UPDATES - FROM DUST & ASH TO A BIG SURPRISE

I got an interesting comment on the flash story I posted last Friday. One of my readers asked about the status of several stories. Rather than leave that information as a comment response, I figured a status update would be a good idea. 

DUST & ASH

The one on everybody's mind... Including mine. I have to be honest. Last year sucked for The Boys Of Summer. Three different mainstream LGBTQ publishers rejected Book One. Talk about a blow to my ego. However out of the darkness come stars. One of the editors (who's rejection letter was quite kind and lovely) sent me a very long list of suggested changes.

The thing is, D&A has an ensemble cast of characters, and while I did a good job of giving all my boys equal page time, in the process I created a subplot tangle that terrified the publishers. (One unnameable editor called it "a gay version of Jackie Collins." Given the overwhelming success and fame of Ms. Collins, I took that as a compliment.) Up until my new friend made his suggestions, I really didn't know how to fix the problem. Now, with his very cool suggestions in my grubby little hands, I'm pretty excited about some of the changes that are going to turn a really good story into an awesome series. 

Long story short? (Too late!) DUST & ASH is getting a plot overhaul, and I'll be subbing it again at that point. Also, because so many of my readers have been begging... I'll be posting up additional chapters to Gay Authors, just to whet the appetite. Fair warning though... The remaining chapters are rough, and not my best work by far. But you'll get the end of your story - at least the story you started reading, which probably won't be the exact same story that ends up published as a saga.

STATUS: IN REWRITES

HOLDING OUT FOR A HERO

This was, by far, one of my favorite stories when I started writing it. I still love the premise, and the outline. What I don't love, and the reason I never posted more, was the amount of research I had to do to create a believable world and scenario. I'm a classically trained writer, which means I don't write what I don't know. So if a story idea grabs me by the guts and demands attention, and it's outside my realm of experience, I dive into research. I've been scuba diving exactly twice - in an ex-boyfriend's swimming pool. Never ended up in even a lake, much less an ocean, and I never got my certification. The scuba apparatus gave me panic attacks. The ex had no trouble diving off the sunken fuselage of a DC-3 off the coast of Honduras, and worked as a rescue diver for the Bahamian Islands. I like to swim... but damn that scuba gear is heavy, awkward, and holy hell do I have more respect for him now. 

What this means is that until I have the time to devote to research, there won't be more of HOLDING OUT FOR A HERO. 

STATUS: ON HOLD

THE FOREST LORD

My pretty drow boys and their dangerous companions. Honestly, I didn't get much of a response to this series. My page visits dropped pretty significantly while I was posting this story, particularly as it lengthened. When nobody is reading and nobody is commenting, it's pretty easy to take the hint and switch shit up. I love the story and loved writing it, but I had a professor at CMU tell me once, "If there's something in your writing that you love, it doesn't belong there." Didn't understand that at all at 19 when he said it, but man do I get it now. 

I'm fully willing to go back to posting up an epic drow fantasy - but only if people actually want to read it. I'd appreciate suggestions or comments on this!

STATUS: SUSPENDED

BIRTH DAY

This story is very personal to me. It's also finished, scrawled out on Notepad when I was at the side of my partner's hospital bed. I'll freely admit to taking bits and pieces of the people, places, and experiences in my life and sticking them shamelessly into my work. But this story kind of went beyond that. It's a reflection of what I was dealing with and going through last year - a personal apocalypse. I have no excuse for not posting up the remaining portions of the story - except for the grief I'm still dealing with on a daily basis. 

Hopefully as time does its work healing, I'll muster the strength to post the remaining chapters. I'm going to make a huge assumption, and say thank you to all my readers for bearing with me on this one.

STATUS: COMPLETED

And finally... The last update and the project I'm really excited about right now.

READ MY MIND

This was an epic fantasy series I originally posted on Literotica about six years ago. The version that went up (while edited by a very nice lady) was not great writing, the plot wandered, and most of what was there was overwritten and gratuitous sex. (snickers) I never believed this series would be published, because it breaks the two big no-no's of digital publishing: non-consensual sex/rape and incest. And no matter how I attacked the plot, there was no way to remove these things. (For fans of the series, you'll remember a good amount of it takes place in the Abyss, in the land of flesh demons, and two of the main characters are a half-brother/sister who are incubus and succubus respectively.)

Despite these problems... The READ MY MIND series is going to be published! I'm still doing formatting and editing work, and there's no release date yet, but Book One will come out this year. I'M SO EXCITED. This project is massive and awesome, and reunites me with an amazing graphic designer who's agreed to do the cover series, which you can be damn sure I'll reveal here first! So for the fans of Pika, Shar, Zan, Cari, Ny'Litha, and Adim... They're baaaa-aack!

STATUS: SOLD, TO BE RELEASED 2016

That's what I've got right now. The trouble with being a writer and not doing it full-time is that the ideas never stop coming. Right now, I could quit my (new) job and write steadily for the next decade using nothing more than the ideas and outlines I've created and archived in the last few years. It's painful not having time to do what makes you the happiest - but writing is rarely a full-time thing (unless you're famous, retired, or living in your parents' basement). My sitch is unique. The House That Love Built has seven adults and five kids in it right now, which means we all have to work day jobs, we all have to manage chores/household maintenance, and we all have parenting duties. 

And I wouldn't change a thing. 

My writing and stories are what they are because of my experience. I'm a bisexual, genderqueer person in a polyamorous house - and it works for me. I hope the stories I produce reflect the personal acceptance and satisfaction available to the LGBTQ community, and as always...

I'll keep writing as long as you keep reading.

Cheers my friends, and BE WELL.

~ Tux