Erotica a la Carte

New ventures

One of the joys of going to conventions, is the shot in the arm I often get to my creativity and way of looking at business.

During WorldCon, Tee Morris and I sat down with our agent Laurie McLean, and we both realised we were missing a trick. You see, both Tee and I have a wealth of short stories that have just been sitting around not doing anything for us.

Not only that, but with digital publishing we realised we could be expanding on our already published universes.

So we are sallying forth on this bold digital revolution.

I have already had both Chasing the Bard and Digital Magic out on a bunch of digital platforms. My novels are $2.99 each, which I think is pretty reasonable price, considering how much you get for your money.

However now you can get a quick shot of my writingâ€”think of it as an expressoâ€”for 99c. That’s right, as of right now there are two Ministry short stories which have been podcast out there. The Evil that Befell Sampson and Nathan Lowell’s The Astonishing Amulet of Amaratas are both on the Kindle, and are working their way through Smashwords to all the other platforms out there.

Also I have put six Erotica a la Carte stories through the same process.

My aim is to have ten stories a week available until I have caught up with the backlogâ€”then I will begin on new stories, particularly in the Ministry series. We have plans for a YA series set in the Ministry world. This will probably begin with short e-fiction and we’ll see where it goes from there. But for now, the name Verity Fitzroy should be one you keep in mind.

If you want to help spread the word and review the titles, then please let me know by emailing pip@ this site, and I can supply a review copy.

This move into digital short fiction is affordable, and hopefully will find a toehold in the ebook market. I’m excited about the prospect for short stories on these platforms, and interested to see how this little experiment takes off.

Erotica a la carte was after all an experiment, and that has become a real joy.

As for Tee’s plans…well…you’re just going to have to ask him about that. But they are awesome!

Video killed the radio star….

… well actually radio is still alive and well and living on the internet. And now Erotica a la Carte is being carried by the fabulousÂ Radio Dentata. This is radio with teeth. Every second Thursday I’ll be sharing an evening with the likes ofÂ Helen Madden’s Heat Flash.

Once the back catalogue of EalC has been broadcast (which should be in July) Radio Dentata will be getting the stories a day before everyone else. So if you’re Jonsing for the fresh stuff it’ll be there for you. Frankie has some great shows and the whole station is worth checking out.

And don’t forget myself, as well as the Ubernemesis himselfÂ Tee Morris will be at Conscription, the National Science Fiction Convention.Â Check out the programmeÂ and come along and say hi. It’s going to be a good show- even if we are letting pirates in this year.

Living on the Edge

It’s been one of those months- everything seems to be hanging on a knife edge, and it is not my preferred method of living I can tell you.

Digital Magic (best novel- adult) and the podcast version of Chasing the Bard (best fan production) are up for Sir Julius Vogel Awards this year. This NZ version of the Hugos, just keeps getting bigger and better, so it really is an honour to be nominated.
My wonderful agent Laurie is pitching Geist. This is the novel I am most proud of, with a main character I love and very much want to continue writing. It’s wide open to being a fun, exciting series. It’s on the desks of people I only ever dreamed of getting my stuff in front of. I am trying not to think about it or I might just chew my own fingernails off.
The first of my guest chefs at Erotica a la Carte has landed. Susan Z’s A Heart of Hammered Brass is just wonderful. But the only problem is, listening to it *I* want to get back to writing for this series. I am thinking about pulling the whole thing together into a collection for podiobooks. I may also put my stories (or with permission the other chef’s stories) into some sort of e or print versions. For a project that I started just as a bit of fun, something to get me over my inability to write ‘saucy’ scenes, EalC has really developed a life of its own. The numbers are starting to match Chasing the Bard!
Books and Braun is coming on a pace. It should be done by the end of April. I am very much enjoying writing Eliza D Braun, secret agent from the Colonies (Yes, New Zealand)
I am in the tentative acceptance stage of getting an technical editing job. This would mean I can make up some of the money I sacrificed by doing one day a week less at my corporate librarian job, but will make use of the skills I developed there.

Someone who knows about living on the edge is friend and fellow podcaster JC Hutchins. He has two books coming out this year and the first one Personal Effect: Dark Art is an combination of novel and ARG. Looks spooky and well worth checking out. The video is pretty kick-ass too.

I’m going to build a room that echoes

When I started out working on Erotica a la Carte and thinkingÂ how I would manage it I knew there was one issue. Weather Child.

A lot of podcasters make the mistake of working too damn hard- or piling their plates too high. So after doing Chasing the Bard I knew approximately how much work is involved in producing a podiobook on time. It’s hard. And even though Weather Child is a smaller production (mostly due to the lack of lots of kiwi accents) I knew it was going to take a lot of effort.

And yet I am loving doing EalC- so I came up with the idea of having guest chefs in the kitchen. Susan Z of Steampunk Spectacular, J D Sawyer of Antithesis and my main collaborator, Tee Morris, have all offered their talents to me.

This three month break away from EalC means I can concentrate on Weather Child, but also means that other people will have a shot at the fun I’ve been having.

Susan has already got the results from her post, but go toÂ Erotica a la CarteÂ and vote on Dan’s. I love so many parts of this community, and am very excited to be sharingÂ EalC with some of the brightest, best people in it.

Give a little bit of heart and soul

The wonderful Nobilis from Nobilis Erotica has finished the final episode of the Pieces Podcast. Eight writers an one crazy experiment. As Nobilis said, the result was far from perfect. Writers are usually solo creators for a reason! Plot, characterisation, style; all are very personal, and are best handled by one, or at the most two writers. So no, Pieces is not perfect, but as I tweeted ‘an image seen through a broken lense may not be perfect but it can still be beautiful.’

So why did I take part I hear my dear readers asking? I wanted to stretch myself as a writer- which seems to be a constant theme with me. I love a challenge. I think by trying something new, something scary that you learn a lot more than simply staying in your comfort zone. And Pieces.. and Erotica a la Carte are WAY outside my comfort zone.

So what did I learn? I learnt about my style which is something I have always found it hard to pin down. Held up against other people’s style I got to see it in contrast. It is no better, and no worse than anyone else’s… but it is mine.

So go check out the podcast, and let me know what you think.

Also I posted the second Erotica a la carte story– which, though still banned from the itunes directory (insert favourite swear word here) seems to be catching on. And as the indominatable Tee Morris said to me ‘this experiment of yours is turning out to be quite interesting’. I hope you think so Morris, I want you to write an episode while I am doing Weather Child. It is fun… but I am getting itchy feet.

Geist is done, out in the world like a young person, making its way as best it can, and now I need to start something new. One year turnaround for a novel is pretty good for me, but I can’t just sit there relaxing. So I am turning my attention to new projects. I am going to take my 10,000 word novelette and expand it into a novel. It will be a little saucy, but no more than Kushiel’s Dart for example… which I hear has done quite well. The title for this new novel is tentatively Magic and Gaslight. I already have my 10K, so if I get back on the 1,000 words a day minimum I should be set.

Wish me luck!