As you may recall from my previous post, my lesbian shapeshifter piece, “Thwarting the Spirits” is now available in the Cleis Press anthology, She Shifters, edited by Delilah Devlin.

An excerpt from that story is now available over at the She Shifters site.  Warning: Not entirely safe for work.

A review of the anthology can now be found over at Erotica Revealed.

As mentioned earlier, I’m really quite fond of this story, and pleased with how it turned out.  When I originally saw the call for submissions, I racked my brain for some kind of shapeshifter dyamic which would keep me interested. No wolves or cats for me! If I was going to go with were-creatures, I was going to go as far off the grid as I could manage.  And so the idea of a were-cobra and a were-mongoose, fighting, entangled by emotion and magic, was born.  From there, I worked backwards, to determine just who my lucky protagonists would be.  There had to be a reason for their animal affinities, a reason why these two people were related to these specific beasts.  Many hours of research later, and I had it.

Meet Hala Laghari: Pakistani-American, Muslim, research librarian, mongoose.  And meet Purnima Gurtu: Indian-American, graphics designer, cobra.  They’d love each other, if they weren’t cursed to fight one another in their animal forms….

I’m also pleased because I was able to throw in some other characters who either have, or will, show up in my other works. Isobel Sparks: were-raven and solver of problems. Raoul, one half of the infamous Coyote Brothers, causer of problems. And Phoebe Masters…mystery woman.  I had fun letting these characters interact, and I can’t wait to revisit them all in future escapades.  Some might even be the sort of story you can take home to meet the family. (Though don’t tell the Coyote Brothers, they pride themselves on a lack of respectability.)

So hey, check out She Shifters and see why the editor said, “Michael’s story struck me due to its fairy tale quality, quiet dignity and beauty.”  (Talk about a nice ego boost!)

Normally, I’d wait a little while longer to announce this publication, but I just received my contributor copies of She-Shifters: Lesbian Paranormal Erotica, edited by Delilah Devlin, and I figured why not enjoy a nice morale boost.  The anthology has a release date of July 10, but it’s already available on Amazon.  Go figure.

I’m quite pleased with my story for this collection.  ”Thwarting the Spirits” is, like so many of my other pieces, set in Puxhill, and takes advantage of the slowly-growing cast of characters and places and mythology associated with that fine fictional city.  Not only will you meet Hala Laghari, were-mongoose and Purnima Gurtu, were-cobra, and see just why their relationship has such…difficulties, you’ll run into several other notables, including the first appearance of the Coyote Brothers (about whom I want to write so much more.)  Later, I’ll find a chance to talk more about why I love the protagonists in this story and find them so awesome.

This is a great anthology,  and I’m so happy to be in it. If you like lesbian erotica and shapeshifters who aren’t necessarily wolves, this is one to strongly consider.

I’m still thrilled, pleased, honored, and amazed to inform you all that my first anthology to hit the shelves (so to speak) is even more available than before.  Today is June 19th, and that means that Like A Cunning Plan: Erotic Trickster Tales, has gone live at Circlet Press.  This marks the really truly official launch of this collection.  As of now, you can find it at all of the finest online book retailers.  I’ve helpfully compiled a list on Like A Cunning Plan‘s own dedicated page for your convenience.  So if you want to see gods and mortals, trickster figures and shapeshifters and more getting it on in a variety of sexy, playful, strange ways, here’s your chance.

And review copies are still available for those who’d rather write a review about this anthology than pay actual money. I’m easy, I’ll roll over for a few kind words. But seriously,  just let me know if you’re interested and willing to leave some comments–good or bad–about the book online somewhere.

I’ll be over here, wondering how exactly my life came to this.  If my English teachers could see me now…they’d tell me to put on pants.

I am pleased–no, honored–no, thrilled–no, ecstatic to announce that my second first anthology is now available for download from Amazon, and shall shortly be available via all other major online retailers as they process in the system.

 Like A Cunning Plan: Erotic Trickster Tales is many things.  It’s my first anthology to actually see a release date.  It’s my first official anthology as an editor for Circlet Press. It’s my first erotica anthology. It’s my “second” first because I started Scheherazade’s Facade way earlier, but well, things happened, and we all know that story by now…. And like they say, you never forget your first. Unless you were really, really drunk that night and things happened that you’ll always regret missing out on, especially when you woke up in a Tijuana gutter with an embarrassing new  tattoo instead of pants.  This is not a true story, by the way.

I learned a lot about editing as I worked through this collection, tips and tricks which ultimately made me much better as the whole editing thing, skills I’ve since put to use finetuning and finessing Scheherazade’s Facade.  I also learned that if you even jokingly make a pact with Coyote and he expects you to produce an anthology in his honor, you’d better deliver or else weird things start happening.  Like, for example, the time I went looking for an “Adult” store in Richmond, and not one, not two, but THREE stores ceased to exist for as long as I was looking, and I was only there for research purposes, honest, but still….

But I digress.  The important thing is that I HAVE AN ANTHOLOGY I AM A REAL EDITOR THIS THING HAS MY NAME ON THE COVER LOOK AT THE PRETTY COVER THIS IS AMAZING AND–

*cough* Like A Cunning Plan goes live on the Circlet site on June 19th, but it’s totally available.  Join me in celebrating playful, tricksy, unpredictable, tables-turning, eyebrow raising good times with gods and mortals, shapeshifters and kitsune. More details available on its own dedicated page here.

Review copies are available for any who promise to leave a review–good, bad, indifferent– on Amazon or Goodreads or local billboards.  Just drop me a note.

Now then.  I must Muppet-flail and scare the cats.

Again.

I’ve been informed that the anthology Girl Fever: 69 Stories of Sudden Sex for Lesbians, edited by Sacchi Green, is now available via all the usual methods and places.  This is a collection of short-short erotica pieces featuring lesbians, as though the title wasn’t a dead give-away.  I have a story in this.  ”Love On A Real Train” is exactly what you might expect: a couple seeking to reenact a certain iconic scene from the movie Risky Business. It’s short, sweet, hot, and fun. It’s a change from my usual stuff, having absolutely no paranormal elements to it, but I was pleased with how things turned out. So go forth and enjoy.

Um, if you like that sort of thing. It’s okay if you just sort of nod politely and mumble something about a dog-grooming appointment instead. I understand.

In other news, I sent out an update to Scheherazade’s Facade backers, basically telling them not to panic because I was actually quiet for a while.  That is all.

Some very few of you might have been wondering where Yours Truly has been for the past month or so.  Well, after the Kickstarter for Scheherazade’s Facade ended, I took the money, converted it into gold bars, and fled to Argentina to set up shop in an abandoned castle where I could pursue my lifelong dreams of creating Nazi zombie cyborg mecha.  That you’re hearing from me now can only mean one thing: the subjugation of the running dog imperialist United States is well at hand, and if you look out your window right about…now!

No, wait, that’s the dream I had last night, after being hopped up on cough medicine and antibiotics.  Never mind!  Yours Truly has been under the weather for the past week and a half, as well as under deadlines, and has just claimed what may be a temporary victory.

Before that, of course, was the annual pilgrimage to Boston for the Circlet Press Editorial Retreat, where I reported on the state of things to my glorious benefactors and munificent overlords, and  was thusly described as “a really great guy.”  Yes, this means I’ll be doing more editing work for Circlet, once I have my current projects taken care of.

And now the news.  I have two publications to announce:

1) Lustfully Ever After: Fairy Tale Erotic Romance, edited by Kristina Wright and published by Cleis Books, is now out.  I just got my contributor copies, and it’s a very nice looking anthology.  It contains my story, “The Long Night of Tanya McCray,” which retells the semi-obscure fairy tale “The Boots of Buffalo Leather.”  In it, a wayward photographer gets lost after dark in a very strange part of Puxhill, rescues a sexy stranger, and runs afoul of a malevolent gang.  I’m rather pleased with it.  This is actually the first of four appearances I’ll be making in Cleis anthologies this year.

2) Spec-Tacular is also out.  This is an ebook collection reprinting various selections from Raven Electrick Ink’s various anthologies. It contains my Nick St. Claus story, “Who Killed the Pumpkin King?” and is a great sampler of the previous four anthos.  It’s edited by Karen Romanko.  I’m quite thrilled that my story was chosen to represent the Jack-O’-Spec anthology.

As for other updates:

1) Like A Cunning Plan: Erotic Trickster Tales, continues right on track and should be coming out soon from Circlet Press.  I’ll have more information on that shortly.

2) Scheherazade’s Facade also progresses right on schedule, as I wrangle authors, make sure contracts are properly signed, perform various edits, ad so on and so forth.  Almost everyone involved has been paid, which really takes a load of my mind and makes me quite happy.  I’ll update this as more information becomes available, and I’ll also be sure to update via the Kickstarter program so everyone can stay informed.  I still plan a couple of follow-up posts once things settle down and I have the time and energy to concentrate on the numbers and statistics.

That’s about it for now.  Although I will be attending the mass signing for the SFWA Nebula Awards this coming Friday.  If anyone’s going to be there, I’d love to meet you!