Theda Black/Klaudia Bara

spring fling (storms)

2012-03-03T07:11:00.001-08:00

My nerve isn't what it used to be after all of last year's storms, but Knoxville did okay. There was rotation in the clouds above us at work during the day in downtown Knoxville. There was tornado warnings yesterday afternoon changing into almost constant warnings last night until around eleven with high winds, a little hail, loads of rain and constant lightning last night, but that was the extent for me. I'm dreading this season, and hope it isn't as bad as last spring. I thought it was a fluke.

There's a house on the block below me that STILL hasn't gotten their (massive) tree from last year's tree fling cut up/hauled away.

Friday freebie:)

2012-03-01T12:42:00.002-08:00

AFTER ANNA is free tomorrow at Amazon in celebration of the 2nd edition of the sequel, TOUCH LIKE BREATHING, being published!

THE BAND PLAYS ON

2012-02-13T11:10:00.000-08:00

THE BAND PLAYS ON (short story) now available at forbidden fiction:) FF believes in pushing the boundaries, and it might not be what you're used to from me - dark(er than normal, even) and possibly shocking, so please keep this in mind! Fair warning: no HEA.

But the characters were snappy, horny, fucked up and so MUCH FUN TO WRITE.

wisdom from my girls

2012-02-03T05:41:00.000-08:00

Apparently there's a site called popyourpimple.com where you can watch people doing just that. Oh God.

My youngest observed this morning on the way to school that 'anime' sounds a bit like 'enema.'
???

My oldest has taken to firing up her ringtone from Heath Ledger's Joker, the 'why so serious, let's put a smile on that face' bit and mouthing the words as if she's saying it. That's not wisdom, that's just weird.

as for me! I churned out an 11,000 word story in a week and it's sort of mostly edited, all to meet a deadline for the 'Dear John' anthology at riptide:) I wrote part of it in the hospital. Go me.

free ebook today and tomorrow

2012-02-02T06:20:00.000-08:00

After Anna is a Kindle freebie at Amazon for two days. Artwork by my beloved Sonja, as always - here's what it looks like.

2012-01-26T05:51:00.000-08:00

the 2nd edition of AFTER ANNA with new art by Sonja Triebel and revised edits is up at Amazon today - you can read it free if you're a prime member:)

12 Days of Christmas giveaway - free books!

2011-12-15T05:07:00.001-08:00

today and tomorrow, Beneath the Neon Moon is free in mobi, epub, html and pdf format at All Romance ebooks:) Sign up for their newsletter to catch each daily freebie!

book cover contest

2011-11-15T19:55:00.001-08:00

hey everybody, I subbed Sonja's pretty book cover for THE VAMPIRE'S BOY,in the November book cover contest at alternative-read.com - come look and vote if you're interested and/or curious:)

Alice

2011-11-06T11:20:00.000-08:00

Say hello to Alice the alley cat - the girls and I found her last Wednesday on a walk behind the local high school, literally in an alleyway. As you can see, her ear appears to be ruined, but we'll see how it responds to treatment. She's emaciated and weak, 5.7 lbs., hugely friendly. We came back on Thursday to get her but it was raining and she was nowhere to be found. Went again Friday around 3:30 after I was out of work and found her. We put her in the cat carrier and took her straight to the vet. She's clear of feline leukemia and other worrisome diseases, since I have other animals and couldn't have her around them until she was cleared. She has a bacterial infection of the ear. She sleeps a lot and eats and knows how to use a litter pan. She's so friendly that she's had to be a pet at one time.

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T21:14:00.001-07:00

"Put your arms around me please, I want to kiss you. Say that you forgive me for letting him love me. We can both love him, my darling."

progress

2011-10-30T22:09:00.000-07:00

I have another short ready to sub to an anthology. It's called HOUSE OF PRAYER - yeah, sexy, right?;) Now I'm wanting to sub to Riptide - there's an antho call for rent boys. But but but I have to get that Beneath the Neon Moon sequel in gear! And finish Klaudia's Aidan and Jayne Plus Rhys story. So many interesting things to write about:)

new book reviews

2011-10-05T19:36:00.000-07:00

Book Robot Reviews: Beneath the Neon Moon by Theda Black
"Emotional bonding from extreme fear leads to sex attraction to chance for love and you can't help feeling for these guys."

Top 2 Bottom Reviews: The Vampire's Boy by Theda Black
"Theda managed to make a coming of age story mix well with that supernatural suspense."

writing plans; an excerpt from THE VAMPIRE'S BOY

2011-10-01T09:22:00.000-07:00

Plans: I like Riptide Publishing's collection call for Love for Sale, so I think I'll go for it, and I'm thinking about how a Frankenstein/Monster tale would work, and most definitely, the sequel to Beneath the Neon Moon. Love those two guys, and there's plenty more to say about them.

Annnd I thought I'd put up the first chapter to The Vampire's Boy here at the blog:)

------

THE FIRST TIME the vampirecame for him, he was seventeen and afraid of nothing.

It was a Thursdaynight, and he’d been at Jordan’s house smoking weed.He’d told his mom they were studying, and honestly, that’s what he’d intended.It’s just that Jordan always had weed.

When he got to thepoint he felt like he was built of particles all floating separate and stillbut interconnected, he left. Jordan protested, saying itwas just getting good (what it was, Jared didn’t know), but he knew ifhe stayed they’d end up cutting class tomorrow. And the last time he’d playedhooky, the school had called his house and left a message, dry and mechanical:“For the parents or guardians of Jared Mikels, Jared was absent from schooltoday. You have three days to submit—”

Aaannd the shit hadhit the fan.

It was the end ofApril, with only a few more weeks of school left. He was determined to stay outof trouble before summer break. He hoped. First there was the little matter ofgetting into the house without his parents knowing he was stoned.

Jordan lived down the blockfrom him, so it only took a couple of minutes for Jared to walk home. The moonwas nearly full, white light bouncing off the sidewalk. A mild wind rustledthrough leaves just beginning to sprout on the trees.

It was a nice lookingneighborhood, mostly upper scale Cape Cods, an occasional olderbungalow thrown in. His house was a brick two-story, the pine in the front yardthrowing a long shadow over the porch. He climbed the steps and opened thefront door quietly, trying to act like he wasn’t trying to be quiet. He kepthis head up, eyes wide, faking sobriety as best as he could in case his parentssaw him.

It was after elevenand the house was dark, only the light from the TV screen in the living roomflickering over the furniture. His dad sat on the couch, slumped comfortablyagainst the overstuffed end cushion. The silver in his hair shone blue in thelight, and his glasses sat crookedly over his nose.

Jared watched him aminute. His dad didn’t move. He was asleep.

“Yes,” hewhispered, pumping his fist, and started up the stairs outside the living room.He was almost home free, but the last stair didn’t cooperate—it tripped him. Hethumped to his knees in the hall, surprised. “Oops,” he said, snickering. Butquietly. If his mom heard down the hall from her bedroom, she didn’t say anything.Most likely she was asleep, too.

In the bathroom hebrushed his teeth, looking at himself in the mirror. His lids were definitelyat half-mast over his pale blue eyes, sleepy and well, stoned-looking. Heopened them wide as he could, straining to see the whites all around, but itwasn’t happening, and he looked stupid enough doing it that he grinned throughthe toothpaste at his image.

It’d been drizzling ashe walked home, and his dark hair was wet. It was long enough that his dadbitched every time they were in the same room long enough to actually talk.

He leaned over, spatin the sink and rinsed. Hell with that. It wasn’t really all that long.His dad was a tightass. He’d really freak if he knew about the tattoo Jared hadgotten. He pulled his sleeve up to look at it.

Peace, baby. He grinned in themirror again.

Dad didn’t like thelong hair or the low-slung jeans (in fact Jared got yelled at just this weekfor showing his ass off, literally, when he’d looked under the couch forMalvoline the cat’s favorite stuffed mouse toy). Or the earring, the music, hisfriends in general, and last but not least, the black, white and red T-shirt hewore with a hooker and a zombie making out.

He stared in theglass, absently rubbing the tat with long fingers, the grin disappearing offhis face. He was pretty sure Dad didn’t like much of anything about him.

He sighed and shuffledoff to his bedroom. The room was made of shadows, posters hanging on the walls likefeatureless black rectangles. He expertly avoided the usual heaps of clotheswadded up on the floor and flopped into bed still clothed. He fell asleepalmost instantly. He never heard the window slide open.

Moments later he woketo a vampire in his bed, though all he knew at first was the press of a bodyagainst his and a hand lying flat against his heart.

Jared blinked up intothe dark and tried to sit up, but the hand was unyielding. He turned his headto see who held him. It was a boy with dark hair and eyes like gray smoke,pupils red with hunger and mouth pale with need.

“I’m sorry,” thevampire whispered. “I’m so hungry.” He gripped Jared’s head between both handsand thrust his face into Jared’s neck, fangs sliding like twin blades of iceinto his throat. Jared cried out. The vampire clamped a hand over his mouth.His head shook back and forth, burrowing into flesh, a beast feeding off acarcass. Jared’s body writhed against the bed, and only the hand against hischest kept him from falling to the floor.

The world around himnarrowed and floated away in foggy wisps. The vampire whispered into his neck,voice vibrating low into Jared’s skin. I didn’t mean to come after you. Ididn’t want to hurt you. Tears like diamonds, cold and hard, fellfrom the vampire’s eyes, rolling down Jared’s face and neck to melt into thebed clothes.

The hand holding him downstopped pushing against his chest and stroked instead, fingers cold. Jared’snipples rose hard against the touch. The vampire whispered that Jared tastedlike the best cherry wine, licking his neck over and over with long swipes ofhis cool tongue. It took away some of the hurt.

Jared felt sick andaroused, amazed that he was able to throw wood with the world like pale shadowsin his vision. The vampire licked and kissed, achingly slow and soothing, murmuringin his ear how beautiful he was, how Jared’s blood was a part of him, voice andtouch buzzing under his skin, until Jared thrust his hips upward helplessly andcame in his pants.

Afterward he was verytired. He slept, and he didn’t awaken when his mother came to get him up forschool the next morning. He didn’t know about his mother’s screams, and hedidn’t realize when his father gave him CPR. He very nearly died, though heonly found out after he opened his eyes the next day to see both his parentsstaring at him anxiously. He was in a hospital.

His father looked likehe’d aged twenty years, red snaps threading his eyes, hand quivering on Jared’sarm, and Jared thought maybe he’d been wrong, that his dad loved him after all.He tried to smile, but he was still so tired.

His dad covered hiseyes, shoulders shaking. He squeezed Jared’s arm. His mother held Jared’s handin both of hers and cried. Embarrassed but touched, Jared opened his mouth totell them he was okay. He fell asleep again before he’d gotten a word out.

Two months later whenJared was back home, freshly graduated from high school and spending his summergetting in more trouble than ever, back to the same sure conviction in his gutthat his dad couldn’t stand the sight of him, the vampire came back.

Link to: M/M Readers Reaching Saturation Point? (Reviews by Jessewave)

2011-09-25T21:03:00.000-07:00

http://www.reviewsbyjessewave.com/2011/09/25/are-some-mm-readers-reaching-saturation-point/comment-page-1/#comment-129045

The Band Plays On

2011-09-22T20:45:00.000-07:00

Signed with Forbidden Fiction today for my truly short story, "The Band Plays On." The story's not romance - it is, however, a non-PC bromance with sex, banter, and drama. It's disturbing, really.

new review for BENEATH THE NEON MOON from Elisa

2011-09-19T11:05:00.001-07:00

Very pleased with this one, and thanks to Elisa -

It’s not the first time Theda Black surprised me with her complex characters.

2011-09-14T05:41:00.000-07:00

Berk Ozturk - http://www.berkozturk.deviantart.com/

edits editedit

2011-09-06T05:34:00.001-07:00

I'm not writing, I'm editing. And editing some more.

I never realized I had so many things sitting around unfinished or as a rough draft. Which is good in a way, because I come back to it cold and can then see the flaws. Which can be enormous. But coming back to it cold isn't always great, like I've leeched my enthusiasm from the project. That happened with Neon Moon and Vampire's Boy, but I built enthusiasm back for both projects as I worked on them.

Talking to C - she said she found nearly 30 projects going on in tv and film for Frankenstein. So the revival is the next Big Thing? Maybe I should write that Frankenstein/Monster story sooner rather than later.

I am inappropriate

2011-09-02T05:36:00.001-07:00

This morning, daughter2 is getting ready for school. She's 11. I insist on putting some product in her hair because it's frizzing all over. She sits down with me and I look down and say "underwear," because her underwear was visible. You know how low-rise pants are.

After the hair is finished, she stands in the doorway and looks at me. There's something STICKING from her pocket, jutting out from her abdomen.

"Take that out of your pocket," I say.

"What, it's a marker," she says.

"Looks like you have a penis," I say.

She throws her hands up. "You're so inappropriate!" she screams.

"You don't want people to think you've got a penis, do you? I'm trying to help."

Stomp, stomp. Away from the Offender. Maybe I'm too blunt. It didn't help when I started laughing.

Queried at ForbiddenFiction

2011-08-30T21:58:00.000-07:00

I sent a query for "The Band Plays On," a short m/m story. It doesn't end well, but it's quirky and hopefully kind of weirdly touching. It's really the only place I'd think of submitting it. It pushes some boundaries (I think).

To quote the site: ForbiddenFiction is a publisher devoted to writing that breaks the boundaries of original erotic fiction. We aim to provide stories which combine intense sexuality with quality writing and dark themes. Many of the novels and stories we publish would be refused by other publishers because it breaks with convention for aspects such as BDSM, violence, non-consent or age variation. We do not have any content type that is forbidden. If it's a well written erotic story, we'll consider it. In fact, if it violates taboos in some fashion, we are more likely to publish it.

It felt good to send out a query. Now that I've done it, I need to forget about it.

new writing ideas

2011-08-28T12:28:00.000-07:00

1.
Frankenstein/Monster

2.
Western, ghost in the desert (it's nothing new, talking to a guy you don't realize is dead, but I like it - and maybe there'd be more than talk).

3.
Banquet/Ballad of Chestnuts - Borgia orgy
not quite sure what I'd do with it

Disclaimer: my ideas can languish for years. I pick up quite a few of them, eventually. And I have a pal who likes to help me come up with them (hi, #2;)

naked snakes, oh my

2011-08-28T12:19:00.000-07:00

I'd credit if I could, believe me, but all I have is a link to tumblr.

self-publishing tip #1

2011-08-26T14:01:00.000-07:00

Do not check your sales compulsively. Before you know it you're at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookstrand, All Romance, etc. etc. signing in over and over, talking to the screen, YOU MORON, cursing at it, or cheering if you're lucky - and for what? This I promise: it's not making your sales go up any. Really. Stop. Okay? I'm trying to help.

art: Joy Ang

2011-08-25T20:08:00.000-07:00

Terrorsel by Joy Ang, print available

I wanted to say something pithy; instead there's this

2011-08-25T19:43:00.000-07:00

originally posted by modelsrocksrightnow

hi - just trying out the new blog:)

2011-08-23T21:29:00.000-07:00

Sent out a couple of books just now to winners over at Goodreads who were busy last weekend celebrating the m/m romance group over there.

Had some friends in surrounding states who felt the quake in Virginia today - I know people from the western US are finding it hard to understand the dust-up here in the eastern part of the country, but the infrequency of quakes here makes all the difference, esp. in terms of preparedness. It reminds me of when we run out of salt for the roads in the South over the winter - it doesn't often happen, and we're not prepared when we do get lots of ice and snow.

But when I lived in Jersey it was a whole other operation in terms of how they dealt with icy, freezing conditions.

Hm, off track - from earthquakes to winter weather!