Many plates spinning

There's "Ethna Redux," almost ready for a final polish; my interview with Callidus soon to be posted on his site; the M/m story, which is shaping up very, very nicely in my head - it's almost time to start writing; and that mysterious other project I can't say much about yet and may not ever be able to say much about, depending on what we decide as a team. That's the (only) downside to collaborating: you don't get to do whatever you want to do whenever you want to do it - or say whatever you want to say whenever you want to say it. Me, I've got a pretty big mouth...online, at least. Some of my fellow writers, not so much. Dammit. ;-)

Bonus Sunday Goodness

Well now, I've just been a busy little beaver this weekend, haven't I?

Anyway, here's what happens when you let an experienced hard SF writer loose on the idea of Superman having sex. Be prepared to "bwah." Loudly.

And here's some funky/sexy/cool artwork I just turned up on io9, with clickable thumbnails to my two favorites.

Off and running

Well, folks, I'm pleased to announce that I finished the rough draft of "Ethna Redux" mere minutes ago and sent it off to three cheerful volunteers from the MC Garden (sara castle, robotunit8, and Lady K) for fact-checking all the details of Ireland and Irish mythology that my very American mind might have mangled. My plan at this point is to have the finished product ready for the December 14 EMCSA update.

I have also found some success in my quest for information about gay male sex, in preparation for writing that M/m superspy story I've been teasing you all with (BTW, in case you missed it, the final poll numbers came out almost identical in the "for" and "against" columns. That's good enough for me). I have a slash-loving friend who'd probably prefer to remain anonymous here, but who deserves my thanks for coming through for me in an entirely unexpected way. I hesitated to ask her advice at first, since from what I understand, slash is usually written by women who enjoy fantasizing about gay men rather than by gay men themselves. That, I thought, wouldn't do me any good at all. But this friend happened to have a link to a website of advice from an actual gay man about how to write realistic slash, and it's chock full of exactly the kind of details I need most. I doubt many of you out there are all that curious, but if you are, here's the link she gave me.

And as a special thanks to my friend, I'll be tucking her favorite slash pair into my story...but so subtly that only she'll see them for who they really are.

Cheers to all my secret and not-so-secret accomplices!

Meet Finvarra

So, there I was, plotting out my latest story and trying to turn the two-dimensional baddie of Lady Wilde's fairy tale into a sexy, three-dimensional being you could sort of root for...for awhile, anyway. I took a bit of inspiration from Tolkien and from Peter Jackson's adaptation of same (more about that in the eventual "Peek Beneath the Duct Tape") - including his decidedly androgynous male Elves. I added a large dash of Cluracan as portrayed by Neil Gaiman in the Sandman epic, and then I looked to the guy you see at your left.

This is Perish, the only really popular male fetish model I've found so far. I have a hunch that if he really were a fairy king, he'd be more likely to kidnap Ethna's husband than Ethna herself; nevertheless, he has great chemistry with the ladies he models alongside, and he comes across as delightfully sensual and otherworldly - not to mention occasionally downright freaky. But I like that, I like that. In fact, I find myself strangely attracted to him...well, most of him, anyway. ;-)

The picture at left doesn't quite illustrate anything from the Ethna story, but it comes close enough, with the idea of a supernatural being "playing" his female victim via music. You'll see how it all works out soon enough. In the meantime, if you'd like a better look at the female half of this pairing, you can start here and work your way through her brief but interesting little gallery.

One final note: "Ethna Redux" will mark the first but not the last appearance of Perish in one of my stories. I plan to cast him as the villain in my M/m superspy story, too.

Funny how the poll numbers have changed since my last post about them ;-)

I imagine some of you stopping back by here after a week or two away and going, "Huh? No, wait!" - then frantically stabbing the vote buttons. ;-) But sorry, folks, the wheels in my brain are turning too fast to be stopped now. If M/m isn't your thing, you'll just have to skip the superspy story.

But don't worry; there will be plenty for you to enjoy in "Ethna Redux," including a rather large slice of mdom, for those of you who like that sort of thing. I've tried to do right by the story and characters as Lady Wilde originally presented them...although, of course, I've added a good bit, especially at the end. ;-)

My version is coming along quite well, BTW. I might even finish the rough draft this weekend - or perhaps next. There are a lot of factors to juggle, including a sinus infection and a girlfriend I haven't seen nearly enough of lately.

Anyway, drop back by tomorrow for a look at my model for Finvarra, the Fairy King who kidnaps Ethna.

Happy Thanksgiving from Lords Cthulhu and Dagon

Ever wondered exactly how to pronounce "Ia! Ia! Cthulhu fhtagn!"? Here, let io9 show you how. And wow, that high priestess looks genuinely deranged, doesn't she? That's some mighty fine camp.

Link definitely NSFW, for those of you outside the US who actually are working today. Of course, anyone viewing this blog from work probably isn't too concerned, eh? ;-)

Lastly, to my frequent visitor from Mumbai: my thoughts and prayers are with you.

Aha, so you *are* up for a little man-on-man action!

I like those poll numbers I'm seeing over on the right (Missed the original post? Click here). Well friends, your wish is my command. I'm still working on "Ethna Redux" at the moment, and there's that other mysterious project that's still in the batting-ideas-around stages, so the M/m superspy story probably won't get started until around January. However, I'm so excited about it that I'm already toying with names and ideas. I can't wait to try writing an entire story in cyan. It'll be an interesting challenge.