Annette Mori's Blog, page 2

Labiaplasty

Yup, I’m going there! You can probably guess from the name, but let me just give you the definition: Also known as vaginal rejuvenation, labiaplasty is a plastic surgery procedure that involves modifying the labia minora (inner lips) and/or the labia majora (outer lips). It is usually done for cosmetic reasons. Apparently, it is more common to alter the inner lips. I came across this topic because a Reddit user was concerned about her “outie”. Yup, that is the term she used, and she went on to say that she wondered if her partner was put off by her large inner lips that appeared quite prominent as an outie. Of course, I just had to research this, and here’s what I learned:

In 2024, 10,827 Labiaplasty surgeries were performed in the US alone. The number of surgeries in the US increased by 45% between 2015 and 2020. It’s becoming increasingly popular.I thought the popularity might be among more mature women like myself, but nope, it’s most popular among women between the ages of 25 and 34.A large number of women, 78% to be exact, report dissatisfaction with their inner lips as the reason to seek this cosmetic surgery.If you wish to undergo labiaplasty, the cost typically ranges from $3,000 to $8,000. It’s less than I thought but certainly more than Botox and less than a nose job, breast augmentation, or facelift.Labiaplasty is often combined with other procedures like clitoral hood reduction and vaginal tightening.Labiaplasty is not just for transgender women; in fact, it is a relatively small percentage at about 12% of all labiaplasty procedures.Fortunately, the complication rate for labiaplasty is estimated at around 1.7%Now, for some astounding history on labiaplasty: Labiaplasty dates back to Ancient Greece, B.C., and then later in the Middle Ages. During those ancient times, it was a relatively crude procedure involving suturing excess tissue. I am not exactly sure what they called it way back then. However, the first documented formal citations of labiaplasty date back to the 16th and 17th centuries. The Journal of Plastic Reconstructive Surgery first cited the procedure in 1984, but the first published article occurred as early as 1971.

If all this information causes your intimate bits to cringe…you aren’t alone. My legs are slammed shut just thinking about this! Of course, since I had no idea labiaplasty was a thing, I certainly haven’t written it into any book, and I don’t think I ever will! Perhaps a brave author will write a story about a plastic surgeon specializing in labiaplasty who falls in love with their patient. Want to check out my books? Just click the links below. Two new releases are The Invisible Woman: A Lesbian Superhero Story and the audiobook for Trouble in Paradise. If so inclined, click the links below. Just a note that one advantage of buying directly from Affinity is that there is no sales tax. Don’t forget to sign up for the Affinity Rainbow Publications Newsletter to keep up to date on all our new releases: https://affinityebooks.com/newsletter/

The Invisible Woman: A Lesbian Superhero Story Available for pre-order now! On Pre-orderTrouble in Paradise – Trophy Wives Club Book 4

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The Kitten Trap

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Embarrasing Questions For…

I know you can’t wait to hear who the embarrassing questions are for. Anyway, my wife was listening to her daily YouTube videos and called this one out for me, thinking I might be interested in writing a blog about it. Yup, sure am! It combines two recent topics: death planning (tarramation), and pubic hair (along with a few other humorous bits). The video features a Mortician who gets questions that most people are too embarrassed to ask, but she’s hilarious with her answers. Here are the questions and answers, because I know y’all are dying (pun intended) to know.

A dude was curious about inadvertently snorting Grandpa’s ashes while dumping ashes from creation. He felt a burning sensation and worried about it. Since cremated remains are mostly made of bone fragments, which after cremation are a mixture of calcium phosphate and trace minerals. According to Lauren the Mortician, “While it’s not toxic, it’s definitely not something you should be huffing like an artisanal sea salt.” Hilarious! Further, she says, “Think of it like snorting fireplace ash, only with way more emotional baggage.” While it’s really not good to snort anything, dead remains take it to a whole new level. Here’s a good trick when distributing your loved one’s ashes…use gloves and a mask.Here’s the question that caught my interest, because you know I’m obsessed with anything to do with our intimate bits. A young woman asked, “When I die, will they shave my bush?” Short answer, no. Morticians only clean and prep what is necessary for viewing and restoration, or for cultural reasons. Side note: Only a handful of cultures involve shaving or cutting hair: For some Hindu men it is customary to shave the head – a purification ritual to symbolize the shedding of their ego; to satisfy some Buddhist traditions because monks shave their heads, shaving hair is considered a tribute to the deceased; for a few indigenous cultures, particularly Lakota and Navajo tribes, cutting hair is considered a way to symbolize loss and mourning. Although I doubt that any of these instances extend to the pubic region. She did qualify her answer to say that while it’s not a standard part of embalming and prep, Morticians will respect religious, cultural, or family requests. She also noted that she would pull the stray hairs from our chins. Whew, good to know that those pesky chin hairs I miss will be pulled!What happens when a person has an ileostomy bag? Is it removed? Not during the embalming process, but yes, it is removed afterward during the cleaning-up process. During cremation and probably terramation, the bag is removed beforehand. Similarly, Foley catheters and urine bags are removed. Plastic is not good inside the retort (cremator). Plastic is also terrible for the environment, so definitely not for terramation, either.Are we buried with our shoes? Short answer, yes. I suppose footwear plays a significant role in burial customs. In Norse mythology, the deceased were equipped with “hell shoes” to aid them in the afterlife. Ancient Greeks placed terracotta boots outside tombs to ensure a safe passage into the underworld. In ancient Egypt, sandals were the footwear of choice because they were believed to provide comfort and support during the journey into the afterlife. Side note: Golden sandals were found in King Tut’s tomb. It can be challenging to fit shoes after death due to body changes. Since shoes are not visible in a casket, the decision about whether to include shoes or not remains with the family.Finally, Morticians have a different perspective on death. In small towns, they do not typically have issues with caring for people they may have known. Lauren the Mortician sees it as a calling, not unlike those called to serve god. For a Mortician, it is an act of love and service.

So…there you have it. She is very fascinating to watch. For more of her videos, here’s the link: https://www.youtube.com/@Laurenthemortician Again, it’s hard to tie this into books, but it did get me thinking about how fascinating it would be to write a book with the main character as a Mortician, who falls in love with an Obstetrician. Two ends of the spectrum: life and death. Yes, I know, my books are rather quirky. Check them out by going to the links below:

The Kitten Trap

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The Love Demand

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Terramation

The other day, I was tucked away in our tiny bedroom working on the final edits for The Invisible Woman when my wife came bounding into the room and declared, I don’t want cremation when I die, I want terramation. I’m not putting her words in quotes, because I don’t know exactly what she said, except that she had a different view now of what happens to her when she dies. You see, she was either listening to a YouTube video or reading an article about terramation and thought that was the perfect answer for when she dies. Now, I gotta admit that talking about her wishes, especially when she proudly says you can use my composted body for your tomato plants, kinda creeped me out. But like a good wife, of course, I’ll respect her wishes, and my response back was that I would research this and write a blog about it. By now, you’ve probably guessed that terramation is human composting. And, yup, it’s a viable choice for many and becoming increasingly popular. So, here’s what I learned:

The for-profit death industry really got going after the Civil War with fancy, elaborate funerals, along with expensive caskets, etc. Due to the expense, cremations became increasingly popular and outnumbered traditional burials by 2015. Then cremations came under scrutiny as a result of the concern surrounding the use of fossil fuels in the cremation process, especially due to the toxic emissions, such as mercury from dental amalgams. Enter stage left, terramation.Washington State (my home) was the first state to legalize terramation in 2019, and the law took effect in May 2020. Now there are 13 states with laws legalizing the Earth Funeral (another name for terramation). For those who might be interested, the following states are: Washington, Colorado, Oregon, Vermont, California, New York, Nevada, Arizona, Delaware, Maryland, Minnesota, Maine, and Georgia. I gotta admit, I didn’t expect Georgia to be on the list. Seems more like a blue state thing. For those across the pond or my beloved neighbors to the north, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, France, and the UK have taken an interest and are in the preliminary stages of research to potentially make this an option.It’s no wonder that this craze started in my state, because Katrina Spade, the founder of a company called Recompose, is like the mother of terramation with her research on ways to accelerate the process of human composting. At first, she tried those methods on livestock, and that process was part of a scientific study at Washington State University.It seems like the cost for terramation is comparable to cremation and will run a person about 5-7K.Not everyone can be terramated, though. Here are the limitations: Persons with certain diseases (such as TB, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, and ebola) can’t choose terramation because certain pathogens may survive the composting process; like cremation inorganic material such as implants with batteries (pacemakers) or radioactive materials (brachytherapy seeds) have to be handled with care; bone fragments may also need to be smashed in the middle of composting; metals from orthopedic surgery implants have to be removed prior to composting; in my state, Washington, there is a requirement to test for levels of toxins (arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury, selenium) as well as fecal coliform and salmonella; Colorado prohibits growing food with human composting (good thing we don’t live in Colorado or I wouldn’t be able to use my wife’s remains on my tomato plants), and California doesn’t allow a person to scatter human compost in specific areas.For the science geeks out there, here’s how they compost a human body: Composting organisms require carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and water. Your beloved’s dead body is placed in a container along with composting plant material (woodchips, straw, and alfalfa). Then, just like with regular composting, the mixture is aerated and rotated to increase the temperature, allowing thermophilic microbes to decompose the mixture.

So, there you have it, folks. Go green and consider terramation for your loved ones! I suspect the only way to weave this little nugget into a book is with a second-chance romance. Ugh…would that make is a dark sapphic romance? Certainly, I’ve written books where the main character’s wife or lover died at the beginning of the story, and she had to find a new love, but I never thought to include this…maybe in my time travel novel, I can weave this in. By the 26th century, terramation might be the prevalent death practice. On a lighter note, The Kitten Trap is now available in audiobook, and Dani Mors did an amazing job! She even added real meows; it’s precious.

The Kitten Trap

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The Love Demand

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More About Merkins

So…last week we talked about pubes, and in the blog, the fascinating topic of Merkins naturally came up. As promised, I mentioned doing a whole blog post about this fascinating subject. I had to admit I hadn’t known about Merkins until I wrote the blog about pubes. So…as a reminder, a Merkin is a pubic wig. Yup, fake hair that you wear down there! Hey, I rhymed…totally unintentional. Merkin kind of gives new meaning to the term…muff diving! Here’s what I discovered about Merkins. (Apologies…but this graphic was too good not to reuse).

In my previous blog I gave you a brief tidbit about the Merkin’s origin story. Let me refresh with a few more details. The Oxford Companion to the Body claims the origin of the Merkin came about in 1450 from a slight deviation of the word Malkin. Now, Malkin also has an origin story. It’s a shortened version of a grimalkin (an archaic term for a cat). Do you see where I’m going here? Grimalkin is a combination of Grey (the color) with Malkin, which had multiple definitions (a term for a low-class woman, a weakling, or a mop) of its own. In addition, Malkin can also be traced back to a pet name for the female name, Maud. I know, rather convoluted. The point is that there is a connection to Malkin, which has connections to cats, or rather pussies…and mops that probably had a resemblance to the original Merkins.The low-class woman comes into play because prostitutes often wore Merkins after shaving their to cover up evidence of sexually transmitted disease.But Merkins haven’t always been worn by women without means; in fact, they may have gotten their start with queens and those in the upper classes. According to Randy Sayer a Hollywood film and theater wig stylist, “Cleopatra was known for her beautiful, long, luxurious pubic hair, which she proudly wore brushed and oiled, and she was known to admire — and display — her pubic hair in the shiny marble floors and the light, diaphanous gowns of the time.” Because most citizens of Egypt were required to shave their pubes, due to pubic lice, the noblewomen wore Merkins to show they were rich enough to maintain their pubic hair.Let’s talk about Hollywood, which warmly embraces the Merkin. It’s pretty much a staple for R-rated films. Here are just a few suspected and verified examples of the use of Merkins in film. Mary-Louise Parker, who disrobed in Angels in America, Suzanna Hamilton in Nineteen Eighty-Four (suspected), Sasha Grey in Entourage, Heidi Klum in Blow Dry, Evan Rachel Wood in Mildred Pierce, and Kate Winslet, who refused to wear a Merkin in The Reader, have all openly discussed their Merkins. Not that we care much about this, but men have also donned the pubic wig. Most notably, Jake Gyllenhaal in Love & Other Drugs. And then there is the use of Merkins in comedy: Scary Movie, Sex and the City, and Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay. Finally, Merkins gives a bit of privacy or a kind of safety blanket for the actresses and actors. Go to Wikipedia for a more exhaustive list of movies and television where Merkins were used.In early theater, when men played women’s parts, the men would wear Merkins for the nude scenes.When women entered the theater and penicillin helped with STDs, Merkins went deep underground until around World War II. Full-frontal nudity in commercial movies started happening in the late 60s, the Merkin may also have made an appearance at drag performances, or the first Burning Man in 1986, but it sure wasn’t as popular as it is today.Because porn stars often waxed or had electrolysis early on, and bikinis got a lot smaller, including the explosion of thongs, more people began to wax and have electrolysis. Well…regrowing hair wasn’t as easy as one suspected. So…enter the Merkin when actresses couldn’t grow all the hair back.Apparently, there’s a Hollywood story where a make-up artist needed to add a beard to an actor, didn’t have one, so shaved her pubes, and the actor swore it was the best beard he ever had. Okay, so not exactly a Merkin…more like a reverse Merkin?Who can forget when Lady Gaga wore a bluish-green Merkin (with highlights!) at the Much Music Awards. Of course she had to draw attention to the little wig. I love her!Finally, for around $20…you, too, can have your own Merkin. They’re available on Amazon! No shit, for real, you can get them there (in multiple colors).

Obviously, I had a bit of fun with this topic. Oh…who am I kidding, I always have fun writing these blogs. So…how to weave this into books. Perhaps it’s time to write a humorous sex scene where one character starts a muff dive, only to discover that the woman is wearing a Merkin. Now, not only does she have to figure out a way to remove the woman’s clothes in a sexy manner, but also how to remove the Merkin! I haven’t written it yet, and it doesn’t really go with my current WIP, which is more sci-fi-ish and not exactly true to either character, unless Merkins become super popular in the 26th century. But, I still have loads of fun writing my books, and apparently it’s official. AI says I’m funny…at least an AI comparison of Ali Spooner and my style of writing says so. So check out my books with the links below.

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The Love Demand is now in Audible!

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Let’s Talk Pubes

Now…I thought I had blogged about this before, but mostly in relation to the trend of going au naturel. However, today’s blog, we’ll delve a bit more into the history of our relationship with our bush. After reading, once again, another interesting article, I learned a few things that I just had to pass along!

Hair removal, including pubic hair, goes all the way back to Cleopatra. She preferred a sugar wax to remove all of her body hair.More recent hair removal trends seem to go hand in hand with swimsuit trends… as the bikini got smaller, the triangle of hair followed suit. Then, when high-leg bikini briefs became popular, the Brazilian wax or “landing strip” came into fashion.Today, “The Hollywood” is the most popular style. For those of you who have no idea, what “The Hollywood” refers to….well neither did I before reading this article and doing more research. “The Hollywood” is an everything-goes approach to pubic hair via a wax. It’s called this because in Hollywood, it’s quite popular when that’s the desired look (maybe those close-ups are considerably lower than on someone’s face).Where does “triangle” or sometimes “Bermuda triangle” come from when referring to our pubs? Well, interesting to know that stylizing hair started in ancient civilizations. For example, in Egypt, both men and women would artistically style their pubic hair, often in neat little triangles. Anyone know what a Merkin refers to…No one, no one? Neither did I. Well, believe it or not a Merkin is a pubic wig. Yup, you heard that right. And it’s been around for a long time, since the 1400s, when women would shave their pubic region for health reasons (to get rid of pubic lice) and then wear a Merkin. It was also popular with prostitutes who wanted to cover up evidence of venereal disease. Oh my! Back to Hollywood…sometimes actresses will wear a Merkin to cover up any inadvertent exposure of their intimate bits while during a full-frontal. Merkins definitely deserve their own blog…look for that in my upcoming Friday Blogs.Want to counteract the misogynist pigs who, on their popular “bro” podcasts, insist that their women go hairless, grow the bush wild and free. Interestingly, this is one of the reasons behind the more recent trend of a “full bush in a bikini.” Apparently, there is something very sexy about rejecting a particular beauty standard dictated by men!Shaving isn’t the only way to shape your pubic hair. In 2024, laser hair removal became the UK’s most searched for non-surgical aesthetic treatment. Granted, most of that wasn’t for removing pubic hair, but some people choose that option. Ouch! I wonder if it hurts more than a bikini wax.

So…there you have it. I’m pretty sure I’ve referred to the pubic region as some sort of triangle in my books, but I’m too lazy to search for which ones. I’m also too lazy to search whether I’ve written about pubic hair styles in any of my books. I probably have. Feel free to do that research yourselves and click the links below to get any or all of my books! Quick reminder to those who haven’t read about the new addition to the Affinity Rainbow Publications website! Wheel of Fortune…well…not really, but there is a lucky wheel in the upper right corner of the website where you can win a prize (20%, 30%, 50% off or a free book) by clicking on it and giving it a spin! Happy 4th, by the way; take care of your furbabies who hate the noise!

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The Surprising Origin of Women’s Intimate Bits…

Yup…I just read an article that explains how anatomists have described how a woman’s body has been a man’s world. WTAF you say? How is this possible? Ah, come on…don’t you realize how every frickin thing always comes back to men stickin their nosy little beaks into absolutely everything. Think mansplaining on steroids. So what the heck am I talking about? Well…here’s the skinny in no particular order regarding my research on this topic:

Shortly after the #MeToo movement in 2017, there was a small, little-known movement called the #AnatomyToo movement. This effort was designed to eliminate toxic anatomical labels for women’s genitalia. What? Yes, they were successful in renaming “pudendum,” a long-standing term in the medical community for the vulva. Why is “pudendum” a distasteful term? Well…“pudendum” is from the Latin word pudere, meaning “to be ashamed.” Anatomists named this most intimate part of a woman’s body as her most shameful. Why am I not surprised?That isn’t the only unsurprising fact about the term pudendum, because for hundreds of years the name applied to both male and female genitalia, until, of course, it didn’t. In 1895, pudendum was still officially recognised, ie, the pudendal region existed in both men and women. However, fast forward 60 years, and only the “pudendum femininum” — the female part — was still listed, because, of course, we can’t shame the men.A study was done in the UK finding 65 per cent of young women had a problem saying “vulva” or “vagina”. I say use those terms liberally and let’s take back gloriously celebratory terminology for our intimate bits!In 2014, Bernard Moxham, collaborated with Susan Morgan, a colleague, to examine gender bias in anatomy teaching. Most medical textbooks, they found, showed the male body as standard and only brought out the female body to show the reproductive system, genitals, and breasts. Then, in 2016, those same researchers asked hundreds of medical students and anatomists if they had any concerns about the fact that the word “pudendal” stemmed from “to be ashamed.” Most did not. What I haven’t been able to find out is what percentage of those students were men versus women. I suspect the majority. Where were all the feminists?What is completely unsurprising to me is that a look at 700 different body parts named after 432 people reveals that 424 were named after male physicians. The eight that weren’t male physicians were five gods (not goddesses), a king (not queen), a hero (not heroine), and just one woman: Raissa Nitabuch, named the Nitabuch Layer or Nitabuch membrane, which is a layer where the placenta separates from the uterus wall after delivery.Why was I not surprised…well, most body parts were named by 1847, and women were not prominent in the medical field. They didn’t have the opportunity to get a look at our insides, including a woman’s reproductive system.Gabriele Falloppio, an Italian priest and anatomist, is responsible for Fallopian Tubes. Skene’s glands, those important glands that secrete female ejaculate, are named after Alexander Skene. Rude! And for f@3k’s sake, that all-important “G” as in G-spot, which a lot of men can’t even find, is named after Ernst Gräfenberg’s. And finally, Bartholin’s glands that important place close to the vaginal opening that generate that glorious wetness and fluid necessary for sexual lubrication is named afer Caspar Bartholin the Younger. Double rude!There are calls for renaming Bartholin’s glands to greater vestibular glands, Skene’s glands to paraurethral glands, and Fallopian tubes to uterine tubes. However, change is hard, and the older terms are still commonly used by doctors and the public. I, myself, have been guilty of this, not knowing the history!Finally, vagina originates from the Latin word for scabbard. What is a scabbard, you ask? Per Merriam Webster, it is “a sheath for a sword, dagger, or bayonet.” How positively phallic. Like our vagina’s are only intended for your…well, you know! Triple rude! Unfortunately, there are no calls for vagina to be renamed. Any ideas for a better word?

The horse has already left the barn for me…I’ve used many of these old terms in my blogs and certainly in my books, but what are the alternatives, unless we start a more successful #AnatomyToo movement? I’m certainly not the only person to have never heard of this movement before. Hopefully, you’ll forgive my former ignorance and still consider checking out my books. You know the drill, just click the links below! Coming soon to Affinity Rainbow Publications…The Wheel…a chance to win a free ebook and other prizes. If you aren’t signed up for the Affinity Rainbow Publications Newsletter…what are you waiting for! Click here to visit the website: Affinity Rainbow Publications

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Pet Detectives Exist

This past week, I listened to a story on NPR about a former K9 Police Officer who is now a bona fide Pet Detective, and she’s training others to take up the mantle across the country. I was so delighted by the story, I just had to summarize some of the salient facts Kathy Albrecht shared in her interview. As a person who definitely lost her shit when Nico went missing, I loved knowing that there are professionals who can help, in addition to certain tips for pet owners who have a lost pet. Here’s what I learned:

Albrecht has a book out, probably worth checking out, titled The Lost Pet Chronicles: Adventures of a K-9 Cop Turned Pet Detective.Yes, Kathy Albrecht is a bona-fide Pet Detective. This amazing woman has found an estimated 1,800 lost pets, and not only dogs and cats, but snakes, ferrets, turtles, iguanas, and horses. It all started when she lost her K9 bloodhound, AJ, who was trained to find humans. She got it in her head that dogs could also be used to find other dogs. A friend’s golden retriever found the errant AJ in twenty minutes!Search and rescue dogs are trained to ignore animal scents to focus on humans. Fortunately, retraining dogs to find animal scents wasn’t all that difficult. In fact, her bloodhounds absolutely loved their new job, giving them the permission to track what they really wanted to track.Picking the right dog for the job is critical. A dog who hates cats would not make a good tracker for missing kitties. Her search dogs are put through a testing and evaluation process. Dogs used to find cats have to want to be with a cat, rather than a dog who might harm or chase cats. Dogs who are best at finding missing dogs are ones that ought to have the “dog park dog” mentality (“dogs that want nothing more than to play with another dog”).Bloodhounds are especially good at tracking lost pets because they can track a smell that is several days old. The jowls cause them to slobber, and that moisture collects the scent. In addition, their long, dangly ears agitate the older scent particles on the ground. In a court of law, a bloodhound’s “testimony” is accepted.Another dog that Albrecht uses is a Weimaraner, which tracks scent through the air versus focusing on the ground, which can be particularly effective with cats. Although she noted that any dog could be trained in search and rescue as long as they had the right disposition. Goddess bless Albrecht for selecting dogs from animal shelters to train.Different lost pets require different strategies. The key is to understand the behavior of different animals, which is a science, to be sure. Cats tend to stay close to home because they are territorial. When they become stressed or frightened, they will hide and remain silent. The first task is to locate the hidden cat and then set up a humane trap. Dogs travel distances because they move at rapid speeds, and those distances vary greatly. More skittish dogs may travel further.While posters for lost pets can be helpful, they’re most effective for missing dogs because dogs travel greater distances. Thus, pet owners with lost dogs should follow the “five, five, fifty-five” rule. Five seconds means the poster has to be immediately eye-catching. Five words means the core message should be five words or less. And fifty-five means the poster needs to contain large, clear text and a high-contrast design to ensure readability at a distance (when traveling on a 55mph road).

The Fresh Air podcast is definitely worth a listen if so inclined, here’s the link: https://www.npr.org/2004/05/24/1908094/pet-detective-kathy-albrecht I thought I had exhausted my creative brain with ideas for new books, and then I heard this podcast. Wouldn’t it be great to have a love story that starts with a distraught pet owner who decides to hire a pet detective against the advice of family and friends who discourage what they believe is a scam? Speaking of lost kitties, don’t forget to get my latest release, The Kitten Trap. Maybe if I’d known about pet detectives, I would have written that character into the story when Carmen and Mac’s mischievous kitties went missing! Reminder: Today is the last day to pick up this book, as well as most of my other books, for 25% off.

Last day for Site-wide Affinity Sale – Click the image to visit the sale… The Kitten Trap – Audible Coming Soon Now Live!

The Love Demand is now in Audible!

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The Final Chapter in the original Organization series is now in Audible

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Uncover The History of Sales

This week, my publisher is hosting a major sale to celebrate their 15th anniversary, which, in my humble opinion, is quite an achievement. Let’s face it, sapphic romance and fiction have struggled to find a large enough audience to support the many wonderful authors over the years. A number of publishers have gone out of business and closed their doors, not able to weather the storms that occurred since sapphic books were first published by Naid Press. But I’m getting off track. With this massive sale, coinciding with Pride Month, I wondered about the history of sales and bargains over the years. I discovered some interesting tidbits that I’d love to share with y’all. Here they are in no particular order:

Before there was actual money, people exchanged goods and services through bartering. Bartering has its own unique method of offering sales or bargains, as people would often haggle with one another, even though the term “haggle” did not emerge until 1570.The first coin can be traced back to 640 BC, developed by King Alyattes of Lydia. China was the first to use paper money in the eleventh century. Jiaozi was a form of promissory note, created because paper was far easier to carry around than coins. Unfortunately, a new occupation as a counterfeiter came soon after. To make it harder to counterfeit the notes, multiple banknote seals were added.However, the true architect of bargains and sales was Frank Woolworth, the American entrepreneur and founder of the first Woolworth retail chain in the United States. As the story goes, Woolworth was shy and not very competent as a salesman; thus, he was easily conned into selling items at a lower price. When his boss heard about his incompetence, Woolworth dumped all the seasonal goods on the counter and put up a sign that said, “All at 5 cents.” No one can resist a sale, so all the goods were sold out within a few hours, and the ultimate sales formula was born: people will buy nearly anything that’s discounted by 50%. It was considered the first five-and-dime store, the ancestor to The Dollar Store. It was a similar concept because at first, everything in his store was a nickel (also known as the first nickel store). His concept was to have set prices (items for a nickel or a dime).

Although Affinity’s sale doesn’t cut their books in half, as that would ultimately bankrupt us, we have decided to include every single e-book in the sale. Now, that’s quite the sale. Of course, you can get my latest book, The Kitten Trap, for $5.25, and the same price for The Love Demand, which has several places where a main character, Lacey haggles with the locals for goods and then ends up paying their original price or more because she’s just that wonderful. Haggling is mere entertainment for her. She’s a delightful character, so I hope you’ll take advantage of the sale and check her out. In fact, you’d make my year if you bought more than one of my books at this great online sale. Click below for the links!

The Big Sale at Affinity – Click the image to visit the sale… The Kitten Trap – Audible Coming Soon Now Live!

The Love Demand is now in Audible!

Click the cover for purchase links!

Purchase Audible Purchase EbookUnconventional Lovers Now in audio Purchase AudiblePleasure Workers in Audio Purchase AudibleLove Sins Available – The Final chapter in The Organization UniverseClick on Cover for purchase links and description Purchase eBook Purchase Audible

The Final Chapter in the original Organization series is now in Audible

Purchase AudibleCatch up with Books 1 and 2 in The Next Generation Series Purchase EBook Purchase Audible Purchase EBook Purchase AudibleWhere it all began….Click on Covers for purchase links and descriptions Purchase Audible Purchase EBookClick on Covers for purchase links and descriptions Purchase EBook Purchase AudibleBooks in AudibleBooks In Kindle Unlimited (KU)

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Cats Are Perfect!

Of course, I’ve known this for years, being the self-professed crazy cat lady that I am. I was driving somewhere and listened to this episode on NPR about perfect animals, and was nodding my head like I was listening to a great song. So…I had to look up the article to share all the relevant details for y’all. Anjali Goswami, an evolutionary biologist at the Natural History Museum in London, shared her perspective on why she believes cats are perfect. She doesn’t state this from the same perspective as I, a person who loves cats and prefers them over dogs, but from a scientific perspective. Here is what I learned from that interview:

Goswami bases her conclusion on studies of large-scale patterns of evolution in vertebrate animals over time. Basically, every cat does the same thing. They are hard-core predators.Cats are one of the most similar species in existence. Other animals have greater evolutionary differences in an attempt to become more perfect. Not cats…they are basically the same. Sure, they come in different colors and sizes, but they essentially have the same structure. She argues that sameness is because there was no need to evolve into something different.Goswami claims: “It doesn’t matter whether they’re tiny Bengal cats or gigantic lions or tigers; they’re gonna basically look the same. If you handed me a lion or tiger skull, I could not—as a person who’s a pretty solid expert in carnivorans in general—tell you which one it was. There’s a teeny amount of allometry [disproportionate change in one body part relative to the whole as a consequence of size] if they get really big: a small elongation of the face and an increase in muscle mass. Ultimately, big cats are really similar to small cats, far more so than you would predict.”The bottom line is they don’t need a variation in their species. They do one thing and one thing well, not a “jack-of-all-trades.” Their prey might vary depending on the size of the cat, but as predators, they do that perfectly. Contrast that with bears, who very much need to adapt to their geographic location. Polar bears are very different from the Giant Panda bear…and not only in size and color.

So…there you have it…an expert opinion on why cats are perfect…which is the reason I prominently feature cats in many of my books, including basing my latest book, The Kitten Trap, on the movie classic, The Parent Trap. Obviously, I replaced those pesky human twins with kittens! Click on any of the links below to get this creative retelling of the classic movie. Another book with a cat POV and very near and dear to my heart is Artist Free Zone, loosely based on my own personal love story!

The Kitten Trap & Artist Free Zone Now Live! A very personal story

The Love Demand is now in Audible!

Click the cover for purchase links!

Purchase Audible Purchase EbookUnconventional Lovers Now in audio Purchase AudiblePleasure Workers in Audio Purchase AudibleLove Sins Available – The Final chapter in The Organization UniverseClick on Cover for purchase links and description Purchase eBook Purchase Audible

The Final Chapter in the original Organization series is now in Audible

Purchase AudibleCatch up with Books 1 and 2 in The Next Generation Series Purchase EBook Purchase Audible Purchase EBook Purchase AudibleWhere it all began….Click on Covers for purchase links and descriptions Purchase Audible Purchase EBookClick on Covers for purchase links and descriptions Purchase EBook Purchase AudibleBooks in AudibleBooks In Kindle Unlimited (KU)

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How About a Teaser Video for The Kitten Trap!