Thursday, June 16, 2011

Help Me With My Household problems. And Story Problems.

Current problems - Old TV - Sex story needing a home.

1) My television. This works perfectly well. But it's an old wide-screen TV, which means it is really huge and unwieldy. Not that I would generally be wielding it, I suppose. But it looks so old-fashioned compared to modern flat-screen TVs. Everyone else's TV is more modern than mine. People might be laughing at me behind my back.

Should I buy a new one? Or wait till mine goes wrong? If some old household appliance is working well, should you replace it just because you'd like a newer one? I've been puzzling about this for some time.

2) Sex story. I was looking at two stories I wrote for Skin Two, a fetish magazine. (Which closed for a while but has re-launched) I thought I like these stories but not many people had the chance to read them.

I used to have stories on my website, before I got bored with them all and removed them. So I thought I could just put these Skin Two stories on my website for people to read. Well, one of them anyway, which is better than the other. However, they were written for a fetish magazine and they're quite explicit. It was my intention, after receiving the commission for Skin Two, to write something that didn't avoid the subject of fetish and BDSM, but was quite cheerful. As opposed to gothic, gloomy or horrible. I thought I succeeded quite well. For stories which contain a lot of spanking, whipping and fucking, they're both rather cheerful. (to be fair to Skin Two, it also contained other good fiction, which wasn't gothic, gloomy or horrible.)

But I'm not sure about putting these stories on my website because having written Lonely Werewolf Girl and Curse of the Wolf Girl I seem to have become a teen or young adult author - which I never meant to do, it just happened by accident, though I'm not complaining because it's worked out well - and if young teenagers are visiting my website, maybe I shouldn't be putting explicit sex stories there. Might get complaints from outraged parents. I suppose I could post them somewhere else, but I have a low opinion of sites I've seen with sex stories on them. And who's going to read them there anyway?

Perhaps I'm worrying about nothing. There is so much pornography easily available on the internet, maybe no one would care at all about my cheerful fetish stories. But I'm not sure about that.

Comments and suggestions welcome.

17 comments:

  1. I remember reading one of these Skin2 stories and finding it good fun (and I am not in BDSM at all).
    Couldn't you have a separate section to your blog with a warnign screen at the start?

    I'd say ditch the TV, but I have been living happily without one for the last 15 years so I am biased. TV watching eats reading and writing time.

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  2. Anonymous1:37 pm

    Having been around long enough to have read Skin Two in its earlier incarnation, I would probably be interested, but I agree with your concerns about putting them on your websites. If you did put them up, I'd probably suggest putting them on a separate, linked page. "Adult materials published elsewhere"? And put a button about being of legal age wherever the reader is located. We have two kids and interesting materials in the house (Michael Manning, anyone?), but we keep them separated for now.

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  3. I had the same TV dilemma. I wanted a new one, because the old one was very small, but it still worked, dammit.
    I finally bought a new one which I justify on the basis that (1) it's (probably) more energy efficient (2) since I've been wanting to replace it for about 5 years it's really cheap, because TVs cost a lot less than they did 5 years ago) and (3) I could afford it, and if Id waited until the old one died I might not have the money.

    Of course, this leaves me with the problem that I can't throw out the old one, because it Still Works...

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  4. Could you perhaps split out your two personas (Martin Millar and Martin Scott) and then put them over with the page with the Thraxas stuff? Disavow MS here, and have the MS page not acknowledge MM? Or even a third Pseudonym,like Scott Millar? (I have no idea what your real name is or how many pseudonyms you have)

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  5. Oh, and id like to read the stories. Maybe a separate section of the blog?

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  6. Anonymous1:44 pm

    Keep your unwieldy television and watch it with pride! Until very recently I was receiving endless mockery for my combi-TV video player, one of the old fashioned ones with a 'bum'. Under protest we now have a flat screen (it's still a small one though.)

    With the stories, I think that just because you've written material that's now considered young adult, that doesn't make you a young adult writer - most of your stuff isn't. If you clearly label the stories with age-restricted warnings then you should be able to put anything on your site you want. Plus, in my experience, most young teenagers sadly probably read much worse (or at least far more poorly written!) material online every day.

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  7. Samara G1:49 pm

    Sell the old TV to a friend and buy the one you want.

    My husband and I have a D/s relationship so you wouldn't offend me personally; as for being labeled a teen author I think that could get dicey. My opinion is that if parents' are letting their kids onto the internet then they are going to come across it somehow. Or via friends at school.

    I have two step-sons, ages 13 and 10, and we have appropriate blocks on the internet, but we aren't ignorant that they somehow have seen something worldly at some point. And will continue to do so.

    I guess I'm on the fence about it - not because I'd find anything offensive, but I can imagine other authors I like doing something like this and it might be damaging to their reputation also from more prude fans.

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  8. Samara G1:51 pm

    PS. I bought your Werewolf stuff in the adult section of Barnes and Noble and ordered all the rest online - how you got labeled as a teen author is beyond me.

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  9. Clive Barker' web site has 2 section: the underage one and the just adults one... You could do the same, although I think that young teens wouldn't be damaged at all by your sexy stories!
    Btw I'm really looking forward to reading them...

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  10. I too have had similar problems with TVs and I'll make this point to you - if you decide to get rid of it, you'll have to carry it somewhere, and this will probably involve 6 people breaking their backs as old TVs are *heavy*. I'd keep it til it breaks. And if you get tired of waiting for that to happen, you could hurry it along by throwing a shoe at it or something? ;-)

    And oh, goodness. You've written BDSM things? Gosh, I've just fallen even more in love with you than I was already. I would love to read those. But I agree, perhaps putting them somewhere off to the side a bit is a good idea so you don't upset parents and alienate fans...

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  11. Carolla5:29 pm

    I don't know if you have Freecycle, a grassroots group whose members give away unneeded items to other members with item postings done on the internet, in the UK, but in the US, freecycling unneeded items is a great way to reuse, reduce, recycle. The added benefit is that you can purchase the desired replacement item without feeling guilty about not keeping the original item. So if you give away your behemoth TV, you can buy the one you want AND feel good knowing someone else who didn't have a TV (or at least not a behemoth) now has your old one. Truly a win-win situation.

    I appreciate your being concerned about young readers, but after all, you cannot control anyone's actions but your own. Certainly, if you post your stories on a separate site or set up an adult section on your site with appropriate warnings, you will give concerned parents the opportunity to block your adult postings. If others define you as a teen author, that is their definition of your writing, NOT yours. If you want to post your stories, post them!

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  12. Louise6:42 pm

    As the former Skin Two editor who commissioned Martin to write these two short stories, I'd love to see them reproduced on here, with an age warning. They *are* explicit, but not very - but they are graphic and, most importantly, they are very funny. It was a delight to commission Martin, and his stories delighted our readers.

    As for the telly - Martin, just buy yourself a new one and give the old one away on Freecycle. That's what I did when I moved house a few years ago. As Carolla says, it's a win-win for you and the lucky recipient who might otherwise have no TV...

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  13. Cheerful BDSM? Bring it on! I like the idea of having 2 parts to your website, surely from that point onwards, it's in the hands of the readers/parents. As the parent of 2 teenagers, I'd rather they were reading something by you than a crappy celebrity mag, even if it was a bit rude. As for the TV - other than Freecycle, I'd suggest keeping the old one until it dies - why give your money to some electronics company because they try to make you feel inferior?

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  14. I don't consider you a teen author on the basis of two books from all your stuff, and since I'd love to be able to read your cheerful fetish stories on here I'd say slap an appropriate age warning up and go for it!

    Regarding the TV: my dear old bulky CRT is at least 17 years old, probably more, and is as deep as it is wide. But it still works perfectly well and I don't plan on replacing it until it dies - if anyone laughs at it I tell them retro is chic.

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  15. Thanks for the replies everyone (and thanks for the commission Louise). I'm still not sure what to do about my TV. But I've decided to open a new site, a Google blog probably, and put the fetish stories there.

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  16. Danny1:05 pm

    Buy the TV as you obviously want to, but first rationalise it to yourself so you don't feel guilty.
    The old TV may work but it uses more power and gives off more radiation than a new one will, so it is good for your health and electricity consumption. The new TV will have more functionality which will save you time. It will improve your gaming experience. TV prices are low just now but may rise due to the disasters in Japan. The old TV will not be wasted, just relocated to someone who couldn't afford it, and buyers or charities will even come and pick it up for you. It is an altruistic act, and any moral worries that you have would be better aimed at more important issues.

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  17. Re: the TV, don't buy a new one. Terrible for the environment, plus TV rots your brain. I have a B&W TV which has a dial to tune the channel in, and it still works so I've never replaced it. I end up watching hardly any TV, which gives me loads of free time. Computer shows DVDs, which are much better than the drivel on TV.

    Re: the stories, I'd really like to read them and I really don't want everything I have access to to be censored to a level deemed acceptable for children. Anyway, if parents start objecting you'll get loads of free publicity out of it and even more people will read your stuff, which will enormously benefit humankind.

    If it doesn't advocate anything that's against the spirit of the "safe, sane and consensual" philosophy then it's fine for teens anyway, surely?

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