Helping Vampires to Save the World - I'm Jazzed To Be Part of Coming Together: In Vein

This is very, very cool: my story, "The Curse," is part of a brand new Coming Together anthology from the always-wonderful Lisabet Sarai - Coming Together: In Vein

 

Helping Vampires to Save the World

Let's face it. Vampires are sexy. Something about the undead stirs up our juices. Perhaps it's their irresistible power. Even when we know the danger, we're so very tempted to surrender to their all-consuming lust. Maybe we want to comfort them, to save them a lonely, bloody eternity. Maybe we secretly crave immortality ourselves. 

Vampires are frequently portrayed as evil or at least amoral, viewing humanity from the jaded perspective of centuries. Now, though, vampires are doing their part to save the world. 

 Coming Together: In Vein is a brand new collection of vampire-themed erotica and erotic romance edited by Lisabet Sarai. All sales of this novel-length volume support Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières). MSF works in nearly 70 countries providing medical aid to those most in need regardless of their race, religion, or political affiliation. Right now, despite being barred from the country, MSF doctors and nurses are in Syria, working with patients from both sides of the civil war. They're performing surgery in caves and sneaking into refugee camps to distribute desperately needed medications. 

 You can help MSF in its life-saving mission, simply by indulging your passion for vampires. Buy a copy of Coming Together: In Vein in ebook, Kindle format, or print. Enjoy! Then help spread the word! Every copy we sell has the potential to save someone's life.
 The list of contributors includes many names you'll recognize. Every one of these authors has provided his or her work free of charge, to support the charitable aims of the project. Furthermore, the editor is giving away a free copy of her short story collection Body Electric  to everyone who buys a copy of Coming Together: In Vein. (For details of this offer, click here.) 

 You'll find an excerpt below – just to whet your appetite.
 Sink your teeth into Coming Together: In Vein. Help our vampires save the world.

From “The Curse” by M. Christian

She was almost late coming into work. Unheard of, though no one would have noticed. She’d stood and stared at the bare bed, looking for some kind of evidence, some kind of physicality to match her filling memory. They’d stood on the balcony, looking at the stars and the brilliant lights of the city. A natural position, Ellie’s hands on the cold metal of the balcony, the other woman’s hands around her waist, her breath on the nape of her neck. A cascade, Ellie remembered, of goose bumps, but not from the cooling night.

Hard daylight. Blinking, wrapped in a towel, she stepped out, looking for footprints, hand prints. Moisture, a sparkling flicker of dew, anything to prove it had really happened.

They’d kissed—yes, and she tasted her again in memory:  the pressure of lips, the heat of her, the rhythm of their breathing. They’d come inside, kissed by the foot of the bed. The whisper of her black satin dress, the sudden too-tightness of Ellie’s jeans. The surprising laughter when the kiss broke, when the high of their excitement crested. The way, then, the giggles had faded as she had put her hands on Ellie’s face, traced the contours of her cheeks, her jaw, the way she’d tapped Ellie’s nose, whispering “button” in a rich, throaty voice.

In the warming room, Ellie stood at the foot of the bed, turning so she was facing the way she remembered standing. Yes. Eyes brown with flickers of amber. Lips too full, too red, too silken to be anything but a fantasy running around in the real world. Lithe, boyish. She remembered how she liked to watch her move, liked to watch her walk barefoot across the apartment. Graceful, as if every muscle were elegantly conducted to some lovely score.

Her shoes?  Yes… She’d kicked them off, near the foot of the bed. Without really thinking of the woman walking the hard pavement on thin, bare feet, Ellie dropped down to look, hoping for the reality of a simple black pump. Nothing, of course. Memories, but nothing else.

A glance at the clock brought up more—her face, glowing as if from low embers, smiling up at her. There, in her eyes was  the lust Ellie'd wanted, needed, but also something else, something finer, softer, kinder. There was something else there, in the dull red glow, something that had made Ellie’s heart melt as fast as her body. Liquid—yes, molten....

A glance at the clock also brought a slap of reality. 8:05. Half an hour on the bridge, fifteen minutes from the garage to the office. She was going to be late.

Still, hurrying, there was no escaping the growing number of ghosts from the past, that expired night: brushing her hair brought up a voice, rich and rumbling, and the feel of strong fingers stroking the top of her head; doing her teeth was those same fingers brushing her lips, feeling them before another kiss…

Finally, she had to stop, had to put both hands on the edge of the sink and breathe deep. In and out. Strong, steady breaths. She was late, she needed to get dressed and get going. She had work to do, lots of work to do. If it had happened... if it had happened then it was nice, and that was all. It didn’t change anything. If it hadn’t, then the world was as it was. Ellie, her little place, her little life, her job—the days falling down, one by one.

Tears, hot on her cheeks. How she wanted it to be real.       

Eyes open, puffy and red. Her face in the mirror, looking broken and small. But then she saw it, as real as a shoe, as foot and hand prints in night dew. Evidence, reality. Purple and harsh, sore, yes, but evidence none the less. A scarf would hide it, but not for now. Lateness, the bridge traffic, the walk from the garage, the firm, everything was gone from her mind. For now, as she stood in the window, the bruise on the slope of her neck was too priceless to hide, too real not to be stared at.

Angela Caperton Likes Coming Together Presents M. Christian

... and the WOWs keep coming! The great Angela Caperton just sent me this very sweet review of my collection Coming Together Presents M. Christian (a special project where the proceeds are being donated to Planned Parenthood). Thanks so much, Angela!

I have a confession: I am the world’s slowest reader. I know readers who can plow through several hundred pages in a couple days. Talk to me in a month or more.

But there is a reason for my plodding pace. I don’t read. I digest.

Thoroughly.

I hang on word choice, structure, lyrical sentences. Plot and character are sacred to me, and if a story doesn’t convert me immediately, it had better redeem itself quickly.

M. Christian’s erotica is a sumptuous feast I will gladly enjoy again.

In Coming Together Presents: M. Christian, I found stories – some previously published, others new to print – that kept me filled, kept me coming back for more – and kept me guessing!

M. Christian doesn’t shy from sensitive subjects in his stories, and in this collection dives headlong into issues of body image, selfishness, couples on the edge, one great story of a raunchy breakup that was totally hot, and does all this while taking us to the past, living in the now, and hurtling us beyond the stars – and constantly wrapping the stories in the tendrils of relationship and sex.

Several of the selections have stayed with me. In “Missing Alice” I was completely drawn into the description of Alice’s vivacious personality, her freedom of style, and the void her absence causes the narrator. I especially loved M. Christian’s authentic portrayal of how we change, how relationships evolve, and how a wild child might one day be the couch potato you can’t live without.

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Last Tango in Paris, Texas - Thanks, Remittance Girl!

So sweet! The very talented - and extra-nice - Remittance Girl just guest-posted my story, "Last Tango in Paris, Texas" from my new Coming Together Presents M.Christian collection. A tantalizing taste follows ... and click here for the rest of the story on Remittance Girl's fantastic blog.

You know the El Rio? Down on Cortez? Well, I’m not surprised; I’d be surprised if you did. It’s not exactly what you’d call a memorable ‘establishment’. Nothing, really, but a cinder block bunker in the middle of a red-dust parking lot. Hell, you wouldn’t even know it was a bar except for the pieces of neon in the black, narrow strip of window. It didn’t even say ‘El Rio’ anymore — so maybe you know the ‘E___io?’ down on Cortez?

Whatever. It was the dive of dives, the black hole of Paris, Texas; frequented, as far as I know, by alcoholic kangaroo rats and inebriated rattlers, or at least the two-legged equivalents.

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Kathleen Bradean Likes Coming Together Presents M.Christian

Sometimes I wonder about being a writer ... how I feel about it, I mean. It just means a lot - maybe too much - to hear that people like my work. That's why reviews like this one, by Kathleen Bradean for the Erotica Writers & Writers site, means so much to me. You made my week, Kathleen ... thanks!

If you’re lesbian, heterosexual, heteroflexible, bisexual, or gay; vanilla, or into leather; and you read much erotica, you’ve probably read an M Christian story. Few writers shift as comfortably, and convincingly, between genders and sexualities as he does. Add to that unique stories, often with a touch of science fiction or magical realism, and you can understand why he has developed a following.

In "Services Rendered," a woman’s rental car dies near a remote gas station in the desert. At first she thinks no one is there, but then a hot man appears. No one is around, and they’ve got time on their hands, so they take advantage of their mutual attraction.

"Smile, Mona" tells the story behind the most famous smile in history. What some women know, they aren’t telling.

"Evolution" covers three years in an evolving relationship between two trans characters, both female at the beginning, and well on their way to full transition by the end. What doesn’t change is the core of who they are, and the importance of their Sunday mornings together.

The humor and story building in "On One Hand," a polyamorous tale, is astounding considering how short the story is. The junior member of a law firm has been given a promotion, but the firm will only pay to transport one of his spouses. It’s not easy choosing between your perfect lover and mate, and your other perfect lover and mate.

Is it phone sex, voyeurism, hot chat, or all of that? In a "Hard Night’s Work," Jay Draper is working on the weekend, when he sees the hot guy he’s been trying to work up the courage to talk to in the office building across from his. They stay in their offices, but still manage to connect.

If you’re not aware of M. Christian’s work, this is a great introduction. If you are, you know he has hundreds of stories in print, but this is a nice collection that brings together a range of stories, some of which might have escaped your notice before. Add to that the charitable cause, and you have every reason to feel good about treating yourself to Coming Together Presents M. Christian.

The Coming Together anthology series, created by writer, editor, and cover artist Alessia Brio, raises money for various causes. The proceeds for this collection will go to Planned Parenthood.

Buy This Book: Coming Together Presents Remittance Girl

I'm sheepish. There I went, spouting off about my own Coming Together book when a good friend, and a magnificent writer, has her own collection supporting her own wonderful charity released.

I can't say enough great things about the mysterious Remittance Girl: her writing sparkles and shines, dances and flirts from each sentence to the next and - maybe best of all - she's a truly good soul. So go out and buy her own Coming Together collection: you will not be disappointed!

Coming Together Presents: Remittance Girl collects seventeen erotic stories by the mysterious and reclusive Remittance Girl. Open the cover and enjoy incredible tales of twisted desire and overwhelming lust, intricate and perfect as some Chinese jade carving.

An expat living in Vietnam, RG deftly captures the realities of life in Southeast Asia: the debilitating heat and humidity, the riotous energy and color and the loneliness of being an outsider. However, she's equally at home in gritty British suburbia or the beaches of the Costa del Sol.

Don’t expect light-hearted tales of playful sex from RG’s pen. Don’t expect romance—though sometimes it’s difficult to distinguish true love from satisfied desire. Be ready for tales with an edge, with a sting, and occasionally, with a moral. While many of RG’s stories are vividly realistic, some of her offerings are fables: unsanitized, old-fashioned fairy tales that retain a taste of terror.

RG’s writing strikes to the heart of the erotic. Her sex is strong and messy and real. She is not afraid to explore the darkest, rawest fantasies. When she writes kink, it’s not fashionable sex games—it is inevitable, compelling, inescapable, cutting to the core of her characters.

In this volume, Coming Together is delighted to present Remittance Girl, whose chosen charity is the ACLU.

Coming Together - Even More Special

Okay ... there's special, really special, and then there's very really special: my great friend (and a wonderful writer), billierosie, just posted this review for Coming Together: M.Christian on her wonderful site. Thanks so much, sweetie!

Two wonderful minds working together. Perfect symmetry. Lizabet Surai and M.Christian, pulling together for the same cause; Planned Parenthood. M.Christian has decided to put together a collection of his stories in aid of this organisation. The stories are diverse and really quite astonishing in their range. But I can’t really say it better than Lizabet herself.

“I was thrilled when Chris agreed to assemble a collection of his stories for the Coming Together Presents series. As I worked on this book, I was reminded yet again what a creative and versatile writer he is. Coming Together Presents M.Christian ranges from the leather bars of San Francisco to the deserts of Mars. The characters include rock-and-rollers, dykes with attitude, horny office workers, tortured artists, inter-galactic lawyers, even Mona Lisa. The atmosphere is tough and gritty in one tale, lyrical in the next, and teasingly tongue-in-cheek in a third.”

One theme runs through the stories; desire in its many incarnations. Sometimes it’s dark desire; teetering on the forbidden. At other times it’s playful, at others it’s wistful; perhaps just a dipping in of the toe. You know the sort of thing; where you run away giggling.

And of course, I have my favourites…

WINK is a dialogue between two guys. Almost like a court room dramatisation; Lou questions the narrator about his sex life with curvy Shirley. Why won’t he get to the point? What is it he wants to know? Christian expertly teases us with his clever words; with the skill of a clever lawyer, he draws out the dialogue hypnotically until there’s no escape for his narrator. The teasing and the humour are the best parts of this story. We know that Lou is drawing us into thinking about the taboo. Something dirty; something forbidden. Finally, the narrator understands where Lou is going. Lou wants to know about butt sex with a woman. And when I say he wants to know; Lou wants to know everything. From how the narrator initiated it, to its conclusion. And most importantly, how does the narrator know that Shirley likes it; really likes it?

He tells him.

In GRIZZLY, Christian introduces us to a little known aspect of Queer culture. The Bears. I do know about the Bears. I’ve a friend who is one; big, hairy, sexy and gloriously male. So very different from the effete men that you usually come across in Queer culture. Not that there’s anything wrong with effete; it’s just not for me.

Here’s a bit about the Bears, from Wiki.

"The self-identification of gay men as Bears originated in San Francisco in the 1980s as an outgrowth of gay biker clubs like the Rainbow Motorcycle club, and then later the leather and “girth and mirth" communities. It was created by men who felt that mainstream gay culture was unwelcoming to men who did not fit a particular body norm (hairless and young) Also, many gay men in rural America never identified with the stereotypical urban gay lifestyle, and went searching for an alternative which more closely resembled the idealised blue collar American male image…"

Rocky is a Bear and he’s adored by his lover, Paul. But something isn’t quite right. Paul is afraid of the dark, erotic desire that Rocky brings out in him.

“Beneath this costuming he was a great, and very furry beast - and he turned Paul on, something fierce.”

That is how Paul sees Rocky as something primal; something feral, belonging to nature in its darkest sense. But what Paul is afraid of is himself; of letting go.

Rocky leaves.

It takes months for Paul to think through his fears. Then one day, he knows; Rocky is coming back.

Paul’s cock is hard for the first time in weeks.

“All it had taken was to remember his grizzly ... and his powerful growl.”

In SMILE MONA, at last I understand the circumstances behind the enigmatic smile.

Christian writes a back story for La Giaconda. A story of a life stifled, without hope. Boredom and sadness. But now she has a reason to smile that small smile. She’s knows ecstasy; she knows its brilliant colours, its numinous sounds, its cascade of tastes, smells and the rapture of its wonderful touch. The Mona Lisa has been reborn. Perceptive genius that he was, Leonardo saw it in her face and painted it sensuously, in her haunting smile. Did the smile ever leave her face? Perhaps not; for she has a secret so great, that it is all hers. Her aging, coarse husband will never know it. The Mona Lisa has a secret that will see her through her lonely days and lonely nights.

In EVOLUTION, Christian explores the desire of change. No, not just the desire of change; an overwhelming need to change. Evolution or extinction; life or a slow death. It’s a stark choice, but sometimes those stark choices are all we have. In this story, Rocky and Willow have spent long days, nights, months, thinking out the changes that will make their lives complete.

First Rocky, then Willow. The change will be physically painful; there will be scars that are very real. The change will take great courage. But it is necessary.

Sunday morning to Sunday morning, fuck to fuck; the years pass, and slowly the changes are put into place. These aren’t the kind of changes that take place naturally in life. These changes take positive thought and action. Sometimes we have to be brave and face our demons, before we can be complete human beings; leading the lives we deserve, which are not necessarily the lives handed out to us at the beginning.

M.Christian’s stories are pitch perfect and there’s so many more; more than I’ve been able to mention here. Christian has dedicated his book to Planned Parenthood. It’s a cause he believes in. Here’s what he has to say about it.

"Yes, Planned Parenthood has become a kind of pariah, a pretend-it-doesn't exist organization, but this is why it needs as much financial and emotional support as it can get: they are fighting for everyone to have access to sexual information and reproductive health but also for women to be in control of their own bodies.

"But more importantly they are the resource for those who need them most, those who must face the truth of who they are, and if they truly can either have, or give someone else, a worthwhile life."

The U.K. has problems uncomfortably similar. We need those people who shout about the right to information; the right to an unbiased sexual education for our kids. And there is a definite need for folk across the generations to be properly informed about sexual health. As I write, Syphilis is on the increase; Chlamydia, an STI that can have no symptoms, causes infertility in women; it's often not diagnosed until it’s too late.

And as for parenthood;

From BBC News:

“The UK has the highest teenage birth rates in Western Europe - twice as high as in Germany, three times as high as in France and six times as high as in the Netherlands…

"The debate on how best to tackle teenage pregnancy has arisen again as latest figures show the rate in under-16s in England and Wales has increased. The government says it can do no more without the help of parents, while others are again calling for a broadening of sex and relationship education in schools.”

Coming Together: M.Christian - Out Now!

There's special and then there's really special, and this brand-new book is definitely the latter. Coming Together: M.Christian is a collection of erotica featuring both 'classic' stories of mine plus never-before-seen tales - but the best part is that the proceeds from the book are all going to one of my favorite causes: Planned Parenthood!

Here's the official announcement (and click here to order the book from amazon):

Presents is Coming Together's elite line of single-author titles edited by Lisabet Sarai. ALL proceeds from their sales will benefit the charities selected by their authors. In this volume, Coming Together is delighted to present M. Christian, eroticist extraordinaire, whose chosen charity is Planned Parenthood.

Coming Together Presents: M. Christian offers an assortment of vintage and previously-unpublished tales by the astoundingly versatile smut-master M. Christian. The stories range from the leather bars of San Francisco to the deserts of Mars, while the characters include rock-and-rollers, dykes with attitude, horny office workers, tortured artists, inter-galactic lawyers, even Mona Lisa. The atmosphere is tough and gritty in one tale, lyrical in the next, and teasingly tongue-in-cheek in a third.

M. Christian's erotica incorporates an expansive view of sexuality. His characters are not prisoners of their labels. They grow and change in the course of the story, and that change might involve crossing the artificial lines between straight and gay, femme and butch, dominant and submissive. In these tales, sexual orientation is a continuum. There's only one constant: their emotional intensity. Whether he is penning cyber-punk or satire, gay romance or lesbian smut, M. Christian's vivid characters hang around after the covers are closed and the lights are out.

A Guest Post

This is very nice: Lisabet Sarai asked me to guest post on her blog, Beyond Romance. So I took the opportunity to write a little something about the Coming Together project she and Alessia Brio are putting together and that they were very sweet to ask me to become a part of. Here's a taste, for the rest just click here to go to Lisabet's site.

Before I get started with this post I have to throw out not one but two very sincere 'thanks' -- to the same person.

Lisabet gets the first because she was so nice to ask me to writes something for this blog, and she gets the second because she's been fantastic to work with on a very special project -- which brings me to the subject of this post.

Alessia Brio and Lisabet have been working on Coming Together, a series of books by a wide range of writers, where the profits are going to be donated to charity. Alessia and Lisabet asked me to join in -- always a way to get me to do anything -- so I, with Lisabet's invaluable help, have put together a collection of brand new and never-before-seen as well as some of my (I say this with tongue firmly in cheek) "classic" short stories.

For my charity -- well, my charity is the reason for this post.

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Coming Together

I'm thrilled to be a part of this great new project: Coming Together. Stay tuned for more info but in the meantime here's an announcement about the project from its driving force, Alessia Brio:

PITTSBURGH, PA – September 3, 2009 – To complement its recently-unveiled novella ebook line, COMING TOGETHER today announced Coming Together Presents, a line of full-length works to be released in both print and ebook. Each title in this line will benefit a charity chosen by its author. The line will be edited by renowned erotica author Lisabet Sarai.

"I was absolutely thrilled when Lisabet agreed to tackle this project!" said Coming Together's Alessia Brio. "She's in charge of who & what gets published and will set her own pace. I have total confidence in her ability to select quality work & polish it to its highest shine."

Sarai, whose credentials as both a writer and an editor are impressive, is no stranger to Coming Together. Her exceptional stories are featured in several volumes.

With the trademark erotic cocktail anthologies accepting material under ten thousand words and Coming Together: Neat publishing novellas between ten and fifty thousand words, the latest addition means the ground-breaking organization's erotic altruism now covers work of any length. The organization has always prided itself on the diversity of its fiction and hopes its recent expansions will diversify its audience by capturing the attention of readers who follow particular authors.

For the time being, publication under Coming Together Presents is by invitation only, but Brio hopes to institute a query process like that used for its new ebook line. Presents will launch with three titles by three stellar wordsmiths: M. Christian, C. Sanchez-Garcia, and Remittance Girl. Their collections will benefit Planned Parenthood, RAINN, and the ACLU, respectively.

Brio is thrilled with the charities selected. "They're wonderful additions to Coming Together's diverse family of causes without being duplicative. And the authors? I couldn't ask for a better starting lineup!"

About her contribution, Remittance Girl said, "These stories were written in the shadows, in a place where the rights of the individual and freedom of speech have no protection under the law. I have admired the 'Coming Together' collections for a very long time. It gives me great pleasure to know that the proceeds of this collection will go to support the ACLU, an organization defending those very rights with such dedication."

"I'm extremely pleased to be with the great and talented folks at Coming Together -- and to have an opportunity to support Planned Parenthood," adds Christian. "As Margaret Sanger, Planned Parenthood's founder, said: 'No woman can call herself free who does not own and control her body. No woman can call herself free until she can choose consciously whether she will or will not be a mother.'"

When asked why he selected RAINN, the Rape Abuse & Incest National Network, Sanchez-Garcia replied, "Because I've always believed Woman is the ultimate fountain of pleasure for Man and the worst sin against God and nature you can do is abuse her."

COMING TOGETHER is a registered, voluntary nonprofit association governed by a board of directors. It was launched in June 2005 to provide a venue for rising talent while simultaneously raising money for worthwhile causes. To date, it has published 13 volumes of erotic fiction & poetry featuring the work of over 165 authors, poets, and illustrators.

CONTACT:
Alessia Brio, founder & managing editor
412.254-3324 (voice/SMS)
866.837-6407 (fax)
presents [at] eroticanthology.com
http://www.eroticanthology.com/presents.htm