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Tuesday, October 27, 2009

The Dream Series...

There have been a number of distributor uploads of my various books lately, so here's an update on where you can currently purchase the books in my "Dream" series (click the book covers for links to the story information pages on my website):

   A Dream Come True is now available at:
Amazon Kindle,
in addition to:
Torquere Books, All Romance eBooks, Fictionwise, OmniLit, Barnes & Noble, etc.!
   Another Dream is now available at:
All Romance eBooks & OmniLit,
in addition to:
Torquere Books!
I also expect this book to become available on Amazon Kindle within 5 days, and Fictionwise within a couple weeks.
   Dreaming of You is now available at:
Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble, 1 Romance eBooks, & Scribd,
in addition to:
Smashwords & Lulu!

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

GLBT Bookshelf Wiki

So, if you are an m/m author, and you haven't yet signed up at the new GLBT Bookshelf, then this is me, highly recommending that you do so. I would also recommend, if you've signed up, but done little to nothing with it, that you get busy and update your author page and hopefully some book pages, too. Here's why:

They've started their advertising campaign and the traffic there is picking up. They are also taking steps to show up more prominently in search engines. Is it working? A comparison of yesterday's stats of my regular website and my GLBT Bookshelf Author Page show the number of hits to be neck and neck for the first time. Previously my regular website has been hands down the winner, but yesterday it was a virtual tie. In fact, if you add in the hits to my individual book pages, the GLBT Bookshelf page won. So yeah, if you haven't taken the plunge yet, it's time.

Monday, June 8, 2009

GLBT Bookshelf Wiki

I've been working on my pages at the new GLBT Bookshelf Wiki. It's pretty nifty. If you haven't checked it out yet, you should. It's pretty easy to navigate around, but obviously since it's new, it's very much still under construction. For my pages I think I've got my author page about how I want it. The individual book pages have the basics up for each story, and they're listed in the directories, but I'm still adding info. I'm in the process of putting up brief excerpts from some of the reviews (with linkage to the actual reviews, of course), and plan to either post, or link to, story excerpts. Maybe by the end of this week I'll pretty much have it how I want it. Knowing me, though, it'll forever be getting tweaked--just like my website.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Awesome Cover & Banner - Cultivating Love

I've got the final version of my Cultivating Love book cover. I've got five different sizes of it, in fact, as well as a banner! Aren't they lovely? The cover artist is Croco Designs.



Monday, May 18, 2009

Cultivating Love - Preliminary Book Trailer

Making trailers is just too much fun, so I've done another one. Like the trailer for Another Dream, this one is also 'preliminary.' I've had a sneak peak at the cover for this one, and it ROCKS, but it's not the final, so I can't insert it into the video yet. So, the trailer is preliminary until I replace the opening frame with the actual book cover. I might do some further tweaking, too, but I'm pretty happy with it overall. So, I present to you my early version of the Cultivating Love book trailer!:

Monday, March 30, 2009

Another Useless Meme...

LISTS OF FOUR -- Lists are in no particular order :-D

FOUR MOVIES YOU COULD WATCH OVER & OVER:

1. The Shawshank Redemption
2. Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?
3. Amadeus
4. Pulp Fiction


FOUR CITIES YOU’VE LIVED IN:

1. Syracuse, NY
2. Kansas City, MO
3. Mansfield, PA
4. Keller, TX


FOUR TV SHOWS YOU LOVE TO WATCH:

1. Cash Cab
2. Dexter
3. Supernatural
4. Dirty Jobs


FOUR PLACES YOU’VE BEEN ON VACATION:

1. Cozumel, Mexico
2. Niagara Falls, NY
3. Memphis, TN
4. Orlando, FL


FOUR WEBSITES YOU VISIT DAILY:

1. http://addisonalbright.livejournal.com/friends/
2. http://reviewsbyjessewave.blogspot.com/
3. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/torquere_social/
4. http://www.fictionwise.com/


FOUR OF YOUR FAVORITE FOODS:

1. Homemade French fries (It's a miracle I'm not 100 lbs overweight)
2. Popcorn
3. Chicken (fried, baked, grilled, whatever)
4. Steak


FOUR PLACES YOU’D RATHER BE RIGHT NOW:

1. On a boat on a lake
2. Someplace tropical
3. On a sandy beach
4. Hiking through the woods

Sunday, March 29, 2009

It's Useless Meme Time! :-D

I found a "Sweetheart Pet Name Generator" and figured I'd put in the names of the protagonists from my recent novel release, A Dream Come True. This is what it came up with:

Quiz Me
Wes is my
sensual paramour

Get your sweetheart's pet name @ Quiz Me



Quiz Me
Mike is my
erotic sugar

Get your sweetheart's pet name @ Quiz Me



Hehe--Even *I'm* not smushy enough to have my guys calling each other *that*!

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Random Observations...

Random Observations:

I don't imagine I'm the only one who looks at their website stats now and then to see where the hits are coming from and where the visitors go when they exit. But, yeah, I do, 'cause it's a good way to see what does or doesn't do any good, promo-wise. With sales info only coming to me quarterly, and no way to tell when those sales were made with any more accuracy than 'sometime within those three months,' website stats are my only clue. I can't help but imagine there's some level of correlation between website hits and sales.

So anyway, I've made a few observations about website hits & exits outside of specific promotional efforts:

(1) Link exchanges work. I get a number of hits from the links lists on other writers' websites that proceed to browse through a number of pages and sometimes even exit to buy-links. Whether or not these result in a purchase, I don't know, but maybe sometimes?

Also, often enough, regardless of how a person got to my website, they often exit to a number of the author sites I have listed on my website's 'other links' page. Currently I put up a link (with a banner or book cover, if available) for every writer on my LJ friends list (I'm nice like that). I'm thinking of revising that rather generous practice in favor of the more standard I'll-put-up-a-link-for-you-if-you-put-up-a-link-for-me philosophy that most seem to follow, 'cause, damn, right now only a handful link back to me (although I imagine most don't even know I'm linking to them). Personally I don't care if it's only from somebody's LJ sidebar links list, if they don't have a website, but I think I'm going to clean that list up in about a month to include only those who reciprocate by linking back to my website.

Point is, if you're an author on my f-list, my website currently has a link either to your website or your LJ, but it'll be gone at the end of April unless I find a link to my website on either your website link page, if you have one, or your LJ side bar list, if you don't. Also, for the sake of streamlining, I'd prefer to keep it to banners and text links. The book cover links I use take up a lot of vertical space, so if you've got a banner available, please let me know.

I don't know. Maybe I'm just feeling bitchy today. If so, I'll get over it. :)

(2) It surprises me how often folks have bothered to google my name, then perused my site. It surprises me even more how often they've gotten there by googling a combination of my name and the name of a particular one of my stories. It took me a little bit of thinking to figure why this particular story was so often the reason someone was looking me up.

The story I'm referring to is my Sip, Born to be Wild. It was released at Torquere on 8/16/08. It's not my best seller at TQ, though. In fact it's third among the 'regular' Sips, behind Cow Pie Bingo (released 4/10/08) and Photo Shoot (released 11/29/08). If you factor in the Sips that were part of package sales then it's also behind my wedding Sip, Now and Forever (released 9/13/08, and my Halloween Sip, Moving On (released 10/31/08).

The reason it, over the stories that (if TQ sales are a reasonable barometer) would otherwise likely be more popular, is the story people are googling me for is that it (along with the two Taste Tests I'm in) are the only ones of my 10 publications that are up on Fictionwise. I don't have any actual sales figures yet. I don't remember when it went up on the distributor site, and if there's a way on their site to find out I haven't figured it out yet. I'm sure there's some kind of correlation between sales vs. those who bother to give a rating, but since I haven't seen any royalties from distributor sales yet I don't know if there's a typical percentage that could be used at a reasonable guideline or not.

At any rate, it seems to be doing well (for a short story from an otherwise unknown author), with 45 reader ratings (compared to 25 for the A Day at the Beach Taste Test, and 7 for the Shades of Autumn Taste Test). It's been out long enough that if it ever was on a 'best seller' list it's since dropped off. So I imagine this exposure to readers beyond those who stumble on the publisher's website must be the reason for the googling of this particular story in conjunction with my name that occurs 3-4 times per week.

Those three stories, along with Dropping Quarters (released 9/6/08, and incidentally my worst seller at TQ so far), are the only four of my 10 releases on All Romance EBooks. Fictionwise apparently does better overall, 'cause the numbers of ratings are overall much lower on ARe (although I'm happy to report they average out to 5 stars on each). BtbW has 5 ratings, DQ has 3, TT:ADatB has 1, and TT:SoA has 2.

I expect that the royalty check I get sometime in April for first quarter will have some distributor info on it so I'll finally get to see the correlation between number of ratings given and number of sales. At any rate, though, the sheer number of google hits I get from the one little story I have on Fictionwise tells me that I really, really wish the rest would get uploaded. Hell, Cow Pie Bingo was my best seller at TQ, the contract expires on 4/10/09, and it never saw any distributor exposure at all. That's a real shame.

End of rambling. Those are the random things I've noticed.

Promo-wise, if anyone cares, being one of a kazillion writers posting to a YaHoo board on an excerpt day or big blitz day has little to no effect on my website hits. Posting direct promo/excerpts anywhere doesn't do too much, either. But, posting free ficlets that are complete little stories unto themselves to LJ communities that run those kinds of things, produces lots and lots of hits, for a long time after the postings were made. Hits that even lead to buy-link exits.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Just for fun...

To maintain a healthy level of insanity:

1. At lunch time, sit in your parked car with sunglasses on and point a hair dryer at passing cars. See if they slow down.
2. Page yourself over the intercom. Don't disguise your voice.
3. Every time someone asks you to do something, ask if they want fries with that.
4. Put decaf in the coffee maker for 3 weeks. Once everyone has gotten over their caffeine addictions, switch to espresso.
5. In the memo field of all your checks, write, 'For Sex.'
6. Skip down the hall rather than walk and see how many looks you get.
7. Order a diet water whenever you go out to eat, with a serious face.
8. Specify that your drive-through order is 'to go.'
9. Sing along with the soloist at church.
10. Five days in advance, tell your friends you can't attend their party--because you have a headache.
11. When the money comes out of the ATM, scream 'I won! I won!'
12. When leaving the zoo, start running towards the parking lot, yelling, 'Run for your lives! They're loose!'
13. Tell your children over dinner, 'Due to the economy, we are going to have to let one of you go.'
14. Leave the copy machine set to reduce 300%, extra dark, 126 copies.
15. Leave your turn signal on for twenty miles.
16. Follow a few paces behind someone, spraying everything they touch with disinfectant.
17. Invent nonsense technical jargon in conversations, and see if people play along to avoid looking ignorant.
18. Select the same song on the jukebox fifty three times.

And the final way to keep a healthy level of insanity:

19. Pick up a box of condoms at the pharmacy, go to the counter and ask where the fitting room is.

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Ficlet - "The Nooner" - Rated NC-17

Here's a ficlet I wrote yesterday for Torquere's Livejournal Social Community. These are the prompt words I was given (they were all used): nooner, blindfold, camera, intense, numb, ice cream, tomatoes, keychain, spiral staircase, flagpole, WaterPik shower massager. The prompt words led me beyond PG-13 this time, clearly into the realm of NC-17. Not work safe…definitely not.

The Nooner

You've got to come home right now. For Spooner. It's an emergency. Jerry's voicemail hadn't been very specific. Ben was numb with worry as he trotted from the car to the front entrance of their new house. Poor little kitty.

He fumbled and dropped his keychain, then knocked his head on the poorly placed flagpole.

"Dammit." He stood up and stumbled up to the door, rubbing his head.

"Jerry?" Ben hollered through the house. "Where are you? Where's Spooner? Is she going to be okay?"

Ben's jaw dropped as Jerry sauntered out of the kitchen, buck naked, eating a bowl of ice cream as if he didn't have a care in the world.

"What do you mean?" Jerry asked.

Ben sputtered. "Your voicemail. You said 'For Spooner.' You said it was an emergency."

Jerry grinned. "For Spooner? No, she's fine. I said for a nooner." He glanced down at his half-hard cock and shrugged. "It's kind of an emergency."

"You're kidding."

"You're not mad, are you? Sorry, you look upset."

Ben scratched at the sore spot on his head. "No, not at you. I hit my head and I would have sworn you said Spooner, so I was worried."

"Sorry hon. Didn't mean to worry you." Jerry leaned over to give him a light kiss.

"Mmm, nice." Ben wrapped his arms around Jerry's neck and pressed in. Jerry's arms came around his waist, then Ben shuddered as he felt the cold ice cream sliding down his back.

Ben jumped back. "Shit, Jerry. You're tipping your bowl."

Jerry grimaced. "Sorry. Damn. I keep having to apologize to you today."

Ben looked into the dripping, half empty bowl Jerry still held in his hands. "What the hell is that? Please tell me you don't have tomatoes mixed in with your pistachio."

"What's wrong with that?"

Ben sighed. "Nothing I guess. Just don't ever give it to me that way, okay?"

"Check. No tomato with pistachio for you." Jerry wiggled his eyebrows. "Hey, this mess works out, anyway. My surprise for you is in the shower."

"There's a surprise?" Things were looking up. He rather liked Jerry's surprises.

Jerry got an intense look in his eyes. "You're really gonna like this one."

Sweet.

Jerry put his bowl down on the coffee table and led Ben to the spiral staircase leading up to their loft that had been the deciding selling point for the house.

Upstairs Jerry opened his top dresser drawer and pulled out a purple blindfold. Uh oh. "When did you get that?"

"Last weekend. I want you blindfolded for the surprise."

"O—kay." He could go with that. He closed his eyes as Jerry wrapped the thing twice around his head.

Then Jerry stepped away. It was disorienting standing there in the dark. Ben put his hands up, reaching for Jerry.

He heard a click and barely detected a flash through the edges of the blindfold. "What was that? A camera? Tell me you didn't just take a picture of me standing here like a doofus."

"Um, sorry, that'd be a lie."

"That better not end up on the Internet."

Jerry laughed. "Quit worrying. Just relax now. You need to get undressed now for our shower."

"Fine." Ben pulled off his tie and unbuttoned his shirt as Jerry went straight for his pants. Ben kicked out of his shoes so Jerry could get them off. His socks and boxers were peeled off last.

"There," said Jerry. "Much better." Ben could hear the smile in Jerry's voice.

A hand at his elbow led Ben into the bathroom. Jerry started the water in the shower.

"Okay, it's hot enough, come on in," Jerry instructed him.

Ben stepped into the shower stall. But where was the water? He reached up to adjust the shower head, but it wasn't there. Instead there was a hose running out. He followed the hose down to the sprayer in Jerry's hands."

"When did we get a hand held shower thingy?"

"I got it this weekend. You're going to loved it, Ben. It's not just any old sprayer, it's a WaterPic shower massager."




[Technically I've used all the prompt words now and could just end it here. But what the heck, they're already nekkid…]



"Huh. Well, that sounds good."

"Just wait." Jerry's voice changed to his bossy tone. "Turn around now. Put your hands on the wall."

Sweet. Orders. Ben did as he was told.

Jerry started on his forearm, and worked his way up to his shoulder. It wasn't too intense, but it was nice. Relaxing. Jerry switched to the other arm. When Jerry reached his other shoulder he adjusted the nozzle and the water powered out, pulsing as Jerry drew circles on his back with the powerful stream.

Ben moaned and dropped his head down. Damn, Jerry'd been right. He was really loving it. So relaxing. Jerry's free hand landed on his ass, kneading his cheeks before trailing around to the front to pump his stiffening prick.

"Like the surprise?" Jerry's voice was low in his ear.

Ben's reply was more of a groan. "Love it. Don't stop."

"Do I ever?"

Nope, he sure didn't. Jerry never stopped until after Ben expected him to. Of course, that was one of the many things he loved about the man.

Jerry's arm snaked around to his front and the water jet pulsed across his chest. Ben pushed back as Jerry pressed against his back, grinding himself along the crack of his ass.

The water massage moved down to circle around his abs as Jerry's other hand maintained a firm, steady, slippery slide along his rock hard cock. Ben groaned as teeth nipped along his shoulder, and the grind against his ass turned frenzied.

"No." Ben protested when Jerry's hand dropped his prick. Damn, he was that close to coming. "Don't fucking stop."

"Just ramping it up a bit, love." Jerry turned the nozzle on the shower head again…actually to a less intense pulse, before grabbing his cock again. Ben appreciated the water adjustment when the jet hit his balls.

Ben's reaction was immediate. A groan tore through him as Jerry's firm grip milked the come from his prick.

The WaterPik dropped to the floor of the shower stall as Jerry pressed Ben up against the wall. Ben's head fell back on Jerry's shoulders and Jerry made his final frenzied thrusts along Ben's crack. Jerry's arms came around him, holding him tightly, then Jerry moaned into his shoulder as warm spunk spilled into the crush between them.

Long moments later Jerry released him. Feeling disoriented in the dark, Ben kept his hands on the wall as Jerry retrieved the sprayer and rinsed them off.

The water turned off and Jerry's hands carefully unwound the blindfold. Ben turned to see Jerry's smiling face.

"Am I forgiven for my minor subterfuge to get you home?"

Subterfuge? "I knew you'd said 'for Spooner.'"

Jerry grimaced. "Sorry. Forgive me?"

Ben sighed. "Of course." Then he smiled back at Jerry. "It was worth it."

"Love you." Jerry's grin was wide.

"Love you, too."

The End


"That better not end up on the Internet."
Oops. I hope Jerry doesn't get in trouble for this.

Disclaimer: For those who care, this is a 'royalty free' photo from dreamstime.com. ;-D

Thank you! - Addison Albright


http://addison-albright.tripod.com
http://addisonalbright.livejournal.com
http://addison-albright.blogspot.com


Now Available!

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Ficlet - PG-13

Hello! I hope you enjoyed the little ficlet I posted yesterday. Here's another one featuring the same two quirky characters. This one incorporates 25 prompt words/phrases. Again, I'd give it a PG-13 rating for innuendo.

Here are the prompt words/phrases that were used: woodpile, kindling, hearth, watermelon, mango, heat, howl, brother, stars, cincher, stallion, snow, ice, windy, bitter cold, jingle bells, fruit cake, colored balls, squirrel, pudding, toaster, sir, chocolate, grin, batteries not included

Yeesh! This ficlet's written in much the same tone as the one posted yesterday and was accomplished in 502 words! Again, I'll admit that I was given a few more words than those listed, but only promised to use "at lease one word" from each contributor, but I did only ditch 4 suggested prompt words for this. :)

I've underlined the prompt words in the ficlet, below:

A Wild Hair
A Prompt Word Ficlet by Addison Albright


"I'm not calling in sick to play hooky again!" Ben was adamant.

Jerry's grin was mischievous. Ben was learning to get nervous when that grin appeared. "I'm not saying right now. We can plan it for Saturday."

"But a picnic? In December? I don't know…it's pretty darned bitter cold out there. Not to mention windy as hell. All we'll need is snow and ice to make it the craziest picnic on record."

Jerry laughed and looked at him like he was the one that was nuts. "Not outside. We'll spread out a blanket in front of the fireplace. I'll scrounge through what's left of the woodpile for logs and kindling. The heat from a roaring fire will be just the thing to make us forget the howl of the wind outside."

That sounded pretty good, actually. Ben could get behind a cozy little hearth side carpet picnic. "I wonder if I can find a watermelon in December? Or mango. I love mango." Especially since learning it was an aphrodisiac.

"Yeah, and pudding. I love chocolate pudding."

"Well yeah, I can make pudding, but that's not picnic food. Heck, we might as well break out Aunt Gertrude's fruitcake if we're not going to stick to the theme." He'd much rather squirrel that heavy monstrosity away somewhere in case they both lost their jobs, and were starving. Really starving, 'cause damn.

"Oh, okay. Hey, let's do it after dark so it can be like we're camping next to a campfire. The Christmas tree lights reflecting off the colored balls will be like we're looking up at the stars."

Well maybe for someone with Jerry's imagination, but Ben could go with that. Night would be better for getting frisky in front of the fireplace, and he could certainly get behind that. "Fine."

"One more thing…"

Oh brother. "What?"

"Wear that waist cincher I got you for your birthday? You haven't worn it for me yet."

Ben's mouth opened but nothing came out. Well, okay, he could do that. He'd had way more fun than he'd ever expected to have the last time Jerry'd gotten a wild hair in his ass and Ben had ended up with a purple dildo in his. He nodded.

Jerry's grin widened. "Good. I'll have you open that present with the gold jingle bells on it, too. Hey, make sure we have some double A's."

"Double A's?"

"Yeah, batteries. The box you'll be unwrapping said 'batteries not included'. We'll definitely want to have some on hand."

Ben took a deep, steadying breath. Jerry hadn't steered him wrong yet. He blushed to admit it, but he liked it when Jerry turned all dom on him like that. Jerry turned into such a…for lack of a less cheesy word…stallion. "Okay. I'll make sure we have some."

"Oh, and the toaster. We'll need to bring the toaster out here, too."

Jesus. "Do I want to ask?"

"Probably not."

"You going to make me call you 'Sir' again?"

"That a problem?"

No. It sure wasn't.


Monday, February 23, 2009

Ficlet PG-13

Hello! It's been a few weeks since I've posted a little ficlet, so here's one I wrote incorporating 18 prompt words/phrases. I'd give it a PG-13 rating for innuendo.

Here are the prompt words/phrases that were used: sunshine, breakfast, coffee, alarm clock, school bus, large haldron collider, sweltering, studio, purple dildo, leather, shovel, hornet, dominate, hot chocolate, rhinestone, leash, flake, If you do that one more time…

Whew! I think I managed a fairly coherent, sexy yet sweet little ficlet using all of those words, and only taking 555 words to do it! In the interests of full disclosure I'll admit that I was given a few more words than those listed, but only promised to use "at lease one word" from each contributor. :)

I've underlined the prompt words in the ficlet, below:

Playing Hooky
A Prompt Word Ficlet by Addison Albright


Ben turned the coffee maker on and pulled a box of Corn Flakes out of the cabinet. The alarm clock had gone off way too early this morning and he was going to need lots of caffeine with his breakfast.

"Good morning sunshine." Jerry's voice was as sunny as the day. "Coffee smells great, but I'm in the mood for hot chocolate today."

"Hot chocolate? Really? It's gonna be sweltering today."

Mr. I-love-mornings winked at him. "You're drinking coffee."

He couldn't refute that logic so he poured his cereal, sat down and willed the coffee pot to drip faster. "You going in to the studio today?"

A school bus rumbled by and he missed Jerry's reply. It involved an eye roll, though.

"What?"

"I said, what's the point? The earth's going to be swallowed by a black hole today anyway. Might as well stay home for it."

Ben just shook his head. Jerry and his large haldron collider worries. "You're pretty chipper this morning considering the world's coming to an end."

Jerry smiled. "Well, I don't really believe that. But don't you think it would be a fun excuse to just stay home. You know. Say to hell with it all, we're playing hooky today."

He grinned. Jerry was a free spirit and sometimes his attitude was contagious. There wasn't anything he needed to do at the office today that couldn't be put off a day, was there? "What excuse should I use?"

"You could just tell old Prather a hornet stung you. You're allergic to freaking everything so that'd work. He's such a flake anyway you could tell him anything."

"What about you? I can just hear Jenkins now: if you do that one more time…"

Jerry laughed. "He always says that. I'll just tell him I've got the stomach flu and I'll work from home. I'm pretty much done with that project anyway."

He wasn't going to tell his boss he'd been stung by a hornet but he could see a case of the stomach flu buying him a day at home. Damn, what a fun idea. "What do you want to do with our day off? We can't go out and risk being seen after calling in."

Jerry had a playful glint in his eye. "We're being bad. I think we should be really bad. Remember those gifts Randy gave us when we moved in together? The one's you put in the back of the closet?"

Jesus. "The leather collar?"

"And the rhinestone studded leash."

"Oh yeah." Damn. Jerry had such a hopeful look in his eyes. "Ah, okay. Who's going to wear it?"

Jerry gave him an eyebrow wiggle. "Wanna dominate me? Or would you rather be dominated?"

He wouldn't know where to start. The idea of Jerry getting all Dom on him was kind of intriguing, though. Hot even. "Uh, you can be in charge."

Jerry's eyes turned serious. "I've got a purple dildo with your name on it."

Ben choked. A what? Was it too late to back out? He opened his mouth, but nothing came out.

Jerry walked calmly over to the coffee pot and turned it off. He poured a cup and set it in front of Ben. "Drink up and shovel in some cereal. You're going to need the energy."

What had he gotten himself into?


Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Ficlet - PG Rated :)

This one's just sweet. It was written from prompt words: Cyril, cat, were___, murder

I know, I know…murder…were___? This is a sweet story? Just read it if you don't believe me :-D …

The Joke's on Tanner

Cyril drained the last of the pale ale and set the bottle down on the bar carefully. Friday the frigging thirteenth; he hated it. Tanner knew how superstitious he was, and teased him by treating Friday the thirteenth like it was April the first, thus necessitating Cyril's need to stop on the way home for a little fortification.

The first year they'd been together Tanner had pulled out all the stops. Tanner'd been working as an extra on a cheesy horror flick. He'd buddied up with one of the werewolf extras and had the man hiding, in full costume, in their kitchen. The man had pounced out at him when he'd walked in. Cyril'd fallen back in shock and was only thankful he'd not messed himself from the fright. Tanner'd almost died laughing.

Tanner kept it interesting by skipping the ritual now and then. Cyril never knew if he was going to walk in on an elaborately staged murder scene, an apartment mined with booby traps, or nothing at all. So when he finally found himself standing in front of their apartment door, key in hand, he was feeling more than a little jumpy.

He opened the door carefully and peered inside. Nothing. All was quiet. He knew that didn't mean there wasn't a surprise lurking for him, but at least he could safely step into his own living room. He closed the door behind him.

"Tanner? You home?" Cyril hollered in the direction of the hallway.

He heard a noise, then Tanner came out of the bedroom to greet him. It was what was be-bopping along in front of Tanner that caught Cyril's attention, though.

A cat? No, more like a kitten. A solid coal black little kitten, running straight for him. And it was absolutely adorable.

Cyril couldn't resist a grin at the kitten's antics, poor little thing was tripping all over itself trying to run. He crouched down and put a hand out to the kitten.

"What's its name, Tanner?"

"Uh, it's not named yet. Figured I let you name her."

The kitten reached his hand and he played with her, teasing her into running around in circles.

"She sure is sweet."

"Uh huh."

"How about 'Pumpkin'?"

Tanner made a face. "Gag me. You know that's a black cat."

"Yeah."

"It's crossing your path. Back and forth. Like at least ten times already."

"So?"

"And it's Friday the thirteenth."

"She's too cute to be bad luck."

"Shit."

"That all you had for me this time? An adorable kitty?"

Tanner rolled his eyes. "We're not calling it 'Pumpkin'."

"Cutie?"

"Ew!"

"I know. Lucky. That's her name."

Tanner squatted down across from him and joined in, playing with the kitten. "She is lucky. She was on 'death row' at the pound."

"Poor thing. I'm glad you saved her."

Tanner looked at him with a lopsided grin. "Yeah, me too. Even if it didn't work out quite like I'd hoped."

Cyril leaned across for a quick kiss. Didn't end up being quick though. Tanner's free hand moved up to cup the side of his face and hold him in place.

He was pretty lucky himself.

The End


NOTE:

If you'd like to leave me prompt words for your very own personal ficlet, feel free to drop by my website and leave a few words on my guestbook (scroll down to it).

Monday, February 2, 2009

Ficlet - Rated NC-17

Today's ficlet continues the one I posted on Friday, titled Midnight Encounter. The ficlet was all I had of this little story at the time, but left me some prompt words in her comment (where I'd cross-posted it on ) and I used them to continue it.

These are the prompt words that were used to write this continuation: Louisiana, heat, lust, hips, lips, tongue, suck, pressure, fingertips, rose bud, taste, smell

Midnight Encounter Part 2

"You won't regret this, Henry. You'll think about it -- relive it in your mind -- but you'll never regret it."

Josh's voice sent a shiver down Henry's spine, despite the oppressive pre-storm Louisiana heat. He must be out of his mind to be considering this. He'd never let blind lust overrule common sense before, but then again, he'd never encountered a man like Josh before.

The lure of potential danger -- while knowing deep down, that due to Josh's connection with Paul, he was safe -- was heady. Josh squeezed his hand and led him through the picnic area, reaching out to take something off the wooden table as they passed by.

At the edge a little grove of trees, just outside the circle of light beaming down from overhead, Josh stopped, turned, and bowed to him. Now what?

Standing straight again, and grinning a quirky little half-smile, Josh presented him with flower…a fucking flower of all things. Nobody had ever given him a flower before.

He could smell it. In the dim light it was hard to say what color it was, but it looked like a rose bud.

"Thank you." Henry took the flower and sniffed it. It was probably a mistake to add to the sensory overload that was short-circuiting his brain, but he was already mesmerized.

Josh leaned over and softly kissed his lips, while brushing his fingertips along Henry's jaw. "Told you I wouldn't bite."

Henry smiled. "I might not object to a nibble or two."

Josh laughed, and tugged him toward the trees. "Good. I'll keep that in mind."

They stopped just a few yards inside the tree line, and Henry found himself backed up to a tree. He couldn't see anything, but he could feel Josh's body pressing in hard, and he could taste the salt on Josh's skin as he ran his tongue along the man's jawline.

Josh moaned and ground his hips in against Henry's. It was a relief to feel the evidence that Josh was every bit as turned on as he was. Sweat trickled down his back as Henry dropped the thorny flower and clamped his hands down onto firm, worn denim covered butt cheeks, pulling Josh in.

"Jesus, fuck Henry." Josh clamped his mouth down over Henry's and pressed in hard. Tongues clashing, chests and pelvises grinding, Henry was trapped in a crush between the rough tree and an unrelenting hard body.

Henry's leg came up to wind around Josh's thighs as Josh continued to mash into him. A minute turned into five, and his prick fucking ached like nothing he'd ever experienced before.

His head fell back with a groan when Josh finally broke their kiss to nip and suck along his neck. "Fuck, Josh…I've gotta fucking come." The pressure building in his balls was killing him.

Josh's hands moved to Henry's waist. The weight against his chest let up as warm hands slid inside his shirt, up his abs, until the palms covered his nipples.

Henry cried out when merciless fingers twisted his nipples, then Josh's lips were at his ear. "So fucking come, Henry…now."

"Fuck!" The throbbing pain in his nipples shot down his spine to his balls as spunk filled his briefs. Christ, he hadn't even gotten his pants down. Henry's arms moved up Josh's back, holding on tight as his knees weakened.

"Mmm, fuck yes, Henry." Josh sucked on his neck. Fuck, that was going to leave a mark, but he was beyond caring.

Josh. Fuck, he still needed to take care of Josh. Henry popped the snap on Josh's jeans and yanked down the zipper. Josh lost not time helping him out, shoving the jeans down to his thighs.

Henry slipped down past the waistband of Josh's briefs and wrapped his hand around Josh's cock. Josh groaned into his neck. "Yeah, Henry. Tight…just like that."

He stroked as Josh's mouth found his again. Josh gripped the sides of his face and pumped erratically into his fist. He was close. Henry's other hand moved back to Josh's ass, kneading.

"Don't stop…fuck…yeah, like that."

Henry didn't stop. He sped up as Josh first pushed his tongue in, then froze and jerked with a loud groan. Hot come spurted onto Henry's hand.

"Oh God, Henry. Fuck yes." Josh relaxed against him for a moment before straightening to pull up his pants and grin at Henry.

"Will I see you again?" Henry asked. "Or are you just into setting up random crazy rendezvous like this?"

"Oh, I'd like to see you again. You're a good sport." Josh wiggled his eyebrows. "Paul got your number?"

"Yeah."

"Good. I'll call you."

Then he stepped back into the darkness and was gone. Henry swung his head side to side looking for him. "Josh?"

Where the hell had he gone? Fuck, he was standing there alone in the dark wearing sticky pants with a sticky damned hand with sweat dripping down his back.

Henry sighed and bent down to pick up his flower. He sniffed it as he walked back to the path to go home.

The End


Friday, January 30, 2009

Ficlet - Rated PG-13 > R

This one's a bit of a tease. I'd rate it maybe an R for language and innuendo. It was written from prompt words: never, midnight, water, cloud

Midnight Encounter

Henry had to admit, Paul had thrown one hell of a party. He turned up his collar and picked up his pace. The air was brisk and he knew a rain cloud when he saw one, even if it was midnight and dark as pitch. It was more what he couldn't see -- the stars -- that gave away the clouds, and it just felt like rain was coming.

He turned down a path that would take him through the park. The crunch of his footsteps sounded loud as he hurried along the shortcut towards his apartment.

As he scurried through the dim light of the streetlight illuminating the picnic area he heard a voice. "Hey! Henry, isn't it?"

He didn't recognize the voice but stopped and turned towards the spot where it had originated. A shadowy figure stepped into the light. Henry didn't recognize the man. He took a step back and looked both directions down the path. Empty. Shit. How had the man known his name?

The man spoke again. "Yeah, you're him. You were at Paul's party."

Relief flooded through him. Paul knew the guy. Now that he mentioned it Henry did remember seeing him earlier on at the party. The man had left soon after Henry had arrived, though.

"How'd you know my name? We weren't introduced."

He smiled. "Asked Paul about you."

Really? Paul hadn't mentioned it. "You did?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"Thought you were cute."

Cute!? Fuck that. 'Cute' wasn't exactly the look he was going for but what the hell…

The guy cocked an eyebrow at him, waiting for him to speak.

"Paul didn't mention it."

"I told him not to."

Why? The look on his face asked the question for him.

The stranger laughed. "Wanted to surprise you."

The hell? "Surprise me? Here? In the fucking park?" Was Paul in on this shit? "How do you know Paul anyway and what's your name?"

The man was still grinning at him. "Work…Josh…and calm down little fella, I don't bite…well not unless that's what you're into."

'Little fella' wasn't going to get this guy any further than 'cute'. The fact that he was horny as hell and Josh was hotter than fuck might, though. "Not into biting." Figured he'd get that cleared up right away.

Damn Josh had a killer grin. "So what are you into?"

"With assholes who waylay me in the fucking park at midnight? 'Fraid that's one scenario I've never encountered before."

"Too bad. It's fun."

"Didn't say I wouldn't consider it. Just haven't done it before."

"How 'bout we just keep things simple then." He cocked his head, beckoning Henry towards the darkness.

Shit. He was a friend of Paul. But still…

Apparently his hesitation didn't go unnoticed. "I promise I won't bite."

"How about strangle or stab? I'm not into those either."

"Jesus, I didn't bring a resume but you can call Paul if you want."

Fuck it. "Never mind, it's cool."

Henry tried to look confident as he closed the distance between them. He could hear water splashing into the fountain as Josh took his hands and leaned towards his ear to whisper. "You won't regret this, Henry. You'll think about it…relive it in your mind…but you'll never regret it."

The End


Also, I'd like call your attention to a contest open on my website through the end of the day on 1/31/09 for a chance to win your choice of my current publications. To enter the contest you'll just need to answer a few easy questions (all the answers can be found on my website).

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Ficlet - Rated R > NC-17

Hello! Here's a cute little stand-alone ficlet that I wrote based on the prompt words (jockey, cat, elevator, elementary). This ficlet is rated somewhere in the R to NC-17 range.

Elevator Hi-Jinx

Andy Watson diverted his eyes and looked around the elevator. Looked at anything except Craig, because looking at Craig was a good way to embarrass himself in front of the man. His blush tendency was bad enough, but his dress pants would not hide a hard on and he didn't want to have to face the man every time they met in the condo elevator forevermore and have the man know he had the hots for him.

Looking at old Mrs. Wilson's butt standing in front of him helped…a lot. She got off on the fifth floor, though. Then it was just him and Craig until Andy's stop on nine. Shit. He looked up at the corner as if the tiny cobweb there was the most fascinating thing he'd ever seen in his life.

The elevator stopped sooner than he'd expected. In fact it rather jarred to a stop, catching Andy off guard and causing him to stumble forward a step.

"Whoa there. You okay, Andy?"

Jesus, Craig-the-green-eyed-Adonis knew his name? He felt his face turn red. "Yeah, I'm fine. Damn, what happened?"

"Elevator stopped."

Well no kidding. He blamed old lady Crandall's black cat for walking in front of him as he entered the building. He looked at Craig. Couldn't exactly avoid it anymore. Craig had the oddest look in his eyes and there was a slight grin on his lips. Laughing at him? He tried to sound like nothing was wrong as he responded. "What do you think we should do?"

The grin on Craig's handsome face widened. "What do you want to do?"

What the hell did he mean by that? How should he know what to do? Was there some kind of help or call button on the panel? "Whatever you think's best is fine with me."

"Yeah?" Craig stepped over to him. Scary close. In your face close. Oh fuck…hand on your crotch close. "I think we should take care of your little problem here. That okay with you?"

Andy couldn't tear his eyes away from the mesmerizing green pair that was getting closer with each passing moment. Until he felt Craig's lips touch his, then his eyes closed and he allowed himself to just feel.

Feel the warm breath wafting into his mouth as teeth and lips nipped and nibbled at his lips. Feel the hands working open the fastenings on his pants. And…oh God…feeling the warm hand slipping inside his tighty whitey jockey shorts and encasing his rigid prick.

This wasn't happening. Of course it wasn't happening. He knew he'd open his eyes and find himself in bed waking up from a particularly intense dream. Intense and very real feeling. More real than any dream he could ever remember having.

Jesus. It was real. He was in a stalled elevator getting jerked off by a man who had no idea how much time he spent starring in Andy's fantasies.

The warm lips teasing his own suddenly clamped down on his mouth hard. He couldn't stop the moan that escaped him as Craig's tongue searched his mouth. The hand wanking on his cock picked up speed and he felt himself spiraling towards orgasm at an embarrassing pace.

Fuck, he couldn't stop it. Didn't want to stop it. Didn't want it to ever stop. The groan wrenched from him was crazy loud in his head, but muffled by the unrelenting mouth covering his.

Hot spunk shot onto his stomach and he felt Craig's other arm tighten around him, holding him up as his knees buckled. Time stood still as the hand on his prick slowed and the tongue in his mouth backed off to tantalize him once more with a gentle tease on his lips.

Until finally the movements all stopped, and he forced himself to open his eyes. He stared into green eyes that reflected the smile beneath them. His softened prick was released and he felt the waistband of his underwear snap back, then his zipper getting pulled back up.

He came back to life to take over refastening his belt as Craig stepped back. Jesus. He should say something, shouldn't he? "Now what?"

Shit. Or maybe he should have just kept his mouth shut. But Craig just smiled at him then replied. "It's elementary my dear Watson." He glanced at the control panel. "You see, pushing this button stopped the elevator, and pushing this button will restart it."

He reached out and pushed a button and the elevator sprang back to life. Five seconds later the doors opened at the ninth floor. Andy stumbled out feeling rather shocked by Craig's revelation. He looked back in time to see Craig wink at him as the doors slid shut.

The End


Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Ficlet - Rated PG-13

This is the last of the Cow Pie Bingo continuation ficlets. This one uses the prompt words phone, penis, laundry, hair. It is very short, and only rated PG-13, despite the prompt word that might lead you to think otherwise.:

After the Shower

He'd done it. Evan had given another man a blowjob. And he'd enjoyed doing it! Whether or not anything ultimately developed between him and Gary he knew one thing for sure. He was never looking back. Now that he'd taken the plunge he knew without a doubt what had been missing in his sex life. Men!

He stuffed his penis into his jeans and zipped up. He ran his fingers through his hair, tousling the short brown locks into shape then walked back to Gary's bedroom to find his shirt and socks.

He heard water start flowing in the plumbing and looked down the hall to see Gary stuffing laundry in a washing machine. Why in the world did it make him smile to see Gary taking care of a simple domestic task? And why did it make him yearn to share activities like that with Gary?

He caught himself staring and turned quickly back to his clothes. He liked Gary. He really did. But he wanted to be careful and make sure that he wasn't falling for the man simply because he was his first gay experience. He definitely wanted to proceed cautiously.

As he buttoned his shirt he looked back up and caught Gary staring at him. Time seemed to stand still as a smile slowly spread across Gary's face. Wow. He loved the look in Gary's eyes that told him he had as much of an effect on Gary as Gary had on him.

He couldn't bring himself to break eye contact until Gary winked and crooked his finger at him. He found himself smiling again as he answered Gary's silent command and entered the warm embrace that was killing his resolve to move things slowly.

He started the kiss himself but control was quickly wrenched from him. Gary's warm lips pressed forcefully down against his own and the tongue exploring his mouth was unrelenting. Wonderfully demanding.

But off in a flash when the phone in his pocket chose that inopportune time to ring.

The End

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Ficlet - Rated PG-13

Here's the third in the series of ficlets I'm putting up. This one's a stand-alone ultra-short using the prompt words paddle, sir, count, sorry. It’s rated PG-13:

Uh, Oh

Well this was new. Craig wasn't entirely sure what to think of the paddle that was on the kitchen counter. Wasn't a ping pong paddle. Wasn't much like anything he'd ever seen before. Well, outside of the 'toy' store anyway.

Uh, oh.

Brandon didn't think he was going to use that thing on him did he? Oh man. He had rather liked it when Brandon spanked him the other night. That had been unexpected and amazingly hot. But a paddle?

Damn. It was bound to hurt more than a hand. His cock twitched at the thought. Maybe that would be a good thing. Damn.

He spun around, paddle still in hand, at the sound of the front door opening. Brandon saw what he was holding and a rather wicked little smile spread over his face as he closed the door behind him. "Like it?"

Shit. "I was just trying to decide."

"Good enough. If you really didn't want to you'd have known it right away."

"I'm not going to call you 'Sir'."

Brandon's laugh was cocky. "Would you rather call me 'Master'. Maybe I'll have you count off the spanks for being so sassy."

Maybe he should just shut the hell up before Brandon made him sorry for agreeing to this. 'Cause if the condition of his cock was telling him anything, it was telling him that he was agreeing.

The End


Monday, January 26, 2009

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Free Ficlets

I feel like highlighting the free ficlets I have on my website. I'm going to feature one a day for the next week or so.

All of the ficlets can be read on the "prompt word ficlets" page of my website, here.

A summary of all of my releases to date can be viewed either here, on the "my publications" page of my website, or here, on my listings page on the Torquere Books site.

Most of the ficlets I'll be featuring were written from prompt words given to me via the guestbook at my website, but I've also cross-posted ficlets written for TQ's LJ social there, as well as the ficlet I wrote for TQ's road of relationships board. Some of the ficlets continue some of my publications, and some are stand-alone.

Here's the first one. It continue's Cow Pie Bingo, and uses the prompt words boner, shower, soap, balls:

Evan and Gary Take a Shower

Evan heard a noise behind him as he closed his cell phone. He turned and saw Gary smiling at him. It was one of those face-splitting ear-to-ear smiles. Evan's reciprocal smile was automatic.

"You sound happy, Evan," commented Gary.

"I am happy. It's crazy, I should be feeling scared right now but instead I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders," replied Evan.

Gary opened his arms and Evan stepped smoothly into them. Jesus, it felt so damned good wrapped in that strong, warm embrace. Evan felt his cock twitch – the damned thing had a mind of its own.

Evan couldn't resist – he turned his head and nibbled on the side of Gary's neck. He felt Gary's arms tighten around him then Gary moved to bring his mouth down on Evan's.

Evan still found it hard to believe the overwhelmingly powerful reaction his body had to the man's kiss. Jesus, he was springing a damned boner right there and he'd already come twice earlier that afternoon.

Gary broke the kiss and stepped back to look at Evan. He chuckled as his eyes traveled down to Evan's rapidly hardening prick. "Oh, we're going to get along beautifully, Evan," he said.

Evan laughed and noticed that Gary was similarly affected. "Oh, yeah," agreed Evan.

Gary's eyes twinkled as they traveled over Evan's abs and took in the dried spunk that still clung to his skin. "Why don't we take care of our little – ah – dilemma in the shower, babe?" Gary asked.

Evan had to laugh. Gary captured his hand and led him down the hall to the bathroom. Gary had a large walk-in shower. He reached in and started the water before turning back to Evan.

They only had time for a few light smacking kisses before steam was rising from the shower. Gary stepped back and pulled Evan into the stall with him.

"Business first," said Gary. He reached for the shampoo and poured some into Evan's hand, then into his own. They worked the woodsy scented stuff into their hair then took turns rinsing under the spray.

Gary reached for the bar of soap and lathered up his hands. He winked at Evan. "Arms up, babe," he said.

Evan grinned and lifted his arms in the air. Clearly Gary liked taking charge and Evan was fascinated by his own newfound inclination for deferring control to another.

Gary slowly moved his large hands up one arm, then the other, gently, but firmly working the suds into Evan's skin. He lingered a moment longer than necessary at Evan's armpits, then moved down to circle his nipples.

Evan closed his eyes and his head dropped back as his hands came down to rest on Gary's shoulders. Gary's hands moved lower, trailing slowly downwards, before stopping to lather off what remained of the dried come on his abs.

Evan lifted his head and stared into Gary's eyes as Gary's hands moved still lower. Evan gasped as one of Gary's hands took a firm grip on Evan's now aching cock and the other cupped his balls, rolling them gently.

Evan knew he should be doing something to reciprocate but remaining upright with a firm grip on Gary's shoulders was all he could manage at the moment. Gary didn't seem to mind – he leaned down and began a deep and very thorough kiss as he pumped Evan's cock.

Evan groaned and moved his hands around to the back of Gary's neck. Gary's second hand moved lower, putting pressure behind Evan's balls, stimulating his prostate from the outside.

Gary sped up his pumping action and slipped his thumb through Evan's slit. Evan groaned again and felt his orgasm building towards release.

The hot water beat against Evan's back as the pressure built and a jolt raced along his spine. He cried out into Gary's mouth as hot come spurted over Gary's hand. Gary released him from the kiss and Evan lowered his head to Gary's shoulder, breathing heavily.

Evan's sense of fair play helped him to quickly regain his composure. He leaned back to look into Gary's eyes as he slowly moved his hands down Gary's chest.

Gary caught Evan's hands in one of his own and he stared intently back into Evan's eye's. Gary shook his head. "No, Evan. On your knees, babe."


That's a bit of a tease at the end, isn't it? Not to worry. The next ficlet continued this little story. :)