July was a busy month, but not necessarily with writing. Lots of home improvement stuff on the weekends, both on our actual home in our college town, as well as our family place in Western North Carolina kept me busy. Stuff like driving 10” long ½" diameter bolts into the deck to keep it from separating any further from the house (Helene damage) and installing jacks in the crawlspace as a temporary measure until we can find someone to do a more permanent job of replacing some old supporting timbers (not flood damage, just age).
We also took a weekend to drive to the next city over and hole up in one of our favorite hotels for a couple of nights. We ate great food at a couple of our favorite restaurants, didn’t think at all about the shit we generally need to get done around home, and fell asleep on each other’s shoulders watching Indiana Jones movies. It was blissful.
If you didn’t join Crush Publications’ “Virtual Erotic Con” the last weekend of July, you missed out. It’s a great way (as a writer AND a reader) to think more about erotica, whether that’s talking about BDSM with actual practitioners, learning more about writing LGBTQ+ characters, or just hearing directly from writers that you like, it’s a day well spent. Next one is September ‘26 - see you there!
What I wrote in July
I did get some stories out, despite the distractions! The first arc of my mind control, demon-laced story “Devil Inside” was completed when chapters 5 and 6 were posted on Medium the first half of the month. I’m going to give it a couple more weeks before submitting the second arc – probably late August or into September before it starts coming out.
https://medium.com/@antonjpierce/list/devil-inside-c7382b7e4873
My other stories were much lighter! “Rock and Roll Never Forgets” is a throwback to when night clubs were smoky, the beer bottles were long neck returnables and the scent of “Obsession” lingered in the room for days. Part 1 is out – Part 2 will be out August 1. If you read “Rock and Rock All Nite” back in January, this one is set in the same time frame.
I think everyone in the Western world is aware of Chris Martin calling out a couple on the Kiss-cam at a Coldplay concert after they dove for cover. I’m guessing I’m not the only one that imagined the conversation with the dude’s wife when he got home. But I’m guessing my imagination is different than most folks. So I wrote a little micro-fiction about it.
https://medium.com/exceptional-erotica/imagined-conversation-after-a-concert-7d3260b0797c
What I read in July
I continue to enjoy Nightfuel's “Serenity Falls” series on mcstories.com. It’s a slow-burn mind control story with some great characters and some great sex. There are some accidental harem aspects to it, as well as some incest, so if that’s a turnoff for you, you’ve been warned. But I’m digging it.
I’ve also started his newer story – An Eldritch Pact – on the same platform. Check 'em out at mcstories.com.
I mentioned last month that I was going to read Jordan Lubov's “Bond” - the start of another series for her. I did and I enjoyed it very much. She writes in an easy but cinematic way – I can “see” everything although she doesn’t overdo the descriptions. This one is a little Hallmark-like rekindled romance thing except that sadly those Hallmark movies don’t include super-hot sex and rope bondage. But lord know they should! Looking forward to reading more of this series.
It’s here on Amazon
I just finished Alexander Martin’s three-part “Wife’s Boss” series – fun stuff! I’ve read a few of his stories before – he generally writes interracial erotica, which can be a fun break from the hot wife and age gap stuff that tends to dominate what I see on Medium. This one is light and fun and short, which is what I need right now.
I had another story bookmarked to read by an author I won’t mention, but once again horrible typos, lousy grammar and just sloppy writing put me right off what could have been a good story. Folks, I understand the need to keep publishing a constant stream of content – I've slowed down and I’ve seen a real drop in my readership. But for fuck’s sake, using grammar checks and spellcheck in Word does NOT constitute “using AI” to do your writing. Take an extra five minutes and fix your shit, please!
That kind of thing is NEVER a problem with Paul Garland’s work. I’ve read a couple of his “hotpast” novels and thoroughly enjoyed them. He does a great job of capturing the emotions of whatever storyline he’s writing, not just the sex. And he can actually write the English language! His stories are slow burns, with passions, anxieties, fears and anticipation building at an unhurried but never boring pace.
I’ve been putting off reading his “How To Turn Your Trad Wife Into A Hotwife In Ten Days” - partly because I’m kind of tired of the hotwife sub-genre and partly because I find the whole notion of “trad wives” to be off-putting, to say the least. But I started it this week after the aforementioned disappointment with another writer and we’re off to a great start! I finished the first novel on Medium today and I’m eagerly anticipating reading more.
If you don’t have a Medium account, you can find the first novel here on Amazon.
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Hard to believe July is over! I’m sadly in a state where I’ve got 3 or 4 works in progress but none ready to publish, but that will change in the next couple of weeks. And you’ll get more “Devil Inside” coming up soon. Stay cool, stay hydrated and keep reading!
