The Misty Vixen Newsletter | June 2024

This one will be short.

May was not kind to me, but now for completely different reasons. In short, my primary laptop broke and I’m dealing with getting it repaired, and I’ve been running into some new medical problems that are concerning and distracting, and I’m also trying to figure out how to deal with them.

As expected, this really fucked things up for me. Especially because it’s becoming increasingly obvious that I need to take an actual break, because I am burned out, but I keep having shit I have to get done, so instead of putting my nose to the grindstone and grinding it out, I’m trying to do that, but having to stop very frequently because I’m fucking exhausted.

Anyway, enough complaining. I’ll give you a quick bullet point list of what’s up.

  • BENEATH THE ASHES 3: It’s posting to my Patreon right now. I’m basically on the home stretch. I’m going to have it wrapped up in the next week or so, and then it’ll probably take another week or less to actually get published.

  • DEAD FREEZE: This is the main top secret project. It is the first novel in a new trilogy, coauthored by Lara X. Lust. I’ve done my work and now Lara’s doing hers. The novel is being posted to Lara’s Patreon right now. We believe it will be out this month, but it’s still cooking at the moment. It takes place in the same universe as Dead Drift. It’s Action/Sci-Fi/Horror. Basically base-building and survival in a galaxy long since overrun by zombie monsters.

  • LAKESIDE COUGARS: This one is still cooking, but I seriously fumbled it in May. I intend to make some more meaningful progress before I pick up Goblin Girls III.

  • GOBLIN GIRLS DO IT BETTER III: Gonna try and get this written and out by July.

  • SECRET PROJECT: The other secret project I’m involved in seems to be shaping up for a release before too long. Again, can’t say anything more than that, but I’ll definitely let you all know the moment I can.

  • OUR OWN WAY 4 PAPERBACK: If you’re still waiting on this, it is coming, I’m still waiting on my main laptop be fixed first.

And that’s it. Uh, wish me luck with my problems.

Beneath the Ashes 3 | Preview

The third and final Beneath the Ashes novel is finally arriving!

Below you can read the first chapter for free.

You can find the second chapter right here for 1$/month on my Patreon.

You can read the rest of the novel as I write it in early access here for 3$/month on my Patreon.

Enjoy!

Ethan was as close to death as he had ever been.

He and Kasumi froze as one of the Death Bots they were carefully maneuvering their way around abruptly halted and turned his way. They waited as it seemed to scrutinize them, both covering it with their rifles. They’d packed armor piercing rounds for this trip, but he knew that if they were discovered here and now, they’d die.

The Bots would rip them limb from limb while pumping them full of bullets.

The red light of the Bot’s eyes seemed malignant, hateful even. Suddenly, it turned away and resumed doing whatever it had been doing. Ethan slowly exhaled, his body relaxing just the slightest. He looked to Kasumi.

Even her poker face was starting to slip. She had a faint sheen of sweat on her forehead. She nodded her head gently to her left and he nodded. They resumed their journey.

When Donovan had come to him with a new mission, Ethan had been dubious from the start. Mostly because the expression in the man’s eyes had immediately given away the fact that it was going to be extremely high risk.

Take out a Death Bot factory.

More of them had been showing up in the two weeks that had passed since they had saved the bastion and come back from that extremely bizarre place. That alone would’ve been a problem, but one that they could handle. But that wasn’t the only issue arising.

The creatures that had been getting smarter and coming in closer and closer to the bastion were now smarter and closer than ever.

But that was a future problem, for the moment he knew he needed all his focus.

And all his luck.

If the old tech that was standing between him and death didn’t keep doing what it was supposed to do, well…

At least it would be a fast death.

He and Kasumi reached a junction where two corridors connected and slipped smoothly into it. There, they took a moment to catch their breath. She took a look around, back the way they’d come and down both of the other corridors that slanted away from them, leading deeper into the complex. Then she settled her gaze on him.

She asked him with hand motions if he was still doing well. He responded affirmatively and that he was ready to keep going. She smiled, just for an instant, then turned towards the rightmost passageway and set off down it.

Things were different between them now, and in a great way.

It had taken some time, mostly because they were all so damn busy lately, but Kasumi had finally moved into their house. She’d brought surprisingly little, and when he’d asked her about it, she’d said she’d donated most of her stuff to people in the Pit and was viewing this as a kind of fresh start. And things were definitely different.

Kasumi was a reserved woman, but with him now, she was more open. She smiled more, she laughed more, she relaxed more. That was something he had really noticed. Kasumi always seemed tense, ready to strike or to tackle some difficult problem, no matter where she was or what she was doing. It was nice to see her relax.

It was also admittedly very nice to have her in his house and in his bed so often. Or, rather, to climb into her bed, as that was where she preferred to get intimate with him.

And hopefully they would be able to do that again tonight.

He followed her carefully down the empty hallway, the smell of oil and rust and rot surrounding them. It was accompanied by the sounds of machinery and Death Bots banging around. Ethan kept feeling the urge to look behind him but kept telling himself there was no need and he should focus on the front.

If a Death Bot was coming his way, he’d know it. They weren’t exactly subtle.

They reached the end of the hallway and stopped. Kasumi took a long, cautious look around the next room and then signaled for him to wait. He resisted the urge to sigh, they had already been crawling around this place for what felt like hours.

He thought back to the briefing, trying to comfort himself, remind himself that they had a plan and knew what they were doing.

Death Bots, which had a much more mundane name when they were invented, came from mostly automated factories built before the surface turned to ash, and a few after. They were supposed to be protectors at best, soldiers at worst. The reality of the situation ended up being that the factories just kept on rolling and pushing out killer robots, and those killer robots, without proper programming, tended to wander around and kill.

It had taken some doing, but Donovan and the Governor had finally tracked down where the local Bots were coming from. After that, they’d done a little scouting. From there, they’d brainstormed on how to deal with it.

None of the options had been good.

The initial thought had been to just bomb the place or maybe cause a cave-in, but two primary things kept them from doing that. The first was that there were a lot of resources that could be salvaged from this factory. The second was that there was the very real possibility that they would be able to initiate a kill-command that would not only allowed them to take the factory, but would also shutdown every Bot that had come from it and was still going.

Given that was the most desirable option, (especially since they were still painfully, worryingly low on certain resources), they then turned their attention to the very obvious question of: how do we do this without dying?

Because taking a Death Bot factory was a brutal, savage thing, even under the best circumstances. Donovan had initially been drafting a plan to essentially storm the place with every single Crawler backed up by a dozen security personnel.

That was when Kasumi had offered her own idea.

She’d come across references to devices that were supposed to make you invisible to the Bots. According to her, it sent out a continuous command for a thousand foot radius that forced every Bot to essentially ignore the wearer. Theoretically, they should even be able to walk right up to a Bot and slap it across its cold metallic face and be fine.

No one was willing to test that, though.

Kasumi had apparently been looking for one of these for a long time now, and had been in touch with a tech expert in another bastion who knew how to make them. She’d been piecing one together for a few months now, as apparently they were difficult to construct. She’d been keeping the information back mostly because she didn’t want to get everyone’s hopes up.

Donovan had been dubious, but had ultimately given her some very rare, valuable resources from the tech vault to allow her to finish making two of them. And that was all she could make, just the two of them. Given the choice between this and an all-out assault that would almost certainly result in heavy casualties, the Captain had reluctantly gone with Kasumi’s plan.

It was a hell of a gamble, but they all trusted her and Ethan to make it happen.

Though Ethan, (and Kiva when she heard the plan), had insisted on testing them out at least once. And they had, firing up a Death Bot they’d salvaged and running a few tests. It had worked, but Ethan was still uncertain.

Regardless, he and Kasumi had been dispatched quickly.

Ember had been especially upset, given how dangerous it was, and he knew he was going to be handling her stronger emotions for the next few days at least. He felt bad, but what could he do? This was the job he had signed up for.

This was a job that needed to be done.

Kasumi signaled to him and he shadowed her out of the chamber, coming into a low, long machine shop. For whatever reason, it was dark and derelict. There were a handful of Bots around, but they looked deactivated, standing along the walls or at worktables, frozen in time.

This was going to be bad.

The place was poorly lit thanks to the fact that only the door they were coming in through and the one they had to leave through were the only things offering light. They couldn’t risk turning on their flashlights because they weren’t sure if that would draw attention, if the Bots’ programming would identify that as a problem.

Kasumi led the way into the dim tech bay. Ethan followed, struggling to maintain his silence and composure. They’d had to walk four hours just to get here because a few tunnels were collapsed, so they’d had to go almost an entire mile out of their way in the wrong direction just to get to another tunnel that would bring them back around to where they wanted to go.

They moved with great care through the machine shop, walking between two long rows of tables packed with tech and gear and tools. Even in the wan light, Ethan could identify several things that would be useful to them. This place had to be an absolute motherlode of technology and if they could get here and strip it down, it might help them for months or even years to come.

Oh crap, Ethan thought miserably.

Near the darkest central part of the room, he saw that two bots were standing almost back to back. There was enough space for Kasumi, there was probably enough space for him. He began looking around for an alternate route, as he was none too eager to get that close to a pair of Bots, and that was when the lights suddenly snapped on.

Both of them jerked in shock and it was only a lot of discipline that kept him from squeezing the trigger in surprise and fear. The Bots around them immediately came to life and began working. They were all fixing or dissecting various bits of technology.

Interesting. Apparently Death Bots were useful for more than just death. He wondered suddenly if they might be able to reprogram them...but that was a thing that had been tried before. He knew some bastions supposedly used ‘tamed’ Death Bots for security, but he also knew there were horror stories of them going rogue and killing a lot of innocent people.

Ethan had to strongly resist the urge to turn around and back out, or to say something to Kasumi. She was rigid, but facing away from him, no doubt trying to solve this new problem. He took a quick look around and saw that, unfortunately, the alternative paths were even more blocked off than this one, either by more Bots or piles of crates.

Kasumi signed to him to come closer. He stepped up beside her. For a moment, she seemed to struggle. They only had so many things they could effectively communicate with their hands. Finally, she pointed to the two Bots in front of them, then motioned for him to stay still and watch her. He nodded, curious as to what she’d come up with.

She studied the Bots closely. They were moving as they worked, their bulky metal bodies shifting to and fro, making the path between them even more dangerous. Kasumi took a step closer to them, now so close that she could reach out and touch them.

Ethan felt his entire body seize up in terror as he prepared for the worst.

Abruptly, Kasumi slipped through.

Nothing happened.

The machine shop continued buzzing and banging along as it had been. She turned around and looked at him urgently, then motioned to the two Bots. She brought her hands together, palms flat, fingers pointed up, as though she was describing how big something was. She brought her hands apart, then moved them back together.

When he didn’t respond, she did it again, a little more urgently, and suddenly it clicked.

The Bots were moving in a rhythm.

Rhythms were predictable.

He nodded and motioned for her to back up, then he took a moment to make sure everything on him was still cinched down or secure in a pocket so he would make no extra noise and have as slim a profile as possible, then he studied the Bots.

Whatever they were doing, it probably wouldn’t last, in that they would start another task and the rhythm would change. So he had to do this now. He watched as they leaned away from each other, then back towards each other. The pattern quickly became obvious, the problem was that it was going to be a very narrow gap.

Oh well, you didn’t have this job without taking risks.

Ethan stepped closer, waited, and then shoved himself through. He actually felt his chestplate brush against the back of the Bot. Then he was through and preparing to feel a cold, giant metal hand suddenly clamp onto the back of his neck and snap it with horrifying ease. That didn’t happen, however, and the relief he saw on Kasumi’s face made it obvious that it had worked.

She gestured sharply to him to follow her and he did without hesitation. A moment later, they were finally free of the tech bay. She led him into another corridor, down it, through a door and up some stairs and then into another corridor. He wanted badly to ask how much further, because that last scare had apparently knocked his mental map of the place cleanly out of his skull. He and Kasumi must’ve studied it a dozen times, but suddenly it was gone like smoke on the air.

Kasumi, however, seemed to remember just fine. She led him unerringly down the corridor, then up a second one, and finally in through a door. It led to a dusty room full of beeping, blinking pieces of tech that covered the walls in a chaotic mess. All of it seemed to be hardwired into a single big console at the back of the room.

Ethan felt relief flood him. This is what they’d been looking for.

Kasumi gestured at him to guard the door as she pulled out the data storage device. This was it, the moment of truth. Ethan waited, aiming his weapon at the door they’d just come through. While it was clear that the tech for making you invisible to a Bot worked, he was far more dubious about this particular piece of software.

Apparently the Crawlers had found the killswitch, as they were calling it, some time back. Every factory came with one, or they were supposed to anyway, but the problem was that they were small and portable and important. Which meant that they tended not to actually stay in the factories they were intended for.

And, unfortunately, you couldn’t just upload it from anywhere, it had to be in the actual factory to work properly. Ethan didn’t really understand all of it, and apparently it was too complex to try and teach him in the time they had, so they just knew that they were going to have to rely on Kasumi.

Ethan became aware of a heavy metallic stomping. There was a Bot out there somewhere, getting closer. Shit. Maybe Kasumi had tripped something, he could hear her working back there. The stomping was getting closer. Before long, he could tell it was in the actual corridor just outside the room, and it was still coming closer.

He tensed as a large shadow fell across the floor just beyond the doorway. It had been stuck open and he hadn’t wanted to bother trying to close it for obvious reasons. The Death Bot stepped suddenly into the doorway and Ethan tensed worse than ever as he covered it with his rifle. The Bot stood there, motionless, but he could hear its internal devices working.

Was this some kind of standard check or did it realize something was happening?

Or was it something else entirely?

If he didn’t know any better, he’d say the thing was confused.

Abruptly, a whirring sound inside of the Bot got louder, and then louder still. It seemed to be staring directly at him now. Ethan swallowed, breathing heavily, sweat pouring down his face now. With a jerk, the Bot raised one arm. Its hand opened up and a gun barrel appeared.

“Kasumi–” Ethan began, breaking the silence as he started to squeeze the trigger.

“Got it!” Kasumi replied.

Abruptly, the light went out of the Bot’s eyes and it froze up. All the sounds that had been coming from it ceased. All around them they heard a lot of clanking and banging, and then silence. A long moment went by.

“Fuck,” Ethan said, slowly lowering his rifle. “That was way, way too close.”

“Yes,” Kasumi agreed quietly. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” he muttered, eyes still locked onto the Death Bot. “So it really worked?”

“Yes, it did what it was supposed to do. They’re fried. Not just off, but fried. They aren’t coming back on. We did it, Ethan.”

“Good. Now, uh,” he stepped cautiously forward and poked at the Bot. It barely moved. He sighed. “Let’s see if we can figure out how to get around this thing.”

The Misty Vixen Newsletter | May 2024

So, first the good news. I have some things that got released!

 
 

OUR OWN WAY 4

RAW - THE COMPLETE SERIES AUDIOBOOK

GOBLIN GIRLS DO IT BETTER II AUDIOBOOK

BENEATH THE ASHES 2 AUDIOBOOK (May 6th)

Also, I am officially teasing one of my two secret projects.

Yep. This is happening again, and this time I’m actually going to put my name on it. I don’t really want to say much, as it’s more of a Lara thing than a me thing, and she’s the one in control. What I can say is that there’s a good chance we’ll get more information either this month or next month. If you are paying particularly close attention, there is a detail in this picture that could give some insight as to what it’s going to be. But yes, all I can say for now is that we are collaborating, it is haremlit, and it should be out sometime in the summer. But given the whimsy of life that is subject to change.

Okay, now we talk about the bad news.

I definitely overworked myself. At the beginning of the year I was looking at a mountain of novels to get written and so I set a really brutal pace, essentially trying to work on three or sometimes four books at the same time. And it…has not worked out. Obviously.

I had a really bad time during the end of April and had to kind of just fuck off and get my shit back together. I’m still kind of doing that right now. It’s pretty obvious to me that I’m burned out, but I can’t really relax, I’ve got too much to do. That being said, I am going to tone things down a little bit and only work on two novels simultaneously instead of three or four. Consequently, this has caused me to reassess my plan. Part of the problem is that unfinished series can really bother me. I should’ve learned my lesson from the last time this happened with Monster Girl Inn, and I suppose I did learn my lesson, because this time I didn’t really choose this situation, my hand was sort of forced.

Whatever. Anyway, here is a bullet point list of information that should sum things up nicely.

  • BENEATH THE ASHES 3: This is my main focus. This one will likely have a June release. I am intending to begin posting chapters for it to my Patreon on May 13th. BTA2 audio is set for May 6th. Based on the data presented so far, I’d say you should expect BTA3’s audio sometime in August, but audiobook producing is very potentially chaotic, so don’t quote me on that. After that, it’ll be done. Sometime in the future, at Royal Guard’s discretion, The Complete Trilogy for eBook and audio will drop. It will have no bonus content, as I opted not to write any. And that’ll be it for Beneath the Ashes.

  • LAKESIDE COUGARS: So, this is Project #2 I’ll be working on alongside BTA3. I unfortunately had to basically bail on it for most of April, so I’m nowhere near where I should be. Unfortunately, this means I will definitely not make the June 1st release date. I’m going to go ahead and just push it back to July 1st. I will probably make it, but this is exactly the reason I have always hated trying to put release dates to things. I’m just too unreliable thanks to my mental health problems and complete lack of motivation. And I won’t be able to make it first priority until I deal with Goblin Girls Do It Better.

  • GOBLIN GIRLS DO IT BETTER: So it’s become clear to me that I need to prioritize wrapping up this as well as Beneath the Ashes. As soon as BTA3 is done, I’m going to get right to work on Goblin Girls III. I’ve got an idea of how I want this to go and it’ll be a nice way to cap off the trilogy. If I’m really lucky, I can get it out in June, but there’s a decent chance it’ll be July. Then it’ll be done. Once Goblin Girls is done, I will shift my focus to Lakeside Cougars.

  • OUR OWN WAY: So, the good news is that I’m now positive there will be a book six for this series, and more books are on the table. The most recent launch went well (it managed to crack the Top 1000 for a little bit and hit #1 Bestseller status in Men’s Adventure, always nice), and I’m getting the impression that Our Own Way is a series with some longevity, financially speaking. I’m always reluctant to start going on about business and finances, because it always has such a sour taste and I know people get grumpy when an author abandons a series due to poor sales, which is understandable. But Our Own Way is earning pretty solidly. My impression is that it’s a slower burn earner, in that it earns less on a week-to-week basis, but earns more consistently, which is kind of a big deal. All in all, this boils down to good news if you like the series! At minimum there will be two more books. Also, at some point in the not too distant future, I’m going to write at least one bonus short set between Our Own Way 4 & 5, probably two, maybe even three. The final thing I want to say is that unfortunately, it’ll be a while before OOW5 comes out. I was very distracted while writing OOW4 and it was not a good experience, so I want to be in a better, clearer space before I tackle it.

  • SECRET PROJECT #1: This is the smaller one. I’ve done my part for it, but I’m just a small part of the overall project. Still can’t talk about it and so far I haven’t heard very much about the behind the scenes besides the fact that they’re still putting it together. Regardless, it’s out of my hands and I’ll make a big announcement about it whenever I get the green light to do so. I can’t imagine it’ll be more than a month or two longer, but that is very much a guess with only a bit of insight. I am very much not at the helm of this, I just showed up, did my job, and fucked off.

  • SECRET PROJECT #2: So this is my collab with Lara X. Lust. I would say it’s the biggest project we’ve done together. As of now, I have more or less completed my contributions to the project, and it is now in Lara’s hands. I would say she is at the helm of this one, I’m just assisting. I’m not sure when it will come out and as I said above, I’m reluctant to say very much, since she’s the one who will be making all the decisions and I don’t want to speak for her. Naturally, I’ll talk about it more when I can. I’m thinking people will enjoy it a lot.

And I think that’s everything. I’m going to go try and clear my head before firing things back up next Monday.

Spring Giveaway!

So I’ve decided to have a big giant giveaway/sale because reasons.

From right now until the end of April 26th, most of my library will be free, and most of my collections will be 99 cents!

So, if you have anything missing from your collection, now’s the time! Here’s a list of everything.

RAW

MONSTER GIRL INN

A WARM PLACE

HAVEN

HELLCATS

ALIEN HAREM

DESIRE

LIKE A FINE WINE

SCI-FI SINGLES

WANDERLUST

LUST & ADVENTURE

FANTASY SINGLES

PARASEXUAL

PARANORMAL PASSIONS

PARANORMAL SINGLES

SEX & SURVIVAL

POST-APOCALYPTIC SINGLES

OTHER

The Misty Vixen Newsletter | April 2024

This month’s newsletter will also be a bit short.

I definitely ran into some issues in March, but they seem to have passed and they didn’t interfere too much with my writing. Or at least that’s what I’ve been telling myself. In terms of raw output, I have actually been trending upwards on a month-by-month basis so far, so this is good. The problem is that those written words are spread across several different projects. If I was just working on a single project, I’d have a novel and be on my way into the sequel based on March’s output.

Anyway, here’s what happened last month.

 
 

GOBLIN GIRLS DO IT BETTER II was officially released.

And early access to OUR OWN WAY 4 was launched.

And finally Lakeside Cougars was revealed!

April is pretty much going to be more of the same.

  • OUR OWN WAY 4 will be finished this month. Right now, it’s looking like almost certainly a late April release.

  • LAKESIDE COUGARS will continue to see regular updates at one chapter per weekday (Mon - Fri).

  • Once OOW4 is finished, I’m going all in on BENEATH THE ASHES 3. I’m intending to have that finished sometime in May.

  • Still basically no update on SHELTER FROM THE STORM. I’ve come to realize that enough time has passed that I’ll need to do a full re-read of everything I’ve written so far and refresh myself on it. I want to clear a few things from the table before I do that.

That’s pretty much it. Things are basically looking the same as when I started at the beginning of the year, but some things will probably shift in priority. Beneath the Ashes 3 is top priority, as it’s the only one that’s on a contract and has other people waiting for it, professionally speaking, to be finished. I’d say Lakeside Cougars has second priority, because I’ve been promising it for so long and I really do not want to push it back any further than I already have. I’m still waffling on Our Own Way as a series, if I’m going to continue it past five or not. I imagine I won’t have a sure answer until I actually sit down to begin working on OOW5.

If anything needs to get bumped to the back burner to make room for the priority projects, it’s definitely going to be Goblin Girls III. I still was holding out some kind of hope that maybe the sequel would get more attention and take off at least a bit more than it already has, but no. Goblin Girls II pretty much was the final nail in that coffin. That being said, I am committed to finishing the trilogy, and definitely in 2024. It might just get bumped back a bit.

The only other thing I have to say for the moment is that I’ve got two secret projects. One of them is finished (on my end, at least) and will be out sometime in the nearish future, I think? If you’re active in the community, it shouldn’t be a surprise what it is, but I still don’t want to actually talk any details in case that might fuck things up. The other secret project is still too secret to actually talk about, but it should be, shall we say, familiar to you if you’re familiar with me. It will also be out in 2024, so you don’t have to worry that this is some thing that’s still years off. Depending on how April goes, I might be able to talk about it in May, but probably closer to June or even July is when I can speak of the details.

That’s it. Wish me luck.

Our Own Way 4 Preview

Our Own Way 4 is kicking into production!

Below is Chapter 1.

Here is where Chapter 2 presently is, and where all future chapters will be posted for my 3$/month Patrons!

I hope you enjoy!

“I think maybe you broke him,” Chloe murmured.

Ellen chuckled. “Gabe? Are you still with us?”

“Yes,” he managed. “Um. Krystal. Hi.”

Krystal snorted, then laughed. “Hello, Gabe...are you okay?”

“I’m still a little baked,” he replied.

“Oh, right.” She giggled and shook her head. “I guess that’d be a side effect of doing this the day after. Ellen tells me you’re a real fucking lightweight.”

“I did not say that,” Ellen replied. “Don’t you dare start this shit again.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Krystal replied.

Gabe again lapsed into silence as he studied her. All of her pictures hadn’t really done a good enough job of conveying just how hot Krystal was.

He knew some of that was just a side effect of pics and vids, but a lot of it was her physical presence. There were just some things you didn’t realize about a person until you were actually in a room with them.

Like Krystal’s sheer confidence. She wore it like a second skin. And it made sense, given she’d spent so long being ridiculously attractive.

She wore a simple pink tanktop, through which her nipples were visible and her considerable breasts were outlined, and a pair of pink sleeping shorts. Good lord, her fucking thighs. Her thick, pale, smooth thighs.

And her tattoos.

Up close, they were amazing. Or maybe they just were because they were on her.

“Why are you just staring at me again?” Krystal asked, laughing as she sat up.

Good lord, she made simply shifting position look both suggestive and arousing. Although he supposed in these clothes and with that body, it was a lot easier to achieve.

“I’m just realizing...that now I have two brats in my life,” he replied, and everyone else laughed.

“Two and a half,” Ellen said.

He sighed and they laughed again.

“Come and sit down,” Krystal said.

“Good idea,” he replied, and finished getting out of his coat and shoes, then sat down on the couch beside her. “Damn,” he whispered.

“What?” she asked.

“You’re just...really attractive. You are aggressively attractive,” he replied. “And you smell really good.”

“I sure hope so. I spent an hour at home cleaning up and then another half hour here making myself look good.”

“Yeah, like you have to try so hard to do that,” Ellen muttered, rolling her eyes.

“Oh my God, you and are I going to fight so much,” Krystal replied, glaring at her with a small but intense smile on her face.

“Yep,” Ellen replied. “I don’t know if Gabe will survive having you, me, and Emily in the same room at the same time.”

“Is that going to be a thing? We never really locked that down…” Krystal asked.

“Probably. We still need to smooth over things with Abby,” Ellen replied.

“Is there a problem with Abby?” Gabe asked.

“No,” Ellen replied. “I mean, not-this isn’t related to the thing you are doing with her. Abby just–”

“Wait, what are you doing with Abby? I was led to believe she’s a full on lesbian,” Krystal interrupted.

“It’s personal, Krystal. And she will tell you if she wishes to,” Ellen replied firmly.

“Hmm. Interesting.”

“Anyway, Abby has a somewhat...exaggerated perspective of Krystal, and her influence on Emily, and she has...concerns that Krystal might bring Emily’s crazier tendencies out of dormancy.”

“Oh, big word,” Krystal said.

Ellen sighed. “We just need to show her that while you’re still a fucking smartass bitch, you aren’t the goddamned psycho she thinks you are.”

“What exactly did you do to inspire this?” Gabe asked.

“Nothing! She’s just slandering my good name,” Krystal replied.

“Give me a fucking break,” Ellen muttered. “That’s not what’s happening.”

“I know. What’s really happening is Abby has identified me as a threat. Emily and I...used to have fun. And she’s paranoid I’ll evoke that particular fun-loving aspect of Emily just a little too much.”

“I fucking knew you two were fucking around,” Ellen muttered.

“I mean it wasn’t a secret, and we would have invited you, you know,” Krystal replied. “And now you have a boyfriend that you actually trust, so…” She reached out and placed a hand on Gabe’s leg. “Now we can have fun together.”

“Yeah but you’ve got some others to contend with,” Ellen said.

“I think we can all...play nice, when it comes to Gabe,” Krystal replied.

“I know I can,” Holly agreed.

“Probably yeah,” Chloe said.

Krystal laughed. “I guess you’d have at least some difficulty with me fucking your boyfriend given you thought I was too hot to exist.”

“Not to exist, just to be...oh whatever,” she muttered.

“Seeing you two argue is going to be something else,” Gabe said.

“I’m so frustrated that you aren’t into women. Goth girls were my fucking jam back in the day. I mean they still are, but I’m in a relationship now.”

“Wait, so I’m not completely clear...are you here to fuck just Gabe, or can we have threesomes with you and Gabe?” Holly asked.

“I can fuck everyone in this room, and Emily and Abby,” Krystal replied.

“You really think Abby is going to be down for that?” Ellen asked.

“Oh come on, is she really going to say no to all this?” Krystal said, shifting back and forth, making her considerable breasts jiggle.

“Abby’s cold as fucking space when she wants to be,” Ellen said, “but...that’s a good point.”

“Right. Anyway,” Krystal refocused on Gabe, “I am here as a bit of a present, and a vacation. I am here for you, Gabe. Well, and to reconnect with my two best friends and hopefully make a few new friends, but yes, I am here mostly to get high and lay Gabe. Because I want to find out what exactly is going on that locked Ellen and Holly and Chloe down. And also a cougar?”

“I haven’t fucked Sadie yet,” Gabe replied.

“You fucked Isabella, though,” Ellen murmured.

“She sounds so fucking hot,” Krystal said. “But yes, I’m curious. Not doubting! Obviously, it’s working, but I want to...experience it for myself. Also, for the record, Liz and I went and got tested out of an abundance of caution last month and we’re good. Also, I’m on birth control. Started back up when I began seriously considering fucking you and Liz said I could if I wanted.”

“So what I’m hearing is I can creampie you deep and hard,” Gabe replied.

She laughed and grinned a mischievous grin. “That is exactly right. However...before we do that, I do have some things I want to buy from the store. And also to tease you, sexually.”

“Oh my God,” he groaned. “Are you seriously a brat?”

“More or less. I’m a bit of a brat bitch and I’m a switch with an emphasis on being a sub. And I’m one hundred percent submissive while I’m here...at least to Gabe.”

“Oh, you’re going to give me some trouble?” Chloe asked, crossing her arms.

“I would love to give you trouble,” Krystal replied.

Holly laughed. “Kinda backfired.”

Chloe sighed heavily, blushing now. “Whatever.”

“So we’re going to the store then? There’s one not too far away,” Gabe said, getting up.

“What’s that one store you used to work at? I want to freak out that bitch who laughed in your face,” Krystal replied.

“You know...I think we’ve pushed our luck enough as it is,” Gabe said. “Let’s not keep that going.”

“Oh fine, whatever,” Krystal muttered, offering her hand.

He took it and pulled her to her feet, then looked down at her body. It was seriously so difficult not to try and convince her to go back to the bedroom right now and just...go at it. She was insanely hot, and even though he had actually seen her naked already, he wanted nothing more than to see her nude body here and now, in the flesh.

But that could wait. Clearly she wanted to mess with him first.

“You’ll need to put on more clothes,” he said.

“Fine, but only because it’s cold,” she replied.

“Oh yeah? Are you saying I couldn’t make you?” he asked.

She had been in the process of walking back to the bedroom but stopped in the doorway that led out of the living room. She turned around.

“I don’t know, could you?” she replied, again hitting him with that little smirk.

Gabe didn’t really think about his response, he just gave it, shifting a little towards her. “Krystal, go get your clothes on. Now.”

He could sense the others staring at her intently now. Krystal opened her mouth but no words came out. She blinked, then an almost imperceptible shiver ran down her.

“You are shitting me,” she whispered.

Immediately Ellen started laughing. “I finally get to see you tamed.”

“I am not tamed, you blonde bitch. I’m just...surprised.”

“Krystal. Now,” Gabe said.

Krystal’s eyes widened a little. She began breathing just a little faster and...was she blushing? Yeah, she was definitely blushing. She closed her mouth after another few seconds, turned around and walked out of the room.

“Wow,” Chloe murmured.

“Yeah, honestly I’m impressed. Either she’s mellowed or you’re that good,” Ellen said.

“That got hot fast,” Holly murmured. He glanced at her. She was sitting on the couch blushing as well now.

“It is actually really sweet to see it in action,” Ellen said. “Krystal has more than met her match.”

“So did she used to be just really stubborn and difficult?” Gabe asked as he went to get back into his shoes.

“Oh yes, you have no fucking idea. The arguments I saw her have with her significant others. Just...man. She could get white hot. Clearly she’s mellowed, I don’t think she’d have this relationship with Liz if she hadn’t, but it’s still nice to see. It’s going to be amazing watching you fuck and dominate her.”

“Yep,” Holly and Chloe said at the same time.

“I’m very, very much looking forward to it. Also, I should say it now since I’m thinking about: thank you for arranging this. This is an amazing Christmas present,” he replied, getting back into his hoodie.

“You are welcome,” Ellen said, grinning.

“Yeah this was really Ellen’s doing, I just gave permission,” Chloe said.

“Yeah,” Holly agreed.

“All right, you fucking prick,” Krystal said as she emerged from the bedroom, this time wearing a pair of jeans that did a lot to show off her hips and her sweet ass and a t-shirt that also showcased her big, pale breasts. “I’m ready.”

“Get your shoes and your coat on,” Gabe replied.

“You–” She stared at him hard, then sighed and began getting her shoes on. “Either I’ve lost my touch or you are way too good at that.”

“Probably both,” Gabe replied.

“Beat me to it,” Ellen said.

“Oh my fucking God, what have I gotten myself into?” Krystal muttered as she finished up and then pulled on her coat. “All right, come on, let’s do this. Also you are paying for my groceries. If you’re gonna treat me so effectively like a submissive brat then I am going to behave like one and I want the full experience.”

“Fine, fine, get your fat ass in the car,” Gabe replied.

“Oh yes sir,” she said, rolling her eyes.

Gabe walked up to her as she stooped to grab her purse, pulled his hand back, and then smacked her ass hard enough that she let out a shout in surprise and whirled on him.

“Gabe!”

“You heard me.”

Krystal briefly cut her gaze towards Ellen, who just rolled her eyes. “You asked for this. Literally.”

“Oh whatever, let’s go.”

…

“Why do I have to drive?” Krystal complained as they got into her car.

“Because I’m still buzzed,” he replied.

“Oh. Right. That’s...pretty responsible, actually,” she muttered.

“Yeah. Turns out, if you want to be the head of a household, you have to be pretty responsible.”

She laughed as they put their seatbelts on and she started up the car. “Is that what you are?”

“Isn’t it?”

She sighed. “Seriously, what the fuck? How are you like this? I mean, I didn’t exactly expect you to be awestruck by me, but like this is ridiculous. Also where am I going?”

“Continue along this street until you hit Maple, then turn right,” he said. “And I’ve already seen you naked, and I regularly fucking rail and dominate Chloe, Holly, and Ellen.”

“...I guess I should’ve seen this coming.”

“Oh come on, are you really going to pretend this isn’t exactly what you wanted?” he asked.

“I mean...maybe! Maybe I want to pretend that!”

He laughed. “Why?”

“Pretending is fun.”

“Yes it is. Although before we go any further with...things, there is one thing I really want to do.”

“What’s that? Sounds serious.”

“It is. I want to have a real, genuine, live conversation with your girlfriend. I believe that all of this is on the level, obviously, but...I just want to talk with her and get a sense for how she’s...I guess where she’s at with all this, mentally.”

“That’s fair,” Krystal replied. “And I don’t mind. I’ll text her while we’re at the store, then we can go home, you two can have that talk, and then you fucking hold me down, scream at me, and fuck my brains out.”

“That sounds so fucking amazing.”

“It had better.”

“Ellen’s right, you’re definitely really full of yourself.”

“Oh fuck off, like you aren’t?!”

“I’m...still figuring things out.”

“Yeah, well, I’ve been hot for as long as I’ve known about stuff like that. Yeah, fine, I’m kind of full of myself and a touch arrogant, but it’s a side effect of being told how fucking hot I am by fucking everyone for fucking decades, okay?”

“...so, sensitive topic.”

She sighed heavily. “It’s complicated.”

“It always is.”

“Yep. Okay, where is-oh, there it is.”

She pulled off the road a moment later and parked in the lot among the other cars. As they headed inside and grabbed a cart, Krystal kept close enough to him that she almost tripped him.

“Krystal, come on!” he hissed.

“What?” she replied.

“I am going to trip over you, for fuck’s sake.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, you just need to watch where you’re going. Don’t blame your dumbass ‘I can’t walk right’ on me.”

“Holy shit,” he muttered, staring at her for a second. “You are seriously gagging for it.”

She leaned in and put her lips right next to his ear. “You have no idea.”

Then she pulled back and smiled sweetly at him. He sighed, got himself back under control, and headed deeper into the store. As they began moving through the aisles, Krystal grabbing several things and tossing them into the cart, she proved to have a stronger brat game than Chloe.

Although not by that much.

She was constantly fucking with him. Poking him, pulling his hair, muttering something under her breath. Holy shit, this was their first day together.

Their first hour together.

As they got back into one of the side areas where there seemed to be no one else, Gabe grabbed her suddenly and pulled her up to him.

“You are seriously fucking asking for it, you know that?” he growled, his face an inch from hers.

“Am I now? I think you’re just being silly,” she murmured, unable to keep from grinning.

“When we get home…”

“Yeah? What are you gonna do, huh? What exactly are you going to do about it, Gabe?”

He prepared to tell her, but was interrupted by a familiar voice saying: “Gabe?! What the fuck!?”

He and Krystal both leaped away from each other in surprise and he turned to see who it was that had found them back here.

It was Chloe’s sister.

Lakeside Cougars Reveal!

I can finally talk about this!

So, a few years back, I began hinting that I wanted to work on a harem trilogy specifically featuring cougars, aka mature women, for those who might not be familiar with the term. Specifically mature women (usually over the age of 40) who go after noticeably younger men (usually in their 20s).

If it hasn’t become obvious by now, I really like the idea of a cougar and I have been dying to write a cougar harem. So much so that I tried it back in 2020 with Like A Fine Wine. That one didn’t really pan out and didn’t get to the heart of what I was aiming for. It had a number of issues, but the biggest problem was that it kind of felt like a copout in the sense that the women were certainly all much older than the protagonist (even the youngest was over twice his age), but because it was a sci-fi setting, they had all settled into that strange agelessness of ‘not young but not old’. All of these issues came together and ultimately resulted in that series not being what I wanted when I thought of a cougar harem.

For a while, I had ideas kicking around in my head of how I wanted to handle it. What I kept coming back to was something modern with no fantastical elements at all. But I kept stopping short, because that seemed too difficult. Not enough story, not enough action. I didn’t think I could make even a trilogy of contemporary harem.

And then Our Own Way happened in its original incarnation in 2021.

After that, I realized that not only could I do it, but people would actually like it. Especially after Our Own Way’s rewrite. I began planning this trilogy seriously in 2022 and I was intending to, well, to have it long since finished by this point. I had finally settled on a 2023 release date, and then everything went crazy in the ‘Does this title contain adult content’ Amazon fiasco. Since then, I’ve been doing bits and pieces of work on it, and I finally began getting more consistent work done this year.

So, this is what I can say about Lakeside Cougars: it will be a trilogy, there won’t be any bonus shorts (unless I get a really, really good, strong idea), it features an indie game dev as the protagonist, and I’m intending to release the first book on June 1st, 2024. Ideally, Lakeside Cougars 2 will come out July 1st, and Lakeside Cougars 3 will come out August 1st. I’m aiming for 100,000 words apiece (for reference, Our Own Way 1 & 2 were both about 100,000 words).

Below is the first chapter. I’ll be posting five chapters a week to my Patreon instead of the usual ten per week I aim for.

I hope you enjoy it!

People often associated dreams with fantasy.

Atticus had come across some variation of the phrase it was like a dream in the fiction he consumed time and time again.

Sometimes it meant something else, but the prevailing implication was a positive one.

As he hit the turn on the interstate, the one just past the sign that read LAKESIDE 2 mi. it hit.

A feeling of dreamlike unreality.

How it made him feel wasn’t something he would associate with a fantasy. As he came around that curve and saw that same landscape, shockingly unchanged from his last time here, he felt a curious dislocation settle across him.

There was the old abandoned building that might once have been a warehouse, tucked up to the edge of the forest.

There were the huge power lines, standing like monolithic metal sentinels against the skyline.

There was that same old trailer home that he always used to wonder about. Was it abandoned? Was it lived in? Was someone squatting there?

Somehow, it looked different and yet still the same. Even the crappy old pickup truck was still parked next to it.

Atticus took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, readjusting his grip on the steering wheel.

It had been about a dozen years since he’d last made this trip, and at twenty five, that meant quite literally half a lifetime ago.

As he drove on down the interstate, he suddenly wondered if this had been a good idea.

Everything about it had certainly seemed like a good idea all the way up until now. He’d been working harder than he ever had in his entire life, this was a well-earned vacation, he had everything he needed…

“Dammit,” he muttered as he almost missed his exit.

Hitting his blinker, he got off the interstate and moved down the off-ramp, coming to a stop at its end and looking around. Not a car coming or going, also just like he remembered it. They had installed a real stoplight, though.

He made a right and headed for the town.

Again, he was hit with that intense sense of…

He didn’t have a word for it.

Nostalgia was almost accurate, and certainly that was a portion of what he felt, but there was something else. Some indefinable dread, some subtle foreboding that lurked along the shadowed edges of his perception.

Its existence was more suggested than verified, and that made it all the more unsettling.

Why would he be afraid to return back to his own personal paradise?

Atticus let out a sound of inarticulate frustration as he realized that he had almost missed his next turn yet again. Slowing as he approached the first structures one would see as they approached Lakeside from the highway, he saw that they remained the same.

Pat’s Bar and the old Luna Gas Station.

He laughed softly as he pulled into the gas station, passing by the towering Luna sign with its half-moon logo.

Old and worn, but still there.

He pulled up to one of the gas pumps and killed the engine, then got out. Fishing out his wallet, he slotted his card and then set the gas to start pumping.

For a moment, he felt utterly stymied, frozen in place, unsure of what to do. As he looked around, it suddenly occurred to him that all of his experiences in this place were viewed through the lens of a youth.

He’d been in middle school the last time he was here, and the world looked so much different back then.

Maybe that’s what was throwing him off. He’d grown and changed so much, but this little slice of Oregon seemed to have remained the same.

Locked in time.

Finally, he shook it off and pulled out his cellphone.

He expected things. Missed calls, missed texts, emails, and he knew that they were there, just hidden. Today was a day of isolation, at least from most of his life. He called up his list of contacts and found Kate’s number.

I’m officially in Lakeside.

He fired off the text and waited, listening to the gas pump. To the distant sound of people talking, cars driving, some powerful piece of machinery thrumming away. Somewhere, someone was hammering away at something.

All the sounds drifted and carried over the town, everything presided over by a clear blue sky.

Atticus yawned and rubbed one of his eyes. He’d actually gotten a lot of sleep last night but he hadn’t spent four hours in the car since, well, his last time coming out here. And he’d never spent that long personally behind the wheel all in one sitting before.

He had existed almost exclusively within his home town of Hawthorne for so long now.

Why should he be spent after just four hours of sitting there driving? Well, he supposed it had required near constant focus, even if it was easy in every sense of the word. And that could be draining.

His phone buzzed. He checked it.

Great. I’ll head out now. You still remember the way there?

He felt his heart falter and his guts tremble slightly as he realized that he was actually going to be meeting Kate in the flesh again for the first time in a dozen years.

I do. I’ll be there soon.

The pump thumped as his tank finished filling, making him jump slightly. He sighed, replaced his phone, and then put the pump back.

The little screen and the number on it caught his eye and he felt that instinctive reaction of fear at seeing such a large number with a dollar sign attached to it.

It isn’t a big deal anymore, he thought and got back in the car.

A hundred bucks in gas would’ve broken him financially even a year ago. And while he was no millionaire, he could definitely afford it without any real problem. And that felt closer to fiction than the games he designed.

Atticus got back into his car and started driving.

Getting back onto Main Street (because did there exist a small town that didn’t have a Main Street?) he began making his way through Lakeside.

It was all still here.

Bargain Burgers. The gift shop. The old motel.

Damn, even the bowling alley was still there.

He’d looked that up online, because he desperately wanted to go bowling there again. The experience stuck in his head as a highlight even among the significance that his summer vacations here held. And while they’d said they were still open, he hadn’t trusted it.

But it was still there, and it even had some cars in the lot.

There was something new, though.

Farther on down the road, he saw a new building that had the vague shape of a franchised restaurant but was clearly not.

As he passed by, he saw that it was now a used book store.

A welcome addition, as far as he was concerned.

Atticus made a mental note to check that out.

But later. He wanted, needed to see the lakehouse.

Onward he drove until he hit the central nexus of the town. Not everything was all as it had once been. A Tex-Mex place he could never remember the name of was gone. One of the gas stations had been bulldozed.

He found a new feeling creeping in as he hit the primary stoplight and hooked a left onto Lake Way, the other big road in town.

That feeling was excitement. He was going to get to explore all of this, not just with new eyes, but with the knowledge that at least some of this had changed in his absence.

And then, suddenly, Lakeside was behind him.

Lake Way terminated in a brief rise that quickly gave to a gentle slope in the land.

He crested it, the road becoming Lake View Drive because right as you came up over that rise you saw it.

Bluestone Lake.

Probably the most beautiful thing to actually see in the small town. It spread out before him a few hundred yards away, and Lake View Drive was named as such only for some of that distance before it split into two and became Lake View Drive North and South.

Seeing that view: the lake, the houses, the big hill that was almost a mountain off to the left, the forest that spread out around and beyond the lake…

It awoke something of immense power within him, something that only amplified the strange feelings he was experiencing as he returned to this mythical place.

Looking to his right, he saw it: the lakehouse.

The Green House, as he and his brother had always known it.

How many dreams had he enjoyed and endured of that building?

How many times had he wished to be there, wished not to be caught in whatever wretched, godforsaken, minimum wage nightmare he currently was?

Far too many.

And now here it was. Here he was. In real life at this place again.

He saw a white four-door pulling into the driveway. Kate. It was so weird to think that she owned this operation now, but at the same time, it definitely made a certain kind of sense. She had always been so focused, so driven and intense.

Well, it was time to meet her again.

Atticus finished his drive and pulled into the driveway beside her car. Kate leaned against it, wearing a pair of sunglasses, a t-shirt, and cut-off jean shorts.

“You fixed it up,” he said, glancing at the house as he got out.

“I did,” Kate agreed happily.

“I’m still really surprised you’re in charge of it. You really made it, huh? Property manager at twenty five.”

She laughed bitterly. “No. I mean...okay, yeah, yes. But I could’ve really made it if I’d given in to the Bushmore people.”

“What all happened? If you don’t mind getting into it?” he asked.

“I don’t. You know my mom and dad owned all these lakehouses. It was really dad’s passion project. Mom...tolerated it. They were making a fair amount of money. Then he died last year. Heart attack.”

“I’m sorry.”

“So am I, but...weirdly, I’d mostly made peace with it by the time it came. It just-I don’t know. I knew it was coming. The way he lived his life. Just the way he looked during the last few months before it happened...I’m sorry, I’m getting too into the personal-whatever. Mom wanted to leave the town after he died, me and him were the only reason she was still here.”

“Did you have any trouble deciding how to handle the properties?”

“Not really. I agreed to split the life insurance seventy-thirty with her if I got to keep the properties. I wanted to keep the legacy going, because he’d gotten me into the business, and I like it here. Bushmore Incorporated swooped in shortly after she left and legally signed it all over to me. They offered...a lot. I still sorta kick myself for not taking it…”

“Are you happy?” he asked.

She sighed and leaned against her car, looking at the lake briefly. “Yeah,” she said finally. “I’m happy.”

“Then I think you made the right call.”

She laughed. “It’s that easy?”

“I think so.”

“Lucky for you, then. But yeah, most days I agree. Didn’t get out clean, though. There were a few debts I had to settle up, and some serious renovation work. I ended up having to sell two of the five houses anyway to make it truly work. And...one of them is your neighbor.”

“Huh,” he murmured, looking down the road to the only other house on this side of the lake.

It sat about a half-mile away. It didn’t look like anyone was home at the moment.

“What do you know about them?” he asked.

“It’s Miss Silver. Do you remember her at all?”

“No. Can’t say that I do.”

“Makes sense, she only came back to visit a few times. But she’s our town’s claim to fame. She got married like...twenty five years ago and became some bigshot romance novelist. She’s divorced now and wanted one of the lakehouses. She offered more than I was asking. She remembered my parents, liked what I was doing, I guess. So it’s hers now.”

“What’s she like?” he asked.

“She’s cool, I guess,” Kate replied, something shifting subtly in her tone.

He glanced at her. She looked a little more guarded now. Maybe their friendship wasn’t so smooth. Or maybe it was something simpler, like jealousy.

Although would someone his age be jealous of a woman twice their age?

He supposed they would be if she was a particularly hot mature woman.

Also known as: his kind of woman.

Though he seriously doubted he had any kind of a chance with a famous romance novelist.

“You want to hang out sometime?” Kate asked suddenly.

“Yeah, maybe tomorrow, or the day after. I’m...really tired,” he replied.

She nodded. “Okay. Well, you have my number. Let me know if you need anything or anything’s wrong with the house.”

“Will do. Thanks again.”

She passed him a key. “Enjoy.”

He just nodded as he accepted it.

She got into her car, backed out, and drove away.

Atticus stood there in the driveway for a long time, staring up at nostalgia personified, but made new again, like how it was in his memories, and some of his better dreams.

And worst nightmares.

Finally, taking his suitcase and laptop case from the trunk, he headed for the front door.

The Misty Vixen Newsletter | March 2024

This update won’t be too long because February didn’t go very well and I’ve been drowning in responsibility.

 
 

Beneath the Ashes 2 and Our Own Way 3 Audio were officially released in February.

I came very close to having Goblin Girls Do It Better II out, but unfortunately February was kind of a train wreck. Lots of little things kept distracting or derailing me from getting my job done and honestly I’m behind on everything. This is exactly why I didn’t get around to Shelter From the Storm even a tiny bit. I don’t even think I opened up the document one time for the whole month. It’s becoming obvious that starting it was a mistake. I really want to get work done on it but basically this is how I function as a writer:

Ensure that MAIN PROJECT, whatever that might be, gets X amount of words written per day. If that happens, then work on SECONDARY PROJECT, whatever that might be, can happen. What fucks me up so much and derails me so often is that I can’t get that first part done. And if I can’t get that first part done, then my brain feels like there’s literally no point in moving onto anything else.

If I’m working on Goblin Girls Do It Better II and I don’t hit my chosen word count before going to bed, then nothing else gets done that day, because why would I work on something else when I SHOULD be working on Goblin Girls Do It Better II?

I’ve heard several suggestions and tried several things, but ultimately this is simply how I work. I know I have something wrong with me, probably something related to OCD or ADHD. Honestly, I’d probably get more done if I did Goblin Girls on one day and then another project on the next day and back-and-forth it, but I just…can’t? I don’t know, I just can’t. I have to keep momentum going on a project. I thought maybe I could do something more casually, hence Shelter From the Storm, but that just doesn’t seem to be a thing.

It’s kind of killing me.

All that being said, I am going to try very hard AGAIN to get my shit together this month and produce more and produce quickly. I’m honestly glad I’m in my 30s still because this shit is going to stress me into a heart attack if it’s still like this in my 50s.

Anyway, the month ahead:

  • GOBLIN GIRLS DO IT BETTER II will be out very soon.

  • BENEATH THE ASHES 2 audio is being worked on, no idea when it’ll be out though.

  • OUR OWN WAY 4 will be the main writing focus for this month. It should be out sometime in April.

  • UNTITLED COUGAR HAREM will get a proper reveal this month. I’ll write a blog post about it, reveal the title, and begin posting early access to my Patreon.

Goblin Girls Do It Better II Preview

Here we are with the official early access launch of Goblin Girls Do It Better II!

If you’d like to read the second chapter, you can do so right here on my Patreon if you are a 1$/month Patron.

If you would like to continue reading the whole thing as it posts, you can do so here if you are a 3$/month Patron.

I hope you enjoy!

Lucas Mead-Slayer sat on a stump in the Blackstone Forest and contemplated his life.

The view he had was a great one.

Ellasandra had told him about it, pointed out the trail that led to the hill with the hidden copse tucked away about halfway up its side. And several times over the past ten days, as he had approached the northern edge of the encampment that they were building, he had seen it. The little copse, framed so nicely by a collection of trees.

It always looked inviting.

Finally, today, he’d chosen to walk that path and see it from the other side.

The walk had been strange, and it was not until he had reached the top and sat down on the old stump and looked out over all there was to see that Lucas finally pieced together why it was so strange a walk.

He had taken it alone.

For some two weeks now, he’d more or less done nothing by himself. There was always a goblin woman at his side, and usually it was one of his wives.

Now there was a thought he’d never assumed he’d actually be able to think.

Wives.

Few settlements and most deities probably wouldn’t accept his marriage to Ellasandra, Izzy, and Talia, but he didn’t care about that at all. They were his wives and he was their husband. They loved each other and were building a life together.

That’s what mattered.

They had been going everywhere with him ever since he’d arrived. He hadn’t had a moment to himself and what he was finding was that he didn’t mind. If anything, finally being alone up here on this hill just felt bizarre and vaguely uncomfortable.

He wanted to be chatting with Ella about the village and trying to settle on a name for their first child. (She had assured him there would be more).

He wanted to be arguing with Izzy.

He wanted to be enjoying the serene peace with Talia.

Really, he would be happy with any of them. Even Nysa. Maybe especially Nysa. Though she was clearly getting more comfortable, both with him and with her life in the Vrix Tribe, they had yet to move their relationship forward in any real capacity. She was getting a little more handsy with him, flirting with him just a little, but nothing beyond that.

And he was fine with her taking her time.

They shared a kind of kinship that the others did not, and he was still parsing out why exactly that was or what it meant.

Lucas heard Ella coming long before she actually arrived on the hillside with him. He waited for her to say something when he heard her arrive, but she didn’t, hanging back.

“Everything okay, Ella?” he asked without turning around.

“...how’d you know I was here? How’d you know it was me?” she replied, approaching.

He laughed softly. “I’m an adventurer who survived in the wilderness for over a decade, Ella. If I couldn’t hear you coming I’d be dead a hundred times over by now. And by now, I know how you walk, all of you.”

“Hmm,” she said, and came to stand next to him. “Are you okay?”

“I think so,” Lucas replied, looking over at her. “How about you?”

“I’m fine. We’re worried about you,” she said, staring at him now.

“We as in…”

“Everyone, pretty much.” He frowned. “You’re our chieftain and husband to three of us. And all of us but Nysa are now likely pregnant with your children. We can tell when something’s bothering you, Lucas.”

“That’s a good point,” he said. “As for bothering me...I don’t know if it’s really bothering me. I don’t think that’s the right word.”

“Concerning you?” she hazarded.

“No, it’s more like...wondering if I should be concerned rather than actually being concerned.”

“What do you think you should be concerned about?”

He didn’t respond right away, instead staring out over the village again.

It was coming along nicely. There was a wall built over the cave’s entrance now, with a pair of openings for windows and a big doorway. There was also the beginnings of two huts. Nysa had begun working on hers almost immediately and Nikita knew that she’d want one for herself. It was a small operation right now, but they were only a village of nine.

Since Danica, they hadn’t managed to find anyone else still alive out there.

But given the fact that eight of them were goblins, who he had learned were every bit as prone to arguing with each other as he had been led to believe, he was impressed with what they’d managed to get done so far.

Although a disproportionate amount of that work had come from Nysa.

She had a work ethic and an endurance far surpassing any of the others.

“I guess,” he said after he’d pondered it for a while longer, “I’m wondering exactly how I feel about the fact that my life is, for sure, transitioning into something very different from what I’m used to. And I can’t just walk away from this.”

“You could,” she murmured, and sat down in his lap suddenly. “Do you want to?”

“Of course not, Ella,” he replied, hugging her. “I love you. I love Izzy. I care greatly about everyone else in the tribe. I love what we’re doing here.”

“I noticed you didn’t say that you loved your third wife,” Ella murmured.

“Talia and I are...figuring things out, still. Certainly we like and respect each other, we’re attracted to each other, but Talia...mmm. She’s not like you or Izzy, or even Nysa. She’s not like anyone else in the tribe. She’s not like most of the people I’ve met. I think she’s still adjusting to being in a tribe, and being in a relationship. We’re getting there, don’t worry.”

“That makes sense,” Ella said. “So I guess I’m still not sure what the problem is? I mean it sounds like you’ve decided how to feel about it.”

Lucas shook his head. “No, it’s more complicated than that. There are two selves within us, all of us, and they are not always united. Just because I’m happy here and I choose to stay here with you doesn’t mean my...second self is going to be happy with it.”

“I still don’t fully understand,” she murmured.

“Well…” He thought about it for a moment. “Okay, did you choose to fall in love with me? Or was it a thing that just happened to you?”

Ella began to respond, then stopped, closed her mouth. After a moment, her expression becoming more and more thoughtful, she finally turned and looked out over the village and the clearing and the forest. He waited as she thought.

Finally, she turned back. “I understand now. I didn’t choose to fall in love with you, but I chose a relationship with you. You chose to become chieftain and settle down here in this village, but your feelings about that choice might not be good, no matter how much you want them to be.”

“That’s about it, yeah,” he said. “But, to be clear Ella, I’m not pondering whether or not to leave. I’ve made up my mind: I’m staying. I’m committed. To you. To Izzy. To Talia. To this village. To our children. I know that. I’m just going through a massive change and I need...to let the dust settle, I suppose.”

She smiled and hugged him tightly. “I love you.”

“I love you too, Ellasandra.”

They sat there together for a time, basking in each other’s presence, enjoying that simple pleasure of sitting beneath a calm blue sky on a crisp fall’s day with your lover.

That ran out, however, as Lucas began to feel the pull of responsibility.

It was never far, not anymore.

Interestingly, he found that this didn’t bother him too much.

Ella got to her feet as he shifted in such way to indicate he wanted to stand. He got up once she did, lingered for just a moment to enjoy the view a little bit longer, then began walking back down the hillside with Ella.

“What’s going on today?” she asked.

“I’m going to the coast,” he replied. “I want to make another real trek through the woods, get a better feel for it, and I want to get purple bay berries for Nikita’s potion. I’m convinced that’s the final adjustment that needs to be made for it to work.”

“She’s definitely falling in love with you,” Ella murmured.

“Yeah…”

“Does it bother you?”

“No. It’s nice, to be sure. I really like her, as...rough around the edges as she is. Obviously I liked her enough to get her pregnant. I guess I just wonder if I’m going to have the time for as many relationships as seem to be forming.”

“Is it such a bad problem to have?” she asked with a grin.

He chuckled. “I mean, yes if it results in some of you getting hurt. I don’t want to be neglectful.”

“Lucas, we all understand. You are the chieftain. The new chieftain, and it is a time of war and rebuilding. You’re going to be busy. We all are, but you especially. I know we seem impatient and unreasonable a lot of the time, but most of that is just on the surface. Just how we are. Deeper down, though, we understand. For the most part.”

“So you’re saying I should dive headlong into love with everyone in the tribe?” he asked.

“Maybe,” Ella replied. “I think your second self is going to make that choice for you. You can’t say no to any of us.”

He sighed and she laughed. “You all are getting too good at manipulating me.”

“We wouldn’t be if you weren’t so obsessed with rolling around in the hay with goblin girls.”

“I can’t help that! Izzy seriously tried to tell me when we first met: goblin pussy is the best pussy. And having experienced pretty much all the other races we share the planet with, after the past two weeks, I’m now fully inclined to agree.”

“Exactly, so do it. Dive headlong into a life of horny, loving goblin wives and don’t look back,” Ella said.

He laughed as they reached the bottom of the trail and headed back towards their burgeoning village. “It’s that easy, huh?”

“I promise, we won’t make it easy.”

Lucas laughed louder. “I guess I don’t have much choice either way. You’ve all ensnared me pretty effectively.”

“Good.”

As they approached their cave, he caught sight of Talia. She was making her way out of the forest, coming back from her private residence she now spent about half her time at. The blue/green-skinned goblin woman raised something over her head when she saw them.

“I’ve got them!” she called.

“Oh finally,” Ella muttered.

“Talia’s back!” he heard Izzy cry from the cave.

There was a buzz of activity and excitement as everyone in the village gathered in the open space in front of the cave. Lucas found himself doing a quick headcount. Everyone was there. Nysa held back, looking at once both amused and a little awkward as she leaned against the natural wall with her arms crossed.

“Gather around, ladies,” Talia said as she loosened the drawstring on the small pouch she carried. “Hands out. As soon as I put it in your hand, close your fist around it.”

“I bet every last one of us is pregnant,” Izzy murmured.

“Given how much Lucas has been putting us through our paces, I’d agree,” Nikita said.

“He can’t stay away,” Kora murmured, which caused several of the others to giggle.

“I definitely can’t,” he agreed, watching Talia pass out a small, round gray stone to each goblin woman.

They all took one, save for himself and Nysa, given they hadn’t had sex. Initially, Talia said that her magical stones would be best used after two weeks, but the others had all grown too impatient. Ultimately, Talia had given in and gone back to her house this morning when she woke up to yet another litany of questions, begging to know if they were pregnant or not.

Lucas had to admit, he really wanted to know.

An intense silence fell over everyone as they waited, all of them holding their fist out in front of them, staring at it intently.

“How long?” Izzy asked finally.

“Shh,” Ella replied.

“Fuck you!”

“You’re messing it up!” Nikita snapped.

“Calm down, everyone,” Talia said. “Put your fists here, into a circle, and get ready.”

They all stepped closer and put their fists up together. Talia gave them a countdown and on zero, they all opened up their fists, palms up.

Every last one of them had a stone with a strong green glow.

“Holy shit,” Nysa muttered.

“Told you!” Izzy cried.

“All of us are pregnant?” Danica asked.

“Yes. Everyone is pregnant,” Talia replied with a small but satisfied smile on her face. She began collecting the stones back up.

“Why do you look sad about that, Kora?” Nikita asked.

“I...liked it. When Lucas was trying to get me pregnant,” she murmured.

“It’s not like we have to stop having sex,” Lucas replied.

She smiled awkwardly and blushed. “I know, it’s just...it was different when I knew we were actually...breeding. Not just doing it for fun, but actually trying to have a baby...I don’t know. There was something about it.”

“I promise that if you want to do it again, I will absolutely get you pregnant,” Lucas said. He then paused for a long moment. “Gods, all seven of you are pregnant.”

“That was the idea,” Ella replied.

“Yeah, just...in one season, you’re all going to be giving birth.”

“Right when winter should hit,” Talia said.

“Guess you’d better get your shit together before then,” Izzy said, grinning.

He sighed. “Yeah. All right, I’m going for a long walk down to the coast. I want to explore the region some more and pick some rare berries. Nikita, you told me earlier you wanted to come with me, does anyone else? Only one other person can come.”

“Aw come on, why?” Izzy complained.

“Because I need enough of you here to properly guard the place while I’m gone,” Lucas replied.

“That’s a fair point,” Ella murmured.

“Then I’m pulling rank as one of your wives,” Izzy said, stepping forward. “I want to go.”

Lucas looked around. No one else seemed to want to argue with her. He nodded.

“All right, let’s grab our stuff and get to walking.”

The Misty Vixen Newsletter | February 2024

Well, January didn’t go quite as I’d hoped. But at least some things were released.

Some audiobooks are here!

I know Beneath the Ashes audio came out in December but I’m sharing it again in case anyone missed it. The only other thing I have to say is that, unfortunately, due to some circumstances beyond our control, we had to release the Complete Collection of A Warm Place without recording Prelude or the two bonus shorts.

Other than that, I don’t have too much to talk about. January is traditionally my worst month, personally speaking, and although this month was more ‘low energy’ and less ‘I’m struggling to find a reason to continue being alive’, it resulted in me not getting as much done as I’d hoped.

I got about 2/3 of the way through Beneath the Ashes 2, and I also got a secret project written and sent off. I’m not sure when it will be released, as that’s out of my hands, but I’ll definitely let everyone know once I know.

I also spent some time workshopping how I wanted to approach my projects this year, and ultimately this is what I’ve settled on. I’ll be working on a cycle for at least the next six months. Beneath the Ashes 2, Goblin Girls 2, Our Own Way 4, and then Beneath the Ashes 3, Goblin Girls 3, and Our Own Way 5. Pretty much just one after the other. Alongside this, I’ll be getting slow but steady work done on my cougar harem trilogy. The end result of this is that by the time June rolls around, I’ll have at the very least wrapped up Beneath the Ashes and Goblin Girls Do It Better, and I’ll very likely have the first two cougar stories written.

I’m intending to release the first cougar story on June 1st, the second on July 1st, and the third and final one on August 1st.

Right now, the only thing that isn’t certain is Our Own Way. I know for a fact I want to do five of them, but as more time has passed and I’ve gotten a better grasp of both people’s reception to it and sales, it seems like it should be one of the longer series, and due to the nature of the story, theoretically it could go on for quite a while. It’s the kind of thing where I’ll basically just have to see how it feels once I’m actually there, but…like for real, there’s a LOOOOOOT that could happen in that story.

But that’s in the future. For the month of February, this is what should be happening:

  • OUR OWN WAY 3 Audio should come out.

  • BENEATH THE ASHES 2 should release.

  • GOBLIN GIRLS DO IT BETTER II might release near the end of the month, depending on how well I can keep it together.

  • SHELTER FROM THE STORM should be worked on. I definitely dropped the ball on this one given it’s been like almost 3 months with no updates. I am going to try and start setting aside some time each week to get at least one chapter out.

And that’s it. Onward we go.