Big week this week!
Good evening!
Firstly, I've now got the podcast up and running, so there'll be a regular episode coming out on Thursday mornings! As I said last week, I'll be working through my back catalogue and primarily concentrating on the shorter ones at first, with the longer ones in between.
Johannes T. Evans' The Story is here - the stories out so far are Two Plates and The Dragon's Treasure, and they're currently available on Spotify, YouTube, and directly from the RSS feed. I am currently waiting on them to be processed so they regularly appear on Google and Apple Podcasts!
I've also started doing erotica episodes - I'm releasing these ones as bonus episodes where the ones rated M or below are going to be out for free. I'll be releasing these every other Thursday, two a month, and they'll be released on Patreon, or, if you don't have a Patreon subscription, you can pay a one-time fee of $10 for access to these on Glow!
I'm going to keep the one-time fee priced at $10 for the next while - I expect I'll raise the price a little higher later on, but not until there's a much more extensive battle catalogue of episodes.
If there are any particular short stories you'd like made available as an audio version, please do feel free to let me know in the replies! I'm super excited about building up the podcast just because I've got a few hundred short stories to choose from, but I'm more than happy to prioritise people's favourites where I can.
Between setting up the podcast and also working on graphic designs for merchandise, I'm feeling super positive about building up my other skills alongside writing fiction, and I'm really happy about it! Thanks so much for all your support, whether that means subbing somewhere or buying merch or listening to the podcast or just reading and liking things - it really means a lot, and I'm just really excited about the position I've worked to as a creator and the new skills I'm working on now.
Media Recommendations:
Firstly, I've been watching Boardwalk Empire (2010-2014) this week - the writing on this one is incredibly hit-and-miss. If you actually enjoyed The Sopranos (which I did not particularly), you might like this one - I'm enjoying parts of it because I'm interested in the Interwar Period as a whole, and Prohibition Era Atlantic City is obviously an interesting setting. Steve Buscemi gives a great performance, and predictably the Black and female characters are the most interesting and compelling.
I will say that Chalky White's (Michael Kenneth Williams) plotline in S2 is honestly pretty regressive as far as Black storylines go where he's literally portrayed as representing/controlling the entire Black community in Atlantic City, and the show's attempt at exploring his trauma just feels like an indulgent desire to display that trauma for a white audience while doing much of the same plotline this sort of period drama ordinarily gives its singular Black character - self-loathing and not being able to "cope" with his newfound wealth and privilege, being self-sabotaging etc. The white female characters are allowed a little more complexity and variety in their portrayal, with some character-driven storylines that are a little less common and cliché for female characters in period dramas like this one, but honestly, they're either being a by the abused male characters around them, or are themselves abusers. The actresses are all fucking nailing it, particularly Kelly MacDonald and Gretchen Mol, and Tracy Middendorf only has a minor role but she fucking steals the screen whenever she's on it. They're giving a lot of depth to a show that doesn't always afford their characters the interiority and complexity it does its boring male characters.
The bits of this show I'm enjoying are the frankly gorgeous costuming noises and the incredible music and soundtrack, as well as the very real sense of place and time - in terms of visuals, each episode is really robustly produced. It's just a shame that the writing and character are so hampered by the mediocrity I'd expect of this sort of culturally homogenous pool of TV writers, and its generally conservative politics. For the period, comparing it to other shows of this time, I'm sure it does stand up well enough, but looking at it a decade on, it's a big meh.
You needn't watch the show to enjoy some of the costuming though - the Gentleman's Gazette did a really great review of the menswear design choices, and some of their designers have done interesting interviews - I'd particularly recommend this one with John Dunn, and this one with Lisa Padovani, who also worked on Gotham and Mad Men, which isn't about Boardwalk Empire itself, but about her experiences in the industry.
This week I also came across some archives of oral histories taken with queer people in the early noughties, all about growing up queer in the 50s and 60s - they're part of a larger archive of oral histories focusing on the US American South which I ended up having a go through, and all of these interviews are fucking great, they're so fascinating.
All of them have MP3s of the interviews themselves, but also have transcripts if you'd just like to read them, I definitely recommend just having a scroll through the archive and seeing what stands out to you because there's hundreds.
Here's the homepage for Oral Histories of the American South, and here's a few I looked at:
Quinton E. Baker, about his identity as a Black gay man, particularly his role in the 1960s Civil Rights Protests
James Arthur Jones, an ex-school principal, discussing the impact of integration on his largely Native American community in the 1960s
Bill Hull, a gay man whose brothers were also gay, talking about his experiences growing up gay in the 50s and 60s
Patricia Long, a lesbian activist talking about her experience with her church allowed to come to terms with her gay identity in the 1980s
I also enjoyed this week this article from 2021 about Berlin's queer history! The piece is by Alexander Wells, and is called Cruising through Berlin’s queer history.
New Works Published
Podcast Guest Spot: The Trauma Talks: Trauma and autism
In this episode, Jeremy and Katherine investigate one of the most requested topics, the experience of trauma for the autistic community. We examine what it is to experience trauma while being autistic and managing the intersectional issues such as stigma, myths and oppression that accompany it. Content warning: contains references to various mental health issues, physical abuse and state sanctioned abuse.
The Dragon's Treasure: The Story, Episode 2
Fantasy short, originally published September 3rd, 2020. 2.4k, rated T. DP. An ex-knight, getting on in years, makes a dangerous annual pilgrimage.
RSS Feed / / Listen on Spotify / / Listen on YouTube
Caught: The Story, Bonus Episode 1
Cis M/trans M/cis M, 3.2k. MB.
A thief is caught in the treasury and his punishment is delivered by the guards on duty. Unadulterated porn without plot — dubious consent, anal, vaginal, and oral sex, spitroasting, size difference, rough sex, fingering, messy sex with a bit of squirting and also messy oral, double penetration (vaginal/oral and vaginal/anal), crying, mindbreak, pussy spanking, spanking, some nipple play. Unsafe sex, no prophylactics or contraceptives are used or mentioned.
Access on Glow / / Listen on Patreon
The Baths: The Story, Bonus Episode 2
850w.
An attendant is well-used by a warrior after the arena. Cis M/M, Roman warrior with a slave in the baths. Size difference, strength kink, mild dehumanisation and humiliation, begging. Anal and oral.
Access on Glow / / Listen on Patreon
Romance Short: Like A Thief and An Assassin
Romance short. A thief-for-hire mounts a seduction of his handler.
Rated M, 6,7k, M/M. A kooky thief at a for-hire intelligence agency starts to romance his handler. Banter and some back-and-forth, mounting sexual tension, age difference. Tone is playful and restrainedly horny. Adapted from a TweetFic.
Read on Medium / / Read on Patreon
Fiction Short: At Sea
A sailor on a cruise-liner attempts to soothe an anxious passenger.
4.3k, rated M. A gentleman is nervous to travel at sea and is attended by one of the officers.
Note some warnings for references to torture and injury, particularly to drowning.
Read on Medium / / Read on Patreon
Satire: Questions You Wish You Could Ask A Gay Transgender Man
A satire piece for Pride Month, taking the piss out of the silly questions cishet people ask a gay trans man!
On Medium / / On Patreon
Fantasy/Romance Short: The Lighthouse Keeper's Selkie
A selkie becomes fascinated with a cold man living alone.
4.1k, M/M, rated M. Note warnings for non-graphic violence and butchery, themes of captivity, and cannibalism.
On Medium / / On Patreon
Erotic Short: Agony and Ecstasy
An abbot takes a stranded sailor on for… personal duties.
6k, M/M, rated E! Age difference, virginity kink, some naivety, some oral and anal, first time enthusiasm.
On Medium / / On Patreon
Creative Non-Fiction: A Grindr Hook-Up
An average Grindr hook-up, a play-by-play.
On Medium / / On Patreon
And that's all, folks! See you next week!
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