Monday, June 25, 2012

Just another update

Swordmaster Dasan hits Amazon today.  The short story will be available in Ebook format at all major retailers by 6pm EST.  This is the last opportunity to download it for free at Goodreads and B&N before it's set for purchase only. 

The short story falls into too many categories, which seems to be my most used complaint.  If I name them all then we're talking about a gay bondage erotica fantasy short.  That's four and as usual I'm limited to two classifications  *sigh* 

Apparently gay bondage erotic fiction featuring full suspension is extremely rare, please correct me if you know a place I missed, my friends would be thrilled.  It's at times like this I'm glad that one of my closest personal friends has a kink that involves so many knots, because I needed to research relatively nothing, which make the story a cakewalk to write.  Admittedly, there are only two scenes that really get rope crazy...  Three?  I'm not sure if the third counts.  But, it's a quick read and I tried to keep it interesting so, again, feel free to check it out and please rate and comment if you do.  It will remain a free download at certain retailers only for about the next week before the price sets in. 

A quick description for anyone looking;

Swordmaster Kyo Dasan was the man who trained the character Localem (Loki) Arada from the Playing with Tigers series. Since Loki hailed from basically nowhere, he had nothing to offer in trade.  Kyo sees the opportunity and offers an alternative means of payment, namely Loki's body. 

Because Loki needs the title to escape the mundane future he would otherwise be forced to endure, he reluctantly agrees.  As a result, he spends much of his time recovering from Kyo's attention, and eventually discovers something about his Swordmaster that explains much of his cruel and indifferent behavior. 


My thoughts:
I could write about these two endlessly, because they work so well together.  It's hard to make a sadist that the reader likes, but harder to make a masochist who can hold their ground against them.  They present a constant challenge because one phrase from either character can turn the story in an entirely new direction, and steering it can be both fun and difficult.  I love the challenge, but I don't like to waste my already strapped time.  Depending on the sales and reviews of this story, I may have found my niche.  I will still finish Playing with Tigers, and I fully intend to write my other fantasy novels as well, but this was a fun escape from the ordinary, or at least as ordinary as I get. 

In any event - Thank you to those of you who reviewed my book.  I glance around every once in awhile to see how I can improve my storytelling and writing as a whole, and the constructive criticism is appreciated more than you probably realize.  Many independent authors are dying for recognition and praise - don't think I'm any different.  But I know that I have a long road ahead of me in my writing and I'm prepared to trip a few times if necessary to get there.  Your reviews help me deliver a better product to you, and I can't thank you enough for it.

Now, back to work for me.  Feel free to contact me at my blog or on Goodreads.com if you're actually bored enough.  I'm not as bad as I make myself out to be.  Or am I?  *ominous music* 

- Stephanie 'Kaeli' Hart

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Swordmaster Dasan & Playing with Tigers 2

Swordmaster Dasan is now available for free and full download at Goodreads.com and the potential sequel to that is brewing in my mind no matter how hard I try to focus on the task at hand, namely PWT2.  Both are giving me their own version of trouble. 

I had written the story with Loki and Kyo to promote the book and get some much needed feedback.  Although the one review was lovely, it seems that relatively nobody else spared the time to let me know if they enjoyed it.  So, I have recieved zero money for that piece, very little feedback, and almost no pageviews for the book itself in relation to the short story.  That's the internet for you.

As an independent author, I rely entirely on the kindness of my readers and word of mouth advertising.  If I could afford other means to promote my book, I would.

The review I received of Playing with Tigers is one of the only reasons I sit at my computer every single moment that I can and work on the sequel.  Because one person said they couldn't wait for it.  I would dedicate the book to their username if I wasn't worried that they would dislike that, or that the book wouldn't live up to their expectations.  Both are possible, after all. 

The sequel for Swordmaster Dasan will be written eventually, and it is entirely due to the lovely review I received on Smashwords and the phone call of praise I was awarded from my closest friend after she read it. 

The Playing with Tigers series will be written because I will go insane very quickly if I don't get that finished and move on to the genres I enjoy.  I know from experience that if I neglect to write something, it will kick around in my mind and I will never be capable of forgetting it. 

To prove that I am sincere in my plea for more reviews, I will again be offering a code to discount the book to 100% off on smashwords and will be posting it on here in the upcoming days.  It will still ask for a credit card, but if you enter the code before checkout, you should not be charged.  If you do not have a credit card, then you are under 18 and need to stay away from both my book and my short stories, you rotten, perverted kids.  Or, anyone interested could always find a way to contact me - I'm not quite as evil as I claim in my profile and I do give copies via e-mail to those that ask. 

In other news, I will be moving into my new home in the next week.  What that means for my readers is that I will not have access to my beloved internet, and possibly even be separated from my computer for awhile as I scramble to gather my things and fix that house.  It's all robin's egg blue on the interior - far too happy a color to remain.  My writing will be put aside for awhile, and it will delay any publications until I can tone down the purely white and neon blue decor.  Anyone else that suffers from constant migraines can probably understand why that's a priority over everything, including food. 

I think that's everything I wanted to rant about for now...  Anyway, happy hunting and please remember to check out Swordmaster Dasan and look for me on Goodreads.com  (I have no friends there, it's pathetic.)

- Stephanie (Kaeli) Hart.

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Considering Swordmaster Dasan Sequel

So, for anyone who visits my blog (a laughable thought admittedly, but let me dream) I am thinking of publishing a second story starring Kyo and Loki, set a bit closer to the beginning of Playing with Tigers.  It would coincide with Lassieta taking the throne, and therefore Loki would have grown a bit more into his own kinks, which makes it difficult to write.  Would like some thoughts on that if anyone wanders on here.

Also, I set up an account on Goodreads and claimed the authoring of my book, so feel free to contact me there if it's easier for you.  :)  Happy hunting everyone.

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Quick Update

I'm somewhat surprised by the amount of downloads from the Swordmaster Dasan story, it beat the other promotional short almost instantly.  I suppose that's because the content is apparently rare, gay bondage with full suspension is hard to find, or so I hear.  Makes me want to write more on that, perhaps even go all out much to the dismay of my friend who can't deal with me at my worst, or is it best? lol  Anyway, if i can think of a fun context for that then you may have another in the future, but no promises. 

As a response to the lovely review of Swordmaster Dasan -I greatly appreciate hearing that someone enjoyed the story.  I was having more than the usual doubts in my own writing when I stumbled across that and it was enough to get me back on track.  So, thank you very much.  I write fast and often, and as a result I do need to edit everything.  The problem is that:
a) I suck at it 
b) my friends are all already swamped just reading the unedited stuff I throw at them - think about getting 14+ pages a day (I am so sorry guys lol) 
c) I can't afford an actual editor.  I can barely afford the coffee I drink, lol. 

I didn't drive myself insane over that story with editing because it was written in spare time over the course of two weeks and I was eager to get that up on the site for everyone to take a look at.  Technically the cover is sitting on my desk, waiting to be scanned still, lol.  I jumped the gun on that too.  

The edit on Playing with Tigers is finished on the kindle, and is being implemented when I need a break from writing the sequel, since I keep running out of short stories to occupy myself.  I keep finishing them...  I have hundreds that are unpublished, but they don't focus on the same genre as what I've been putting up and I think that my readers just expect more on that, so for now they stay on the hard drive.  

Playing with Tigers 2 is still on schedule, but I decided to take a brief hiatus from writing to push the evil creatures known as realtors into closing on the house we purchased.  Thankfully, my stupid plan of writing the plot driving scenes first worked out, so it's just adding the copious amounts of sex with everyone willing and many that aren't, and then it's finished.  

The person who is organizing the creative writing site for me and my group of friends had to relocate quite suddenly, which pushed that project off to the side indefinitely, but when it is up, I intend to share that both here and on my profile.  It will feature many (typically hilarious) stories from myself and a few other writers that I spend my time with, many of which are in my opinion far better at writing than I will ever be lol.  It will be open to the public, and since we're all competitive, I am thinking we will have an ability to vote for who had the best story for each week.  *elbow elbow*  You know, I am so not above bribing  ;) ;)  I may make a sign "Will write more gay bondage for votes."  

Anyway... It's 2am and the sun comes every morning no matter how much I beg for it to stop, so I need to go drag my sickly looking self to bed.  Look below for a code to get a free copy of Playing with Tigers - the book is insanely long and still reads like being thrown down a flight of particularly steep stairs at the moment, but it's free and I did put a lot of work into the damn thing, so please enjoy it  :)  I will fix what I can find in the upcoming weeks and publish the second edition, starring nearly decent English!  Yay! 




Saturday, June 2, 2012

Swordmaster Dasan

So as anyone here probably knows, since the only link to this blog is in my profile, I published the short story Swordmaster Dasan yesterday afternoon.  And, since I will likely receive no feedback on it whatsoever, I decided to share my thoughts on it here.  The story itself was written in two weeks, somewhat haphazardly and I'm sure it shows lol...  I had mentioned twice in the novel that Loki had been forced to trade sex for training when he was younger and came to power mostly on his own afterwards.  So when I saw the sheer number of downloads from the other promotional short and wished to do another, it was an easy choice of which I would do next.  Any romance in the story was entirely unintentional, I'd wanted to get across more that Kyo was seeking companionship and got a bit attached, but only temporarily.  Mostly because Loki speaks well of him but offers no feelings one way or the other when he broaches the topic later on.  Also, this story allowed me to show where Loki discovered his own tastes. 

One of my friends felt that this story was very edgy, racy and scandalous.  Personally, I thought I was rather easy on Loki...  But to each their own.  I can write nearly anything after the two scenes in the Playing with Tigers series that had given me trouble, so long as there's a story to write in there as well.  I had asked people to give it a once over, and after I fired a few bullets and stabbed a guy they finally agreed.  If not for one of the two people that read my work before it's published, the story would've ended after the first night that Kyo has Loki.  He demanded more, and here we are.  I don't plan on doing another bondage short anytime soon, but I would be willing to add more to this one possibly.  I just have to publish the second PWT book first. 

Speaking of which, since you gave enough of a crap to stop by my blog, help yourself to a free copy of my novel.  Smashwords will still ask for card info, but put the code below in at checkout and it will be discounted to 100% off.  That needs considerable editing and also stars a bisexual young man, so there are many scenes with him and a woman, but I tried to keep it as even as I could throughout.  The final edit of that is pending, but the only reviewer who had the balls to say they enjoyed the book said he couldn't wait for the second novel, and I like to reward anyone who gives me my much needed feedback. 

Coupon code for Playing with Tigers (be careful the book is insanely long) -

KP53L
 

Friday, June 1, 2012

Fixed temporarily

I made a crappy cover to hold it over out of an old doodle I did and had no intention of using for anything else, so please enjoy, rate and comment. 

Setback


So, minor setback.  My scanner is packed up with all of my other crap and is thoroughly inaccessible, and I prefer to make my covers by hand...  That way I can frame them and have them stare at me when I start to wander away from writing.  I'll see if I can harass some of my friends to let me use theirs but I already have them at knifepoint to read for me so often, lol, I feel I might be pushing things by asking for more.  I wanted this piece up by the weekend, so I'm debating just making a crappy cover for now to hold it over.  I'll see what I can do. 

PWT2 is nearly complete, right on schedule.  I'm hoping to be editing it by mid June, which would put it's release in July at some point, August if I get another month from hell.  I intend to charge for it, but anyone that actually gives enough of a damn to come to this blog will find a 100% off coupon code on the day it's released for Smashwords and I will make it count for a few weeks. 

The only trouble I'm having writing at the moment is that I like to jump between a large project and a short story when I need a break from one, and I keep finishing the short stories.  One of my friends, because of the story I'm about to put up, wants me to do serialized short stories on Loki.  He's one of my favorites, I'm not going to lie.  I would, but not all of them would end up as erotica.  In fact, most wouldn't.  I was thinking of doing one as the backstory for Jade, which would explain how they ended up in the love/hate relationship they have, which was only very barely hinted at in the first book. 

I will try to upload the story over the weekend, one way or another.  If you enjoy it but are shy, please email me.  I don't bite, and if you want, I won't even respond, just say so in your message.  I work off of feedback; the more I get, the more I get done.  

Now, off to work on that cover problem...