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.