aroslav: Blog

No, I'm not talking about Tara AI in the last chapter of The Assassin, which posted today. Nor about any of the Swarm Cycle AIs 'helping' humanity. I'm referring to something far more sinister and far less obvious.

Vixen.

Vixen is the 'black box' that converts stories on SOL to the readable layout most of us encounter when we follow a story here. She has the best intentions. Stories come to her in all kinds of conditions and she applies her little algorithms to make them look decent on screen. Mostly all okay, unless she stumbles.

We've all seen Vixen stumble in one way or another, and most probably blame the author. Half a chapter gets posted twice or out of sequence? Don't blame the author! Vixen was drinking.

And there are simple things that most of us would never notice, unless you are the author. Today, for example, I read the last chapter of The Assassin after it posted. I do that routinely. When a chapter posts, I read it and often correct errors I've encountered. I'm sure you've found stories in your reading that leave you convinced the author never looked at what he wrote after the bits first hit the screen. But I do. And when I reached the end of chapter 27, it just stopped and I wondered, WTF happened? The last paragraph was missing.

Well, the paragraph was only two words, but it brought the story arc to its fulfillment. Vixen saw the words and assumed they were in error because they just repeated the name of the story. So, she eliminated them. Except, they were needed. They brought the story to a conclusion of self-realization and identification.

I quickly resubmitted the chapter with an explanation of what was intended and it was reposted within an hour, so I doubt too many readers caught the problem. And it might be one of those oddball things that only the author noticed anyway.

On the other hand, my new story, Team Manager: Swish!, started posting on Tuesday May 25 and I'm really happy with the reception so far. Over 200 eBook sales in the first five days! If you haven't read GMbusman's review of the story, please do. He captured the essence without any spoilers and gave it high praise.

I'm deep into writing the sequel, Team Manager: Sprint! I hope to finish it within the next couple of weeks so it can make the rounds of the editors. I'd like to get that finished and Wayzgoose's A Place Among Peers done. Both are two-thirds to three-quarters of the way along. But there's this other story that has begun nagging me at the back of my mind and last night I had to sit down and spew a chapter out just so I could concentrate on the other stuff again. When I can digest the concept into a pitch, I'll let you know. It's pretty off the wall.

I do hope this post finds you well and that in the midst of enjoying the sun, the beach, the barbecue, or whatever, you also take a moment to remember those who have given their all to protect our country. I salute you.

A long-time friend and sometimes RV co-traveler wanted to know if I have new travel plans now that restrictions from the Pandemic are being lifted for those of us who are fully vaccinated. Isolation hasn't been that different for me than normal life, really, so I hadn't given much thought to travel. I actually went to the lodge here at Sun Meadow to play cards this week. First time since 2019 and I don't remember much of that year because I was so sick with heart problems.

I have reserved a winter campsite in Las Vegas this year. Just hoping to be somewhere a little bit warmer than the Pacific Northwest. So we chatted and, being a storyteller himself, David started in:

"I have been in many places, but I've never been in Cahoots. Apparently, you can't go alone. You have to be in Cahoots with someone. I've also never been in Cognito. I hear no one recognizes you there. I have, however, been in Sane. They don't have an airport--you have to be driven there. I have made several trips there, thanks to my children, friends, family and work. I would like to go to Conclusions, but you have to jump, and I'm not too much for physical activity anymore. I have also been in Doubt. That is a sad place to go, and I try not to visit there too often. I've been in Flexible, but only when it was very important to stand firm.

"Sometimes I'm in Capable, and I go there more often as I'm getting older. One of my favorite places to be is in Suspense! It really gets the adrenaline flowing and pumps up the old heart! At my age I need all the stimuli I can get!

"I may have been in Continent, but I don't remember what country I was in. It's an age thing. They tell me it's very wet and humid there!"

As he finished and we were laughing, I admitted I'd been in Sufferable on occasion. I'm sometimes subject to thinking I'm in Credible. Usually, however, someone points out that I'm in Competent. I was once in Carcerated, but was able to prove I was in Nocent at the time.

Whatever state you happen to be in, I hope you're able to laugh a little and that you are staying tuned here for the release of Team Manager: Swish! on Tuesday.

My dear old mom had a lot of oddball sayings, but one I remember her using often was when she said she was "tickled pink" about something. I did some lightweight investigation and discovered the term was known as far back as 1910 and seemed to be a variant of the much older term "tickled to death." This in turn may have dated back to the second half of the 18th century as the result of having something "tickle one's fancy."

In all three instances, "tickle" is used in the sense of finding something amusing, appealing to one's sense of humor or delight. None of them seem to refer to the common definition of lightly touching or prodding in a way that causes itching, squirming, and uncontrolled laughter.

That was an interesting etymology lesson for this beautiful, bright and sunny Sunday in Northern Idaho. I believe I was inspired to look all this up when I started thinking about how much I enjoy posting or releasing a new story-or even a new chapter of a story. It may sound weird, but I'm tickled pink to have started pre-release of my newest story, Team Manager: Swish! to patrons this morning. The really cool thing is that I'll be tickled pink when I have the public release on Tuesday May 25, 2021. That will include both the release of the first chapter of the book for serialization here on SOL, and the release of the eBook on Bookapy.

Woohoo!

I'm also very conscious of the quality of what I put out. I can't promise that every story will be appealing to every reader. I like to write all over the map when it comes to story genres. I look back at the most recent stories I've posted and find science fiction, romance, satire, do-over, occult fantasy, and (if I include stories by Wayzgoose) mystery and literary fiction.

But I do try to make each story a quality piece of writing. In order to get there, I currently have an alpha reader who basically looks over my shoulder as I write. I have beta readers, including a dozen or more patrons who look at and comment on works in progress. I have story editors who mark up content and suggest variants in how the story is written, where the story arc falls apart, where it is not consistent with the stated audience. Then there are line editors who look at sentence construction, consistency within the story, and places where confusion might set in. Finally, I have three incredible proofreaders who attack the story with gusto as they find missing quotation marks, homonyms, misspellings, variants, and bad punctuation.

Oops. I didn't mean "finally" as in the last shot. I personally re-read every draft, and don't simply "accept all" when an editor makes changes. And, since I do my own layout, I reread the story "one more time" in the format in which it will be published. Hence the past two days have been spent re-reading and correcting the three versions (SOL html, DevonLayne html, eBook) of Team Manager: Swish!

I found two things: 1) several dozen more errors that I corrected. 2) I enjoyed the story.

The author's recommendation doesn't necessarily mean you will enjoy the story, but I find that if I don't enjoy my own work, not many others will either.

Team Manager: Swish! is the first volume of what will definitely be two, probably three, and possibly more books about high school sophomore Dennis Enders, a myopic runt who finds acceptance, self-identity, courage, and love as the team manager for the girls' basketball team at Hugh Bartley High School in Bartley, Iowa. But the road is not easy for the abused teen nor his team, as bullies threatening kidnapping, rape, sex trafficking, drug dealing, and even murder stalk the team and its manager.

Add all that to the stress of high school, hormones, compromising situations, growth spurts, parents, and cliques, and you have the ingredients for a riveting tale. I believe you will be thoroughly hooked before you finish reading the third chapter.

According to one of my readers, this story is right in my sweet spot. Of another story he said, "Like a moth to the flame: a world where a protagonist ends up with a harem while challenging the status-quo. Irresistible, unavoidable."

Coming May 25, 2021

I intended to post my thanks and Beltane greetings yesterday and somehow got waylaid. I very much appreciate the recognition of fans in voting for Double Team as Best Do-Over Sex Story of 2020 in the Clitorides Awards. And thank you for the incredible honor of naming Living Next Door to Heaven as second place Classic Clitoride 2020. I certainly couldn't complain about being beaten by EzzyB's Rebecca Danced since that is one of my all-time favorites on SOL. I think I voted for it, too.

And a couple of days late:
Haroo, Hurray, the First of May,
Outdoor fucking starts today!
Or in my case, outdoor nudity as I've returned to my summer campground at the nudist park in Idaho. It's going to be a good summer here in nature.

Several people wrote to tell me the graphic org chart that should have been included in Chapter 18 of The Assassin was missing. The chapter has been revised and re-uploaded with the chart in a readable condition. I've also replaced the illustrations in Chapters 1, 2, and 7 with higher resolution graphics that can actually be seen in the story. Sorry it has taken so long for me to get that in place.

And just a bit of news. Editing and formatting of Team Manager 1: Swish! is nearly complete and I'll be working on the eBook this week. I'm already deep into writing Team Manager 2: Sprint! The serial is slated to start posting here on SOL on May 25, coinciding with the eBook release. It will end on October 1. Of course, my Advance Release Tier patrons will start getting it about 10 days sooner. I've been progressing at writing about a chapter a day and my Sausage Grinder Tier patrons are reading the rough draft at a rate of seven chapters a week!

The summer is looking like a very productive time for me, despite my making frequent trips to Seattle to prepare for my daughter's wedding in August. Never thought I'd see that day and I'm really stoked about it.

I'm also trading my fifth wheel trailer for a lower profile travel trailer about mid-summer. That one, I expect, will be my last retirement home. It has fewer steps up to the door and the interior is all on one level. Since I tend to stumble around in the dark several times at night, I'm looking forward to getting rid of the stairs to my bedroom. I've made a reservation to spend next winter in Las Vegas and feel like I will be almost far enough south to stay warm.

That's the news from sunny Idaho. Now it's time to go get my groceries. Enjoy!

This is the last week in which to cast your votes for the 2020 Clitoride Awards for the Best in Written Erotica. Voting is only open until April 30!

You might think you voted but didn't. If you cast a vote for your favorite story prior to March 1, you voted in the 'primary' but not in the 'final.' The voting during January and February was to determine who the nominees in each category would be. Voting for the awards is all done in March and April.

Do I have any candidates? Funny you should ask! Yes, Double Team is up for an award in the "Best Erotic Do-over" category. Wayzgoose's American Royalty is nominated for "Best Romantic Story." The nomination I'm most excited about is Living Next Door to Heaven, nominated for the "Classic Clitoride Award."

Remember that on SOL and many other story sites, authors receive payment in recognition. Please be sure to support your favorite authors and your favorite stories by voting in the Clitorides Awards.

In new writing news, I've about finished up the editing process on Team Manager 1: Swish! If I can get it all formatted, I predict posting to begin in four weeks. I've already begun working on Team Manager 2: Sprint! This story could be a very long series. I'm having a lot of fun with it, as my third tier patrons can tell you. Comments and responses to the rough draft have been positive.

I'm continuing to write Wayzgoose's A Place Among Peers and the story has developed some interesting excitement and subplots. Sadly, I've slowed development of Drawing on the Dark Side of the Brain 2 as I've accelerated work on the other projects. It is still brewing, however, and we'll have more of that story by summer.

So the bits keep flying from my keyboard and I'm feeling good about the progress.

We had an interesting conversation on the Swarm Author list about the development of and difficulty learning the English language. Zen Master delivered an excellent treatise on how words and grammar were borrowed from many different languages and that Yoda spoke reasonably good ancient English. Or something like that. I ran across this apocryphal tidbit not long after.

Torpenhow Hill, England
When the Saxons arrived and asked the Welsh the name of that hill, the Welsh said "pen" which means "hill" in Welsh. So the Saxons used their word for hill, "tor," and called it Torpen (hill hill).
Then the Norse arrived and the same process added the their world for hill "Haugr". So now it was Torpen Haugr (Hill Hill Hill).
Later, the English called it Torpenhow Hill (Hill Hill Hill Hill)
Language is awesome.

I've left my winter campground in Port Townsend, Washington. This week, I'm sheltering in the Seattle area while my trailer gets some work done. I have a couple of Doctor appointments to keep and then plan to be back in Idaho at my summer campground by Saturday. I can hardly wait to shed these clothes and get skin to the wind at Sun Meadow.

I have a new campsite this year in preparation for receiving a home upgrade in the middle of the summer. The new trailer is no bigger than my current home, but is a lower profile and all on one level. Unfortunately, it also requires an upgrade in power service from 30 amp to 50 amp, hence the change in campsite. I'll miss my previous site where I've done a good bit of improvements over the past five years, but the new site promises to be just as nice. I'll post photos someplace when I have them.

And always remember the by-word of spring:

Haroo! Hurray! The first of May!
Outdoor fucking starts today!