Just Desserts Re-release!

Today I'm beyond happy to announce that my original story has had a face-lift. If you have enjoyed any lesbian fiction (or lesfic) please take a few moments to check out this book. I know you'll love it.
Click here to get your hot copy today!

Making Friends.

     As a lesbian first and a writer second sometimes I find it hard to make new friends. Even more so sometimes it's hard to find people I could even talk to about my books. At least outside of my wife, whom I'm sure is sick of hearing about it. She's actually a really good sport about it.

     Anyway, it always amazes me when I do make a new friend even more so when said friend says they write as well. So now for the next few weeks we will swap stories over the next few weeks and if I am lucky, I'll have her as a friend for quite some time. Also I might be able to con her into being a beta for my current projects.

     It just goes to show, you never know who's in your same boat.

I love being Gay

Like really. Girls are so pretty and I just can't help myself.

It also never stop amazing me the ways that I impress them. Story time!

I'm at my day job and working with all females. No big deal, I get along great with my co-workers. This one however, super sweet girl, breaks a nail. I ask if she needs some nail glue. "Yeah." She says a little heart broken. I tell her no worries I have some in my bag, I'll go get it. Her face is priceless and her nail is saved. You don't have to want anything from a woman other than her happiness.

Loosing Herself - Writing Prompt

     This was a quick challenge. "Microfiction" The term means small fiction. Or mini fiction. So I tried to make this as quick as I could.

     She sat on the floor, her auburn hair falling into her face. The words just didn't seem real as she read the text through tears again and again. Her bleeding heart shattered as the mirror's glass bounced across the floor. In one heartbeat, she had lost everything, including herself.

Not Sure Anymore

     I've been working on this blog for quite some time and while I do enjoy doing it, it's been a work in itself and one that I'm not sure where to go or what to do with it from here. I found that I don't like posting Silver Mane here, I'd rather post it on other sites where it would makes more sense. Places where you won't have to click a ton of buttons to go through the whole series. But what really to do with this. I've been here for years and I feel like it's gotten me no where. I haven't made any connections and most days recently it's been feeling like a waste of my time. Time that I could dedicate to writing more books. I just don't know right now what I want to do with this blog anymore.

Daughter of the Bright Moon Review

Daughter of the Bright Moon by Lynn Abbey

This novel was published in 1979, and Lynn Abbey’s first published work. It was also nominated for the “Locus Award” for Best Fantasy Novel.

In a world where men rule and women are expected to be just that, ladies, Rifkind won her freedom, her war-horse, and her own sword. She is a healer who has been graced by the power of her moon goddess. Her destiny well decided for her, she must travel, with her only trusted friend Turin her war-horse, to a new world were and evil sorcerer controls the land.

I’ll try to keep my actual review on this short. It will as always have minimal spoilers if any at all and will be one hundred percent my own opinions. To start off, I will say that I greatly enjoyed this book. It took me about a week to finish and I enjoyed every moment of it. Even to the point where I was sneaking in a few pages even while on the bus on my way to my day job.

I’m going to start off with my biggest gripes about the book, and while I do so, I must keep in mind how old this one is. Yeah sure forty years doesn’t sound like a long time, but it is for a book, and how they have evolved sense then. Some of the writing was a bit confusing, lacking some words that would have been in newer books. A few places where I found myself going back to get the full picture of things and set ups. The battle’s were especially this way for me. I also felt it lacking a bit more background information that I would have personally preferred. It speaks of events that were normal for this woman’s tribe but yet they meant little to be because I felt like I was missing why they were important to her.

Now let’s move on to the things I enjoyed about it, and why you should really read this one. First off, the leading lady is amazing. Far from flawless but to headstrong to need any man. Speaking of, a bit of a spoiler here, I was so happy to see the two main characters stay friends and not hook up. Truly that in itself is an amazing point. Another aspect that truly made me enjoy this book was the research put into the main secondary character, Turin, the War-horse. Lynn made a world that was so well thought out that you understood how the powers worked within it. I always appreciate that.

While it may be a bit harder to find, for sure snag yourself a copy. Great Characters, kick ass woman who can hold her own, and a beautiful world to set it all in.  

Wonder Woman Review

    So yesterday I went for the second time to see Wonder Woman, and I still stand by my original thoughts. To put it simply, this isn’t a revolutionary movie, it isn’t perfect, but it is a damn good one. It’s also very empowering to a lot of little girls, and some older ones too. That seems like a win win to me. I promise I will not give any spoilers in this review. I’m going to look at a few key elements. Things like what I personally liked, and didn’t. The quality of the animation and story. As well as a few other key points that I feel like they are worth mentioning.

     Let’s just start off with the bad and get all that muck out of the way. I overall really enjoyed the movie, again it wasn’t flawless and I’m not claiming it was the greatest movie ever. By far DC studios greatest, but that’s not the main focus here. There was one part that really killed the entire vibe for me, as a story teller mostly. Again, I won’t give away spoilers, but I am going to describe the situation and why it bothered me so much. There was a part near the end that was a turning point for the entire movie, maybe just within the last fifteen minutes. So as a story teller, I’m expecting things to wrap up. Our main characters have their final moment, and it’s done in such a tasteful way I love it. It left things open for personal interpretation. After all, what is art supposed to do! Anyway, the film moved on from that moment only to return and repeat it. The entire scene. But wait! It didn’t just flashback to something that happened only a few moments ago, it forced something down the viewers throats. Again, prior to this each viewer could take it however they wanted to. As DC however, showed it again, with ‘new’ information to the viewer, we were then forced to all make the same conclusion. That moment, killed it all for me. We are in the biggest fight of the movie (that’s not a spoiler, it’s a super hero movie, you knew it was going to be there) and they decide to stuff character development down our throats.

     Other than that, I can’t really say that anything else ‘broke’ the movie for me. After seeing DC’s prior films, I really had some low expectations. Did it have a bit too much CG effects? Oh yeah. Did they look cheesy? Sure did. But again, this is a super hero movie. She’s an amazon running around with a shield and glowing lasso of truth. I didn’t expect it to look hyper realistic. It actually became a feature that I enjoyed. It seemed to pull her out of the world and bring back fond memories of what super hero’s meant to me when I was younger. The only other small thing that bothered me to any extent, and it bothered my girlfriend more so than me, was the sound clips. They must have spent their budget on other things because some of the sound effects were just so ‘basic horse sound #1’ kinda vibe. However, I think DC could have done far worse on this one. They at least didn’t use monster roars for wolves. Looking at you Disney. (If you haven’t seen the new remake of Beauty and the Beast, I don’t recommend you do so, just watch the original.)

     Alright, now that all that mess is out of the way let me get down to some of my personal likes from this movie. While the story was reminiscence of “Captain America” from Marvel, I only could see that in the fact that it took place during WWI. And there was a motorcycle in one scene. It didn’t feel however, like I was watching Captain America. I honestly thought that movie was beyond boring. Not bad, just not my taste, I’m also not fond of him as a character either. Princess Diana. She on the other hand rang of strength and faults. I love a character with faults. Her actress Gal Gadot played the part beautifully.

     Gal Gadot for those of you who do not know, is an Isralle actress and model. She has been in The Fast and the Furious franchise before taking up her roll as Wonder Woman.

     I also really enjoyed all the trow backs and nods to the old TV series and comics. Even some of her classic music has been updated to fit this new, wonderful, Wonder Woman. As far as the actual story line goes, there are a few moments that left me having a ‘what the heck?’ kind of moment. But those feelings normally didn’t last too long as the action kept me moving forward. The camera shots. OH MY GODS! Let me just take a moment and tip my hat to the director who made some amazing choices. Blending speeds and angles to get some really awesome kick ass scenes. Oh it made my heart melt. They did an amazing job mixing things up and really bringing you to where the action was, even if it was a little comic type extreme at times.

     DC really pushed a lot of lines with this movie. I was so happy to see many different cultures represented in this one. They night not have been massive or in depth, but they were there, each with their own skill set. I personally, like to think that it mattered. Even on the Amazon island, they had people of color and different races on their little home.

     Now one final thing I want to talk about is sex. We all know that sex sells and as a woman, I see it all the time in media. So much so that I have come to expect it. I shouldn’t, but I do. The list of the examples is way to long to even being, so I won’t. With this movie, I expected no less honestly, and I was oddly surprised. There wasn’t a single ‘money shot’. Now what could I mean by that. We all know it. That one shot that they take where it makes the female character look like a slut, an item, like nothing but eye candy. Again, we come to expect that. I was happily disappointed. They didn’t make Princess Diana sexy. She was beautiful don’t get me wrong. She was strong and powerful, and sexy, but for those reasons alone. Not because they made her. Even in some fights you could catch the ‘plush’ (I doubt it’s fat, but muscle isn’t known to move hence the term here) of her legs jiggle upon landing. In our society that’s never seen. Ever! They kept those female curves and weren’t afraid to show them. It gave a normal feel to it. It showed every little girl out there that curves are okay. Heck even as an adult I felt better about myself walking out of it.

     My final conclusion. Go see it. Give the movie a chance, it’s by far the best thing I’ve seen come from DC. It’s empowering. It’s a fun movie. Go see it, go take the kids. Let them see how strong women can be. Even if they aren’t Diana, princess of the Amazons, daughter of Hippolyta, they can be strong, they can make a difference. They too were molded from clay and brought to life by Zeus.   

Day of Remembering

     I want to step back and take a moment to talk about something. I didn't even realize we were at the one year mark of the Orlando Pulse shooting. I still remember seeing it. I remember reading the stories about the EMT's showing up and the only sound being cell phones ringing. It still brings tears to my eyes. One year ago, someone decided to take lives just because he didn't agree with how they lived. It still hurts. This month is LGBTQ Pride month, and I cannot be more proud to stand up for the rights that we have fought for. We have come so far, but we also have a long ways to go.

     Be brave, I know it's scary, and events like what happened at Pulse really drive it home on how hard some of us fight. But we can do it. Together. With love. Don't forget, you are never alone. Reach out, talk to friends, family, call a help line if you need too. I know I'm always here to talk to if you need to vent, or cry. Hit me up on Twitter or even message me on Facebook. You are loved, and you matter. Never forget.

All my love
~Skadia

Sorry

     I know that this one single word doesn't really mean much, nor does it fix anything. But you all deserve an apology. I haven't posted anything for quite some time now. And that's not fair to you all. I will however explain what has been going on that has brought my writing to a screeching halt.

     Life in general this year has been pretty rough. Early this year the love of my life walked out. She left her business, her stuff, even her cat with me. It left me pretty torn up. I've sense been dealing with it and working on getting my own life together. I realized that I lived my life for someone else, and that in the end, didn't make me happy. So on top of dealing with that mess, I have been keeping my job and working very hard towards moving up in my company. So while that's not bad news, it does keep me busy. I've also been tasked with finishing all of the commissions sense "I was the one who was paid for them". Most have been paid for well over a year or two but that's all besides the point. So I'm working my normal job away from home and trying to get those done on my days off.

     I was doing very well on writing every single day, at least one thousand words, but even that fell apart. I woke up late one morning, had an event early the next after a late night shift and it all just went downhill from there.

     In short, it seems like my life is just falling apart. I don't always have access to internet so that doesn't help with posting things. It's just crazy. I do however hope to get back on track soon. Today being a day where I'm actually writing. So I'm trying. Little steps.

"Rise from the Grave" Now out!

I'm super excited to bring you the news about my newest release. "Rise from the Grave" A short from the Lionheart Abyss series.

Valdis isn't having such a good day, and the grumpy litch from a few towns over isn't about to make it any better.

Click here to get it.

Silver Mane Part 13

     “What’s going on? Why does Kavos suddenly have such a problem with me?” Ana stood her ground and stomped her foot into the dirt, tears behind her eyes. She just finally started to feel like she was making ground with the pack and then this whole mess. He was so mad at her when really she was the one that had almost just died.

     Alice sucked in the cool evening air and sat down. Her fur kept the chill off of her. Ana was too mad to be cold, at least at this point in her range. “Sit please.”

     “I’m not your pet to command!” Ana snapped back at her.

     Alice again took another deep breath. She wasn’t the beta of the pack so there would be no rolling, but she did respect Ana as an alpha. As odd as the situation was, she really did love her alpha, and this was her choice in mates, so be it. “Forgive me Miss, I just didn’t want you to stand through a very winded explanation.” She lowered her head and didn’t look the human in the eyes.

     Ana looked at the wolf before her, her gaze softened as she noticed her body posture. The wolf kept her head down and for once Ana started to feel bad for the wolf. She decided to sit down. She was still mad about what was going on, but at least she would get some answers. If this was going to continue, she was going to leave. This wasn’t what she signed up for, again, she didn’t want any of this. She never asked to be a slave, and the tears finally burst through. “I’m sorry, this is all just too much. None of it makes sense, and I just can’t.” She buried her face in her hands and let the tears run down her face and pool in her hands.

     Alice sat there watching, she didn’t know if she should just continue or let the girl cry. Humans are so confusing to her and she cocked her head. Without thinking she scooted over to the woman and wrapped her arms around her, pulling her close to her chest. Ana snuggled into her fur and slowly stopped crying. Alice took that moment and told her a story from all too long ago.

     “Many moons ago, before the Elders created the council, before the humans made their castles there was only the night.” Her voice was calm and soothing, this was the story of their pack. One that every pup had heard at one time or another. She knew it by heart. “In the night there were monsters. Some lived in the water, some in the sky, but the ones that lived on land, fought for it. There was never enough land for each to have his own.” She took a deep breath and ran her paw through the woman’s hair. Her eyes closed as she continued the story. “There were two clans. One of fur, and one of blood. We hunted together at one point, but those days didn’t last forever. One hard winter animals became scarce. Food was limited and the two clans were getting possessive over the limited food. The blood clan turned towards humans for food. Their new prey quickly became their favorite. The humans however, entranced by their charm and beauty turned against the other creatures. They turned on the wolves that lived in the area. The fur clan was hunted, skinned and hung on walls. The blood clan, they blended in with their prey. Sense then, the two have turned against one another. They will never hunt together again.”

     Ana had found comfort in the wolf’s voice and by the end of the story her tears had stopped all together. “So that’s why you hate each other? Because vampires started killing humans and wolves though it was wrong.” Her statement showed that she was paying attention.

     “In short I suppose that would sum it up fairly well. Of course there is much more to it, but I won’t bore you with politics.” Alice looked down at the woman who had curled up in her lap. She missed her pup in that moment and her heart hurt, the sadness welled up to her eyes like it hadn’t done for many many moons.

     Ana interrupted her thought process with a simple question this time. “Why was Kavos so mad at me then?” Her brain could wrap around the concept of hating the vampire for killing people, but why be mad at her. She was in trouble and some random woman helped her.

     “The simple answer to that, is because he cares.”

     “And the longer answer?” Ana prodded.

     The wolf sucked in a deep breath while her brain tried to figure it out herself. At least how to explain it to a human. To a wolf, it was simple, but she didn’t quite think that Ana would understand it the same way. “First off, he was in a panic because he didn’t know if she has already claimed you. That would have been all sorts of bad. You would then be the most important piece in a very bloody war. Another reason I’m sure is that if anything happened to you while you were in his care, Stela would,” She tried to find the right words without telling Ana the gruesome truth. “Well, let’s just say that your she-wolf wouldn’t be so happy or forgiving about that.” She couldn’t help but laugh a little at her own wording. “Mostly though, he was scared. Scared of loosing you. Of that blood sucker stealing your would or hurting you.”

     “But she actually saved me.” Ana tried to point out, thinking that it would make the entire mess easier.

     “He didn’t know, nor do I think it matters at this point. First off, you are safe, so that’s good. Second, and the bigger of the two issues, we now know there are vampires in the area.”

     “The people in the village seemed to know her and respect her. The guy was about to hurt me, and when she stepped up in turned into a puppy.” Alice twitched at the word. “Oh sorry.” Ana laughed a bit as she wiped away her final tears.

     “Of course they do. Her family, or at least she, has been around for most of their lives. They all know her so to speak.” Alice explained.

     “Doesn’t that mean then that the town would be more accepting of the pack then?”

     “Yes and no. I doubt they realize what she is. However, it does seem that they are accepting of long living families. I don’t think our problem will be with the town. More so with them.” Alice let the silence creep over the two in the small cave. The rest of the pack should be back any moment. She pulled the exhausted Ana into her arms and against her chest and within moments the woman was fast asleep.

Rise from the Grave pre-orders open!

     That's right, pre-orders are open and it will release this Saturday (5/27) and with the pre-order it will arrive directly on your device when it goes live.

Get it first, here.

Silver Mane update

     I finally got myself back on track and am happy to announce that this Wednesday there will be another Silver Mane post. I'm also working on a few other little things that are exciting to me, so be on the lookout.

Organization

     I keep finding myself running into the same problems week after week and I can't seem to figure out how to fix it. So again, I'm going to try something. I'm a very visual person and it's how I learn easiest. So today, I gathered all my projects and mapped them out in their stages. Perfect. Now that I can see everything it helps.

I goofed again

     This shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone, but I lost track of the days again. I do have some good news about it though. I at least have the next few chapters outlined. So I'm hoping that over my next few days off that I can get those all typed up and ahead of the game.

Two Weeks!

     While I did miss a few days, today is day 14 of my daily writing. As in I have for 14 day's, wrote 1,000 words. I can't even believe it myself. Odd considering I've done NaNoWriMo for a few years now. I always come close (around 30,000 or so) I've never actually won. This little project however, is showing me what I can actually do. It's also been a wonderful help for brainstorming.

Summer Time

     It's that time of year again, school is letting out and summer starts. The downfall, that beautiful teacher that you had a crush on all year, is now gone. Your shot of getting banged on her desk, sadly gone. Here's some good news, you can go check out my series "Lesson Learned" and relive all those juicy moments. It's free for all you Amazon Prime members.

Sad news

     The day finally came where a ten hour work day derailed everything. I've cheated myself from making progress. That also sadly means that I didn't get around to finishing up this week's werewolf Wednesday  post. I am however, able to make posts easily here from my 'new' phone. So I can at least do some small things.

Silver Mane Part 12

Start Here

     Ana kept pace with the woman, the illusion never breaking as her eyes stuck fast to the ground. She fell into a rut. She knew what she was supposed to do, after all she was just a runaway slave, and you don’t go running off after someone just saves your life. The woman stopped and turned on her heel, her head held high. “Oh, I’m sorry dear, didn’t realize you were still following me. Can I help you?” There was a deep hunger in her eyes as they narrowed at Ana.

     The young girl was taken aback. She honestly didn’t know quite what to say or really what was going on. “No.” She ended up stammering out the simple word while fear welled up inside. She didn’t have to say much more because finally Kavos had caught up to her and she spotted him in the crowd. “Oh!” Her full attention turned towards him and the mysterious woman turned to look as well. She wrinkled up her nose as he came near. There was a low growl and immediately Ana realized something was off between the two. “Thank you again miss.” She bowed low trying to break the tension of the two. “This is my half brother,” it was the lie that they ran with, after all it was simple enough. “I got separated.”

     Ana was about to say more but Kavos stepped up, his chest was pushed out and every muscle was tense. “I’ll be taking her home now.” There was a growl as he wrapped his hand around Ana’s wrist. It was so tight that she began to worry that he might actually hurt her, or worse, shift back.

     The woman turned her attention to the girl. She held Ana’s gaze and spoke only to her. “If you ever get tired of running with animals, come find me again.” She smiled, it was a wicked smile. She knew everything. Even Ana could tell, but she didn’t know how.

     Kavos growled again deep in his throat and pulled Ana away before she could say anything. Her eyes were fixed on the woman as she disappeared into the crowd. As the two seemed to rush from the city. As soon as the thriving village was behind them Kavos shifted back into his wolf form. It seemed a lot less painful but it didn’t seem any more pleasant to watch. Without word or warning he grabbed at Ana. His paws gripping her shoulders hard. “Did that bitch touch you? What did she do!?” He was yelling and shaking the small woman.

     His anger scared her. Ana couldn’t understand what was going on. She couldn’t help herself and started to sob while the hulking white wolf stood there shaking her and yelling. She tried to find her voice in the madness that was going on around her. “Kavos… Stop… Please.” She could only get one word out at a time while he shook her. The pressure on her shoulders was starting to hurt and she could feel his claws digging into her skin. Tears raced down her face leaving clean trails where they went.

     “Kavos!”

     Ana melted at the voice that echoed around them. It was enough to stop the white wolf in his anger but he didn’t let her go. Either way, Ana didn’t care. Stela was there, she was safe. Her wolf was there and everything was going to be okay.

     Stela stood up on her hind legs, making herself as tall as she could and she squared her shoulders while she made her way down the small rocky ledge she had been standing on. “Let her go Kavos.” There was a bellowing growl deep within her chest. Her movements were slow but deliberate. Kavos let Ana go and took a stumbling step back as his mind returned to him. “What happened?”

     Ana ran to the alpha and threw her arms around the large wolf. Stela picked her up as if she was a child and the woman ran her hands through the animals thick fur. It was beginning to feel like home. She took a deep breath and smelled the scent of her wolf and for the first time she really started to notice her. Stela was always dark to her, but now that she looked she could see how her back was much darker than the front, save for one small patch at the base of her neck and between her shoulder blades.

     “There was an enemy in the village. She was after Ana. Or Ana was after her, I don’t know and I don’t care. All I seen was her,” His paw pointed to the woman who was curled up his alphas arm. “following a blood sucker.” He spat the last words. It was so out of character for him to be so mad, normally that was Aurel, but for some reason Kavos felt as if for the first time, this human had put him in danger.

     “Calm down Kavos. Alice, please go take Ana back to the den.” Her eyes never left her second in command. Alice stepped up and held out her arms, and Ana was dropped into them.

A Message in a Bottle

     The salt water rushed against my feet. Pulling my arm back I hurled the amber colored bottle into the salty spray. The soft plunk of it hitting the water echoed back to my ears. It reassured me that I didn’t throw like a girl, or so the saying goes. I stood there until the sun set. Every day after I returned, and waited.

     Such a small bottle it was, but it drifted for days. The tides of the world pulled it out to sea only to push it towards another chunk of land. The tiny object was at Poseidon’s mercy. However, it wasn’t the only thing adrift on the tide. “All hands on deck, we sail towards port!” The captain roared over the waves that crashed against the hull of a ship. She was different. Her boots clopped against the deck and she walked across the wooden timbers. Her eyes scanned the open water looking for any hint of land.

     “Aye Cap’n.” Loki growled as he pitched the wheel towards the now visible land mass. The rest of the crew scattered and tended their posts. The ship groaned and creaked as it pitched. The ship was tired and so was the crew. A good rest and a payday was just a few knots a head. “Hey Cap’en,” He roared over the boat to get her attention. “what’s that just off starboard?” The hulking cat took one hand off the wheel and pointed at something that was shimmering off the waters surface.

     Bella turned to see whatever he hand pointed at. She watched it flicker in the sunlight for a few moments before she could make out the shape to him. She huffed and turned back to her first mate. “That be trash Loki.” A scowl crossed her face and she walked away from the side of the ship.

     One of the younger crew members heaved himself over the ship. “There’s a paper in it Captain.” He called out.

     Bella snarled at the comment but she was too tired to care. The ocean took a toll on you while you were out and this group of men did nothing to ease it for her. “Fine, grab it, but I’ll not be sending anyone after ya if ye fall in the foam.” She meant every word. The lad would have to swim himself to shore if he lost his footing.

     The lad that spotted it took no time to shimmy himself down the side of this ship. With nimble fingers he snatched up the bottle and the message inside and hauled himself back up topside. As much as he wanted to open it, he kept the cork stuff in and handed the entire bottle over to the Captain.

     Bella took the bottle and instead of just pulling out the cork, she smashed the neck of it against the ships rail. The glass shattered and she dug out the slip of paper. It was odd. The writing was too nice to be a child’s, and the paper had such weight and texture. A heavy scent of earth and flowers, accented with a musk wafted up towards her nose. Something was odd about this. She unrolled the scrap and her eyes fell upon the short message and she smiled.

     I want to have an adventure. ~S