Naughty Netherworld Press's Blog: Naughty Netherworld Press on Goodreads, page 105

Weekend Writing Warriors
“Well, my boy, sometimes when you ask for the rest, you are lucky enough to get the best. However, the Enchanters of Lwiqsyz are a testy and judgmental lot, and I fear they would tear you limb from limb figuratively if not literally. Ah, you, Witch Queen, you are a powerful sorceress with regal bearing! Would you consider attending the wedding of Master Necromancer Uhlrix Goodfellow to Master Soulbinder Tackfellow Nekron with me?”
“I beg your pardon, your Infernal Worship, but the only thing I desire at this moment is a fainting couch!” Leah replied. “I fell through a wormhole and was very nearly shot into space!”
“I can go with you, Lord Lucifer,” Lleu insisted. “I clean up nicely, so I’m told.”
~Cie for Naughty Netherworld Press~
Notes:This is a snippet from Castle Necros, the sixteenth installment in the Carnal Invasion series. It is due for release on Halloween 2019.
Lleu Redgrave, a vampire not particularly adept at summoning demons, has inadvertently summoned Lucifer while attempting to summon a minor demon to assist him and his companions after they fell through a wormhole at the end of Paraji's Prisoners. Lucifer is hoping to find a date to the wedding of a pair of odious sorcerers and no-one appears to be keen to take him up on his offer.
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Come share a Tidbit with the Horror Harridans Writing Sisterhood!
The following Tidbit is from Castle Necros, the sixteenth installment in the Carnal Invasion series. Castle Necros is due for publication on Halloween 2019.
In this Tidbit, Lucifer has been inadvertently summoned to Castle Necros by Lleu Redgrave, a strikingly naive Irish vampire. 
“My good fellow, you are a very young soul in a very old body,” Lucifer demurred. “I would not subject you to the Enchanters of Lwiqsyz for all of the wisdom of Heaven and Hell. However, as I am in a generous frame of mind, I will gladly attend your sister’s wedding with you.”
“Begging your pardon, Your Infernal Glory, but my sister has been dead for centuries,” the startled Lleu revealed. “Mate, where did you get the idea that I was summoning a demon to go to my long-dead sister’s wedding with me?”
“Why, that was the foremost thing in your mind, my good fellow. A dreadful worry about not being able to find anyone to accompany you to your sister’s wedding, and her bestowing upon you a most contentious tongue-lashing about being a neer-do-well and a drunkard.”
“My sister was a soulless social climber with a caustic wit and a razor tongue,” Lleu sighed. “It does not surprise me that her demands that I find a companion to bring with me to her wedding lest I shame my questionable family still prey upon my unfortunate mind. I deeply apologize to you, Your Infernal Majesty.”
“It is no trouble at all, my dear boy. Perhaps by revealing this boil on your psyche, you will be free to heal from it.”
~Cie for Naughty Netherworld Press~
Rules for sharing with Tidbit Tuesday:There is no particular word or sentence count. Judge for yourself a natural start and endpoint.
There is no genre limitation. You can share prose from any genre, fiction or non-fiction, or a verse from a poem or song that you've written. You can even share artwork or photography. It's up to you.
Share Tidbits from your own published works or WIPs.
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Weekend Writing Warriors
“It happened when you entered the tower unattended by authorized personnel,” Ciaran explained. “A bit of an overzealous anti-theft device created for me by a friend from the stars. Should you find yourself in the same predicament in the future, simply hit that button. Ah, Lucifer, a pleasure to see you. However, the answer is still no. I find the Enchanters of Lwiqsyz a boring lot on their best day. Perhaps you should ask the chap who summoned you if he would consider accompanying you.”
“I’m sorry, Lord Lucifer, I didn’t intend to summon you,” Lleu apologized, giving a low bow. “I was trying to summon one of your lackeys.”
~Cie for Naughty Netherworld Press~
Notes:This is a snippet from Naughty Netherworld Press' current WIP, Castle Necros, which is the sixteenth book in the Carnal Invasion series. It is due for publication on Halloween 2019.
Lleu Redgrave is an 807-year-old vampire who is not particularly adept at summoning demons.
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Weekend Writing Warriors
At that moment, a very tall man with long brown hair, a neat beard and mustache, iridescent green eyes and a glowing green jewel in the middle of his forehead strode casually into the room. With one long finger, he pressed a button with a large X engraved in the center. The room stopped shaking as the engines powered down. The man had an amused look on his face as he extended his hand to Leah.
“Welcome to Castle Necros,” he greeted. “I am your host, the Marquis Ciaran Kabral.”
“Leah La Sirene, witch queen of New Orleans,” Leah returned in a subdued voice. “I do humbly apologize for nearly launching your tower into space. I am not quite sure how it happened.”
~Cie for Naughty Netherworld Press~
This snippet is part of Team Netherworld's current WIP, Castle Necros, which is due for release on Kindle on Halloween 2019. Our hapless adventurers have found themselves in a foreboding dark tower which began making preparations for takeoff when they entered.Castle Necros is the sixteenth book in the Carnal Invasion series.
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Hi Folks, it's Cie the Ornery Old Lady. Two days ago, I discovered the October Spooky Writing Challenge and decided to utilize it for three projects: 
This month's Naughty Netherworld Press release, Castle Necros.A new Team Netherworld Tale in the Yadira Chronicles, Ketil and Yitzy's Adventures in the Xura Dream House.A new Grover and Cactus Clem adventure, The Haunted House.
I have decided to add a fourth project to this list:Posts for the Good Stuff From Grover blog.
The only one of these projects that has a hard deadline is the Castle Necros project. It is due to be released on Halloween. Thus, the other projects will extend into November or even December as necessary to keep me from completely losing my already-cracked marbles, jumping out the window of the Grover Hotel, hobbling down Main Street to Route 77 (running is not an option in my physically compromised case), and getting run over by an oil tanker or dairy truck, which would force my son to roll my not-insubstantial carcass into a red wheelbarrow and bury me in a Pet Semetary.
I would take pity on my unsuspecting neighbors who were unaware that they had a Stephen King fan and Horror Harridan infiltrating their town, except that I keep to myself and don't bother anyone except for the occasional meandering to the general store to buy milk, the occasional bottle of vitamin water (the Fire flavor is my new obsession) or sometimes candy when I'm really feeling like candy is dandy and only those sticky Werther's caramels will do. I'm really a pretty good neighbor as long as you ignore the tortured screams emanating from my windows on a hot summer night.
I'm probably just watching Pet Sematary. 
But you never know--I may be forcing some unsuspecting victim to read my writing!
~Cie, the Ornery Old Lady~


Visit the Artist
Ghost Town Grover Sez: "Ornery's actually a purty good writer, but she forgits that she can't scare me, 'cause I'm a ghost myself. I just wanna leave the lights on fer Cactus Clem, 'cause he gits scairt easy."
Visit the Artist
Cactus Clem Sez: "I don't wanna hurt Ornery's feelings or nothin', but people ghosts ain't that scary. The scariest story I ever read was Four Funny Potatoes. I even wrote a review about it and everything. That there book was really scary!

DISCLOSURE: 
If y'all buy a product through the General Store, we earn a small commission.
Proceeds go to one of three projects:
Into the Grover Hotel repair fund
To help Ornery with advertising costs
To pay for illustrations for Ornery's upcoming book project, Ed's Red Wheelbarrow. Ornery done hired Kamidiox, a Chibi artist from Mexico. You kin see her other work here.

I just discovered the October Spooky Writing Challenge and intend to use the prompts to move this month's Team Netherworld Creations WIP, Nyarlathotep's Necropolis, and Naughty Netherworld Press WIP, Castle Necros, along. 
In case I'm feeling like I don't have enough to do (heavy on the sarcasm), I may also use it to lighten things up and create a little Ghost Town Grover and Cactus Clem adventure.
One thing I won't be using the prompts for is writing poetry. Between the Carpe Diem Haiku prompts and OctPoWriMo, I have a surplus of poetry prompts. If dark 'n' snarky poetry really is your bag, Baby, you can see mine at the Poetry of the Netherworld blog.

For the past year, I have only published the Naughty Netherworld Press WIPs because erotica tends to be focused on substance rather than length. There is probably a mathematical smut-o-meter to explain the ratio of sexual encounters to page count.

The Carnal Invasion series started out as a one-off Hump Of The Month series featuring human encounters with a group of lusty aliens. Following the release of Climax Castle, it became a serial focused on recurring characters.  The current WIP, Castle Necros, is the sixteenth book in the series. The books are of varying lengths, ranging from short and spicy to long and lurid.

In the heyday of pulp horror and classic science fiction, fans of these genres snapped up novelettes, novellas, and collections of short stories by their favorite authors. By the 1980s, shorter books had fallen out of favor and readers tended to only be interested in full-length novels.

Once I started reviewing books full-time, I became aware that shorter books are making a comeback. Michael J. Allen is an author who makes excellent use of the novelette and novella format.

I could not be happier about the renaissance of novelettes, novellas, and volumes of short stories. The modern Internet age provides a multitude of avenues for authors to share their work with potential readers. With blogging, paid content platforms such as Patreon or Ko-Fi, and ebook publication services such as Kindle, authors no longer need be confined to the constraints of the traditional path of seeking agents and publishers and papering their walls with rejection letters or throwing good money after bad to have their work distributed by unscrupulous POD publishers.
I, personally, find the seeking an agent and publisher route odious and will not be treading that path. I realize that this means I have to be my own promoter. This comes with its own set of pitfalls. I'm shy and introverted by nature and am not good at networking. I'd rather be reading and writing. Still, when I think back to the dark ages in a time before blogs and e-books, a bit of networking is a small price to pay, and sometimes I even find some kindred spirits along the perilous path.

Whichever path to publication you decide to take, I wish you well.

~Cie~
This post is sponsored by Cie's Proofreading, Editing, and Review Services.
Warning: Shameless Self-Promotion Ahead.

I am here if you need my services as a beta reader, proofreader, editor, or reviewer. My prices and conditions are listed here.

I do not and never will charge a fee to individual authors for reviews. I only do paid reviews for author promotion services such as the Online Book Club.

My requirements to review a book for individual authors are as follows:
1) An electronic copy of the book to be reviewed.

2) The right to provide a link to your ebook on Amazon if it is available on Amazon. If a copy of your book is purchased through this link, I make a small commission from Amazon.

3) Please share a link to your review on this blog if you like it.

4) Please realize that while I really love giving positive reviews, I cannot guarantee a positive review. My less stellar reviews tend to distill down to "a good idea which needs improvement in execution."
It is rare for me to give a scathing review. On those occasions when I have done so, it is because the author has expressed hateful biases against members of a marginalized population, usually larger people. I am not keen for anyone being used as the butt of mean-spirited jokes and doing so will immediately earn a poor rating for a book.

So, there you have it! Let me know if I can help you.

Marc Cumming is the most unlikely secret service agent ever, which works to his advantage.Free-use image from Pixabay
Full name: Marcos Manlove Cumming
Species:Human
To read the 2019 A to Z Challenge description of Marc, click here.
How old are they?56
What sex are they?Male
What is their romantic/sexual orientation?Bisexual
How tall are they?5' 9"
What do they look like? Marc is a pleasant-faced middle-aged man of medium height with a medium build and thinning, gray-brown hair.
What are their defining features?Marc's defining feature is being strikingly ordinary-looking.
Does their name have a meaning?Saint Mark was the author of the second gospel of the New Testament. Marc's family is Catholic, and they chose faith-based names for their children.
What family do they have?Marc is nine years divorced from his Swedish-born ex-wife, Kia. He has four children: Raakel (age 22), Tulle (age 20), Ciarán (age 12), and Hild (age 8, born 5 months after her parents' divorce).Marc comes from a large extended family. His sister Katherine, a missionary, has one biological son and three adopted children: Quiang (age 13), Rolfe (age 7, biological son with Kate's then-fiance, now-husband Buck), Xochipilli (age 5), Eka (age 4).
Do they have a good relationship with their family?Mostly, but being strict Catholic, Marc's family members tend to be homophobic, which led to Marc being ashamed of his bisexuality.
If not, why not?Marc loves his family but feels that he has to hide who he really is from them.
Where do they live? Los Angeles
Is it a safe place?It's Los Angeles
Are they poor, middle-class or wealthy?Middle-class
Do they look up to anyone?Marc always looked up to his older male relatives. There were some priests he looked up to as well. He grew up admiring certain political figures such as John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King. He also looks up to his partner and best friend, Dale Dicking, whom he thinks is very brave and clever.
Who is their best friend?Dale Dicking, who is like a younger brother to Marc.
Do they have any enemies? Captain Abigail Botterill, the corrupt head of the Alien and Supernatural Search Squadron.                  Who is the person they hate most in the world?See Captain Abigail Botterill, the corrupt head of A.S.S.S.
Do they have any love/hate relationships?Only with himself. Sometimes Marc thinks that being Marc is pretty cool. Other times he can't think of a more lametastic fate.
Have they ever fallen in love?Marc has been in love with his senior college literature professor, Brian Godfrey, since 1984.
Who is the person they love the most in the world?Marc has a big heart. He loves many people. He is a devoted dad and brother and a good friend.
Does that person love them back?Marc's family and friends love him.
Have they ever hurt or lost anyone?Yes.
Are they a good shoulder to cry on?Yes.
Are they well-liked?Overall, Marc is very well-liked.
How do they handle being complimented? He is uncomfortable with it.
Are they an affectionate person?Yes.
Are they very driven?Marc is very driven to do the right thing.
Are they very political?Marc votes in every election and attends the occasional rally or town hall if it seems extremely important. He doesn't consider himself terribly political.
What kind of state is the world that they live in?Same as the modern United States, unless he falls through a wormhole into a dark past in a werewolf-filled forest and finds himself in a castle filled with demons and vampire necromancers--which happens to be his current situation.
What are the world leaders like?To understand this, we need to give a brief language lesson.In Germany, a trump is a fart.In Great Britain, a pence is a small amount of currency.In the United States, we currently have a cheap fart running the government.
Does the character worry about their place in society?He would like a world where everyone could have an equal footing in society. He isn't particularly worried about his own place in society at this time.
If they could change one thing, what would it be?He wishes that people would be kinder to each other.
Do they like themselves?Marc generally accepts himself, although he thinks of himself as rather uninteresting and uninspiring.
Are they a good person?Yes.
Are they very forgiving?Marc tends to be pretty forgiving.
Do they believe in destiny?Marc is an agnostic. He believes destiny is a possibility but doesn't give it much thought.
Are they trustworthy? Yes
Are they a good liar?He's a secret agent. It comes with the job.
How do they react to criticism? Marc tends not to take criticism very well.
What is their moral alignment?Neutral good on the Dungeons and Dragons alignment scale.
Can they fight?Yes, although he prefers not to.
Would they ever purposefully hurt someone?Only if necessary to save his own life or save someone he loves.
Have they ever been seriously injured?Yes.
Do they know first aid?Yes.
Do they have any other survival skills?General Boy Scout knowledge and the ability to fly by the seat of his pants.
Are they a fast learner?It depends on his level of interest in the subject.
How intelligent are they?Marc has higher than average intelligence, which is not readily apparent as he tends to present as a bit of a ditz.
What is the school system like?Marc attended school in the American public school system and went to UCLA, where he obtained a degree in criminal law.
What is their job?An undercover agent with the deep cover espionage unit, Alien and Supernatural Search Squadron.
Do they enjoy their job?Marc loves his job, although it does get him into some tricky situations.
~Cie for Naughty Netherworld Press~
Prompt Used: The Writer's Handbook

Image by WikiImages from PixabayProfessor Brian Godfrey's love for cosplay and striking physical resemblance to Oscar Wilde does nothing to quell Marc's amorous feelings for him
Noticing the tears in Marc’s eyes, Professor Godfrey softened his approach. His long, slender fingers softly caressed Marc’s ruddy cheek.
“Ah, my dear, sweet, sensitive Marc,” he sighed. “Perhaps I came on too strong. Your gentle heart has borne the assaults of a rough world for too many years. I so wish I could unconditionally guarantee you safe haven here in Castle Necros, but, alas, such a promise is not mine to make. Come, my long-ago pupil, there is nothing for you to feel ashamed of. I approached you with too much zeal because I always felt camaraderie and, shall we say, fonder feelings where you were concerned. I acted in haste, and I am intensely sorry.”
“There’s nothing to feel sorry for, Professor Godfrey,” Marc sniffled.
“Brian, please. We are peers now. You have nothing to be ashamed of, my friend. Tell me, why does your heart ache so?”
“I feel as though my life has been a joke,” Marc explained, anger rising in his voice. “I feel as if I was some sort of cosmic joke. I was never handsome, and, although I enjoyed my studies well enough, I was never particularly intelligent. I was a plain-looking B to C student. I passed my classes and no-one regarded me as hideous when looking at me, but you would never have heard anyone say: ‘that Marc Cuming is one sharp cookie,’ or ‘Marc Cumming is one sharp dresser,’ or ‘Marc Cumming is so fine.’ On one hand, being unimpressive one way or another left me safe from being challenged because I was so incredibly non-threatening. On the other hand, being a nobody can be quite a depressing and lonely existence.”
“As it happens, I don’t think of you as a ‘nobody.’ I never did. I understood how you felt because I was always a rather retiring soul myself in my younger days. You impressed me, Marc. You had a zeal for discovery that I found refreshing and the fact that you actually heard what I said pleased me to no end. Most of the young men in my classes were far more interested in the girls than they were in a theatre geek who loved dressing in period costume.”
“I loved your passion for the subject matter,” Marc declared, his face brightening as he recalled his younger days. “Yes, it’s true that I had a crush on you, but apart from that, you made me want to learn. You were good at your job, Brian. You were, I think, the best teacher I ever had.”
“I have a confession to make, Marc. I think my wish that I could see you again may have ended up drawing you and your companions here.”
“Then it was a mutual wish because I think of you every day. I’m glad I got to talk to you again.”
Marc trembled as it seemed that his longtime unrequited crush on his favorite professor was about to be reciprocated. But just as Brian’s lips gently caressed Marc’s cheek, a blood-curdling wail filled the air.
“Crap! That’s my partner, Dale!” Marc exclaimed. “Come on, we need to find him!”

~Cie for Naughty Netherworld Press~
Prompts Used:The Daily SpurWeekend Writing Prompt
Notes:This is a chapter from Naughty Netherworld Press' WIP, Castle Necros. Marc Cumming is a middle-aged secret agent. Professor Brian Godfrey was his literature teacher during his senior year in college in 1984. The Professor has revealed himself to be a demon.

Weekend Writing Warriors
“Lucifer?” the startled Lleu retorted. “I wasn’t summoning Lucifer! I was attempting to summon a minor demon called Rhys who owes me one. I thought he might be able to help get us out of this mess.”
“Unless your Rhys understands rocket science, I doubt he’d be much more useful than you are!” Leah snapped. “Perhaps you ought to try summoning Mr. Spock.”
“With all due respect, Leah, Scotty would be the better bet,” Marc countered. “He was the Enterprise’s chief engineer.”
“It does not matter if their chief engineer was that charming little fellow who talked about the nuclear wessels!” Leah railed. “In a moment, we are all about to find ourselves in the stratosphere, and I do not know how to fly this thing any more than I know how to stop it from taking off!”
~Cie for Naughty Netherworld Press~



Notes:After falling through a wormhole when Base Lust-69 exploded at the end of Paraji's Prisoners, Voodoo Priestess Leah La Sirene finds herself playing den mother to a haphazard sextet of men who couldn't be less helpful if they tried.

Weekend Writing Warriors
“And from where exactly am I getting this instruction, Child?” Leah demanded. “In case you have not noticed, I am flying by the seat of my trousers!”

As the others gathered around Leah attempting to cheer her on, Lleu stepped off to the side, took a piece of chalk from the pouch that he wore around his waist, and began drawing sigils on the black tile floor. He opened the gris-gris bag given to him by a Voodoo practitioner named Belen when he was visiting the French quarter and sprinkled a pinch of ash and a pinch of jade-colored dust over the sigils.

A wondrous puff of quince smoke billowed through the room. As the room’s occupants coughed and sneezed, Dale Dicking blinked the smoke from his eyes and froze to the spot as he realized the identity of the being that Lleu had summoned.

“Are you mad, Man?” Dale demanded. “Why in the name of all that’s holy have you summoned Lucifer?”
~Cie for Naughty Netherworld Press~
Notes:In this snippet, Leah and the boys have entered the ominous dark tower. A computerized voice is now counting down, and Marc has made the statement that he believes with proper instruction, Leah should be able to manage things. The preceding chapter excerpt can be found here.