Update on promotional short story

The story with Loki and his Swordmaster is complete and awaiting a cover to be uploaded, since it is a decent stand alone story that involves characters from Playing with Tigers and deserves at least a shred of individuality.  Again, this story is not intended to be a romance, nor will it please everyone.  But, it is interesting...   Keep an eye out and feel free to send me death threats if you find it disturbing  :) 

Look below at my last post for a code to entitle you to a free copy of Playing with Tigers on Smashwords - I am aware that it needs considerable editing and I'm doing that between multiple projects of varying kinds.  If you enjoy it, please comment, rate, review or email me with any commentary.  I can use the criticism, and it makes me write faster lol 

See anything that made you curious in my work?  Want a story for it?  I probably already have it tucked away, just let me know and it will be given as a promotional short for free as soon as I deem it decent.  If not, I'll probably come up with my own anyway when I need a break from PWT2. 

As promised & a reply to a lovely review

I said in my most recent post that if I received even one review, be it positive or negative, I would give anyone who happened across this blog a code that would make Playing with Tigers free at checkout on smashwords.  As promised:

KP53L

To my reviewer - I can't thank you enough.  I was recently made aware of the vast difference in the writing between the beginning and end of the book when I took a look through it myself.  That will be remedied, but will not push off the second book, as per your wishes.  I need a break from the first book (please see tooth extraction/killer bee snorting comment in previous posts haha)  since now it reads like origami instructions to me; 'insert tab P into slot A.'  The problem with writing romance erotica I guess. 

You seem to enjoy my work, which has made a very horrendous week turn into the best in my writing career.  You mentioned in your review of the short story that you wouldn't like to see that end for Keel in the second book, which makes me now look at the second book and wonder just how many others would agree with you.  I had no intention of alienating by readers from the character, in fact that short story was at the end of the second book to segue into the third and definitely final portion of Keel's story.  But, now, I wonder...  I find myself dreadfully curious, and since I can't communicate with you, it's eating away at me.  If you're interested in the second book, and don't mind ruining the surprise - it's almost finished. 

I spend most evenings writing, but will occasionally hunt down some friends for a second opinion.  I'd like yours as well.  I doubt you'll be visiting this blog until I publish something, but in the off chance that you do -  sahrkaan@yahoo.com 

I'd be willing to give you a run-down of the basic plot, in trade for your feelings on the matter.  I'll assume if I receive no email that you haven't seen this post, but I do hope that you do.  And I hope that, if you do, you'll get in contact with me. 

MOVING ON -

You'd think someone who invented the Sahrketh could be a bit less sappy, huh?  Anyway, the next promotional short is nearly complete; I've been using that as a break for PWT2 when my eyes bleed.  Anyone that read the book may remember that Localem Arada (Loki for short) had mentioned a Swordmaster that he had trained under, and more importantly that he had to trade sex with the man for such a privilege.  I'm writing that.  Yes, I am smiling.  It's not a romance, and I really would hate for it to be confused for such.  It's a bit more on the sharper side of what I write, and I do not recommend it for readers that didn't care for the scene where Loki took his aggression out on Keel's clothing.  I had written the basic concept before, but in action it's something that I am only proud of when my family isn't looking at me.  It's already substantially larger than the other short, and is a complete work on it's own.  Starring the character before he was anybody worth even a second glance, it shows anyone who likes Loki where he became addicted to his considerable kinks.  Personally, Loki is one of my all-time favorites because I can switch him to a hero or a villain just by changing where he stands. 

Keep an eye out for it.

I've been informed that I should eat, so I will be leaving now.  Happy hunting everyone, and I'll post again soon. 

More on the novel -

This book will kill me.  Or anyone that crosses my path, perhaps.  As I said in my last post (I think) my recent gift of a kindle fire allowed me to enjoy my recent novel as I hadn't been able to before, namely in a book format instead of burned into my retinas on the screen in front of me.  This new perspective made me painfully aware of how much editing the first novel requires, but I am something of a psychopath about meeting my self-appointed deadlines.  Since I want the second novel online within a few months at most, this leaves me in an interesting position.  I could take the time to hammer out all of the kinks in the first story and polish it to an extreme, perhaps fix the fact that the first chapter overwhelms some people with the speed at which Keel is rushed out of his house, since I've received a rather wordy complaint.  Or, I could focus most of my time on the second novel and the free promotional stories for both, and get that out of the way now. 

I guess the real question is, does Playing with Tigers stand well on it's own the way that it is?  Right now, I will stand behind my characters, plot and dialogue, but the delivery of it is on par with having tooth pulled while snorting angry bees.  Okay, well... Maybe not quite that bad, but it needs considerable time to be fixed and it drove me to the brink of madness once before. 

For now, I intend to continue writing the second novel, but in light of the noticeable flaws of the first, I'm considering offering another coupon to allow any potential readers to purchase it 100% off.  I don't like to charge for an unfinished product.  So, here we are.  I'll make a deal with you all; If I get one review, be it positive or negative, for either the promotional short or the novel itself, I will put a coupon up here within eight hours of it showing up on my screen and I'll make it good for two weeks.  That way, you can get the novel and the eventually updated one for free, I get much needed feedback.  I see it as a win-win. 

Also, I mentioned this before, but that post has fallen into the archives for this blog; I do accept requests so long as they don't conflict with my incredibly lax morals.  The few I have received were via email, which leads me to believe that I have left my email visible somewhere that I likely shouldn't have. 

Now, back to the heaps of work I've assigned myself with my coffee in one hand and my kindle in the other.  Happy hunting everyone.  ;)

So, some ideas

Firstly, I am considering writing for Cracked, since I apparently have the bad luck that everyone laughs at whatever I write anyway, I figure I might as well get paid.  I was tricked into purchasing Fifty Shades of Grey, since it mentioned BDSM in the reviews and anyone that's read my recent novel can guess that I'm a rotten pervert.  Since it seemed to be nothing other than a Twilight fanfic, I looked deeper and found out, yes, it was at one time a Twilight fanfic.  All the author did was change some names around and take out the whole vampire thing.  How did I figure it out, you ask?  Well, my hatred for the ingenious manipulation of the stupid high school girls started with reading a mere page of Twilight, when I then tossed the book aside, never to revisit it.  I prefer a strong female lead.  Should they be mildly insane, I require a reason.  Since Fifty up there happened to have a woman who switches moods faster than a car switches gears on an obstacle course - I figured something was up.  Add to that the fact that she dragged out the reason behind Mr. Grey being screwed up and tried (poorly) to mask it with sex scenes that I guess some people find racy (really the sheltered people today make me ill) and I had to look deeper.  Sure enough, the entire first book and apparently much of the second were originally a serialized fanfic about Edward and Bella. 

The same travesty happened to me when I heard about the hunger games, and being the soulless terrible person I am, clapped with glee at the idea of a 24-way deathmatch that resembled the short story 'the lottery.' "You win the first prize, poor kid."  Imagine my surprise when the lead female was inexplicably stricken retarded as soon as she left her home.  Post traumatic stress maybe, I don't know, but it had me angry enough that the potential behind the story was wasted on a badly pieced together teen romance that I was ranting on and off for two days.  So, Cracked.  Look for an article by Kaeli (my alter-ego) regarding why the book Twilight has ruined so many other genres and defined how women apparently should act.  I have so many things to tear apart from these books, and only so much time...

Did I mention that I'm a bitter, terrible person?  My reason for it is this; these other two books could've been spectacular.  If you go by their sales, then they already are.  But, take into account the fact that they avoid having to be creative by dragging a story out, having their characters never just get fed up and ask what's going on, and they suddenly seem cheap.  "Why does he keep saying he loves me?" Hrm - maybe he does?  That thought never seems to occur to these female leads.  Infuriatingly, I know that a decent portion of the fanbase relates to it, but it could've been done so much better.  What a waste.

Rant ended, for now.  Back on business -

Secondly, I will be starting a website for the creative writing group that I run with some friends, all are welcome to read what we have available when the site goes up and of course commentary is always appreciated.  A favorite of our writers is a three topic, three page short challenge, where the three topics chosen have to be integral to the story.  My personal favorites were my stories Lloyd (dishes, the color white and 80's pop music were chosen as topics) and Nina (ketchup giraffes and clouds.)  Like story dice, these are riotous lol - I will post within the month with the address of that gem.


Third; Since my recent acquisition of a Kindle Fire (they are very awesome btw) I came to a startling discovery; PWT needs faaar more editing.  I will be releasing the second edition in a few weeks, hopefully that will fix the problems mentioned in my first blog post regarding the flow of the story.  As I know I've said before (somewhere) I do try to improve on my past work when I see the opportunity, so I am spending most of my mornings on said kindle, editing the crap out of that story.  Seeing it in a book format instead of on a monitor really made the difference; now I can critique it like I pick apart other books (see above.)

Lastly - Updates on story progress;

The second installment of Playing with Tigers is moving along quickly and with no foreseeable problems.  I've found the way I am going to be working in the requests that I did receive via E-mail from extremely anonymous peoples.  From now on all requests need to state such in the title, or I will consider your message spam mail that is promising me a larger penis.  A preposterous idea; although admittedly it may need work since it is completely lacking, to the point of being nonexistant.  That was a joke for the few of you who actually wondered, and shame on you for it.  I'm entirely female. 

The steampunk/comedy/murder-mystery is paused temporarily because of a logical error in the plot that I am working quickly to resolve.  The Character I devised is too rotten to give a crap about the device I was going to implement, and I refuse to just use it anyway and get the book done.  If I'm doing it, I'm doing it right.

New short story work - Dr. Shenanigans and Mr. Fingers guide to proper thievery is nearing completion when I need a break from Keel screwing everyone. 


And with that, I am off to write again.  Please comment, like it or hate it - I just love the attention  :)

Playing with Tigers now heading to Amazon.com

Since PWT has been so excessively successful even before it's release to major e-book retailers, I have decided to publish it on Amazon as well - It should be up by the end of the week!  :)

Playing with Tigers - Book 2

Book two in the Playing with Tigers storyline is in the works currently, and is coming along quite well.  I am accepting reasonable requests now via comments or email.  If requests can be worked into the story without breaking or cheapening it, they typically make it into the final copy.  By reasonable, I mean that I will not take a pop culture character and add them solely for a sex scene, or at all for that matter.  That would be a fanfiction, and although I on occasion will write one for the hell of it, I have no intention of charging others for it.  Requests that have been accepted so far include two additional characters, one a male stripper that resembles a witch in his abilities, the other a 'deformed' Keth; a cat girl.  Worry not, I made her hot.  A request to see Traichi (fire elf city) was put in and eagerly accepted, because I didn't realize anyone would like these stories for anything more than the sex.  Costumed play was easy enough to work in, as was a scene with Loki that would otherwise have only remained in my considerably twisted head. 

I hated the idea of leaving so much unresolved at the end of Playing with Tigers.  For many reasons, one the size of the first book, another the fact that nothing interesting would technically be possible for awhile, PWT had to end where it did.  The second book picks up storywise where the first left off and again follows Keel.  I don't want to give anything away, but I think that anyone that enjoyed the first book will also enjoy this one.  The only problem I can foresee is a third book, which would be the end of Keel's story because three is a good number and there's only so long I could keep making him have mindless sex with everyone before I break the appeal of the character. 

Release for PWT2 is hopefully going to be within the next few months if all goes well.  I write very fast and very often.  The only thing that may delay it's publication is the other book that I have been working on.  It's not erotica or romance but here, let me tell you about that as well  :)
Since it's untitled, I'm finding it harder than I had hoped to talk about haha - Set in the same fantasy universe as PWT, the story centers around a young man named Azriel and the murder of his fiance six years prior.  By the time the story starts, he's very reluctantly given up on finding the one responsible, but when the Gerudai bring him some interesting information he picks up the hunt again with the help of one of their own.  This story not only takes the reader where Playing with Tigers could never go, but also allows me to indulge in a character that puts all others I've written to shame.  Dark humor, mystery, fantasy and adventure all wrapped up in one. 

Anyway, back to writing.  Happy hunting everyone