Thursday, October 31, 2019

180 Days: A Teacher's Diary Through One Epic School Year by Sofia Faye Burke #NonFiction #Giveaway @Goddessfish



This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Sofia Faye Burke will be awarding a $20 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.


180 Days is a fly on the wall experience into a high school classroom over one full school year (180 days to be exact).



Written as a diary by a teacher who was struggling to cope with everything from educational reform to school shootings, this work unfolds via the teachers’ lens of controlled chaos in a broken system. This book takes the reader on a journey from the dilemma of how to make it to the restroom and back before the bell rings to the agony of an active shooter training day, including acceptance of a newfound form of professional development.



Mrs. Burke writes about the daily challenges and rewards of life within the four walls of her classroom. The work is gritty, hilarious, and heart breaking at the same time. Hang on, a school year is one wild ride.


Read an Excerpt


On another fun note, today was fabulous picture day! This is when all students and staff go down to the cafeteria to have their school pictures taken for the yearbook. School photos are a fun notion when presented to you early on in the school year but then you get the images back two months later, suddenly you start talking to yourself, posing questions like: “Is that me?” “Do I look like that?” WTF? Now I just want to avoid the entire school photo process as the images are simply weird. They must have a schoolmarm filter.



Teacher Confessional: Do teachers really swear? Fuckin’ A, yes! We swear on bad days. But not in front of students. Maybe I should start as kids always love the teacher who swears in class. I think they relate and think it’s cool, but those same teachers talk of drinking “juices” and smoking for “medicinal purposes.” Not the best role model in my view.



Day 11: Student started to cry 9th period. Oh, I feel absolutely terrible. But it ended well. She was arguing with me about the directions and I asked her to go out of the room to talk, as I do not like to speak to kids in front of the class regarding discipline if I can avoid it. It just embarrasses students and they resent it.



I met her in the hall and she agreed that she was disrespectful. When you take away the audience, students immediately calm down and talk honestly. But then she broke out in tears and I asked her what was wrong. She told me she is bipolar and so everything is very sensitive for her. I apologized and asked her if she needed a break from class and she took a walk around the hall. She did not want to come back in so I logged off for her. I feel awful for her; you never know what is going on inside the students until you start to peel away those onion layers.


Buy link: https://www.amazon.com/180-Days-Teachers-Through-School/dp/1733043632/ref=sr_1_1


Amazon Author page: https://www.amazon.com/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27%3ASofia+Faye+Burke&s=relevancerank&text=Sofia+Faye+Burke&ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1




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Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Article 15 by M.T. Bass #Mystery #Giveaway #AuthorInterview @GoddessFish


Article 15
by M.T. Bass


BLURB:

“She was one in a million…and the day I met her I should have bought a lottery ticket instead.”

***~~~***

Griffith Crowe, the "fixer" for a Chicago law firm, falls for his current assignment, Helena Nicholson, the beautiful heir of a Tech Sector venture capitalist who perished in a helicopter crash leaving her half a billion dollars, a Learjet 31, and unsavory suspicions about her father's death. As he investigates, the ex-Navy SEAL crosses swords with Helena’s step-brother, the Pentagon’s Highlands Forum, and an All-Star bad guy somebody has hired to stop him. When Griff finds himself on the wrong side of an arrest warrant he wonders: Is he a player or being played?


Lawyers and Lovers and Guns…Oh, my!




Excerpt Three:

The low, almost husky yet honey smooth female voice poured seductively over Griff and blanked his mind as he turned into the pilot’s lounge. Though dimly lit, as they all were to facilitate napping, her red dress glowed like a hearth, yet she still wore her sunglasses as she studied her iPhone’s screen, slouching and sitting askew in one of the La-Z-Boy recliners with her legs crossed. Griff’s eye was drawn to the slow but rhythmic bounce of her stiletto heel. Predator had become prey. She took off her Jackie Ohhs, looked Griff up and down, then took a deep breath.

“Mmmm…tall, dark and dangerous…just the way I like them.”

Griff locked onto her blue-gray eyes and surrendered. He leaned against the door jam. His inside voice taunted, No plan survives contact with the enemy.

“I couldn’t help but notice Lance’s Escalade on the ramp. He is a conniving bastard, isn’t he? Of course, he is a lawyer, but he does excel at it. Not to mention the unseemly delight he takes in it.”

“Always has,” Griff said. “As long as I’ve known him.”

“Then, you really shouldn’t be surprised.”

Griff smiled, realizing it wasn’t Mayor Daley’s fault that he was still on the ground in Chicago. “Name’s Griff.”

“Yes. I know.”

He waited, his face an implacable facade, one molded and hammered into place on the Coronado Beach while enduring BUD/S training. “You got a name? Or will you answer to minx or vixen?”

 “Hmmm…you like the ‘X’ words. I prefer Helena.”

“So…how long will we be playing Three Card Monte with modern art…Helena?



Author Interview 

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Hi. My name is Mudcat.  (”Hi, Mudcat.”) I’m a recovering English Major and I have not dangled a participle in sixteen months. Actually, I was very fortunate to have been mentored in my “creative” writing pursuits by novelist and poet, Robert Flanagan, at Ohio Wesleyan University. I worked mostly in verse back then, because I was trying to polish my songwriting skills. After I graduated, though, I started scribbling out stories that grew into novels that were rejected by all the very best agents and top flight publishing houses in the world.  But I kept on going…and going…and going…then one day freedom came my way in the form of ebooks, Smashwords, and Amazon. And, well, the rest is a matter for history to sort out.


What do you do when you are not writing?

I love turning gasoline, gunpowder, electricity, and dead trees into noise. Gasoline on my motorcycle or in an airplane. Gunpowder in my Walther and 1911. Electricity with my Line 6 Variax Guitar. And dead trees with my power tools. I’m not so much a woodworker as a wood mangler, but I’m getting a lot of practice renovating an old newspaper building Lola and I bought (circa 1901).

Do you work with an outline, or just write?

I work without a net. In other words—much to the shock and dismay of some of my fellow writers (Malcolm?)—I use no outlines.  I just launch into the story based on a scene or character in my head and see where it goes.  I tried once to outline one of my books, In the Black, because it had so many characters and plot lines, but it was a miserable failure. Mostly because the characters refused to follow the script and tended to wander off in other directions—directions which, truth be told, were more true to their natures.  So, I follow Robert Frost’s first dictum of writing:  “No surprise for the writer, no surprise for the reader.”  

Is anything in your book based on real life experiences or purely all imagination?

Well, I must to confess to making a conscious effort to pay attention to things going on around me in “real life.” I’ve spent countless hours researching our legal system by studiously watching episodes of Law and Order and Boston Legal—so much so that I’m sure I could pass the Television Bar Association exam. I am fortunate enough to have a definitive expert on Navy SEAL history and weapons, Kevin Dockery, in one of my writer’s groups (Thanks, Kevin) and I supplemented his knowledge base listening to the Jocko Willink podcast (Thanks, Jocko). The flying stuff was easy:  been there and done that as a Certified Flight Instructor and Commercial Pilot. The real trick was fitting all that stuff into a story.


What was your favorite chapter (or part) to write and why?

The Kentucky scenes with Johnny, Maura and Cap were the most fun. I’m huge fan of Justified. Those characters and their dialog were so awesome,…it gave me pause.  It’s my modest little homage to one of my all-time favorite story tellers: Elmore J. Leonard.


How did you come up with the title?

While researching my next book, Jungleland, which takes place in Congo during the civil war years in the Sixties, I came across a reference to a fictitious article in the Zairian constitution—Article 15—that simply reads: “Débrouillez-vous!” (get it while you can!). It was basically a sanction on grassroots level corruption as the only rational response to living in a country that is criminally corrupt at the upper levels.  And I loved the double entendre with the Article 15 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.


What project are you working on now?

I am finally getting around to writing the sequel to my very first novel, My Brother’s Keeper.  You know how shiny literary things can be so distracting. Anyway, my intention was always to follow Hawk, a World War II P-51 Mustang fighter pilot, along on a series of aviation adventures through the years after the war.  Jungleland finds him in the middle of the Congo civil war flying and fighting along side the CIA, their Cuban Bay-of-Pigs pilot survivors, and Mad Mike’s South Africa mercenaries. Oh, yeah, there is a woman involved, too.

Do you have any advice to give to aspiring writers?




AUTHOR Bio and Links:

M.T. Bass is a scribbler of fiction who holds fast to the notion that while victors may get to write history, novelists get to write/right reality. He lives, writes, flies and makes music in Mudcat Falls, USA.
Born in Athens, Ohio, M.T. Bass grew up in St. Louis, Missouri. He graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University, majoring in English and Philosophy, then worked in the private sector (where they expect “results”) mainly in the Aerospace & Defense manufacturing market. During those years, Bass continued to write fiction. He is the author of eight novels: My Brother’s Keeper, Crossroads, In the Black, Somethin’ for Nothin’, Murder by Munchausen, The Darknet (Murder by Munchausen Mystery #2), The Invisible Mind (Murder by Munchausen Mystery #3) and Article 15. His writing spans various genres, including Mystery, Adventure, Romance, Black Comedy and TechnoThrillers. A Commercial Pilot and Certified Flight Instructor, airplanes and pilots are featured in many of his stories. Bass currently lives on the shores of Lake Erie near Lorain, Ohio.

M.T. Bass Author Links
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/owlworks/


Article 15 Purchase Links
Amazon:  TBA July 24, 2019
Kobo:  TBA
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE:

M.T. Bass will be awarding a $50 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.



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Friday, October 25, 2019

Out Now—Stateless (Stateless Series, Book 1) by Meli Raine (@meliraineauthor) #romanticsuspense




Book Blurb:

When you’re born without a trace, no one knows you’re a weapon.

I lie for her.
I hunt for her.
I kill for her.
And above all, I betray my mission for her.
She doesn’t know why. She doesn’t care why.
I do.
Treason comes in many forms.
Love is one of them.
Our training taught me to be a sociopath. A machine. A pawn. Nothing more than a tool for a larger goal, without attachments or feelings.
Our teachers forgot one important detail:
Pawns shouldn’t have hearts.
Yet we do.
It turns out our emotions are our greatest weapon.
And I know exactly where mine are aimed.

The Stateless Series also includes:
Traceless (releasing 11.19.19)
Fateless (release date TBA)

Links:

Amazon (everywhere): https://geni.us/statelessAMZ

Audiobook narrated by Joe Arden and Andi Arndt!
Audible (preorder now!): https://geni.us/statelessAudible
Amazon audio (preorder now!): https://geni.us/statelessAMZaud

Goodreads:  http://bit.ly/2mSDQ8B





EXCERPT:


I do not sleep.
Kina does, though, and that matters more.
Sleep is a luxury when we are in Woods. She knows it. I know I should catch an hour or two, especially with my five-night punishment and determination to go for six, but I can't.
What did I just say?
What did I just do?
Kina has the dreams. I have the dreams. I've never told anyone else anything that wasn't one hundred percent part of The Mission.
To confess emotion, to confess my own dreams that do not fit The Mission, could be punished by death.
Or worse. What if I really am so weak? Emotion is shameful. It’s disgusting.
We fail every time we feel.
She knows this. I know this.
And yet we both spoke. Shared.
Confided.
Why?
What does this mean?
With her sleeping beside me, I let my mind wander, giving in to the luxury of imagination. For years, the dream has been the same.
A burning wood fire.
A screaming boy.
A woman with long hair being shot.
A man with a shaved head and blue eyes like mine beaten by another man with a log.
And me with my bow and arrow. My hands are tiny, the skin around the knuckles dimpled. I've worked with the four-year-olds here at the compound. I know what young hands look like.
Why would I dream like that?

Author Bio:


Meli Raine writes romantic suspense with hot bikers, intense undercover DEA agents, bad boys turned good, and Special Ops heroes — and the women who love them. Meli rode her first motorcycle when she was five years old, but she played in the ocean long before that. She lives in New England with her family.

Social Media Links:

Newsletter:  http://eepurl.com/beV0gf



Reviews and Endorsements for Meli Raine Books:

“The first book in the False trilogy is a psychological thriller worthy of Hitchcock, keeping you guessing until the very end.” — Apple Books Editors

“…intrigue and dark humor on display in this thriller…”

While the immediate—and more compelling—tension in Raine’s (A Shameless Little Bet, 2018, etc.) heart-pumping series opener comes from Lily’s constant proximity to her would-be killer, the action takes place against a backdrop of secret government scandals. The “screwed-up D.C.-insider scandal,” as it is clumsily summarized early on, is pleasingly twisty…

Fortunately, Lily’s voice is captivating, wry, and tough enough to sell this thriller. The novel ends with a cliffhanger that startles, if only because readers will have become so attached to Lily.

— Kirkus Reviews

“Fresh, riveting, and thrumming with emotion and romantic suspense, False Memory is absolutely unputdownable. You need this book!” - New York Times bestselling author Meghan March

“I accidentally lost a day to this trilogy! It is unputdownable. Apparently I'm on a dark-and-twisty binge, and this book is addictive.” - USA Today bestselling author Sarina Bowen (review for Harmless series)



Release blitz organized by Writer Marketing Services.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Harvest by Olga Werby ~ An Author Interview and Giveaway @GoddessFish


Harvest
by Olga Werby


BLURB:

Almost a century after Keres Triplets asteroid impact and subsequent nuclear exchange almost ended all human life on Earth, a strange artifact is discovered on one of the moons of Saturn. Who should be sent to the outer reaches of the solar system to initiate the first contact with an alien culture? Dr. Varsaad Volhard, an evolutionary-socio-historian, is chosen to help the world understand the alien civilization that left an artifact some thirty thousand years ago, before humans even learned to farm, at the time when other human species still walked the earth. While Vars prepares for the mission, her father, Dr. Matteo Volhard, discovers nanobots among the microplastics he studies. The bots are everywhere and seem to have been created to bond with human cyber implants. Why? Matteo is made to keep his discovery a secret...as well as his and his daughter's true origins. Both were donated to a Human DNA Vault as babies. Matteo was raised as a Seed before leaving with his young daughter to study ecology around the world. Who knows what? Who is in control? How does one communicate with non-human intelligence? People seem to die in gruesome ways as their cyberhumatics go haywire on Earth and on Luna and Mars colonies. Is Earth under attack or is it all just a cosmic misunderstanding? Vars needs to use all she knows to solve the mystery of the ancient civilization on Mimas, as her dad battles the alien nanobots at home.



Excerpt Three:

Vars slept on the plane…or tried to. She was too confused, too keyed up to really sleep. That coffee might have been a mistake. Ian said that he couldn’t tell her anything until they arrived at his EPSA office in Seattle, which was conveniently her own hometown where she lived with her dad. The man just smiled a lot and talked about how much he had enjoyed reading Vars’s new book.

There was a strange edge to their interaction. If Vars hadn’t believed Ian’s credentials, she would have bailed on him a long time ago. Even so, she felt like she was being kidnapped. And, in a way, she was. She’d had to cancel the last two lectures of her book tour and apologize to her agent over and over again. Ian had promised that EPSA would send an official excuse letter, but Vars still felt like she let her agent and publisher down.

They landed at a general aviation airport, and another black car whisked them to EPSA’s headquarters, just outside of Seattle’s city limits. She was taken to a conference room on the top floor of the EPSA science building, which Ian called the “tree house.” She immediately understood why–it was surrounded on all sides by a balcony planted with a row of trees and some shrubbery. It was quite nice, but Vars couldn’t enjoy it; she was simultaneously exhausted and adrenalized. It was just a matter of time before she crashed.

She must have looked it, too, because someone handed her a very big, very steamy cup of coffee. She sipped it gratefully, completely oblivious to how she came to be holding it. It was still very early in the morning, way before Vars even liked to get up, much less attend a meeting.

About a dozen EPSA people joined her and Ian around the conference table. Vars noticed that several paper copies of her book were laid out; some even looked read, with cracked spines and dog-eared pages.

“So,” she said to Ian. “Is now a good time and place for you to tell me what this is all about?”

“Now is perfect,” Ian said with a big smile. “We are very grateful to have you with us today, Dr. Volhard. This is my exobiology team.” He pointed one by one to the people on one side of the table. “Dr. Alice Bear. Dr. Greg Tungsten. Dr. Bob Shapiro. Dr. Saydi Obara. Dr. Evelyn Shar. And Dr. Izzy Rubka.”

Vars had heard of some of these people by reputation, of course, but never met any of them personally. EPSA people were a reclusive bunch, tending to mix with their own to the exclusion of others, even with the same research interests. It was one of the reasons Vars always wanted to join the organization–to get access to the best and the brightest minds and a chance to discuss the origins of life over coffee… But the introductions were happening so fast, there was no chance that she would remember how any of these names linked up with faces. Vars doubted she would even recognize these people walking down the street.

But Ian just continued. “And this group,” he gestured to two men and a woman, “is on loan from JPL–Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena. Trish Cars, Dr. Ron Silverman, and Dr. Benjamin Kouta.” Vars gave up on remembering who was who. “And these two,” Ian said, nodding to a pair of identical twins sitting next to him, “are Ibe and Ebi Zimov, our computer science wunderkinds from EISS, European Institute of Space Science.”




AUTHOR Interview


How did you choose the genre you write in?
I write sci-fi and magical realism. My background is in astrophysics and psychology. Granted, it’s not a very likely combination for a career…a regular career. But it is perfect for a writer of science fiction!
I've always hoped to live long enough to see the day when humans fully dedicate themselves to space exploration…at least to exploring our Solar System. I've studied math and astrophysics in college...went on to get a doctorate... But I’ve realized that one of the best ways that I can "push" for space exploration in particular and science, in general, is by writing science fiction! So I write what-if scenarios and embed as much real science as I can into a story that is gripping enough to get the attention of just the right type of audience. My latest book, “Harvest,” deals with first contact. I use this setup to discuss conditions necessary not only for life to develop, but for advanced civilizations to rise and colonize space.

Do you work with an outline, or just write?
By the time I actually start writing a new novel, I’ve usually spent a year or so taking notes and doing research. I tend to have a general idea of what the book will be about. But that said, I’m the seat-of-my-pants kind of writer. I write to find out what happens next! Once I know my characters and understand their predicament, the story is written by them. They decide what they want to do and how to proceed and how to solve problems that I throw at them. I know this sounds crazy, but it works well for me. I’m always surprised by the end of the story—the finished book is nothing like I’ve imaged it…but it does contain all of the elements of my research for the story.

Can you tell us about your book?
“Harvest” was published in May, 2019, after almost two years of writing and editing and illustration. It got three 5-star reviews from ReadersFavorite and has been entered into a few completions.
“Harvest” is a story of first contact. 30,000-year-old alien artifact is found on one of the moon of Saturn, buried in the ancient ice. This means that back when humans didn’t even begin agriculture or domestication of animals or started using symbols to keep track of ideas or to send messages to each other; before the days of making clay pots and weaving baskets; back when we haven’t even discovered the Americas; in the deep time before the dawn of our civilization (night time, really), some aliens were already advanced enough to send a craft across the trillions and trillions of miles of space to our home star system. Why did they come? What do they want?

I became interested in the idea of galaxy’s first star-fairing civilization a few years back. I wanted to use all of the science I knew to extrapolate the implications of being the first intelligence and the first civilization and then the first space-fairing culture to arise in the Milky Way. There had to be the THE first. What if it is NOT us? How would we, humans, handle first contact with such people? Would it go well for us? Would it be like “Star Trek?” I had a feeling that it might not really play out that way…
The story of Vars, a professor of socio-biology who studies human origins and civilizations, came from my exploration on these ideas. I wanted her—a “soft” scientist—to try to solve the puzzle of communicating with someone very different from us, whose motivations we simply don’t understand. For when the time comes, it won’t be the physicists and mathematicians who will be on the forefront of interfacing with aliens. It will be diplomats, sociologists, linguists, and lawyers! (perhaps teachers…)
I have posted the first three chapters of “Harvest” on my blog: https://interfaces.com/blog/my-books/harvest/
There, you can also find a large collection of my short stories, radio plays, other book excerpts, and lots of articles on writing, the universe, and life in general. I also regularly post book giveaways and, for those interested in subscribing to my rambling monthly newsletters, there is a free copy of my fist book, “Suddenly, Paris.” It’s a story of virtual worlds and love that overcomes all kinds of digital barriers.
I’ve made a little video introduction to “Harvest”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfJnQhQkDCo

“Harvest” is fully-illustrated—why do only kids get to have pictures in their books? Below is a small collection of images from the book.



AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Olga Werby, Ed.D., has a Doctorate from U.C. Berkeley with a focus on designing online learning experiences. She has a Master's degree from U.C. Berkeley in Education of Math, Science, and Technology. She has been creating computer-based projects since 1981 with organizations such as NASA (where she worked on the Pioneer Venus project), Addison-Wesley, and the Princeton Review. Olga has a B.A. degree in Mathematics and Astrophysics from Columbia University. She became an accidental science fiction indie writer about a decade ago, with her first book, "Suddenly Paris," which was based on then fairly novel idea of virtual universes. Her next story, "The FATOFF Conspiracy," was a horror story about fat, government bureaucracy, and body image. She writes about characters that rarely get represented in science fiction stories -- homeless kids, refugees, handicapped, autistic individuals -- the social underdogs of our world. Her stories are based in real science, which is admittedly stretched to the very limit of possible. She has published almost a dozen fiction books to date and has won many awards for her writings. Her short fiction has been featured in several issues of "Alien Dimensions Magazine," "600 second saga," "Graveyard Girls," "Kyanite Press' Fables and Fairy Tales," "The Carmen Online Theater Group's Chronicles of Terror," with many more stories freely available on her blog, Interfaces.com.

Links:


Selected Book Links on Amazon:

“The FATOFF Conspiracy”: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B014S0W4WO/
“Lizard Girl & Ghost: The Chronicles of DaDA Immortals”: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FBR7Q1T/


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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER:

Olga Werby will be awarding 2 books to a randomly drawn commenter (LIZARD GIRL AND GHOST and SUDDENLY, PARIS) via rafflecopter during the tour.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Monday, October 21, 2019

Slaves to Desire by Eli Gilić (@GilicEli), published by Sinful Press (@SinfulPress)—Just 99c/p Throughout October! #erotic #collection




Slaves to Desire by Eli Gilić is a unique, beautifully written erotic short story collection that deftly weaves fact and fiction. Originally published in Serbian, Sinful Press is over the moon to present the English language version of this amazing collection in both digital and print. To celebrate, we are making the ebook version available for just 99p/99c throughout October.


Blurb:

Charles Baudelaire, Rasputin, Anna Karenina, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet and Ophelia, Fyodor Dostoevsky, George Sand, Frederic Chopin, Vincent Van Gogh, Antonin Artaud, Maria Izquierdo, James Joyce, Federico Garcia Lorka, Salvador Dali.

Can Rasputin find redemption through the sins of others? What awaits Anna Karenina on the other side? Does passion still flow through the veins of the lovers from Verona? Can Hamlet and Ophelia escape their fate? Is Van Gogh’s loneliness a blessing or a curse? And can Dali dispel Lorca’s fear.

Eli Gilić deftly weaves fact and fiction to bring some of the world’s great writers, literary characters, artists and composers to life as they reach the heights of passion and the depths of despair in this mesmerising erotic short story collection.

Sales links:

Apple iBooks: https://books.apple.com/book/slaves-to-desire/id1466674642
Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/slaves-to-desire-eli-gilic/1130547023?ean=9781910908358

Excerpt from ‘Lovers in the Land of Peyote’ (María Izquierdo and Antonin Artaud), Slaves to Desire:

They brought him half-dead on a donkey, took him to his room, laid his feverish body on the bed and left me alone with him. I was terror-stricken as I listened to his frantic screams and incoherent ravings about virgins and donkeys. I wiped his burning forehead for hours and tried to reach him. He writhed, flailed his arms and legs, and I had to avoid blows carefully.
My strength was dissolving when Antonin suddenly stilled. I feared the worst, but he opened his eyes. Delirium had passed. His eyes were bright and curious. Such relief overcame me that I kissed him without thinking. I poured all the love that was burning in my heart into that kiss. I realised what I had done only when he returned my kiss. But there was no reason for anxiety because Antonin was overcome by desire just like me. He kissed me feverishly, as if to compensate for all the months of restraint. A surge of happiness flooded me. I quickly took off my robe and pulled Antonin's pants down his legs.
Antonin just looked at me with mild disbelief. Fearing that he would pull away and say that we shouldn't, I quickly settled above him before he had a chance to object. I had to feel him at least once. I think my heart would have broken if I didn't manoeuvre him into me.
I looked him in the eye as I slowly descended on his hard manhood, choking from inexplicable joy. It seemed like I was becoming whole because he was filling me. I lacked something essential before Antonin entered my life just as my body had missed something vital before I felt him inside me. When I came down completely, I stilled to interpret his look. But I saw nothing except great love and total abandonment. As if to encourage me, Antonin grabbed me by the hips and began lifting and lowering me. I started moving and together we found the rhythm of lovers. Our bodies moved as if of their own will, as if saying something to each other with those feverish movements. Movements as old as the world, yet completely new, full of mysterious meaning known only to us. Faster, feverishly, marvellously coordinated as if our bodies had already done that in another world and time and we were only repeating what was carved in our hearts and bodies.
Antonin was moaning uncontrollably while rapidly raising his pelvis to meet my frenzied descents. Strangled sounds were escaping my throat, my insides were tightening from pleasure. The pressure was becoming unbearable, almost agonising. And then a miraculous burst, spasms that brought immense delight. The relief was so strong that I collapsed on him. Antonin hugged me tightly and jerked a few more times before freezing and crying out.
I sat up and showered his face with kisses, crying and laughing at the same time, mad from the rush of giddy joy.

Author Bio:

Eli Gilić is a writer and translator from Serbia who has spent much of her career translating best-selling novels for the Serbian market. She has also penned an erotic cookbook called Eat, Tease and Please.

Eli lives near a forest in Serbia with her three four-legged friends, and she spends her free time growing organic food, climbing mountains and jumping from waterfalls.

Slaves to Desire is her first short story collection, and it was originally published by Laguna, the biggest publisher in Serbia, before being translated into English for Sinful Press.



Sale blitz organised by Writer Marketing Services.