Story Ideas

So as I come to the end of the vampire story I am writing for Less Than Three I have my eye on what my next project will be. Here are some ideas I've been kicking around:

1. Sequel to Like Fire Through Bone which should be out August/September 2013. 
Church leaders are ending up dead their corpses found stripped and hanging upside down in public places. When the most recent corpse is found, chard to a cinder and hanging from a fruit tree in an orchard on Church owed land the case becomes Xêgodis' top priority. Because this time the body is that of the Bishop himself. 

The main character of this story will be Xêgodis Aetia who is the head of the Emperor's informants along with taking care of any unpleasantness without attracting attention (he appears for a hot minute in Like Fire Through Bone and is mentioned several times in that book). He's an eunuch who started out as a flower or concubine eunuch at the palace and rose through a series of less favorable events to the position he holds now under the previous Emperor. When the story starts he is in the process of morning his life companion and best friend who has recently passed away of a long illness.  Xêgodis love interest in a young up and coming military commander, who I have yet to name. One of the many complications in relationship between these to is that Xêgodis is asexual although not aromantic and his love interest has a very strong sex drive. This story will be more focused on the murder mystery aspect along with the political intrigue aspect then Like Fire Through Bone was.

   

2. Sequel to Zi Yong and the Collector of Secret and Song of the Spring Moon Waning which should be out Janaury 2014:
As Zi Yong, Jing Wei and little Fāng travel towards the Jade Mountain they are lucky enough to meet the very dragon Jing Wei is in search of, Mei Hua, now unaccompanied by a young scholar and palace eunuch. As the group travels on towards the Jade Mountain though they must deal with body eating demons, hopping ghosts, bandits a bodhisattva, and a passage to the demon realm. On top of that someone is playing Celestial matchmaker and perhaps not with the best of intentions. 

This would be my take on the classic fantasy quest story, and include two couples from previous stories. This story would also be much more action oriented then Song of the Spring Moon Waning although I would aim for the same tone I tried to have running through both Zi Yong and the Collector of Secrets and Song of the Spring Moon Waning. 

 
3. This story would not be a sequel to anything but it's own stand alone work. Right now I call it Space Opera Fairytale Story.  

August ends up on Space Station Eris VI when his ship all but crashes into it. Unfortunately for him the aging space station out in the middle of nowhere belongs to the Blood Arbiter Triad and August is taken and held captive along with the few remaining servitors of the ship. Once on board though August learns his luck is even worse, because the space station now serve as the hide out for Saoirse Vash the heir to one of the three most powerful families within the Triad. Yet when August meets he learns something is terribly wrong, while all of the pictures he's ever seen of Saoirse make him out to be a man incredible physical beauty the man on Eris VI claiming to be Saoirse is trapped in side a twisted, miss-shapen body, badly mangled and held together with out of date technology. Although August wonders if this even the same Saoirse Vash or an imposter, Saoirse insists he is the really the heir to the Triad and no one will be able to leave until he get's is true body back.   

obviously this is a Beauty and the Beast retelling and a totally silly piece of space opera which doesn't even pretend to be a good fiction. I basically started writing it as the story were I got to do whatever I wanted I really. I hope to take my time with this one and draw out the romance.

4. I am beginning to think of writing this werewolf story idea I've been kicking around for a while for Storm Moon Press' Bear Season call.
Maybe his read too many romance novels but Mark (short for Marius and only Mari to those who want to die) always thought that when he became matebonded it would be to the man he truly loved or at least a cute guy he wouldn't mind spend a few night out of every month with. Instead Mark finds himself matebonded to Claude Dominique member of his same pack and thus upstairs neighbor. Mark generally like the men he goes out with to be young, with the skinny-boy band look and natural bottoms. Claude is nothing Mark is interested in, his same age, with a sophisticate androgynous vibe, an active part of both the queer intellectual community and sex positive/sex worker community. Worse when the mating urge takes them Claude is compelled to top and Mark to bottom (Claude is more dominant within the pack), a situation Mark despises. On top of that the two have a history of not getting along and Claude trusts Mark about as far as he can throw him. Now like it or not they're doomed to have sex every month for the rest of their lives, if they don't kill each other first.   

 Mate bonding, isn't all it's cracked up to be in this story. In my universe it happens through instinctual necessity to strengthen group bonds and involves no emotional elements or even compatibility. Which is how both of my main characters end up together, from the same pack they are incredibly incompatible, emotionally and sexually but now are locked down together with the compulsive need to fuck at least once a month. Lots, and lots of awkwardness ensues.