My Zombie Boyfriend One Week Countdown - Day One: Winston and Boo

With exactly one week to go until My Zombie Boyfriend's release, I thought I'd start introducing you to the characters!

First up are the cats, Winston and Boo.

It's funny, when I'm writing, how I won't realize the connections between things until much later. I didn't think of this until this morning, when I was planning this post. I was afraid of cats for most of my childhood, due to lack of exposure (my mom doesn't like animals) and a half-remembered incident involving a mother cat scratching me when I wanted to keep playing with her kittens. I now have two cats (well, a cat and an Eldritch Horrorpuss) and I love both of them very much. I hope that both my love and fear of cats comes across in My Zombie Boyfriend!

Phantom

Lee 

(I like that this picture is grainy because it makes it look like a Bigfoot sighting or something...)

Boo is Edward's childhood cat, who Edward raised as a zombie when he died. Aside from being a zombie, Boo is everything that's frightening about cats--he's mean, destructive, he lurks in dark corners, and he would definitely eat your body if you died. Despite all of that, Edward loves Boo completely and defends him against anyone who's repulsed by him. Boo was inspired by the Siamese cat, Saki, my wife had when we met. My wife was the only person Saki loved...and she'd still drop pins on my wife's face while she slept. You can find inspiration for Boo on Pinterest!

Winston is the blue British Shorthair kitten Edward gives to Kit for Christmas. Winston is the opposite of Boo in every way. He's sweet and friendly and meets Kit at the door when he gets home. Winston also has a Pinterest board. Lee, pictured above, was supposed to be a Winston-cat. Unfortunately, she turned out to be a Boo-cat. (But we love her anyway <3)

*The Fly voice* Heeeeellllp Meeeee....Heeeeeeelllpppp Meeeeee!

Hey everyone,

Sorry to semi-spam you with this, but I've had an update to my horse situation...for the worse.

Due to stress-related health issues, my wife had to give her notice at her job yesterday. She's going to be looking for another job right away, but things are kind of up in the air for us and any help would be really appreciated.

I know times are tough for everyone right now, but I would be grateful if you could share this if you can't donate.

Thanks. You guys rock. (Even if you don't share or donate LOL) 

Here's the link to our Indiegogo campaign: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/my-wife-s-horse#home

Please Don't Feed The Alligators

This is a free anthology I contributed to. It's got short stories from a congregation (that's a group of alligators) of Torquere authors, so check it out! There are M/M and F/F stories, and there are even a couple of kinky ones (though mine is not. Well...I guess it depends on your idea of kink). You've got nothing to lose--it's free!

Find it here

A-Z Challenge: H is for Horse

I've always loved horses.

My mom doesn't like animals, so I didn't have a pet until I was nine (okay, I had goldfish when I was four or five, but they didn't even live with me). We used to go horseback riding for my birthdays, and when I was old enough I started taking riding lessons.

I always wanted a horse, but I never really believed I'd get the chance. Even now that I've had a horse for more than three years, I still can't believe it!

My wife and I met a couple through our local BDSM group. The wife was a horse breeder, and when she found out I was interested in horses, she encouraged me to come out and meet hers. She bred Friesians and was just beginning a Drum Horse breeding program. One of the mares she'd purchased for the Drum Horse program had arrived already pregnant and had her foal. The foal's sire was unknown, and she wasn't a Drum Horse, so she was being sold. I leapt at the opportunity. I paid $250 and agreed to help around the farm to pay for board. What could be better than working at a horse farm in return for having a horse?

My baby! 

Jehna as I first met her--a baby moose (she ate that halter)

We eventually moved her to a boarding stable, where she grew and grew and oh dear god she's still growing. She is (probably) at least half Shire, possibly fully.

She loves to jump. I do not. Hence, free jumping

A-Z Challenge: F is for Fish

I am terrified of fish.

I have no idea how or why this started, but I'm so scared of fish that I have trouble walking by the little aquariums in pet stores.

I have a lot of fish-based nightmares. I had one not long ago that was so bad I was having a panic attack in my dream and I woke up hyperventilating.

My wife tried to help me get over my phobia by getting me a little tank of goldfish. They died and no helps were given. But she gets points for effort!

A-Z Challenge: E is for Eggs

I love chickens.

The woman I bought my horse from had chickens, and I ended up spending a lot of time taking care of them to work off my board. (That's a whole other story). I had never been around chickens before. Every Easter, from grade one to grade four, a cage of chicks would be brought to my school and each kid got to hold one for a few minutes (mine always fell asleep and I was very proud of my superior chick-holding abilities), but other than that, I'd never thought much about chickens.

They're amazing. The magic of finding eggs, in the coop or hidden around the yard by more paranoid hens, and then eating those eggs you found. I chose a chicken to be 'mine', unofficially. I carried her around, and she would peck bugs out of the air for me. I kept myself bug-free, and I lifted her up to a whole new strata of bugs, so we were both happy.

She had several different groups of chickens, each with its own coop. She'd keep them in their coop a few days so they'd know it was home. We thought one of the coops only had one rooster...until we let them all out of the coop. All of a sudden, one of the 'hens' started crowing, strutting around, showing off. He'd been pretending to be a hen while he was stuck in the coop with another rooster, but now he was free to express his cocky self. He decided to move in with a group of hens who didn't have a rooster yet, and we let him be.

Also, Easter! Easter is one of my, and my wife's, favourite holidays. It doesn't have the pressure and family expectations of Christmas, so we can usually spend it however we'd like. My wife always buys a bunch of secret candy and hides it for me because I am really just several two-year-olds in a grown-up suit and all of them are completely spoiled.

A-Z Challenge: C is for Cats

You heard the meme. I have to do my part to keep those tubes full.

I Have an Almost Entirely Useless Magical Ability!

On the way back from my trip to the hot spring, I saw a coyote trotting by right beside the road. I was in the middle of a conversation, so I didn't interrupt to point it out. When the conversation reached a natural lull, I pointed out the window and said, "Hey, did you guys see that coyote a minute ago?" Everyone in the car kind of looked at me funny. I moved my finger and there was a coyote exactly where I'd been pointing! I had to explain that I had been talking about a different coyote, and I spent the rest of the trip filling people's cars with coyotes using only the power of my mind.

(Also! I'm being proactive and starting to pre-write some of my A-Z Challenge posts.)

Yay for Horse Time!

I got to see my horse today!

Because I don't have a car, I've been getting rides with my aunt, but usually only once a month to pay board...which is better than nothing, but still sucks. 

Lately I've been doing a lot of new things with my horse--mounting, trying on a bridle, even my riding helmet--and not spending a lot of time just hanging out with her like I used to. 

I felt really shitty about that after the last time I saw her, so I resolved that the next visit would (mostly) just be cuddles. I did try on a bridle--the one I bought was too small for my Shire mare'a massive head. I bought some dog collars to lengthen it, but it still doesn't really fit so I'll probably have to get an actual draft bridle...

My wife wasn't feeling well and didn't come out, so I couldn't ride even if I had planned to (we're still at the stage of her just leading our horse around with me on her back). 

I'm feeling a lot better, both because I saw my horse and because I worked on our bond today instead of just showing up and trying to hop on her back. 

I think I'm going to try and make cinnamon buns...

Animal Day

While at the zoo today, I found an eagle feather and saw a white Beefalo, both of which were really special for me--while I'm not (as far as I know) Native, I live in an area with a high Native population. 

Other highlights: 

- two bobcats grooming each other

- bats!

- foxes!

- lots of terrible puns 

Also went to the pet store to get crickets for the salamanders and pinkies for the snake...that particular pet store only sold pinkies in four-packs, which was kind of odd and annoying. The boxes of feeder mice and rats all had pictures of their contents for some reason...kind of creepy. I've had a garter snake for about five years, so feeding pinkies doesn't bother me too much, but I don't really want a picture of live mice on a box full of dead ones!