Coming Up For Air

I haven't posted much of late; that's because I've been working on my third draft of A Kind of Freedom. I feel as if I've been breathing, eating and sleeping the story for the past few weeks.

But that's a good thing. The third draft is the toughest for me. My first draft is usually bits and pieces of the story strung together; my second draft is a formal, if minimal, outline with partially written chapters and a description of each scene. But my third draft is the full, coherent story with most of the editing done and just a bit more polish needed.

I've had a lot of friends cheering me on, so I wanted to come up for air long enough to thank the regulars at the Creation Cantina in Liarica: Lucian, Adrean, Lotus, Squiddy, Phil, Zaaf, June, Merry--and especially Lady Jami, who has put up with my moaning and kvetching as I miss self-imposed deadline after self-imposed deadline. (I hope I haven't missed anyone; if I have, blame the fact that I'm like a zombie at the moment!)

Mwah! Thank you all! And now please excuse me as I go back to that third draft . . .

An Intro to Tarot Class!

Universal Waite Deck

I've been studying, reading and interpreting Tarot cards for--well, um, for more years than I care to count. Now I'd like to share some of the things I've learned by teaching an 'Intro to Tarot' class. We'll go over the history of the Tarot, the basics of how the deck works, and some hints on using the Tarot for creative inspiration and even spiritual growth.

The class will be tonight at 6 PM, Second Life Time, at The Creation Cantina. There's no charge--but I won't say no to a tip if you enjoy the class. Hope to see you there!

My Tribute to Julie Newmar

I went to a 60's dance in my 'Julie Newmar as Catwoman' outfit. Purrfect, no?

Happy Valentine's Day!

My pals Zaaf and Adrean on Valentine's Day

My Cover for "A Kind of Freedom"

This story has undergone major changes since I first conceived it! It was supposed to be about Graham, a young alcoholic who has lost his job and his driver's license thanks to his drinking problem. Graham enrolls in a twelve step problem and, for supplemental help, turns to the older guy he's always had a crush on: Jake. He asks Jake, no stranger to the D/s scene, to take him on as a sub.

This was to be their story--until I realized that Jake is straight and married to Carolina, a fellow dominant. And that he's uncertain about taking on a sub who's like a little brother, not a lover.

And that Graham has an ex named Bruce who is determined to rescue him from this perverted and dangerous lifestyle.

I didn't envision this stark, simple cover either. Yet as I skimmed through my photos this one struck me. I think it works, and I like that this railing could be mistaken for bars. Bruce, after all, will end up with quite a bit to say about bars, D/s, freedom and subservience . . .

GO GIANTS!

Go Eli! Go Giants! Best of luck in Superbowl XLVI!

Lucian's New Sci-Fi Wave!

Lucian Sicling is hosting a Sci-Fi Writing Wave every Saturday at 1pm, SLT. Just show up at the Creation Cantina, and we'll get you to the Sicling Station!

Here's my first offering. The prompt was "progress":

Port Keller, Part One

Police Detective Danielle Greer sighed when she noticed the shadow of a familiar figure pause and hover over her desk. She finished dictating her report and removed her headset and goggles. Then she folded her hands neatly and forced herself to smile up at the visitor.

He did not look miserable. Not that he looked happy, either--his face was more resigned than anything else.

Damn. So he was leaving. It wasn't fair.

"Sir?" she said. "Won't you sit? Or would you like to go out for a bite?"

"No, thank you, Danielle."

Danielle? He had never called her by her first name before. She swallowed and stood up. "Did they boot you off the force, sir?"

His tawny eyes shot back to the Police Commissioner's office, flickering with disappointment and a hint of anger--the only break in his otherwise stoic demeanor. "They're convinced that I would be happier serving elsewhere."

Somewhere where he would no longer be able to sniff out the scandals here, Danielle thought. But out loud she said, "Where are they sending you, sir?"

"To Port Keller," he answered, his face expressionless.

Her eyebrows shot up. "Port Keller! Sir, have you heard the nicknames? They call it Hoth or New Siberia."

"Oh, I've heard it's frigid," he said, nodding.

"It's not even a real spaceport, sir! It's a prison. A privately operated prison that we have nothing--" She stopped short, sorting through all the rumors she had heard of late. "Oh. The government is de-privatizing it then?"

"Yes. Another prisoner was murdered there by one of his fellows while the guards looked the other way. I have a free hand to reform the place. It's progress, of a sort."

Danielle forced herself to nod. He was a good choice for this assignment. He would be a fair commander of the prison.

But he had been making plenty of progress rooting out corruption here. Now that was at an end.


Port Keller by Skai Davidson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Cross-Dressing

Me as a boy on Second Life

Yes, I'm officially a cross-dresser. (Or should that be a cross-skinner or cross-shaper, since I needed a whole new skin and shape?) Well, whatever it's called, Miss Jami doesn't seem to mind:

Me & Mistress

Fic Rec: Border by Adrean Messmer

Adrean Messmer on Second Life, a.k.a. blogger Kattastrophe Phaestus

This is just a brief ficlet, but it has such a bite to it! Adrean brings us straight inside the head of a spoiled, bastardly but surprisingly insightful young man. I want more of this character.

Fic Rec: Dreams of Mistress and Kitten by Merry Ze'evi

Me, Merry and Miss Jami

My fellow sub Merry has written a beautiful--not to mention smoking hot!--piece which our Mistress has posted here. Warnings for adult content, including explicit sexual situations (M/F and F/F) as well as BDSM. (But if those scared you away, you wouldn't be here, right?) Enjoy!

Skai Writing: A Snippet from 'A Kind of Freedom'

Here's a bit from my work-in-progress, A Kind of Freedom:

~oOo~

Bruce stared in the mirror, wondering just how willing he was to be frank with himself. How far would he entertain Graham's accusations? Was he the bastard Graham made him out to be?

He remembered a mystery novel he read once—something by P.D. James. One of the suspects said that Dalgleish could armor himself with "the creative artist's splinter of ice in the heart." Bruce was no artist, but he had identified with those words. He liked his job, he cared about his family, his friends, and Graham, but he had a sort of icy detachment from all of them.

He thought back to when he was a child. His mother had observed, more than once, that he was his own best friend and all the company he needed. And then he remembered Jake and Carolina saying that he reminded them of a cat who deigned to grace them with his affection.

There was truth to all of that. He was solitary. He needed time to himself, time away from Jake and Carolina—and yes, even from Graham. Especially from Graham.

Was that why he and Graham had failed as a couple? Graham had no such detachment. Graham loved with a reckless and whole-hearted passion that sometimes left Bruce feeling bewildered and inadequate.

But he was good for Graham, wasn’t he? Maybe he couldn't love Graham the same way Graham loved him—he couldn’t love him with that same wild urgency or full heart. But maybe Bruce's icy calm was exactly what Graham needed. Or at least part of what Graham needed.

Bruce hoped so, at any event—because that splinter of ice in his heart wouldn't stop it from breaking.


A Kind of Freedom by Skai Davidson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Catching the Wave . . .

Part of the gang at the Creation Cantina

Last night's writing wave at the Creation Cantina was both productive and fun! I continued to work on A Kind of Freedom, which has become a radically different story than the one I envisioned. It still explores D/s relationships--but I realized that this story doesn't belong to my main character, Graham. It belongs to Bruce, Graham's ex.

Bruce begins deeply prejudiced against the entire notion of D/s. In fact, he's determined to rescue Graham from the non-sexual D/s relationship he's entered with Jake and Carolina. But Graham doesn't want to be rescued, and Bruce has a whole lot of learning to do . . .

Sally's Pigeons

I stumbled on this Cyndi Lauper song yesterday--I had forgotten how much I love it. The haunting lyrics by Cyndi and Mary Chapin Carpenter tell the story of a childhood friendship between two girls--one of whom died in a back alley abortion. (According to Wiki, the song was inspired by the life and death of one of Cyndi's childhood friends.)

Despite the subject matter, I never thought of this as a political song. I don't think it's either "pro-choice" or "pro-life." To me, it's just a gorgeous, tragic song about nostalgia and human fragility.

Christmas at Milk Wood

Milk Wood is all decked out for the holidays. I snapped this shot a few minutes before last night's writing dash began.

Happy Chanukah!

This is one of my favorite Chanukah songs: give a big round of applause for Barenaked Ladies!

Skai Writing: Night Shift (Flash Fiction)

I'm modelling 18th century serving clothes that are somewhat accurate. I couldn't find a neckerchief to make the outfit appropriately modest, however. And I wouldn't take off Miss Jami's new collar for me. (More on that later.) No, not even for the sake of historical accuracy!

Title: Night Shift
Author: Skai Davidson
Genre: F/F; D/s; Historical Fiction--18th Century
Warnings: None
Special Note: I wrote this piece as a response to a Wave prompt at the Creation Cantina and for Femdom Confessions; where you can also find it.
Blurb: Rachel wonders just how much Miss Sarah’s smile means.

oOo-

Rachel unpinned her shortgown and carefully set it aside. Then she stepped out of her skirts and added them to the neatly folded pile. Next she reached back and loosened her stays, just enough to wiggle out of them without taking the trouble to unlace them. Unlike Miss Sarah, she had no servants to help her dress in the morning.

That left her in her shift and stockings. The shift was thick linen; she cringed a little, wishing she had a light cotton chemise such as Miss Sarah wore. But this, at least, was a perfect night shift; along with the wool stockings and the heavy wool blankets, it would keep her warm even when the fire burned down to coals.

She sighed as she crawled into her bed, wondering why her thoughts constantly strayed to Miss Sarah—why she found herself wondering about her evening toilette and wishing that she had the honor of overseeing it. Was her maid just now unlacing her? Was she standing there in that ridiculously thin chemise of hers, twirling her dark hair in her fingers as she stared at herself in the mirror? Were her lips set in that sly, engaging smile of hers?

Rachel had never seen her bestow that smile upon her betrothed. Was it too much to hope that Miss Sarah reserved it just for her? But if so, what did she mean by it? One of Rachel’s hands strayed toward her breast while the other—

No. These thoughts must stop. That smile meant nothing but a tribute to the times when they had played together as children.

Rachel sighed and hugged her night shift closer to her, wishing it were as enticing as that smile.

-The End-



Night Shift by Skai Davidson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Miss Jamie's Protected

Kneeling before Miss Jamie at The Velvet Thorn (That's Merry to my left.)

Poor Miss Jami! She has three subs to look after: Merry, Tuck--and, yes, now me!

I've been interested in D/s for as long as I can remember, but it never worked out well for me in real life. (No horror stories to report, thankfully. Just strained relationships due to a lack of communication and experience on the parts of all involved.) So I was hesitant to step into a D/s relationship in my Second Life.

But everything fell into place: I stumbled into Miss Jami in her old club and we hit it off. We're both writers. We both have an interest in D/s. She's a domme and I'm a sub. Merry and Tuck welcomed me with open arms. And Merry, I think, guessed that I was subby early on. (He has a very good, um, subdar. You know--like a gaydar, but for subs.)

Miss Jami and I have talked about our limits and about what we're looking for. I have no collar yet, but I'm exclusively her sub.

Through Miss Jami I've joined both The Dominion and The Velvet Thorn, and so far I'm loving both communities. For the first time in a long time, I'm looking forward to a journey deeper into D/s; albeit a pretty softcore journey by many people's standards! And, considering my real life track record, the fact that it's a virtual journey suits me just fine.

Skai Writing: Domesticating David

Title: Domesticating David
Author: Skai Davidson
Genre: M/M Romance; D/s; Contemporary
Warnings: Consensual spankings between adults; explicit sexual relations between two men.
Blurb: David has always been impulsive and irresponsible. Worse, he's always been allergic to monogamy, so there is no way Craig will take another chance on him. No way, no matter how hard David tries to change his mind . . .

To download this story as a free PDF file, please go to this page. (The link takes you to the website I've dedicated to my free stories and e-books.) Enjoy!

(P.S. Here's a big thank you to Alexandra Hodan for designing the cover!)


Domesticating David by Skai Davidson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Thank you Jami and June!

Jami and me in the tree house we share.

I have two special people to thank tonight: the first is Jami Titanium, who took me under her wing in my Second Life infancy. She has been a friend, mentor and writing buddy ever since.

June Faramore at the Creation Cantina

The second person is June Faramore, who taught me how to create items on Second Life, patiently guiding me through the process. (And, wow--I'm still amazed by that patience!)

Thank you ladies!

Coming soon: A Kind of Freedom

by Skai Davidson

Graham knows he has a problem. And he's not too proud to ask for help from the straight guy he's been crushing on. A bromance story with mild D/s themes.

I posted the first part of this story here, but then decided that it wasn't ready for the light of day. Forgive me for removing it, but it will become stronger with more editing!



A Kind of Freedom by Skai Davidson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.