May 13, 2013 by Tam

Monday Mumbling – Orgies (NSFW pics)

I know in m/m we tend to flippantly say “If one hot guy is good, two are even better, and hey why not three”, but what about four or five or ten?

Obviously m/m tends to be on the “romantic” side and while there are a few stories out there with romantic configurations of more than three, they are rare. And since many romance readers like their heroes to remain monogamous, not many heroes are running around joining in orgies willy nilly. A few, but it’s not all that common.

So how do you feel about a bed full of men? (or a living room, swimming pool, etc.) I’ve discovered that it’s not really my thing. I’ve read a few and they are fine, I mean it’s not like it’s a non-starter for me, it just doesn’t float my boat. It’s also pretty prevalent in porn and same thing. Eh. There always seems to be one focal point and it just seems very much like that person has no… personhood. They are just a thing, and I guess even in porn I’d like to think there is SOME kind of connection there, even if just “I acknowledge your existence as a human being”.

Of course this is all my interpretation and what I find kind of cold and distancing, some might find hot and attractive. Different strokes and all that.

Any orgy scenes in m/m (or porn) you’ve found particularly good, or the reverse, that really didn’t work for you? Does knowing a character (or two) are in an orgy turn you off and make you stear clear of the book?

May 12, 2013 by Tam

Dracones – On Sale Now! (Presale)

Dracones is available for pre-order at SMP, for 20% off. Release date is Friday, May 17. (My Dad’s birthday, not that he’ll read this or know it exists LOL)

Almost every ancient civilization has stories of some form of dragon, from the winged serpents of Asian lore to the traditional Western image of the fire-breathing behemoth. Literature is filled with stories of valiant heroes riding into the jaws of danger to slay the beast and rescue the princess. But sometimes, the knight in shining armor is less interested in the maiden in distress than in the dragon he’s supposed to slay. Dracones brings together seven stories detailing the power and majesty of a dragon’s love.

Most of the humans in Fugue in Gold and Fire are unknowingly animals in human form, and when the Vesti Moon rises, the animal forms break free, with no memory of their human lives. Lovers Adri and Dru search for a way to recognize each other during the change, but when Dru’s true form turns out to be a dragon, he considers never changing back.

Peter Harington aspires to be a Teller of Tales when he submits his fictional dragon manuscript for publication. Tom, the editor assigned to work with Peter, though, finds the worldbuilding a little too real and is determined to learn the truth.

When the dragon Daire is wounded, only the Weird Magics of alchemist Cyras can heal him. But when one of the fae is found killed and her blood drained, Daire suspects his savior of illegal experimentation and murder.

Then, in Chanson Commencante de Guerre, the ancient dragon Rayvak finds himself strangely drawn to the young dragon shifter Stormy, despite the years of war between the dragons and the dragon shifters. The two must overcome centuries of animosity if they are to find any happiness together.

Psychic David and his dragon lover Ferdie are literally Two in the Bush when their camping trip is interrupted by the magical guardians of their forest. They can sense the power of the dragon, but believe that David and Ferdie have it bound and demand that they release it or die!

Finding the Rain is the task charged to Buwei, sent with offerings to the Dragon Lord Shenlong in hopes of ending his province’ drought, a journey none have ever returned from. But the dragon’s temple keeper, Tian, wants Buwei for himself and is willing to defy even the great dragon to keep him.

Finally, in Lukos Heat, a mission of revenge sends the dragon Najlah into the mountains and into an unlikely partnership with the wolf shifter Barkus. And the closer they get to their quarry, the more they realize that nothing is as it appears.

Looks like some really great stories with so many different takes on the dragons. I’m very pleased to have joined SMP for this anthology and hope everyone who likes dragons decides to give it a go.

May 6, 2013 by Tam

Goodreads Story Update

Did I finish this weekend? Bad, Tam, bad. No cookies for you.

I just seemed to be completely exhausted on Friday and Saturday and did nothing. BUT, I did manage to get about 1,500 words written yesterday. Why do I leave the sex scenes for the last? Blah. I have about 1.5 scenes to go. Guess what one of them is? Yeah. That. Research time. And an epilogue. I know, some people hate epilogues, but this one will tie back to someone one of the characters talks about in the first chapter, so it makes sense to me. Whatever.

We are supposed to write short stories for this thing aren’t we? Ooops. I’m up to 19.5K and still have the last bit to do. It’s only the first draft, but I’m hoping I can finish it up tonight and then polish it up this week. We’ll see. I work well with a deadline. Ack!

As for research, I know we always joke about writing off porn site memberships as research fees, but I honest to god did porn research. LOL The story is m/m/m and I just didn’t feel very creative, so I found a threesome porn scene (Cocky Boys if you care – Anthony Romero – day-um) and I basically transcribed some of what they were doing into the story. Sort of. Not exactly. I combined it with what the pictures I have of the actual guys inspiring the story show they did. Handy. Truly research. Who said research should be dry and boring?

So it’s getting there. I like it, I think that I probably could have made it another 10K to give it a really strong HEA the requester wanted, there are some things I hint at in the story that I know would be interesting to explore, but seriously, it’s a free story, I have to let this go. LOL I’m also questioning whether sticking with two rather than three points of view was the way to go, but again, enough second guessing. Maybe I’ll do a follow-up from the third guy’s POV some day since many of the issues are his.

Anyway, in honour of J, P and T, (I think we are supposed to keep their names secret for now), here are some threesomes.

May 3, 2013 by Tam

Another Friday, Another Five

So what’s new since last Friday? Um. I think my daughter has mono. She started getting sick last weekend, went to school Monday morning and her math teacher sent her home. She just wanted to sleep and had a mild fever, sore throat, just felt bad all week. Yesterday I took her to a clinic and the doctor thinks it’s either strep throat or mono, most likely mono. So we went for blood tests but we probably won’t know for sure until Monday.

It means no riding for her (which is tough) as apparently your spleen can get enlarged and if she were to fall off the horse it could rupture. Ack! I know she is sick when she starts sleeping in the daytime. Luckily her classes this term are… hardly taxing, so missing a week or so isn’t really a big hardship. Still, it’s tough.

We finally got spring, straight into summer. Nearly 80 here today. Whew. Hot. Work/job action is still crazy busy. Hard to keep up, but hanging in there. Anyway, here’s another random grouping of five things.

Last week I did five pictures she sent me from Tumblr, this week it’s five pictures I sent her:

Gummy worms nutrition label

There was a series of these. Chickens wearing sweaters.

Five not-so-healthy things I ate this week.

Do you sense a theme here?

And last but not least, five belly buttons.

Have a great weekend everyone. I hope to finish my GR story this weekend. No hope. I will finish. Only two and a half scenes left.

April 29, 2013 by Tam

Tumbleweeds roll through…

Yeah, things are kind of sparse on the ground here. My life is not getting any slower with job action heating up. I’m also madly trying to finish my story for GR and last week was 12-15 hour days leaving me exhausted. Not fun. Now today my kid has a fever and cough and is sick. Sheesh. We need a break.

But seriously, that’s it. On the upside it looks like spring has finally arrived. I didn’t even wear a coat today and it’s going to be in the 70′s later in the week. Wheeee.

So I’m around, just not as active as usual. If you need me, you know where to find me, otherwise, I hope in a few weeks to get back to my normal life. Fingers crossed. Have a great week.

April 19, 2013 by Tam

Friday Five

Well, my life appears to be crazier than ever. Today I truly wanted to just run away for a while. The whole work/union mix is so not working. Wednesday I left the house at 7:00 in the morning, got home at 7:30 at night. Thursday not quite so bad, but I have to keep going. Whine whine whine. I’m going to bed shortly and hopefully don’t have as much to do this weekend. I’ve had no time to read or do reviews or write. I need to write. ASAP. But I’m so tired. Did I mention whining?