Mat Twassel: Blog

An SOL reader yelled at me yesterday for not providing sufficient warning about the contents of my story "E-Bike." The story was coded "caution." I believe that should have been warning enough that the story might not have a happy ending and that the contents might include something dire.

Today I have a story "Fraternity Life" coded "gay,bi,het,fict,anal,oral,caution." I have to trust that sensitive readers who prefer not to encounter material indicated by these codes will avoid this story.

What else can I do? I'm going to write and post darker themed stories from time to time.

Just to set the scene, I'm drinking Letterbox green tea from a mug someone gave me this last Christmas. I've reheated the tea in our ancient microwave, 66 seconds on high, and it's the perfect temperature. Sixty-six is my favorite number, and it's easy to punch in on the old microwave, whose leds haven't worked in decades. The mug itself features four animals marching around the outside. A polar bear leads the way. He, as do all these animals, walks upright. He's carrying a decorated Christmas tree in one hand and a sack labeled Fred's Fish Shop in the other. Trailing the bear is the cat, who is holding a candy cane as well as a bag from Fred's Fish Shop. Next comes the mouse, who is the only character carrying but one thing, in this case a smallish shopping bag with Cheese Shop printed on the side. Bringing up the rear is the dog, also carrying a decorated Christmas tree. His bag says Bob's Bone Shop, and poking up from the bag are two large white bones. The background is red, and a few white circular snowflakes fall. I left out an important part of the scene, one which I only noticed just now, which shows you how much attention I pay to theses things. You remember the polar bear and the cat each carry a sack from Fred's Fish Shop. Between the bear and the cat stands a fish. He's handing a pair of shears to another fish who is peaking from the cat's bag. We can see now that the first fish has cut away the rear of the bear's bag and escaped.

Do you remember those games you'd play at early grade school birthday parties in which everyone would look at a large tray upon which sat various items? The children look at the tray for about a minute, then the tray would be taken away, and all the kids would have to write down the items on the tray. I was really good at that sort of game. Often I could remember all the items.

In the SOL forum today I noticed a post having to do with descriptions. The post started out being about measurements, you know, ample breasts, perky breasts, cupcake breasts, but gradually evolved into a discussion about descriptions beyond breasts. I often find myself losing focus when reading a long descriptive passage in a story. And even if I pay attention, even if I can remember most of the elements in the description, I don't really form a picture. Likely many readers do form pictures. I wonder what's wrong with me.

In my own writing, rarely do I provide a lot of description. Quite a few of my stories are mostly dialogue. But lately I've been doing illustrations, so that's my excuse for skimping on the description. I forgot to tell you that all the animals on the Christmas mug other than the two fish wear heavy winter coats. None of them wears pants or shoes, but the bear has a cap and the cat has a scarf, and they all have mittens.

Just for fun I took a look at one of my most recently posted stories, "Chord Progression." It's 499 words excluding title, there's really not any dialogue, and I think only two sentences contain what can be thought of as traditional description.

He's slight but powerful, and boy does he have good fingering.

His cock was hanging down, soft but big, and I could see it lurch upward just a bit.

Slight but powerful. Soft but big.

The bear, the cat, and the dog are all soft but big. The bones are good sized, too. I doubt they were meant to be phallic emblems, but …

I'm not sure if I can do a better little story than "Quiet," which I've posted this morning. Of course I'm tremendously biased. I love all my stories, like children, even if they misbehave. One of the many things I especially like about "Quiet" is that the illustration at the end adds to the story in what I think is a good way, a perfect way.

So naturally I'm curious what the SOL reader reaction will be. I expect it to be mixed. Some readers seem to vote "1" on any of my stories with fewer than a thousand words. But I'm hopeful of some high scores too.

It's hard for me to think about scores without thinking about my story "Jazz," a long-time favorite of mine, and until my recent story "Tryst," the lowest rated of my stories. I have thought and thought about it, and I can't see anything wrong with "Jazz," but then I know very well that the author can easily see things that might not be there.

Tomorrow, music.

Playoff Quiz

As I understand it, this year the NBA playoffs will last from May 22 to July 22. Whew! What an ordeal! With that in mind, I've made this year's NBA playoff quiz just one question.

________________________________________
Multiple Choice
________________________________________

a. A commuter train fading into the distance. The sound doesn't quite go away. Time stretches to hold the last low moan.

a. A basketball bouncing on a cement driveway. Regular. Slow. A sharp hint of flat echo. Go ahead, take the shot. Will it be the silky sweet rip of ball through net? Or the ugly iron clank of ricochet? For right now all we get is bouncing. Endless bouncing.

a. The sigh of sex as penis skin slips through moist mucous-Ellen's welcoming cunt clamps Tom's cock. The first sly fuck squeak. There will be more.

Answer: __

Extra credit if you show your work.

Okay, here's the answer: On Bluebird Lane, several long blocks distant from the railroad route, one must listen attentively to catch the train sounds. Regardless, the 7:39 streams towards the city while Ariel Masters, bouncing her basketball in the driveway, waits for her mom to come out and give her a lift to school, and two doors down Tom and Ellen's intercourse assumes the steady rhythm of Ariel's dribble.

Tea plays an important part in both of my stories for today. I think tea appears twice as often as coffee. I did a search for coffee, and it turns out it appears in about 13% of the stories. Likely tea appears in twice as many, but it's hard to get a good count because tea is contained in tease.