The Heart of Shadowflame

Um. Hi. I'm not dead.

But I am going to be on hiatus from WoW and RP for a while.

It happened. I pulled my book from my publisher and I'm self-publishing it. Even my wildly unprofessional editor agrees that if I were to edit the book to fit any of the category lines it's slotted for, it would destroy everything that makes the book good. But I'm still under contract with them, so I owe them a wholly new book written to their specifications. I've got to write that book, finish a companion novella to the current book, get both the book and novella properly self-edited, send them off to freelance editors for additional butchering, and handle the whirlwind of publicity and cover art and formatting and promotions...while still doing a day job on the side.

I have never been more grateful for my background as a professional editor, cover artist, and book formatter, not to mention the rest of my publishing industry experience - but this will be immensely stressful and time-consuming. Just the social media aspect of my author alter ego's life takes up hours every day; hours I'd normally spend on WoW or RP, but they're necessary in order to further expand my reader base and build buzz in anticipation of release, to make sure that the outcome of this fight has been worth the struggle.

So I'm really not going to have time anymore. To people I raided and RPed with, I'm sorry to have to drop out on you. I don't expect anyone to wait for me, and if I have any ongoing stories with you, feel free to write me out. Don't hesitate to ask me if there's something you're uncertain on.

The bathing chamber—washed in soft golden light, candles glimmering until the entire room seemed as if it had been trapped in a crystal of amber. This moment. This moment when Sathyre stretched naked in the bath, bronze skin glistening wet; when Desine knelt at his back like a supplicant, demure in his posture, his slender fingers buried in the raven’s dark hair, stroking luxuriantly through the ropy tangles to straighten them out and lay them in shining coils against strong, tawny shoulders.

And then—then the heat of rough skin under his touch, the stroke of his fingers over Sathyre’s cheeks. That gentle tilt of his head back to meet his eyes, so close he could see the long, lush curve of the raven’s lashes, so close their breaths mixed and mingled. Pale jadefire eyes locked on black. The words he had meant to say died on his tongue. His lips tingled, ached, parting, his mouth hot with that emptiness that longed for contact. That remembered the raven’s mouth crushing against his own with a claiming possession he had not earned, but had simply taken anyway as if it was his just due.

Closer. Closer, until the prickle of body heat electrified him, left his mouth pulsing with the promise of a touch, a taste, a kiss. Sathyre lifted one hand, dripping melodic spatters of water like liquid diamonds, to weave wet fingers into Desine’s hair and drag him down, fuse their mouths together—

Desine snapped awake with a gasp, his stomach feeling hollow, his heart shifting a few degrees to the left, as if it would fall right out of his chest. His eyes darted around the room swiftly, searching the darkness, but he was alone. Always alone. He liked it that way, he told himself as he curled up against the headboard and tried to push all thoughts of Sathyre from his mind. He needed to be alone.

What he didn’t need was dreams of a man he despised, a man he loathed, a man whose very animalistic sexuality made his gorge rise with sheer nausea.

Light above, sometimes his subconscious was a bitch.

He only hoped Sathyre would hurry to find that redheaded whelp, so that he might be free of the entire lot of Angellos’s damned brood.

Desine’s upper lip curled at the stranger asking what he thought of a man he’d hardly met, only spoken to on a few occasions. And he was supposed to…rate by numbers? What asinine foolishness was this? His lips thinned, before he forced himself to plaster on a thin, polite smile. He was in public, and had to play at social niceties to blend in.

After all, it would hardly do to rip someone’s throat out and leave them in a heap on the cobbles for asking a simple question. Most unseemly. Most.

(Image credit to franken.senate.gov)

Today is the last day to submit your comments to the FCC regarding the death of Net Neutrality as we know it. You can go here to make your voice heard, and remind them that this is government by the people, for the people, not by corporate lobbyists for corporate benefit.

I just submitted this:

This is, in essence, double-dipping. Customers already pay cable companies for tiered access speeds; they have plans in place that slow down our speeds based on how much we pay. So we pay them for the highest access speed...and still can't reach the pages we want in a timely fashion because they're now choking the content providers for money to allow us access at normal speeds, too? This goes against any principle of a free market, and could have a deeply negative effect on the economy considering how many small businesses and independent service providers, artists, writers, and so many others use the internet to keep themselves afloat, to make money that is then funneled into our economy. That money would suddenly go to the cable companies--until it didn't anymore when business dried up and they were forced to quit, either becoming unemployed non-contributors to the economy's growth or entering into jobs that may be less lucrative for them and may even take jobs out of the hands of people already struggling with unemployment in a down market. So yes, please, let's force people out of business, increase unemployment and competition for jobs, and double-charge two different customers for the same service. Isn't that illegal? Forcing one customer to pay for a service that another customer has already paid for in order to grant that second customer access to the service? It's like telling a Taco Bell customer he can't eat the burrito he just bought until the line cook pays Taco Bell corporate for the privilege of using the kitchen. This is a horrible idea. And people have spoken up en masse, making it clear this is not what the people want. The people you are supposed to serve, not paying lobbyists. Your job is to listen to us and govern by the will of the people. Not to brush aside our concerns with mealy-mouthed answers and vague comments of acknowledgement while proceeding to do whatever you please, even if it's to the detriment of the people you serve.

My point? When you make your comments, be articulate. Be reasonable. Don't just say "this sucks, you're all greedy pigs." Make sure they understand that we are all coming from a place of reasoned objection; this isn't just another internet hate mob jumping on a bandwagon. This is the people trying to preserve a free market and open space for communication.  It's borderline impossible to regulate the internet for profit without favoring large corporations, and creating an impact with devastating trickle-down effects both in the short and long term.