Musings in the Dark: May 2016

5/30/2016

Prince's Legacy: #8

#8: Love Symbol

In the early 90s, Prince went to war with Warner Brothers and changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol, which consisted of conjoined female and male glyphs.  My friends and I called him “Shem” or “TAFKAP,” which stands for “The Artist Formerly Known As Prince.”  Anyway, he dropped an album in 1992 that was titled with said glyph.  It has since come to be known as the Love Symbol Album.  Prince conceived the album as a rock fantasy opera and it is a mix of different musical styles and the songs tell a story.  There is a short movie that goes with the album called 3 Chains o’ Gold. 

5/29/2016

Fic Update Alert: "Lovesick"

Chapter 11 of "Lovesick" is now available for reading on pinkelegance.  We're almost done with this baby.
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"Nedra didn’t know how to respond.  Victor leaned forward and grazed her cheek with his beard.  Then he whispered in her ear.  “He wants to know if you love me.”

Her voice was equally low, with an undercurrent of fear.  “Wh-what did you say?”

Victor kissed the skin by her ear.  “I told him he had to ask you that.”

“You put all this on me, didn’t you?”

Victor continued to whisper.  “Jon’s your business, remember?  And you are the only one who can give him the answers he seeks. ”

“I will tell him anything he needs to hear if he contacts me, Victor.”

“But will you lie?”  He kissed the skin just underneath her ear.  “Will you lie about your feelings for me?”"

5/23/2016

Fic Update Alert: Lovesick

Chapter 10 of "Lovesick" is now ready for reading on pinkelegance.

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"“I know you like it when I treat you like a whore within these walls, but I don’t like it when you treat me like one when we’re not here.  I know what I agreed to, but frankly I’ve changed my mind.”

“Victor! You can’t do that!”

“Why the fuck not?”

“Because I explained everything and you agreed to it!  You can’t renege now.”

“Actually, I can.”

Nedra whined.  “No!  Come on, quit playing!  I have to be at work in two hours and I really need you to bend me over.”  She went for his belt again and he actually slapped her hand.

“No,” he said. 

Nedra sat up and looked down at him.  “You’re serious?”

“Yes.”

“You’d deny me? And yourself?”

“Yes.”

She whined again.  She couldn’t help it.  She was horny.  WHY?”

“Because you need to own up to this.  You want me to go away so you can love him in peace, but there are things he can’t give you that you need.  You would not let me do all the things that I do if you didn’t.  He probably finds your dirty inclinations distasteful and therefore can’t acknowledge them no matter what you say and no matter how you feel about each other.  I, on the other hand, will go as far and as low and as deep as you want.  You can’t treat me like a light switch.  I won’t allow it.”"

5/19/2016

Prince's Legacy: #9

#9: Batman

Tim Burton’s Batman came out in 1989 and its soundtrack created almost entirely by Prince.  He played all the instruments (except horns), wrote all the songs (with an assist by Sheena Easton and John Nelson), did all the production and created a fun, funky album that sold over 4 million copies upon first release.  It wasn’t as successful as his previous albums, but I love it.  Nowadays, over 20 years later, many consider it to be an underrated classic.

5/17/2016

Nightingales Update!

I am pleased to announce that MCP has upgraded to Shopify and our products are now available for purchase.  Come on and check us out.

The pilot episode in the Nightingales series, CRASH!!! has a snazzy new cover and is ready for reading in our store.  The supplementary blog is currently being updated, but you can get a quick taste of CRASH!!! right here.




5/16/2016

Fic Update Alert: "Lovesick"

Chapter 9 of "Lovesick" is now posted on pinkelegance.  Do enjoy!
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"He saw another tear slide from under the blindfold and saliva drip from the sides of her mouth.  “Do you feel me, Nedra?  Do you understand the translation…the words I can’t speak because I’m afraid of your response?  You can’t acknowledge any of what I say once I remove the ball gag.  You just need to absorb it, feel it, hear it.  You need to know my secret and keep it locked in your heart while we are involved and if we evolve.  You have to do that.  You owe me that.”"

5/12/2016

Fic Update Alert: "Lovesick"

Sorry for the delay, but life...yanno.  Chapter 8 of "Lovesick" is now available for reading on pinkelegance.  

This is the only thing keeping me sane right now.  Sane, of course, is a relative term.

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"Victor walked in with his usual swagger after making sure the doors were closed.  Nedra turned away from him and quickly walked up the stairs to her office and went inside, closing the door.  It took Victor less than twenty seconds to reach her office and enter it.  “You rang?” he asked.  He was definitely feeling a kind of way and it showed in his expression.

She smirked.  “I haven’t seen or talked to you since last week.  I didn’t call you.”

“Fuck if you didn’t,” he said.  “That dress is as good as a subpoena.”

Nedra rolled her eyes and backed away from him.  “What makes you say that?”

“Today you show up in our lab…wearing a dress.  Today of all days.  You hardly come to our side of the street and you never wear a dress.  So to clarify, one thing you rarely do; the second you never do, but today you felt the need to do both.  It’s okay.  I read you very well.”  He walked towards her, unfastening his belt.

Nedra folded her arms and rolled her eyes.  “You’re not supposed to be here.  I told you we wouldn’t do this at work.  This place is off limits.  Go home, Victor.”

“Sure baby, whatever you say,” he said, removing the belt from the loops.  “Johnny certainly noticed you.”

“I’ve never met Franklin’s son,” Nedra said, her eyes on Victor’s belt.  “He’s…cute.”

“He’s a dick,” Victor said, walking towards her, folding the belt in half.  “Did he ask you out?”

Nedra took two steps back and found her back against the wall and her heartbeat quickening.  “He tried to, bless his heart.  I’ve got vibrators older than him.”"


5/08/2016

Fic Update Alert: "Lovesick"

Chapter 7 of "Lovesick" is now posted on pinkelegance.
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"A man who searched for her because he realized that he couldn’t live without her.

Eighteen motherfucking years.

A night of great sex wasn’t a drop in the bucket, even if Nedra enjoyed it as much as he did.  Sex was physical, release, fun.  Love was a damn sight more than that.  Sex was easy.  Love was hard.  She could give Victor the pleasure of her body; she could even give him the emotional care he craved so much.  But their night of passion was eons away from her love for Jon.  They served together and likely saw combat together—her comment on nearly losing her life was not lost on Victor.  Did Jon save her or did she save him?  Did they save each other?  Victor had no context for what that was like.  Nedra could even rationalize using Victor for sex and knew it wouldn’t harm her real relationship.  From her point of view, she had the best of both worlds.

He balled his fists.  He was so jealous."

5/07/2016

Prince's Legacy: #10

#10: Controversy

Controversy dropped in 1981.  The title track is my favorite, followed by “Let’s Work,” “Do Me, Baby” and “Sexuality.”  I loved “Controversy” because it introduced me to concepts and ideas that my young mind could not fathom.  Also, the beat and synthesizers…come on now!  The song was about all the questions people were raising (or starting rumors) about Prince himself.   “Am I black or white/am I straight or gay…do I believe in God/do I believe in me…?”  

And my interpretation of the entire track is that Prince felt that it was no one’s damned business if he believed in God, if he was straight, gay, bisexual, or whatever.  We’re all human, we are who we are and in the end, what difference does it all make?  The extended cut includes a portion of the Lord’s Prayer, which people thought at the time was blasphemous…or, shall we say, controversial.  He ends the cut by saying we’re all just the same and basically, fuck outta here with all that human hypocrisy. 

5/05/2016

Fic Update Alert: "Lovesick"

Chapter 6 of "Lovesick" is now posted on pinkelegance.  Please continue to enjoy.
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"Nedra took the weight of his words with the seriousness they required.  It was some time before she could speak.  She chose her words carefully because she needed to be firm and truthful with Victor, but she didn’t want to hurt his feelings.

“So you expect the same level of affection I give a man I served in the Marine Corps with, fought with, shared secrets with, nearly lost my life with…a man who, after I was honorably discharged, came looking for me because he decided he couldn’t live without me.  You want that and we’ve known each other less than six months and shared nothing but a night of great, great sex.  Think about what you’re asking for, Victor.  You want the reward of my heart but you haven’t done anything to deserve it.”"

5/04/2016

Prince: My Top Ten Legacy

Actual Comic Book by Dwayne McDuffie
Now that I’ve recovered most of my emotional balance, I am in a better position to pay tribute to the legendary brilliant virtuoso Prince Rogers Nelson, who left us in April of this shit-tastic murderous year, decades too soon.  In fact, I have always been of the belief that Prince was otherworldly and not bound by the rules of us mere Earthlings.  He created music as easy if it were breathing, which for someone as prolific as he was, it had to be.  This man easily wrote over a thousand songs, and I'm being conservative in my estimate…in a world where some people have trouble dropping 1000 words, over a thousand songs is definitely not-of-this-realm-talent.  Prince was from fucking Saturn, Narnia or some planet orbiting Polaris.  He wasn't of this world and no one will convince me otherwise.  

5/02/2016

Fic Update Alert: "Lovesick"

And the song continues.  Chapter 5 of "Lovesick" is up and ready for reading on pinkelegance.

It really feels good writing again.  I hope the Muse continues to sing for the next four months...
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“If you’ll forgive me,” Victor said, “I have to admit that our origins go back farther than that elevator.  I know your girlfriend.”

Jon put the menu down, curious. “You know Roxy?”

“I know her as Nedra.  Dr. Nedra Nix.  She’s a research chemist at the Baxter Building.  And a ex-Marine.”

“Former Marine.  Who are you?”

“Victor von Doom.”

Jon leaned back and folded his arms.  “Keep talking.”

“I’m the one Franklin Storm sent Nedra to recruit that night.”

“Oh. You’re the asshole that took her phone and hung up on me?”