I have a confession to make. I have
been working on a different blog. Oh, don't worry. I'm not catting
out on some strange, random blog. This one is mine as well. You see,
in order to properly socially network a project, it must have a
searchable tag in the cloud or the interweb tubes (don't I sound very
techie when I have barely a clue). And genres also don't like to intermingle, it seems. So, I
had to create a blog for the various niche genres I write in. This
new blog is Yaoi at Sybaritic Press. Warning: That site is dedicated to homoerotic fiction. The excerpts are quite explicit. Read at your own risk! In that blog, I introduced the new book, Ensnared Volume One. It's
now in two volumes because the 180,000 words was a bit much to fit
into one paperback. The volumes are a rollicking epic filled with
intrigue, danger, humor and a big sprinkling of homoerotic D/s fun. Of course, no one is entirely who they appear to be, and even
the simplest actions can be lethally dangerous. Above all, this is a
love story between two people from extremely divergent backgrounds.
Here is the summary from the back cover
blurb:
In
this world, even the most powerful are captives
Lord Darius Galatea seems to have all
the power in the world. He is Leader of the Cosimo or Cosi, those who
keep order in an advanced civilization built upon a strict caste
system. He could have a city razed with one call or have the most
high born citizen put to death for the slightest transgression.
Andreas Hesper comes from the lowest caste. He used an agile mind and
just the right amount of muscle to become the most successful leader
of an underworld gang. A chance encounter between the two men not
only upends both of their worlds, but also ultimately puts their
lives in jeopardy. It is custom that some of the Elite citizens of
the world class city of Amara owned their lovers as playthings for a
time. But those trained playthings or Damis were from a specific
caste bred for their obedience and loyalty. Never had a gang leader
become a Dami and thus privy to the secrets of an all powerful Lord.
But there is more to the streetwise young man who agreed to be a
plaything despite the objections from his caste and those from his
Master's world. Andreas felt bound to the Cosi from the moment they
met. He sees and hears more than even Darius himself. Andreas knows
that they must tread very carefully in both of their worlds or the
attraction that so closely binds them together will cause their
destruction.
For more details, lengthy
excerpts, and details about the characters and how the books were
written, please visit Yaoi at Sybaritic Press.
Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch
Last week was wonderfully cool. I
managed to bake some test cookies from new recipes or new techniques
of old recipes. I had hoped to make some soup stocks, but the cool
streak didn't last very long. Still, I managed to figure out how to
make oatmeal cookies without all of them spreading into one large,
thin cookie. I also discovered that there are many cookie
troubleshooting forums on line. They were very helpful. Jon and I are
working on a production plan for the holiday baking that should be
even more relaxed. And these recipe refinements are producing some
very nice results. Jon's co-workers certainly are enjoying them. I've
got my lineup fairly well set. I may be very daring and try to make
macarons. [that photo is not of macarons I've made]. I'm not certain they'll make this year's rotation, because I'm
unsure of how well they hold up (how many days do they last in a
cookie bag or cookie jar and how well do they travel). I'm also not
sure how well I'll execute them. I've done very little work with a
piping bag. I've never ground nuts into flour. And that's another
consideration. I have to be very careful of people with nut
allergies. We already segregate the peanut butter cookies after baking. We acutally
make them separate from the other cookies. And we do a heavy cleaning
and disinfecting in between. I may try to make them though. We also
have to have another whack at diabetic cookies as we have more and
more people that fall into that category. It's not hard work, and Jon
loves the resulting research so far.
The rest of the week that was not
related to getting the book underway was not so great. Some people
here have heard enough about my frustrations with automated customer
service, so I won't rehash that saga. I'll just get angry again.
Sending a book out into the world is always daunting. I'm actually
depressed afterward. I find I miss hanging out with my characters.
And then there is the terror that either no one will like the book or
everyone with just shrug at it and walk away. I was fighting a cold
much of the time, so that didn't help my state of mind. I was even
achier than I usually am of late, and I had that vexing scratchy-sore
throat thingy. It is very amusing that even after all I've been
through as a cancer patient that I still find a garden variety cold
this annoying. Baking helps with all of those negative feelings for
the most part. But even a very successful round of cookie baking
didn't quite lift my melancholy and discontent.
And then there is the event looming
largely this upcoming weekend. I am taking my first trip since August
2009. It's my first convention since Dragoncon 2008. That's enough to
make me nervous. I also opened my big yap to the convention committee
on a controversial topic. Now, I'm doing a panel for the first time
in years. The audience is likely to be hostile. Ah well, I've always
liked San Francisco. Hopefully, we'll get to see a little bit more
than the hotel during a short stay. I'll report on the whole shebang
next week. That's just weird that shebang is in spellcheck, but it
flags all possessive words with an apostrophe as misspelled. Strange.
Updates
I have none for this week. I'm still
assembling promotional materials for Ensnared and my other works in
that genre for the convention. And I'm about to enter the frenzied
OCD phase of my travel preparations. I have lists of my travel lists.
I'm out of practice, so I'm extra OCD right now. We'll only be gone a
few days, yet my lists are ever so long and detailed. Poor Jon.
Stay tuned.
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