Upcoming projects edition: "The Rubber Order" and "Hot Pressed"

If I've been radio silent the last few months, it's certainly not due to slacking. No, indeed, I actually have been quite busy. Around Thanksgiving I picked up two stories off the backlog I've really wanted to finish, and I've been writing at least 500 words for each story per day since then.

That has frequently resulted in about 1250 words per day, which I think is a tremendous level of forward progress for anyone. Indeed, I haven't really had any free time to do much of anything else.

Since both stories appear to be nearing completion in the next two weeks, this seems like a good time to reveal them before I start editing and the long, grinding process to get them published online.

What I have here for this post, then, is a rough stab at the blurb for each of the stories I've been working on. Neither of them follow my usual fare, so I don't think it likely that usual fans of my works will like these, but you never know!

What matters more to me is that I'll finally have them completed, and not sitting on my backlog for another couple of years.

Without further ado...

The Rubber Order

The idea for this one germinated in or around December 2019. I started writing the first chapter during the beginning of 2020, but once the pandemic took hold, it got lost in the shuffle. In November of 2020, I had the first chapter complete, which was about 6,000 words long. The story is now breaking over 50,000 words and looks like a novella to me.

The main seed of the idea was - what if, in this world of easy sex and broken relationships, there was a religious order that forced people to marry and have children, in a convent setting? And, of course, this order has its members exclusively wear fetish rubber clothing, because that fits in with my inclinations. The kicker is that they have LOTS of sex, but it can only be between proper married couples.

This was probably the largest restriction to work around, as with smut stories I'm used to having everything and everyone fuck each other. Also, there's no mind control involved per se, unless you involve a sort of subtle Stockholm syndrome.

Strange, no? A far cry from what I usually write. Here's an attempt at a synopsis:

"Felicia's troubled relationship with her husband was common knowledge. Seeking outside validation, she went on double dates with her friend, Ava, to relieve the boredom. This soon descended into a series of unsatisfying one night stands, until one day they were both kidnapped by the Rubber Order.

The mysterious nuns of the order, dressed in fetish clothing, purport to be members of the one true faith. When Felicia isn't convinced, they put her through a grueling training program with numerous incentives, including personal encounters with a man she strongly suspects is secretly her husband. As her friend struggles with her training, Felicia starts to believe that her only way out is to give in.

The highly anticipated ceremony of Pairing is fast approaching, during which all secrets will be revealed."

Hot Pressed

Hot Pressed is a much older story, first started somewhere around 2016. Coming into November of 2020, I had about 27,000 unedited words and an outline of a story I knew would turn into a novel. I've been working on it diligently since then, and it has recently broken 80,000 words.

This is the first non-smut story I've ever pushed to completion, the desire being to have at least one thing I can show my straight laced family. They, ah, don't know of my fetishes, for good reason.

There are themes of mind control in this story, but it certainly is not the main driver of the plot, and there will be no sex in this story. Just light romance, an adventure, and a bit of a political thriller complete with backstabbing. Here's the synopsis:

"Namzu was an orphan, a spy, a sometimes thief, and a complete novice at political intrigue. Spending her days and nights on the streets, she never could have imagined her life was about to be tipped upside down when the airship Nekh Wesket arrived on the solemn shores of Subartu from Remenkhemi.

Sneaking aboard the airship, she uncovers their strange plan to find new recruits by putting them into masks which grant them the power of the gods. Stealing an artifact as proof, she quickly runs into trouble when it bonds with her arm, opening a mystical connection to the snake goddess, Wadjet.

Stuck with the goddess in her head, she is forced to run from the only home she ever knew, finding herself entangled in a web of dangerous foreign plots.

The vicious battle for the throne is about to begin."

Conclusion

I expect I'll have both of these stories on sale sometime a few months from now, perhaps near the end of spring. I won't commit to any other projects now, but getting these done has been more satisfying than anything else I've done recently, so there's a good chance I'll find another project to pick up then. Hopefully, something that takes a few less words to tell...

Oh yes, and the Twine game. I haven't forgotten about it - but let's be honest, currently it's acting as bit of an idea dump. When will I have something ready to show for it? Absolutely no idea. Maybe I'll pick it up again one of these days. I should have plenty of bad ends to play with, at least.