Back-up

Had a computer malfunction the other day.  Thought that I'd lost a novel, a short story collection, and assorted other bits of fiction.  Recovered everything, but I was Not Happy for a while there.

Was working on a different novel a day or two before that.  Remember how I mentioned earlier that I wanted to revive and edit a discarded novel?  I opened the original file, copied and pasted everything into a new file, and started working on that.  Came back the next day and started where I'd left off.  Then I realized that things weren't matching up.  Apparently, on the first day of edits, I'd been reworking the original copy; on the second day, I reworked the second file.  I tried to sort it out, but now I have half-a-dozen versions of the novel floating around my computer with various notes about which file is which.

Currently working out a new system for backing up my work.

Grump

For some reason, I can't upload to my site right now.  Not sure what the problem is.  I'm sorry for the glitch, and I'll have ITL updated as soon as I can.  Thanks for your patience.

Edited to add: Never mind!  Updated ITL anyway.  Problem-solving skills for the win!

Revisions

Back in 2007, I wrote a story.  A novel?  Let's just call it a novel.

I had a lot of fun with it.  As I prepared it for publishing, Diamond and I found a few rough edges.  So I made some changes and tried to edit the novel to polish it up a little.

It turned into of those situations where the more you try to fix it, the worse it gets.  The revised version wasn't an improvement at all.  So then I had two versions of the novel, and I wasn't happy with either one of them.  I ended up just leaving them to rot on my hard drive while I tackled other projects.

From time to time, I read that novel and sigh.  The parts that aren't complete crap are so much fun to read!  It's full of sex and romance and mystery and passion and one of my favorite characters.

In 2008, I resigned myself to abandoning that novel entirely.  Then I decided to rescue one of my favorite aspects of that story and use it to build another story altogether.  Now I'm thinking about tackling it again.  Maybe I can salvage the good stuff and create something better, now that some time has passed and I can view it from a fresh perspective.

I have about 80 million unfinished or tragically flawed stories littering my writing history.  There are only a small few of them that I keep wanting to go back to.  Some are slash stories I don't have time to finish, and a couple are wannabe novels that would be great if it weren't for some odd design hiccup.  When real life and ITL give me some breathing room, it'd be nice to revisit those novels and hammer them into shape and see what I can do with them.

POC in ITL

Nikki asked, "I'm curious, are there any people of color in In This Land?"

Yes.  T'rin, for example, is not white.  I do not have the citations on me, but this conversation came up a while ago, and there are descriptions in ITL of T'rin having darker skin than Rini.

Overall, I would like to write more often about people of color.  And people with disabilities.  Just more kinds of people in general.  Kim and I talk about it a lot.

(Side note: "Kim" is the name I use when I'm talking about someone but, for whatever reason, don't want to disclose that person's identity.)

I want my writing to be more inclusive, and I keep talking to Kim about it to bounce ideas off of her.  I've written about people of color on both of my websites, and I want to do it more often in the future.

ITL specifically is set in a fantasy world.  In my mind, that makes it an entirely new place, like a fresh start.  However, I've spoken with readers who don't view it that way, who carry over assumptions from this world.  They view ITL through their real-world perspective, and bring in bits of real-life thinking on sex, gender, politics, etc.  If Xio Voe had chocolate-brown skin instead of white-pink skin, if he had curly black hair instead of straight, white-blond hair, they'd read and interpret the story differently.

That doesn't mean that I shouldn't do it.  It just makes me wary of how I represent people.  I would like to include more people of color in ITL.  I just want to do it well.

Speculation

It looks like the first volume of The Rainbow Book will be the next thing published.  Diamond was working on the cover last night, I think.

This time of year, all of the folks around me talk about food.  About cooking and baking and recipes.  I wonder what Tano would make for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  I wonder what kinds of Christmas cookies he'd make.

Rini would probably throw a terrific New Year's Eve party.  Or a terrific New Year's Eve orgy.

Thanksgiving

Tomorrow is the day of American Thanksgiving. I'm going to be corny and honest and say that I'm very thankful for you. I'm grateful for your support and your encouragement. Thank you for everything.

My first site is 11 years old now. ITL is 5. Some of you have been with me for a long time, and some of you only recently found me. However you got here, thank you for sticking with me. There's a lot more to come!

If I had pumpkin bread or cranberry sauce or whatever on me at the moment, I'd totally share it with you.

Blogging

Thank you all for the happy comments!  One of the best parts of this blog has been reading your comments.

One of the worst has been looking at this blog.  So unpleasantly ugly.

It does allow me to tell y'all about writing and stuff, though.  Yay for that.

Speaking of writing, I talked to Diamond last night about writing relationships.  Part of what's so fun about writing a relationship is building the dynamic.  What do these people have to offer each other besides the basics of being nice or fun or sexy?  How do these two people mesh with each other?

The guys of ITL are all hot and smart and fun - - or hot and smart and Jacacean - - but they have different quirks and personalities and desires.  Bade and Orinakin, perfect combination.  Bade and Talin, not the same dynamic.

I've enjoyed meshing Bade and Orinakin's lives, figuring out how Kudorin and Xio Voe's dynamic works, and matching Remin and Tano.  For the rest of the guys, I've been plotting out why the people they end up with are right for them.  It'll be fun to show you how it works out!

Hi

I have nothing new to say.  Sorry.

Been working on ITL almost exclusively, lately. I spent the past couple of months writing a lot of other things, most of which are on hold until Diamond can help me to finish up the publication process. Now it's back to focusing on Remin and Tano.

Holidays and such are coming up!  I really want to put a couple of new things up on Lulu for you before the end of the year, so fingers crossed for that.  I keep itching to talk about what those new things are, but since I don't know when they'll actually be available, it seems unfair to talk about fiction you can't read.

But it's good stuff! I promise! Some of it's ITL-related, and some of it's not. So if you want more ITL stuff, yay, it's coming! And if you want some non-ITL stuff to break up the pattern, yay, it's coming! And I shouldn't say more than that, or else I'll give away everything.

Ugh

Apologies, apologies. I'll have the site back up as soon as I can. I'm very sorry for the inconvenience.

AU

As my mind wanders aimlessly, I think about odd ITL alternate universes.

Like, what if ITL were set in a college? Would the Seven Siblings and Xio Voe be in rival frats? And where does that leave Bade? Would he be the country hick from a small town who got a scholarship to some big-city university?

Or what if the Seven Siblings were really a post-apocalyptic gang?

Or what if the Seven Siblings ran a modern-day business?

Kudorin: CEO
Anikira: president
Remin: COO
Orinakin: PR? Whatever "strategic management" is?
Selorin: legal team
Desin: sales? Production?
Talin: marketing
Rini: HR
What would Anosanim do? Information technology? CFO?

Xio Voe, of course, would run a rival business, while Bade ran a small, family business getting crushed by the competition.

Thursday

I've plotted out a schedule for myself. The trick is trying to write new updates for The Gold Book while still trying to publish The Rainbow Book and also managing to write entirely new novels and short stories to give you something non-ITL to read.

I'll try to pull off a balancing act and give you both new ITL content and new non-ITL content.

The first major step in the upcoming non-ITL content will be a new book of short stories.  The writing's finished; it just needs a final read-through, then some formatting and cover art.  The formatting and cover art are Diamond's area of expertise, but she's busy with other projects, so we shall wait patiently.

Wednesday

Hi, Mandy! Thank you!

I spent some time working on non-ITL stuff, like the upcoming short story collection, prepping and editing and writing blurbs. Now it's back to ITL. I really enjoy Tano, and it's fun to see Remin connect his mature, devout, responsible self with his sensual, avaricious, sexual self.  We've heard a lot about the old Remin, but it's great to see him in action.

In other news, I just had a birthday. So, that was nice.

Comments!

Hey, comments! Hello!

To K: Thank you! It's really a fantastic thing, to have real, live people excited about my work! I really appreciate it!

To Amber: Thank you! I'm very glad to hear how excited you are about ITL. It's terrific to have other people enjoy that world.

To Sylvie: For now, I plan to publish everything myself, through Lulu.com. I've found it easier, and I've decided to put all of my eggs in one basket. It may not be my brightest plan ever, and I'm happy to speak with any publishers.

 Thank you all for reading my work, and for stopping by my blog! I hope to use this space to let people in on what's going on behind the scenes.

Upcoming fiction

I've been working behind the scenes on a lot of different bits of fiction.  A short story collection, a mystery, the first volume of The Rainbow Book, etc.  It's a lot of fun, and I look forward to showing you all of this new work.

Currently, I'm trying to prep some things for publication.  The formatting and cover art and such are Diamond's field of expertise, so I'm putting together character sheets, blurbs, author's notes, that sort of stuff.  It's fun to set everything in order.  I hope that you all enjoy the new fiction when it finally makes its way into the world!

The short story collection should be the next thing to hit publication.  Fingers crossed.  I finished what I hope will be the last of the edits yesterday.

The Places of ITL

Primary setting: Orina Anoris.  Main capital: Orikodisata.

In The Purple Book, you'll learn about:

Nosupolis, a little mountain country in the middle of nowhere, ruled by King Mindo
Ilaeia, a major cultural center, home of some of the world's most important art, ruled by King Ouia
Lorbain, one of the world's major powers, ruled by the unethical Sultan of Lorbain
The plains, where clans like the Kela live and battle each other for access to precious resources like water
Vafiance, a nation suffering greatly from a long drought

There are also places like Mannillea (where Ambassador Dillane is from) and Grenade Sandwich (not how it's actually spelled in ITL, just how I pronounce it) which has been at war with Vektin Kchet.

There are hints in The Purple Book of Orina Anoris' rival, the Jacacean Empire.  You'll learn more about Jacacea in The Rainbow Book, I assure you.

People have asked for a map of ITL's world, but the series is so large and will go on for so long that I don't want to limit myself.  I see no need to pin every detail of the geographical world down concretely.  Also, I personally have no ability to draw a map.  I tried to sketch one for a short story and ended up failing miserably.  Maybe I'll post it later so you can all point and laugh.

The People of ITL

The main location of ITL is a country called Orina Anoris.  It's ruled by the Seven Siblings.  The current generation of the Seven Siblings consists of eight brothers (don't ask):

Kudorin, the pharaoh
Remin, the royal high priest (the gold one)
Orinakin, the royal diplomat (the purple one)
Selorin, the royal high judge (the blue one)
Desin, the royal farmer (the green one)
Anosanim, the royal architect (the orange one)
Talin, the royal artist (the red one)
Rini, the royal gift (the silver one)

Kudorin, as the pharaoh, needs two spouses.  One of each gender.  An Anorian and a foreigner.  When the series opens, he's already married to his Anorian wife, Anikira, but he still needs to marry a male foreigner.  As the royal diplomat, Orinakin is responsible for bringing male suitors to court Kudorin.

In The Purple Book, he brings Bade (a prince from the middle of nowhere), T'rin (a warrior from the plains), Dillane (a young and accomplished ambassador), Aiae (an infamously pretty and celebrated painter), and Dranz (a celebrated war hero).

There are a bunch of other characters of note you'll want to get to know.  Like Vade, Bade's twin brother.  Norisa, Desin's pet tiger.  And the belas.  Belas are like concubines, although they're well-paid for their work and are in no way coerced; being a bela is entirely voluntary.

In This Land

Since "In This Land" (ITL) is the largest of my current writing projects, I should probably explain what it is.

ITL is an ongoing series.  A new part is uploaded once every week.  It's been going on steadily for several years now, so that "new part weekly" idea isn't some vague wish, it's a steady reality.  You will receive new fiction every week.

It costs $4.99 a month to subscribe.  Subscriptions are made through PayPal.  The first few parts of ITL are available to read for free to give you an idea of what you're in for.  There are also short stories set in the ITL world, some free and some available only to subscribers.

ITL is a romantic and erotic story.  Lots of love and lots of sex.  It takes place in a fantasy world, primarily in a country called Orina Anoris, which is ruled by eight brothers.

Each of the brothers is associated with a different color.  While all of the brothers are involved in the entire series, and all of them have their own lives and plots and sexual relationships, ITL is broken into separate "books."  The first book is The Purple Book, where the brother associated with the color purple (Orinakin) is the main character.  The Purple Book features the story of Orinakin's romance with some guy named Bade.  The Red Book will feature the story of Talin (the red brother) and his romance with some other guy.

All of ITL is available through subscription.  The individual books are being published in literal book form (print and e-book) through Lulu.  The Purple Book is first (in five volumes), The Rainbow Book will be published next, then The Gold Book, and so on.

So, if you want to subscribe, that would be fantastic.  You are also welcome to purchase the volumes individually as they are released.  Each published volume comes with a new short story, to thank you for purchasing.

Next few posts: the characters of ITL, the details of this fantasy world, what else I'm writing, snippets of upcoming stories, etc.

What I write

I write gay romantic erotica.  Or gay erotic romances.  You'll usually get two men (or more), some sort of emotional journey/romantic content, and explicit sex.  I try not to make it too porntastic with drilling cockrods and such, but I don't discreetly fade to black too often, either.

I started off writing original fiction with no audience whatsoever.  Then I wandered into the world of slash (m/m fan fiction) for a few years with my first site (which went very well, thank you)*.  Then I opened a second site for original fiction, where I've devoted my attention for the past few years.

My original fiction falls primarily into two categories.  The first would be modern, everyday fiction.  Short stories and a novel about ordinary, modern-day guys getting laid and falling in love.  The second would be ITL, which I'll get into later.

I've been considering going back into slash, once I can sort out my schedule and devote some time to it without compromising my commitment to ITL.

Most of the fiction on my site is free. You can find my novel, Off the Record, and some short story collections here. "Hot Weather" has been published through Samhain.

With the preliminaries out of the way, let's get into the good stuff.  More on ITL, discussion of what's coming soon, and excerpts later!

*No, seriously, thank you.  The readers and fans from my first site gave me an incredible amount of support.  Those of you who are still with me today are some amazing folks.  Thank you forever.

Welcome

Welcome to my new blog!  If you're an adult and fond of gay erotic romance, you should feel right at home here.

I opened this space to keep readers informed.  I plan to hop in here to post updates on "In This Land," works in progress, and whatever else regarding my writing process y'all might find interesting.  I'd also like to post bits of fiction.  Snippets of upcoming stories, scenes that haven't made the final product, etc.

In case new people ever stop by, some information on who in the world I am, and what "In This Land" is, might be useful.  Guess that'll be an upcoming post!