But… it’s not what you think.

The marvelous Beth Wylde (www.bethwylde.com) had set up an erotica reading there, and sent out a call for authors to come and read their work. Jhada “Rogue” Addams (www.jhadaaddams.com) and I split the cost of getting a rental car and driving the five hours down and five hours back. To be honest, that was at least part of the attraction of the trip for me; Jhada and I spent so much time talking that I’m a little hoarse today. Good thing I didn’t have to record anything…

In any case, I found the club itself to be quite interesting. It’s very clearly a converted residence, with the ground floor bedrooms usable as smaller play rooms, separate from the main dungeon in the basement–one of them was set up for a more medical feel, while the other was a fairly friendly space with pastel colored walls decorated with erotic art. I felt like it was a “dungeon lite” version of the downstairs room. The place may turn up fictionalized in a story at some point, it was a very evocative location.

Helen Madden (www.cynicalwoman.com) was there, as well, but we ended up not spending very much time together as the long travel time to and from left me little time to mingle. She was her usual charming self, full of that wonderful CW attitude. Beth Wylde, who had organized the outing, was a real pistol; she’s definitely someone I want to cooperate with again in the future.

The basement was a full-on dungeon, with walls painted to represent fitted stone, and all manner of bondage furniture, including a spider web made out of chains and a heavy duty steel cage with a blanket and puppy-bowl inside. The readings went very well, and I managed to sell most of the meager inventory I brought along, including my self-published “Magical Clothes” novella. I need to pick up some more before my next appearance, of both that and Scouts.

With only one exception, I think the readings themselves went quite well. I won’t tell tales out of school, but anyone who was there knows which one I am talking about. I got a few chuckles when I introduced “Scouts”, including when I mentioned that the Scouts get around the galaxy by powering their ships with orgasms. I’m sure that detail drove many of the purchases…something good to know for future sales pitches.

One thing I need to work out is a better description of what it is that I write. I don’t write solely for the turn-on (something that sets Jhada, Helen, and myself apart from many erotica writers, I find) and I need to make that clearer when I tell people about my writing.

So this trip has been very educational on many levels. I found a new friend, I learned a bit about the BDSM club “scene” and I learned I need to do some work on the marketing side of the business. All in all, very much worth the trip.

In the real world, they are forest researchers, stationed at a remote station in Montana. They live and work together, 12 hours a day, every day. They are perfect together, with an active sex life and an adoring, romantic manner. It’s like newlyweds every day. The locals are a little sick, to tell the truth, of how lovey-dovey they get.

Online, it’s a totally different concern. They’re fans of a massive online fantasy game for adults, but their play styles are totally different. Sam loves intrigue and suspense, back room deals, strategy, and resource management. His character has risen to be a wealthy merchant prince, a well respected member of the establishment. Hers is a rogue for hire, signing up for all the missions with the kinkiest ratings. Her character spends every last gold piece on good times, and more often than not has to go on dungeon crawls nearly naked because she had to sell off her armor to pay her debts.

It’s relevant for me right now, because my commuting schedule changed recently, and I had to remove a bunch of podcasts from my feed reader. I do this because I don’t believe it maintaining a huge backlog of podcasts. I hear a lot of podcasters say, “Oh, I’m hugely behind on listening to podcasts.” I don’t like hearing that, and I don’t want to be one of those people myself, so I keep 6-12 episodes on my player at any one time, and drop feeds if they start getting beyond that.

Here’s what I’ve got on there right now. Another day, I’ll start going in and giving detailed reviews of things.

Crown Conspiracy (from Podiobooks) Because I will listen to Nathan Lowell read *anything*.

Secret World Chronicle (Podiobooks) Same for Veronica Guigere

The Gearheart (Podiobooks) This was recommended to me by lots and lots of people. It’s entertaining, but don’t do what I did and listen to the episodes more than a week apart. There’s a lot going on.

Atoms, Motion, and the Void Surreal as heck. Really makes me think about how a plot is structured, and how a world is built. Definitely makes me go “hm.”

Writing Excuses For once, a writing show with some real credentials behind it. These guys know their stuff.

Erotica a la Carte I could listen to Pip read the phone book. Listening to her read her smut? Priceless.

Heat Flash My cohort and partner in crime, Helen E H Madden, is just as insane as I am, producing a weekly erotica podcast. Blows my mind regularly.

Litopia I like the publishing news I get here, and all of their participants are marvelously witty.

Podcaturday Not really sure why I’m following this one… yet. But somehow it has survived several winnowings. Maybe I just need a good dose of bullshit every week to keep my mind fertile.

What does that gorgeous woman at the office look like naked?

What does she do when she masturbates?

And then I started thinking about what that ability would do to someone who had it.

Haven’t written that story yet. Might never do so… and of course that doesn’t mean you couldn’t write one, either.

What happens when you come downstairs in the middle of the night, to discover a fairy using your computer… to surf porn sites?

First, the menu is a bit odd. There is no red meat or shellfish, nothing is cooked with garlic, onions, or strong spices. The fare focuses on fresh fruit and vegetables, with protein supplied in small amounts by poultry or eggs.

The furnishings are also slightly out of the ordinary. Most of the tables are arranged for two, with a significant distance between them and many decorative planters separating them. The tablecloths reach all the way to the floor, and the tables have legs in the corners rather than the central pillar design which is easier to clean under. The seating is entirely made up of comfortable, wide armchairs.

The service is attentive, but discreet; they generally do not come over to a table unless summoned, instead of interrupting at inopportune moments. The standard place setting includes the usual dinner napkin, plus several soft facial tissue discreetly wrapped around a plastic bag with a condom and a dental dam inside.

Those in the know, understand that the place has been engineered to facilitate under-the-table oral sex.

I won’t promise to post these daily, but I’ll do my best to make it interesting for you.

What I’d like to do here, is my own version of News from Poughkeepsie, with my own twist. I keep an idea notebook with me, pretty much all the time, and so what I’m going to do is post the things that I put in it, things I find funny or interesting that I might someday write a story about. Just like News from Poughkeepsie, these posts will have a Creative Commons Attribution license. That means that you can take my idea and do whatever you like with it, make it into anything you want, even sell it. All you have to do is include attribution–an acknowledgment that you got the idea from me.

So here’s today’s News:

Today, I had an inspiration for a setting. This could be an island, in a fantasy story, or perhaps a planet in an interstellar science fiction story. In this place, there’s some influence – a curse, a disease, whatever – that extracts a terrible price from any couple who have sex with each other more than once. Ever. Basically, even the slightest hint of sexual monogamy is punished. Already, my mind is spinning with possible effects and tangents, from how society would change to adapt to this influence, to what kind of characters would be interesting to write about.

I gave three separate readings-one at a science fiction erotic short story event, one at the Scouts launch event, and another at the Coming Together anthology reading.

I was also on a panel about self-publishing with the awesome Howard Tayler, of Schlock Mercenary fame. This is one of my favorite webcomics. It’s not erotic, though I must that Doctor Bunnigus is my favorite character for some rather obvious reasons.

Helen Madden and I also did an episode of The Good Parts, along with Dan Sawyer and Kathryn Lively of Phaze Books and Mundania Press. It was a lot of fun… but it looks like much of it didn’t get recorded. I’m seeing whether the version that got recorded to my memory stick is all there is, or if my tech guy has a copy elsewhere. That will get posted to the Good Parts feed as soon as I get it all worked out.

Of course, the panels aren’t the only reason to go to Balticon. There’s the conversation in the lobby and the bar with friends you only get to see face to face once a year, and the room parties until early morning hours where you say things you really ought not to say, and in the morning hope that none of those podcasters with their portable audio gear were recording any of it.

So anyways…

That was my weekend.

How was yours?

She writes: “Many notables stand out. Glass, by Nobilis Reed, is perhaps the most complex, with consensual voyeurism layered upon the unexpected. Without giving anything away, the story involves at least two women and two men, and if you include the reader, there’s a lot of peeping going on.”  Take a look.

Thrilling stuff!

And if you haven’t already, pick up your copy of “Peep Show”