Fabulous Friday Reads: One … And Done
TGIF! Let’s kick off the weekend with Allyson Young’s hot new novel One … And Done, now available from Evernight Publishing and other purveyors of fine erotic romance. Take it away, Allyson!
When I met Drew at that damn wedding our chemistry was off the charts. All he could offer was the weekend, but uncharacteristically, I jumped at it. When he slipped away like a thief in the night I was blindsided by loss, even knowing people don’t fall in love at first sight! He left me a lifelong reminder though, one to make its appearance in about seven months. Too bad he’d never know…
She was always on my mind, and I couldn’t afford the distraction in this forsaken country where one false move could mean my death. My sniper training dissolved when I thought about Katie and our time together. I was a one and done kind of guy, but this time it was different. I’d be stateside in a few months and offer the apology she deserved. Maybe she’d forgive me, if there wasn’t another man in her life…
Story Excerpt
The equally pale piece of paper took shape against the quartz countertop when I set the cup down. My breath shortened and something central in my chest tightened. Fingers creeping across the smooth surface, I inched the note closer. Block printing in a heavy, masculine hand delivered the message with utter clarity.
Katie- Got the call. Deployed sooner than expected. Stole a kiss goodbye. I’ll treasure our time together. Drew
My hand drifted up to touch my lips. They trembled and I pressed them firm, sucking in a lungful of air through my nose. I was such a treasure that people abandoned me. A mirthless laugh escaped past my hand and I swiftly catalogued the situation, regaining control. Attended a wedding and met a hot guy. Fucked said guy. So what? Lots of women hooked up, nothing surprising. Had great sex. No harm, no foul. After all, he’d set the parameters upfront. One … and done.
Picking the note up by a corner, I carried it over to the trash and dropped it in, then poured the remaining coffee down the sink. Best not to think about all the confidences shared during the recovery times, or the laughter and easy banter. The way I thought we’d connected past the fucking. Sex didn’t have to make things awkward, right? And now, if I felt like yesterday’s bread, well, I’d done it to myself. And my name was Kate.
Checking the time, I hurried to pull out some clothes suitable for brunch. My girlfriends met in half an hour and I had no reason to miss it today. No need to mention how I’d filled the better part of the weekend either. I yanked the bedding off the mattress and wadded it up, jamming the linens into the hamper. My housekeeper would take care of the rest.
Adding a spritz of citrus, I smoothed the sundress over my thighs, then grabbed my purse. Moving on.
Where to Buy
Evernight
Amazon US
AllRomance eBooks
Bookstrand
About Allyson Young
Allyson Young lives in cottage country in Manitoba, Canada with her husband and numerous pets. She worked in the human services all across Canada and has seen the best and worst of what people bring to the table. Allyson has written for years, mostly short stories and poetry, published in small newspapers and the like, although her work appeared in her high school yearbooks too! After reading an erotic romance, quite by accident, she decided to try her hand at penning erotica.
Allyson will write until whatever she has inside her is satisfied- when all the heroes man up and all the heroines get what they deserve. Love isn’t always sweet, and Allyson favours the darker side of romance.
Website/Blog | Email | Twitter | Facebook
Notes From House Ownership
Things certainly work in mysterious ways. The roofers finished putting on the new shingles yesterday (working in the rain, poor guys — I made sure to give them all big tips because that’s just miserable). Yesterday afternoon Ramón comes downstairs covered in sweat from being in his office and announces the A/C isn’t working. He popped into the attic, looked up the code displayed on the thingy and said the furnace isn’t getting power, so either the whole unit was borked or there was a short somewhere. While he was up in the attic he also noticed that a lot of dirt and crap got knocked down during the roofing work, and the cable leading to the now-removed satellite dish had fallen across the furnace. We dunno if that may have shorted something out, but we already knew that we were going to be replacing the furnace in April so I put in a call to our heating and A/C company to come out and see if they could get it working temporarily and give us a quote on a replacement.
Fast forward to this morning when the furnace guy came and did his thing. It was indeed a loose connection that caused the fan to stop working, most likely caused by the banging from the roofers, so he fixed that and everything was fine.
And then he gave us the quote for the new furnace. $2100. Which is about $3000 less than I was expecting. Apparently the quote we got five years ago was for a specific furnace that was the mate to the A/C system, but times change and the less expensive furnace is now what’s being recommended for the system so YAY because we already had that in savings and don’t have to take out a loan.
So the roof is finished, they also replaced the dead light bulbs in the entryway so we can actually turn the outside light on again, we’ll have a new furnace as of tomorrow, and the painter will come on Monday to estimate the leak damage in Ramón’s office and settle on a time to fix it. All we need now is to get the gutters and screens fixed, the new siding on the chimney, and the loose shutter refastened, and we are cooking with gas.
Next year, foundation repair and window replacement for sure, then we can finally get new flooring in this place, whee!
Wicked Wednesday Reads: Chasing After Him (Risso Family #5)
Oh, look — it’s Wednesday, which means something hot and sexy from Lynn Burke and her Risso Family series. Today I’m featuring Chasing After Him (Risso Family #5), now available from Evernight Publishing and other purveyors of erotic romance. For more information on the Risso Family, click here.
Charlene Tucker is driven to achieve her goal of becoming a pediatrician, but her rigorous schedule is beating her down. She needs a break from academia, and perhaps pursuing a one-night stand with her hot Italian neighbor will help her relax and re-focus.
Theo Risso enjoys being in control. Tying women up and having them at his mercy is his ultimate obsession. Flirting with Charlene stimulates and challenges his carefree attitude, but his determination to be a good neighbor subjugates his need to dominate her.
A blizzard tamps out the electricity, but not their desire, and being snowed in together provides the perfect setting for Charlene’s plan…chase Theo until he succumbs to his own need to take control, to bind her body, and free her mind. Passions run high and tempers will clash as Charlene’s pursuit challenges Theo’s willpower to resist. But will her need for control threaten her ability to surrender herself to him?
Story Excerpt
Theo obviously liked how I looked. He’d enjoyed an eyeful of my bra-less chest and he’d also taken a sudden interest in my lips. I licked the lingering droplet of wine off the upper while lowering my glass. Time to get things moving. “So.”
He lifted his gaze, brow quirked. “So.”
“Why’d you agree to come over tonight?”
Theo’s sexy smirk sent flutters through my stomach. “I enjoy making you laugh. Helping you remember there’s life outside of your life’s goal.”
“Is that all?”
He nodded and tipped up his glass, not taking the time to savor the dry, oaken flavor.
My entire body tingled with the thought success was in reach. “Why didn’t you sit over here with me?”
Theo peered at me with his dark eyes. Fathomless and unreadable. “Because you’re on a mission.”
For the second time since he’d arrived, laughter bubbled from me. “I am.”
“And according to you, you always succeed.”
“I do.”
He studied the wine while swirling it in the glass. “I sat over here to thwart your plans.”
I narrowed my eyes as I studied his face. “Why?”
“You don’t need any distractions right now.”
Spine stiffening, I lifted my chin. “Or perhaps that’s exactly what I need right now.”
“Not my kind of distraction.”
His gaze latched onto me, and finally—finally—heat I’d dreamed of simmered in his stare. I fought the strange desire to lower my eyes. “I never back down. Ever.”
His coy smirk sent a rush of moisture straight south to slick my panties. “You should.”
“Oh?” I allowed my smile to grow and rubbed a fingertip along my shirt’s drooping neckline. His attention swung downward. “And why’s that?”
“You’re messing with fire.” He lifted his gaze and scorched me with the lust in his black eyes.
Fire? Oh yeah. My body ignited, and burning need swelled between my thighs and settled into my clit. I got up and set my wine glass on the coffee table while moving around it—all without breaking eye contact. Focused on his face, I peered down at him from between his legs. “I can handle a little heat.”
Where to Buy
Evernight Publishing
Amazon
Bookstrand
All Romance eBooks
About Lynn Burke
Lynn Burke is a full time mother, voracious gardener, and scribbler of spicy romance stories. A country bumpkin turned Bay Stater, she enjoys her chowdah and Dunkin Donuts when not trying to escape the reality of city life.
Her current work, the Risso Familly Novellas, revolves around four siblings from Boston’s North End.
Well, then!
As of yesterday, Empress of Storms earned approximately $6,092 in royalties for Q1 of 2016. Not only is this a career high for quarterly royalties, it’s also a career high for any individual title from me, and has paid for Wild Wicked Weekend, my upcoming appearance at RT 2016 (plus my awesome steampunk mermaid costume), and part of our new furnace. As Carl the Groundskeeper from Caddyshack would say, I’ve got that going for me.
Even better, the sales don’t seem to be slacking off any time soon, so hopefully this trend will continue because we still need to fix the foundation and put in new flooring and windows (right now the house is echoing with rapid fire knocks as the roofers tear off our old shingles and put on new ones in advance of the storm we’re supposed to get tomorrow. Thank Cthulhu for homeowner’s insurance, that’s all I have to say). In the meantime, I’m hard at work on Palace of Scoundrels, and since cover artist Jay Aheer has now been signed exclusively to Evernight Publishing I’m going to take a crack at doing the cover myself. I showed the draft cover to L.D. Blakeley a couple of days ago and her response was, “LOVE!” so I think I’m on the right track. Once I’ve got everything ready for edits and loading into various sales outlet I’ll do a cover reveal, promise.
Of course, if you want to see the cover earlier you can always sign up for my mailing list. It’s super low traffic, and subscribers get first crack at covers, sneak peeks, and swag giveaways.
In other news, I’m about a third of the way done with my RT costume, and I picked up eye makeup, press-on nails, and false eyelashes last night to complete the look. I also popped for blue contacts — they’re not super obvious, but look nice enough. It was fascinating to see myself with blue eyes (my real eye color is brown), because the resemblance to my blue-eyed blond brother became much more marked. Now if I can just finish the chemise, bustle skirt, and crown by April 9th, I should be ready to roll.
Marvelous Monday Reads: Dark Beast
Welcome to another edition of Marvelous Monday Reads, pumpkins! Today I’m featuring Alexa Sinclaire and her yummy Naughty Fairy Tale Dark Beast. Take it away, Alexa!
Scarred and bitter, all former soldier Kieran Thomson wants is a wife, a beautiful bride he can control and manipulate. And use for really hot sex. He isn’t supposed to fall for her. He isn’t supposed to actually care about her. He just wants to lock her up in a gilded cage and use her for his own pleasure. But when she finds a way past his barriers with her sensual touch, Kieran realizes he must either set her free or let her into his heart.
Despite being ignored and shunned by her family, Josephine Richmond is willing to protect them at any cost. Even if it means marrying a man she’s only just met. They say he’s a beast, scarred inside and out. She knows she should be afraid, she knows she should hate him for trapping her, but she can’t. Unable to resist her attraction to her husband, Josephine’s determined to make the marriage work. Especially when she has her own secret scars that only Kieran seems able to heal.
Story Excerpt
Looking down at the petrified Josephine, Kieran rationally understood why she was nervous, but he didn’t care. Not one tiny bit.
The woman was an adult, after all. She wasn’t being forced—maybe ‘manipulated’ was the word—into the marriage. To hold back the feeling of pity creeping into his conscience, he remembered the look on her face when she saw his scars at their one meeting before the wedding. The repulsed reaction was just like all those women before her who trembled at his disfiguration, and reminded him that like those vapid bimbos, she was as superficial as them.
It was the main reason he felt little guilt in picking her purely based on looks. She’d been stunning as a sixteen-year-old girl and now six years later, she’d grown into her body and was absolutely beautiful. Her figure was something out of a 1950s pinup: smooth curves and dips, filling out in all the right places. Unbelievably fuckable.
Her skin was porcelain smooth with a few freckles across the bridge of her nose that looked a bit out a place on her alabaster skin yet gave her something unique. But it was her mouth that really killed him: luscious and pink, with a distinct curve along the upper lip that he wanted to lick. They looked permanently swollen and ever since their brief meeting to discuss the prenuptial agreement, he’d spend many a night imagining those lips wrapped around his hard cock. At least that hadn’t been damaged by the landmine.
Josephine’s innocence practically radiated off of her. Her father had informed Kieran that she’d attended a strict boarding school before returning home and now attended college through an online-learning program. Considering her father’s social standing, her isolation seemed suspect, but Kieran didn’t let himself dwell on it too much.
Kieran watched her lips now as she began to speak the words that committed her to the marriage. Committed her to him.
“I-I-I do.” The tremor in her voice was audible.
It was now time to kiss the bride, he heard the priest inform them, and he waited for the moment of revulsion to cross Josephine’s face as she turned to face him, just as it had two weeks ago. But all he saw was slight trepidation as she looked up into his eyes. Her gaze didn’t even wander across his face and onto the scars. She remained looking up at Kieran, focusing intently on his own hazel eyes. Why wasn’t she recoiling?
Irritated by the feelings of confusion her stoic stare caused in him, he wrapped one arm around her waist, whilst grasping the other behind her neck, and firmly pulled her flush against him. Leaning down, he smashed his lips against her perfect mouth. He stiffened as he felt her small hands grasp his biceps.
Kieran expected her to subtly try and push him off her, but inside she melted into his arms. Not only was she not pushing him away, she seemed to be willingly letting him draw her small, soft body against his own. She didn’t even stiffen in his grasp. Her hips pressed against him and as he pulled away from her mouth, he heard a faint sigh escape from her lush lips.
Almost as if she’d enjoyed it.
Aware of their location, he willed himself to step back. He released his wife from his grasp but moved to grasp her hand and turned to walk out of the church. Kieran glanced over at her, amazed to see that a flush had spread across her cheeks and neck. As if she’d relished his touch. No, it was impossible to think that she was anything but repulsed by him. After all, he was a monster.
Nothing more than a beast.
Where to Buy
Evernight Publishing
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Amazon CA
All Romance eBooks
Bookstrand
About Alexa Sinclaire
Alexa Sinclaire writes erotic romance: the hotter the better. Originally from the East Coast, she now lives in England with her very own Alpha male British husband.
Fabulous Friday Reads: Where the Heart Belongs
Buckle your seat belts, buttercups, because tonight’s going to be wild. Let’s kick off the weekend with Iyana Jenna’s story of forbidden love, Where The Heart Belongs, now available from Torquere Press and other purveyors of fine erotic romance. Take it away, Iyana!
Released as a part of Forbidden Love line from Torquere Press, Where the Heart Belongs tells the story of two brothers Zach and Drew with their unnatural relationship. When something terrible happens to Zach, an African American FBI Agent, Eugene Harris comes into the picture adding more complications. This is #1 of the Triangle Series.
His brother slash boyfriend, Drew is leaving him. It makes Zach unaware of his surrounding and a hate-crime psycho takes him off guard. He is kidnapped and tortured. Zach is saved by the FBI and as a surviving witness, he is brought to stay with FBI Agent Eugene Harris.
Gradually, Eugene gets to know Zach. He should have been disgusted, but instead, all he wants is comfort Zach.
Will Zach accept that Drew is not coming back? Will Eugene finally have the gut to tell Zach how he feels
Story Excerpt
“Come with me, Zach.”
“Hush…” Zach whispered. He wanted to treasure the moment as much as he could but it was him who pulled back first. “Let’s go,” he said harshly. “You will miss your bus.” His heart bled at how Drew stared at him in confusion, hurt in his eyes. But he knew he had to let go now or he would never be able to.
He helped Drew with his bags and grasped Drew’s jacket sleeve, hugging him tight and kissing him again, not caring who might be watching. Drew clung onto him just like he used to during those cold nights whenever they were alone in a motel room, and squeezed him for the last time, pulling back. Their eyes met.
“I’ll come back for you.”
Long after the bus was gone, Zach was still standing at the bus station, his heart heavy. Drew was his brother and his lover. Zach realized the unnatural nature of their relationship, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. They only had each other in their lives.
Zach remembered one night. He had been nine at that time and Drew had been five. Rain had been pouring down the Earth for like hours now but there was no sign of stopping from the sound of it. Zach shot a wary gaze to the wide window and the thin lacy curtains covering it—a useless thing in his humble opinion—they could not stop him and Drew from staring right through the rain, let alone from the thunder and lightning that cracked almost every five minutes.
Alone only with little Drew in their small apartment—their father had yet to return, Zach did not dare shut his eyes even for a second. Not in this weather. Not when closing his eyes meant letting Drew out of his sight, although the kid was curled up right here with him, never far from his embrace.
Where to Buy
Torquere Books
Amazon US
Amazon UK
All Romance eBooks
Smashwords
About Iyana Jenna
I’m Iyana Jenna and you can call me Iyana. I like writing, romance, and man love so as you can see on this site, you’re mostly going to find m/m stories whether they are for adults or young adults. They are not going to be too heavy on explicit sex, though, as many say that my stories are considered sweet romance.
Wicked Wednesday Reads: Bomber’s Moon
Oh, look — it’s Wednesday, which means you need a little something extra to help you over Hump Day. Never fear, for today I’m here with Raven McAllan’s amazing new historical erotic romance Bomber’s Moon, now available from Evernight Publishing and other purveyors of erotic romance. Take it away, Raven!
I never thought, as a child and asking my mum, dad, gran (known as nan) and aunts to ‘tell me a story about the war’, that all these years later, I’d still remember those stories and use them as the basis for a book.
I’m so glad I did.
When I first had the idea for Bombers Moon, I just knew it would be set in Northamptonshire, where my mum as a teen was evacuated to, with her employment.
As much as the idea of a book set in London, in the blitz intrigued me, all mum ever said was ‘it was scary, noisy and as your granddad worked for the railways we got out own railway employees and families tube station to hide in’.
Then I remembered the tales of Northamptonshire. Of being locked out, getting stuck up a wall, although not knickerless—well I don’t think so *wink*. How they used charcoal or gravy browning to put ‘stocking seams’ up their legs, and bought wooden clogs and clacked around the draughty old stone-floored manor house they lived and worked in. The older ladies who worked with them, got so sick of the racket, they clubbed together and bought my mum and her friend a pair of slippers each.
My aunt went out with a Yank (as all American service men evidently were called), another relative fell off her bike and was rescued by a farmer, and evidently mum did dance with the local lord of the manor.
Thus, Bombers Moon was born.
Who gets caught by the man of her dreams bare-assed and halfway up a wall? Lady Chrissie Stride, of course.
It’s just her luck that she encounters Baronet Archie Duggan. On top of that, the house her London employers requisitioned to keep its staff safe from The Blitz is locked. Climbing the wall seemed like a good idea, until Archie turns up. At least he doesn’t seem to know it’s her.
Archie recognizes Chrissie almost immediately. He never expected to meet her again in deepest Northamptonshire. This time around he is determined to claim the woman he loved and lost. With the war on, priorities change, and love is too important to conform to niceties.
Will the star-crossed lovers finally find their happily ever after?
Story Excerpt
Chrissie gulped. He was big—everywhere. She looked downward, her vision drawn to his long thick cock, which stood out proudly from its nest of hair. She averted her eyes from the crisscross of scars on his leg and arm. Those she understood, he neither wanted to think or talk about just then.
And that’s going to fit in my daffodil? The euphemism used by so many of her friends seemed silly now, but there was no way she could use the words she heard bandied about so freely in the pub or by the older women at work.
Honey pot! That’s it. Merle’s expression came to her. My honey pot! Or Pussy. Okay I can live with that, but…cu… She couldn’t even think the word.
She looked at his body with frank regard. Who knew if she’d ever get a chance to see him like this again? Out of the corner of her eyes she saw the scars on his leg and arm were still red, angry-looking and pronounced. She bit her lips to stop her moan escaping and held back tears. It was hard not to cry for all he and thousands of others had been through and were still going through. But yet again, her eyes were drawn in one direction. His massive erection stood out stiff and proud. Chrissie gulped, her earlier fears resurfacing. That would really fit inside her? Oh, my.
Archie correctly read her expression. “Not only fit, but a perfect fit,” he assured her. “With room to move. Come and lie down here.” He walked to the bed and rolled back the sheet and blankets before kneeling awkwardly in front of her. “Hold on a sec, something needs doing first.”
It was on the tip of Chrissie’s tongue to tell him she’d do it, whatever it was, when it hit her that he didn’t want help or sympathy. He wanted to woo her. Her insides turned to mush. How perfect.
“Think we’ll have these off as well. Can’t ruin nylons, can we?” He rolled them down before putting one hand behind her, unhooking her brassiere, and putting the clothing on a chair. The pressure that moving the straps down had put on her chest immediately lifted, as Archie ran his thumbs over the swell of her breasts, and chuckled.
“God almighty, Chrissie you are so bloody receptive for a virgin. It’s marvelous. I’m going to enjoy showing you what we can do together.” He pinched each nipple in turn and kissed the nape of her neck as he kneaded her breasts.
She could tell he’d had plenty of practice. Her pussy clenched at the unwelcome thought of him doing all these things with someone else.
Grow up. He’s almost thirty, and there’s a war on.
“Now, let me see. What have we here?” Once again he kissed one nipple, then the other. “Time to itemize I think. Two breasts perfect to fit my hands. Two nipples to suckle.” He moved his hands to let his fingers play with her clitoris, teasing her hairs, and her navel. “One cunt all for me.”
Chrissie blushed. Why could he say that with such insouciance and she not even think it? It must be a man thing. However, emboldened, Chrissie licked her lips, heard him groan and then reached out to touch Archie’s manhood. His skin was warm and soft and he jolted and moaned as she feathered her fingers over him. One step further than she’d ever taken. Only once had she dared rub him through his trousers, and his groan had her moving her hand in a hurry.
She mimicked his movements, kissed his nipples, and then, heartened by his response, bent double to put the tip of his penis in her mouth and taste the juices there. They were salty and thick. Chrissie rolled them over her tongue as she remembered a leaflet one of the girls at school found in her brother’s room and brought to class to show them. Crudely written and badly produced, the drawings had them all giggling and blushing for weeks. She wondered just how many of her peers had tried what it suggested. Chrissie moved and circled Archie’s tip with her tongue again.
I could get used to this. The more I do this, the bigger he gets. A thought crossed her mind. Would he get too big for her? It wasn’t a question she felt she could ask.
Archie groaned, and she tried to pull back, scared she was doing something wrong. “Hell, Chrissie, that’s so damned good, I’ll come,” he said in a strangled tone. “For the Lord’s sake, get onto the bed and give me a chance to get inside you.” He moved over her, his tip barely touching her curls.
“Archie, what if I don’t want to, you know…” She didn’t know how to put her fears into words, and flapped her and in the air like a demented owl flapping its wing. It was lucky he understood her incoherent beseeching.
“No problem, darling. I’ll come like a gentleman.” He indicated the towel laid in readiness beside him. And moved again, nearer and nearer, and waited. “Yes?”
Chrissie held her breath. This was it. “Oh yes.”
His cock twitched, and without conscious thought, Chrissie opened her legs wide, ready to welcome him. This was it. Soon she, Chrissie Stride, would no longer be sweet and innocent but a woman of the world.
There was a loud hammering on the farmhouse door.
“What the bloody hell?” Archie stopped mid movement. His position looked precarious as he kneeled half on and half off her.
A voice, gruff and urgent, was shouting.
“Mr. Archie, Mr. Archie. Come quick. The rick’s on fire!”
Saved by the bell, she thought hysterically as she watched Archie scramble into his clothes, his cock being most reluctant to be treated in such a way. Not that she’d wanted saving. In fact, she felt uncomfortable. It wasn’t right. She’d at least climaxed. Goodness knows how Archie felt, still unreleased so to speak.
Where to Buy
Evernight Publishing
All Romance eBooks
Amazon UK
Amazon US
Bookstrand
About Raven McAllan
Raven lives in Scotland, along with her husband and their two cats—their children having flown the nest—surrounded by beautiful scenery, which inspires a lot of the settings in her books.
She is used to sharing her life with the occasional deer, red squirrel, and lost tourist, to say nothing of the scourge of Scotland—the midge.
Her very understanding, and long-suffering DH, is used to his questions unanswered, the dust bunnies greeting him as he walks through the door, and rescuing burned offerings from the Aga. (And passing her a glass of wine as she types furiously.)
Website | Blog | Facebook Personal Page | Facebook Author Page | Twitter
And The Corset Training Begins
So my lovely steel-boned corset from Orchard Corset arrived today, and I may have been squealing like a 6-year-old because, while I intend to cover it in a temporary skin of hologrammatic turquoise fish scales for costume purposes, it wound up going damn well with my costume color scheme as is. According to the website it’s grey, but it looks dark teal when put next to the costume fabrics, which is perfect for my needs. I was going to leave it in the scale skin for future costume events, but it’s just so pretty I may take it off so that I can wear it to other things.
Then again, I may not have to. Did I mention that corsets happen to be one of Ramón’s fetishes? When he found out he was going to have to lace me up daily so that the corset would be seasoned before RT2016, his eyes lit up like a kid on Christmas morning. If I play my cards right, I may get some more of these in different colors over the coming months, tra la.
So anyway, we put it on. First off, I was absolutely delighted that it did indeed fit my heroically sized frame and that the modesty panel in back covered everything but an inch-wide gap. I’m not worried about that since it will be closed once the corset is properly seasoned.
(An aside — seasoning, or breaking in, a new steel bone corset is important because it allows the corset time to adjust to the shape of your body, reducing the chances of popped stitches or warped busks, and it also allows your body to adjust to the idea of compression. Satin corsets like these should be worn for a few hours each day for a week, while cotton or brocade corsets can take two weeks. For more information on seasoning, here’s a useful video from Orchard Corset.)
Secondly, I discovered that I need to pull this down just a tad because the waist is sitting a little high, which shoves my boobs up right under my chin. That being said, I was extremely impressed at how comfortable it was to wear. I could breathe, I wasn’t being uncomfortably pinched anywhere, and man did my posture improve. Also, I got one hell of a kiss from Ramón after he finished lacing me up.
Thirdly, I need to make sure I wipe all the dust off my mirrors before taking future pictures. That’s a NASA t-shirt under the corset, by the way. Gotta make sure my geek cred is current.
RT Costume Preparations Continue Apace
So, yeah, I kinda changed my mind about what I wanted to wear to Cirque du Punk at RT’16. Since I write a lot about sea gods, water mages, mers, selkies, and the like, i thought it would be more appropriate if I showed up as a steampunk mermaid (Lady Amphitrite, Queen of the Seas and one of the big draws on the circus midway).
Thanks to the ease of internet shopping I purchased Worbla thermoplastic, a blue-grey corset, and a golden trident last night. Today I picked up sixteen yards of assorted fancy fabric for a frigging steal (and also for my costume). Then I went to the Dallas Vintage Shop (oh, my God, it’s where good costumers go when they die), came a little, and bought the nifty wig shown in the picture. I was going to get an Ariel long curly red wig, but then I saw this beauty and simply couldn’t say no. In my heart, I think I may well be a drag queen.
The rest of the evening was spent sorting through two different pattern packages and cutting out the pattern for a pale teal off-the-shoulder chemise that will form the base of the costume. My underbust corset will get an outer layer of shimmering turquoise fish scale fabric, and sometime this week I’ll be making a deep teal steampunked mermaid skirt with a metallic striped gold and teal bustle. And when the Worbla gets here I’ll be making myself a spined golden tiara encrusted with pearls, paua shell cabochons and rhinestones.
Why, yes, I go a bit overboard when it comes to costuming. But by God you are not going to be able to miss me at RT this year.
A Week of Alarums and Excursions
Well, that was fun! We had a rather torrential downpour here in the clavicle of Texas last weekend, which had me worried as I knew we’d lost a shingle off the front of the roof (we were in the process of looking for a good roofing company in the area).
As it turned out the single shingle loss didn’t result in a leak. The three shingles that apparently slid off the back of the roof, however, were another matter. This meter-long gap was right over the back of Ramón’s office, leading him to call me in on Tuesday morning and worriedly show me the rather impressive water stain on the vaulted ceiling. We went outside and marveled at the gaping hole in our rear shingles (read: “When the fuck did THAT happen???”), then I got stuck into expediting the roofing company search. After perusing the BBB website and other consumer report sites we settled on a company and they came out yesterday evening to take a look at the roof.
Yesterday morning, however, a rather nasty storm system was headed straight for our city. You should have seen me hovering over the laptop screen, watching the incremental approach of the storm on Weather Underground and chanting, “Go north, go, north, go NORTH” under my breath. The storm listened, thank Cthulhu, and wound up literally skimming the north side of our neighborhood. We got a few heavy raindrops, but that was it.
So the roofing guys came out, made friends with our Welcome Wagon cat Jemma, climbed on top of the roof for their inspection, and declared that yes, we did have wind and hail damage as well as shingle loss and some additional things that needed to be fixed, but they could handle it all easily in one day. They also asked if I wanted them to cover the holes temporarily, since there was more rain in the forecast today.
Yes, please, I said.
So they did, gave me a copy of their bonafides, and told me to call the insurance company and arrange for an inspector to come out and check out the damaged spots with them, after which they’d arrange for payment and fix the roof. I called said insurance company this morning and had a chat with a very nice woman who was sympathetic about the situation and said that it sounded like it was covered by our policy (21-year-old roof that may well be original to the house, no prior claims, hell yes it’s covered) minus the wind and hail damage deductible. Said deductible is reasonable and we have it in savings, so no grousing there. She generated a claim number for us and said the inspector would call us by end of day Monday to arrange an inspection with us and Chris, the owner of the roofing company.
So that’s that and I’m very pleased that 1) I adulted successfully, and 2) the gaping hole over Ramón’s office will not be leaking in case it rains. And once this has been resolved, it’s time to call the HVAC company and get them to come replace our 21-year-old furnace before it completely packs in (since it runs the fan that powers the A/C, this is not something we can leave until fall). It’ll be nice not to worry about the roof for a few years or the A/C going tits up during the summer. But man, I’m gonna have to write a buttload of sexy fiction to replenish our savings, not to mention paying for the foundation repair we need next year.
Nicola Cameron Writes 