of girls our intel indicated she tended to pick up – young, into sex and more than a bit kinky. I’m personally fine with men, but I like women too, so I was given the assignment. And unless her kinks were way out there, I’d probably be able to handle, and maybe even enjoy them. There are some perks to the job, after all.

The water shifted, and I opened my eyes, not bothering to hide my admiration of Arianne’s body as she slid into the water. She was checking me out as well, no doubt noting the pierced nipples that were slightly visible through my top and the fact that I was unshaved under my arms. Our info on Arianne was unusually complete, and they’d noted she liked that look. Me, I could take it or leave it, but it didn’t gross me out and I don’t have a lot of hair there anyway. And at least she wasn’t into hair anywhere else — I really wouldn’t enjoyed running around with hairy legs. It was a bit odd being completely bare below the waist, but I’d quickly gotten used to it. After all there’s no use having a piercing down there if it’s hard to see, and I thought that I might even keep the hairless look once this was over.

I returned to leaning my head back against the edge of the tub with my eyes closed and my arms out to either side. The position made me arch my back just a bit, displaying my slim body and I could feel her eyes on me. The thing about seducing someone is that you need to let them know you’re into it, and depending on how perceptive the person was, just acting might not be enough. Fortunately, I wasn’t acting. Even if this hadn’t been an assignment, I would have been happy to hook up with her. Sex and I are very well acquainted with each other and had been for a long time.

It was a slow dance, and one that I enjoyed, but eventually we exchanged names and began to talk. I gave her my cover name, Corrine Baker, which was unusually close to my actual name of Corrine Banning. Evidently the agency didn’t want to further confuse the new agent by completely changing her name. Whatever — I was fine with it. As we talked, I realized that one thing the briefing hadn’t covered was how extremely powerful her personality was. It was easy to let her draw me in because it wasn’t long before I found I wanted her to, assignment or not.

Eventually I had to get out of the tub or turn into a prune. She also got out and damned if the suit she was wearing didn’t display that perfect body of hers even better now that it was wet. We knew she had some sort of hand to hand training, but from looking at her it was simple to tell there was no way she was just a casual practitioner. Her body was just too toned and she moved too well. If something bad happened, I’d have to be very, very careful if I needed to take her down.

“Would you like to join me in the cabana?” she asked.

“You wouldn’t mind?”

She flashed me a grin that said there were a lot of things she wouldn’t mind, and my return smile agreed.

“Sure,” I said. I looked around as we sat. “These are kinda nice.”

“They’re not too bad. The food isn’t bad either, although it’s quite overpriced.”

Everything here is overpriced,” I agreed. “But I needed to get out of the house for a week, and mom was willing to pay, at least for the room and some food.”

“You and your mother don’t get along?”

“Well, let’s say she’s not exactly happy about some of my lifestyle choices,” I said with a wry grin.

In point of fact, that wasn’t even close to the truth. I’m bi and my mother’s known that since she caught me and my best girlfriend in a very compromising position when I was twelve. And an even more compromising position with the same girl and an older boy a few months later. Other than keeping an open dialog with me about sex to make sure I was being safe, she never gave me any trouble about it. I think she might have even told my dad, but he would probably have been too embarrassed to discuss it with me. Other than the occasional look given to boys he thought might treat me badly, he and I never talked about sex. Lots of other things, like guns and computers and my next belt test, but not sex. He didn’t treat me like a boy or anything, and I never felt the lack.

“Parents can be difficult.”

“What about you?” I asked. “You just hanging around down here?”

“For a while,” she replied. “You hungry?”

I did my best to look a little embarrassed, like I didn’t really have the money to go splurging on expensive food. And compared to her, I didn’t. Arianne was, as far as we could determine, worth quite a few million.

“Na, I’m good,” I said.

“Well, I’m going to order something,” she said. “Go ahead and pick what you want. My treat. The tables have been kind to me so far.”

That was an understatement. Arianne was a high roller, and rarely came down on the losing side of a bet. Oddly, the casinos hadn’t caught on, but maybe that was because she wasn’t greedy. There were nights when she lost big, but overall, she walked away with more than she lost by a good margin. She was currently staying in one of the few high end suites here, and had spent most of last night playing high dollar craps and two hundred dollar a spin roulette. She’d ended up walking away with more than twenty thousand dollars between the two — a small take for her.

So we both picked out some food and ordered daiquiris, although our very cute waitress looked at me a little sideways. You had to be twenty-one to get in here — which was what the fake ID confirmed. The ‘real’ ID I had for the mission put my age at just over eighteen, but I look a lot younger than that. Once the food arrived and we’d both downed our second daiquiri the real flirting began. Honestly after about a half hour, I just wanted to tell her I was a sure thing. Not because I wanted to get it over with, but because she had me so hot I was about to climb the walls. I have a very high sex drive, but it was usually better controlled than this.

“So how long are you going to be here?” she asked.

“Mom’s fronting me until Friday morning,” I said. “Then the rooms get expensive. You?”

“Not sure yet,” she shrugged. “Probably through the weekend though.”

We were sitting at opposite ends of the same bench, me with one knee bent and leaning against the cushion and the other on the floor. My legs weren’t wide open, but as thin as my suit was, I’m sure she could see the outline of my pussy pretty well. The green bikini I was wearing had mostly dried, but I knew the crotch was damp and she’d probably be able to see that. She’d almost certainly be able to see the bump created by the ring of my triangle piercing. They’d done a good job with that and I thought that I might want to actually keep that one when this was over. It provided some very interesting sensations to my clit.

We decided to get back into the hot tub and this time we sat right next to each other while we continued to talk about, well, nothing really. She turned and looked at me and I felt her hand on my thigh, just one nail stroking my skin. I shivered and shifted a bit, doing what I could to give her access to me. She smiled and took the invitation, sliding that finger up the inside of my thigh and almost brushing my pussy. Her touch felt like fire, even in the hot water of tub. I gave a brief thought about the fact that other people could come and join us in the tub and how that might make things awkward. The pool area was pretty crowded today, so there was every chance someone would want to use the tub, and I briefly wondered why that hadn’t already happened. Two very attractive women in a hot tub, and not one other person had joined us? That was passingly odd, especially since no one had rented this tub for exclusive use. Then her fingers reached the cloth of my very small bikini bottom and she looked in my eyes.

I almost came right then and there. The amount of lust I could see in her expression was easily a match for what roared through my body. The crystal blue of her eyes almost glowed as she continued to very lightly run a fingernail over my cloth-covered pussy lips. I stopped worrying about anyone else seeing us and just tried to press against her hand. She smiled though, a wicked smile, and drew back, only pressing harder when I gave up and let her control how much stimulation I received.

Soon I couldn’t seem to get enough air, and my nipples felt thick and bloated. Her smile changed just a bit. She owned me, right then and there, and we both knew it.

“Would you like to cum?” she asked conversationally.

I couldn’t talk, but I eagerly nodded.

She pressed just a bit harder, bringing me right there to the edge before backing off again.

“Please,” I begged, finding my voice. “Please?”

Okay yes, I was supposed to seduce this woman, but how the fuck had she taken such complete control in such a short time? Shit.

“Take off your bottoms,” she said.

“But there are people…”

“Are you sure you want to cum?” she asked with an evil smile.

Shit. Shit!

I reached down and began sliding them off.

“Ooo, you’re so eager,” she said, and I stopped. “Do you always take direction this well?”

Well, yes, as a matter of fact I did. I wouldn’t consider myself a submissive, but I liked to please. I’d never done the BDSM scene, although I had had one boyfriend tie me up a few times. It had been kind of embarrassing how much that’d turned me on — not that I’d admitted it to him. Or mentioned it to anyone since.

I nodded and bit my lip. Maybe she wouldn’t make me actually do it.

“Well, keep going sweet,” she said, sliding one hand up to my pierced nipple, sitting just below water level. She took it between her fingers and squeezed around the vertical bar through it. My nipples have always been sensitive but I’ve still always loved rough nipple play. I shuddered and froze, the pain lancing through my breast and turning to pure lust. I didn’t cum though — somehow that still eluded me. I finished pulling off my bottoms.

“Good girl,” she said, taking them from me.

Then her strong, clever fingers found the ring that ran under my clit and she purred, tugging on it. I was going out of my mind, no longer paying attention to anything going on around me as I should have. But still, no one interrupted us.

She roughly entered me, using two fingers right off the bat. Even in the heavily chlorinated water, I was extremely slick. Her fingers stretched me, then curled and I was unable to breathe, balanced on the razor’s edge of an orgasm.

“What will you do for me, if I let you cum?” she whispered into my ear.

Shit, what wouldn’t I do?

“Wh…what do you want?”

“You to tell me what you’ll do,” she said, flipping the ring up and down while somehow rubbing my clit. The skill in doing a triangle piercing right, was that it could stimulate the back side of your clit, and the woman who’d done this piercing was an expert. The ring vibrated the nerves, adding to the amount of pleasure I was feeling in a very odd and intense way.

“I’ll make you cum with my mouth,” I said.

Okay, it was clear even to my lust-fogged brain how lame that was, but damn, it wasn’t like I could think! She grinned knowingly at me.

“If I tell you to take off your top, will you do that?” she asked.

I nodded.

“What if I want to fuck you with my fist,” she said, leaning in and whispering in my ear in a husky voice. “Will you let me?”

I hesitated over that one. I’m tight and while I do enjoy being stretched by a cock, a fist might be too much. Then she touched something inside of me, and I gasped, nodding quickly as the pleasure overrode my good sense.

“What if I want you to do something really dirty,” she said. “Will you be my dirty girl?”

I had no idea what really dirty meant, and there was no way I was going to figure it out with her fingers driving me bat-shit crazy, so I just agreed. I’d done a lot of ‘really dirty’ things over the years and doubted she’d come up with anything I’d object to or hadn’t already done. Well, there were a few things, but I’d just have to hope she wouldn’t go there.

“And what,” she purred, “if I want to hurt you?” The fingers of her other hand closed over my nipple again and pain lanced through it and into my breast. Again, it just turned to lust. “Will you let me? Will you suffer for me?”

The pain in my breast increased, and she started doing something to the piercing between my legs that hurt too. But it hurt good, so very, very good. I’d been spanked a number of times, and I liked it a lot. This pain was different and even better.

I just looked at her and begged with my eyes, staring into those crystal blue orbs of hers. I would have sworn that they were actually glowing, but at that moment, I would have sworn there was a purple unicorn in the tub with us if it would have gotten me an orgasm. She apparently liked whatever she saw and her fingers did something else.

It was like a bomb went off inside me. I froze as pleasure like I’d never felt slashed through my nerves, bucking against her fingers again and again. It would have only taken a casual glance from anyone looking at the tub to know what was happening, but I didn’t care.

She pulled her hand away just as I was becoming too sensitive. How I didn’t drown I have no idea, but my entire body was shaking and vibrating from the most intense orgasm I’d ever experienced. When I came to my senses, I realized two things.

One, I was still extremely aroused. And two, this woman was extremely dangerous.

“Are you back?” she asked, smiling brilliantly.

I nodded, not trusting myself to speak.

“I need to go use the restroom,” she said. “But I’ll give you a choice.”

A choice? What the hell was she talking about?

“That was intense for you, yes?”

I nodded, blushing, the arousal she’d created in me still zipping around my nervous system.

“When I get out of the tub,” she said, “I can leave your bikini bottoms here, and you can make a graceful exit while I’m gone. Or I can put them over there in the cabana where you can see them, but not get to them, so that you have to wait for my return. While you’re waiting, you’ll get to wonder if I’m going to return, and what will happen if I don’t.”

She smiled at me. It was a hungry look that made me shiver.

“Also, what will happen if I do,” she continued. “Choose.”

I swallowed. I was still extremely aroused, but at least I could think again. I didn’t want to examine too closely what I really wanted, but fortunately, this was an assignment, so the choice had really been made for me.

“Take them,” I said. Maybe she wouldn’t take them. Maybe she was just playing a head game. After all, we were in a public place.

“Good girl,” she smiled. “Keep your hands above the water while I’m gone.”

Damned if she didn’t do exactly what she said she was going to do. She took my bottoms and laid them in plain sight on one of the cabana couches, then headed off to the bathroom.

I sat there and tried to recover my wits, but it was an impossible task. I was still unreasonably aroused, for one thing, and for another, I was sitting half naked in a public hot tub. And now that Arianne was gone, it looked like there were two people approaching it to join me. Shit!

I nodded at the two and tried to act normal, which wasn’t easy, I can tell you. The thought that I might get caught bottomless was frightening and embarrassing. And very arousing. I’d always been just a bit of an exhibitionist. Nothing too flagrant, but I did enjoy being watched. Being naked in public was bringing that to a whole other level.

Fortunately, the couple was more interested in each other than in me. That was fine, as both were easy on the eyes. He was a very well built black man, and she was a perfect match for him. She had a very pretty face, with hazel eyes and her dull red bikini enhanced her sleek curves and shown against her dark skin. He was wearing the normal baggy shorts guy seemed to favor, but his arms and shoulders were well built and he had very nice six-pack abs. I was tempted to remove my hands from the ledge where I’d been ordered to keep them and play with myself just a bit — hey, in for a penny, in for a pound. But I didn’t. I obeyed my orders.

Arianne was gone long enough that I started to wonder if she’d really left me here. I almost jumped out of my skin when she slid into the tub next to me. How had I missed her approach?

“Miss me?” she whispered, kissing me on the cheek.

I saw the girl glance at us and smile a bit. I nodded, too embarrassed to look directly Arianne.

“Still worked up?” she said quietly enough that the other two couldn’t hear.

“Very,” I said.

She laughed, low and sensuously and my pussy clenched, needing her fingers again. Shit, what the hell was wrong with me? I’d never lost control like this.

The other couple stayed for a few more minutes, but then rose from the tub and left. I could see the woman’s nipples through her top and his bulge was a bit more pronounced, even through the baggy shorts. She turned gave me a little wave and a very sexy smile over her shoulder as they walked away.

Arianne gave me back the bikini bottom.

“You’ve been in here long enough, I think,” she said. She waited until I put them back on, then we got out of the hot tub. I felt a bit woozy, so yeah, it had probably been too long.

“What are your plans for this evening?” she asked, as we dried off.

“I don’t have any, really,” I said.

“Would you care to join me then?” she asked. “We could go to dinner and then perhaps, spend some time at the tables.”

“Sure,” I said, although what I really wanted was more sex. Well, food would be good too. In spite of what I’d eaten not too long ago, I was starving. “That sounds wonderful.”

“Excellent,” she said. “Here is my room key. Why don’t you meet me at about six?”

“Sounds great!” I said.

And it was. It would give me time to get my head on straight, have a much, much needed orgasm, and check in with control to let them know I’d made contact. Arianne told me how to find her room before we parted ways, but I already knew which hi-roller suite she was in. I started to leave when she was finished with the directions, but before I could, she slid a finger down my arm, her touch freezing me in place.

“And if you promise me you won’t masturbate while we’re apart, I promise you an even better orgasm than the one you had in the tub,” she whispered.

My entire body flushed with heat which quickly pooled in my lower belly. I looked at her, noting once again her beautiful eyes, then nodded.

“Good girl,” she said, then turned and walked away.

I sat down to collect myself before putting on my wrap and heading to my room.

 

Rooms in this hotel, well, most of them, are pretty cheap during the week. After all, if you spend money on expensive rooms, it’s unlikely you’ll spend more than you intended to part with at the tables. I don’t gamble — James Bond I am not — but I do know how to play most of the common games. I do okay when I play, but I’m not really interested in gambling for its own sake.

My room was simple. It had a king sized bed and a nice marble bathroom with a great shower. We’d chosen something that wasn’t too expensive, that my ‘mother’ would put me up in. I’d thought the whole mom cover was stupid, but I didn’t always get to choose my cover story and it fit with the age that my cover said I was. Our research on Arianne showed that she liked her lovers young, unattached and uninhibited. We’d bugged two of the girls she’d seduced in the recent past to get additional intel. Oddly, the girls never tried to contact her, or even talked about her, once she set them loose. We only knew about the uninhibited part because, well, the girls she’d picked were, to put it politely, very sexually active and pretty much up for anything. Fortunately, she didn’t seem to be into drugs or heavy drinking, which was good since I really didn’t want to get involved with that.

Now that I was alone in the room, I stripped and started up the shower. Looking at my reflection in the mirror I realized that I looked about as worked up as I felt. My pussy was swollen and my nipples were still hard as stone. My eyes were bright and I was slightly flushed. Damn. Nothing we had on Arianne indicated that she had this kind of effect on her lovers, but since they didn’t actually talk about her there was no real way of knowing. There was no doubt that she had my number, and I’d have to be very, very careful around her.

Sighing, I got into the shower to wash the scent of chlorine off me. When I saw her in a little while, I wanted to smell nice and sexy, not like a fucking chemical factory. I’d just been waxed, so at least there was no unwanted hair to worry about. But my fingers did stray between my legs to fondle my ring and tug on my pussy lips. I stopped it before I went too far, wondering, even as I did, why I didn’t continue. After all, there was no way for her to know if I played with myself or not.

Although I wondered about that. We really had no idea what these people could do.

We were hunting her and others like her because we thought they could do magic — real magic, not the stage kind — and needed to know the limits of what they could do. But believe it or not, that was a secondary consideration.

There were videos, rare but obtainable if you had enough reach, that showed them fighting. They used swords and balls of light, and it looked like something out of a fantasy movie. In fact, when the videos had first been found, we thought they were out of a fantasy movie. But they weren’t.

We’d found few reliable eye-witnesses: Most people were just not going to admit to seeing something like that, because well, no one wants to be thought of as crazy. I’d be willing to bet someone would admit to alien abduction before admitting to seeing some of what we’d seen on the vids. But we’d eventually gotten the truth out of a few, very few, people.

And what worried us wasn’t necessarily the swords and sorcery bit, which right there might make you wonder. That is, you’d wonder if you hadn’t seen what it was they’d been fighting.

Posted in BDSM, Stories | 1 Comment

Where the hell…

… have I been?

It’s freaking May already — like the END of May, I have haven’t even posted ONE blog post! Ouch. I suck. No Avatar either — which I think you folks probably like a lot better than my blog posts.

First of all, I’d like to thank you. Thank those of you that sent me emails of encouragement — and offers of direct help. Thanks to those of you that gently reminded me I should post. Thanks to those of you who NOT so gently reminded me (and no, I’m not being sarcastic). Your passion to read Avatar is sometimes the only thing that keeps my writing.

First, writing news, which is what most of you who read this are probably interested in:

I did finish another commercial book. I quite like it, and am just waiting on the cover before it goes up for sale. I could let the publisher put just any old cover on it, but I like the book, I like the world and I want to use it again so I asked a friend to do the cover. He’s quite good, but also quite busy, so I’m not sure when that’ll come out. When it does, you can rest assure I’ll tweet about it, and even maybe post a snippet or two here.

Avatar. Well, I posted a chapter about the time this blog post was written, so it’ll be up at some point — if it isn’t already. The story is going, and although I haven’t been doing a lot of writing, I have been doing a bit of plot work. Some of the plot directions I was going were screwed up and had to be fixed. Some had gotten over complicated and needed to be simplified. One, I thought was simple, but is turning out to be more complicated that I thought. I am now only about eleven chapters ahead of what I’ve posted, and I have to say, I think that a few of those are really good. This last one was good, but (and I know some of you will be disappointed), but it’s all about sex. Not much plot there. The next chapter will have plot though, I promise.

Although … you DO remember that Avatar is a sex story, right?

Okay, it’s also my writing play/training ground, so plot is important. Just in case you’re interested, I’m using Scapple for my story-board/mindmap software and at 15 bucks, it’s a damned awesome program. And, also in case you’re interested, for the twenty or so chapters I’ve been working through, there are fifty-one separate story-board sections that help me keep track of things. So… lots of moving parts. Although, George R.R. Martin, I ain’t — and never will be. (No, I don’t like his writing, and I think he’s kind of a deush. I do like WATCHING Game of Thrones though. Go Khaleesi! I also think Emilia Clarke is incredibly sexy.)

Anyway, this shit is complicated, at least for me, and I’d like to do it right. I have no idea if that is how things are going to fall out though. Remember, I’m not a professional — I just do this on TV. Or something.

Oh, I’ve switched almost exclusively to Scrivener and Scapple for writing/plotting. Liquid Story Binder hasn’t been updated in far too long, and when I used it, I kept getting the urge to recode it — and I simply don’t have the time. I’ve also been getting the urge to code a companion to Scrivener, since the Windows version doesn’t do all the stuff the Mac version does — but I digress

I guess that’ll segue us into the Tech and Life sections of the post. If all you were interested in was Avatar, you can stop reading now.

Tech:

I dumped the iPad. I just got absolutely fed up with the data roach motel that the platform is. I miss how slick it was for most other stuff, but I just couldn’t handle the fight I had with formatting and data transfer.

The Samsung Windows 8 tablet I got was also a failure, but that wasn’t because of the writing end of things. That worked fine, although the touch-screen could use work. I stopped using it because other things that I use, things like the Amazon Kindle app and PDF, mobi and epub readers were complete, buggy, pieces of shit. I still like Windows 8, but for that kind of tablet, it isn’t there.

I ended up with a Galaxy Note 8, and I absolute and completely LOVE the thing. While the writing tools make synchronization a bit of a challenge (although I dump that in Scrivener’s lap, because they make it impossible to sync things unless you’re on a Mac. Import and export only get you part of the way there, trust me), and the ‘best’ of the mind mapping ap (Simple Mind) is kind of crap, the machine is awesome and I like Android a lot. My next phone might be an Android, after a lot of years as an iPhone user.

So, about that mind mapping stuff. I’m going to mention this because they pissed me off.

SimpleMind. It’s an app, and it’s also a desktop version. I had some trouble with it when I tried to use it — some of the same kinds of things that happen when I try and use an Apple product. Like Apple, the people who wrote this app think that your data is theirs. No, they don’t try and steal it, but they give you no options when it comes to HIDING or CONTROLLING it. And when I asked how I could use my own directories, how I could store the data where I needed to store it, convert to other formats, the answers I got back from them were condescending and infuriating. So, if you were thinking of trying it, take that into account. Their writeup of what the app does is true, but misleading.

And now, for what is probably the least interesting for you folks, Life:

Life has changed. As you know if you read my last post, the shit hole I worked for is closing. Personally, I hope it collapses into a fucking black hole, taking most of the workers and all of the management with it, but whatever. I don’t work there anymore as I found another job back in January.

Once I started working at my new place, I realized JUST how incredibly toxic that hell hole was. In fact, toxic doesn’t even begin to describe it, but sometimes you don’t realize how horribly bad a place is until you’re out. I mean, it’s not like I didn’t know it was a shit hole, but it was seriously eye opening to be able to step back and see just how bad it was.

I had to do a harassment training video at the new place and all I can saw is that, with the exception of the sexual harassment, EVERY SINGLE THING described in that video, I experienced on a daily basis in the shit hole. The damage done to my professional growth, my health, my life and even my marriage by working there is huge, and it’ll take years to recover from. Fortunately, my marriage is fine. Some of the damage (like my health) I’ll never fully recover from. My career is permanently damaged.

Still, I found a good job with a good company, and I’m very happy about it. It’s not perfect, but no place is and I’ve been around long enough to know that. There *is* one thing that could happen there that would make me start looking elsewhere, but hey, life ain’t perfect and there’s nothing hold me there. No pension, no 401k (yet) and no time put in. I like it, but I’m getting my skilz back, so fuck with me and I’m gone.

My health has gotten better. I’ve dropped a lot of weight and started doing a lot of exercising in the past year and a half. I’ve even gotten back to mountain biking recently (although with my condition I need to be careful about it). Mountain biking is Awesome. I’ve also been roller-blading a fair amount over the last year, and that’s fun too. My marriage is fine — it was never in actual danger, but neither my wife nor I like the tension the shit hole was putting into our life.

So I am writing again and feel as if my life is in a better place. Posting will still be slow, as I have a lot of catching up to do on many fronts, but the story continues.

Posted in Avatar, Stories, Tech Stuff | 6 Comments

Hammer Down

Wow. TWO blog posts in a month? Whatever could be going on??

I feel as if I’ve dropped off the writing map, and I guess that’s because I have. You might remember the sig in my email that reads “And if I go cold, I won’t get sold, I’ll get put in the back on the discount rack like another can of beans…”(B. Joel)  Well, that’s where I feel as if I am.  No longer really relevant when it comes to being an author.

Anyway, as you know from the last blog post, I’d had enough with the shit hole I worked in and started looking for a new job. But, because my life is never, EVER simple, a new wrinkle was tossed at me. Two, actually.

One: The plant I work at is closing and getting rid of EVERYONE.

Now this isn’t as much of a blow to me as it would have been had I not started getting my shit together already, but it still tosses a rather large element of urgency into the mix. In typical corporate fashion, they’ve told us notices will be going out starting sometime in the new year, but, of course, not exactly when. Hey, at least we get sixty days notice.

But of course, the story doesn’t end there, because as I said, things are never simple.

When I get laid off, I will be getting severance pay — except that the state that I live in immediately steals it from me.

Let me say that again: The state I live in steals my severance pay.

How you ask? Like this:

Our lovely Republican governor and his happy band of asshole republican cronies (I will NEVER, EVER vote for a republican again!) changed the rules of the state so that people like me — older people, who’ve worked for YEARS to build up any kind of severance (while STILL paying into the unemployment fund!), and who need that money to maintain mortgages and heath care — don’t get to use our severance. Instead, what happens is that the state decides that it will take the pittance it allows you per week (say… 400 dollars), will be divided into your severance, then won’t pay you a red cent until ALL of your severance is gone at the rate that they think you should spend it! This means that the money I needed to maintain my healthcare and my house is now effectively GONE. And before you even THINK of telling me “Oh but your severance is a benefit and not everyone gets that” let me respond with “Oh, but there are people with twenty thousand dollars in the bank, and maybe they should have to live off that the same way until it’s all gone before THEY get unemployment” because it’s the same fucking thing.

So maybe (if you’ve gotten this far), you’re wondering if that was the second wrinkle. No, of course not. That was just a side trip on the first one. Here’s the second one:

I’ve developed a new health problem — right about the time when I will be losing my insurance. And it’s one of those things that could be nothing, or it could be life threatening.

Fun, no?

No.

At least while I have the insurance, my doctors are being very helpful and I should soon know if it’s the nothing or the something. I’m hoping for the nothing, of course.

So anyway, if you’re even the least bit curious why I haven’t been around, even on twitter, now you know. I don’t want to post a continual stream of negative comments on twitter, I want to talk about sex and my writing. But I’m not really writing at all and I’m STILL relearning the tech (when you go in as a junior person, they don’t expect you know much, but when you’re a senior person well… that’s a very different story!), and will be until I find a new position. No matter that I know there are many other people out there that are worse off than me, the fact is there are ALWAYS people out there worse of than someone, and that doesn’t make me feel any better about my own situation.

Anyway, I know there are a few people who want to know if I’ll ever return to Avatar. All I can say is that it is my intention to do so. But my writing — especially free stuff — isn’t enough to live off of, so I really have to stay focused on keeping myself employed in a United States that has become a country that is By the Rich, For the Rich. So wish me your best, and keep Avatar in the back of your mind.

Posted in Uncategorized | 14 Comments

Tic-Toc

Where have I been?

First, I’d like to say that I’m sorry I haven’t posted any Avatar. It’s still there, sitting on my mental shelf and on my hard drive, asking when the hell I’m going to continue it. The only answer I have is that I’ll continue it as I can. I still have probably 20 chapters or so finished ahead of what’s been posted, but I just haven’t the time to post them.

I haven’t been writing much — certainly not enough — and I miss it. Just the other day, I spent some time writing part of Cindy’s initiation into the Circle, but before that? Months, I think. Hell, I finished a book over the summer — including 99% of the editing — and I haven’t even gotten that to the publisher. Well, to be fair, there is more than one reason for that, and a big one is that I really like this book, and I want a good cover for it. I just can’t afford a good cover, and the publisher, as much as I like ’em, will just slap any old shit on it and call it done. Also, I’m a bit worried, because I really like the book and the universe, but you guys might not. That would suck.

The main reason, though, that I haven’t been writing is because of (surprise!) my job. It’s nothing short of horrid. I could go on for hours on just how bad it is, but that wouldn’t help anyone. What would help would be one of the main reasons I haven’t had time to write: I’m on a job hunt.

There are reasons, very good reasons, why I stayed with that shit hole as long as I did. I’m still there, actually, but now I’m also actively looking for a new position, which is a full time job in and of itself. But, as usual, nothing is simple. It isn’t just that it’s still a crappy economy (and I’d love to personally thank our idiot Congress for that — with a special thanks for the treasonous group called the Tea Party. Yes, what they did recently was treason, and if you or I did it, we’d never see the light of day again.), it’s that my decision to stay in the shit hole had consequences. One of which is that my skills are seriously out of date. Software development is anathema to the idiots who don’t understand that EVERYTHING we do there runs on software. My chosen career is not only ignored, but actively denigrated by my management. Lovely people.

And no, I’m not just whining about this, I’m fixing it. But it takes time to bring back rusty skills, then update them. This is much easier when you’re twenty, but you’ll find as you get older, it ain’t so easy. For one thing, most people don’t want to hire you. For another, companies want it all, and they want it all RIGHT NOW! Doesn’t matter if you’ve got most of what they want, it’s not enough. And they can be choosy because the economy sucks and people who work for cheep on H1B visas flood the market. It infuriates me, but again, I’m not going there.

IF I can get some time between relearning my trade, working in the shit hole and trying to accomplish other goals (like perhaps getting our house sold and maybe moving somewhere warmer), I’ll polish off that book and try and get it out. I’ll probably get out a chapter or two of Avatar before the end of the year as well. And I’m sorry that it’s so slow. I’ve been saying that for years, but it’s still true. My work life has destroyed so very much of the rest of my life, but I’m determined to get it together and get the fuck out.

So you’ll be seeing more Avatar — I’ve put too much into it to just let it go. But I’m afraid you’re going to have to bare with me for a while longer.

 

 

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | 12 Comments

Still on hold… and holding on…

Still On Hold

People have asked, over the years, why I don’t put Avatar up for sale. They say they’d be happy to pay for it, and while I appreciate the sentiment, there are a bunch of reasons why I haven’t, and won’t, do it.

The first is that yes, there are about four people who would be happy to pay for it. The rest would not, and then I’d lose tons of readers

The second is that I started it as a free story, and I’d rather keep it that way. Once I finish Book two (yes, I will finish it), there are a few more stories floating around in my head in that universe and those I might consider selling. And I might not, who knows.

The final reason is one that many of you are aware of: We live in a nation of hypocritical prudes.

Lea says it to Ken the very first time they meet:

Again, there was that flash of sadness in her eyes. She sighed. “Your people are so… strange. You deny your own sexuality, yet use it for currency. You deny sexuality to those who are below some artificially created age, yet exploit them in secret, subtle ways while longing for the youth that they have and you do not.”

So, plainly put, Avatar can’t be sold. I’ve posted and tweeted in the past about corporate censorship. The list of thigns we can’t write about grows by leaps and bounds.

Love that whole free country thing.

Anyway, Avatar is still on hold until I can wrap my head around how I wanna get from where I am to the finish line. I’ve been doing some other writing, but mainly to just keep writing because, you know, they say you should write every day. I write most days. Lately, I’ve gotten interested in a story in a world I’ve been working on a long time, but haven’t actually posted or sold any stories in. Who knows, this might be the first.

My work situation is still bad. I still have a job, but it’s like walking on eggshells every day. The manager I work for is, well, pretty unhinged, but repeated complaints to upper management and even the “ethics” people (corporate ethics, which is why I put that in quotes) have gone unheeded. I could understand — somewhat — if I was the only person complaining, but mine is only one voice in the crowd. And we’re still ignored. I can only hope that I can hold on there until I can get work somewhere else. But, of course, the same corporations that are fucking people who work for them, are “saving money” and not hiring people. And that’s before the effects of Sequestration, which really haven’t hit yet.

Our country’s a fucking mess. I think things haven’t gotten really bad with the people yet because we cling to several illusions: Upward Mobility (that’s pretty much gone) and Freedom (severely curtailed). The biggest illusion we cling to is that we can choose our government. News flash folks: We can’t. Most of us simply don’t have the money to effect the outcome.

Anyway, here’s to hoping that I’ll get back on track with Avatar sooner rather than later. We’ll see. In the mean time, thanks for checking in.

Posted in Avatar, Politics, Social | Tagged , | 6 Comments

Time… stands still. NOT.

Holy shit! I haven’t written a blog post since OCTOBER?? Damn how time flies.

Well, you all know that in December I posted a chapter a week, which was a great thing. Now it’s March and I haven’t posted anything since. Not here on my blog and not on SOL. You might be wondering why. Or you might not. Of course, I’m assuming that if you’re reading this, you might be a bit curious about what’s going on.

A number of things, actually.

Life, for one thing, hasn’t been all that great. There are the normal ups and downs, but the downs have been a bit deeper, and the ups don’t seem to go up very far. Much of that has to do with my job — which is seriously shit-tastic. But it’s a shit-tastic thing that pays the bills. They fucked me over pretty badly this year, and because of that — and our awesome congress (they don’t deserve the capital C), I don’t know if I’ll have a job much longer. If I don’t, things will spiral downward pretty quickly. My wife and I actually need the medical benefits that the job provides and I rather doubt I need to tell any of you just how fucked up the job market is right now, even, or perhaps especially, in the tech sector where I work.

To add to the fun, after a several month decline, one of our pets died. I know that to some people their pets don’t mean much, but to my wife and I they are good friends and part of our little family. The loss of one of them — especially a young one who should have had many years ahead of him — was very difficult. The day we had to put him to sleep was especially unpleasant, since I started out that day with chest pains and an ER visit. I’ve already had one heart attack, so chest pains are nothing to fool around with. Fortunately the pain was from stress (both work and home), but unfortunately, when I left the ER EIGHT hours later, I had to go home, gather up our sick pet and take him to the vet with my wife. Not a banner day and the worst Valentines day ever.

I’m really not happy that my life has turned into such a fucking drama. I hate drama and I’d hoped that by this point in my life things would smooth out. They haven’t though, and in spite of all our work, they might never. Certainly if I lose my job things will get very bad.

I stopped work on Avatar a while ago. I have things all plotted out and thought I was rolling along pretty well, but there are some elements of the story that just don’t seem to be coming together the way I think they should. So I put it aside for a while in hopes that I’d be able to take a fresh look at it. Then shit started falling apart and there were many weeks of no writing at all.

The good news is that I’ve started to write again, but the bad news is that it hasn’t been on Avatar. I know I will finish the story, but again, the when will depend on how life goes. If I lose my job, I doubt I’ll be writing much of anything since I’ll be putting a lot of time and effort into searching for a new one. Which will suck for any number of reasons — not the least of which is that I really don’t like what I do for a living. Not any more. Corporations run by idiots with MBAs have seen to that.

Anyway, I have been writing, and if things go well and my life doesn’t detonate on me again, I’ll get back to Avatar, sooner rather than later. If I don’t get back to Avatar in the short term, well, the book I’m currently working on seems to be coming along pretty well, so maybe you’ll go buy that once it’s out. Or not. Times are tough all over.

Finally, I’d like to thank people for the emails reminding me that I haven’t posted Avatar in a while. And I’m serious about that. It lets me know that people haven’t forgotten it, although I’m certain I’ve lost quite a few readers since I’ve been so fucking slow about getting the story out. I’m sorry about that, and to those who have stuck around, thank you very much. And since you reminded me, I went back into the story this morning, edited another chapter and put it up. Enjoy!

And again, thank you.

(The title of this post is a reference to a Rush song, in case you were wondering.)

Posted in Avatar, Social | 4 Comments

Keep Calm and Read the Chapter!

And another chapter of Avatar is posted. When I look at where I am with regard to the writing this story, verses what I’ve posted, I feel a little guilty. Also, when you read this chapter, it’s my hope that you’re neither pissed nor confused about what the hell is going on.

I feel guilty because I’m probably twenty chapters ahead of what you’re reading. Okay, eighteen. And I don’t post all that often. But the thing is, the story’s become complex. There are a lot of moving parts and I’m afraid if I don’t give myself enough leeway to make sure that all those moving parts don’t crash into each other, that they’ll… well, crash into each other. This would annoy you.

Even with all my caution, I’m afraid the moving parts are gonna crash into something they shouldn’t. I never meant for Avatar to be this complex. I mean, it was just supposed to be about some guy and a sex goddess and lots of sex. I think I’ve delivered on the sex, but all of these plot lines! Yeesh!

You’re probably not going to want to hear this, but the fact is that Avatar is my practice piece. I’ve learned a huge amount about how to write while writing it. At least, it seems that way to me. If it turns out that you don’t think so well… don’t buy any of my books. Another truth is the fact that I could take any of the plot lines that currently exist — the Costas, the stuff with Sensei (which I don’t think you’ve read yet), the direction that Jane is going, the Tankers… any of it really, and turn it into a full length book. So the trick is to give you enough info to make the story flow, but not take any seriously deep detours.

This new chapter might make you wonder about that, and rightfully so. This portion of the story was meant to stand alone, and then I changed my mind because it dove-tailed so well into the main story. So there you have it. Another plot line. But it does come together, I promise.

From where I am in the story, things are finally getting to the point where I can start to resolve well, pretty much everything. Once I do, and Establishment is finished, I have no idea what I’ll do next. Avatar will remain a closed world (meaning no sanctioned fanfic), at least for the foreseeable future. Hell, I might even write a few Amazon-worthy tales and put ’em up for sale. I’m sure they’d sell. At least one or two copies. Or not.

So anyway, I guess my point is that you guys are my beta testers. Avatar didn’t, and isn’t, being written like a book. A book is proofed and finished before it’s seen by the intended audience. For me though, it’s better than a book because you guys email me and TELL me things about it while it’s in progress. So I guess it’s more of a live ARC.

So anyway, enjoy the new chapter. Feel free to let me know what you think of it. And please accept my apologies for the times between postings. Once I’ve actually finished the story, I’ll be posting a hell of a lot more frequently.

Posted in Avatar, Stories | 14 Comments