Kyle Michel Sullivan's Blog: https://www.myirishnovel.com/, page 6

Time to work up a cover...

I finished this pass on Dirc and the Dyarvos Cafe, and need to start thinking about a good cover image for it. Which I am drawing a blank on. I want it to be intense because the book is pretty intense. Lots of kidnapping, non-con, torture, and terrorizing as well as SciFi/Horror Erotica, included. AND...action-adventure and romance. A real smorgasbord.

I guess I could go back into Shutterstock and see what images I pulled up that I didn't use. I don't have anything in the photos I got from Dan Skinner or others that would work. It's all boiling down to what will make people pay attention and in mm erotica that's usually a well-built man who's half-naked. Which I don't have a problem with....

I got the text down to under 85K in words, which is still a lot, and there were many points in the story that didn't align with what was done in Dirc and the Dyarvos Bones, so that got updated. I'm going to do another pass then use Microsoft editor to test it.

I like how it turned out. Including the HEA. I'm still seeking a better ending line but it's getting there. I may be asking too much for that. Writing a book about men being kidnapped, raped and handed over to an extraterrestrial to be added to its intergalactic cafe's menu may not require anything truly pithy or sharp.

It seems I will have to cut anything with sugar out of my diet, completely. I try to use it in moderation, but I'm finding I grow very sluggish and sleepy if I have any candy or even canned fruit in its own juice. Irritating...but this morning I weighed 230 lbs...that's 10 lbs less than the beginning of summer. So I guess the tradeoff works.

Workin' on Dirc and Dyarvos...

I started in on Dirc and the Dyarvos Cafe...and I'm not happy I showed it in this condition. Lots of typos and moments that make no sense, and I'm only 20% through it. Brother, if I'm going to publish my work, I need to either get an editor open to extreme mm erotica or find a way to proof my work better.

Of course, it doesn't hurt that I'd forgotten some of the things I put in the story. It's almost like I'm reading it for the first time, in parts. Like the involvement of a young guard named Cliff, who Dirc tries to protect from Dyarvos.

I want to get this done and out for Halloween, because it's got a lot of horror aspects to it as well as SciFi and erotica. And Dirc's attitude is a lot more irreverent. Maybe that will perk people's interest. But it's not short. 85K+ in wordage.

Didn't help that I had a nosebleed, today. First in well over a year. Not a gusher but enough to take my focus for over an hour to get it to stop. I pinched my nose, as an ENT had told me to do, once, using a cold wet cloth, then stuffed some toilet paper soaked in Afrin up the nostril. That took care of it, finally. Still a bit iffy, but better.

At the same time, I was setting up driving down to a job in Baltimore, starting a week from Monday. Just transferring files from cabinets into boxes to be shipped to a university, but the donor wants the files kept in order and the boxes labeled. That adds a day to the job.

I'm at a stage in my life where I get lost in what's going on and have to stop and think before I can catch onto what needs to be done or what I was doing. I like to believe I'm doing well, mentally, overall...but can't really verify that. So I'm noting plans in my planner and printing out itineraries and making as many post-its as I can to keep from forgetting to do things.

But truth be told, there's nothing new about that...

World traveler, Kyle...

Headed back to Hong Kong for Firsts China Book Fair. First week of December. I'm going in style, this time -- business class, albeit with a 3 hour layover in Seoul, each way. Makes for a much longer trip, but more comfortable, it being a flat bed seat. Better food, too.

I depart on December 1st and arrive late on December 2nd, but I'll have all day, Wednesday to recuperate before move-in on Thursday. It's in the same location as last time...the Maritime Museum, Pier 8 at the Ferry Terminal...and it'll be good to see all the people I've dealt with, before.

What helps is, I'll have a good 12 hours on the plane to work on MQM...and I'm fairly certain I'll have an idea of what I'm doing with it, but then. Of course, knowing me...I may be exhibiting a bit too much optimism.

I'm having to pull back from Social Media, somewhat, just to keep from losing myself in the madness of the MAGAt Class and their rabid actions and attitudes. It really does hurt your heart to find out so many people who look like you are raving lunatics and racist scum who claim to be Christian even as they spit on the teachings of Christ.

I'm no longer a believer in God. If there was one, he'd have cut down half the people in this country, including Felon47, for being monsters and demons out to cause pain and suffering. But they're prospering, instead, and seizing power to expand their evil.

But that isn't what really an atheist. I became one after reading the Bible from cover to cover and saw how it not only justified but encouraged rape, incest, murder, fraud, lying, cheating, intolerance, and genocide. Knowing this helped me with Brendan's final thought monologue in APoS-HNH as he now sees that is just how people always have been, and always will be, and the only thing you can do in response is to tell your stories.

Jean Renoir had a brilliant comment on that, from The Rules of the Game (which is actually The Rule of the Game, in the French) -- The awful thing about life is this: Everybody has their reasons. And in the last 10 years of this civilization we have seen just how true that is...

...And how evil.

The Joy of Being a Dick...or Dirc...

In any other world, Dirc would be considered certifiably insane. Never mind he's linked himself with an avaricious alien who thinks his plan for an interstellar diner puts him on level of The Great British Bakeoff, though really it's more like some Best Greasy Spoon Cook show on cable, his willingness to seek ways to supply Dyarvos, the alien, with fresh male meat kicks him out of normal society into WTF World.

Of course, most people are shocked and want him put away. The feds are curious and suspicious, and want him for their own interrogations and testing. They halfway suspect he's an alien construct. And while Dyarvos is willing to help him, it's usually done in a surly manner, as if Dirc isn't really worth the trouble.

Even as he brings in quality goods. At least he's paid in things he can sell for enough to fund a better lifestyle...but that keeps getting yanked away until he decides to deal with the people who are really in charge. So he's also a businessman who can evolve with reality.

And who's having fun with the brutality of his ways. Such an American lad, he is. Heroic in how he remains loyal to Irin and his growing pack. Clever in how he gets out of situations. Vengeful against the right people. and overall just plain psychotic in how he doesn't give a shit about what people he doesn't care about think of him.

Talk about free-wheeling. Can this be called good chaos? I did a touch of it in Hunter, but no one was being made into burgers, in that book, and Hunter changed to being a better guy. Dirc? No fuckin' way. He's got a business to run...making men into meat. And he's makin' a mint.

A true entrepreneur...

Consistently inconsistent...

I'm going to work the rest of Dirc's story into an e-book and post it for Halloween. It's got horror and sex and violence and Sci-Fi all rolled into one, as well as some action-adventure and fine-dining, but with a relatively HEA, at the end. It's time to finalize this and connect it with the first book, then kick them out into the world.

New title -- Dirc and the Dyarvos Cafe (Men, they're what's for dinner). It already has a pretty off-beat manner of telling the story, so I may see if I can get even snarkier. Darker black humor. It's at just over 84K in wordage.

This will, hopefully, clear my head of everything non-Simon. I have other books I want to write, sure -- Dair's Window, Darian's Point, and the like -- but if I'm going to spend the next year or two on MQM, I need to at least not have this part of Dirc's tale hanging around.

What helped clear my mind is the number of spots showing up on my skin as pre-cancerous. Nothing major, but there. Got two burned off my left calf, today, and have to monitor two others, on my nose and left neck.

Same for a polyp in my gall bladder and the time approaching for my next colonoscopy, which will probably find more.

All this reminds you that your time on this planet is limited, especially this far into my life. So get to it. Get as much done as possible. Hope that when you do finally vanish from here are no regrets on the writing end...

...Even though there always are.

Thoughts to live by...

...Since I am blank of brain, today...I share these bits of wisdom and hope to make them work within Simon's story. Now referred to as MQM...The Murder of a Quiet Man.

Hopefully, tomorrow I'll be back inside my head...but I have a doctor's appointment at 2pm so...not so sure. Dermatology. Old man skin and issues that may stem from having had 2nd degree sunburn.
Getting old sucks.

Another day done...

Another job finished and happiness around. Except... 
Bad choice of hotel. OMG. A nearly new building, where the water pressure is poor and the fucking fire alarm howled, twice. Threw me off, completely. I was so certain it would start screaming, again, I slept in my underwear and had my pants ready to be put on, fast. It was okay the rest of the night, but no way am I returning to that place when the next tranche of boxes is to go. 
That is the second hotel I’ve had water issues with, this month. The one in Houston couldn‘t make up its mind if it would provide hot water when you take a shower. I was told I wasn’t doing it right, the first night, and it did come out hot the next two nights, but then Wednesday night is was only okay and the last night was cool, again. Not cold like I was using the wrong setting; just lukewarm. Irritating. 
I stayed at this hotel the last time I was in Houston and it was fine, so I don’t know what was going on. Another hotel I will not return to, again...though on this job I get the impression the client’s done.Of course, last night’s alarms freaked me out and I came close to working in the car just to keep the noise down, so I neglected to post anything and only barely focused on Simon’s story. 
I’m having trouble not building up a timeline for it. Simon wants to lead me through it as it happens, with segues into his past. Maybe shifting to a journal he’s keeping to build up his character. Which makes me nervous, but I don’t want to push too hard, because he will just go quiet on me. He doesn’t even want me to name the other characters till they show up. 
Meaning my list of those involved is now worthless. 
I’m leaning hard into calling this The Murder of a Quiet Man. I get the feeling Simon has been quiet his entire life, and even when he’s defending himself against the growing fury of the system of justice, he’s quiet about it. No hysteria. No anger. No cursing. He’s found silence works a lot better in controlling a situation than spitting and moaning. And that drives his opponents crazy. Which I really like. 
I want Simon to be as relatable as possible. I want the reader to like him. Care about him. But I’m wary of setting that up too quickly...or didactically.

 

Not a day for thinking...

Well...I ate some cheese that I probably shouldn't have. What was left of a brick of cheddar. I cut off the bad parts, but that must not have been enough because my body is not happy. Fortunately, I carry Imodium AD with me, at all times. Learned to have something when I developed a similar situation on my one visit to Paris and all I could find for it was something you dissolve into sparkling water. Which I did. And it finally worked.

It's come in handy. I seem to have issues with local water, so have long avoided anything that might have been washed with it, like salads or lettuce and tomato on burgers. I buy distilled water to use for brushing my teeth and making tea, and even washing fruit if I feel like having an apple. It's helped.

Water properties can change significantly from one city to another, primarily due to differences in the water's source and the treatment processes used., especially in mineral content, pH, and taste. So I don't deal with it. I can handle Buffalo's water because I'm used to cooking with it, but I don't drink that from the tap, either. Same for bottled Spring Water. I go for Smart Water.

If I do Hong Kong, they have a brand called Watson Water that's distilled, so I can get that. And I've found Smart Water is available throughout much of Europe and the UK.

Anyway, I'm a lot better, now...and I'm vaguely thinking of Simon's book. Its title shifted, again, into The Murder of a Quiet Man. Or maybe...The Killing of a Silent Man. Still unsure about which or even either. There's too much brewing in the back of my head over this book, and I'm trying to avoid any repetition of something I've already done.

Since I'm off to Rhode Island, tomorrow, ain't doing much writing till that's done and I'm back, in a couple days. But I'm going to take my time with this one. It almost feels like it will be a delicate piece to write...

Me? Delicate? What a laugh.

Home, again, and need time to think...

 I had a bit of a...I won't say it's a religious experience, but something came down from the ether to touch my direction and guide me...and I need to sit in quiet for a lot longer before I really understand enough to share the feeling it brought me.

It started when I went to what used to be the Transco Tower, by the Galleria, and saw the trees...which had been saplings when I moved to Houston...were now, of course, fully grown and giving lovely shade. And were mitigating the spray from the fountain, in the breeze.

And how the Transco Tower looked as new as ever, even though it was designed 45 years ago. Philip Johnson did an amazing job creating a building for the ages.

I then went to a used bookstore and found a biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer that convinced me to buy it...

...After which, I spent some time at Rothko Chapel. Just sitting in the quiet of it. And came to see what Simon's story could be.

As mentioned, I'm still contemplating what's come over me...but wanted to put a place-holder for it in my mind and intentions.

Almost back to where I belong...

Finished packing that library. 41 boxes holding 2073 very small books. Mostly pamphlet-sized. I was expecting much larger volumes...but this is good. Tomorrow is the pickup and I return to Buffalo. Then another light job on Monday and I can settle back into my nothing routine.

I had an interesting thought come up, today. Putting BA-4 aside and working up another coloring book. Call it Demented Dreams of DILFs...more mature men who are Dads I'd Like to Fuck. No full nudity. Maybe even fully dressed, for some of them. Giving them names and doing 26 of them...meaning one for every letter of the alphabet.

Or align it with my books. Curt and Shayes in HTRASG. Alec and Freddy in PM. Antony in RIHC6. That might be just as interesting...and better promotional work. Maybe. Not all that sure...

If I'm going to, I have to get hard onto it so it'll be ready for Christmas. Work out the setup in each image. Cover, front and rear, like Demented Dreams, of guys in trouble. That sold fairly well, and I'd like to see if I can get back some of the money I've poured into publishing, this year. Sales have pretty much collapsed.

It might also get my mind off the insanity surrounding the death of Charlie Kirk. The right wing's hysteria is boiling over into death threats agains all liberals and promises of retribution, when they don't even know who the shooter is, yet. So far, it looks more and more like a right wing nut or even something set up by Felon47 to deflect from the Epstein files.

You may think suggesting that is on the crazy side...but I would not put it past him. He's connected to too many of the sudden deaths of people who threatened him. The son-of-a-bitch.