0 comments on "Faizel 02 mm, vampires available on Smashwords and Amazon"

Faizel 02

Faizel 02

Author: Harper Kingsley

Genre: mm. urban fantasy. vampires. realistic magic society.

Where to find it: Smashwords or Amazon at the moment. OverDrive, Scribd etc. in the future.

Faizel is settling into his new life with Charlemagne. They’re living in an out of the way apartment that only Charlemagne’s friend Ewing knows about and Faizel is keeping his head down as he learns about this similar-but-different Earth.

It contains some NSFW scenes because of vampires and sex and Faizel’s demonic heritage.

Excerpt of Chapter One:

Sometimes Ewing wondered if they had invited a devil into their midst. Because there wasn’t a doubt in his mind that Charlemagne was possessed. And the devil’s name was Faizel. Charlemagne’s darling love. The mysterious vampire that had appeared from nowhere to steal Charlemagne’s heart and rearrange the natural order of the world.

Ewing thought of Faizel as a booty call gone wrong, though he would never say it aloud. He valued his life too much.

Charlemagne wanted to keep Faizel secret, and Ewing was willing to go along with it. Because honestly, how could he even explain someone like Faizel? The guy scared the ever living fuck out of him, and that was no lie.

“Are you certain this is how you want to do things?” Deacon asked in her “I’m a complete hard as nails Law Officer” voice.

Ewing fought to keep still where he knelt on the hardwood floor along with the other low level vampires. It was pretty boring, but he wasn’t one to battle the status quo. He didn’t want to be tortured and killed.

Prince Lucian had summoned Isadore, which had forced them to go with her. They were ornaments meant to display her level of awesome to the rest of the Lords and Ladies, who had brought their own Courts. They were each showing off how powerful and bad ass they were, which meant uncomfortable outfits and unnatural poses for their followers.

It was a revelation to look across the banquet hall and see the other retinues; some of those guys had it really rough. Ewing only had to wear old fashioned clothes and serve imaginary tea. It didn’t seem so bad in comparison to what those other schlubs had to put up with. He didn’t even know what was up with the guy with the weird metal clamps on his face or the chick with the fish hooks through her nipples.

Seeing that everyone was focused on the drama unfolding in the middle of the room, he risked stretching his back and cracking his neck. He even dared to lick his dry lips a minute later before getting back to his frozen position.

Back when he’d been human he’d fantasized about what it would be like when he was Turned. He’d imagined lounging around wearing cool clothes. He’d imagined driving fancy cars and owning the city and everyone in it. Instead, he dressed like a complete hose-bag and catered to a woman that made his testicles shrivel. She was hot, with long waves of inky black hair and eyes that seemed to be permanently rimmed with heavy black kohl. She was also hardcore pathetic, though she expected them to do whatever she wanted.

He’d thought being a vampire would mean freedom. Instead he’d been forced into the life of some old lady’s permanent bitch-boy. His place in the Hierarchy was so low he didn’t even get to sit in a chair–he spent his time kneeling with his palms to the floor.

He wasn’t jealous of Charlemagne’s higher rank though. That guy was in a much worse position: he had to sleep with the old broad whenever she wanted. Isadore was sexy, but Ewing had no desire for her. Which probably explained why he was kneeling on the floor rather than standing behind her throne-chair all mannequin-faced like Charlemagne.

Stuff was getting loud and there were angry words being said. Law Officer Jenny Deacon was looking for a missing girl. She had requested that Prince Lucian gather all the master vampires in the city for questioning. She seemed to think the girl was in an Enclave somewhere. And of course all the vampires knew which one because none of them could keep a secret.

Ewing had never realized Deacon was so arrogant. Storming the Prince’s Citadel and demanding answers as though Lucian were a peasant. She was lucky Prince Lucian had the hots for her, because Law Officer or not, he would have torn her apart if she were anyone else. Ewing had heard the stories. But she was so raw to the job that she thought she could take on a Prince.

Charlemagne thought she was an idiot, and Ewing couldn’t help agreeing.

Ewing risked a peek to his right, and there that expression was on Charlemagne’s face. He had to muffle a snort. Most people would have thought Charlemagne’s face was blank, but Ewing knew the guy better. There was an extra bit of arch to Charlemagne’s brows and a smoldering flame in the back of his eyes. He was holding back a sneer through sheer force of will.

Charlemagne played his role perfectly, but Ewing knew how much he hated to have his time wasted. He had to put up with it from Isadore, but Deacon was only human. Charlemagne would never be indecorous enough to step out of line in public, but Ewing could tell he wanted to.

From the minute he Woke for the first time as a lesser vampire, Ewing had known the best he could hope for was being a master’s lackey. His place in the Hierarchy had been set by his biology and there was nothing he could do to change it. Charlemagne though, he was one of the lucky ones. He was of the master class and Ewing had never seen him hit his limit. He was strong enough that Ewing wondered why he took orders from masters that were obviously inferior. Yet Charlemagne would just bow his head and do as he was told. It was weird.

There was a loud crash and a load of screeching and Ewing found himself caught up in the show. The boring posturing was over and it was time for some action. He was reluctantly entertained.

The nobles had broken up into various cliques encircling the room, leaving the main floor open. The first time Ewing had seen it happen, he’d felt like he was back in high school being herded into the gym.

Isadore was next to Felix, as he was her Patron. They sat atop large throne chairs with their personal entourages around them. The lower level vampires were arranged in neat rows bracing the thrones, Isadore’s followers to the left and Felix’ to the right.

Ewing was supposed to keep his head facing forward, but that didn’t keep his eyes from moving. Being near the end of his row gave him a clear field of view of most of the room. He just had to be careful not to catch the eye of any of his “betters.” He wasn’t fond of punishment.

Deacon was standing facing Prince Lucian with one gloved hand knotted in the hair of a vampire man, her gun pointed at the side of his head. “Are you gonna try anything stupid when I pop this guy?”

There was an amused lift to Prince Lucian’s lips. “You may do as you wish. You are the Law. It is your job to punish him, is it not?”

“Good. As long as you remember that, I won’t have to come for you next time.” There was a slight ripple of outrage through the room; she had dared threaten their Prince.

Lucian’s laughter was a rich, touchable thing. “You are bold,” he said, like it was a good thing and not something that regularly got people killed. Ewing wondered if Deacon knew how much the Prince indulged her and how rare that was. Probably not. People like Deacon usually took adoration as their due.

“You are bold, Jenny Deacon, like a well-honed blade.” Prince Lucian waved his hand. “Take him as you like, my gift to you.”

Her snort of derision wasn’t exactly subtle, but Ewing didn’t think she cared. She had been disrespectful before and the Prince had never said anything about it, so now she acted as though it were her due.

That was a stupid kind of ballsy right there, but from what little Ewing knew of Jenny Deacon, she wasn’t the kind of person to ever back down. She was the lunge-lunge-lunge forward kind of person that always thought she was going to come out safe on the other side. She didn’t realize she was jamming herself headfirst into a meat grinder, and Prince Lucian controlled the crank.

“Who’s that guy?” Ewing asked out of the corner of his mouth. He’d never seen that vampire before in his life, and he’d made it his business to know anyone even the least bit important.

Smashwords or Amazon.

An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good at Amazon
0 comments on "Thoughts on Critical Race Theory (CRT)"

THOUGHTS ON CRITICAL RACE THEORY (CRT)

Screenshot of Louisiana textbooks being REALLY racist. Like, SO much.

If critical race theory is so evil that it can’t be allowed in schools… Why is this nonsense allowed?

I mean, I’d be okay doing without CRT if the textbooks actually taught history and not revisionist nonsense. Because if everything wasn’t slanted toward “the poor plantation owners,” and if the word “slave” wasn’t actively being changed by textbook writers to deny the AWFULNESS of slavery, there wouldn’t need to be critical race theory.

Everyone would know that slavery is wrong.

That African Americans didn’t choose to hop on boats and work in fields picking cotton for no pay. That they didn’t choose to be collared and beaten and sold away from their families and friends to toil until they died under the cruelest system imaginable. That the slave owners were the worst sort of people imaginable and nothing to worship and emulate; just monsters in human skin, whining that they had to give up slavery and actually pay workers fair wages.

“Nobody wants to work anymore”–is a codified phrase used today with the implication that workers, “the lessers of society,” are to blame for businesses “failing.” Rather than accepting that their leaning on a failed business model–a pyramid scheme where workers are paid chump change while CEOs have golden parachutes–is the problem, they want to blame people for wanting a living wage.

There’s a reason they want textbooks that lie.

Because when they do evil things to workers in the modern world, they can point at those lying textbooks and say, “What are you complaining about? We paid to bring people from Africa to work in America. They chose to come and work in exchange for food, water, and a pallet to sleep on. Their lives here were so much better than back in their original country. They were glad to leave and come to America. They were grateful enough to call their saviors their ‘masters.’ They were happy to work for no money in return for a better life. And you should be too. ‘Slavery’ is just a word, after all, like ‘indentured servant’ and ‘whipping someone so much that they die.’ It’s the natural order of things. All workers should be glad for the chance to work, even without pay or any compensation. That’s what America needs to go back to: Traditional Family Values.”

Meanwhile, the percentage of slave owners/masters/abusers is MUCH HIGHER than the 1.4% they want to lie about.

“Don’t blame me. My family was poor and couldn’t afford slaves.”

“Why do I care what happened decades before I was born? Don’t make me feel uncomfortable about it. I didn’t have anything to do with slavery!”

In 1860, 90% of America’s black population was enslaved, and blacks made up over 50% of the population of states like South Carolina and Mississippi. To suggest this ubiquity of human bondage in 1860s America was the result of only “1.4% of whites” owning slaves would be, to put it mildly, an inaccurate reading of U.S. history.

–Snopes (Did Only 1.4 Percent of White Americans Own Slaves in 1860? | Snopes.com)

The phrase “a ‘society with slaves’ is different from a ‘slave society'” resonates strongly with me. Because we weren’t a society with slaves.

We were a slave society.

Because like the earlier tweet pointed out–“They were able to reclaim their plantation but, due to emancipation (the freeing of slaves), lost all their property in slaves. The family had to face the new reality of planting and harvesting their fields with freed people who, Kate regretted, now demanded ‘high wages.‘”–the whole business model the South was dependent on fell apart without slaves. Having to pay people even a minimal amount of money for their work was TOO MUCH for a lot of slave owners/holders to handle.

Their businesses fell apart because they didn’t have human beings to exploit and abuse.

And FYI—

The definition for “indentured servant”–

a person who signs and is bound by indentures to work for another for a specified time especially in return for payment of travel expenses and maintenance

–says right in it that it IS NOT SLAVERY.

To use the two interchangeably is disingenuous at best, and outright evil at worst.

An indentured servant signed paperwork to agree to work for someone for a prearranged amount of time in return for travel expenses, food, shelter, and pocket money. They had legal recourses in the event of abuses, and could even break their contracts if they had reason.

A slave wasn’t even seen as human–“lost all their property in slaves“–but as property to be traded, sold, and bred. They certainly had no option to say “I don’t want to work for you anymore” and to leave, because the ones that fled were hunted down by people whose sole business involved retrieving “lost” slaves to their owners for money.

And I added that emphasis there–“for money“–because it’s one more proof that the United States of America started as a slave society. Because the very framework of Southern society was built on the backs of human misery, to the point that their lifestyles collapsed without slaves to hold it up.

The fact that some modern Americans are trying to take us back to those times, and are using the textbooks currently taught in schools to do so, is reprehensible. I am disgusted by the whole lot of them.

And so, if the textbooks are teaching a false narrative, then critical race theory should definitely be taught in schools. Because everybody should get an oogy-creepy awful feeling when they read something like–

Kate felt ambivalent about the end of slavery, but after the war, she did her best to adjust to a world that she felt had been turned upside down. She married, raised children, and devoted herself the memoralizing the service of Confederate soldiers like her brothers. She founded the Madison Parish chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, and remained active until her death in 1907.

In this chapter, we will examine the political and cultural issues that led to sectional tensions and, ultimately, led Louisiana to secede from the Union. We will also learn about the wartime experiences of soldiers, politicians, civilians, and slaves in Union-occupied areas of Louisiana and in the parts of the state that remained in Confederate hands throughout the war. Finally, we will examine the immediate consequences of the war’s end.

–Louisiana state approved textbook: Louisiana Our History, Our Home

–in a textbook used to shape and mold children.

Seriously? She was still teaching hate and being awful right up until her death in 1907? She spent her whole life being awful and shaping people around her to be awful? And we’re not supposed to believe that racism is systemic?

The United States was built as a slave society, and some assholes want to go back to that. And to segregation. And to a time when brutally murdering someone was okay if you could excuse it with “He whistled at my girl.”

And I don’t want to go there.

That time and place seems dingy and small. It feels like it would smell like sour milk misery and everything is humid like a sweat sock in use. Just moist all over.

I prefer history books that teach history. I want events as they were, without the gloss of “The Confederacy never died!”-madness or the revisionism of modern wannabe-slave holders.

And if we can’t have honest truth taught in schools? Then there needs to be critical race theory.

Because any reader should be able to look at the Louisiana: Our History, Our Home textbook and realize that it’s full of lies and biased opinion rather than fact. That it’s slanted toward pro-slavery views rather than expressing the simple truth that slavery is wrong.

And if children are being taught these biased views from a young age, and in schools, and everywhere around them until they decide to leave it all behind and face reality… Everyone needs critical race theory at this point. It should be on TV. There should be intros and outros to TV episodes and movies explaining why the creator chose this or that, and why this or that is currently and was always wrong.

Because critical race theory is simply the ability to look at the situation as it presents itself and see where the biased opinions are, where the author’s leanings are trying to take things, and to feel empathy and to seek the truth of what’s happening. It’s the ability to look at a map of gerrymandered districts and see what is happening there, rather than just accepting that life has always been and always will be unfair.

If people don’t face the problems in a society, they never get fixed. And some people will take things backward to when things “used to work” even if that old system was a failure that never should have existed in the first place.

The United States began as a slave society where everything was built on and depended on human misery. People lived and died to change things and make things better for us all.

And now terrible people are devoting their entire lives to oppressing us and our children’s children. They are writing textbooks that contort the truth. They are trying to change history as we remember it to further their own aims of dominion over us all.

There are people actively trying to suppress democracy.

And they’re targeting your children to do it.

Allies & Enemies at Amazon
0 comments on "Smudged"

Flipping back through my Twitter times. To further some thoughts that maybe should have been left where they lay.

Like this robots tweet, that makes me think of that scene in iRobot where the robot is flipping through the air as it attacks and it’s fast and frightening.

I appreciate that they’re not risking the lives of real stunt people.

I think that’s a good thing.

Original seasons of Roseanne were really everyday life in the United States. Like, it was the first time they showed what life was really like on TV versus the romanticized versions of previous family-focused shows.

Before it jumped the shark, the show was a slice of real life. From the good to the bad.

And that story arc where Dan’s salesman dad comes to visit and impregnates Crystal before ducking out… ooh. I didn’t realize how much it had stuck to me until I re-watched episodes as an adult and the reaction was visceral, man.

It popped in my head: “She’s a single mom struggling everyday to do right by her son. She came from abusive relationships and has always done the best she can. Of all the people he had to talk up, why did he have to screw around with Crystal? Like Dan said, ‘You’ve known her since she was a little girl.’ So at the very least, he should have had the humanity to leave. her. alone.”

Yeah. The show used to be honest and real in those first few seasons. I haven’t seen the new series, but OG Roseanne was family life in the late 80s.

Did anybody else watch The Tribe?

Zoot was a total asshole.

They’re like cute little fairy creatures.

Dancing and bobbing to the music of nature. Drifting closer to the human encampment. Curious voices and tittering carried by the wind.

I have a sudden interest in reading the old Popeye comics.

I don’t want to buy them. I just want to take a little look.

Allies & Enemies at Amazon
0 comments on "Thoughts on Things; Writing stuff; Bits and Bobs"

Thoughts on Things

So… There’s been a lot of Florida Man incidents in the news lately.

Like, Florida Man recently kicked an iguana to death then claimed Stand Your Ground laws in court. https://twitter.com/HarperKingsley0/status/1400140467207999488?s=20

Or, Florida Man recently took his 10-year old son on a paintball drive-by that resulted in the kid being shot with a real gun and run over by his dad’s van. https://twitter.com/HarperKingsley0/status/1400166245429772290?s=20

“12-year-old boy, 14-year-old girl open fire at deputies with guns including AK-47, Florida sheriff’s officials say”

“A right-wing Florida pastor was hospitalized with Covid-19, weeks after saying vaccination efforts were part of a ‘mass death campaign.'”

So… yeah.

It feels like people are acting up lately.

Stay safe, normal people of Florida. We’re all praying for you. What with Florida Man being on the loose.

Writing stuff

Still working on my Bits and Bobs project. Gonna finish up a couple more fills and make it public.

The current settings of the browser play game have all content available. The purple (paid content) and the red (NSFW) writing is going to be in the paid version, same with most of the green (spoilers).

As the Itch system is currently set, if you have a game available for browser play, it’s there for everyone. I’m okay with that.

The only unfortunate thing is that if you buy the game, you still have to download it to your own computer/phone to play.

I think it would be better if you could just log in and have the full game available in their game browser. That way the updates are right there. And there’s nothing to download and fidget with.

As it is, the paid version will include a zip file of html and image files. Unzip the folder and click index to start. Any updates will include instructions of where to drop the new files. That’s the plan.

Otherwise, I have no idea what I’m doing.

“WIPs, Snips, Bits and Bobs” by Harper Kingsley. https://harperkingsley.itch.io/bits-and-bobs (current password: “Amorpho”)

Bits and Bobs: Story Prompt Generator

The “STORY PROMPT GENERATOR: 60 Prompts” section includes 60 story prompts for creatives.

I’ll likely include the current version of the story prompt generator itself in a later update. It’s a click-button tool that pulls up a character and a situation.

example: Prompt 26 and fill

26. Recently having regained human form, an alchemist’s apprentice drank a bottle of homemade alcohol.

He felt strange in his own skin, as though it didn’t fit anymore. He didn’t know if he’d outgrown himself or if his skin had shrunk while it was changed.

He felt uncomfortable in his human body. A month as an otter, and suddenly being human felt unfamiliar and wrong.

A part of him hadn’t wanted to change back.

If the spell hadn’t ended when it did, he might have decided to stay an otter. He might have followed the call of the sea and never come back to his humdrum existence at the Alchemists Guild.

And how should he feel about that? Happier as an otter than a human being.

The package had come for his master. She’d pointed at him and said, “Those must be the jams I ordered. Open it for me, would you?”

And he’d pulled the string and his everything had changed. Simpler and easier without losing a sense of “Everything is good and right.”

There had been joy as an otter that his regular life lacked. He wasn’t awkward and uncomfortable in his own skin. He was sleek and graceful and diving into the water was like coming home.

He raised the cup of Master Gardener’s best homebrew to his lips. The taste of the beer was said to be excellent; he didn’t know. He’d never had much fondness for alcohol. It was just that he felt so lost (afraid). He needed something to help him feel anchored.

So here he was in the toolshed with four other apprentices. His friends and age-mates.

Smug bastards that didn’t and wouldn’t understand the great sense of loss he felt.

For a brief time, he’d been whole.

“How you doin’, mate?” Alby asked.

“I’m alright,” he said, then coughed to clear his throat and take another drink. He didn’t see the concerned looks he received.

“I can’t imagine the bollocks on the magicians, thinking they could turn Master Flamewroth into an animal. She’d probably have been a tiger and torn them to pieces. Tough luck on you, though.”

“Yeah. Tough luck on me.”

/END Prompt 26

Bits and Bobs: Current suggested path

When you first run Bits and Bobs, click the “Show NSFW” button then click the “Hide NSFW” button (if you don’t really want to see NSFW content). The current settings have the “Show NSFW’ button unlocking what would otherwise be paid content (purple text).

Everything is currently a work-in-progress. Segments that have “/END” after them can be expanded at any time. (Especially if someone shows interest in a particular segment.)

The actual NSFW content is currently at around PG-15 levels. When everything’s finished, the button will mostly be for violence, language, dialogue, and graphic imagery. Erotica and all that will be separate modules available for purchase and download. That way I don’t have to worry about minors accessing content way outside their current kink settings.

There will also be extra story modules available for some projects otherwise unavailable for purchase (Tuesday Night, et al).

“WIPs, Snips, Bits and Bobs” by Harper Kingsley. https://harperkingsley.itch.io/bits-and-bobs (current password: “Amorpho”)

Oh yeah, and fyi, I’m writing this project in text, which means no spellcheck. I fix the mistakes that I spot, otherwise I’m going to run it through a spellchecker when I’m done with the project base.