Lighting the Way to Your Holidays

"...the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely and think of [other] people...as if they really were fellow-travellers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys."
--Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol.  

There was an erotic, holiday story writing contest and I wanted to win.

...I didn't win. I came very close to winning, but tales of naughty, toy-making elves and lusty Santas tend to have the upper hand in such contests. So I wasn't all that surprised when my old fashioned, holiday-spirit romance lost out to such a story. Nor did I regret for a minute writing it. I only mention the contest to explain why this particular stocking is so stuffed with holiday elements: from wreaths to chestnuts to colored lights.

I even made the story multicultural and interfaith to cover all the holiday bases. While this aspect of the story started out as part of my über-holiday trappings, however, it didn't stay that way. In fact, it turned out to be the story's shining star. You see, to me, the most important aspect of this time of year is sharing. Yet so many people get proprietary about the holidays, insisting that this or that celebration or tradition is theirs and theirs alone. No one outside it should be allowed to enjoy it.

That seems pretty contrary to the "good-will-toward-all" message of the season.

Thus, as I began to explore different seasonal traditions my goal changed from winning the contest to illuminating that shared center. The holiday spirit, if you like, which doesn't focus on what gifts are offered, or how they're wrapped, but on the wonderful wish we all have to give of ourselves.

I ended up with a fable, of sorts, a romance between a odd woman and a desperate man both looking for love, yet fearing themselves too strange or unworthy to give or receive it. It's a story about those lonely times we all go though--sometimes short, sometimes long--when we feel like outsiders. This is most keenly experienced during the holidays when everyone is gathering together; and it doesn't help if our relatives, country or culture has told us that we must be something that we're not if we want to belong.

As in this story, however, there are people out there who refuse to focus on our differences. They don't care if our appearance or faith or background isn't the same as theirs; their hearts are open, and when they look on us, they see a kindred spirit, someone to be invited in and given a place by the fire. Which is why we should never lose hope of finding a people, a neighborhood, a family...and someone to love. There is a lantern out there to guide us all home. And once we arrive there, we should make sure it stays lit to guide others home as well.

That is what this time of year is all about.

I did not win the contest with this story, but as often happens, I got something that mattered a great deal more to me. Which is why I'd want to wish everyone reading this blog a very happy holiday season. My thanks for the gift of your readership. Whatever my stories might mean to you, that you enjoy them means to world to me.

Have faith in each other, fellow travelers. We've more in common then you think.

Economic Theory

Now this is an odd one.

A fan of mine, PirotX, asked me to write another Romeo and Juliet tale. As you can probably tell, I've a soft spot for opposites-attract stories, so I had no problem with the thought of writing another. Pirot, however, was after a full-on "warring houses" R&J tale with the families or friends opposed to the romance. That made me scratch my head a bit because the current  cultural and religious differences that would create such a forbidden romance didn't interest or excite me. So what else was there?

I brooded on this for a while, and then it occurred to me that warring tribes, when not created by differences in culture or religion, were usually the result of economics. Rich and poor are always good Romeo and Juliet material, but there had to be more to this tale than that. Okay. How about opposing philosophies on the distribution of wealth and other such socio-political issues?

Hmmmm. Now there was crazy idea. An erotic romance centered around economic theory. What a daft idea! Even with research how could I make that work? I couldn't. No way, no how, no....And then it hit me. A single image, a scene, an enticing situation...Ohmygod! It could be done. (Stunned silence here.) Economics. Yes. There was a way to make it interesting. Opposite philosophies, different types of wealth and poverty, families at budgetary poles driving at least one side to....

Whoa. This might be fun.

It wasn't, of course, that easy. First, I had to bone up on economics both history and theory (ack!). And then it turned out that the scene that had gotten this ball rolling, which I thought would start the story wasn't working out, not until I realized it had to be the (sic) balcony scene for my Romeo and Juliet. And when the story finally came together it still remained in limbo while I spent days digging through Karl Marx in hopes of finding a title (kids, don't try this at home! It takes years of training to know how to search for creative inspiration in the writings of a revolutionary socialist).

It all paid off in the end, but it was hard going.

Done at last, I began to doubt myself. Was anyone going to even want to read this romance outside of economic/poly-sci students?

To my utter amazement, those who read it loved it. In fact, they were downright enthusiastic and PirotX, the instigator, waxed rhapsodic. He thought it my best story yet. Even so, when Jayha requested it for BT I did a double take. The story where Romeo and Juliet fall for each other while discussing economics? She wanted that one? Really? Talk about risky publishing. But fans have been peppering me with messages, wanting to know when it'll be out so they can have it.

Sometimes the wildest, weirdest ideas pay off. This one, among the strangest I've ever had, is proving to be of inestimable value.

New Name, Small Relaunch

Greetings Friends and Readers! You may note a small name change to this website. When I started it, I thought this blog would serve for both myself and my collaborator on the book "Irish Eyes." Given my writing partner's nom de plume (Tom Collins) I thought "Erotic Cocktails" to be an apt if a bit naughty pun. Very soon, however, this blog became mine alone, and I've been feeling that the name isn't representative of me or of what I've been publishing with Beautiful Trouble. So today marks a retroactive name change to the blog and a minor relaunch. 

Welcome to The Erotic Café.

Why Erotic Café? And if "Café" why the books in the background? Let us start with the famous painting at the top, "Nighthawks" by Edward Hopper. I adore Hopper's spare style. His paintings are always of pauses in life where the viewer can imagine what has been and what will be after that moment ends. Most viewers of this painting tend to think the occupants of the diner sad and lonely. Hopper, himself, had a bleak view of this picture--yet also an oddly optimistic one as it was 1942 and he saw diners, like the one in the painting, as the remaining lights of civilization in a darkening world. That is how I've always seen it. Others may think the stories in this picture tense, existential and even scary, but to me they are lights in the dark. 


To me, these four "nighthawks" have made a connection there at the counter. Because they are up and the rest of the world is asleep. Because they are seeing the world as others do not. Because they are sharing that quiet moment. I see that diner not as a cage of loneliness, but as a refuge from it. An illuminated interior with company, coffee and a perch to rest on before flying off into the dark once again.  
  

That fellow with his back to us has a writing pad and pen in his jacket pocket, by the way. At least, I think he does. When I think café, this painting is one of the things that comes to mind because, to me, diners are the American equivalent of Paris cafés. Here's another image that I connect with cafés:

Cafés are for reading as well as thinking, a time to focus and absorb. Which is why mine has all those paperbacks in the background. That, to me, is the perfect café, one with books and chess games and newspapers as well as late night coffee and good conversation. 

Hence, the name change. "Erotic" remains to indicate what kind of books you'll find on the shelves and what discussions you'll hear at the counter. "Café," however, takes the place of "cocktails" to expresses how you ought to feel about this blog. Like you can pause life and take your time over a cup of coffee. In that pause there are stories to be read, or seen, or experienced. 

Enjoy. 

Pretty as Picture!

New e-book alert! Yes, Beautiful Trouble has published yet another of my short romantic erotica, and though I'm proud of all my tales, this one has a very special place in my heart. It's one of my shortest stories, but it is one that I spent a lot of time on.


"Pretty as a Picture" is my tribute to Big Beautiful Women, a story about a fashion photographer who yearns not for the rail-thin models he photographs, but for a woman, as he says, of "three-dimensions." Told entirely from the photographer's p.o.v. it is, perhaps, the most poetic of all my stories as I felt it important to get across in words how the photographer saw his world, the beauty he was trying to capture with his camera.


Having the story all from his perspective allowed me to indulge in lush descriptions and give readers insight into the sexual allure of a plus-sized woman.


Even though the point-of-view is only from one angle, however, both characters reflect on the theme of appearance and prejudices. There is the photographer and his views on thin vs. heavy women; and then there is the plus-sized woman and her feelings about this very handsome man. That he is trim and attractive might seem to counter the message of beauty being in the photographic lens of the beholder. The point, however, is that assumptions on what is and is not attractive can run both ways. I wanted the reader and the photographer to realize that there there might be more to him than his good looks.

That, at least, is some of what I was aiming to achieve when I framed this snap-shot of a story. I hope you'll give "Pretty as a Picture" a read--and I hope, if you do, that you get as much out of it as I put into it.

Welcome to My Garden

Some five years back I chanced upon a post by one MsJess125, a foodie with a certificate in pastry arts who was hoping some aspiring writer might create a story for her of a girl seducing a sexy guy   with gourmet cooking. A foodie myself, I e-mailed Ms. Jess, letting her know that I wanted to take a stab at this culinary challenge. With editorial help from a restaurant Chef named Dan, I cooked up a story that more than satisfied MsJess called "The Garden of Earthly Delights." 

I'm proud to announce that "Garden" has been published by Beautiful Trouble Publishing as a short e-book with a lovely, sexy cover. It is a story that is as much a romance to the art of cooking, baking, and dining as it is a love story between two lost souls.

I hope you'll give it a download and a read. Enjoy!

A Special Occasion!

Very special indeed as, at last, there is a new book out from me, Thirteen! It is a novella rather than a full length novel (that's long for a short story, but short for a novel), and it is also my very first heterosexual ménage! Two gents and a lady (alas for my gay male readers, the men are not attracted to each other in that way). The two gents are in lustful love with the lady and determined to make this particular occasion very, very special. This is one of my lusher stories, a very sultry indlugence.


It is also brand, spanking new. It was finished in February, and has been posted no where else.


And it's got a cover that's so sizzling hot, I hesitate to post it! But I will....

This is no April Fool's joke. Just click on the image (if you dare!) to go to the publisher.


To all  faithful readers who've been patiently waiting for something new, I give you A Special Occasion. Join me in celebrating it. And my profound thanks for hanging in there.


Yours,
Thirteen

Greetings Readers!


Thirteen (3113) finally has some new news for you! I have contracts with Beautiful Trouble Publishing for some of my heterosexual romances (short stories). Some of these will be oldies that you might have read, but the one appearing in March will be a completely new, short story--an erotic and heterosexual "Threesome." I'll be sure to post here letting you know when it's available.


What a lovely Valentine's present! Thank you BTP!