My fiction up at ERWA May/June in the Galleries

Find three stories of mine and two pieces of flash fiction in the story Galleries.

Enjoy.

xxoo!

from Valentine Bonnaire

Two new stories up of mine! xxoo! #Literary #Erotica

I have two pieces running at ERWA this month.  Both of them are very strong stories told from the feminine.

You can read them in the galleries at these links...

"Have A Nice Day."

It's a story about mothers-in-law and the havoc they can cause for young lovers.  In this case it's a story of Zombies, and how zombies happen...

I wasn’t going to let her kill me.  I wasn’t going to let them kill me.  The whole crushing force of the women who had come before me, who had lived before my time with him.  She sat like a matriarch on a throne wagging jeweled fingers on her dead hands while she attempted to orchestrate our future.  My mother-in-law.

She’d already killed him.  The man who was going to be my husband.

I had the evidence.  My poor, poor Charles.

“Make us a cuppa, will you love?”  She only pretended to be crooning.

I never could stand the way he jumped to attention when she issued a command.  Even now she was still issuing them.  From beyond the grave and he couldn’t let go of her.  That year we first met he was making her tea every Sunday.  She hated me.  Because I was alive.  Looking back I think she added something to her tinctures.  Datura leaves.  The poisonous flowers hung like fairy lanterns all around the garden next to her oleanders.  I never could trust her.

There is a very romantic part to this story in terms of "the erotic" so please go and have a read!

The second story is "l'heure bleue."

That's a ghost story.  What happens when we think back to other lovers?  It's not as if women ever forget, is it?  In the story my character Sophia (which means knowledge) is haunted by an old, old ghost that she has seen in the web.  It's the middle of the night and Sophia can't sleep.

“I was able to love,” she wrote, after seeing him on the screen.  “Again.” 

The moon hung like a tiny lantern surrounded by night clouds drifting in a rushing wind.  Nothing was clear anymore, about the sky or the stars or the planes flying about and what they might be.  She stood for a long time in the cold and brittle light of almost total darkness looking up into the heavens.  The pages of her journal fluttered on the desk, before she tore them out completely and crumpled them in her fist.

“Come to bed, Sophia.”

Brace called her back from her depths, his voice stronger than her darkness, stronger than the cold of the clouds and the night sky filled with uncertain stars.

“I’m waiting.”

“It’s so cold out,” she said.

“I’m warm.”

Her hands were icy as she slid them across his chest.  “Brrrrr,” he laughed.  “You’re freezing.”

He smiled as he pulled her toward him, in the way that husbands smile, that’s different than the way a lover smiles.

“Am I?”

“Take off your clothes and come to bed.  It’s late”

“You’re always right Brace, aren’t you?”

“Do you think so?”

“You’re always very sure of everything.”

“I am what I am.”

“I suppose we all are.”

“Come to bed.”

His arms were warm as they tucked themselves around her, pulling her in against him, but her mind had shifted elsewhere on some kind of different plane.  Brace rolled his back to her.  “Go to sleep.”

But Sophia couldn’t sleep.  Not anymore, not after hearing that voice, and seeing the photograph.  She and Brace never talked about the past or the other people they had been with.  What would have been the point?

In the warmth of the bed, against Brace’s back, in the heat of the blankets—her mind kept drifting backwards.

To read the rest, visit the site at the links above.  Literary Erotica for adults.

xxoo!

Valentine

ps: I write heterosexual Literary Erotica.

pss: I'm very excited to be published in a book that you can purchase here... look for my short story called "Flowering" -- there are so many fine stories in the book.  By the absolute tops in the genre.  Savor these reads about sex and the human heart...

Velvet Babe's "Little Miracles" ~ flash fiction xxoo!

Just in time for Saint Paddy! xxoo!

Velvet’s “Little Miracles”

by Valentine Bonnaire c. March 2013 valentine@valentinebonnaire.com


The Velvet Babe looked skyward.  Saint Patrick and Oz were smiling at her, those rogues.

She pouted at Oz, and crossed her arms.

“Mr. Swankypants forgot those flowers didn’t he?”

Velvet nodded wistfully.

*Poof!*

A great green cloud of smoke and stardust enveloped the Babe. She waved her arms to clear the smoke and saw her outfit.  It couldn’t have been sexier.  Little green bows and the tiniest straps, green heels made of the finest suede from Spain, thigh highs with tricky garters.  She looked like she was wearing all the Frenchiest green ever, with continental overtones.

“Well, Darlin,” Saint Paddy said...

“What be your wish?” smiled Oz.

“Five orgasms in rapid succession.  That will take my mind off all the bad news.”

*Poof!*

The “Ye Olde Leprechaun” where Oz beamed the Babe was afire with spirit.

Swankypants was the last thing on her mind once she saw Pan the flautist dressed as Peter himself.  He had one all right.  Those tights were a dead giveaway. 

“In his lap, Velvet,” Oz commanded.

“A perfect fit if ever there was one,” cried Paddy.

’Twas better than the pot of gold, as Velvet smiled down a million rainbows, crimson in the clover.


* * *

Velvet Babe my comic book character...

I love to write the world of Velvet Babe.  The thing is, I want her to have just the right look?  So how do you go about finding the right artist?

I have written many stories of her, and I have a basic idea of how she should look.  I sent out one query, and didn't hear back so I'm in the process of searching myself for a company.

The stories I initially wrote are over at Cleansheets.com in the archives.

She could be a graphic novel?

And more, and I know that.

When I get back to the Santa Barbara Writers Conference in June this year I will be talking about her.  She's erotic and silly and she is always dressed in fantastic outfits.

As I was researching artists I came across the most beautifully designed little book of one of Oscar Wilde's short stories -- called "The Happy Prince."

I love the depth and attention to detail on this.  So stunning. I want to get the book for myself?

Really!

That artist is very famous.  Just exquisite work.  Here is an example...

I only like the best designs and artists, can't help it!

Anyway, I'm going to post the little flasher I just wrote for ERWA because it has Paddy in it and we are coming up on that special day as it is! 

Back in a mo....

xxoo!

Valentine
valentinebonnaire.com

Vanilla Erotica ~ my story Flowering in a new anthology...

I'm very happy to announce that one of my short stories "Flowering" will be appearing in this anthology by Constable and Robinson, edited by Maxim Jakubowski. 

It's going to be out in April in London and in June in the United States.  I'm incredibly excited about this as you can imagine.

I've been very careful to only be published by the best.  To be in this book with my editors makes me beside myself.  I hope that doesn't sound too gushy.

If you knew?

This particular publisher?

Well. 

This publisher also published Jean Rhys, Theodore Dreiser, Herman Melville, Henry James and...

To have a story be in with that league?

I attend the Santa Barbara Writers Conference.

If you were to take a look at the league of writers who passed through there?

Oh, my.  When I go back in June I'm going to have a copy of the book in my hands to show them.  It's very hard to believe in a way?  It is.  The man who founded the Conference wrote this book:

I only wish Mr. Conrad were still alive.  I would have loved to have shown him where "Flowering" ended up.  I know he would have approved.

xxoo!

Valentine Bonnaire

Literary Erotica as candybox!

If you've read any classic erotica you know it's like a candybox of text.  Each story has a center and it's like a sampler.  All of them have different flavors?

Not unlike this picture...

So, what is inside?

That's what the reader finds out.  I like to write short stories and poetry in this genre.  Erotica can contain "love" as a theme, or not.  I've written both and sometimes I like to write morality tales.

Oftentimes we use a lot of metaphor on the literary end of the spectrum to convey something.

So, here is a poem I wrote once, called "candyboxes."

Most Literary Erotica is non-explicit because it is written in a poetic style.   Can you call it erotic?  Yes.  This kind of erotica is meant to paint a picture in the reader's mind.

I'm going to be linking to some classic books and art as I go along because there are so many wonderful writers I know.

That was my Valentine candy!

I like it elegant?

xxoo!

Valentine Bonnaire