Shaping Up

It's been a long time coming, I know. I released my last book in October of 2015. I started writing a new collection of stories almost immediately. But 2016 brought a lot of family health issues, and (on the happier side) a lot of other, non-balloon-related writing assignments, and so the stories came in bits and pieces.

But recently I've been able to pick up the pace. I could say that I have enough material for another collection. But I'm not ready to publish yet. Why?

Because, as I said when I started the new stories, I'm actually assembling two different books. And now that I've been doing it, off and on, for more than a year, I can tell you that they are, indeed, two very different books.

One collection, I had originally said, was much like the first. But I no longer think that's true. Yes, I have realistic people whose characters I'm exploring. Yes, the situations are plausible. But I haven't limited myself to chasing after erotic satisfaction in these stories. I find myself exploring more about the emotions and tribulations involved with having an unusual fetish, and some of the emotional issues that aren't even really fetish-related; some of the stories don't even have happy endings.

Some readers might not feel comfortable with these stories. Some may be looking for a quick thrill, stroke material, to be quite honest.

And that's where the other book comes in. It's pure "I wish this had happened to me in real life" fiction, without much character development, without necessarily spending a lot of effort at being realistic, without a lot of set-up or denouement. This is a book for someone who just wants to get his rocks off.

Yes, his, because these fantasies are most likely to appeal to a male balloon fetishist, since that's what I am, and that's what I most like to write. And I have to warn you that there are no non-popping stories in the book. My apologies to the non-poppers. I know how you feel, honestly, but my mind just didn't go there this time.

When I had collected enough stories for each of the two collections, I will publish them, but after that I think I may be taking a break from the anthologies for awhile. For other non-balloon-related projects, of course. But, just maybe, to also concentrate some attention on the sequel to Blowing It!

No promises on that one, but some ideas have finally been coming to me, after a recent re-reading of the original, and so I'm certainly considering it. Meanwhile, I hope you enjoy my new stories when they come up, sometime this year, likely before summer is done.

Two At Once

I'm actually working on two story collections at once now. I had already started doing a short story for a second collection, when it occurred to me that I might like to write a different kind of story. Not just a different plot, but an entirely different approach.

Thing is, I think that different approach might appeal to a different kind of reader. So, I'm going to mush on and write stories using both approaches, and publish them in separate collection when I had assembled enough of them.

The one collection, the one I already started, will be along the same lines as the stories I've done so far, with fairly fleshed-out characters and plots. But the other collection will be full-fledged flights of fancy, fantasies about the ways we wish ever balloon encounter would end up.

These fantasies will mostly be flash fiction, 1000 words or less each, and I probably won't release a collection until there are at least 10.000 words worth. But they are the visions that have been dancing around in my head since puberty, and so I don't think they will take nearly as long to write.

For those who enjoy realistic stories about realistic people, even in works of fiction, this might not be up your alley. But if you feel like taking a walk on the "only in your dreams" side, these might just be the ticket.

Stay tuned.

It's Here

My new story, Popping In, a New Year's Eve popping fantasy, is now available in the Kindle store. As I said in my last post, if you haven't read all of my stories, you might want to wait a few days and buy my entire collection instead of buying this individual story.

You also might want to hold off if you, like me, like holding a physical book in your hot little hands, to bookmark, highlight, dog-ear, and lend to a friend, because the collection is the only way to get these stories in print format.

And, the collection has two bonus works of flash fiction that I think you'll enjoy that are not available separately.

Whatever works for you, I hope you enjoy the stories, and I promise more in the months and years to come.

Coming Soon, But You Might Want To Wait

I'm publishing a new short story for Kindle in the next couple of days, a New Year's Eve popping fantasy called Popping In. But (and I don't think you expect an author to say this), you might not want to buy it right away.

That's because, within the next week, I will be releasing a collection of balloon stories that includes this new one, my three previously-published stories, and a couple of flash-fiction efforts that will only be available in the collection.

And the collection will be a bargain. Even in printed form, it will cost less than the combined price of the short stories on Kindle.

Of course, if you've read all my previous stories, you should probably get this one separately. But if you haven't, just be patient for a little bit longer and then you can pig out on 40,000 words of balloon-fetish erotica.

I'm getting exciting just thinking about it.

A Question For My Readers

As I mentioned in my last post, I am planning a book this coming year which will have a collection of shorter stories. I have developed a list of ideas, already about 13 story ideas. I am sure I will come up with more, and I’m just as sure that some of them will lead nowhere and have to be abandoned, but I expect when I am done I will have something on the order of a dozen stories in the book.

Now, here is my question: some of the stories will be about poppers, and some will be about non-poppers. Some of the non-popper’s stories will have depictions of accidental or unwanted popping. And there may be a couple of stories that involve both popping and not popping (for example, a non-popper who becomes a popper, or has to deal with a popper, or something like that). Should I put some kind of—I can’t think of a better way to put this—warning for each story? At the head of the story or in the table of contents, something that says if there’s popping, and in what context?

This isn’t something I’d normally do in a short story collection, but balloon fetish stories, I think, are taken more personally because of the subject matter. Do you want to know ahead of time what you’ll be running into? Or are you okay just diving in with the knowledge that you may find something that makes you feel uncomfortable?

Of course, it isn’t only the matter of popping or not popping that might make you feel uncomfortable with some of these stories. In short-short form, I feel less constrained, with less of a need to insure a happy ending for every single story, or to depict every balloon fetishist in the most positive light. It’s liberating, and it lets me explore more of the various aspects of this unusual sexual (and emotional) interest.

But you probably won’t like every story in the book, no matter what your preferences. And on that, you have already been forewarned.

A New Story

I know it's been a long time in coming, but I've been busy with other writing projects with, shall we say, a larger potential audience.

But, just in time for a nice Christmas download, I've finally come out with a new erotic short story, Friends With Fetishes. I won't bother to describe it here—it has its own landing page in the tabs above, and there's a link to the right. I hope you'll check it out.

This coming year, I'm going to try something different. No, not another novel. At least I don't think so. No, I'm going to try to write a larger number of short-short stories and publish them as a collection. We'll see how that goes, but I have a lot of interesting ideas that just aren't involved enough to make for five or ten thousand words.

And I just might do what I've threatened for awhile and write a non-fiction book about my balloon fetish. Maybe. I'm not making any promises on that one; we'll see what flows out of my keyboard in the next year or so.

And, in case I don't get a chance to post before then, I hope you all have a Happy New Year filled with whatever kind of kinky balloon fun you most enjoy.