New book for fans of BDSM, paranormal romance, immersive fantasy worlds and of course two gorgeous men in a torrid relationship.

This book appeals both to kinky readers and romance readers.  Kannang Feng’s ability to combine the two genre has created something well-written and steamy.  Click the pic for an excerpt and more information.

Reader review!

A long-time Circlet reader has blessed us with an unsolicited review of the book.  Read the review here!

Wishbone is at the same time classic and innovative. It’s classic where it retells the story of Pygmalion, or My Fair Lady, or Pretty Woman (see how many time it was told?): a wealthy and cultured man picks a filthy whore from the streets and teaches him how to behave. It’s innovative since, what the wealthy man teaches to the whore it’s a totally different thing from the usual lessons on good manners or polished language, but is instead the power you have in surrendering.

The collection starts off with “When Angles Fall”, by Helen E. H. Madden, a sexy and endearing science fiction story about how one man’s upbringing in a religious “cult” effects how he deals with his dying mother and the future that she leaves him.

One of my favorite stories was Tom Cardamone’s, “Royal Catamite”. It is a wonderful erotic story that pushes the taboo buttons of underage sex and incest, in a way that only Tom can do.

We now live in an era of ebooks and genetic engineering, instant messaging and cybersex, gender reassignment and gay marriage. The world has matured and many of the fantastic imaginings of Circlet’s authors have become familiar facts. In the second decade of the twenty first century, Circlet is still delivering some of the best speculative erotica available—appropriately in electronic form. Wired Hard 4 is a splendid example.

The eight stories in this collection are remarkably diverse. They are unified, first, by their raw sexual energy, and second, by the intimate mingling of human with other: machine, robot, animal, vampire, or god. Xan West’s lyrical introduction points out that most of these tales deal with transformations. Sex here is more than an avenue of pleasure. It is the gateway to new and different selves.

Update: I’m almost positive that the appearance of Rainbow Reviews on this post has nothing to do with it, and the link above is the source of the article.

My personal favorites from this collection are “Transplant” and “Passage,” each of which explores a world where there is a unique option available to transgendered individuals. Each story delves into the emotional needs of the person to have a body that matches the soul, and the ramifications of making that change on other relationships. In “Transplant,” Katrina has been disowned by her mother while Chad’s mother is the exact opposite. In “Passage,” Maya is concerned about her lover still being attracted to her new body. The physical changes are one thing, but these stories choose to delve into the other changes that are inevitable and as such are extremely engaging and moving.

Wishbone Cover

My first novel-length work to hit publication is now available from Torquere Books.

This calls for an excerpt. Why look. Here’s one now.

Tonner was awake when Wishbone knocked on his door.

“You look like you’ve had a night to remember,” said the burly sail-maker.

Wishbone staggered theatrically inside the tiny room and fell back on the bed.

Tonner laughed, but softly. The walls were thin between apartments, and not everyone would have awakened yet. “Would you like some tea while you tell me about it?”

“Please.”

Tonner poured two cracked ceramic mugs and handed one to Wishbone.

The sail-maker had close-set eyes, broad shoulders and a broken nose. He allowed Wishbone to sleep in his bed during the day in exchange for certain favors. One of them was a narrative of the previous evening’s adventures.

Wishbone stared at the water-stained ceiling. “I went up the Hill and got fucked senseless by a shih-aan.”

“By the Unnamed Gods, Wishbone,” Tonner sputtered into his tea. “What were you thinking?”

“I was thinking about this week’s hush money.”

“I’d have loaned you the coin.”

“That’s very sweet of you, but I know you don’t have any coin to speak of. If you did, you wouldn’t be re-using those tea leaves.”

“Well, there’s truth to what you say,” Tonner admitted. “You survived. Tell me all about it. I heard that shih-aan have great big spikes on their yards.”

Wishbone opened his mouth and hesitated. The truth seemed unreal now. At the same time, his feelings were so tangled that he wasn’t sure he wanted to share it with anyone. He felt cheated that the shih-aan had given him no moment of sweet weakness to savor, and Sir’s body remained a clothed mystery. So he made up a tale in which all the usual perversions were indulged, where he’d ridden a cock (unspiked) instead of a fist, and that of prodigious size indeed to account for how sore he was.

“Certainly too sore for another ride this morning,” he concluded.

“You must be dead,” said Tonner. “I’ll call a priest.”

“I’m serious!”

“It’d be the first time. Now be good and turn over.”

Tonner’s cock wasn’t that long, but it was thick. Wishbone winced at first at the friction in his well-used ring, but soon found himself struggling as always to take Tonner’s meaty thing further in while he worked his own cock with one spit-slicked hand. He arched his back and bit the bedclothes to muffle his cries. The spilling, though, was a pale echo of the one given by the shih-aan. Probably Wishbone was just tired. He pulled up his trousers, and something fell from the pocket.

“What’s that?” asked Tonner as he settled his own clothes.

“A bonus for a job well done.” He picked up the comb. It appeared to have been carved from a golden seashell. The ripples in it fascinated the eye and pleased the hand. A graduated series of purple stones were set along the back so that they caught the light. “They left me alone long enough to search through some drawers, and I found this on the bottom where it might not be missed.” He offered it to Tonner. “Looks like a better prize than the tin ring I lifted last week.”

Tonner took the comb in his hand, then dropped it and backed away. His eyes opened wide. “That thing is cursed.”

“This?” Wishbone picked up the comb again. He felt nervous when he closed his fingers on it, but that was entirely reasonable given that he’d stolen it.

“I don’t know how you can stand to touch it,” said Tonner, “But I want it out of the apartment immediately.”

“Can it wait until after I’ve slept?” asked Wishbone. He was in a hurry to move the comb as well, but Davvy wouldn’t have his booth open until much later.

Tonner shifted from foot to foot. “I’ll allow that,” he said finally. “But I want it gone. Now I’ve got to open the shop.”

“Hold up.” Wishbone fished in his purse for a crescent. “Buy us some new tea, hm?”

This was a nice change from the usual Google Alert, which thinks I need to know about women hiding bombs under their burkas.

This alert was about a Yuletide Fanfic that someone wrote based on Mate. I’d never heard of this fanfic custom, so Cecilia Tan explained thusly:

It’s basically a humongous Secret Santa fest run annually on livejournal. Say you are a fan of various things. You put up a “Dear Santa” request like “I would like a fanfic written for me in either the Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Harry Potter, or Star Trek universes.” (I think you have to list at least three.) Then a fanfic writer becomes your secret santa and writes something to fit the requested spec, picking one of the fandoms listed.

You can see the resulting story here. For me it was a fascinating look at how people see my writing.

As always, you can buy the original collection in various places.

Up for Grabs

The genderqueer anthology I edited earlier this year, Up for Grabs, got a mention at gather.com:

“If your reading tastes are a bit quirky, if you’re an open-minded reader, and if you enjoy the premise of “What if?”…then Up For Grabs, edited by Lauren P. Burka (Circlet Press) is just the book for you. In these five delicious tales, gender is up for grabs, and science pushes the boundaries between male and female, natural and unnatural.”

Click to buy me

In other news, today we got a very nice review of Wired Hard 4.

As big a fan of explicit depictions of gay male sex as I am, an anthology of straight-up porn with no other major elements to it would probably not sustain my interest from cover to cover. Did I mention that I read this whole thing in one sitting, from start to finish? I did, and it was because each of these stories are beautifully told and packed with ideas. .