Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Politics and Religion

Two articles came over my Facebook Feed today that were weirdly complementary.

Sinister Law Brings Theocracy To Tennessee: The Christian Right Are Coming For Your State Next

Under House Joint Resolution 71, proposed by Rep. James VanHuss (R-Jonesborough), the following words would be added to Article I of the Constitution of Tennessee:
“We recognize that our liberties do not come from governments, but from Almighty God, our Creator and Savior”

That's the long and short of the article.  This is a TERRIFYING amendment. If you worship a god that they do not believe is their god, (and TN is home to the largest Kurdish population in the world, outside Iraq) , you have no rights in Tennessee.

I have news for them. My rights came from a bunch of noblemen who stood up and DEFIED God and the Divine Right of Kings, and forced King John to sign the Magna Carta. The Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution are deliberately secular documents, designed to ensure rights for every citizen.

In other Dominionist News:
Michigan has passed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. (HB5958) which allows people to avoid doing their jobs if it conflicts with their religion. Back when I was a fundamentalist in the 80s, there was a push for people my age to go into medicine, in order to end abortion by simply not learning how to do them. and when RU-486 came out, another push to go to pharmacy work and refuse to distribute them.  This law allows people to do exactly that. They can also avoid treating non Christians, serving QUILTBAG people, cease providing pre-natal care to single mothers, or ANYTHING that violates their Christian Brand Behavior.

Oklahoma has voted to ban teaching AP American History, because it doesn't promote American Exceptionalism, and shows us as something other than a City on a Hill.

Mike Huckabee is thinking of running for President again. God wants him to "Save American from a Secular Theocracy."

This is happening across the US. Google Dominionism and Seven Mountains Theology, and look at what is going on.

The radicals get away with this because Joe Christian on the street doesn't think through the implications. They would see Resolution 71 as a nice gestures, because yes, of course, our rights come from God, and think no more of it.  They want there to be no abortion...until their wife has a pregnancy go toxic. They want no premarital sex as an ideal (which 85% of them failed at), so banning sex ed or contraception or HPV vaccines seems like a way to help the younger generation stay pure. They don't even think about non-Christians, and when queer folk are on their radar, the response is more "eww" than real animus, so they vote the "eww" to stop the nasty weirdos from moving in and masquerading as ordinary people.



The other article is here:
What ISIS Really Wants

It's a long article and worth a read.
And it is SCARILY like what the Christian Dominionists want here.

Both groups are trying to provoke a war that ends in Jerusalem, where BOTH think Jesus will return. Both think Jesus will wipe out the armies of the Anti-Christ and rescue the remnant of the Faithful. The Christians are expecting an all Christian Millennium after that. The Muslims think they win.




May I offer Suggested Reading?
It Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis.

The Iron Heel by Jack London One of the earliest dystiopias


Brace yourselves. It's getting bad and is going to get worse. We're up against a juggernaut that has been mixing wealth, power and religion for 80 years, trying to undo all the progress from FDR onward. Elsewhere in the world, a group is trying to revive the old Caliphate, which is vital to Islamic salvation (according to adherents) and chomping at the bit for the Holy War we seem determined to give them.








Friday, February 13, 2015

July. REALLY?

So I got an Ellora's Cave check in the mail today. $2.42. July was not a good sales month.

Yes, July. Yes, I'm just NOW getting the check 6 months later. Still don't have November or December though.

However, I got my 1099.

I'm so done. Letter goes out tomorrow asking for rights back to EVERYTHING they still have, including the Cavemen story.


Monday, February 9, 2015

Better than Fifty Shades February

Today is a double feature, technically a five-for-one.

Fourplay and "Paying Forfeits"

Paying Forfeits begins as a couple who like their board and card games who start playing for forfeits. The games get taken into the bedroom, and then expanded to include a houseguest.
This is collected in Into Dark Waters





Fourplay is a set of four BDSM contemporary pieces. It is available only as a paperback.




If you prefer to purchase the shorts separately
Master Bear, Chain Male, Thigh to Thigh, and Long Term

Master Bear is a tale of a dying top trying to make arrangements for a boy who doesn't want to live without him.
Chain-Male gives us a university librarian and a non-traditional student, with a very unconventional hobby.
Thigh to Thigh is the sequel to Paying Forfeits, in which Billy and Sam have earned a punishment.
Long-Term tells us about Teague, a university president and one-man sub rescue agency and Ian, his latest project, who becomes more.

One of my favorite bits from Chain-male:

Jace was sitting comfortably, working with a pair of pliers in each hand on some mail. “Nice walk?” he asked with a smile.

“Yeah. All kinds of stuff to buy and I found people singing.”

“Yeah, there’s always a bardic circle at night. Tomorrow, there will be belly dancers, too. And some idiot will drum all night long and another one will take it into his head to pipe the camp awake at dawn with a set of Great Pipes. Do you know,” Jace set the mail aside, “the bagpipe is the only musical instrument to be banned as a weapon of war?”

Chad laughed as he sat down. “What time is it?”

“Time to close up shop,” Jace said. He dowsed all the lanterns, except one, and covered his wares with a black cloth. He took the moneybox into the tent with him, after blowing out the last candle.

“You aren’t afraid of thieves?”

“I’m the only mail-maker out here. My stuff is pretty distinctive and I have an official inventory sheet. Money? Money has no maker’s mark. But my mail does.” Jace shut the tent flap
behind them.

Chad swallowed hard. It hit him that he was going to sleep with Jace tonight. Sleep at least, maybe more. Jace stripped down to his pants. Chad swallowed again at the sight of those sexy nipple rings, shining when Jace reached over his head and took the candle out of the ridgepole lantern. He sat on the bed, waiting, letting the candle make strange shadows.

“Coming?” Jace grinned.

Chad gulped for air and stuttered. Jace just laughed at him.

“To bed, trashmind,” Jace added.

“Oh. Yeah.” Chad stripped off his tunic and shirt, the cool night making his nipples peak, and crawled in quickly. Jace blew out the candle’s last wick and covered them both with several layers of blankets, including one faux fur throw that looked like bearskin. “No lights?”

“Can’t sleep with them. Beside,” Jace kissed his neck, “we’re about to get busy, right?”

“Oh hell yeah,” Chad was already unbuttoning Jace’s pants.

“We don’t want an audience.”

“Audience?” Chad gulped.

“No shit, there I was…” The way Jace said it, the words sounded like “once upon a time.” “It was a camping event in early summer, and night had just fallen. The tent was white. She was married. He was married. But not to each other. They left the lantern on. The rest of us pulled up our chairs and watched the porn. We applauded when they finished.”

“Holy crap.” Chad gaped at the tale. “No lights,” he agreed

Stumbling toward progress

Alabama, heart of the Confederacy (home of the Stoneyard in the Nikolai series), has just legalized same sex marriage.

The first couple, Robert Povilat and Milton Persinger, married in Birmingham. Other countries ceased issuing marriage licenses entirely and one can only imagine the private conniption fit and temper tantrum being thrown by Judge Roy Moore, the state chief justice who is a devout Dominionist.

As I made the bed this morning, I thought about this.  How can I keep writing a future where the Confederates States execute gay people right next to thieves and murderers on the first Friday of the month? Doesn't this negate the directions I saw the world going in when I wrote Nikolai and Glad Hands?

No, it doesn't.

It changes nothing. No more than the election of Barak Obama did. (I suspect his presidency will be a temporary setback for black candidates, actually. Detractors and the media will say "See! See what a hash he made? Probably best we stick with less radical [read that as "white"] candidates.")

The CS will still promote its regressive theocratic way.
If reminded of the time when same sex marriage was legal, their response will be the same as it is when reminded of the Obama presidency.
"That was a different time. A time when we walked in darkness and listened to the lies of Satan. We have learned better. Now we weed out this evil before it can take root."


But today, none of my fiction is real. Today, couples in Alabama are marrying...except where the courthouses aren't issuing. And that, too, will change with time.

If you had asked me, seven years ago, if we would ever see same-sex marriage happen in the south, I would have said "No. The people down here are God-haunted Jesus-shouters who will never allow it."  They didn't allow it, and in fact voted 5 to 1 to NOT allow it. But the courts have, once again, decided that civil rights of a minority are not subject to the whim of the majority.

And that is progress.

Sunday, February 8, 2015

Better Than Fifty Shades February

Present tense is one of my biggest pet peeves in writing. My publishing house will not take a work done in present tense.

 And yet... It was always tolerable for Syd McGinley's work. 
Her Dr.Fell series is one of the hottest ever. I even have a Dr. Fell coffee mug.

 John Fell is a strict dom, who serves the local community as a pet-sitter and extra trainer. His own boy, Rob, was murdered years ago, and he hasn't taken another.

 The stories have been collected into three paperbacks now.
  Buy link

 


 ~~~ A scene that has stuck with me from "Samhain," in Volume 1.

 Right on cue, I hear Dexter squeak and Laurie drop a cup.

 “He tried to hex me,” taunts Laurie. “Pagan-boy thinks he made me break the cup.”

 Dexter sits with his mouth open. The light has gone from his eyes. I pat his wrist as I pass by on my way to Laurie. “Carry on, Dexter. You’re fine.” He holds out his hand in mute rebuttal – his finger is bleeding and that’s why he squeaked. I summon twink to first aid duty – it’s just a puncture from a sharp twig – and Dexter doesn’t need physical comfort. He needs to see his tormentor suffer some retribution.

 Laurie has a stupidly triumphant look on his face, as if he’s got what he wanted – me mad and Dexter squashed.

 I snatch up a handful of discarded sage branches, and march Laurie out to the porch. I bend him over the railing and thrash his ass. He howls and pleads in no time under the switching he gets from the rough twigs. I’m pissed, and I don’t care that his butt is bleeding from dozens of scratches. It’s not the erotic D/s scene he’d dreamed about – it’s real punishment and he hates it. When I stop, he’s mewling and sniffling. His ass is a mess. I holler for twink to come out with hot water, antiseptic, and tweezers. I feel a hair bad about the slivers, but not really when I see Dexter’s crushed spirit.

 I sit down at the kitchen table with Dexter and gamely make a smudge stick. I induce him to explain why he needs to bury apples tomorrow. His light is still dimmed, but he’s smiling a little by the time he’s taught me to braid stalks together before tying them up.

 “Why are you being so nice?” he ventures.

 I raise my eyebrows. “Well, I can stop if you like.” I’m pleased that he dares a giggle. “Boy, training isn’t just punishments. It’s making you into the best boy you can be. I can’t whip what you need into you.” He smiles properly for the first time, and reaches over to correct my miss-bundle. His hands are sure as he does it. “You can plant my garlic tomorrow.”

He looks a little surprised. “You have some already?”

 I laugh. “I planned the crop to go in next week, but if Samhain is the right day, then you can do it for me.”

Saturday, February 7, 2015

Better Than Fifty Shades February: Hard Reboot

Let's be totally honest about Hard Reboot. A lot of the kink isn't consensual.  It's the kind of book kinky people read, not the kind that accurately depicts BDSM. And this is stated right up front. (Given that it's cyberpunk and a lot of the equipment doesn't exist, there's that to consider too)

Caitlin is kidnapped, brainwashed and turned into a sex slave. Her mental and physical responses are rewired.  Her husband spends the whole book working to get her back to herself, without the people who pretty much own them finding out.

Zara underwent similar brainwashing, with the implication that hers was even more awful because her owner didn't know what he was doing and was learning the techniques. She has fought her own way back to some sort of normal, after a decade, but the wrong tone, a stern command, and she's on her knees right beside Caitlin.

David is submissive, but he too is subject to forms of mind control. Turns out this is done through a chip in his brain and spine and is for everyone's safety.

Still a better love story than 50 Shades. Many of the characters act out of power and covetousness. But some of them act out of love.

Buy Link





One of my favorite bits, and not work safe.:

Caitlin jacked out, unmounted a portable drive from her base tower and then purged her entire hard drive. Naked as usual in the apartment, maintaining at least the appearance she was still a slave, for the benefit of the hidden LedaCorp cameras in the ceiling, she stretched and shook out her hair. Sean came closer and saw she wasn’t sweating from this run. He snapped his fingers and she went to her 
knees.

“Report.”

“That should begin the ball rolling. I am done and the initial action against EIT is visible, Master.”

Sean knew his panic was showing. Direct confrontation was never his style. In fact, it terrified him. Now, Caitlin had put them on a collision course with the people who had nearly destroyed them.  With people who could destroy the whole world if they chose. They all had nukes and bio weapons. They all had more power and more money than most governments. Worse, she had put them in conflict with the people whose paychecks kept them eating steadily and living indoors.

He knew she’d been at this for a while now. It was her personal redemption and vengeance. She’d needed it, and he’d been in favor of it when she started. Now that the dominoes were actually beginning to fall, it was hard not to have second thoughts. 

“We’re moving,” he announced and headed for the bedroom to start packing. Running was all he could think of to do. It had saved his skin often enough in the past, but he wasn’t sure he could run
far or fast enough to get away now. 

“No, Master, we aren’t.”

Sean stopped in his tracks and smiled. Caitlin had finally gotten enough back to contradict him, even as she still called him master. They continued so she wouldn’t slip in front of people. He turned and went back to kiss her. “Why not, sweetheart? We’ll take your running stuff and head somewhere warm that they don’t know about.”

She kept her voice very low, so as not to be overheard by any possible new bugs or any of the still active mics. “There is no place they don’t know about. Technomancer and the Timberwolf can
find anyone. Could you really cut off your brother completely? Besides, I have data Leda will want. That should level the playing field some.” She held up the storage drive. 

Sean hugged her hard. “Damn, I love you! Have I mentioned you’re the smartest, most vicious woman I know?”

Caitlin squirmed out of his arms and taped the drive to the bottom of the kitchen table. She crawled back to the front room, and dropped the heavy flogger from the bedroom wall at his feet.

“Please, Master. I need this. Don’t stop until the Gemini are here. Believe me, after what I’ve been up to, they are coming.”

“And how do you know this, girl?”

She kept her voice down and explained, her smile sly and self-satisfied. “Your slave may have been routinely hacking the LedaCorp motor pool, Master, this morning, to keep an eye on things. Their motor pool data has a fairly high level of protection, but Irishgirl slips through undetected, unlike a half dozen or so paparazzi trying daily to access the same node, nicely distracting Security for me. As usual I planted a key-logger program on their system to alert me if any vehicles are set to come within a mile of your apartment while I ran elsewhere today. 

“Just as I pulled the key-logger, I saw one of their hoverlimos log a flight plan, with our address as its destination. Two VIP passengers, names not given. Two ground escort vehicles to rendezvous at destination coordinates. Projected ETA ninety minutes, give or take five to fifteen for traffic.”

Sean kissed each of the pink, peaked nipples and then her mouth. “I do love you, girl.” Sean kissed her left nipple again, hooked his tongue through the ring and tugged it lightly to hear her hiss in pleasure, and then pulled it into his mouth to suck. 

Caitlin moaned softly at the touch of his mouth, her body’s sensitivity betraying her as she got wet. “Tie me down, please, Master?”

He bit her, not hard, just a sharp nip. The orgasm crashed through her, making her spasm in his arms. “No,” he said, shoving two fingers into her wet slit. “On your knees, slave, forehead to the floor, wrists over your head. Not tied.” He pulled her clit ring, just a little harder than she liked, and she came again, screaming. 

He knew all the best ways to send her into subspace and keep her there, until she would let him do anything he wanted. She would need to be deep tonight, he knew. She always did after hard runs and he hadn’t given it to her after the last few. Now, the accumulated session time had reached critical need. Down she went.

Friday, February 6, 2015

Better than Fifty Shades February: Jodi Paye and Chris Owen's Deviations Series

When people as "So what kink DO you read?"  this is one of the series I point them to.

This is the one with the images that stick with me. The Barn. Noah facing down Phan's father. Tobias delivering the foal. Noah facing his fear of the cage. Tobais scarring a T into a sub's back with only a toothpick. Phan and his leather hair ribbons. This is the one that added ideas to my fantasy life.

 Buy Link



























































I read all five. And I think the first four are the best. (The fifth seems to lose its way when the men are no longer working, Men draw most of their identity from work)  I also highly recommend Rough Draft. It's one of the few nonkinky contemporaries I like.

My favorite scene is in Domination. Noah has told his Sir, Tobias, about one of his fantasies, and Tobias (with a little help) is making it come true.
~~~

 Tobias moved. He didn't run, but he rushed up against Noah and propelled him into the brick wall ahead of the car, one hand up and out to keep Noah from being hurt by the impact. He pressed along Noah's body, his other hand on Noah's mouth. "You think you can dance like that and just walk out? That you can tease and put on a show and leave a man wanting? Slut."

Noah was quiet for a moment. He struggled a bit, disoriented, but turned his head far enough to get a look at Tobias and went still. He was breathing hard and his heart was pounding. It only took him a few seconds to form an appropriate response. "I... never promised you anything," he growled.

Tobias allowed himself a flicker of a smile as Noah jumped into the game.

He shoved a little harder, willing to be rougher now that Noah was at least aware that he was even there. "You made a promise to every man watching, Pretty Boy," Tobias said, a little louder. "Just that I'm the one who got out here to collect." He dragged his hand down Noah's body, fingers digging into muscle and pulling at cloth.

"Gentlemen ask first," Noah drawled. "But you're not a gentleman, are you? What if I told you I already have someone waiting for me? What then?"

"Then I'd say you don't seem to care much either way." Tobias dropped his hand lower and grabbed Noah's cock through his trousers. "Hard as a rock, slut." He licked Noah's ear and laughed softly. "You want it."

Noah didn't bother to cover his groan. "How do you know what I want? Who the hell do you think you are?" he asked, pressing his ass back into Tobias' hips. "Out here in the fucking parking lot..."

"Did you see him leave?" Came a voice off to their right. Logan.

"No, but it looks like we're too late, man," Bradford said in reply.

"Jesus, look at him. The fucking slut."

"There's no point in butting in, Tobias doesn't share."

Noah groaned again and glanced over his shoulder at Tobias again, his mask reflecting the shadowy light. "Jesus... "

Tobias laughed again, his hand rubbing Noah's erection and slipping down to cup his balls for a moment. "Good evening, gentlemen. You're a little slow." He ground his own prick against Noah's ass, his breath speeding.

"Or you're a little fast," came a voice on the left. Tobias had to actually turn his head to see who it was this time. "Let that tease go, Tobias, he's not worth it, take me instead," Nikki offered.

Tobias grinned and looked him over slowly. "Sorry, kid. You're a little... well. You're not this one." He gave Noah's cock a squeeze. "Gonna fuck you, Pretty Boy," he said to Noah. He flicked his wrist and undid the button on Noah's trousers.

"Oh, God." Noah was half in the scene and half in a fog of arousal, Tobias realized with smug satisfaction. "No, no," Noah mock-protested quite convincingly. "You can't, not here --I have a Master, he's waiting." His body betrayed him, however, and he groaned again. Tobias could feel the adrenaline pumping in him, feel his pulse race, his temperature rise.

"Do it, man!" came another voice behind him, and another one followed.




Thursday, February 5, 2015

Better Than Fifty Shades February

So, there is a movie coming out next week. It purports to be the hot new take on BDSM. It's bad Twilight fanfic, written in present tense, and presenting kink as a negative thing that can be overcome with the love of a good woman.

So, from now until Valentine's, I'll be offering you kink fic, usually mine, that is better than 50 Shades,

Today:
Dominant Tendencies, an all sf/f BDSM anthology.
Buy Link


Combat mage Cody is new to the Delta Bluesmen and has extra energy to work off after his first assignment.


From "Riding the Edge:"


The kid seemed to breathe easier at that. “You're Antoine, right? I'm Cody.”

Antoine gave him a half smile. “I don't usually learn the new brothers' names until they've been with us for three months.”

Cody barked a little laugh at that. “Yeah, that's what Wilson said. You don't have a girl?”

Antoine just looked at him. “Boy, you know better.”

Cody nodded and ran one hand through his sweaty brown hair. “We the only ones?” he asked and Antoine heard something a little calmer in his voice. He had Cody's measure now. Little boy had been bossed around all his life, and now he needed someone else to tell him what to do.

“Eh, most of them will go for a bj if there's no other option, but they mostly like girls.” Antoine looked Cody over, making sure the kid saw him do it. He reached over and gripped Cody's shoulder. “Right now, boy, I have a powerful need and you're going to fix it for me.”

Cody tensed and Antoine could almost see the hot retort on the end of his tongue. Then he relaxed under Antoine's hand. “Anything you like, Mr. Vice-President, sir.” He picked up both his full beer and Antoine's half-finished one. “I'll clean up and you can tell me exactly what a president of vice does.”