Serials: The Jascian’s Toy « Rowan's Ramblings

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Thank you

Friday, January 18th, 2019

Writing again to say how much I appreciate your generosity. I was blown away when you funded my website in under 24hrs. Absolutely did not see that coming. I’ve taken the goal status bar down, because you funded the campaign to 132% and that’s…amazing. I was able to pay for my hosting fees as well as my domain name for the next year. I’ve updated my site, so hopefully there won’t be any more confusion over what’s available, what’s not, and what’s coming soon.

With the extra money, I bought some image editing software, since it looks like I’m going to be doing some of my own book covers while I save up to commission an artist for others. All in all, a crazy good start to the new year. 🙂

I downloaded new (and free! yes!) word processing software, so I’m gearing up to buckling down. I feel better and more motivated than I have for a long time, and it is in no small part due to you.

As for the Ko-fi page. It seems a bit weird to have it and not utilize it in any way, so I’m going to try putting the link in my email signature and newsletter updates, as well as a non-clickable version of it here (since this blog is attached to a site with adult content, and Ko-fi rules say not to link to or from those sort of sites). This is NOT me asking for more money, so please don’t take it that way. 🙂 I just like the idea of, well, all things coffee. lol.

I’m off to re-read Jascian so I don’t drill any plot holes into the new chapter. And also to see if I can create a new cover for True: Ethan so I can make it available for download. Thank you again. You have no idea how much seeing that progress bar fill up meant to me. I get to keep my site. So cool.

Take care,
— Rowan

Want to buy me a coffee? Go to ko-fi dot com /rowanmcbride. 🙂

Posted in life, Serials: The Jascian's Toy, True: Ethan, Writing | No Comments »

New year, new…year.

Tuesday, January 1st, 2019

Okay, I meant to have a more upbeat title, but I honestly couldn’t think of one. O.O

2018 was a wicked rough year for me, and I wanted to share some of what I’ve been going through. Some of you know that I have Schizoaffective Disorder, which is this oh so joyful combination Schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. I was diagnosed in 2001, but by 2006 (year I published my first novel!) it was pretty well controlled. Last year, though, my brain was like “nah.”

Medication was no longer effective. Went through a whole lot of other meds trying to find one that worked, but I’m medication resistant so that’s been a challenge.

Back in June I had a full-on psychotic break. Shortly thereafter I attempted to kill myself 1 and a half times. I say “half” because the second time I called my local crisis center and was talked down by a very nice lady whose name I cannot remember. It was my first time ever calling a crisis hotline, and if you’re depressed or suicidal or in the middle of a psychotic break or whatever, call yours. If you don’t know yours, call the national hotline at 1-800-273-8255. They are open 24 hours a day. Please please call if you’re in trouble. There’s a good chance I wouldn’t be here if not for the nice lady whose name I can’t remember, and honestly we all deserve a chance to be here.

Also in June, I woke up and found out I couldn’t walk. Two days after that, my mom almost died after a routine colonoscopy (perforated colon). Now I’m walking with a cane, which is good, and my mother is fine, which is better.

But you can see how June was a royal suckfest for me. I’m still recovering.

This month I have to see a neurologist and start tests to see if I have multiple sclerosis. I also have to get screened for 2 separate forms of cancer. I’m choosing not to worry until there’s something to worry about.

Now I seem to be on some psych meds that are helping me want to do things again. Like {gasp} write! Currently the plan is to upload a few of my orphaned stories, update “The Jascian’s Toy,” and work on “True: William.”

Here’s where I need your help. Since all but one of my publishers closed, I am now an actual starving artist. I’m scraping by okay, but I can’t renew my website hosting fees. And I love that website. I learned html over the course of a weekend and created every single page myself. I don’t want to let it go.

So if you could help by donating through my Ko-fi page, I would sorely appreciate it. I’ve posted chapter 1 of a rough draft of “True: William” as a thank you if you do happen to stop by. Ko-fi has rules about linking to and from pages containing adult content, and I’m not sure if this blog would count, but it is connected to the main website, so maybe? But the link is easy enough. www dot Ko-fi dot com/rowanmcbride.

2019 has just started. As of now I’ve updated this blog for the first time in FAR too long, and I’ve posted something new to read. That alone pretty much makes it an improvement over the whole of 2018, and I genuinely feel like I’m just getting started.

How’s that for upbeat? 😉

Posted in life, Serials: The Jascian's Toy, Site Stuff, Tales of the Novahn, True, True: William, Writing | 2 Comments »

Let’s show a reader some love.

Friday, July 28th, 2017

Recently, I received a comment (copy/pasted below) from a Jascian reader that broke my heart. They live in a place where buying gay-themed books (physical or digital) could get them into a lot of trouble, so they can only read stories that are posted online. While I do intend to update Jascian as soon as I can, realistically that could take a while. So I’m asking for suggestions from you. Gay male love stories (centered around love, not just sex) that don’t have to be downloaded in order to be read. I know there are a lot of really, really great stories posted online for free, and I’d very much like to show this reader that we as a community care.

Please post your suggestions in the comment section of my home blog (not tumblr, twitter, or Good Reads) to make them easier to access. Whatever platform you’re reading this on should have a link to it, but just in case: http://rowanmcbride.com/blog/?p=391 . They didn’t ask for any of this, but if it were me a story suggestion, or a few words of personal encouragement, would go a long way.

Thank you. And thank you to w. brown for writing to me.

__________________________________

From w. brown:

This is harking back to antiquity and another topic but the theme is timeless and I don’t see it on the index.

I’d give anything to read the continuation of the story, The Jascian’s Toy.

I live in a country with an oppressive attitude toward LGBT, a country where nobody is out because being out would mean the end of your career, eviction from your home, the loss of most if not all your friends because people would be desperate to show that the contamination of association with a gay had not wiped off on them. Gays who have been discovered while they’re doing military service have been killed because it gets them out of barracks nobody would want to share with them. Gay bars are a hopeless dream here. There are covert meeting places but they can be dangerous and at the best are little better than a meat market. You might meet a guy you like but just as likely meet one that you need to hide from later and there’s isn’t any time to linger over finding somebody compatible. It’s the luck of a hasty draw that determines who your partner is.

Buying a book from abroad would be impossible because it never would clear customs. I would even be afraid of getting anything by email since I don’t know if surveillance would extend to it, or to transactions needed to obtain it. The only source I have to read LGBT material is sites like this, of authors who have generously shared their work in public because I still have anonymous access to some PCs at my workplace. This story in particular has been a godsend since it is a masterpiece, and an abiding consolation that I can resort to without growing tired of it. It is the thing I always turn to when I feel discouraged. I can feel there is a happy ending lurking in it and that Gavin will find a way of showing Blake where his true happiness may lie, and Blake will quietly continue to improve the plight of lessers by urging Gavin to employ His power sympathetically. But it is more than just a beautiful romantic tale, the great adventure of the the love between The Ideal Giant and a human. It makes me feel that there is more to live for than the life I see around me. Every time I read it I want to be a better person, one like Blake, although I cannot be as brave as he is but I think that I could be as brave as I am on my best day.

Please, Mr McBride, do not forget about this life-changing story and that it is crying out for completion. Even the occasional addition of a chapter would be such a blessing.

Posted in life, Serials: The Jascian's Toy, Story Recommendation, Writing | 7 Comments »

The Jascian’s Toy also liiiiives

Thursday, January 8th, 2015

There’s a rumor going around that The Jascian’s Toy is a completed story. I know it’s been a suuuuper long time since I’ve updated, but I promise you I will. There are at least five more chapters before that one’s tied up. It’s just been a dauntingly long while since I’ve written anything I’ve liked, so right now I’m practicing with One of Us Must Know (along with a few other projects) until I get my writing feet under me again.

Unsure how the rumor got started, but now the serial is marked completed on Goodreads (damn you internet! Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!), and I’ll fix that as soon as I can. I *think* there might have been a misunderstanding regarding this post, but trust me when I say I was referring to the end of the *chapter,* not the story. Also, apparently some people think I’m dead, which I’m totally not. Oo

Again, I promise The Jascian’s Toy has not ended. There’s definitely more to the story. LOTS lots more. 🙂

Posted in Serials: The Jascian's Toy | 3 Comments »

The Jascian’s Toy – 15

Thursday, September 6th, 2012

I meant to post the above when I uploaded Chapter 14 of The Jascian’s Toy but never got the chance, so I’m posting it now. 😉

Chapter 15 is up! It turned out shorter than planned, but when I hit that last line, I knew that’s where it had to end. Putting little asterisks at the bottom to start a new scene would have weakened its emotional punch.

Originally I was going to write chapter 16 before posting 15, but given my current schedule delaying 15 just seemed mean.

You can read the new installment at: http://rowanmcbride.com/stories/serials/. It should be making its way through the Nifty mirrors soon. As always, feedback is welcome in the comments section.

I hope you enjoy Chapter 15.

Posted in Serials: The Jascian's Toy | 7 Comments »

Goals: I haz them.

Thursday, February 2nd, 2012

I didn’t write a New Year’s resolution post because I didn’t feel like I’d achieved much in 2010/2011. I sorta figured I was hella lucky to have a novella out in 2012 and shouldn’t push that luck. Plus I go through this thing periodically where I feel like I suck.

Then an old friend sent me a card. Inside, she had cut and pasted (as in actually cut and pasted, with paper and scissors and—I assume—paste) a dozen little quotes and images that reminded her of me. It made me laugh. It totally made me feel like I didn’t suck.

So I got back to writing, and my short little bonus fic turned into another novella. Sold novella to publisher. Rocked out to The Offspring in my living room. Realized it was only January and that this could get interesting.

Below are a list of my goals for 2012. I’m going to do my best to achieve them. I’m not going to beat myself up over it if I don’t. I’m also going to be flexible and open to change.

I think it’s going to be a good year.

Updates to the website

I didn’t put up any additions to Best of Rowan’s Ramblings for 2011, and there were some pretty good ones. (Check: 2-16-11)

I’m thinking of doing a bit of a redesign to the overall look and navigation to the site. For a while there I never had more than three published books out at a time, but I’m up to seven now so I think it’s fair to say that the trend is good and over. My book list is starting to look a little unruly.

I’d also like to make the place more mobile friendly. As is, it doesn’t look too bad on phones because the original design took into account smaller laptop/monitor screens, but a mobile option could make things cleaner and easier to navigate on a phone.

Updates to Stories

This is the year I finish The Jascian’s Toy. I can feel it.

Write One Good Verse, which will bring the One Good series to three. I do like that number. Plus I’ve been working on it forever and I’m really digging the world right now.

Maybe Touching Fire: Asher’s Magic. Asher Croft is so very hot and his story should be a lot of fun.

If things go well with Drayner series, #1: Just Perfect, maybe I’ll get the green light on #2: Just Wait, the rough of which is already done.

Get Want Me into e-book format. XD

Conventions

DragonCon, if any. I ditch it for something else this year there’s a certain group of friends who will probably murder me in my sleep.

Blogging

I’m going to try and get into a regular schedule. Maybe {gasp} write a few posts ahead of time, so I can have them set to upload automatically. Most likely Thursdays. Of course, all bets are off if I’m on a roll with the story section above.

Post parts 2 and 3 of my 2011 YaoiCon wrap-up before YaoiCon 2012. *headdesk*

I think that’s the plan. There’s some tweaks I want to make to my own attitude, which brings us to one of the quotes my friend sent me:

“Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius, and it’s better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.”
–Marilyn Monroe

There was a time when I wrote fearlessly, when—no matter how crazy the idea—I would take what came to me and run with it. Didn’t matter whether it was thirty-five foot giant alien teenagers kidnapping humans to be their toys, or hell-bent roommates sucking the life out of the objects of their desire. They were the stories inside me, and I had every confidence I could tell them.

That’s the big goal. The one I’m going to work hardest on. I want to write madly, brilliantly, ridiculously. I want to be the person in that carefully crafted card.

And I want to have a blast doing it.

Posted in Asher's Magic, Drayners, Just Perfect, Just Wait, One Good series, One Good Verse, One Good Year, Publishers: Loose Id, Serials: The Jascian's Toy, Touching Fire | 7 Comments »

The Jascian’s Toy – 14

Saturday, January 1st, 2011

Chapter 14 of The Jascian’s Toy is on my website. You can read it at http://rowanmcbride.com/stories/serials/ .

Hope you enjoy this installment. Remember there’s a comment section for the story now here.

Happy New Year!

Posted in Serials: The Jascian's Toy | 2 Comments »

Jascian’s Toy on my website

Monday, November 29th, 2010

I’ve finally uploaded the existing chapters of The Jascian’s Toy to my site. It took a while because I couldn’t resist re-reading them, and whenever I re-read something I wrote I can’t resist tweaking it. Plus the coding. There was a bit of coding involved.

But it’s up now, looking quite at home in the serials section: www.RowanMcBride.com/stories/serials. Although I made a lot of little edits, it was mostly streamlining stuff. I believe changing the name of the Earther Care Kit to Toy Care Kit (TCK) is the only major tweak I made that affects future installments, which I can work on now because I have a place to put them as well as easily edit them. 😀

I’ve also added a comments section, so you can go there to comment on individual installments or the story as a whole.

Please let me know how you like the new layout. I finished editing/coding at 4:30am this morning, so there are most likely bugs. Drop me a line if you find any.

Posted in Serials: The Jascian's Toy | No Comments »

The Jascian’s Toy – Comments Section

Monday, November 29th, 2010

Story Blurb:

Blake is kidnapped to another world to be an alien’s toy.
www.RowanMcBride.com/stories/serials

If you’d like to make a comment about any of the Jascian installments, or the story as a whole, you can do it here.

Posted in Serials: The Jascian's Toy | 53 Comments »

Jascian, YouTube, and other news.

Sunday, March 28th, 2010

I’ve posted chapter 13 of “The Jascian’s Toy.” Although I posted it first on the Evolution Forum at http://www.musclegrowth.org/forum/showthread.php?t=19169, I couldn’t resist making a few last minute edits before submitting it to Nifty, so I would suggest reading it there since it’s up today on that site. The mirror I use is http://nifty.guiltygroups.com/nifty/gay/sf-fantasy/jascians-toy/.

I’m planning to centralize the story on my own website, so in the future you’ll be able to read new installments there first, which will make access quicker and easier for everyone. Should be a good thing.

I’ve gotten myself a new YouTube channel. So far it’s only got one book trailer and a few favorites, but it should be pretty cool…eventually. You can view it/subscribe/drop me a line at: http://www.youtube.com/user/RowanMcBride.

My reading list has (finally) changed. If you’re interested, it’s on my Interests page. Two new books. I’m making progress. 🙂

Plus I’ve got a new banner!

Pretty snazzy, yeah? You can view the full sized version here.