A Treat for Your Ears: A Great Voice and a Good Story

Here's your chance for two treats in one: the wonderful Sage Vivant doing one of my stories for her fantastic Four Minutes, Once a Week podcast. Click here to here Sage's sultry reading of "Getting Up" - with graphics and everything!

Then head right over to the regular podcast for her wonderful new book, Your Erotic Personality. Here at Libsyn and here at itunes.

Wonderful movie, wonderful book, wonderful lady

Don't pause, don't hesitate, don't dither: click on this link to take you to Sage Vivant's video quiz for her new book, Your Erotic Personality.

By now the two or three people who read my blog know I have a 'fondness' for Sage, but rest assured that when I say that this movie is a kick and her book is incredible I am being completely impartial. Completely.

Gracias!

Thanks to all you fantastic folks who stepped up to take the Custom Erotica Source audition challenge. I've just sent out messages to let you know how you did. If you haven't heard back please drop me a line and I'll get right back to you.

On a personal note let me say that I am too aware of how much rejection can hurt (been there too many times). I hope this makes it sting a bit less: Sage and I received over 250 submissions, of which only six were chosen to be CES staff writers. Beyond that, remember that what you did took remarkable discipline and no small amount of courage. Most of you weren't selected, but all of you deserve applause for a truly noble effort.

Falles and Ninots: Sex and Scultpure

Having just posted something about the wonderful Falles festival in Valencia, Spain, on meine kleine fabrik I thought I might share some of the more, well, sexy falla I've come across over here on my professional and, well, sexy site. Enjoy!

Taste of Running Dry

Just because I can, here's the opening to Running Dry:

“They say the seas are going to dry up. Blow away.”

“I’ve heard that.”

“The moon, too. It’s going to leave, sail off into the sky. Leave us behind,” Sergio said, swinging his feet off the edge. First the left, then the right, dancing with the heights. “Do you think we’ll see that?”

“We could,” Doud said, arm around Sergio’s shoulders. To reassure him, and to remind himself that this was real, firm, and solid, he tugged him closer.

Mahogany eyes directed at him, Sergio said, “Everyone will get old, turn to dust. But we’ll still be here, won’t we? The earth will be like the desert. No oceans, no water, no one will be alive. But we’ll still be here.” His legs stopped swinging.

“Maybe. Other things could happen, too. You never know for sure. Time changes too much.” Sitting on the toes of rearing elephants, they looked down on the gleaming architecture of Babylon, a plaster movie set brilliantly white from a still-neighborly moon.

Despite their height, Doud wasn't afraid. Not of falling, at least. He knew the elephants Sergio had made for Mr. Griffith, believed in his lover’s craftsmanship, and so implicitly trusted them to carry their weight. He hoped he knew Sergio as well, but he was still quietly grateful for the simple strength of his sculpture. Men were too complex, too unpredictable. Apparent solidity and dependability all too often hid deep flaws. The elephants of Intolerance, though, were wood and plaster.

Dependable wood, trustworthy plaster.

“Ever been to the desert?" Sergio asked unexpectedly. "I went there, with some friends, just after I came here. Hot, like a stove. But I didn’t think of cooking, the kitchen, or food, only that it was like a line across a page, like the start of a drawing. Now, I think of it like the way the world will be. All boiled away -- just hot air and that line.” Drawing his hand across the horizon, he underlined distant Hollywood.

“Too hot and dry for me. But we can go sometime. Both of us.” He didn’t need to say we have lots of time.

“They say the war will end soon. The War to End All Wars -- but that’s not true, eh? We’ll find out, I guess.”

“It’ll end. They always do.” Doud tried to catch his attention again, but the other man refused to look away from the bright lights of the distant city.

“Even our Babylon will be gone. Mr. Griffith’s film is over. They’ll break up my elephants.”

“There’ll be other pictures. You’ll see.”

After a moment of tense silence Sergio's eyes swung back to Doud. “You’ll be there, won’t you?”

“I will,” Doud replied, gently stammering, delicately hesitant. I will. Not a promise, just desire. With it, abrupt reality on the toes of great white elephants: please, let this one work out. I don't want to kill him.

“Kiss me,” Sergio said, closing those dark marble eyes.

And Doud did, a simple kiss on the edge of a Hollywood eternity.

Thanks, Emily!

Emily Veinglory just sent me this wonderful review of Filthy.

So, you know I have been intending for some time to update my gay and vampire review website. Here is the first full length review I will be listing. It is also what happened to my day--zip--gone. Oh well.

“Filthy” is subtitled “Outrageous Gay Erotica”, it could also be called “the book that stole my Saturday”. It arrived in the mail and I intended to slot it into my reading queue after several other books that have been waiting patiently for my attention. I flicked over the somewhat dry preface to the first story and it was all over.

In 'The Greener Grasses' M. Christian shows us immediately that this is not a collection to be trifled with, picked up and put down. I was thrust immediately us into the point of view of a real flawed, sexual, vulnerable protagonist. The sexuality is always frank but blended with charming love stories like 'Heart in Your Hand' or '2+1' or folksy fables like 'Moby'. The writer’s skills are perhaps best shown in the apt blending of sexuality with darker threads such as in 'Bitch' where one man’s bitterness and hate escapes his control or 'Friday Night at the Calvary Hotel' with its queasy look at the blend of sadism and sexuality in religious symbolism. I found the homage stories 'Hollywood Blvd' and 'Suddenly, Last Thursday' just a little heavy handed but still engaging reading.

The stand-outs for me were simple stories, but perfect in their parts. 'Oroborous' uses a botched tattoo to contrast the pain and trouble of “fixing” what is “wrong” about us (not what we would choose) with the joys of embracing it what we are. After reading it I had one of those moments staring at the wall and letting it sink in. And there were actually tears in my eyes at the end of the tragic love story of 'Flyboy'. The speculative stories are also strong: 'Utter West' gives a new meaning to the youthful desire to get out of a dead-end town and 'The Hope of Cinnamon' shows a far future gay community that rescues persecuted gay men from the past and is shown, through their eyes, what may be missing from their apparent utopia.

All of the stories have a strong concept as well as explicit sexual content. I would quibble at calling it “erotica”. Erotic, yes, but not quite in the step-by-step manner intended for one handed reading. It’s one of those oft-quoted phrases that our biggest sex organ in our brain; I’m willing to bet that author M. Christian would agree. Almost every story in this collection is perfectly constructed for the intellect: set up, satisfaction and pay off within a few short pages. Some stories are unapologetically erotic and others nostalgically sensual, only obliquely erotic at all or proudly a little perverse—but the erotic is there to serve the story in the manner and amount the narrative requires.

If you are looking for sexually-charged fiction that also has heart and intelligence “Filthy” is the collection for you—just don’t pick it up until you have the free time to read it from cover to cover.

(Blush)

The wonderful Cyberpunk Review just put up a very cool mention of The Bachelor Machine. Thanks!

Now as most of you know, I don’t do any advertising on Cyberpunk Review, which means it’s a massive time sink that doesn’t generate a dime (this is exactly how I want it to be!). Collecting advertising revenue on a site devoted to cyberpunk concepts just seems wrong somehow. That said, I have absolutely NO qualms about accepting gifts! Cyberpunk movies, books, figures (the Borg Queen, if you have it), games - I’d be more than happy to accept (send an email to sfam”at”cyberpunkreview.com if feel the urge!). While I have gotten a number of movies sent for me to review, this is my first cyberpunk book ....

Successful erotic fantasy author, M. Christian, sent me a wonderful message saying how much he liked Cyberpunk Review, and offered to send me his book of “smutty cyberpunk short stories,” called The Bachelor Machine. I just got it in the mail today, so I can’t give a review of it yet. But often when I find a new author I’m interested in, I like to take the book and open it to a random page and start reading. Here’s a sample for you from the first place I opened it to - page 132, halfway down ....

I think I’m gonna like The Bachelor Machine! Thanks, Chris! Better yet, M. Christian mentions he has another cyberpunk erotica book due to come out in a year from now. I’ll be looking forward to it.

I'm blushing like a schoolgirl! By the way, the novel is The Painted Doll. For info on that check out this Amazon UK page. Now I just have to finish writing it ....

For a very cool review of the Bachelor Machine check out Locus. Then there's always the Wikipedia page.

Oldie -

- but a goodie. My Suicide Girls interview about The Bachelor Machine.

Did I mention -

- that Filthy is out? Well it is. If you want to review it just let me know and I'll send you off a copy.

Thanks -

- for the sweet mention, Riainy. It means a lot to Sage and I that people like you have not only stepped up to the plate to write for Custom Erotica Source but have also enjoyed the process.

Patience

Just a quickie word to all those great folks who leapt in to take the Custom Erotica Source test. Alas, I've been buried under audition stories, so it's going to be at least a week or more before I can get back to you about yours. In the meantime if any of you have any questions about working for CES or other projects please don't hesitate to write.

Where did -

- zobop come from? Here you go:

"At an undisclosed period, probably in the 1940s, a panic gripped the Haitian peasantry concerning a motor car which was said to abduct people. In the capital Port-au-Prince the car was known as the auto-tigre (tiger-car); in Marbial, where Metraux conducted his fieldwork, it was the motor-zobop, a vehicle supposedly driven by the zobop, members of a secret society of sorcerers having many of the characteristics of traditional witches. This car had bluish beams for its headlights."

Languages

Japanese, Dutch, Norwegian, German, Spanish, Italian, French ... it's pretty damned cool to suddenly realize how many languages I've been translated into.

meine kleine fabrik -

- is the name of a new blog my brother, Samuel Addison, and I have just started. It's basically just a place for us to share the Wonderfully Wild Weirdness (WWW) and Commonly Cool Crud (CCC) we come across. The name, btw, comes from Sam's brilliant jewelry company -- which I really wish he'd start up again.

Note to self:

... how to cripple a city with little or no expense. Real bomb not even needed. All that's necessary is pathetic paranoia.

Very Bloody Marys Pre-Pub Review

Here's a bit more of Maryelizabeth Hart's pre-pub review for The Very Bloody Marys. Got to find a way to thank her ....

“Combines several of M. Christian’s strengths, writing queer and supernatural / horror fiction, with only occasional touches of his other strength, erotica. Vampire protagonist Valentino is a reluctant trainee in the supernatural international law enforcement organization, Le Counseil Carmin. He half-heartedly assists his mentor, Pogue, in enforcing the rules in San Francisco—that is, until Pogue goes missing and Valentino must strive to rise to the occasion to rid the City by the Bay of trouble in the form of The Very Bloody Marys and a deadly faery or two, using what he recalls of his training and the limited resources at his disposal. Readers will never view night life in San Francisco quite the same way. A WELCOME ADDITION TO THE VAMPIRE NOIR GENRE.—Maryelizabeth Hart, Mysterious Galaxy, San Diego

Very Bloody Marys now --

-- on Amazon. Order your copy (or fifty) today!

Magnificent work

-- sometimes you stumble across something that makes you think that, yeah, the world might just be a good place.

Back Cover Copy for The Very Bloody Marys

The wonderful folks at Haworth just sent the back cover copy for The Very Bloody Marys -- what do you think?

#

A gang of vampires is threatening to drain San Francisco dry—and only another creature of the night can stop them!

A gang of Vespa-riding vampires are killing San Franciscans so indiscriminately they threaten to not only drain the city dry—but risk the discovery of vampires everywhere. Gay vampire cop Valentino is called upon to stop the group calling themselves The Very Bloody Marys before the situation gets worse. Unfortunately, it already has. You see, Valentino is still only a trainee who is in way over his head now that Pogue, his mentor, is missing. And this brutal gang is tough, smart, and very, very bloodthirsty. To do his job, Valentino must move quickly—and carefully—otherwise he may just get himself killed. What can a creature of the night do? The only thing he can, track the gang through the haunts of some very odd characters, unravel the mystery, and try to stay out of the sun.

“YOU’LL NEVER VIEW NIGHT LIFE IN SAN FRANCISCO QUITE THE SAME WAY. A WELCOME ADDITION TO THE VAMPIRE NOIR GENRE.”
—Maryelizabeth Hart, Mysterious Galaxy, San Diego

“Interesting and modern characters, a bit of local San Francisco color, and a CLEVER MYSTERY TWIST.”
—Brian Youmans, Editor, Suddenly Press

“HARD-BOILED, SHARP-EDGED, FUNNY AND FIERCE.”
— Jim Gladstone, Author, The Big Book of Misunderstanding

“A TOTALLY UNIQUE AND TRULY FASCINATING VOICE. . . . M. CHRISTIAN HAS ARRIVED!”
— Mike Resnick, Author, winner of 5 Hugo Awards and a Nebula Award

Calling All Writers

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Even better!

Thanks so much, Lora!

What do you think?

Looks like so much fun

Wheeeee!

Looking for People for Fun and Art

Okay, here’s the pitch: I work too damned much. So much I am beginning to seriously fry, and so social/recreation/art/fun must be had.

So I’m putting out the call for folks who might feel the same to form a pool/group/bunch to do it together, or at least share ideas and resources.

Off the cuff, here are some ideas for things to play with:

• Composing and posting weird ads in local papers (tied to larger project, like an interactive game?)
• Fake fundie protest at a local science museum
• LED Throwie party
• “Invisible city:” poetry written across the city – except visible only with UV lights
• Pick a corner of the city, everyone takes pictures of it over a period of time, posts the result to Flickr (experiment in subjective reality)
• Create fake campaign posters (as surreal as possible)
• Leave pages cut from a favorite book around the city
• Become ‘payphone warriors’ (www.payphonewarriors.com)
• Anything these folks do

The only thing I ask is for there to be a few simple rules:

Don’t waste people’s time: if you’re interested then be interested and not just say so and then vanish, not answer emails, or not carry through on plans or commitments.

No egos, please: I don’t care who you are or who you think you are. So what if you’ve been involved in the Cacophony Society for fifteen years or been listed on boing boing twice? Everyone involved is equal, no one is better than anyone else, and everyone has something to bring to the party -- or is at least worthy of respect.

If you’re interested write me at zobop@aol.com