Happy New Year to everyone (and some self-congratulation!)

This is a self-congratulatory post and I'm not going to apologise for it! I've been doing some end-of-year sorting and filing, as a result of which I've just noticed that in the course of 2010 I've published, in terms of erotica -

- 14 short stories in magazines/collections/anthologies: 6 with Xcite, 6 in Erotic Review, 1 in Oysters & Chocolate, 1 in Lucrezia magazine
- 3 short stories published individually, all with Xcite
- 3 stories on other people's blogs (Frequently Felt)
- My first full-length erotic novel (with Pink Flamingo)
- a bunch of stories out on my new 'other' blog which I've set up jointly with Velvet Tripp, deliciouslydeviant.wordpress.com

That's in addition to several short science fiction and horror stories published under my real name.

Stuff in progress at the moment includes a single-author erotic story collection and a second novel, with a second story collection and a third novel being planned... I haven't set myself any New Year resolutions about getting things finished, but hopefully most if not all of that stuff will appear in the course of 2011.

Meanwhile, congratulations also to the authors whose blogs appear in the links on the right of this page, who've all put out excellent stuff this year, sometimes in the face of quite serious difficulties. And a happy New Year to everyone.

So what were the trends of 2010?

I've just been looking at Trendhunter's round-up of the top 100 naughty trends of 2010. They include:

- the 'Lady Gag Gag' blow-up doll. Elsewhere they also feature alien blow-up dolls
- Naughty pinup shoots by air stewardesses in the US, to protest about unpaid wages (that's a new twist - 'pay us the money or we'll take our clothes off...' but I guess respectable airlines wouldn't want that kind of publicity?)
- tattoos (of course)
- intergalactic fashion
- leotards for women, suits for men (I can see the attractions... they reference the Suit Supply company ads and various female singers' stage outfits)
- the 'Fleshlight', an aid to male masturbation
- body painting parties (why have I not been invited to one?)
- mass nudity (remember the Spencer Tunick 'artwork with 2,500 people nude outside the Sydney Opera House?)
- sex in libraries (memo to self, I was going to write a story about that...)
- a selection of redheads, transvestites, transsexuals and lesbians in a variety of photo shoots and ad campaigns. Why do redheads get billed the same way as transvestites, transsexuals and lesbians? I find that quite mysterious.

I think they missed a few. For example, burlesque became very big in 2010.

Predictions for 2011? Mine would be

- club crossover, so that it becomes impossible to distinguish between a regular nightclub, a lap-dancing club and a fetish event.
- LGBT pride events become huge tourist festival-like attractions for the places that hold them.

Any other offers, people?

BTW my 'other' blog, deliciouslydeviant, has just had two posts - a short story from me and a round-up of bdsm how-to and reference books from Velvet Tripp.

Random stuff

Discovered while searching for other things (as is often the way). The exact location is the junction of the Square de Cligancourt and Rue Ordener, Paris 75018. In some of the street views the guy carrying the blow-up doll is walking past the Pizza Hut, which is just out of this shot on the right - and just for info the camera here is looking more or less south. You may need to look around the area a bit to get him in shot...

Things a sub doesn't want to hear...

... when they're tied and blindfolded.

#19 I don’t know what I’m going to do to you yet. I’m going to let the viewers on my webcam decide…

#26 Oh good, the power drill’s fully charged now!

#38 Did I ever tell you the fantasy I have? The one that involves a frozen chicken?

#44 I’ve been much better since I had the treatment. No I haven’t. Yes I have. Shut up, all of you!

#589 I haven’t tried this before, I’m just curious to see if it works.

I posted a few more over at Deliciously Deviant as well...Have fun!

New story out from 17th Dec at Oysters and Chocolate

Just a quick announcement that Fulani's short story "Relieving the Stress" will go live on Oysters and Chocolate online magazine this Friday, December 17th. So it's a free read, probably in their "Liquorice Whips" story category (aka sensual BDSM).

Enjoy!

Conversation last night

Me: You know I've got an astrology piece in the next Erotic Review?

V: Yes...

Me: I was thinking I could do a Chinese astrology one for our new blog.

V: That would be good. You could just say which sex toy would be the best one to use for each of the signs.

Me: 2011 will be the Year of the Rabbit.

V: Does that mean it'll be a very buzzy year?

Deliciously Deviant

Velvet Tripp and I have set up a second blog for both our erotic stories - she has one out with Xcite at the moment and some others that will appear in 2011.

Have a look at Deliciously Deviant. There's even a free, previously unpublished story of mine on there to tempt you. It concerns a couple whose idea of a fun day out is to buy a new coffee table. Except it doesn't get used for coffee...

Dreaming again

I woke up this morning from a dream in which my publisher was insisting the 25K word file I'd sent her couldn't be considered as a 'novella' unless it had been written on a train.

However:
- I'm not currently writing a 'novella' though I am trying to finish off a collection of stories and various other projects.
- I have 'publishers', obviously, and except for one they are female. But they're not people I meet or have lengthy phone conversations with, just emails back and forth.
- I have been on a train recently, a couple of weeks ago, but it was a 20-minute journey not a long-distance marathon. Even I can't write a novella in 20 minutes. And normally, on train journeys, I read.
- I did, though, recently review Sharazade's Transported. The review is about three posts back.

So I'm not clear what symbolism is in play here or what my unconscious is trying to tell me. If I get any clues later int he day I'll share them... or you could have a go at interpreting this for me?

Acronyms

I've been playing with an acronym generator. Not for fun, you understand: it was related to an actual, i.e. income generating, project I'm working on. Among other things it came up with:

Fulani -
F Focused
U Useful
L Legendary
A Amusing
N Naughty
I Influential

and for Velvet,

V Vigorous
E Exotic
L Loving
V Visionary
E Energetic
T Tasty
T Twisted
R Risky
I Influential
P Proud
P Playful

Want to play? The acronym generator is at HyperGurl.

There are plenty of others. A more science fiction oriented one has lists from which you can choose words randomly. So I could be, for example, Forensic Underground Laboratory Augmenting Negative Insurrection...