Gaijin
When Jennifer left the cold and damp of London for the sparkle and bustle of Tokyo, she imagined she’d find a world full of cherry blossom festivals, ancient tea ceremonies and Geishas. What she got instead was a cramped, shared apartment, harassment on the subway and a mind-numbing job as a hostess at the Blonde […]
Gift Wrapped
In my pale cocoon of diffuse light I lie still as the grave. Mummified in white paper, every inch of me wrapped from head to toe. Each tiny movement, each shallow breath makes crinkles. Supine upon your bed, I blink and my eyelashes make rasping sounds against the paper that covers my face. This close, […]
Tentacle Dreams: Calls for Submission
Six months ago, I put an anthology together called A Slip of the Lip for ERWA. I received a lot of great entries and I think we managed to put a very nice e-book together from the submissions. I’d like to try to do another one of those, but this time I’d like to invite […]
From the Other Side of the Mirror.
Quite a while ago, I wrote a piece called Shellshock. It deals with loneliness, history and the way it haunts our present. DTS3204 (or Soldierboy, as I like to call him) found some resonance in the story. He’s a Vietnam vet. He has written parts of the same story, from a different point of view. […]
New Valuations: Erotica and What It’s Worth
There is no other way to put it, writers get paid shit. Erotica writers get paid even less shit. At present, a writer of a short, say 4,000 word, story gets approximately $50 for the story. This works out at about 1 cent a word. Does that seem like the wrong way to work out […]
Onward and Upward – More Elevator Lust
A week ago, I posted a story called “The Virtue of Patience” about two people in an elevator and the way their relationship evolves over time. Monocle (Raziel Moore) took up the challenge of the same basic scenario and wrote a wonderfully raw and dystopic piece called “Vertical Hold” Today Redbud (William Crimson) has added […]
Hole
The room was chilly and beige. It smelled faintly of stale cigarette smoke and carpet shampoo. Beyond the open curtains the streetlamps splayed in the cold, winter air. From her place in the nondescript beige armchair, Emma thought the man on the bed looked vulnerable. Lit by the gloom of the bedside lamps, Sean lay […]
Vertical Hold: Monocle’s Response to the Elevator Scenario
The Virtue of Patience was the outcome of a discussion between Raziel Moore and I. His story – Vertical Hold – based on exactly the same scenario, is now up at his site. Please go and have a read. It’s hot as hell. Nine a.m. The year may start new for everyone else, but for […]
The Virtue of Patience
On January 2nd, 2009, Jeremy Sykes stepped into the crowded elevator that took him to his office on the 44th floor. The passengers were bundled up against the winter cold. Some looked tanned from recent winter holidays in warmer climes, but all exuded that air of barely contained ill temper that inevitably haunts everyone who […]
Seven Senryū for the New Year
I have only just learned how to write Senryu. I have @senryunectar to thank for this most exquisite pleasure. If you twitter, you must follow her. The challenge of the Senryu is to write in Haiku form (5 – 7 – 5 syllables) using a word proposed by one of the group. It’s lovely to […]