"A Succubus for Halloween" is out!

It's publication day! (Or rather, second publication day).

My 3rd erotic horror short story collection, A Succubus for Halloween and other tales of Terrifying Temptresses, is now available as an ebook.

You can pick it up here:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Succubus-Halloween-other-Terrifying-Temptresses-ebook/dp/B0B8XNZGN9

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/a-succubus-for-halloween-2

Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-succubus-for-halloween-m-e-hydra/1104316352

Apple: https://books.apple.com/gb/book/a-succubus-for-halloween/id6443244356

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/98067

Here's the obligatory blurb:

Tempting, wanton, enticing, gorgeous... lethal.

Halloween is a time for chills and thrills.  A time for femme fatales to sharpen their claws and take to the night in search of fresh prey.  Cuddle up in front of an open fire as M. E. Hydra brings you a delectable dirty dozen tales of ravishing succubi and other sensual predators.

A man uses a succubus as instrument of revenge in “A Succubus for Halloween”.  An unusual treatment for claustrophobia is prescribed in “Naga Special Massage”.  In “The Pearls of the Mediterranean” a group of holidaying lads discover an exotic nudist beach with a secret.  Things get wet and slippery while “Oil Wrestling a Succubus”.  Against a backdrop of demonic invasion, a soldier is subjected to the fleshy pleasures of “Capramendes, the Milkmaid”.  And finally, a doctor finds a sexy supernatural companion for “A Halloween Party with a Succubus”.

Sit back and enjoy these and other tales of weird, wanton and wicked temptresses.  They’ll give you pleasures beyond your wildest dreams, and terrors beyond your darkest nightmares...

This is a republication of the title I had out through Excessica.  Sadly, Excessica is no more, so I'm putting the old books back up under my own author account.  To mark the occasion I've redone the cover and added an afterword with some commentary on the stories.  If you have the original you probably don't need to get this, but I'm not going to turn down the extra royalties if someone wants to pick it up to help me out.

Because I get questions asking if these are just the same stories that are up on Literotica.  Some are originally from there, but the collections also contain stories that are exclusive to them and can't be found anywhere else.  There are 5 exclusives in this one.  "Oil Wrestling a Succubus" features some sexy femdom oil wrestling and links a couple of plotlines to my mobster character, Koontz (You'll also see the succubus from this in HoHH soon, hopefully).  "Serving the Earth Mother" is quite possibly one of the grosser stories I've written (and probably wouldn't be allowed up on Literotica!).  Of most interest will likely be the Nicole story, "A Halloween Party with a Succubus".

Anyway, it's out and I hope you all have fun reading it! 

"A Succubus for Halloween" is available for pre-order

I'm still having a few problems at Amazon, but gradually powering through them.  My 3rd short story collection, A Succubus for Halloween and other tales of Terrifying Temptresses is now available for pre-order at various places:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0B8XNZGN9
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/a-succubus-for-halloween-2
Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-succubus-for-halloween-m-e-hydra/1104316352

Here is the obligatory blurb:

Tempting, wanton, enticing, gorgeous... lethal.

Halloween is a time for chills and thrills.  A time for femme fatales to sharpen their claws and take to the night in search of fresh prey.  Cuddle up in front of an open fire as M. E. Hydra brings you a delectable dirty dozen tales of ravishing succubi and other sensual predators.

A man uses a succubus as instrument of revenge in “A Succubus for Halloween”.  An unusual treatment for claustrophobia is prescribed in “Naga Special Massage”.  In “The Pearls of the Mediterranean” a group of holidaying lads discover an exotic nudist beach with a secret.  Things get wet and slippery while “Oil Wrestling a Succubus”.  Against a backdrop of demonic invasion, a soldier is subjected to the fleshy pleasures of “Capramendes, the Milkmaid”.  And finally, a doctor finds a sexy supernatural companion for “A Halloween Party with a Succubus”.

Sit back and enjoy these and other tales of weird, wanton and wicked temptresses.  They’ll give you pleasures beyond your wildest dreams, and terrors beyond your darkest nightmares...

This is another republication.  With my previous publisher Excessica closing, I'm self-publishing all of my old books through my personal author account.  To mark the republication I've added a new cover and an afterword with some behind-scenes commentary on the stories.

While a lot of the stories originally showed up on Literotica and other places, there are some stories that can only be found in this collection, including the very nice Nicole story, "A Halloween Party with a Succubus".

As before, if you already have the old collection, you probably don't need to pick up the newer version, but I'm certainly not going to say no if you wish to buy it to support my future writing!  I'd appreciate reviews if people can give them, but this is erotica (and fairly weird erotica at that!), so fully understand people wanting to remain anonymous with their purchases.

The official (re)publication date is this Friday (12th Aug).  I hope people have fun reading the collection then!

Story Inspiration - A Succubus for Halloween

Continuing my Q'n'As to get material for a behind-scenes section for each collection.  This time we're on to "A Succubus for Halloween".  So if you have any questions about any of the stories or characters from that collection (or anything in general), fire away below.

Here's a list of stories from that collection as a reminder:

1) A Succubus for Halloween
2) The Orgy of the Pink Flesh
3) Naga Special Massage
4) The Pearls of the Mediterranean
5) Halloween Nyte
6) The Big Black Bed
7) Cleric vs Succubus*
8) Oil Wrestling a Succubus*
9) Shrimp and the Crab Centaur Girls*
10) Welcome to the City
11) Capramendes, the Milkmaid
12) Serving the Earth Mother*
13) A Halloween Party with a Succubus*

* exclusive to this collection.

After a quiet period, I'm currently trying to catch up with House of Hellish Harlot releases.  I'm hoping to finally start getting the collections back up on Amazon again early April.

Reviews, Lovely Reviews (Me this time)

Reviews are like buses, wait ages for one to come along and then you get two in the same week.

Here’s a lovely one for A Succubus for Halloween on The Horror Fiction Review:

http://thehorrorfictionreview.blogspot.com/2012/05/may-2012-reviews.html

The horror writer in me that died over a decade ago might have unearthed himself and done a little jig after reading that. As a quasi-self-published author, I always have doubts about whether my work is actually good enough to see print. Reviews like this are great for kicking those bad thoughts back down into the cellar where they belong.

And a nice (and detailed!) one from Tera for A Succubus for Christmas over on The Succubi’s Tale blog:

http://www.succubus.net/blog/2012/05/04/a-review-of-a-succubus-for-christmas/

That one did remind me I’ve been neglecting the fun stories of late. I haven’t written anything like "Slayer vs. Succubus" for a while, something I intend to correct. Don’t worry. I’m not going to stop with the dark stories either. Balance is good. Always keep the audience on their toes. That way they don’t see it coming when you sock them in the guts…

I haven’t seen a big increase in sales after the reviews. That’s fine. Contrary to what some people say about us self-published ruffians, money is not our sole motivation. I’m having fun writing and I’m glad to see I’m not embarrassing myself with my efforts.

I think I might hold off on letting the folks know about the pseudonym for a while—not sure how they’d take to “kinky and depraved”. :D

Numbers from a Newbie Writer's First Year

Here's the latest post I put up on the Self-Publishing Revolution blog detailing how my first year as a self-published(ish) writer has gone. Thanks to everyone who supported me through buying my books and I hope you enjoyed them! More to come next year!

I had a nice early Christmas present when my third quarter royalties came through. I was expecting this to be fairly light, but it also included some October sales, which was when my third collection of short stories, A Succubus for Halloween, came out. The amount this quarter was $600, a nice little sum right before Christmas.

That takes my total profits, after taking out initial setup costs, author copies and seller’s/publisher’s cuts, to $1,300 for my first (kind of) year as a writer. Obviously this is nowhere near the same ballpark as self-publishing titans Amanda Hocking and Joe Konrath, but this is all money in the black, with the only outlay being my free time spent in an activity I enjoy doing anyway.

I put out three collections of short stories, with A Succubus for Christmas coming out October 2010, A Succubus for Valentine’s Day coming out February 2011 and A Succubus for Halloween arriving October 2011. Christmas and Valentine’s Day were originally priced at $5.99 and this was dropped to $3.99 about halfway in the year after eXcessica head honcho Selena Kitt did some experimenting on pricing. Christmas and Valentine’s Day sold just under 200 copies and Halloween just over 100, making 500 books (print + ebook) in total for the whole year. It’s a modest amount, but not bad considering collections of short stories rarely sell well and my subject matter is about as far from the mainstream as you can get! :)

More promising is the growth. Christmas and Valentine’s Day sold nearly 200 each over the whole year. Halloween came out at the end of the third week in October and my royalties run up until the end of October, which meant it managed those hundred-and-so sales in the first week. Baby steps, I know, but they’re going in the right direction.

Unsurprisingly, the lion’s share of these sales was through Amazon, but they are not the only game in town. I can understand why some might think Amazon’s current dominance is a cause for concern, but I suspect if Amazon really started to abuse that dominance to the detriment of writers and readers, they’d quickly find themselves outstripped by one of their competitors in the way Nintendo was usurped by Sony in the console wars of the ‘90’s. For the moment they’re fantastic and a budding writer would be foolish not to take advantage of what they have to offer.

Writers shouldn’t restrict themselves to only Amazon. Having their own webpage for direct sales can be very useful once they’ve built up a following. By promoting eXcessica’s coming soon link for A Succubus for Halloween heavily on my personal blog in the month leading up to its release I was able to generate 40 sales, nearly half of the total for that book, directly through eXcessica’s own store (which also took Halloween to the top of their bestsellers list, yay! Now if only I can match Selena’s sales out in the rest of the big bad world. :)).

For people looking to self-publish as a route to fame and riches, these numbers aren’t very exciting. If I was trying to make a living as a full-time professional writer, 500 sales and a return of $1,300 for the year would be horrifying. Thankfully I’m not, so I can feel chuffed about the numbers instead of worrying about what I’m going to live on next year.

Next year I plan to put out my first novel and a fourth collection of short stories. I don’t know where the path is going to take me, but it’s going to be fun to find out!

All the best for 2012!

Feedback / Q'n'A for "A Succubus for Halloween"

A Succubus for Halloween has been out for a month or so now. Thanks to everyone who bought it, I hope you enjoyed it.

I thought I'd use this post as a general request for feedback. Let me know your favourite/least favourite story from the collection and what you liked/didn't like. This will give me a chance to tighten the screws on my internal filth compass and make sure it's still pointing in the right direction.

I'm going to continue killing 80% of my protagonists off regardless of what's requested. It's an addicton, I can't help it. :D But I do want to make sure the stories are still sexy and entertaining, and I haven't been tempted down the dark and dangerous path of trying to write fancy-and-pretentious-like.

Also if you have any questions about any of the new stories fire away right here (or to my email address manyeyedhydraATgooglemail.com if you'd rather not comment in public).

Ta

The Tidal Wave of Choice and a Deceptive Cover

More tubthumping from The Self-Publishing Revolution. My scheduled monthly post ended up being a real bitch to write so I'm doubling it up here to fill in for my usual Tuesday/Wednesday/uh Thursday? slot.

One of the fears about the rise in ebooks and self-publishing is that the world will be buried in a tidal wave of crap writing. It’s a familiar argument—there will be so many bad Twilight knockoffs and other rubbish uploaded to Amazon no one will be able to find anything worth reading amongst the great steaming piles of ordure.

It’s one way of looking at it. Personally, I think it’s just as easy to turn it around and see the positive aspects.

The problem when creativity is commodified is that the bottom line suddenly becomes the number one consideration. It’s not enough to be good; if someone has stumped up cash in advance, they’ll want to see a return on their investment, which means the work needs to be both good and popular (or failing that, just popular, hey, Hollywood ;) ). I suspect more than a few writers have run into, “It’s good, but we don’t think there’s a big enough audience”, before the gate slammed down on their foot. As a result niche, interesting, challenging is often overlooked in favour of safe, bland, reliable (Hey, hello Hollywood! ;) ).

The beauty with ebooks and self-publishing is that the initial outlays are so small. Writers can take risks. Even if they only find a niche audience appreciative of their work, that’s still profit (providing you don’t think too hard about the time spent creating and polishing your work!). It’s also good for readers. Yes, there are going to be a lot of bad books that shouldn’t have seen the light of day (and these too might find fans—taste is subjective), but there are also going to be a lot of quirky, interesting books that might not have made it out of the slush pile under the old system. Personally, I think more choice is better than less choice.

Take short stories. I love short stories, especially horror stories. Mainstream publishing houses seldom publish short story collections. They don’t sell very well. There was even a recent tweetathon to save the short story.

I’ve put out three collections of short stories. They haven’t found a massive audience, but they have been found by readers who’ve enjoyed them a great deal. Publishers have to worry about the cost of print runs and marketing budgets. I don’t. I’m free to write what I want. It doesn’t take many sales to cover the initial costs and everything after that is gravy. That’s good for me, good for the readers who like my writing, and good for short stories, as there are plenty of bloody-minded fools like me that still enjoy writing them.

I suppose this would be the appropriate point for the blatant book plug:



I love the cover Selena and the people at eXcessica came up with. It’s totally inappropriate. This is either the darkest collection of erotica you’re likely to read this Halloween, or the most twisted, sexy-perverse collection of horror tales you’re likely to read this Halloween. Someone is going to pick up this book thinking it’s another cutesy paranormal romance with fashion-conscious demonesses, and get the shock of their lives.

I’m more in love with that idea than I should be. I can’t help it. I’m a horror writer. We want to scare people. It’s in the blood. While marketing-types would be aghast, I’m sitting here and grinning like a Cheshire Cat as I go, “open it… open it…”

It’s Halloween. I’m going to have fun. Bottom line be damned.

Enjoy the book. She’s as cute and adorable as her cover. Honest… ;)

A Succubus for Halloween is out!

She's out in the wild and eager to snare fresh prey with her seductive wiles:



My third collection of short stories is available to buy from eXcessica, amazon, smashwords, B & N and others. And if you'd prefer a more tangible copy, the print version is also available from CreateSpace (and probably amazon too, shortly).

So go on, enjoy a slice of darker erotica this Halloween...

A Succubus for Halloween: The New Flesh

Only a few days to go before my third collection of short stories, A Succubus for Halloween, hits the online streets. I’ve talked before about trying to find a balance between posting stories up on the internet for all to read and holding some back to sell ebooks (which is good, as it incentivises me to write more stories). There are five brand new, previously unseen stories in A Succubus for Halloween. I’ve posted some excerpts over the past couple of weeks, now here are a few summaries to raise the excitement level.

Cleric vs. Succubus

Most of the stories are contemporary this time around, but I did include this tasty little historical piece. A luxurious Roman bath becomes a deadly battleground as a holy man fights for his soul against the seductive wiles of a rapaciously erotic succubus.

Oil-Wrestling a Succubus

Splash on some oil as it’s time for some kinky grappling with a lithe little hellcat. With succubi it’s always that kind of wrestling, but don’t expect her to fight fair.

I thought it was about time I covered the femdom wrestling fetish and this story gave me a perfect excuse. There’s also an interesting little scene for those that like to follow the tidbits of continuity I bury in my stories.

Shrimp and the Crab-Centaur Girls

In H-Space, beware the girls with multiple legs and pussy lips that can swallow a man whole…

This one’s insane. One for the voreaphiles to appreciate (I haven’t forgotten you) while everyone else can scratch their heads and wonder why I’m still allowed to roam the streets. If you like crazy Japanese anime, this might tickle your bits.

Serving the Earth Mother

The sultry witch, Annette Brite, lures a young couple into an obscene arcane ritual.

Every good horror film or book needs moments. These are the set pieces that stick in the memory and everyone talks about afterwards. The plot of this story is one such moment. You’ll understand what I mean after you read the story and attempt to describe it to someone else.

Fucked up doesn’t even begin to cover it.

It’s the penultimate story of the collection. It’s there for a reason. By this point the reader is probably thinking the stories can’t possibly get any darker or crazier.

They can and do.

Which leaves the last tale:

A Halloween Party with a Succubus

Fans of the lovely Nicole can rejoice. This is the all-new story featuring her.

She escorts a doctor to a Halloween reunion party where old resentments bubble under the surface. Nicole is not afraid of a little bit of exhibitionism, so the good doctor is in for a livelier night out than he first thought!

There’re these and a few old favourites, all wrapped up in the darkest, weirdest, most insane collection of horror erotica you’re likely to find this Halloween.

A Succubus for Halloween: Excerpt IV

Continuing with the excerpts, here's the lovely Nicole being very naughty (naughty as in if you're not 18, scram!) in "A Halloween Party with a Succubus."

* * * *

They stood outside on a wide balcony overlooking the park behind the house. It was quiet out here. Everyone else was back inside in the light and the noise of the party. Robert took a sip of beer and leant on the balustrade. He stared down at the trees below.

“Is everything okay?” Nicole asked. She put an arm around him.

“It was a mistake bringing you here,” Robert said.

“Oh,” Nicole said. She sounded hurt. “Did I do something wrong.”

“No, not you,” Robert said quickly, alarmed he might have hurt her feelings. “Them.” He nodded towards the light and noise of the party.

He paused.

“No. Me. What was I trying to prove? All I’ve done is expose you to their sniggers and snide remarks. I can hear them. They never did learn to talk quietly. Some of the things they’re saying about you...” Robert shook his head. “It’s not right, whatever your job and background are.”

Nicole looked back at the bright lights of the house. A muted babble of conversation and loud braying laughter could be heard on the other side of the windows.

“They’re not very nice people, are they,” she commented.

Robert paused. He hadn’t wanted to admit it himself.

“No, they’re not,” he said. “Aldrich was that kind of school. I was hoping the years might have changed them, but no, Aldrich is that kind of school.”

He plonked his half-drunk bottle of beer on the stone balustrade.

“Let’s go,” he said. “We don’t have to stay around here and listen to them snigger behind our backs. There’s a pub not far from Josef Schwarz with much better company.”

Nicole’s hand was in his. He turned to walk away, but Nicole didn’t follow. Instead she pulled him back with startling force.

Robert barely had a chance to register his surprise before her arms enfolded him in an embrace and her soft lips pressed against his. Her lips were moist and lusciously soft. A warm buzz flowed through Robert as she pressed them against his. She wrapped her arms around him and pushed her body up against him. A jolt ran through Robert’s body as she wriggled against his crotch.

She broke off the kiss and Robert blinked as he looked at her smiling face. That had been unexpected.

Still smiling, Nicole backed away and twisted from side to side, dancing to a rhythm only she could hear as she crouched down lower and lower. Robert shivered as she pressed a palm against his groin and rubbed. Robert’s member, already slightly engorged, swelled up to full hardness.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

Nicole gave him a whimsical smile before grasping the zipper of his fly and pulling it down.

“Something fun,” she said.

She reached into his trousers.

“But they’ll see,” Robert hissed.

The drapes were all pulled back. There was only glass separating them from the party guests.

“I want them to see,” Nicole said. Her smile matched the horns on her head.

“Why?” Robert asked. He trembled as she extricated his throbbing erection and brought it out into the cool October air. “Isn’t this confirming—”

Robert was cut off mid-sentence—mid-thought even—as Nicole kissed the tip of his cock with her soft lips and then sucked, taking in his full length right down to his balls. He leant back against the stone balustrade and closed his eyes as Nicole crouched in front of him and bobbed her head up and down on his erection.

* * * *

Not long now...

A Succubus for Halloween: Excerpt III

Ever had the feeling you started something a little earlier than it needed to be? :)

Never mind. Here's an excerpt from one of the new stories in A Succubus for Halloween. The sultry witch, Annette Brite, is up to more mischief in "Serving the Earth Mother":

* * * *

Aaron felt a sickening feeling in the pit of his stomach as he heard the clipped, perfect enunciation of the new voice. His yell for help had caught the attention of someone.

“It’s difficult to judge the amount of force required to knock somebody out, and it would have spoiled everything had I swung too hard and caved your skull in.”

Brite stood in the entrance to the stone cell. Her pale face looked white and insubstantial in the dim candlelight. She wore the same voluminous black dress as before, with a necklace of large wooden beads around her slender, elegant neck.

“What do you want with us?” Aaron asked.

“You’re a witch,” Andrea said. “You follow the Earth Mother, you know the Rule of Three. How can you do this?”

Brite chuckled.

“It’s a curiosity how language changes down the centuries,” she said. “Words that mean one thing can come to mean another. The same word can take on many different meanings. Many different meanings can even come together under the same word.

“What you call witch is a practitioner of Wicca. The word also has an older, darker meaning, a label given to those that seek knowledge and power through blacker arts. The old fairy tales were not so far from the truth.

“I am not a practitioner of Wicca.”

Brite took off her necklace and slipped out of her voluminous black dress. She was wearing nothing underneath and—like her face—the rest of her body was pale and flawless. She had a fantastic figure—soft and curvaceous around the breasts and hips, but lean around the waist and legs. In other circumstances Aaron might have thought her very sexy. Currently, sex was far from his mind.

“What do you want with us?” he asked.

Brite busied herself in the corner of the room. She painted a complex circle on the floor with a substance that was black and sticky like tar.

“The entities I call upon are more demanding and have darker appetites than your Earth Mother, I’m afraid,” she said. “And they are far less forgiving if their conditions are not met.”

She finished her design and stood up, examining each line and symbol carefully for possible errors.

“It won’t work,” Aaron said. He tried to ignore his fear and the chains around his wrists. He needed his voice to sound calm, a rational knife to cut through the woman’s obvious insanity. “It doesn’t matter how you sacrifice us. They won’t answer. They don’t exist. It’s all nonsense.”

It might be nonsense, but it wouldn’t make Andrea and him any less dead after she’d sacrificed them to her mythical deities.

Brite paused and her supple red lips curled up in an amused smile.

“I love this era,” she said, “so sure in your truth of the world even though you’re as innocent as newborn babes.”

She opened a black canvas bag and pulled out a roll of ancient parchment. She unrolled it and Aaron had the uncomfortable feeling he was looking at a tanned square of human skin.

The shopkeeper’s voice rose as she recited words in a language Aaron had never heard before. It sounded dry and long dead, like dust blowing through long abandoned temples. The words echoed and reverberated off the cold stone walls and sent shivers rattling up Aaron’s spine. The words sounded completely alien, as if the vowel and consonant sounds were not designed for human tongues.

Mumbo jumbo, he thought, products of her madness. They didn’t mean anything.

Brite finished reciting the words from the scroll. There was an expectant hush, as if the room itself was holding its breath.

“See, I told you nothing would—” Aaron started.

He didn’t finish.

The black candles standing around the circle Brite had drawn on the floor started to fizz and crackle. Thick plumes of brown smoke welled up from the candles like exhaust fumes from Hades. Rather than disperse through the room, the smoke coagulated into a thick brown cloud. A vile stench assaulted their nostrils, like a mixture of meat gone bad and stale flatulence.

Parlour tricks, Aaron thought. Nothing but—

The smoke slowly dissipated, revealing...

* * * *

That reveal will have to wait until Oct 21. ;)

A Succubus for Halloween: Excerpt II

Three weeks to go and it's time for another excerpt to crank the hype handle. While I do love a deliciously sinful demoness with horns, wings, tail and a body so hot it smokes, occasionally I like to cut my imagination loose and get really freaky. Yep, it's time to enter Hell-Space again. Here's an excerpt from "Shrimp and the Crab-Centaur Girls":

* * * *

“Base, can you hear me? Base? Over,” Collins said into the radio.

All he got back was a hiss and crackle.

“Radio’s fucked again,” he said.

“Must be atmospherics,” Rutherford said.

“Or something else,” Shrimp said.

He showed them his iPod. The screen was going nuts. Black shapes flittered back and forth across it like over-anxious ants.

“That’s not all,” he continued. “None of my electrical equipment is working either.”

“We’ll carry on,” Hackett said. “It could be just a localised disturbance.”

They carried on down a barren wide valley lined with rough brown boulders. They travelled a short distance before Banks stopped them again with a raised fist. His hand wobbled, as if he wasn’t too sure of himself.

“What now?” Hackett asked. “You seeing another bare-breasted blonde?”

“Um...actually, yes” Banks replied.

What? Collins hurried round the bend in the path, eager to see like the rest of the squad.

A blonde girl stood behind a boulder up ahead of them. Only her upper body was visible and it was completely naked. What a body it was too. She was tall and curvy—a natural cheerleader. Her blonde hair was long and silky and her eyes were as blue as the skies back home.

At first she was coy. Her arms were folded to hide her exposed breasts. Then she looked at the men, smiled and her shyness tumbled away as she dropped her arms. A large pair of titties swung free, each topped with a perky pink nipple. She looked down at them, as fearless as a stripper.

Fuck, she was hot. Brains versus looks conversations aside, Collins had been lucky enough to have his pick of the girls during his school life. He would have traded all of them for a chance to put his hands on those ripe melons and fuck her from behind like a dog.

Everyone was motionless. No one was quite sure what to do. Rutherford looked like he wanted to wolf whistle as if he was back at his favourite strip joint. Shrimp’s eyes were as big as saucers. He probably hadn’t had many opportunities to see girls like this, naked and in the flesh.

Fuck, even porn directors didn’t get to see girls like this.

The girl moved to the side. A naked leg, lithe and gloriously long, stepped out from behind the boulder. She wore no shoes and even though her foot looked delicate, the rough ground didn’t bother her as she rested lightly on the ball of her foot.

A second leg followed, coming down a little behind the first and then it at all started to get weird.

A second leg?

Collins wasn’t sure of what he was seeing.

There was her right leg, gracefully bent at the knee, and behind that, another right leg, the same as the first.

He watched, incredulous, as a third joined the other two.

What the fuck?

It reminded him of paintings he’d seen in an Indian restaurant. The people in them had three times the number of heads and about five times the number of arms and legs. This was just like that.

A fourth leg stepped out behind the others and then the girl, or whatever she was, slid out from behind the boulder.

Her upper body was human right down to her hips. After that she became something monstrous. Her lower body expanded out into a wide bulbous disc. It looked like the abdomen of a spider or crab, but covered in fleshy pink human skin rather than a hard carapace. Four legs sprouted from each side of her abdomen. They looked like human legs, but she used them like a crab.

The worst part was where her human torso joined with her monstrous abdomen. There was an orifice there, right where the pussy would be on a normal girl, but it was far far larger. It looked like a mouth, a mouth with a gigantic pair of overstuffed lips. They were pink, plush and currently pouting in the grotesque mockery of a kiss. The lips parted a little and Collins saw an interior that was pink and moist.

* * * *

Don't worry. Not all the stories are this weird. Some of them are worse...

Covers Lie

I love this cover. It’s so deceptive. I think my publisher has a perverse sense of humour. Look at the cute little demon on the pumpkin—so naughty and so sweet. No one would guess the horrors lurking within these pages…




It’s a perfect fit, especially for the nameless succubus from the succubus tablet. She’s cute, she lures you in and then…snap!

I suppose technically it’s the kind of cover that’s more in keeping with an urban fantasy book—maybe a tale of modern-day sexy witches or vampires fighting crime, or the perils of buying fashionable shoes. These stories are much darker and weirder than that. A reader expecting another collection of run-of-the-mill urban fantasy stories is going to have their mind…opened.

Maybe I could have asked for something different, but I like this cover. It’s deceptive. It’s going to draw in unsuspecting readers. Boring marketing theory be damned. It’s Halloween—a time for devils to play. I’m going to have some fun and what can be more fun for a horror-erotica writer than shocking some unsuspecting readers.

This is my trap. Open it on October 21. I dare you…

A Succubus for Halloween: Excerpt I

Here's an excerpt from "Oil Wrestling a Succubus", one of the new stories from a Succubus for Halloween. Spot the recurring character. ;)

* * * *

What kind of ring was this? Janssen thought as he walked into the arena. There were no ropes and the floor was sunken. If anything, it looked like a large inflatable paddling pool covered in a blue plastic tarpaulin. The wall didn’t rise much higher than his thighs. Janssen stepped over it onto a surface that rocked and swayed beneath him.

It was a damn inflatable paddling pool.

Janssen looked up into the rows of seats. There wasn’t much of an audience, maybe twenty people or so. He saw Rodríguez sitting with a grotesquely overweight man. He guessed that must be the big boss.

What was he supposed to do?

Janssen’s confusion deepened as he watched a statuesque girl step into the pool. Her short black hair was swept up like flames.

Surely they didn’t expect her to fight him?

The girl took off her fine black silk robe and tossed it aside.

Oh man, what a body.

She looked like one of those porn star angels he’d seen on DVDs while over at one of the other guy’s apartments. Fresher though. Without the worn out and used up look some of those girls had. And fit as well. In the athletic sense. Sure, she had the big bouncy boobs he liked to see in those dirty films, but the rest of her body was trim and lithe. Her titties were contained in a black bikini top the same colour and sheen as a pool of black oil. It was stretched taut to hold them in place.

He wouldn’t mind getting his hands on those. Or pinning her and...

He felt the phantom thwack of his grandmamma’s stick as a series of lurid thoughts ran through his head. But hot damn, a body like that sure was distracting.

The girl walked forwards, no trace of fear in her clear blue eyes. There was an easy grace to her movements. She looked like she knew how to handle herself.

But she was a girl. Tall, well-toned and lean, but still a girl. Janssen had maybe a hundred pounds on her. She couldn’t seriously expect to beat him.

“Welcome, treasured guests.” A sultry female voice came over the PA. “Tonight, for your pleasure, we have a very special bout.”

The voice lacked the typical bombast of a fight announcer, instead oozing the quiet sensuality of a late night radio host.

“Another brave challenger has come to take on the exotic wiles of the Ebony Succubus. A round of applause, please.”

What did he do? Janssen wanted to look good for Rodríguez and the Ojos de Oro, but he didn’t want to hurt her. His grandmamma had brought him up well. He didn’t hit girls.

An object hit him in the chest and landed at his feet. It was a clear plastic squeezy bottle.

He looked to where it had come from and saw the blonde girl.

“Have fun.” She winked at him.

Over on the other side of the ring the black-haired girl was squirting clear liquid—oil—all over her body and rubbing it in until her pale skin glistened under the lights. She gave Janssen a grin that looked exactly like one of the girls from the guys’ dirty DVDs.

Oh, so it was that kind of wrestling.

* * * *

A Succubus for Halloween and Other Tales of Terrifying Temptresses, available in print and ebook from Friday, October 21st.

New manyeyedhydra stories: Halloween 2011!

It's time to crank the hype handle. My third collection of short stories, A Succubus for Halloween and other tales of Terrifying Temptresses, is coming out in a month's time.

Here's the full story rundown:

1. A Succubus for Halloween
2. The Orgy of the Pink Flesh
3. Naga Special Massage
4. Pearls of the Mediterranean
5. Halloween Nÿte
6.The Big Black Bed
7. Succubus vs. Cleric
8. Oil Wrestling a Succubus
9. Shrimp and the Crab Centaur Girls
10. Welcome to the City
11. Capramendes, the Milkmaid
12. Serving the Earth Mother
13. A Halloween Party with a Succubus

Some of those titles will be familiar, some not. Even the titles that seem familiar will be a little different to what might be expected ("Naga Special Massage" - unless you caught the version in Divine Matches).

What to expect. Succubi. Lots of hot sexy succubi. It's Halloween and the sex demons are out to ensnare their victims in webs of seductive pleasures.

There's also weirdness and—because I can’t keep horrorhead under control—some blood-curdling squick. Exactly what a good anthology devoted to both horror and sex needs.

One month to go and I'll be giving out excerpts to whet the appetite over the coming weeks. In the meantime I'll lead off with the obvious:

"They'll give you pleasures beyond your wildest dreams, and terrors beyond your darkest nightmares..."

2011 2nd Quarter Royalties

My second quarter royalties for 2011 came in from eXcessica today. At $180 I think it's safe to say I won't be handing in my notice at work tomorrow. :)

$180 is still $180. Can't sneeze at that. Both Succubus for Christmas and Succubus for Valentine's Day have sold nearly 150 copies each now. With Succubus for Halloween coming out next month (more on that later!) I'm hoping it'll create enough of a bump to take the overall year up to somewhere between one or two grand. I know my stories are far too extreme to ever trouble the mainstream, but it's nice to have a little sideline and maybe sow the seeds for a little longterm notoriety.

Thanks to everyone who bought the books and I hope you enjoyed them. Plenty more on the way if all goes to plan ;).

Now the question is, how much of that $180 to plough into a nice book cover for Succubus Summoning 101 after I finally acknowledge I'm too rubbish to do it properly myself...

Plans and Schemes

The "Locked in with a Succubus" mini-serial is over, so now it's time to move onto pastures new. Here's my current todo list.

• Write story for Literotica's Nude Day contest. This may involve weres. It may actually appear in this year's contest. Bearing in mind I originally intended Locked in with a Succubus as a Valentine's contest entrant it's probably safer to assume it'll appear next year.
• Write story for an eXcessica anthology due out middle of next year. This has a hard deadline of July 17th. Time to start sweating...
  
• Clean up Succubus Summoning 1o1 and get it ready for publication. My first novel, yay! I'll be adding a lot of extra scenes to develop Phil's character a bit.
• Gather enough stories from my stockpile to put a 4th collection together in time to go out first half of 2012. A little hampered in that the current stockpile is a bit lacking in stock.
• Complete Succubus Summoning 201. I suspect the only item in the list some of you care about. I kind of feel all GRRM about it as it's been clattered all over my schedule because I'm always behind with other things. Thankfully, I have most of the plot planned out in my head and it will be everything you hoped it would be :D.
• Anthology collection #5 for Halloween 2012. (yeah, right. Dream on snail-pace writing boy!)

Of course, most of this won't actually appear until 2012, which is kind of in the way-too-far in the future category. What about the right here and right fucking now. Here's the 2011 run down.

• There's the Literotica Nude Day contest story (assuming I finish it in time). You can also expect to see me mount equally fruitless challenges against the unstoppable juggernaut of HEA romance (with or without vampires) in:
• Literotica Halloween contest. Because all my stories qualify.
• Literotica Christmas contest. Because it's already written (naughty, naughty elves!).
• A Summer Dance with a Succubus is in one of eXcessica's forthcoming anthologies. Oh dear, some readers are going to be in for a shock if they go on from that to my other stories. Oh well, everyone has to get a little Unretrofied now and again ;)
• A Succubus for Halloween. Collection #3. Yum. Lots of new goodies including a brand new Nicole story. Be warned, it fits Halloween well. Horror-head is awfully hard to rein in for that time of the year. Halloween Nÿte is in there and it isn't even the most fucked-up, nastiest story.

I enjoyed writing the Locked in mini-serial, so I can see myself doing something similar around Halloween to promote the book. Not sure on what yet. Giving away stuff is fun, but I've got to keep some things back otherwise my writing career will be extremely short-lived ;)

Part 10 is delayed by vacation :(

I'm currently on vacation in a lovely East European city. I was hoping to write up part 10 and get it posted while I was out here, but beer, friends and other things have intervened. (A final proof check on the print version of "A Succubus for Halloween" mainly).

Diabolic tease that she is, I'm sure Nicole would approve of leaving readers stuck on tenterhooks. Barring mishaps, Part 10 will go up on Wednesday with Part 11 (Assuming poor George hasn't already expired in ecstatic bliss) following in the usual Sunday/Monday slot.

So much for thinking I'd gotten ahead on the serial . . .

Fighting Distraction Behaviour

Okay. Hands up, who stole November?

I’m rubbish when it comes to deadlines. Actually, I’m rubbish when I put myself in the mindset where I think I have to write something. The moment it starts to become the thing I’m supposed to be doing, even if I enjoy doing it, it starts to feel like a chore, I slow down to a crawl and start looking for excuses to do something else.

Classic Distraction Behaviour.

Normally I have some very sneaky strategies for throwing off Distraction Behaviour. I trick myself into thinking there’s something else that’s absolute highest priority, something I absolutely must be working on right now. Then, when Distraction Behaviour comes knocking, I have a nice empty word document all ready for it to plunge right into.

This doesn’t work so well when the thing of absolute highest priority is the manuscript I’ve been chipping away at over the last few months and no amount of psychological chicanery is going to trick me otherwise.

Further extra negative bonus points if this period of time also overlaps with the month after my first book has gone out and I should be online, pimping it like a maniac. (Psss -Buy it here)

I guess I’m one of those people that can’t resist veering off the path to jump down the nearest pit. Wouldn’t want to make things too easy...right :).

Anyway, it’s done, in and I’m back. One book out (Psss – Buy it here too), one in the pipeline and a third equally unhinged (or maybe more unhinged – Self Censorship downed tools and legged it for the hills on this one!) collection finally complete and waiting to be unleashed.

Now I can put my feet up and grab a cold beer.

Nah. I’ve got a fourth collection of stories to start working on. (And the further misadventures of a young warlock I keep getting asked about).

Literotica's Halloween Competition 2010

I didn't quite finish the two stories I wanted to get done for this year's competition. It's a shame as they both complement each other. You'll see what I mean when my third collection comes out next year (providing I finish it first and the sales of the other two aren't so bad I get canned!).

In the meantime I got one in before the deadline and you can read and vote for it right here.

The succubus from the black stone tablet is back and she's as naughty as ever.

(naughty might be a teensy bit of an understatement...)

Enjoy!