About me

So, it occurs to me that I just sort of started publishing short stories without talking about myself. No information about who I am or what I'm into to give you an idea if you should want to check my work out.

I'm sort of in between stories this morning. I've got three half-finished ones sitting in a pile in Scrivener, and I thought I would take a break from picking at them to talk a little bit about myself here, to help anyone who finds this place with that.

The short version is that I come from a family that's included published authors. You probably haven't heard of them, even though some bills got paid that way. As a result, I've always held a pretty unromantic view of the life of an author. To me, it was always about rejection letters and uncertainty, not empowerment.

I decided to go a different route. My degree's not in literature or anything, and my prior work experience has very little to do with creative writing.

The thing is, storytelling is in the blood. I've done a lot of RP, much of it sexy. Lots of stories for small audiences or single partners. I still remember when Yahoo was shiny and new. They had groups for fetishes I hadn't even considered.

It's weird to think about a time when I was innocent, but I've got the logs safely tucked away.

I probably never would've tossed anything out into the wild, except for e-books. Self publishing sort of turned the whole idea of writing on its head for me: suddenly, selling a story wasn't about waiting six months to hear back from one of the big publishing houses. I discovered that all I had to do was write stuff and it could be live the same day. I did a little research about covers, roped a couple people into proofreading my work for typos, and the rest is pretty much documented here.

My first blog post was a hurried afterthought because I was trying to make sure I did everything right when I submitted my first story for publication.

I picked erotica because the two things I enjoy most as a writer are full length novels and short, steamy scenarios. I can't really afford to take months to polish a novel and offer it up in the hopes people will buy it... at least, not with my budget the way it is now. So I settled on short stories. The way I figure it, if I spend today making something unpopular, I can always try again tomorrow with something fresh and new.

As for what I like, my own tastes are pretty broad. There are two big themes I like to explore:

1) Sci-fi and fantasy.
I spend all day on Earth, so when I'm fantasizing, I like to go someplace else. I'm a fan of stories both mainstream and obscure. I love Lovecraft and Star Trek and Harry Potter, but I also remember War Against the Chtorr and Riverworld and a thousand other places.

I like my vampires, but I like them to break the usual molds: BBC's Ultraviolet and Brian Lumley's Necroscope really stand out, when I imagine them. I'm hoping to do something neat with those soon.

2) Control.
It's hot to think about people controlling other people, either through crude means, (coercion, blackmail), or subtler and more fantastical stuff, (hypnosis, magic). What can I say? Power imbalances are hot.

That said, not everything I do will feature bizarre creatures or weird gadgets. I want to write more mainstream stuff too, just to get a better grounding in it. I don't want to get boxed into any one thing - part of the fun of writing is getting to see where it takes me. I'm often surprised by the time I'm done with something.

I really hope you all like what I have to offer. My goal with this whole project is to try and tell stories that you enjoy and remember.

So... that's who I am. I guess I'd better get back to it.