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New Book? What Are YOU Writing?

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TRAIL – Trace, Rescue, and Identification League.

I’m currently working on a new series, while also continuing work on a book under contract. I kept getting “stuck” and so many friends suggested that I try switching to another project for a bit that I decided to go with it.

The logo/art is by my son, Jamin Allen of Nimajination Studios.

The new series is about TRAIL, a company that exists in the far future, and is contemporary with my Tarthian Empire series. The two do not overlap, and take place on different sides of the galaxy.

I will soon have a page on my website for TRAIL, but for now, here’s some insight. The meaning of the acronym TRAIL is Trace, Rescue, and Identification League. However, rival companies and independent agents have their own versions. Most common is Thieves, Ruffians, Assholes, Irritants, and Losers, followed by Their Roughneck Arbitration Is Laughable. The official company response is to grin and bear it, laughing while you cash your fat paycheck. The unofficial response is a quick jab to the mouth. Scars on knuckles are a thing of pride among agents.

The structure of TRAIL is formed loosely around the principle that independence is a good thing, provided it’s not taken too far — or too seriously. Agents report to a Field Director, who reports to the Board, the members of which are ultimately responsible to the President. No more than two steps are ever required for a decision, no matter how weighty. Agents have full authority to act with extreme prejudice if necessary to carry out their missions. That said, any time a death is involved, an outside agency steps in to confirm both the kill and the neccessity for it, occasionally resulting in more scarred knuckles.
The outside agency policing TRAIL’s missions which result in a “negative life impact” (i.e., death) is STOP, Synthetic Technicians Optimized for Peacekeeping. TRAIL agents refer to the emotion-denied android group as Suspending, Terminating, and Omitting Pleasure.
TRACE is an officially disavowed department of trained assassins and snipers inside TRAIL, whose motto is “Without guilt.” TRACE stands for Target Removal Assistance Classified: Extreme and these agents are the favorites of many world governments.

My plan is to self-publish TRAIL stories, and to begin with a giveaway short story. I’ll detail that as the date nears.

In the meantime, I’d love to hear what others are working on. If you have a new series, new book, or just want to share your FF&P, SciFi, Fantasy, or Romance novel, feel free to leave links, blurb, and buy info in the comments.

Kayelle Allen is an award-winning, multi-published author. Her heroes and heroines include badass immortals, warriors who purr, and agents who find the unfindable–or hide it forever. She is known for unstoppable heroes, uncompromising love, and unforgettable passion.
Posted in New Book | Tagged |

A Morning Kiss

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Hearts from my Valentine

Hubby surprised me with a handmade Valentine that included the hearts image on this page. Feeling inspired, I wrote the following scene for my blog.

– – –

She woke to the feel of her husband’s warmth against her back, and snuggled against him. “You awake?”

“Do I need to be?” He wrapped one arm around her waist, and kissed her neck.

“That depends on how much you want to take part.”

His low chuckle rumbled. “Wife, I want to be part of anything and everything you’re doing. Especially if it’s me.”

She turned onto her back to see his face. Sleep had mussed his hair, and morning whiskers had roughened his jaw.

He stroked his chin as if seeing himself through her eyes. “I should shave.”

She stretched, and the covers slipped down, revealing her breasts.

His eyes went glassy. His lips parted, and he licked them.

“Shave later.” She arched against him, reached up to encircle his neck, and pulled him down for a hot good morning kiss.

Kayelle Allen is an award-winning, multi-published author. Her heroes and heroines include badass immortals, warriors who purr, and agents who find the unfindable–or hide it forever. She is known for unstoppable heroes, uncompromising love, and unforgettable passion.
Posted in New Scene | Tagged |

Mardi Gras Bread Pudding with Sweet Butter Topping

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Bread Pudding.

Would you like an easy recipe for your Mardi Gras party or dinner menu? How about a simple bread pudding even the kids will enjoy? This one is an old favorite, and it’s served with a sweet butter topping and cinnamon sugar. Good down home cooking.

Clean up is easy too. You’ll need one large bowl, one small one, a baking pan, measuring cups (you can mix the cinnamon sugar topping in one), measuring spoons, and a whisk.
Bread Pudding with Sweet Butter Topping
Bread Pudding
1 loaf whole grain bread, broken into small pieces
2 12 oz. cans evaporated milk
1 cup water
6 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp. nutmeg
5 Tbsp. vanilla extract
1/4 cup butter, softened
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Place broken bread pieces in a large bowl.
Combine milk, water, eggs, sugar, nutmeg, and vanilla, and blend well.
Pour over the bread, add the softened butter, and toss to coat. If dry, add 2-3 teaspoonsful additional water, one at a time, until bread is well moistened. Mixture should be wet, but not soggy.
Spoon mixture into a greased 13×9 inch baking dish.
Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until set.
Serve with Sweet Butter Topping.
Sweet Butter Topping
6 Tbsp. butter
1 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
? cup sugar
1 cup whipping cream
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
Melt butter in small saucepan. Whisk in flour and cook 3-4 minutes. Stir in sugar and whipping cream. Cook 2-3 minutes. Stir in vanilla. Simmer over low heat for 5 minutes. Serve warm over bread pudding. Add Cinnamon Sugar Sprinkle for garnish and taste.
Cinnamon Sugar Sprinkle
1 Tbsp. cinnamon
1/4 cup sugar
Combine ingredients in a small measuring cup, and sprinkle atop warm bread pudding.
This makes an easy dessert that’s filling and tastes wonderful. All the flavors of home, and very little work. I like the smell of bread pudding when it’s baking. It reminds me of childhood and happy times. What recipes do you make that bring back fond memories?
Kayelle Allen is an award-winning, multi-published author. Her heroes and heroines include badass immortals, warriors who purr, and agents who find the unfindable–or hide it forever. She is known for unstoppable heroes, uncompromising love, and unforgettable passion.
Posted in Kayelle Allen | Tagged |

PayPal, Immortals, Teenagers, and the Election

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No Sex.
What do PayPal, immortals, teenagers, and the election have in common? Followed the PayPal censorship controversy much? PayPal is a company that acts as a go-between to protect your identity online. You give this supposedly highly secure financial company your credit card and bank information, and they provide you with a means to purchase safely online. The merchant never has access to your credit card info. This means an entrepreneur who has an idea or product to sell can install some code on his or her website, hook up to PayPal, and sell internationally within minutes. You can take credit cards without having to invest in ultra-secure servers. PayPal takes the risk for you.
They, however, have decided that certain material is now too “high-risk.” The internet commerce giant has decreed it will no longer permit its services to be used to purchase certain types of erotic material. Among the list are books containing BDSM, incest, “pseudo-incest,” “barely legal,” bestiality, and rape.
The definitions of these has been given many times, but for clarity, and in case you’re new to the conflict, “pseudo-incest” covers people who are not related by blood but by marriage (step brothers/sisters of a blended family, stepson/stepmother, etc.), and “barely legal” is someone of legal age to have sex, meaning eighteen and nineteen year-olds. None of this material is new to the world. Oedipus wrote about incest thousands of years ago. The Marquis de Sade wrote about BDSM (bondage, discipline, and sado-masochism — the term actually comes from his name) but PayPal has decreed it will no longer pay for this material. It claims it’s being pressured by credit card companies. The credit card companies have, so far, been mute on the subject.
The “barely legal” material includes May-December love stories. PayPal doesn’t want to pay for these because… well, I have no idea why. Maybe they think people aged eighteen and nineteen aren’t capable of making solid decisions. Odd, that they are old enough to vote and go to war, but we can’t write about them falling in love unless it’s with someone their own age. At what point is the December lover supposedly too old for the May lover? Ten years? Twenty? Fifty? I’m not sure there’s a scale, but imagine how out-of-kilter it might be if the December lover were immortal.
Bestiality – sexual activity between a person and an animal – includes stories (according to PayPal) with were-characters. Shape shifters, werewolves, werebears, were-anything. No petting of the lover’s head while in shifted form; no sex while in animal form, no playful biting or nibbling. Nothing that might cause arousal while referring to the beast within. Pretty much the entire reason to write erotic were-type books and characters is taboo.
The internet giant has not only said it won’t permit you to buy books with these topics, it will also confiscate funds of the booksellers and publishers who provide them. This means even if you don’t write these books, but your publisher provides them, or you sell your books through a bookseller who does, PayPal can confiscate their funds, depriving you of your livelihood. Your recourse? Moving to another publisher or bookseller is about your only choice, because fighting with PayPal over lost revenue could take months, or even years. They are not covered by the FDIC and are not required even to respond to your complaint. Their terms of service say they will reply within 180 days (six months), and at that point, their decision is final. You do not get a phone number to call. You get an email. There is little you can do. If you can’t survive for six months to a year without income, and you depend on getting paid by companies that provide this material, you are out of luck if PayPal follows through on its threat.
Which brings me to the crux of this article. I write about the Sempervians, immortals who manipulate current events to steer humanity towards various outcomes they desire. For example, a Sempervian might cause a fire in a seed warehouse, or cripple a shipping company with bad gas, making it impossible to ship seed on time. A failed corn crop pushes a farmer into buying his next year’s seed on credit instead of with profits. A few years of “bad luck” and failed crops, and he defaults on the loan, losing his farm. A big farming company owned by the Sempervian buys his land on the cheap, makes it part of a conglomerate, and sells corn for less, making a huge profit, and over time, changing the face of agriculture. What does this have to do with censorship and PayPal?
Just Plain No.
Imagine you want to influence an election during a year when ultra-conservatives are on the ticket, up against a liberal. What kinds of things might swing the vote toward the liberals? What do Americans cherish and fear losing? Crops? Books? No. It’s freedom. If a financial institution can decide for us what kinds of books we’re allowed to write, read, and buy, then we are handing over our freedom in exchange for convenient purchases online. At what point does our freedom mean more than convenience and safety? What would make a person get out and vote for someone who is likely to stand up for your freedom? Someone who speaks well and looks good in a suit? Or a controversy that sparks outrage and determination to fight for what you have a legal write to read, write, and buy?
My Sempervians are not unlike the Illuminati. They move in the background, changing small things in the Tarthian Empire, influencing the populace to act in ways that benefit them and achieve their long-term goals. They’re immortal. They have all the time in the world. In America, who is in the background, moving the small things that change our freedoms? Whose goals are achieved by PayPal suddenly taking a stand against specific details in erotic literature that it has (up to now) turned a blind eye to? Where is America headed, and to what end? PayPal, immortals, teenagers, and the election — they may have more in common than meets the eye.
What do you think will happen next in this controversy? Who is the enemy, and who is on your side?
Kayelle Allen is an award-winning, multi-published author. Her heroes and heroines include badass immortals, warriors who purr, and agents who find the unfindable–or hide it forever. She is known for unstoppable heroes, uncompromising love, and unforgettable passion.
Posted in Kayelle Allen | Tagged , |

Update on PayPal, Immortals, Teenagers, and the Election

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Just Say No Way.

I’m a member of a group called Banned Writers. We are a coalition of writers, readers, publishers, and editors who have come together to fight against the economic censorship of erotic fiction by non-governmental organizations and entities who believe they have the power and the right to determine what adult men and women should be allowed to read.

We’ve joined with other organizations fighting the PayPal censorship movement and we are getting results. Doug Michelman, head of Investor Relations for Visa, responded to a message from our leader, Madeleine Morris.
– – –
Relevant to this situation, the sale of a limited category of extreme imagery depicting rape, bestiality and child pornography is or is very likely to be unlawful in many places and would be prohibited on the Visa system whether or not the images have formally been held to be illegal in any particular country. Visa would take no action regarding lawful material that seeks to explore erotica in a fictional or educational manner.

As you note in your letter, Visa is not in the business of censoring cultural product. We recognize, as courts in the U.S. and elsewhere have long recognized, that this is a challenging topic. Bright lines are difficult to establish. We welcome the input of all stakeholders regarding our policies as we work to sustain a network that supports global commerce, while respecting the laws of the countries where we operate.
[Read entire letter here]
– – –

In other words, they are not the ones holding PayPal’s leash.

PayPal has finally responded publicly to this debacle, but their answer is murky, unclear, and they obviously do not yet grasp the significance of the growing discontent of their user base. To see what their response is, click [here]. You won’t be able to leave a comment; they have blocked responses.

We are making a difference. Keep talking, tweeting, spreading news on Facebook, and blogging. Tell people you do business with. Talk to everyone. Don’t let them get away with this. And since you’re reading this, come over and take a stand with Banned Writers.

Kayelle Allen is an award-winning, multi-published author. Her heroes and heroines include badass immortals, warriors who purr, and agents who find the unfindable–or hide it forever. She is known for unstoppable heroes, uncompromising love, and unforgettable passion.
Posted in Kayelle Allen |

A Little Pet Humor – Woolyboogers

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A Woolybooger.

How about a little humor?
– – –
A man goes into a pet store and says he wants something unusual for his wife, who’s been in a bad mood lately.
The owner points toward the back. “I have a new creature called a Woolybooger. You gotta see this.”
The man follows him to the back of the store, and in a small cage sits a blue thing with pincers and one giant eye.
“Man, that’s ugly. What does it do?”
“Watch this.” The owner opens the cage, puts down a stuffed toy, and says, “Woolybooger, that toy.”
The Woolybooger jumps on it, fangs protrude from beneath it, it uses its pincers, and tears the toy to shreds in seconds.
The man claps a hand over his mouth. “Wow! That’s amazing! I’ll take it.”
He gets home, and puts the cage in the middle of the living room, and waits for his wife.
She drives home in terrible traffic, gets a ticket, and can’t find a place to park in the apartment complex. By the time she gets inside, she’s had it. She takes one look at the thing in the cage, and lets out a screech. “What the hell is that?”
The husband grins. “Watch this.” He opens the cage and points to the ottoman. “Woolybooger, that ottoman.”
The creature jumps on it, fangs protrude from it, the pincers go into action, and in seconds, the ottoman is shreds on the floor.
The husband folds his arms. “Well, honey? What do you think?”
“What did you say that ugly thing was?”
“A Woolybooger.”
His wife turns her back, irritated beyond belief. “Woolybooger, my ass.”
Kayelle Allen is an award-winning, multi-published author. Her heroes and heroines include badass immortals, warriors who purr, and agents who find the unfindable–or hide it forever. She is known for unstoppable heroes, uncompromising love, and unforgettable passion.
Posted in Humorous Stories |