So I’m trying something a bit different here today. I’ve written a 50 Shades of Grey/Cthulhu mashup, and rather than just giving it away, I thought I’d do that quixotic thing people used to do before the Internet, and actually try to see if anyone would be willing to pay me for it. It’s available at the Amazon e-store for Kindle; if you’d like to read it you can click on over.
Here’s the exciting summary:
Alyssa Irons has been assigned the task of interviewing mysterious, powerful, exciting billionaire Sebastian Mauve in his gleaming headquarters throbbing with the intoxicating rush of capital. Little does she expect that behind Sebastian’s dark eyes are terrible secrets, and also fish monsters with tentacles. Can she survive the twisted pleasures he offers — and
3900+ wds of heaving bosoms, thrashing tentacles, thrashing bosoms, and heaving tentacles. Also fish monster sex, pouting billionaires, and true love lurking hideously outside of space and time.
And an exciting excerpt:
Oh, my. Even the elevator was intimidating and impressive. I gulped and bit my lip and tried not to be too overly stimulated as the shining glass tube shot upwards through the slick, vertical passageway. On one side, a magnificent view of the Pacific. On the other, the inner workings of Mauve Enterprises, stacked floor on floor, shining in transparent glass. I could see people bustling here and there. Impressive looking people in suits. You could almost see the money steaming off those impressive suits. It was…impressive. I looked away to the Pacific again. Also impressive…but not as unsettlingly stirring as that money moving through corridors, directed by an enticing, directing will.
I struggled to get ahold of myself. I breathed deeply, causing the smooth, luxurious skin of my cleavage to rise enticingly — though, of course, I was completely unaware of my own considerable personal beauty. Would Sebastian Mauve be unaware as well? Did I want him to be? I was here on professional business — to interview the wealthy mystery man whose incredible power, wealth, and mystery probed into every rarefied orifice of finance. He was…mysterious. And it was up to me, Alisa Irons, reporter for the spunky internet startup Power and Money, to plumb that mystery.
Or, suggested my traitorous inner lady bits with an involuntary flutter, to be plumbed by it.
The elevator slid to an immaculate stop redolent of good taste, and the doors hissed open. I gasped, once more unconsciously agitating my bosom, as I beheld the massive antechamber beyond. Holy crap. The décor was sumptuous and subtle…but also, subtly, disturbing. The thick carpet was covered with swirls and patterns, almost seeming to form a script or an alphabet throbbing with unspeakable meanings. Directly in front of the elevator was a pedestal, upon which a nude bronze sculpture of a shockingly well-formed and realistic woman (somewhat resembling myself!) struggled with what looked like an octopus. I looked closer, and realized it was not exactly an octopus — there were too many tentacles, and the central head was not really a head, but itself a mass of writhing limbs. My broad reading led me to conclude, therefore that it was some sort of mythological thingee. Not an octopus, anyway. Also it was not struggling with the woman, but…holy crap. I turned my eyes modestly away to the wall hangings, which were also covered with swirls, swirls, swirly swirls. They dipped and slid and criss-crossed not unlike those not-octopus limbs. They coiled around and up, sliding smoothly into my eager, pouting brain the way they slid right up into the statue’s….
“Miss Irons?”
I started. Oh, my. I was looking into the eyes of a very beautiful woman. Her dark eyes were limpid pools, her white bosom strained against the fabric of her blue dress. Around her neck was an odd piece of jewelry…a kind of octopus, but not really an octopus, like the one on the statue. Its tentacles seemed to be exploring her cleavage, which was more amply visible than I would usually expect in a business setting. But perhaps cleavage amply displayed was what Sebastian Mauve demanded. I imagined Sebastian Mauve perusing the cleavage. My inner lady bits sat up and did some complicated writhing at the thought. What sort of man was he, who would so boldly, so shamelessly, peruse both staff cleavage and octopus statue rape? Skeevy, perhaps. But it was the skeeviness of power.
It’s witty! Meaningful! Suspenseful! Buy the whole thing here!
If there seems to be interest and enough people purchase it to make the time investment worthwhile, I may well write more. So if you enjoy it and want further product along the same lines, encourage your friends and relations and elder gods to invest as well.
If you’re a regular reader and have spent the past five years desperately wishing there were some way you could help HU pay it’s hosting fees, this is a nice way to make a donation to the blog. Sort of like a kickstarter, except you just pay to receive the finished product. Innovative!
“It’s witty! Meaningful! Suspenseful!”
Yes, yes, yes, but is the sex any good is the big question? Also if this is one of those tentacle sex mash-ups, I’m going to stick to my Hokusai.
Sex is parodic rather than erotic. FWIW.
50 Shades must be truly awful to inspire this hilarious prose. Haven’t read it but I can spot cliches.
“Sex is parodic rather than erotic. FWIW.”
In the 21st century, this is an everyday truth.
I’ve sold 1 book so far. At this rate this appears to be a parody of commerce as well as eros….
So that makes me number two ? Parodic erotica can still functiopn as erotica. Don’t underestimate your readers.
Yay! Two!
There’s a mention in the piece of another 50 shades/tentacle sex story that I discovered while poking around; I think that one takes its erotic remit more sincerely.
I don’t think I’ll be buying your book (sorry), but the premise did remind me of this short story in a kind of broad way: http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/johnson_10_09/
Good luck!
Oh, sure, just taunt me why don’t you….
Wow…well this has definitely been a lesson in how difficult it is to get people to purchase something on the internet. No wonder no one can make any money on the webs. I got tons of RT’s from kind wellwishers, including one by the biggest erotic ebook author on the web, I think. But only 6 (count em 6) sales.
Maybe there’s a bigger time lag than I’m thinking, or maybe everyone is just waiting for the right moment to click buy…but I kind of doubt I’ll be doing this again unless there’s some sort of major turn around. 12 bucks for 2 days of work isn’t going to cut it, I fear….
Ah well. Live and learn. It is kind of interesting to discover how these things work. And humbling, which is probably a good thing as well.
Honestly I think the price might be a part of the issue, at six and a half dollars it’s only half as cheap as the electronic version of Fifty Shades itself, but at only 15 pages.
That’s certainly not expensive but parodies might also be a hard sell, they don’t have much staying power. Take the Onion for example, half the joke is over after the headline. The excerpt might be enough to satisfy people’s need for 50 shady mocking.
It’s not six and a half dollars! It’s 2.99!
I’d actually put the price lower, but 2.99 is as low as amazon will price ebooks.
I guess the “you can think of it as a contribution to HU!” argument isn’t swaying many people.
Wow, that’s strange, I get $6.26. Maybe it’s the VAT over here but it’s not over 100% so I don’t know what’s the issue.
Sorry, you can ignore my post above in that case, $3 certainly makes a difference.
Where are you located?
Iceland.
I think I’m the author you refer to ealier with the similar title. I came across your work the other day on a search. I must say, your title definitely tickles my fancy! ‘Unspeakble hue’ lol!
I hope it goes well for you, good luck with it!
Anita.x
Hi! Thanks for stopping by. I think my hopes for good luck are pretty much over; I’ve sold 8 copies or something, and doubt I’ll do much more business alas. But it was fun to write, so what the hey.
Oh Noah! Don’t give up so easily! It’s early days yet. ebooks are for life, not just for Christmas ;)
I’m not taking it off sale or anything; just accepting that it’s probably not going to make my fortune.
According to this supposedly successfull erotica author on Reddit, the secret is to keep churning out novella after novella in every niche imaginable : http://www.reddit.com/r/writing/comments/1knivf/in_the_last_63_days_of_writing_ive_added_1318745/
Yeah…I’m familiar with the erotica ebook market, at least to some extent.
http://www.theatlantic.com/sexes/archive/2013/07/porn-on-the-kindle-a-catch-22/278075/
This here isn’t really an erotica book, which is perhaps part of the difficulty. (Anita’s book, on the other hand, is erotica.)