A little dreamy, a little dark, a little monstrous…

So, apparently, people have always been attracted to the little-bit monstrous, and now there are survey results to prove it! I read the article, fascinated not only by how many people find the monstrous desirable, but because I put dudes with fangs in almost ALL my romantic stuff, and wings, too, if I can manage it, even if they’re not the main characters. (Don’t judge me 😛 I’m obviously not alone and, based on the article, fangs and wings are all the thing to secretly lust after!). The post is worth a read!

And now, unlike my usual penchant (which is “IMMA WRITE SOMETHING REALLY RANDOM THIS WEEK!”), I actually have some things to share with you, just because maybe someone else shivers with delight from the same things I do. And maybe you want a little distraction, and a teeny bit of hope? Let me try to deliver at least something…

FIRST! I’m repurposing a gothic romance I once wrote. Way back in 2003 (yes, y’all, I’m THAT old!), after I quit a job where the power-hungry female manager [who slept with our (married) boss [who, btw, spoke like an alien]] kept harassing me, I literally LIVED this story for three months. And one night, at my boyfriend’s cottage, while he spent time with his parents in the other room, I sat alone in a circle of light, hunkered, riveted, over my laptop, and I brought the story to the ultimate gothic culmination with SO MANY bodies toppling from the cupboards! Puddles of blood. Much shock on the part of the innocent heroine. And the BEST quotes from The Castle of Otranto. Who can NOT like a book with quotes such as “…what is it you see? Why do you fix your eye-balls thus?“, “Savage, inhuman monster! what hast thou done?“, and “But alas! my lord, what is blood? what is nobility? We are all reptiles, miserable sinful creatures.” – esp. that last one, y’all 😉

And now! This new version will have wagons of corpses delivered to the castle in the middle of the night, a tormented hero with a touch of the monster to him (think tattoes! snakes!), a villain with gothic flair, and I want to say more but spoilers! Uuugh.

BUT! I can share an excerpt (unedited for this version yet):

Scorn rode the wings of her laughter. “What more have I to fear?”
“Must you ask?” His scurrilous smile widened.
“Fear you?” He was trying to scare her, but it only aroused her ire. “You flatter yourself if you think you compare!”
“Brave words.”
“Fortune befriends the brave.”
“Fortune is a fickle whore.”
“I make friends with whores.”
He maneuvered her closer. “You haven’t the money to pay a whore for a kiss, much less for a fairy tale.”
“You would pay her for a kiss and she would give you a disease.”
Mirth sparked in his eyes, doused almost instantly. “Why would I pay her for a kiss when Fortune gifted me with you? Delivered to my private shore. Wanting the estate she was born in that I now own. What other way to make her belong here than…”
Seryph flushed at the flagrant insinuation. “This gift would bite your wicked hand off.”
“And maybe you’d taste the sweetness of downfall.”

This book was so much fun to write (yeah, way back when)! No deep, dark, tortuous drama, just dramatic atmosphere, ALL THE GOTHICNESS, and all the shiveries of romance. And I’m soooo looking forward to lightening up a bit after the heavy emotion that was orc! [which, btw, is still currently $0.99, but the price will go up sometime after this weekend! So if you want the book I describe as “a little dreamy, a little dark, somewhat twisty, slightly dirty, a bit of a fairy tale, and a lot emotional; the love story of troubled characters blundering through a battlefield of bloody thorns”, then read it at your own risk!]

ALSO, if you lurve my writing and want daily snippets, I’ve been sharing them in this group that anyone can join. Other authors are welcome to join and share, too; we delete posts older than 7 days, so it’s constantly fresh snippets. And the intro image is so pretty! (Of course it is because I picked it 😛 )

Aaaaand ranting time!

Anyone who knows me a little KNOWS I despise capitalism and the constant chasing after ‘money’ as an end when–really, isn’t all we want just more free time to do what we WANT, what matters, spending time with those who matter and not constantly tied up in the wasteful turmoil of what is forced on us (paying bills, drudging at deadend dayjobs, and doing every. Single. Little. Thing. By ourselves)? Especially when the constant squandering of resources just to make someone, somewhere, a little money is literally ruining the environment? And so I’ve been thinking of ways to start slipping ourselves out of the bad habits and into sweeter, more relaxed lives while starting to build something different, and this is what I’ve gotten so far:

First of all, you are not broken. It is the way society is set up to put ALL THE BURDEN on you that is trying to break you. So much of the depression, anxiety, and stress we have would vanish if only we weren’t supposed to do it all ourselves. For those of us who haven’t been able to find ways to wring money out of what we love (which is an abomination in itself–to force people to turn their passion into just another ‘job’ in order to shovel more money into the voracious monster called the ‘economy’), it is soul-breaking, and it’s time to protect our souls.

It’s time to realize, too, that our neighbors are not our enemy. I encounter so much division all around me, people fearful of other nations, cultures, races, genders–and why? Yes, some people are truly dangerous. But how many of those have you personally met in your entire life? Most people I know are just trying to live and let live.

Don’t let the fearmongerers turn you against the rest of the world. If you don’t understand someone’s opinion, ask why they have it. Most people I’ve asked feel hatred because they’re afraid, because of something they heard, read, or were told and believed without any corroboration, not because they have hatred in their nature. And many people bite and snarl because they’re wounded, not aggressive.

So when you can, show love, not hate. Help others; don’t harm. And, yes, I know it’s hard in a world that’s trying to teach everyone to attack first to protect themselves, but I’ve personally found that most people just want to be understood, not judged.

Find your community. By which I mean find people to share your burden with. Me, I’m thinking of asking my friends if they want to do communal dinners – like once every week or two, we meet at a different person’s house, or go out together. I’ve joined ‘buy nothing’ groups where you can get things people are offering for free–or you can offer things yourself. They’re all over the world now.

If you try not to buy useless things, you can start finding ways to turn from the consumerist mentality of buy-buy-buy-your-happiness and, instead, live-live-live-your happiness outside the materialistic prison. We can wean ourselves away from the nonsense and start building up things that truly make life worth living.

And, aah, I did NOT mean to write this much about that! But those things are so constantly in my thoughts, and so I guess it was inevitable that they would, of course, spill out. I truly believe we can find our way back together again, and as we do, find a way to a better world and a more promising future.

Anyway, ONWARD! Because I gotta tell you…

Facebook is onto my monster-love.

It’s started offering me monster f*ckery in Czech household decor, specifically the bedsheets below, aptly labeled “UNDYING LOVE”.

Oh, and they’re 3D bedsheets; check it –>

Which, of course, got a friend and me discussing how you can’t really be sexually involved with a skeleton, can you?

Like, there’s no flesh and blood for lips and kisses? And, um, other parts for the other deedies (since, you know, a boner doesn’t actually have a bone inside, just all that hot blood and–yeah, you’re educated enough to fill in the blanks).

And–

Zulejka here. The Cat is interrupting the hooman’s babble for an important announcement.

First, look upon me and breathe your awe:

Those eyes! Those curled paws. That inertia-defying tail!

I attack that flower on the floor.

I attack that puffy thing.

I have come to warn you, for the hooman has neglected the most important thing.

TOILET PAPER IS THE ENEMY.

Hooman left a package of it open and went to the bathroom to wash her hands.

While her back was turned, I clawed out an enemy toilet roll and annihilated it.

Behold the BEAST with the puncture marks after I finished with the petty thing:

You have been warned, hoomans.

My duty to you has been fulfilled, for now.

And I am back after my naughty super-cat took over my post again. Here is the usual weekly info. If you want to support me, join the patreon I’ve been seriously neglecting (but want to resume), get daily snippets I like to share, check out my books I don’t want anyone to buy, or join the newsletter I haven’t been writing (but intend to).

Be kind this week, everyone!