Nothing but the effects of dust and vapor in the thin skin of air

When Barnabas rescues a stranger from a storm, he knows he's in for a tempestuous time. Lust wars with more altruistic feelings to paralyze Barnabas until the stranger makes the first move for him -- and then there's no stopping either of them.

Inside, outside, against the wall, and even occasionally on the bed. But Barnabas starts to wonder if the sex is a distraction from something more important, something his English language challenged new lover isn't saying. When the truth is finally revealed, the betrayal cuts deep, and for Barnabas, it may be too little, too late.

It's an m/m erotic romance, so it's not suitable for under 18s. There's an excerpt available to read on the Loose Id page for the few of you I haven't coerced into beta-reading for me!

And hey, $5? Is about £3.50. Save a sandwich, read Tease instead!

On sale today! m/m fairy tales! Including Swan Made, by me :)

Fellow contibutors include:

Clancy Nacht
Mercy Loomis
JL Merrow
Lenore Black
Jay Di Meo
SJFrost
Jason Rubis
Michael M Jones
Elizabeth Black
Kilt Kilpatrick
and it's edited by EM Lynley!

The Now Show lifted exactly the same HYS quotes as Speak Your Branes (obviously not all of the ones SYB picks up, but all of the ones in the Now Show had previously appeared on SYB). I'm disappointed, really.

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Anyway, I recall owing some HG Wells recs ^_^ An excuse to waffle about a favourite author?
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Preface to the 1941 Edition

Here in 1941 The War in the Air is being reprinted once again. It was written in 1907 and first published in 1908. It was reprinted in 1921, and then I wrote a preface which also I am reprinting. Again I ask the reader to note the warnings I gave in that year, twenty years ago. Is there anything to add to that preface now? Nothing except my epitaph. That, when the time comes, will manifestly have to be: 'I told you so. You damned fool.' (The italics are mine.)

H.G.WELLS

(The italics are his)

Missed mininano again yesterday, so I'm determined not to make it two days in a row.

110 words

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Writing for mininano. The point is to write every single day, rather than to a end total, and it doesn't matter what you write or whether its all one project. I pledged a hundred words a day, and since its Bonfire Night tonight, I'm brainvomiting here! Inspired by a the_literatzzi prompt, and one of the rememberance day ads on TV.

( 141 words )

Been reading rionaleonhart's post about writing strengths/weaknesses. It's quite fun to analyse your own stuff, trying to avoid the Dunning-Kruger effect. I am, overall, quite happy with my writing, though I feel I lack any kind of concrete style, so this is a fairly self-deprecating list (I'm arrogant enough to start out assuming I'm perfect, and so this is me picking holes in that).

- I like to think I'm fairly good at both dialogue and description, but I can't do both at once. People have conversations in voids, or hang out in scenery with nothing but indirect speech to tide them over. Mushing together tends to end up with something along the lines of:

"Dialogue," he verbed, actioning.

"Dialogue dialogue," she verbed adverbly, actioning in scenery. "Dialogue."

He improbably-verbed, "Dialogue." He actioned.

Characters either hang in space for the entire the conversation, or accompany every sentence with some form of fidget. I also can't handle a conversation between more than three people; characters go completely mute. Council scenes in Greenhelm are a pain, because there are just too many characters, all of whom ought to be saying something relevant (often the same thing, or over the top of each other). This is why some of them tend to fall asleep, or sulk.

Also, it's the same actions over and over. All the show-don't-tell has left me with a group of actions that I use as shorthands for emotions, but they don't always show the same emotion (which is realistic, but when the one character uses the same action twice in one conversation for two different things, and another uses it in response for something else entirely, it's kinda meaningless). Characters are constantly tilting and cocking their heads, chewing on their lips, and tugging on their own hair. I have to watch myself to make sure I don't use any of them more than once in a section, and not by multiple different people in a chapter. All my characters are bald with terrible neck strain and ragged lips.

Also, improbable verbs and adjectives. Which, later, I can't remember why I used. Sometimes it's cool, but a lot of them time they just feel like typos. I just get sick of words like "said" and "asked".

( And I continue... )

Your go! Also, comment. Am I right about myself?

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Simultaneous speech. How do you convey it without priviledging one statement over the other? Or am I asking the impossible for text?

I have been writing Roman slash. There's Horace/Virgil/Propertius (where Propertius is Captain Jack Harkness, since that's the point of sodomy_central) and Horace/Virgil. The two fics aren't related, except in theme. There's nothing too explicit in either, but lots of reference to Roman debauchery and Roman poets' physiques.

Idea for series of articles for WSAAC: ( I can't get you published, but I can help you avoid getting mocked )

Just playing with ideas. Any suggestions for further links and resources are welcome. I've lost my manuscript format links, if anyone happens to have any good ones.

Reading the comments here has left me with a terrible desire to send tea bags with my covering letter for Greenhelm, whenever it's in a state to have a covering letter. It's not chocolate, but it is memorable, and Ilike to think it's the kind of story that'd go well with a nice cup of tea and a comfy chair. Also, I feel sorry for the people who have to plow through all those manuscripts.

Turn to page 123 in your work-in-progress. (If you haven't gotten to page 123 yet, then turn to page 23. If you haven't gotten there yet, then get busy and write page 23.) Count down four sentences and then instead of just the fifth sentence, give us the whole paragraph.

That story with the Girls and the Wizard's House. (p5, since I'm only up to p12 in the notebook)
She focused on the content of her mother's pockets again, to distract herself. Lipstick. A Handkercheif. A penny. Two paperclips and a bit of cotton.

Greenhelm. (p123 - a section I haven't reached in the edit yet)
Galahad grimaced, unseen. Just talking of marriage raised questions he couldn’t put into words about Greenhelm and the curse. He kissed the top of her shoulder blade, wrapping an arm around her waist to draw her almost into his lap. She resisted.

I'd do Jack and Will, but since I've been posting so much of that recently, there's no real point. I have several other WiPs, but none I've touched in a fairly long time.

So i can't do polls, but I still want to do this!

( Type 'your name' needs into Google, inside quotation marks )

That's insanely fun. It's like googling your own name (mine always comes up with a 1920s silent movie star), but more surreal. I kinda want to see that play now!

I've spent the morning reading Chaucer. I've promised myself 80 pages a day. Most of it I enjoy, but the 'moral' tales are just lost on me. I can't actually see the moral in either the Knight's Tale or the Man of Law's. The humorous tales actually have more of a kick at the end, with regards to wrong doing. And the Knight just goes on and on and on and on and on! I also decided I'd get essay done this afternoon, then go swimming and go to writers. I spent several hours last night writing, for the first time in a long time. It's the kids story I started at Dance Camp, and this is the first time I've picked it up since. 23 pages handwriten now, and a bump on my finger from holding the pencil for so long. Both the character voices and the authorial voice jump about all over the place (usually in accordance with what was on TV at that point), but I'm pleased with the plot. It's one of the first things I've written where I really consider this to be a draft, since there's so much I want tochange when I type it up. However, I have to hold off doing that because if I do I'll never finish it, since it's partly the fact its on paper that is helping the creative juices. Which means it won't be appearing at writersgroup any time soon, alas.

Ugh. On to essay. though first: What time and where is swimming this afternoon, again?