Thursday 3 July 2008

A.W.G.E.

For the past few weeks I've been A.W.G.E. from many of the online forums of which I am a member. The Britwriters blog, the various Yahoo! groups. I've even been neglecting MySpace and my own blog to some extent. And I certainly haven't done any promoting for Lost & Found.

What is A.W.G.E.? Absent With a Good Excuse.

That excuse, of course, is real life - or should I say my professional life. My job (the one I get a salary for) has been monopolising my time and wearing me out. It's got to the point that on Tuesday night, I home at 7pm and went straight to bed without any tea. I was in bed before Nobbs Jr for pity's sake and he's only two and a half!

It's been one thing after another in the office. And I've still got piles of work scattered around the room waiting 9not particularly patiently either) to be attended to.

This has meant no time to work on any stories - Chloe's Education or the shorts I've got stuck in my head. But the biggest 'crime' has been my inability to adequately promote my last release from Phaze Books - Lost & Found. This is a damn pity, because it's a story I really want to do well. I guess we'll have to see what the sales figures are like - has my absence made the blind bit of difference? If it hasn't, doesn't it make all the online promotion efforts that we writers make something of a waste of time? Or if it has, does that mean if I put a lot more effort into it over the summer, the sales figures will pick up? Guess I'll have to wait and see.

In the mean time, here are two short excerpts. The first is from Chloe's Education. The second from Lost & Found.

Chloe's Education - a work in Progress.

It was half-way through a particularly boring two-hour lecture from the university's foremost authority on the exceeding dull. During his more tedious lectures, Chloe and Adam kept each other entertained while the professor's monotone threatened to induce mass coma. Chloe slipped a piece of paper onto the bench in front of them and scribbled something on it. Adam craned his neck to read it: I’m bored!

He picked up his pen, reached over and wrote his reply: Me too!

Chloe giggled under her breath as she scribbled again: Entertain me!

Adam grinned and winked. He made his “thinking” face—as if genuinely considering how to entertain her. In actuality, he was picturing the body she hid beneath her tight white top and skinny-jeans. It was, in his opinion, just about perfect. Smooth, lightly tanned skin stretched tightly over her generously proportioned curves. He wanted the lecture to end so that he could take her home and pay homage to it. When he realised he was starting to drool, he snapped back to reality and wrote his answer: I’d love to entertain you, babe. But not here!

Chloe raised her eyebrows, as if in anticipation of the entertainment to come. She licked her lips as she wrote: How would you entertain me?

Adam’s brain shot straight to his cock—it did that a lot around Chloe. His pen hovered over the paper. He wanted to write “by stripping you naked, licking your pussy ‘til you come and then fucking you to heaven and back. Twice.” Instead, he wrote: That’s for me to know and you to wonder about.

Chloe grinned and her eyes dipped to the bulge in Adam’s jeans. Then she scribbled again: Would our mothers approve?

Adam quickly wrote: Absolutely not!

Chloe scribbled again: Would it take long?

Adam chuckled as he wrote: Only if you want it to.

Chloe again: Would we need to be alone?

Adam: Yep!

Chloe: Naked?

Adam: Defo.

Chloe smiled her most wicked smile, winked and then turned the paper over. She drew out a noughts and crosses board and slapped a nought in the centre square. Adam looked at his watch. It was ten to one—not long before he could take his sweetheart home and make good on his promise. He put a cross in the top left box.

Chloe won the first game then Adam won three in a row before Chloe pulled it back to three all. Dr. Dullness was winding up the lecture. There was time for just one more game. Chloe leaned over and whispered in Adam’s ear. “Winner gets oral from the loser. Deal?”

Lost & Found - a contemporary erotic novel by Marc Nobbs. Available now from Phaze Books.

LOST & FOUND banner

They had a better time at the roulette table. Through some cautious betting, Chris managed to stay just ahead of the house. He split bets, bet on columns and rows. Beth stuck to betting on red or black.

“Looks like The Lady is back with us,” said Chris after collecting on another winning four number split.

“Seems so,” said Beth. She smiled her wicked smile and raised her eyebrows. Chris had discovered that this signaled she was about to do something unexpected. “But it would be more fun if the stakes were higher.”

“What d’you mean?”

“This…” She took a hundred dollar chip from him and planted it in the centre of box thirty-two. “My age,” she said, by way of explanation.

“You know the odds are thirty-eight to one.”

“Like I said, it’s more exciting that way.”

The croupier spun the wheel and released the ball. There was a flurry of betting from the others at the table before he called no more bets. Everyone went silent while they waited for the ball to settle in a slot.

“Red—Thirty-two.”

Beth cheered. “Ha ha. How much did I win?”

“Thirty-five times your stake. Three-and-a-half thousand.”

“In one go! Told you this was more exciting. Think I can do it again?”

“The odds are nearly fifteen-hundred-to-one against.”

Beth took one of the thousand dollar chips and placed it on number twelve. “My birthday.”

Once more the wheel and ball were set in motion and once more the croupier called no more bets. The ball seemed to refuse to slow down. It hurtled around the wheel, bouncing in all directions. Beth gripped Chris’ hand so tightly it hurt. Finally, the ball settled.

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