Updates from Kajones Writing

[ysabetwordsmith]

Surprise Story Week begins with "13: Skyler: Inquisition Collection."  You can continue giving the author random numbers until Sunday, if you want more surprise stories.  Comments can extend stories and activate bonus content, so go make yourself heard.  A new story will appear daily for as many numbers as the author receives; keep an eye on the website to catch those.

Also online is the September Winner's Story, "The Seen Collection: Reflecting on Lost Love."

Two pieces of bonus material are up, based on my requests after finding typos in posted stories.  There is a Donor House timeline and a description of vampire eating habits.  The latter shows some interesting quirks particular to this version of vampire, and has given me a couple of ideas to prompt later.

New stories are available for sponsorship.  Some of these derive from prompts that I provided.  These two Donor House stories are already listed on the sponsorable stories page:

Caleb's story (part 1) - 1113 words
Written for ysabetwordsmithysabetwordsmith
£1.95

John Good Road - 2008 words
Written for ysabetwordsmith
£3.00

As the prompter, I've already gotten to read these.  Caleb's story features a man addicted to being bitten by vampires, with a particularly evocative description of the subjective experience of addiction.  John Good Road is a character that I got to name as a perk; he is a Lakota vampire.  In this story, he's trying to explain the concept of a gift-based economy to Nick, a European vampire.  I laughed out loud through about the first half of the story, it was so apt.  (I've had  that conversation with people.)  John's story is complete as it stands.  Caleb's story and the other one I prompted, about Nick's village, are first parts which can readily be extended if people want to see more.  I'd be delighted to have any of those sponsored.

As you can see, this project has a lot of different ways to earn perks, inspire content, and otherwise get involved.  This is generating a lot of free samples that you can browse to see which series you like.  You may also want to check out the pages on "Information for Donors," "Prompts," and "Character Adoption" for further ideas.

Yes, Donor House is my favorite series, and I routed a big batch of typo perks into there. I also love the Afterlife series and I'm intrigued by Deities World.  Some of the others are kind of interesting.  Some rather creep me out.  While the author has a recognizable voice that carries throughout, each series has its own tone, and they are quite  different.  Donor House is insightful and introspective, with close attention to relationships.  I'm having loads of fun digging into the implications there.  Afterlife is introspective and numinous, with a focus on personal growth and spirituality.  Deities World is thoughtful and complex, examining what it means to take a divine role in the world.  Some of the other series are darker -- Seen and Inquisition are good choices if you like bittersharp fiction.  Astral World seems to have a tart note.  The diversity is high enough that most people will probably find something to their taste in one of the (currently 15) collections.