Experience
|
Experience
|
Maeve lies to her friends. Dolan gets very drunk. Maeve revisits a disturbing childhood incident... Hello, and welcome to “Hobbies Include: Writing” the creative fiction podcast. The story you are about to experience is a work in progress. I invite you to be my audience, my first editor, my critic and more. You can comment via email, social media or directly on the website. Just head over to the Discuss Tab. Reminder that the Patreon special offer is still running, the first 10 donors at $5 or above receive top-tier benefits for as long as they continue to donate. Since the last episode, I recorded a great interview with You Did A Thing! Podcast which will be launching soon. I want to make a quick apology for any background sounds you hear in this recording. They aren't overpowering, but it may sound like I'm shuffling paper or fabric from time to tome. I learned I cannot wear a certain jacket while recording because it makes noise with every tiny movement. I chose not to re-record in order to ensure I got you this episode on time. If this is your first time listening in, I recommend you start back at Episode One and the setup of our story. Quick recap last episode: we got a look at daily life living with a vampire uncle as roommate and Maeve’s experience of the growing connection between her and Dolan. Without further ado, I present humbly to you the paranormal long-fiction audio novel, “Blood that Binds.” Click above to listen on Spreaker, or choose your podcasting platform. The PDF is available for download below. CONTENT WARNING: Be advised, this audio novel contains strong language along with descriptions of blood, biting and vampirism. This story includes exploration of toxic relationship dynamics, including abusive elements that may be upsetting for some people. This story also includes characters with a variety of spiritual, gender, sexual and ethnic identities. This is intended to create an inclusive and diverse narrative with the understanding that no character can completely encompass representing a particular identity or community. Any fantastical depictions of witchcraft are not intended to discredit anyone’s spiritual beliefs or practices. Links & Credits
"I’m family and I’m paying your tuition and half of rent. You could show a little gratitude,” He wags a finger at her patronizingly. “I do, literally in my own blood!” She slaps her arm like an addict gearing up for smack. “Oh don’t be dramatic. So we had a slip up. These things happen. We can’t be expected to fall into each other’s schedules after just two weeks. Why, it took your aunt and I --” “No!” She swipes her hand through the air to cut him off. “Absolutely you do not get to compare your relationship with Linda to our arrangement. Ever!” “Why not?” He wrinkles his forehead with genuine confusion. “Because you were fucking her! She was your fucking blood-lust thrall, and that is not going to be me,” Maeve grabs a rag and furiously wipes the counter of the little bits of herbs that escaped her charm. “Of course not, you’re like a niece to me, practically a daughter.” He pauses and interrupts himself, realization dawning on his face, “Oh, is that what this is about?” “Linda? Yes it very much fucking is--” She flaps the rag back into its place hanging from the stove handle, but he talks over her before she can continue. “Listen, I know it might be awkward having a father-figure living with you at this stage in your life. You want to sow your wild oats and party, have boyfriends or girlfriends or whatever. Please, don’t let me get in your way. I may be 500 years old but I am more than aware of what it means to hang a sock on the door,” he chuckles with a knowing grin. Maeve pauses in revolted disbelief, then pinches the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger, “I don’t get to have significant others, or even just normal friends, because of you.” Her voice starts off low but quickly gains volume and momentum, “For the rest of my life I am tied down to an unaging 20-something relative who can’t live more than a few minutes away from me because I’m his fucking food source. Long-term, my choices are total isolation from society or starting my life over every time people question why you aren’t aging.” She buries her face in her hands for a moment, “I’m lying to my friends already, how long before I push them away completely?” He appears to have no answer, so she bursts out, “No wonder my aunt fell in love with you. You had her isolated! You were the only person she was allowed to be close to who wasn’t related to her. It wasn’t love, it was fucking Stockholm syndrome!”
0 Comments
Maeve and Dolan get off to a rocky start navigating their new lives together. Dolan finds employment with a hunky new character. Dolan and Maeve discuss the magic that binds them together and Dolan reveals his version of Maeve's family history. . . Welcome to the second episode of Blood That Binds on Hobbies Include: Writing, the creative fiction podcast. The story you are about to experience is a work in progress. This podcast is designed to be a collaborative creative experience so your feedback is highly valued and encouraged. You can comment on the website or social media under the Discuss tab. I want to thank those of you who listened or read and reached out with your feedback in the past week. A few of you mentioned my reading pace was a little fast that last episode. That was definitely a creator error. I over-edited that episode a tad getting rid of blank spaces. I've loosened the reigns a bit and hopefully corrected that issue this episode. Please let me know what you think. I am always so happy to receive any sort of constructive feedback and to interact with listeners. I do want to say for the record that I will not be going back to re-record or re-edit past episodes after they are released. Any feedback I take into consideration will only impact episodes created after I receive that feedback. I want this podcast to be genuine and show growth over time. The whole point of sharing a work in progress with you is not to provide perfect content but to always provide honest and vulnerable content. Based on your feedback and some of my own thoughts floating around in my brain, I also added a few details and a full scene to this episode just last week, which is a little last minute but I felt the extra information was important to the story. Just a quick reminder: there is a Patreon offer running now until the end of May. The first 10 donors at $5 or above will receive top-tier benefits for as long as they continue donating. Those benefits include your preferred name listed here on the website, early notification of episode release via email, access to an exclusive Discord channel to chat with other listeners and I during live streams, a one-time question answered on the show, and finally access to view and comment on the Google Doc for Blood That Binds. That last one is the big one because it allows you to interact alongside my writing with me and with each other, as well as read all of my private writing notes and see the draft versions of all episodes that I have written. Right now I have rough drafts all the way up to Episode 9. The only rule for that benefit is that you do not share spoilers with anyone. I can create a private Discord channel or Facebook sub-group to discuss spoilers in if needed, but please don't post about unreleased episodes on the main feeds. If this is your first time listening in or reading, I recommend you start back at Episode One and the setup of our story. This second chapter picks up a few days later. You can download by clicking the button at the top of this post, or you can select your platform of choice at the top of the page. The full PDF is available below. Episode 3 will be released in two weeks, on April 22. In the meantime, enjoy this sneak peek of Episode 3 - Liar, Liar, Vampire Sneak Peek “Maeve? Who the fuck is this?” the young woman asks, leaning back and draping her arm casually over the large man’s knee, subtly reaching towards the third person, almost protectively. Maeve then notices how unsteady Dolan is on his feet, how hollow his eyes look. She quickly reaches past him to shut the door and wraps an arm around his waist, supporting his weight easily, “Uh, yeah,” She forces a smile, “So sorry I forgot to tell you guys. This is Dolan, he just moved in.” “Boyfriend?” The man asks with mild interest, raising his eyebrows. “What?” Maeve pulls her arm away, only to have Dolan nearly topple over, “Oh, fuck no.” She grabs his waist and chest again to steady him, “No, he’s my cousin.” Her speech is halting, uncomfortable with the lie she had thought well rehearsed. “We...grew up together. Sort of.” “I’m a junkie!” Dolan offers brightly, goofy smile on his face, leaning heavier on Maeve. He hadn’t realized until well into the afternoon he had missed breakfast, and by that time Maeve was in class. He wasn’t unused to going thirsty, but forgot how hard alcohol could hit him without magic in his system. Maeve laughs awkwardly as the other woman rises to help the clearly drunk cousin stay upright, “He’s fresh out of rehab and really not supposed to be drinking,” she offers the last half of the sentence through a tightly clenched smile. “Hey, you told me to go out!” Dolan defends himself, “And not to come back until after 10. Well it’s after 10 and you’re all still here and it’s not my fault.” His speech is slurred and takes on a very chastising tone, like when she misbehaved as a toddler, “So you might as well introduce me to your friends.” Links & Credits
The first full episode of HI:W and of the original audionovel Blood That Binds. A blood-drinking Faerie. A desperate witch. Four hundred years later, blood magic and her family's past comes knocking on Maeve's door... Hello, and welcome to Hobbies Include: Writing, the creative fiction podcast. The story you are about to hear (or read) is a work in progress. The goal of this show is to develop a unique creative experience, where you provide input directly to author as story is written. This is an open invitation for you to comment on the story, my writing style, the characters etc via email, social media or in the comment section below. In addition to giving you an interactive experience, my hope is that this will provide me with an added layer of accountability. . . nobody likes a sloppy plot-hole. Please enjoy the first installment of the paranormal long-fiction audio novel, “Blood that Binds. Click the link above to listen and subscribe on Spreaker, or choose the podcasting platform of your choice. You can also download the PDF below. Once you've done that, enjoy this sneak peek of the next episode: Sneak Peek Maeve’s alarm blares her awake and she rolls out of bed, knocking her phone off the side table before she can reach the button to make the squawking stop. As she rubs her eyes and tugs up her sleep shorts, her nose tells her that breakfast is already cooked and ready for her in the kitchen, again. “How the hell do you do that?” She rounds into the kitchen a moment later, hands on her hips. “Do what?” Dolan turns from the stove as though caught in the act of something naughty. The spatula held delicately in a yellow oven mitt is an unlikely accessory to his usual black skinny jeans and tank top, which has a faded white smiley face printed in an imitation graffiti style. “You have breakfast ready exactly when I get up every morning, no matter what time I get up.” She sits at the kitchen island and grabs a piece of bacon from the plate set for her, “And don’t tell me you have my alarm memorized already, because for one thing you’ve only been here like three days, plus my schedule at the cafe has been all blown to hell lately anyway.” “Shush and eat your bacon,” he sets a cup of coffee in front of her, hoping it will distract from this line of conversation “And speaking of the cafe, how many extra coffees did you have yesterday? I was wired all night.” “I’m a college student, I’m supposed to bleed espresso,” She says, still chewing her bacon, and punctuates the sentence with another sip of coffee, “God, that’s good coffee. And you barely sleep anyway.” He slips into the stool across from her, “Yes well please try to remember that anything you take in I’m getting as well. Now I don’t want to control what you eat but I think I have some right to what I put into my body.” She wrinkles her upper lip in disgust, “You’re like living with a cross between a personal trainer and an anti-abortionist. I may be feeding you but I still have bodily autonomy.” “Yes well it’s hard not to make suggestions when I can just about hear the chemical sludge pounding through your veins every morning,” he mumbles the end of his sentence into a glass of water and takes a deep drink. Her eyes widen suddenly and she stops mid-chew, waving a piece of bacon at him in accusation, “You son of a bitch!” She swallows the bacon roughly, “You listen to my breathing. My circadian rhythms, that’s how you know when I’m going to wake up.” He nearly chokes on his water, then after a pause lets his orange-red hair fall in front of his eyes sheepishly, “Maybe.” He raises his hand to cut her off before she can protest further, “In my defense, when was the last time you ate this well?” Links & Credits
|
Listen HereApple Podcasts
Spotify Spreaker Google Podcasts YouTube Amazon iHeart Radio Castbox Podcast Addict Podchaser Deezer AuthorMariah is the author of "Blood that Binds" and sole creator of the HI:W podcast. Categories
All
Archives
March 2021
|