Weekend Writing Warriors 2 June 2019 (ER, LGBT, PA, SF)


“Oh, never mind all that,” Captain Botterill snapped. “I tire of listening to the pair of you arguing so melodramatically. Why don’t you just admit that you still want to fuck her, Paraji?”
“It is not so!” Paraji protested. “I despise everything about her. She is fatally flawed. You, Abigail, you are perfection. The darkness in your soul has the power to wipe the Cosmos of the wretched plague of weakness and debauchery currently infecting it. With my power at your disposal, all will be cleansed and made austere by your command.”

Cie for Naughty Netherworld Press


This snippet is taken from Carnal Invasion XII: Paraji's Prisoners, available now on Kindle.


You'd Be A Fool to Pass up Free--Especially When It's This Good!


It's hot off the presses, and it's running wild! Carnal Invasion XII: Paraji's Prisoners is the first installment in Carnal Invasion's Dark Mysteries series. 
Meet Paraji, a badass Rakshesha (female Rakshasa in human form) with a vendetta. Paraji and Mistress Kali had a past connection, and things didn't end well. Now the scorned sorceress wants revenge, and she doesn't care who she has to take down to get it.
Paraji has partnered with Captain Abigail Botterill, the corrupt director of the Alien and Supernatural Search Squadron. When rogue agents Dale Dicking, Marc Cumming, Julie Spitz, and Sarah Swallows are captured by Paraji's Djinn lackeys and taken to Base Lust-69, Julie has strange feelings of deja vu, although she can't recall ever having been to the base previously.
An old enemy of Ahmose Ike's from his days as a prisoner at the Manzanar Internment Camp has resurfaced and is working in conjunction with the two villainesses. Bad-tempered vampire Mondo Katou wants revenge on Ahmose and will stop at nothing to get it.
Will Mistress Kali's no-nonsense Gargoyle warrior daughter Titania and her lusty sisters be able to convince the randy Djinn guards to let them into Base Lust-69, or are the prisoners screwed in all the wrong ways?
Paraji's Prisoners may just be the most thrilling, mysterious, and over-the-top erotic installment to date in the Carnal Invasion Series!
Whether you like erotica with a generous side of plot, a story that keeps you on the edge of your seat, fun characters, a wicked sense of humor, or all of the above, you can't go wrong when you pick up your FREE copy of Paraji's Prisoners. But hurry--this deal is only available between May 27 and May 31, 2019.

~Cie for Naughty Netherworld Press~


Rage-Inducing Adventures in Publication


Paraji is not a happy camper right now. I uploaded the manuscript for Carnal Invasion XII: Paraji's Prisoners to Kindle and created a cover using this excellent picture to represent the titular vampire sorceress.
The book showed up on my bookshelf as "draft."
"Well, WTF?" said I.
I tried to go back in and fix things, but I kept getting returned to the bookshelf.
In a state of frustration, I decided to just delete the book from the shelf and start over.
I guess the problem is on Amazon's end because I was told I couldn't do that.
So I kind of want to throw my computer out the window, but that would be counter-productive.
In spite of the fact that sales for these books has been incredibly disappointing, the moment when one gets published is still a good one.
I don't need this shit.
If I could drink, I'd be an alcoholic. Believe me.
Fixed things! I re-uploaded the book. The "draft" version is still there, which will aggravate me, but at least the real version is there too. Maybe Amazon can delete the draft version for me.
The real version is still in review at the moment, but at least it's enough to stop Paraji from breathing down my neck!

~Cie~


Weekend Writing Warriors 26 May 2019 (ER, LGBT, PA, SF)


“You disappoint me, False Kali,” Paraji sighed. “I would have hoped for an outburst, such as the one which caused you to incinerate an entire village back when we first met.”
“Not a village, a group of wicked sorcerers and elders who were engaging in the most vile of acts. They raped some of the villagers and consumed the flesh of others. They were corrupt and monstrous. I set their bloody commune aflame and them with it. I regret my actions not, and I would do it again.”
“Yet you accuse me of being corrupt. Why do you not attack?”
“Because I do not believe your corruption is irreversible.”

Cie for Naughty Netherworld Press

Notes:
This is a snippet from Naughty Netherworld Press' forthcoming twelfth installment, Paraji's Prisoners. Mistress Kali continues her attempt to make the ancient vampire sorceress Paraji see reason. 
The book will be released at the end of May, only on Kindle.
Need to catch up on the bold and bawdy tales in the Carnal Invasion series? Visit our library!




Weekend Writing Warriors 19 May 2019 (ER, LGBT, PA, SF)


“Djinn, put each of the prisoners in separate cells!” Paraji commanded.
“Paraji, you can’t do this!” Mistress Kali pled. “Gamma Iridians cannot survive in isolation, not on this planet. We will be dead within ten solar hours.”
“Do you fear death, False Kali?” Paraji sneered.
“I do not fear the cessation of my physical form. As I have said before, it is me you wish to punish. Let the others go. I will allow you to do whatever you wish to me. I will not put up a fight.”

Cie for Naughty Netherworld Press

Note:
This snippet is from the forthcoming release Carnal Invasion XII: Paraji's Prisoners, available only from Kindle at the end of May.

Our First Book:

Weekend Wrap-Up: A Leap of Faith that Hopefully Doesn't End in a Giant Splat

Image by Marta Cuesta from Pixabay

I have reached a crossroads in my life. Not a little itty bitty crossroads either. A big hum-dinger of a crossroads. So big, in fact, that I wrote the following poem and note about it:


cricket silence
between scraping sounds
autumn begins
for me a new beginning
or perhaps the end of all

Jane & Cie

The Hokku (Haiku) portion of the poem was written by Jane Reichhold. The Ageku, or closing stanza, was written by me.
Come the fall, I should have pictures of the old hotel my son is buying to renovate. This probably sounds a lot posher than it is. This building is in a town listed on the Colorado Ghost Towns website, and it needs a lot of work.
For me, this move is literally either a new beginning or the beginning of the end. I have run out of options.


Here is the Grover Hotel. I am going to be in touch with the Colorado Historical Society on Monday to see what needs to happen for us to receive a grant to help us with renovation. 
The Grover Hotel was built in 1900, at the point when Grover was a boom town. After it was a hotel, it was a church, a hospital, and then a boarding house. I am not entirely sure how long it has been vacant.
There are significant repairs which will need to be made, including the roof. My son and I are meeting with a plumbing contractor and an electrician on Tuesday. We are fully committed to making this building once again as beautiful as it is stalwart. It has a lot of problems, but we believe that it can once again be an asset to this tiny town.
Concurrent with my commitment to making this move 100 miles from Denver, I made the decision to quit my job. 
I have never been unemployed for long periods of time. I've worked ever since I was 16 years old. Being unemployed makes me feel like I've given up, even if logic dictates otherwise.
I had two cars: a 2011 Ford Fusion and a 1998 Subaru Forester. The Forester was bought used and ignorantly. Always take any newly purchased car to your mechanic for inspection before committing to purchase. I did not do that. The Forester has been a money pit, and it overheated on me for the last time last Friday. I am going to let the mechanic sell it for parts.
This leaves me with only the Ford Fusion.
Working as a delivery driver comes with significant risks. Fortunately, the only two accidents I've been in with the Fusion have been minor and the other driver was at fault in both cases, so their insurance covered the cost of repairs. As a reminder, never make a deal with the other driver, always go through the insurance company for repairs. 
If I had agreed to have the parents of the young lady who slid into my car when the roads were icy pay me for the initial estimate, I would have been screwed six ways to Sunday. The initial estimate quoted repairs costing less than $500. The actual cost was nearly $2000. 
In any case, I am not in a position to risk my now sole vehicle by working as a courier. I need to concentrate on preparing for the move, including getting rid of a significant amount of stuff. 
I am very nervous about this move. I have plans to sell handcrafted items. I will be revealing my blog dedicated to these items early in the week, once the inspection has come back. The inspector wants to consult with a structural engineer regarding the foundation before he gives us his final assessment.
I am really no longer able to work "normal" jobs. Once the property has been purchased, I am going to have to go to social services in the county where the property is located and talk face to face about why my 401K, which I can't access without a significant penalty until I reach retirement age, is preventing me from qualifying for SNAP. Thankfully, I get Medicaid, but I don't get SNAP. I find this ridiculous, considering that I made less than $10,000 last year.
This place really is the last stop on the line for Yours Truly. If I can't make a go of it here, I'm well and truly done. 
I have a strange and amazing imagination and a lot of fine ideas. The problem is getting people to know about me.
I am also not known for my normalcy or for being sugar and spice. I am not sweet, petite, or pretty, and I tend to speak my mind. One person referred to me as flinty. I identify as a curmudgeon. I have heard that well-behaved women rarely make history. It would be a shame if such a badly behaved woman as myself was buried by time and dust, I think.

Click to Enlarge

I'll go more in depth with this issue later, but I think that it's worth mentioning that many people can no longer afford to live in the city. This house is being purchased with money that my son's father inherited. I can tell you this: $200,000 may sound like a lot of money, but it isn't.
We could piss this money away on rents of $1200 per month (and rising) for a modest, two-bedroom townhome. I love this place, I really do, and at $1200 a month, it's cheap for the Denver metro area. But the rent rises every year and staying here has become unsustainable for two disabled people who are receiving absolutely no help from the housing authority.
We could buy a condo in the outlying areas of the Denver metro area. The only acceptable one we found would have been $240,000. It had three bedrooms and one bathroom. My son is inviting a friend to live with us. We would have felt like we were all on top of each other pretty quickly, and there would always have been a queue for the loo. Not fun!
We could purchase a mobile home for around $90,000 and piss away $700 a month on lot rent. Mobile homes do not earn equity, they depreciate like a car does. I will discuss the money pit which is the mobile home that I own and am clearing out to sell at another juncture. Everything is broken down in this place and I have never had the money to replace or repair it. There was a flood which required treatments for black mold in the aftermath. It's possible that the place will need to be condemned. I'm hoping it can be salvaged because I'd like to potentially get back a little money from it.
The Grover Hotel will cost $90,000. Admissibly, it needs a lot of work, which will come out of the remaining money. However, it has six bedrooms spread out over two floors. It has a basement. It has an attic. It has a back yard. I'm not sure who you'd have to kill to get something like that in the Denver area, but I do know you couldn't get it legally.
Housing costs are driving the working class out of the cities. This means they either have to make long commutes, or they end up unemployed and on welfare living in rural areas. 
Denver, like other major cities, likes to brag about how they've created apartments with wonderful amenities right next to the transit hubs. While this is true, the rents start at $2000 per month for a closet (small studio apartment). The working classes cannot afford to live in these places. I guess we can set up tents in the parking lots of abandoned buildings, hope that the restaurant throws out some edible food, and use the area between dumpsters for our toilet while hoping not to get bit on the ass by a rat. No, I'm not being hyperbolic. This sort of thing is actually happening every day.
My son and I will come back to Denver once a week for our woodworking class and pick up a week's worth of groceries. Denver is more than 100 miles from Grover. We may visit the Botanic Gardens once a month. We lose out on all the cultural activities that we loved, such as going to the museum. I was working, which meant something to me, but I have to stop doing that and hope for the best when it comes to creating my own products to sell.
This is the sort of thing that happens when people are punished for being part of the working class and for being disabled.
We need to stop looking down our noses at the working class. Not everyone can or wants to be a CEO. That person at the McDonald's who made your burger and fries enabled you to not have to make your own burger and fries. Why in the world anyone believes that people in the working class should be punished by being forced to live in poverty is beyond the scope of my imagination.
American society as it currently stands is not sustainable. We either need to implement changes that benefit the middle and lower classes or things are going to break down even further. This never leads to anything good.
I hope you will all visit my new website when I reveal the URL. I want to do some giveaways and think of ways that we WAH folk can help each other.

~Cie~

Tan Renga Challenge 2019: Day 6: In Shadow


autumn moonlight--
a worm digs silently
into the chestnut.
presenting a sunny face
though my brain feels full of worms

Basho & Cie


Notes:
The Hokku (Haiku) stanza of this Tan Renga was written by Matsuo Basho. The Akegu (closing stanza) was written by me.
Matsuo Basho was born in 1644 and died 28 November 1694. As a point of coincidence, my father died on 28 November 2010.
As Chèvrefeuille explains, Basho's Haiku references his desires for a man. Basho was a Samurai, and, as with the warriors of ancient Greece, homosexuality was considered normal and acceptable. Relationships between older men and adolescent boys were also considered acceptable.
I do feel that homosexuality is normal and acceptable, but I think it is better not to have sexual relationships between adults and youth.
My portion of the poem does not refer to my sexuality. Being heterosexual, I never found myself in the position of keeping my sexuality a secret. It refers to living with mental illness in a society which stigmatizes people who struggle with depression and suicidal thoughts. 
Some people think that in this age of readily available psych meds, no-one should struggle with psychological problems. Many people do not respond well to psych meds, and not all psychological problems are chemical in nature.

Weekend Writing Warriors 12 May 2019 (ER, LGBT, PA, SF)


“Paraji, you need to let the others go,” Kali insisted. “I’m the one you want. I’m sorry for the way things happened back when I first arrived on Earth. I was young and impulsive and a bit drunk on my new power. I’m sorry I hurt you. Please believe me, I loved you in my way, and I’m forever grateful for the things you taught me. But when I left, I didn’t think you’d want me back. I hoped you’d forget about me. I loved you, but I couldn’t be faithful to only one, because my energy requirements are too great.”

Cie for Naughty Netherworld Press

Notes:
Mistress Kali is pleading with the ancient vampire sorceress Paraji to release the other hostages captured by Paraji's Djinn. It now becomes apparent that Paraji and Mistress Kali have a history with one another.
This snippet is from Carnal Invasion XII, due for release around the end of May 2019 on Kindle.

Our most recent book:


Sinful Sunday Art Flash: Unmentionable Outtakes from Eden: Lust for Power


Creation from my rib, I tell you now
Of my thoughts on a subtle takeover
I insist that you must not question how
I think that this place needs a makeover
I will prove that I'm not just a rover
The ideal apocalyptic scene
We will enact, as for power I'm keen


The unmentionable thought on your mind
Is your lust for power, it is quite clear
You thoughtlessly would put me in a bind
To achieve your unwholesome delight, dear
Did you expect that I would clap and cheer
Do you always try to seduce a girl
By discussing takeover of the world

~Sly Has Spoken~

Prompts Used:

Notes:
This caustic rhyme is the brainchild of Cie's outspoken radical feminist alter-ego, Sly Fawkes. It is our attempt at a Rhyme Royal.
Sly can be found on Blogger and Tumblr.

Image copyright juliahenze @123rf.com

Cie Sez: Popularity Does Not Equate to Writing Quality

Note: This is a direct copy of a post on my Netherworld Writers Guild Tumblr. I have provided links to all the participants.

Anonymous asked:

How to know if my story sucks? It has about 100 hits and 3 kudos and no comments. Kinda frustrating. I like the story tho. Help?!


If you like it then it doesn’t suck. Those are the rules. 

What you’re asking about isn’t about how good the story is, it’s about how popular it is. Those are two different things. Popularity comes down to the following (incomplete list)

a good, clear summary that describes the fic and lets the reader know what to expect. No typos. No grammar problems. No “I suck at summaries”

tags for the show and characters of course, but also tags for tropes that are used, genre (fluff, smut, angst, etc), episodes if it’s a post-ep, meta, timeline (if applicable) etc. Tell the people what’s in your story so that they can find it. Or avoid it if it’s not for them.

relevance to the fandom. The Silmarillion is a great work of literature, but how many Lord of the Rings fans actually read it? If you’re writing to make yourself happy, sometimes that doesn’t appeal to everyone - and that’s okay


You’re the first reader you need to please–if you like it, more will follow. :)

Try promoting it around–that always helps broadcast it to potential readers.  Doesn’t even have to be online either–was at the pet store the other day, was telling this guy I was writing original fiction, he’s kind of politely listening; tell him I do fanfiction too? YOOOO he’s suddenly interested. XD


This is the thing I struggle with the absolute most. I’m not the kind of person that other people like, and I’m rubbish at self-promotion. My brain is weird. Consequently, my writing is weird. 

Having rapid-cycling type 2 bipolar disorder, I tend to have three different approaches to the fact that my writing is not what the teeming masses want to read. Considering that the teeming masses seem to want rubbish like Twilight and its even more rubbish hellspawn, Fifty Shades of Gray, I’m rather sure I wouldn’t like any story of mine that happened to become popular.

When I’m hypomanic, I don’t give flea fart in a category five hurricane what people think of my writing. If they like it, fine. If they don’t like it, meh, whatever. I know it’s hella fucking great, or at least pretty good, or at least I liked it. That’s the only thing that matters.

When I’m euthymic, my thoughts are “if I build it and promote it, they will come. Or not. Whatever.”

When I’m depressed, my thoughts go a little bit something like this.

“I’m trash and everything I do is trash. I should stop writing and destroy everything I’ve ever written. Nobody will ever like me. I’m a thing that never should have happened. I even make my grandma sick.”

The fact of the matter is, the depressive thoughts have far less to do with the quality of my writing than they do with feeling unwanted and rejected. I was a weird kid who became a weird teenager who grew up to be a weird adult. I was badly bullied when I was younger and taken advantage of and abandoned by the kinds of soulless people who think nothing of using others and throwing them away when I became a needy adult with very low self-esteem. None of this has fuck all to do with the quality of my writing. 

One of the things writers can do is to seek out beta readers. I do offer my services as a beta reader and a reviewer, but I don’t always have time to do it. Anyone who is interested can find the information on the http://horrorharridans.blogspot.com page.

The number of comments one receives has very little to do with the quality of the work presented. Unfortunately, it often boils down to how popular the writer is. New writers tend to get few if any comments. I’ve been blogging and sharing my writing since 2006. I’ve never been popular. I was very naive when I first started and believed that the Internet would open doors to finding all kinds of friends, including other people who were Just Like Me. Instead, I learned that most people really don’t give a fuck and that nobody else is like me. 

This, however, is not an indication that your writing sucks. It’s an indication that people suck, and if you enjoy writing, you should keep doing it. 

Jimi Hendrix once said that he found that compliments distracted him from the thing that was most important: creation. 

Writers are often lonely and misunderstood people. We need to try and separate our personal need for acceptance from our reasons for writing. If we are writing in order to be accepted, we are going to fail. We need to write for the sake of the story which is asking to be told.

Insecure Writers' Support Group May 2019: Cie Plans Ahead

Image copyright Conger Design on Pixabay

As the sort of person who tends to fly by the seat of my pants, I like to instill some discipline into my program by participating in writing prompts. However, as I discovered this year when participating in Camp NaNoWriMo plus the NaPoWriMo and Poems in April prompts at the same time on my poetry blog, and the A to Z challenge over at Naughty Netherworld Press, too many prompts can feel more like a cluster flock than an inspiration.


This nightmare vision is a massive flock of starlings. I don't have a bird phobia, but I find this a bit unsettling. I don't like swarms of anything, and that includes people.
Camp NaNoWriMo is much more flexible than NaNoWriMo. I was using it as a tool to inspire me to pull together my first poetry book. I'm not sure it succeeded. 
NaPoWriMo's prompts are optional. One can participate in NaPoWriMo without ever using one of their prompts.
Poems in April's prompts are not flexible.
The A to Z blogging challenge doesn't have any hard and fast rules other than, you know, having your posts go in alphabetical order. The subject you choose is up to you. 
I used the A to Z challenge to introduce the bold and bawdy characters from Naughty Netherworld Press' Carnal Invasion series to the world. This was enjoyable but labor-intensive. I don't think it would be a bad thing to plan next year's A to Z Challenge this year and have at least a rough draft version of the posts ready to go for next year.
For the poetry project, I believe that next year I am going to go with Carpe Diem's Spring Kigo. This will work fine with NaPoWriMo and Camp NaNoWriMo, plus there is a feeling of continuity, and I can hone my Haiku. There are people who loathe Haiku. I am not among them.
If either the NaPoWriMo or Poems in April prompts strike my fancy, I can hammer out a bonus poem. My -666 fans will be thrilled!
I had planned to answer the Insecure Writers' Support Group question in this month's post, but I'm not going to--again. Maybe next time.

~Cie~



Weekend Writing Warriors (ER, LGBT, PA, SF)


“Agent Cumming, who is this odious creature?” Mistress Kali demanded indignantly. “It seems that you and Agent Dicking are acquainted with her.”
“This is Captain Abigail Botterill, the treacherous head of A.S.S.S.,” Agent Dicking interrupted, rage in his voice as he glared at his superior officer.
“You should probably make that Queen Abigail, Empress of Earth, and remove the indignance from your speech, Lackey!” Paraji barked. “Djinn, attend!”
A squadron of two dozen Djinn made their way down the corridor, each taking charge of one prisoner.
“What is your command, my Queen?” the leader of the troop inquired of Paraji.
“Bring them,” Paraji commanded. “We will require Kali’s daughter the cosmic slut and the host of Kali’s new offspring as well.”
“Majesty, I found this human who is sharing possession of his body with a noncorporeal infernal spirit,” a Djinn soldier reported, dragging Muel forward.

Cie for Naughty Netherworld Press

Note:
This snippet is from the forthcoming Naughty Netherworld Press release, The Hunt for Paraji's Prisoners.

Our most recent release:

An Olive-Green Gown and Malachite Shoes #8Sunday #RainbowSnippets #SnipSun

    Genre: Poetry plus a supernatural coming-of-age story (vampires).  Buy Link: https://amzn.to/3vz8uXw   Publication Date: February 15, 20...