Literotica Authors and Their Books (For Literotica Authors ONLY)

Story

I posted a short story the same day I posted the information about and the excerpt from the book. As of last night, it wasn't up yet either in the "New Stories" section or the general fiction postings under my author name.

Not my problem. I don't run or edit Literotica. All I can do is send them and they will post them when they get to it, I suppose.

C.K. Ralston

Ralston said:

I posted a short story the same day I posted the information about and the excerpt from the book. As of last night, it wasn't up yet either in the "New Stories" section or the general fiction postings under my author name.

Not my problem. I don't run or edit Literotica. All I can do is send them and they will post them when they get to it, I suppose.

C.K. Ralston

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Okay, my mistake. Good luck with your story and your book.

michchick98 said:

Okay, my mistake. Good luck with your story and your book.

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No real mistake. I wondered myself too. You are a Literotica author when your work is posted on Literotica, not when you submit it. (It might not be accepted.)

sr71plt

C.K. Ralston here. I don't want to get off on the wrong foot here at Literotica, nor with you. Nothing in the instructions/prohibitions/by-laws/rules and regulations, etc. that I could find listed on the site said that you had to wait until your stuff made it into print to post something on the Author's pages, so I went ahead and did that.

I'm not too worried about the "powers that be" not accepting my story for publication. Not that it's that terrific--it's just something in sat down and knocked out and sent off--but it is a perfectly adequate erotic tale featuring an appropriate level of "heat" to entertain the readers, proper punctuation so that they can read it, and three characters who are clearly described and their separate personalities fully delineated.

As I stated in my intro to the story, I've had a little experience at this. I wrote thirty erotic novels for Greenleaf Publishers--the largest, best known purveyor of erotica in the world at the time--and they bought all thirty and published them.

Since coming out of a somewhat forced writing retirement back in 2007, I've written two novels for eXtasy E-Books. They bought both of them the week I submitted them . I've also written six books for Renaissance E-Books; same story. So, if Literotica turns me down, I'll be a bit shocked.

Again, sorry about the confusion on my part here. I am very new at promoting books. It used to be that I just wrote them, sent them off, did the final edits and then sat back and waited.

Not in the new world of e-publishing! Now, from what I'm told, the author has to be actively involved in getting his name and his books out there; so here I am, clumsily attempting to do that and making somewhat of a hash of it, I'm afraid!

In any case, I hope you will forgive me for inadvertantly "jumping the gun", sr71plt. Oh, just as an aside, I believe we have a mutual acquaintance--Selena Kitt? I corresponded with her about putting some titles out on Excessica a year or so ago but nothing came of it.

Nothing against Selena, who is an excellent writer, or her publishing venture, but I asked around and discovered that because of the imprint's relative newness and the number of authors who wanted to participate, the wait between books was long and getting longer. Not a good fit for me. I tend to write quickly and publish a number of books when I'm working, so I needed a house that could accomodate that quirk. (Renaissance is very good in that respect. I sent them a completed manuscript last week, got the final galleys back to them last Friday, a week ago today, and the book is being issued next Friday, the 12th of March. That's fast!).

Well, hope all goes well for you in all of your literary ventures. Nice making your acquaintance; hope your books sell like crazy!

Best,

CKR

Ralston said:

C.K. Ralston here. I don't want to get off on the wrong foot here at Literotica, nor with you. Nothing in the instructions/prohibitions/by-laws/rules and regulations, etc. that I could find listed on the site said that you had to wait until your stuff made it into print to post something on the Author's pages, so I went ahead and did that.

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No worries, Ralston. I was just noting that MichC wasn't wrong in asking. As I noted, the question occurred to me too--I just didn't bother to ask. We do get people advertising their wares here who have no connection here.

The wait, indeed, is quite long now at eXcessica. I don't worry about it there, though, because I'm still ahead of that curve--I'm working on my June 2011 eXcessica releases now, with something already in the hopper to appear at least monthly between now and then there. I also have another publisher where the releases are almost instanteous. I would agree, though, that it's rather a downside not to see something released that you had approved and in the can a year earlier. I've sometimes looked at a habu release and thought, "Oh, did I write that?"

I have a book releasing on March 12th too (Saving Cleo), but a coauthored one releasing earlier than that--probably tomorrow (Turtle Airways Special).

Best of luck with your ebooking.

Ralston said:

C.K. Ralston here. I don't want to get off on the wrong foot here at Literotica, nor with you. Nothing in the instructions/prohibitions/by-laws/rules and regulations, etc. that I could find listed on the site said that you had to wait until your stuff made it into print to post something on the Author's pages, so I went ahead and did that.

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There really is no written rule, but the thread does state "LIterotica Authors" so I guess whoever created the thread eons ago figured that was clear enough.

Sorry if I made it sound as if I was being a bitch or whatever, but sr is right, there have been people coming to this thread in the past to promote their work and they don't have anything posted on Literotica. When I looked up your profile, you still hadn't had anything posted so I figured you were one of those. My apologies again.

I'm not too worried about the "powers that be" not accepting my story for publication. Not that it's that terrific--it's just something in sat down and knocked out and sent off--but it is a perfectly adequate erotic tale featuring an appropriate level of "heat" to entertain the readers, proper punctuation so that they can read it, and three characters who are clearly described and their separate personalities fully delineated.

As I stated in my intro to the story, I've had a little experience at this. I wrote thirty erotic novels for Greenleaf Publishers--the largest, best known purveyor of erotica in the world at the time--and they bought all thirty and published them.

Since coming out of a somewhat forced writing retirement back in 2007, I've written two novels for eXtasy E-Books. They bought both of them the week I submitted them . I've also written six books for Renaissance E-Books; same story. So, if Literotica turns me down, I'll be a bit shocked.

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You could have absolutely nothing wrong with your story and it could still be rejected. It's happened to the best of us. If it happens to you, read the rejection link, it's usually formed as a question. If you can't see any problems, put a note in the notes field when you resubmit your work and it'll get a more thorough looking over and more than likely it'll be approved.

And remember, the publishers in the world of e-books have professional, paid editors. Literotica relies on volunteers and the authors themselves to make sure their work is coherent.

Again, sorry about the confusion on my part here. I am very new at promoting books. It used to be that I just wrote them, sent them off, did the final edits and then sat back and waited.

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No harm done.

Not in the new world of e-publishing! Now, from what I'm told, the author has to be actively involved in getting his name and his books out there; so here I am, clumsily attempting to do that and making somewhat of a hash of it, I'm afraid!

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Usually with new authors, it takes about a week for your story to appear. Once you're a bit more established, it'll probably only take three or four days. Of course, if there's a special contest going on, it might take a bit longer because the contest entries get first billing.

In any case, I hope you will forgive me for inadvertantly "jumping the gun", sr71plt. Oh, just as an aside, I believe we have a mutual acquaintance--Selena Kitt? I corresponded with her about putting some titles out on Excessica a year or so ago but nothing came of it.

Nothing against Selena, who is an excellent writer, or her publishing venture, but I asked around and discovered that because of the imprint's relative newness and the number of authors who wanted to participate, the wait between books was long and getting longer. Not a good fit for me. I tend to write quickly and publish a number of books when I'm working, so I needed a house that could accomodate that quirk. (Renaissance is very good in that respect. I sent them a completed manuscript last week, got the final galleys back to them last Friday, a week ago today, and the book is being issued next Friday, the 12th of March. That's fast!).

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Yes, Excessica has quite a backlog. The free-read I sent to Selena over a month ago just got posted today. Part of it was from when she was pregnant, she wanted to get things ready so that she would have little or no down time, but something very personal and tragic happened so she ended up very far ahead of schedule.

As it stands now, if I don't finish the story I'm working on now, a third installment of a series, it'll be over a year between the second and third installment. Not a bad thing I suppose, but I jumped the gun with the first two and they come out a month apart.

Well, hope all goes well for you in all of your literary ventures. Nice making your acquaintance; hope your books sell like crazy!

Best,

CKR

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I know this post I'm replying to was more directed to sr, but I'll say likewise to you as well. Good luck with your writing.

I have another article published in Doghouse Boxing Magazine:

The Fight of The Century

http://www.doghouseboxing.com/DHB/Richard030210.htm

curt's new book

New Release: Siddella's Surrender

Kinky Faeries with a Taste for B&D!

Siddella, Thief of the Low Court of Faery, discovers she's stolen something very valuable to the cybernetic ruling class. Crashing a party, she doesn't realize that the Black Angus, Faery's legendary guards are present. With voracious sexual appetites that make modern BDSM players cringe, she fears the Black Angus will find out her one most personal secret along with the data she stole.

Lord Frika has organized the Black Angus in an assault on the cybernetic ruling class of the Unseelie Kingdom in an attempt to begin reversing the damage computers and technology have done to Faery. Seeing Siddella, he realizes that this little party crasher is more than just a thief and that she holds the key to not only restoring Faery but to his heart.

Can an thief who values freedom fall in love with a fierce fighter with a taste for chaining his lovers and then degrading them in every way he can imagine? Can the two them work past personal issues to save Faery from a fate worse than death? Or will her forced surrender be too much for the Faery to handle?

"A powerful look at domination!" -Sensual Romance Reviews

Buy Link: http://shop.renebooks.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=ILLYVICH-18

Sascha Illyvich
http://www.writesex.net - Defining Erotica a blog for authors of all genres
http://www.saschaillyvich.com - Sascha's Secrets...let me whisper them to you

Here we go:

The Remoters Saga

My newest available at Fido Publishing.



Synopsis

At age fourteen, John Abernathy experienced the most devastating and enlightening event of his life...he knew the future. His future. For the next forty-eight years, John worked, made all the right investments and invented his way to wealth, to be prepared for the events to come.

On October 12, 2012 the end of the world as we know it, began. At two-fifty-two in the afternoon the rumbling started. The ground shook for miles around. The geysers spewed their scalding vapors miles into the air. At three-fifteen in the afternoon the ash blasted forth, followed soon after by the molten rock. The column of liquid rock was thirty miles in diameter, reached heights in excess of two miles. The earth was exploding before their very eyes.

For many years, John had tried to warn the world and his country of what was to come without success. So instead he prepared places, where a group of people, he would organize, could remain alive through the coming apocalypse and chaos to come. Now, as the richest man in the country, on that fateful day in October, no amount of wealth could keep John and his friends' safe in their struggle to survive. Thus begins the long arduous journey of a group of friends, family and others to a place of safety and security. Along the way, they help those they can and fight off the wolves that man has become.

EXCERPT:

Without thinking, Sue spun to her right, knife up, cutting edge out, stopping short of slicing through the throat that now kept still under her intense gaze.

“Take it easy there Sue,” Dutch said as he slowly started to step back away from the knife.

“Don’t you dare move, pinhead,” Sue said harshly moving forward with him. Dutch stopped in his tracks.

“But sweetheart…”

“Don’t you ‘sweetheart’ me you goon. This is your last warning! Follow me again and I will cut your heart out with a sharp, dirty, stick. Is that clear moron?”

“Cry…” Dutch stopped as the knife pressed against his throat, “…stal.”

“Now turn around…”

“You’re not going to hit me in the head again are you?”

“Turn around Dutch, now.” Dutch turned, his hands at his side, expecting a hit on the head at any moment. “Now walk, walk until your legs get tired. You turn back to look at me and I will kill you.”

Dutch gulped as he took the first step, expecting any moment to feel something hit his head, then another and another. He kept walking for another hundred paces before turning to look behind him. Sue was gone, vanished into the mist that hung over the tumbling blocks of building from a bygone time.

“Dutch,” a whisper came out of the air to his right.

“What?” yelled Dutch into the haze, spinning to his right.

“Dutch,” the whisper was now to his left.

Dutch spun to his left. There was no one there.

“Dutch.” From behind him.

“Fuck you,” Dutch yelled as he turned and walked into the haze the way he had come. “Bitch,” he said under his breath.

“I heard that moron,” a voice called out in the mist from somewhere behind Dutch.

Sue smiled to herself as she walked on, deeper into the forest that ran along the road. Her encounter with Dutch had raised her spirits and she now had a bounce in her step she had not had just a short time ago.

She was now anxious to get back “home”, to see her children, her husband, Michelle and him. Susan had forbid him from coming with, she was his doctor and he was not in the best of health. He had tried to overrule her, but Michelle had backed her as had Jenny. Jenny was his wife and was not in the best of health herself and although he had come a long way in improving his health, he was not quite as young as he thought he was. Sometimes you just get old and cannot do the things you use too.

Sue smiled again as the tableau that had played out as she walked out of the compound. It had been her, Dutch and Johnson on their way to help with some injured people in a small village five klicks from them.

* * * *

“You’re not going,” Jenny said as she pushed John back onto the bed. “I’ll sit on you until they are gone if you don’t listen to them.”

Jenny’s voice had an edge of hysteria in it that caused her husband to lay back with a worried look on his face. Michelle stood next to Jenny, with a stern look on her face. John scowled at them both and nodded his head. John could here Sue, Dutch and Billy leaving the compound as he closed his eyes.

Sue was walking next to Billy Johnson, a young man who had been a combat specialist in the Marines. Behind them was Dutch Higgins. No one really knew where he was from except John. Dutch had been with John for the past couple of years and was almost his right hand man, but not quite.

John’s right hand man was a quiet, tall, dark man whose demeanor would scare the crap out of anyone who did not know him. A brooding man who carried out Johns every request, promptly and without question, his name, Waylon, just seemed to fit him.

Dutch on the other hand constantly questioned John’s requests. Even today, when John had asked him to accompany them Dutch had questioned him. When Waylon moved from John's side toward Dutch, Dutch shut up and turned, walking out the door to go with Sue and Billy.

Waylon had not interfered with Jenny and Michelle as he always left when John was with any of the three, Sue, Michelle or Jenny. Waylon left the woman to the business of taking care of his friend. He never interfered with what the women wanted John to do or not to do.

Sue, Billy and Dutch were on their way to a small village built over the last couple of months just on the outskirts of what used to be a not to large city. It lay in ruins now, the city not the village, but not long ago, it had been a thriving metropolis. Word had gotten around that Sue and Michelle and several others at the compound were doctors. Messages received stated that several people were sick and injured and required the assistance of medical personnel.

The village was five klicks away, an hour and a half walk at the best of times, but this was not the best of times and took the trio the better part of two and a half hours. By the time they arrived, the late morning fog had rolled in to blanket the landscape in soft grey-white billowy cotton. Visibility was down to twenty feet or less.

Coming soon - fucking finally!

I finished the damn thing in April of 2006 and it has sat on the hard drive and on a disc in the drawer while I ran around the country playing music. Music break=publishing time.




About The Book

We are most shaped by the things that we are ashamed of.

Ronald “Butcher” Blake is The Man when it comes to high school football in 1988. With the other heroes of the undefeated Mims High School Mustangs he is one of the elite. The untouchable. That is until he takes it upon himself, while showing off for his teammates, to assault and frighten a mentally disabled boy in the hallway at school. Letting the punishment fit the crime, the principal and his coach devise an ingenious way of teaching Butcher a lesson. He won’t be suspended from school or kicked off the team, provided he agrees to one stipulation.

Butcher Blake will be the new bodyguard for the boy, Ethan Miles.

The rest of the Mustangs, however, don’t like losing their partner in crime to “some retard” and they do all they can to make life even harder on Butcher and his new charge. Led by Derek Skyler and his personal Goon Squad, the remaining members of the team, and even Butcher’s girlfriend, launch an effort to wreck the new arrangement.

No longer elite and no longer untouchable, Butcher begins to see that there is more to life than just football. A realization that he fights every step of the way.

Picking On Retards is a novel about the hardest lessons we learn. The ones about ourselves.


About The Author

Scott Carpenter, aka Boota, a natural born smart ass, lives in Kokomo, Indiana where he does the Lord’s work and grows progressively surlier every day. By municipal decree he has given up alcohol and now wreaks havoc on society while fully sober. He’s no nicer. Just sober. His wife Lisa, the only woman in the world who can put up with him, knows he is a complete asshole and yet has stayed married to him.

Picking On Retards is his second novel.

You can reach Scott at www.myspace.com/bigrudedick.

My novel, Bondage House, is now up in Fictionwise.

Bondage House is a follow up to Pirate of The Keys. Captain 30 escaped at the end of Pirate of The Keys and has now set up a bondage house operation in the California desert.

Roadrunner has a very fast dune buggy that he uses to transport 'product' from Mexico to his home in San Bernardino and then to Los Angeles to sell into the big city market. The police and the FBI want Roadrunner to lead them to Captain 30. However, first they have to catch Roadrunner.

Roadrunner will try to escape to Mexico. However, he needs a lady to keep him company south of the border. Captain 30 has this lady who makes DVDs of the bondage house action. The lady wants to escape from Captain 30 and his plan to use the DVDs to extort money from those featured in the DVD action.

The action is fast and furious, with most of the action off the road, in the bondage house.

Check it out!

The Velvet Interrogation

The following review just went up at Amazon.com of the Cyberworld edition of The Velvet Interrogation, written by Stephen Kessel, the mainstream author version of Shabbu, which is the collaboration of Lit. authors Sabb and sr71plt. The X-rated GM version of this book, under the name Shabbu, will be released by eXcessica on 4 October 2010 under the title The Interview.


By Kassa (5 stars)

This review is from: The Velvet Interrogation (Kindle Edition)

Velvet Interrogation is a stunning short story that packs a heavy punch. Although a mere 45 pages, the characters are robust and instantly interesting and the conflict is engaging. Well written, intense, and emotional, Kessel provides great characters in sparse prose. There is a needed element of suspension of disbelief as the story drops the reader right into the action of international espionage and the romantic connection is perhaps the weakest aspect, but the story is worth reading and enjoying.

The story opens with an American ex-embassy worker giving what he thinks is a fluff interview piece. Chet Bender thinks he's there to offer a human side to one of the Lebanonese presidential candidates, a man named Nabil whom he saved from a refugee camp many years before. However there is something much more sinister going on as Chet's answers hold his life and Nabil's life in the balance.

The delicate cat and mouse game reveals how the two men met and their deep connection through a series of first person memories. Told from both Nabil and Chet's point of view, the two men remember how they met, their motivations, and how they perceived the other person. The story delves into the manipulations of both men and each feels they controlled the relationship while seducing the other. This makes for a fascinating telling as the question of who manipulated whom and what each man really knew shows the different facets of their personalities.

Initially Chet seems to have been manipulated and used by a politically hungry and ambitious Nabil. Though no one could blame the young man for trying to save his life and give himself a future, even if at the expense of using an American sexually and emotionally. However, through Chet's internal musings the reader comes to understand that Chet had his own reasons and his view on Nabil's actions is very different than what some may realize. The knife edge balance that Chet and Nabil walk, somewhat unwittingly, creates a fantastic suspense and carries the tension incredibly well. The constant threat to both men's lives is very real and well drawn while keeping an element of subtly and sophistication.

The story does need readers to suspend their disbelief and delve into the world of international espionage as depicted. Perhaps the scenes are outrageous and could never happen but the skillful writing weaves a seemingly plausible story from start to finish. The one qualm I have is the ending is too pat and out of character. I didn't believe Nabil's final choices, though they were the only way for a happy ending of sorts. I can still easily recommend this quick delight. The well developed characters combine with a well written intense plot to deliver a really remarkable and unique offering. Get it today, right now!

The ninth novel in the series is now up in Club Lighthouse. Second Chance: Warlord of Ifrequeh is an adventure set in the southern continent of Ifrequeh.

A couple of Warlords try to conquer all of Ifrequeh. Justin Imperiale needs to obtain the third scroll of six that he seeks. Thus, Justin develops a plan to defeat the Warlords and gain the scroll. Justin fights one Warlord in a spear duel and fights a leopard man in the night jungle.

The novel is an action adventure. Also, Justin is able to get more information on the mysterious Lord Vorell, whom he has been seeking for a long time.

The series continues to sell well. Check it out!

New book:



This is the full Underbelly trilogy, including the stories Underbelly, Cascade and Pandemonium. (Erotic Horror)

Synopsis:

There is a secret world only a select few know about.

Dr. Brian Fisher is a psychiatrist. A somewhat unconventional psychiatrist, mind you. A genius to be precise. He has come across a great many dark and disturbed minds in the course of his career and work as a profiler for the police. This time however, he is confronted with cases that ask more of him than just applying his extraordinary gift of pattern recognition and his irresistible charm, which opens more than just doors for him. He has to become part of something he would have dismissed as fantasy or ravings of madmen before, deal with people who would do anything to get through to that world some call hell; others call it the underbelly.

Where darkness and genius meet, anything is possible …

Extract and full details here:

The Underbelly Trilogy

So, You Want to Self-Publish

A collection of lessons learned by a fiercely independent bitch with control issues:




http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-soyouwanttoselfpublish-419493-174.html

Just 69 cents.

A Little Human Decency

Dying's easy. It's life that's hard . . .



Get it now on FIDO!

Zeb Carter....a bit late, but congratulations!

regards...

Amicus

Launched just a few minutes ago, Dire Conditions, the third in the "man's best friend" nonerotic (or not much) GM series by habu (one of my publishing pen names). The first two short novellas of this series, My Dog Jack and Saving Cleo, are still on the top-five highest-rated list in the Inspiration category at Allromanceebooks.com, and both are still on the top-ten best-seller's list in that category.

Update: Within twenty-four hours Dire Conditions has gone to the top ten for Inspirationals (#7) at ARE. In fact. all three books in this series are within the top 7 best-seller slots in that category.

First book in the Point Vamp Series.

The Point is now available for download from Total-E-Bound.





Love conquers all, that is the point but can it bridge the differences between a vampire and a woman?

Hugh is twenty eight. He has been twenty eight for nearly one hundred years. Hugh is a vampire. He owns a club called The Point and he pays girls to have sex with him. He then counts to ten as he sucks their blood to semi-satisfy his lust.

Elizabeth is a doctor, she loves her job but likes to escape into the countryside now and then. When she twists her ankle Hugh comes to her aid. He carries her curvy form all the way back to his home. He takes care of her ankle and the rest of her body too but he goes too far and sucks her perfectly intoxicating blood.

How can these two lovers have any kind of relationship? They don’t know, only time will reveal the answers.

Yep, EL has written a vampire tale. Check it out now for just £2.49. A Bargain!

New release from Vivian Vincent!

Timeless Love Book 2: Clarissa’s Touch​

Purchase from Excessica (in print or e-book):
E-BOOK: http://*******.com/clarissas-touch
PRINT: https://www.createspace.com/3400217

Purchase from All Romance E-books:
E-BOOK: http://*******.com/clarissas-touch-are

Purchase from Amazon (in print or e-book):
PRINT: http://*******.com/clarissas-touch-amazon-print
E-BOOK (Kindle): http://*******.com/clarissas-touch-kindle

======

Book two in the Timeless Love series. This story picks up immediately where Reflections of a Stranger left off.

James Rosnoski led a decent life working as a chef. When he and his twin sisters decide to disassemble the mirror that brought their parents together thirty years before, he never expected to fall through it himself and end up 150 years in the future.

He's drawn instantly to the woman he meets, but he's torn between staying with her and starting a new life, or finding a way to get home to the life he had.

Clarissa Maheras was content with her relatively secluded life. She had a gift she considered more of a curse, but when she meets James after he falls through the mirror and onto her land, she suddenly wants the happily ever after every woman dreams of.

But what about her gift? Will it keep her and James apart or can they find a way to be together?

=====

Read an excerpt:

"Pudge!" her uncle said, getting up from his desk and embracing Clarissa in a hug.

"Hi, Uncle Frank," Clarissa said with a slight irritation in her voice as she hugged him. She hated the nickname he still used. She was far from the pudgy little kid any more.

"What brings you back so soon?"

"Didn't Ava tell you? I know she and Max interface from time to time. She said she knew of James already."

"All she told me was you had a new house guest and he was from the past." Frank directed Clarissa to the overstuffed sofa beside his desk. He sat down beside her, noticing that she didn't wear her gloves. He pointed to her hands. "So what gives? Why no gloves?"

"That's why I'm here, Uncle Frank. I need to explain some things to you."

Clarissa proceeded to tell him all about where and how she found James, right up until earlier in the day when she'd tried to get him home. She left out the part about the most recent erotic vision she'd inadvertently shared with James, but she did tell her uncle about the kiss.

"Don't you see what's happening, Pudge?"

"No. That's why I came to you. I want to know what's happening and why I no longer have these visions with James."

"Your father never told you anything about your gift, did he?"

"No--well he told me a little. He told me anyone who was a blood relative would be able to touch me and I wouldn't experience visions." Clarissa shifted impatiently in her seat, waiting for her uncle to get to the point.

"Well." Frank sat back on the sofa. "If you come into contact with the one destined to be your partner for life, the visions will stop, but only with that person."

Clarissa gasped at the information her uncle had just revealed. James? My partner for life? Despite how she felt at the fact no one had told her, she couldn't fight the smile spreading across her face or the sudden increase of her heart beat. "Why didn't you or he ever tell me before?"

"I don't know."

"Uncle Frank, James is with me. I'd like for you to meet him."

"I'd like to meet him, but before I do, I need to know something, Pudge."

"What's that?"

"Do you love him?"

Clarissa broke eye contact with her uncle, turning her gaze toward the door where James stood waiting on the other side. She'd only loved one other man in her life and it was so long ago she wasn't sure if this was the same way she felt now. No, it's not the same. These feelings are so much stronger. She took a deep breath before she spoke one simple word.

"Yes."

"Then don't work to get him home, work to win his heart." Her uncle rose to his feet and headed for the door. He opened it slowly, smiling as he made eye contact with James. Frank could see it in his eyes James was indeed Clarissa's other half.

"You must be James. I'm Frank Hiller, Clarissa's uncle."

Nice to meet you, Mr. Hiller," James replied as he shook the man's hand.

Frank stood the same height as James. His short brown hair and well kept mustache were starting to show traces of grey. James guessed Clarissa's uncle had to be around the same age as his father. He had broad shoulders and looked to be quite fit for a man his age.

He wore the same clothing as everyone else, only in black and he had the same shoes as Max--vintage Nike's with the red swoosh. He held James' hand firmly and smiled at him when he caught a glimpse of Clarissa with James in his mind. Oh yes, they're definitely well suited for each other, Frank thought as he brought his hand away.

James decided immediately he liked the man. His brown eyes sparkled with life. His smile was warm and inviting.

"Stop with the formalities, James. Call me Frank. " He turned and walked back into his study. He directed James to the sofa where Clarissa was. "Can I offer either of you something to drink or a snack?" His hand hovered over a small button on his desk.

"No thanks," James and Clarissa answered together.

"Very well." Frank took his seat behind the massive desk. "So tell me about yourself, James."

James fidgeted nervously, not really liking the way Frank was sizing him up. What did she tell him about me? "I don't know what Clarissa has already told you, Frank."

"I don't want your life story, James. Just the basics. If we're to get you home, I need to know how you got here."

"I came through The Mirror of Broken Hearts."

"Okay. What else?"

"That's it."

"And what have you tried with Clarissa?"

"I haven't tried anything with her! I've been the perfect gentleman! I don't know what she's told--"

"That's not what I meant, James, relax." Frank smiled wickedly even though he knew he shouldn't have. "I meant, what have you tried with Clarissa to get you home?"

"Oh," James said, blushing. "She explained to me what Madame Dorina did with my mother to allow her to travel through the mirror a final time, Frank. Apparently Madame Dorina transferred her energy to my mother. We tried the same, but were unsuccessful."

"Come here, James." Frank motioned to the chair opposite him.

James rose slowly to his feet, glancing at Clarissa over his shoulder then taking the seat offered by her uncle. He sat down on the edge, his body rigid with nerves. He wasn't sure what to expect, but hoped whatever it was wouldn't cause him harm.

"Give me your hand."

Frank took James' hand when he held it out and turned it so his palm was facing up. Frank studied the lines on his palm then turned his eyes to James. "What kind of work do you do, James?"

"I'm a chef. I was hoping to open my own restaurant someday."

"Well you have a long lifeline here, James."

James pulled his hand away and rested both hands in his lap. "What does this have to do with getting me home, Frank?"

"Nothing."

"Then how do you intend--"

"Let me ask you something, James."

"Okay."

"I can tell by looking into your eyes you're an honest man, so I know you won't lie to me."

"I have no reason to, sir."

"Do you want to go home?"

"No."

"Then why did you agree to come here today? I thought you knew Clarissa's intentions were to ask me to help in getting you back to your own time."

"I only wanted to come with her because I thought it's what she wanted."

"So you came here, willing to let me try to get you home, just to please her?"

"Yes, sir."

"Why would you do something like that?"

Clarissa stared at James, waiting for his answer and wondering exactly why she was so anxious to hear what he'd say. Frank tapped his fingers on his desk, glancing over at Clarissa, then back at James.

"She's been good to me in the short time I've been here, Frank. I know I've probably turned her world upside down. If she wants me to go home, I'm more than willing to do what she wants."

What I want is you, Clarissa thought, blushing and turning her eyes away from her uncle and James.

"That's very noble of you, but let me ask you this again: do you want to go home?"

"Yes and no," James replied, turning his eyes away from Frank.

Frank raised an eyebrow at James' different response, waiting patiently for him to elaborate.

"I want to know my parents and my sisters are safe. I want them to know I'm safe. That's why I want to go. But, I feel a very strong urge to stay because I--" he paused, casting a quick glance over his shoulder at Clarissa. "I--uh--think I'm falling in love with your niece."
=====

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