Wednesday 22 April 2015

...And here is Waterlines 19....


Hello once again!

Because of recent changes to my personal circumstances (see further details below), I've been concentrating on producing short stories and three of them are now published in the latest issue of the Waterlines series - Waterlines 19.  Here are the details:

Warning: ADULTS ONLY. These two stories are for over-18s only and contain elements which some people may find offensive. If you aren't interested in watersports, golden showers, oral sex and anal sex - or aren't remotely curious - then please don't buy or read this book.

Digital Relationships
(5750 words)
After Dave splits up from his girlfriend, he regularly visits an adult site on the Internet to derive satisfaction.  One night, he finds a girl who has just started this kind of work and, the next evening, he goes to a party where they come face-to-face.  In order to attract him as a regular online customer, the girl offers him some free "extras", knowing they'll probably never meet again.  In the early stages of their acquaintance, Dave gets a telephone call that turns everything upside down....

Duet
(7770 words)
Tony is new in town; one evening he enters a karaoke competition in a bar and his life is changed.  All his private sexual fantasies are made real when he and Sophie are brought together to make the most fantastic music.  But they find they can only raise their performance to new heights after they perform a ritual together...

At an Office Party(4420 words)
Liz is invited to an office party by Jack, her current boyfriend whom she wants out of her life.  He's a nasty piece of work, and she's not sure whether to go.  When she arrives, she bumps into Frank, an old flame.  They are instantly attracted to each other once again and, after a few minutes' passion away from the party, they return to find that Jack has created turmoil among the guests before he is ejected.  Liz fears for her personal security after this incident; how is Jack going to be kept away from her?


EXTRACT

“Dave!  It’s good to see you again!”  Their front door had opened after I rang the bell, and Jim stood on the threshold.
We shook hands warmly, and I was ushered into the house.  I handed him a gift-wrapped box of something I’d bought that morning, and walked into a large room where Margaret was holding court with those guests who had already arrived.  I reached over and planted a kiss on her cheek.  “There are a few people from the old firm that you already know,” she grinned.
I looked round, and saw three people there from Accounting, where she had worked, and their spouses.  I raised an arm in greeting; one of them introduced me to his wife, whom I hadn’t met before; I didn’t really like this crew - except for Margaret, when she had worked there - and I didn’t relish having to be polite to them for the rest of that evening.  They were in their own tight little enclave in the office, keeping themselves apart from the rest of the company organization whenever possible.
“And here’s one of our new friends,” Jim said, gently taking my arm and drawing me away from the Accounting clique.  “This is Amanda.  She lives in the neighborhood, and she’s trying to get into the modeling scene.  Amanda, this is Dave, one of Margaret’s former co-workers.”
The girl had bushy black hair, attractive, and wore a striking red dress.  I guessed she was in her mid-twenties.  And she smiled, extending her hand to me. 
She looked vaguely familiar.  I took her hand absently, trying to think where we had met.  Then I remembered, and my jaw dropped.  Amanda... Mandy... she was my Internet partner in the intimate session I’d had last night.  I was horrified to think that she might expose me to my old friends here....
And then I remembered.  Although I recognized her, she didn’t know me.  I was just an anonymous voice, and probably only one of a dozen clients she had entertained last night.
“Are you O.K., Dave?  You look a little bewildered!” Jim grinned.
I quickly came to my senses.  “No,” I said.  “I’m fine.  I thought I’d seen you somewhere before, Amanda... on television, perhaps?”
“No, not yet,” she smiled.  “I’ve only just started in the business.”
“What area?  Fashion?”
“I’ve done a few pictures for an underwear catalog,” she said.  “Not much, but it’s a start.  Let’s hope for bigger things in future.”
I hardly noticed Margaret thrusting a glass of red wine into my hand.  I was entirely focused on Amanda, and had a mental picture of his fashion model wearing stockings and a sexy basque; maybe she wore one occasionally when working as “Mandy” on the Internet site that I’d visited last night.  Could I be mistaken about her?  Maybe she had a close double somewhere else in the world? 
Then I remembered “Mandy” had a small tattoo at the top of her left arm - it was the shape of a jigsaw piece - and I wondered if I could see it on Amanda’s arm.  Her dress covered the spot that I wanted to inspect and the only way to check would be to hold a discussion about tattoos.  How could I bring our conversation round to that subject?

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I haven't written anything here for a while because my schedule has been interrupted by a minor health issue I've had to spend time in hospital recently, where I didn't have Internet access, except for occasional access to my Twitter account.  It was hell without my laptop!  Having to take time away from my keyboard has prompted me to have second thoughts about some plotting issues in the three longer books I had in preparation; they are all turning out to be much longer than I'd originally intended!  But I hope to have them ready soon - "You must finish everything that you start" was my creating writing teacher's mantra.

And my brain is teeming with tons of other short stories.  I have a feeling that Waterlines 20 may be ready for publication sooner than I'd originally envisioned.  Just keep watching this space - I promise to be back here again very soon!

My best wishes to you all

Chris

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