Update

I have been working on my site — Kimichee.com — all day. Tuning up the featured images, adding some chapters, adding actual excerpt stuff. It’s been kind of fun, though I hate how much stuff I don’t know: programming, WordPress, art, anything to do with graphic design.

I know what I like when I see it, but I don’t know how to create that kind of … er, synergy? … There’s no cohesion when I look at stuff. I have a hard time getting from point A-Z, without going through all the steps between. So my website is kind of bland right now. Hopefully I can talk my brother around to making it better for me.

So as long as you’re not looking for the beautiful, you’ll find a lot of my stories available to read on my Master List page at Kimichee. The stories are:

  • The Panic Pure [HK] Blurb: A neurotic billionaire, a sympathetic FBI agent, and a serial killer cannibal. It could be a match made in something. mm, suspense, thriller, Adult.
  • Vedran’s Hand [HK] Blurb: Dragon Knight is the Emperor’s Hand. His duty is to perform any task that his master asks of him. He kills with a frightening ease. He is beautiful and terrible. How could Vedran not love him? pre-slash, fantasy, action, mature.
  • Idlewile [HK] Blurb: Raised in an orphanage, recruited by the State, Idlewile is the nation’s Idol. It is a lonely pedestal, and he feels himself fading away. It seems like a miracle when the goddess of the golden screen, Jessica Turan, steps into his life, bringing with her the Drama King Chris Hart. mm, mf, romance, teen+.
  • From Diamond to Coal [SC] Blurb: A genius, a Congressman, adventure, romance, and superscience: There are many things happening in this story. First chapters are in the future, then it goes back to the beginning and starts as a contemporary romance. mm, sci-fi, romance, mature.

They’re all Raw Feed. They will be completed and available as ebooks.

I’ve added Chapters Seventeen and Eighteen of The Panic Pure to Kimichee, and I’ll be adding them here too. I just have to get caught up on everything.

Pacific Rim — Remember when I was raving about this movie several months ago when I saw it in the theater? Well, I’ve got it on DVD now, and while it’s a good movie, I think all the fanfic has totally spoiled me. Seriously, I’ve read that story where Hermann is a woman, Hermione, and she and Newt are totally the science couple; it was the greatest read of the season. Or I read that one where Raleigh is a werewolf and there’s all kinds of romance with Chuck Hansen. Hell, I’ve even dabbled a little myself.

Sometime between watching the movie in the theater and yesterday, Pacific Rim took on the glossy gleam of memory. Or maybe it was the drop in quality from Blu-Ray to DVD. Whatever happened, some of the magic was gone. Still a great action giant robot monster movie, but it was absolutely amazing on a giant screen.

Here, because I love you. Have a little something:

Title: Dude, There’s A Body In Your Bathtub
Author: Harper Kingsley
Genre: general, crime family, dead body, amoral people
Rating: teen+
Summary: Just 850 words of what the title says. There’s a body in the bathtub.

“Hey, dude, did you know you’ve got a dead body in your tub?” the obnoxiously loud voice of Sean asked.

Jude groaned and shoved his face hard into his pillow for a silent scream. Then he calmly lifted his head and asked, “Do you know who it is?”

“No clue,” Sean said. He stepped half through the doorway, his face still turned down the hall. He could see through the open bathroom door. “The body’s beat ragged.”

“There’s an unidentified body in the bathtub. Is that what you’re telling me?” Jude sat up in bed, not even bothering to pull the covers up to hide his skinny chest. He’d known Sean forever.

Sean shrugged and glanced at him. “Pretty much.”

“Great.” Jude scrubbed a hand across his face. “Just the kind of thing I love waking up to.”

He threw his legs over the side of the bed and stood up. He paused there a moment, his left hand ready to snatch out and catch the headboard. He didn’t fall. He took it as a win.

Jude hobbled over to his walker and grabbed hold of it. Never mind that using it made him feel like an old man, he preferred it to being trapped in a wheelchair. Surgery and physio had only been able to do so much.

Dressing was one of those tasks that took more time than he would have imagined pre-mangled legs. But he was grateful for everything he was allowed to experience, especially after all the wishes and prayers he had expended just to make it this far.

Finally he was wearing jeans and a knit sweater. He didn’t bother with the hassle of socks and slipped his bare feet into a pair of clogs. He was too cool to be embarrassed about unfortunate footwear.

“All right. Show me this body you speak of,” he said.

“Come on.”

Jude followed Sean down the hallway to the guest bathroom. He couldn’t help wondering if he should be more upset. A dead body in the bathtub should have him flipping out. Instead, he just felt irritated and wondered where he was supposed to dispose of it.

Sean pushed the door all the way open and waved his hand. “There he is.”

Jude looked and slumped forward against the handles of his walker.

There was a body in the bathtub. A big, dark haired guy with a smashed in face. He was lying on his back, his leather jacket open to show off his blood spattered gray tee shirt and the alley grime smeared across the knees of his jeans.

“Shit. I don’t know who that is, but we’re going to have to get rid of him,” Jude said. “Do we have any acid or anything?”

“Acid, really?” Sean huffed loudly. “Dude, you’ve got a dead guy in your bathroom and you’re talking about using acid. Isn’t there someone we should call? How did you manage to sleep through this guy being dumped here anyway?”

“Just lucky, I guess,” Jude said. “I was kind of drugged out of my mind last night.” At Sean’s look, he hastened to add, “It was the only way I could get to sleep.” He wasn’t ashamed. The pain had been bad.

“Where was Eric when this was all going down?” Sean asked.

Jude snorted. “He’s the one that did this. I don’t have a single doubt in my head about that. Though I’m kind of pissed he left the job half finished.” He rubbed his face. “Why the hell would he leave a body here for me to deal with?”

“Because we were out of the big garbage bags.”

He jumped and twisted his neck to see Eric walking toward him on catlike feet. “You scared the crap out of me,” Jude said.

Eric flashed his movie star smile and held up the box of heavy-duty large black garbage bags. “I’ll get everything ready to move. I promise this guy will be out of here tonight.”

Jude sighed and carefully maneuvered himself back out of the bathroom. “Why did you even bring this guy here in the first place?”

“It wasn’t my plan,” Eric said. “You were completely out of it, so you slept through this guy busting in. I had to handle him quick, but I didn’t have any supplies here to clean up after.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Jude said. They couldn’t call the authorities unless they wanted to be busted themselves. They had no choice but to handle things themselves. “Just make sure you clean it up good. No evidence.”

Eric gave him a thumb’s up. “On it.”

Jude looked at Sean. “Come on, dude. This is none of our business.”

Sean jerked a nod. “I’m glad to be out of it. This is not my scene.”

“Don’t worry. I would never drag you into it,” Eric said. “You’re a good kid, Sean. Stay that way.”

“What about me?” Jude asked. “Aren’t I a good kid?”

“Well, you’re all right,” Eric teased.

“Whatever.” Jude led Sean to his bedroom. He firmly closed the door behind them.

/ EXCERPT

* * *

Have a great day. Hope you enjoyed the read.

0 comments on "Excerpt: Allies & Enemies, updates, and winner announcement"

I’m still doing the Scapple beta, but not as seriously as those first few days. I’ve turned in a few bugs and hiccups to the team and it’s likely that I’ll be buying the program when it’s out of beta. Until then I don’t want to save too much to it.

Still, I’ll try to get a screencap of my mind map. It basically spans all of my stories and I had a lot of fun making it. There may have been some squeeage.

Scapple for Windows is supposed to be $15. Which is reasonable. Scapple is by literatureandlatte.com, the same guys that do Scrivener.

*

small-HeroesVillainsThe winner of the Heroes & Villains blog tour giveaway: Sin Chan. I’ll be contacting you shortly. Congratulations.

Thanks to everyone that participated. I hope you all had a great weekend.

-I wrote a list of everyone’s name with a number beside it, then went to random.org and had the numbers drawn. Easy peasy.

*

Here, have an excerpt of the upcoming Allies & Enemies, sequel to Heroes & Villains. It continues the story of Darkstar, though several years later.

Honestly, it’s really hard for me to find good excerpt material that doesn’t spoil the story. A lot happens in Allies & Enemies, but it’s all tied into the main plot. It’s kind of a struggle because I’ve never been very good at keeping any kind of secret. I want to just babble it all away, but I can’t.

Anyways, here’s a scene where Melissa of the Fabulous Kims is doing some stuff. Yeah, stuff.

Like helping to stop a mad bomber in Megacity.

Title: Allies & Enemies
Author: Harper Kingsley
World: Heroes & Villains
Genre: mm superhero novel
Word count: 136,000
Excerpt rating: teen+

Summary: Melissa gets herself into some trouble.

EXCERPT:

It was strange how color saturated everything had begun to look to her exhausted eyes. A bone deep weariness had settled over her and it was a battle to lock her knees to keep from stumbling.

More than anything she wanted to slip into her own bed. She wanted to nuzzle her cheek against her pillow and close her eyes, just for a little while. A few desperate hours of rest.

Instead Melissa was once again helping to defuse a bomb. It was one of dozen she had to deal with before she would be allowed to sleep.

It made her want to sleep.

She blinked her stinging eyes quickly and didn’t let her eyelids stay closed for too long. That way lay madness and a crashing down on the building below while the bomb exploded, killing her and anyone nearby.

At least this time she was partnered with Leithfold, a quiet superhero that didn’t seem to hate her the way Sonic Pulse did. He did his job anyway, with an easy competence she couldn’t help admiring.

Melissa gripped the side of the building with her gloved hands and felt the tugs of the straps around her waist. Once again she was to use her ability to fly to help an earthbound colleague dangle from the side of a building. It felt very spy movieish and she might have been amused if she wasn’t so tired.

“Hey, what’s going on up there?”

The irritated snap to Leithfold’s voice jerked Melissa back into focus. She hadn’t even felt her eyes close and had begun to sag against the side of the building, releasing some of the tension in Leithfold’s line.

“Sorry,” she called down, then forced her eyes to stay open. Her neck felt made of rubber and her head kept sagging forward or back and she would have to snap upright. Everything was getting a bit hazy around the edges and she didn’t know how much more she could take.

“After this, I’m going to need a break,” she said into her comm.

“I hear you. We can stop off for some coffee before heading to the next target,” Leithfold said.

Melissa held back a groan. Her stomach churned from all the coffee and energy drinks she’d downed already. It was only luck and a damn good super metabolism that kept her hands from shaking. She didn’t know how much more she could take before she started screwing up.

Maybe I can get in a power nap somehow?

She snorted. Where had all that boundless energy she’d once possessed gone? Now she just felt tired; jaded and tired, her dreams ground small by reality.

“All right, got it,” Leithfold said. “Pull me on up.”

Melissa grabbed the climbing ropes and hauled the much larger man up onto the roof. “Do you really think we’re going to manage all the bombs?”

Leithfold tugged his uniform straight. “Probably not. Considering the law of averages, there’s a good chance a few bombs will be missed.”

“Wow, that’s pretty negative thinking,” Melissa said.

“Truth hurts. And there’s hundreds, if not thousands of bombs set up all over the city, and he’s still making more. We’ve only got a finite number of superheroes to handle things. It’s gonna make things messy before it gets over.”

Melissa rolled her eyes. “Well, you’re just full of puppy kisses and bunny fluff.”

He gave a surprised sounding laugh. “Haven’t you heard? Negativity is the new positivity.”

“Whatever. Let’s get out of here.”

Moving around and having someone to talk to had perked up her energy, but she knew it wasn’t going to last. What she desperately needed was a good night’s sleep, something she would only be able to dream about for awhile yet.

“Well isn’t this cozy,” a raspy voice drawled.

Melissa whirled around, dropping the rope she had been coiling. “Whoa, who are you?”

The guy looked like he’d escaped from some hell or other. His head had been shaved and was only now speckled with stubble. His cheekbones in his emaciated face were sharp protrusions, the bone trying to tear through the fragile skin. His eyes were sunk deep in his face, shadowed and insane.

Just looking at him gave Melissa a foreboding chill. This wasn’t just some homeless person as she’d first assumed. This man was dangerous.

“You’re going to come with me,” he said, staring at Melissa.

Leithfold stepped half in front of her. “Now look, I don’t know what you think is happening here, but it’s not. Don’t make us arrest you.”

The man grinned, a frightening spread of teeth and gum. “She’s coming with me or–” He pointed toward the distant spire of the Steiger building and there was the bright flare of an explosion. “–I’ll blow up this whole half of the city.”

“You’ll blow up too,” Melissa said.

The man — Atom Splitter — just grinned. “I am a walking chemical reaction. I am immune to my own powers. I could blow up the whole world and dance between the twirling waves of flame. I am unstoppable. But you can die in screaming, burning agony. It’s your choice.”

If there was one thing Melissa hated dealing with, it was a superpowered madman. There was no reasoning with whatever lurked behind Atom Splitter’s eyes; he was blackhole empty, swallowing all the light.

“Why do you want me? What are you going to do?” she asked. There was no way she wanted to go anywhere with this guy, but she didn’t see much choice. He’d rigged enough bombs that there was no doubt about who was in charge of the situation–he was.

“You’re a brave little toaster, chugging along.” He laughed, making her shiver at the unpleasant sound. “Just like him.”

“What are you talking about?” Leithfold asked.

Atom Splitter snarled at him. “You shut your mouth. You’re ruining our beautiful moment.” He held his hand out toward Melissa, the tips of his fingers stained black from whatever chemicals he’d been using. “Come here now or I blow up your precious city.”

Leithfold tried to stop her, but she brushed his hand off her elbow. Her boots crunched against the rooftop and her heartbeat thudded loud but sure in her ears.

Atom Splitter’s hand was warm even through her gloves. His laugh was choppy and unpleasant. “I’m disappointed, but maybe you’ll be enough.”

As she was led away by the mass murderer, she realized that she wasn’t sleepy anymore.

Melissa was wide-awake.

/EXCERPT

3 comments on "Me-date. As in, what’s up in the world of me"

Kdrama: Found a ton of Korean movies on YouTube (no, I’m not going to list the links. They’re just on there and I didn’t have to do any work to find them.) I was really pleased and I caught some movies I haven’t otherwise had a chance to watch, so that’s pretty cool.

Anyways, because of some of the shows I’ve seen, I’ve been struck by some amazing inspiration 🙂  Just general concepts I’ve been putting together in my brain. That’s what happens when you see a whole bunch of eye candy working together in one TV show or movie.

Personal Woes: I need to stop obsessively checking my Twitter and Facebook. Why? Because every time I do, I get my feelings hurt when I find out someone’s de-followed me ;9_9;

It’s kind of crazy just how sensitive I am to something I really should be able to just shrug off. But I guess I’m more delicate than I like to pretend.

What I’m Working On: I’m putting “Pomegranate 01” together and I’m hopeful it will be available for purchase soon *fingers crossed* Right now it’s comprised of “The Hand of Ares,” “And A Single Petal Fell,” “Daisy,” “LeNoir,” and I’m deciding whether I want to include “Icarus.” When it’s all ready, it should be a pretty mean mix of fiction 🙂 I just have to get a cover on it (sounds like that Beyonce song, doesn’t it?)

Working on the story I’m publicly calling “Band!Fic” which should be a nice mm piece. Thinking about whether I want to pub it myself, or send it out. My only problem is that I’m mildly incompetent at talking to new people or being judged, which makes submitting my stuff near to impossible (I’m thinking about taking up Xanex or something, though all the side effects scare the crap out of me hardcore.)

Still, Band!Fic is coming along crazy fast. I literally wrote 5000 words in an hour and I’ve developed a ton of back story that I can sprinkle throughout. I still haven’t made up my mind about whether I want it to be by me, Harper Kingsley, or if it’s going to be “Sol Crafter.” The problem is that I honestly have a hard time writing any kind of sex stuff — I’ll write a scene and it always just seems to awkward and semi-awful to me that I want to hide the story away. So I kind of want Band!Fic to be a Sol Crafter piece, but I worry about how people are going to take the lack of overt sex. There’s hints so far and sweet romance, but it’s pretty PG right now and I’m thinking it’s probably going to stay that way — which should make it a good choice for a gay YA read.

Round Up: Writing, writing, hanging out, reading, writing. That’s basically it.

I’m not going to give anyone a set date for publications, mostly because I’m so bad at keeping to deadlines. I’m terrible about it, in fact. It’s one of the greatest shames of my life. But I will say that these will all be coming out in 2012, so follow the blog to get the heads up or Like my Facebook page because stuff usually shows up there.

“Vedran’s Hand” – The Duel is approaching, Dragon is being stupid, Vedran is the Emperor, and someone is staging a coup. And, btw, I’m kind of falling hard for Kameris, who was only supposed to be a secondary character, but is quickly becoming a favorite. mm fantasy, novel.
“The Brand” – Tensions are rising between Pen, Wrath, and Ilis. Plus, the assassination attempts are starting to get pretty serious. Yeah, it’s totally that harem thing, and I might be biased, but I think it’s getting pretty good. mm fantasy, novel.
“Fiends” – The fiend Teablossom is a jerk, but a very charming one. And it’s always kind of beautiful when someone finds out they really do have a heart, even if it’s small and black like a coal. mm romance, novella.
“Allies & Enemies” – Book two of “Heroes & Villains.” The continuation of Vereint’s adventures as a superhero turned supervillain turned regular Joe turned… well. Starts with a BANG! ends with a whim… BANG! And I would just like to note that Vereint is a total BAMF in this, like scarily so. superhero adventure, mm, novel.

2 comments on "update"

Now that I’ve gotten my computer problems all handled, I’ve been getting back to the task of writing.

-I’ve made some definite progress editing “Heroes & Villains.” 100 pages today!!! Wow.

-I added 2000+ words to “From Diamond to Coal” this morning

-And I’m totally kicking butt at “My Farm Life,” one of those stupid time management games.

It’s funny, but I’ve always kind of thought of myself as night owl, but it’s obvious that I get the most work done during the early morning. So from now on, I guess that’s what I’m going to be doing. Works good 🙂

Now all I have to do is figure out how to get Semagic to work again. I’ve managed to get LJ and DW up and running with it, but it won’t work with WordPress. I dunno, I can log in and make my entries, but I just like being able to save drafts, write things when I want to, and just generally be able to post entries without opening Firefox. Mostly because every time I bring up Firefox, I have to spend an hour looking at different stuff and just generally poking around. There’s a reason why standalone blogging clients were first created.