Original Fiction | Escapist Literature

This is the stuff that’s all mine. Go here to see images and/or inspiration (those works are not mine, except for those listed as commissioned. I’ve simply collected them in one place.)

Squid indicate separate universes. I’ve dated the bullet entries somewhat, but not consistently, alas.

Disclaimer—

My writing contains: sexual situations, strong language, violence, talking about sexual situations and violence in strong language, bisexual persons, transgender persons, homosexuals and the people who love them, heterosexuals who may find love too, pansexuals who get laid more than the rest put together, black magic, white magic, sacrifice-a-chicken magic, evil dudes, evil babes, guys with wings who are not angels, possible angels, demons, aliens, geese, persons of every ethnicity, ability, orientation, religion, or gender I can respectfully cram in there, gods who aren’t yours (who have sex), gods who have (or try, anyway) to have homosexual sex, gods who don’t have sex, may include mention of YOUR god, characters who have suffered evilness, Boys (and Girls) Behaving Badly, ANGST, hints of (and sometimes actual) BOYSMUT, sexual situations (did I say that?), unsportsmanlike behavior, and squid.

Probably not all in one story.

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Dream’verse

Eve’s Book: Eve is a freighter pilot, a former Marine someone thinks isn’t former enough. She’s dodging snipers and ‘accidents,’ and she doesn’t know why.

My first complete novel! First draft finished December 30, 1994.
Repeatedly revised, needs more.
With beta reader.
Still with beta reader. A re-read of my own has given me the idea of breaking it into two books. We’ll see.
Re-write in progress. Honest. It’s progressing.
I am splitting it. Which means I’m starting almost from scratch. Sometimes progress goes in reverse.
This will now be the second book, as splitting it means Ben’s book comes first.

Ben’s book: Ben wanted peace and quiet. Joining the crew of an ex-Marine with a death mark probably wasn’t his best choice ever.

It’s the first part of Eve’s book being taken apart.
Currently editing.
Now waiting for the DOOMY Summer of Editing DOOM (summer ’09)
I worked on it. I’ve got the pieces. Now to put them together.
Also attempted for the DOOMY SUMMER OF EDITING DOOM, The SciFi Edition (2010) Serious progress was made, but six months of editing took its toll and I had to stop.
Moving this into Scrivener 12/28/11. Still not tops on my writing agenda, though.

Donte: Donte is a college student. Selene is a stripper, and the only street-wise friend Donte has. When the boy Donte is tutoring is kidnapped, Donte turns to Selene to help him get the boy back.

First draft completed December ’04
Revised, needs more. 6/12/05
At some point I added a bit more to this. I think it needs one more scene at the beginning, then another edit now that I know (better) how to do it.
Captain’s Boy released 4/1/13

Taro: Taro’s keeping secrets. Rafe threatens to expose them all, and he’s not even trying.

Done! Weighing in at 69,695, the first draft is done. 2/16/05
As of 6/18/06, under submission to Tor Books. Response time four to six months. Argle. Rejected by Tor.
As of 9/1/06, on submission to DAW Books. Again, four to six months. Argle again. Refused by DAW.
I’ve learned enough that I can now see why it was rejected. After NaNo I’ll fix the first chapter and last one and send it out again.
Still struggling with this. Gahh!
Major re-write. Almost there! Old beginning here.
6/28/08 Needs one last polish, but I can’t look at it right now. Need distance.
9/18/08 Partial with real live NY professional-type agent-person! Cross your fingers for me!
2/27/09 Continuing to query, though partial still out. Because simultaneous querying is expected, and all my eggs hopes should not be in one basket.
5/15/09 Two partials out! And the querying goes on.
10/18/09 One agent passed. Other still has partial.
11/19/09 Other partial agent passed (after thinking on it for a year.)
As of 7/26/10, this is the one I’m self-pubbing. Launch date 12/1/10!
Check out Knight Errant, right here!

Rafe: Rafe needs to grow up. It might help if Taro would quit babying him. Or maybe the tagline is “Rafe wouldn’t dream of changing the man he loves, so he’ll have to change himself and the rest of the galaxy instead.”

Hit the pre-ending stall for the first time at 111,023 words on 5/13/05. Naturally I didn’t recognize it.
Has since been completed.
Revised, needs more.
His Faithful Squire, in revisions!
Publication date: August 1, 2011!

Gift of the Marine: Novella recounting Eve’s first visit to Ben’s ancestral home. No, he’s not royalty, but close enough. It’s a Christmas story, so nearly everyone survives.

Seriously must revise this–if only to share the evil laughter with Eve’s fans.

Keen: Luc is in love with his bodyguard. Keen, though, isn’t interested in Luc’s ass; he’s only keeping the man alive because he promised Luc’s father.

Begun 6/24/05
First draft completed 6/4/07 after a really long pre-ending stall. (I know now that it’s ’cause the book I wrote is not the one I should have written.)
Beta says she could care less about my MC. Ouch. Have to find a way to get Luc to come alive…
Snicker at the discarded first scene here.

Taro 2: Taro and Rafe on a wilderness vacation, with eleven survival students. Oops, make that ten. Now nine…

2006 NaNovel–my first NaNoWriMo!
First draft completed 11/28/06, with gratuitous smut to reach the NaNo goal.
Now in edits–this one is next up! And wow, what a mess a NaNo makes… 1/14
Even the Score, due out 12/1/14! So excited for this one…

Joss: Joss will change the world for one girl. Even though he doesn’t like girls.

2007 NaNovel, flying along happily.
33K and growing fast.
12/5/07–at 51K words and desperately resisting the last chapter or so. Grr!!
12/10/07 Done! Or so I’m calling it. I know the ending, just can’t write it yet.
Currently undergoing massive edit. Whee!
6-28-08 Edit completed and ending written. With beta readers.
As of 9-18-08, needs work to fix choppy beginning. Simmering–NaNo is coming!
Worked on this over DOOMY Summer of Editing DOOM. This is another–I have the pieces, just have to fit them together. This seems to be how I finish things.
8/29/11 Next round of editing about to begin!
With editor. Planned publication date 4/1/12. April Fool’s Day? So apropos for Joss.
Queen’s Man, right here!

Keen 2: Ro likes men, not pretty boys. So why does the redheaded swordsman make her stutter every time he glares at her? And how the hell is she supposed to do her job with a partner who turns her into a squealing teenager, anyway?

Incomplete–I have a few scenes, but I can’t write this till I have the background of Keen 1, and the more I ponder the more I’m sure that will change greatly.

Kolya: He’s a cross-dressing hacker trained to steal secrets, sent to Taro for a new chance at life. Unfortunately Taro isn’t around, and Jadzia has no idea what she’s getting into.

I shouldn’t have this here yet–it’s little more than an idea. But Kolya insisted, so here it is.
12/18/09 Writing a “short story” exploring his origins. This will most likely End Badly. (for my plans, that is.)
7/10/10 Began writing the book.
So sue me. It was the year of ADD projects. So declared my friend, and so it was.

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~~Melissa~~Nemesis: So what if she’s got an elf in her living room? Sissy’s not saving the world. Hers or his. Get somebody else.

Incomplete, but bubbling as of 9/18/08.
10/18/09 –It can bubble all it wants, but until I get a workable plot, this is on hold.
Attempted this for NaNo ’10 when my finish-the-fanfic didn’t work out. Lots of great ideas: this will be EPIC.

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The Spell-Wracked Lands

Guardian: Srivasi is not a very good mage, but he’s an excellent scholar. Jhi Bo is a skilled swordswoman but that’s not all she is. Written for and published in the Turtleduck Press anthology Under Her Protection, a collection of stories of women to the rescue. 8/1/14

Flame: She’s an elf, but it’s not her fault. Just pretend the ears aren’t pointed, will you? A bottle of wine and a roll in the hay–well, silk sheets–that’s all she’s looking for. Ignore the ranger. He’s just trying to ruin her fun.

To be serialized here.
Currently editing first volume.
Submitted to editor.
6/5/08–looked at this today. Now I want to edit it again.
Flame Isfree and the Feather of Fate, Part I

Flame Isfree II: Desert of Doom: This was NaNo ’11, the first year I attempted and didn’t win.

11K and I’ll finish it one day. The story is sound; it was just bad timing. 11/15/11

The Book of the Old Dragon: All Yamilet’s life, Granny has kept her safe. When she runs away to join a heroic quest to free an ancient homeland, what else would Granny do but go after her?

NaNo 2014

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Fidelis: Yes, another one. This one pounced me and I can’t fight it anymore. Gabriel and Fidelis are Huntsman and Hound Hawk, and I’m writing urban fantasy (turns out it’s steampunk) for the first time, and doing it in third person omniscient, also for the first time. Why? Because my guys say I have to.

5,742 words as of 2/2/08
As of June ’08, there are some prompts, too. More may happen soon.
9-18-08 a bit more plotted out. I think I see how to structure it…but it’s still not ready to write.
5/15/09 Working on this now. We’ll see if I can’t get a bit farther.
30,000 words as of August 2009. I’m in the stall before the end, I think. It’s YA, so the first draft can be that short–my stories grow in editing.
11/20/09 Pulling this out for another look. Agent who wants to see my fantasy does not rep YA, but other agent, with whom I came so close, would adore Fidelis, I think…
Finished! 12/4/09, making that three manuscripts finished in two months!
Edit finished on or about 1/16/10. Out to beta readers.

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Keeper’verse

Hiro’s Quest: Yes, this is yet another new universe. Yes, I would like to kill a muse or two to get the others in line. However, as they’re incorporeal, that desire doesn’t get me far. This is…good lork, I’m not sure yet. An epic gay romance fantasy quest-type-thing. No elves, and no dragons I know of. A yummy redhead, though.

Oh–and it’s a trilogy. Damn it.

Volume One, Burning Bright: Hiro doesn’t know why he gave up everything to follow when his lover left–but when he finds the man, that’s the first thing he means to ask.

One chapter that was supposed to be a toss-off PWP done. I’m resisting writing more. We’ll see how long that lasts.
3/23/08 update: Structure! I need a structure, chronological won’t work…
6/8/08, and I wrote 343 words. The structure may be chronological with out of order flashback chapters, and doesn’t that sound fun?
6/28/08–there are four snippets of info now. Still trying not to work on this. The trying is working well, yes?
9/18/08 more bits exist. This will probably be my NaNo. I think it’s going to be a mess–but an awesome, fun mess that I’ll later edit into one hell of a story. I hope.
12/2/08 NaNo it was. It’s now 50,544 words, not counting the bits and bobs of flashbacks. It has at least another thirty thousand words to reach the end of the first book, whatever that may be. Wheee!
The pre-ending stall again. Good to know it’s a pattern, and not my muses abandoning me!
10/4/09 First volume DONE!! 68,639 words, not counting the extras. (yes, the ending was not where I thought it was.) Good timing, though, because volume two is NaNovel ’09!
NaNoEdMo and then some. Finished first edit on or about 4/28/10.
Burning Bright, published 11/1/15.

Volume Two, In the Forests of the Night: Hiro quests for the most precious treasure he knows–his lover’s soul.

10/18/09 Planning and research. Mixing Mayan shamans and Shaolin monks is totally kosher, right?
11/15/09 Hit 50K and won NaNo on the fifteenth! I do love these guys.
11/17/09 And…done, at 53,625! Yes, it’s very short, but I already know at least three scenes I skipped, and I haven’t even looked at it. Now to plot out the last book! Actually I think a round of editing on the first two, to focus them, would serve me better. If I know my muses, I’ll have the third one muchly plotted before I’m done editing.
Publishing 11/1/17!

Volume Three, What Immortal: Insert cool synopsis here. I think it’s how Hiro and Eshan try to rebalance their relationship while saving the world. Yay!

NaNo 2013. I have words now, but I still don’t have the plot.
I’m working on NaNo 2014 (the Book of the Old Dragon), so of COURSE my guys are giving me ideas for what to do with this. >.<

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Not Gay: 5,000-word story about best friends discovering new things together. (Yes, it’s a sad tagline. I’ll work on it.) My first boysmut outside fanfiction, and my first contemporary real world anything in a very long time.

Edited, submitted.
Rejected. I shall look it over soon, and determine if it needs more help before going out again.
Soon being “one of these days.”I think I’m afraid they’ll want a book if I pay them any more attention. 10/18/09
Edited, submitted 11/24/09
Rejected 2/16/10

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To Embrace the Beast: in response to the smut challenge on my favorite writing hang-out. The challenge began with my plaint that “when you start with smut, your story has nowhere to GO” and the instant urge of several of us to prove me wrong. Sammael is part fae, or has a deal with the fae, or may be a were-llama for all I know. Remy is a military genius-in-the-making who will do what he must to avoid disgrace. Even bargain favors with the infamous Duke Sammael.

Start date 1/1/10! Watch this space!
Six thousand words. Sammael is (sort of) were, but his other form is not a llama! 2/4/10
Twelve thousand words. The smut is hot and the plot is…barely existent. Nnnngh. 2/21/10
Added a smidge to this. It, also, will be epic. Eventually.
I think I’ve got the story figured out. Now to find time to write it! 5/21/12

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Victorian Ghosthunting Boysmut: Don’t ask. Connor and Fitz are in love, and that’s about all I know. Besides that there are ghosts.

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Romeo and Julian: A Near-Tragedy Near Verona: This one is contemporary! It’s for a challenge on Goodreads, and it’s about six thousand words of Much Fun so far. I’ll link it when it’s done, but you’ll have to be a member of the M/M group to read. Eventually, though, it’ll be here (or on kdsarge.com). 6/6/11

Here! And about 20,000 words, oops. 8/7/11

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Louder than Sirens, Louder than Bells: Another contemporary story for a Goodreads challenge. This one was 69,777 words before I managed to send it off. Lukas and Alan are college students who get on each other’s nerves–until they don’t. It will be on Goodreads first, but a download will be available here eventually. 5/6/12

Eventually seems to be taking a while. Here it is on Goodreads. 3/31/13

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Running Deer and Hidden Badger: Cowboys. What more is there to say? Free on Goodreads.

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Give an Inch: The way to a scarred, scared man’s heart is kittens. Free on Goodreads.

Solar X-rays:
Geomagnetic Field: