Experience
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Experience
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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!”
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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
HI:W has a Patreon, and I am running a special offer for the first 10 Patrons to sign up within the next 60 days!
If you are one of the first 10 people to sign up for a recurring donation to the Patreon at ANY LEVEL $5 or above within 60 days of April 1st, you will receive top-tier benefits for as long as you continue to donate. That means, if you commit to donate $5 or more a month, you will get access to the private discord, you will receive an exclusive spoiler answer to any single question answered on the podcast, and you will be able to read and comment on the Blood That Binds Google Doc... For as long as you continue to donate! If you want to help improve the podcast, if you want be part of the “in” crowd, if you believe in this story and want to delve deeper into the experience this podcast is creating, or if you just want to go leave mean comments alongside my writing so I cry every time I sit down to work, now is the time to become a Patron. Head on over to the Support tab, click the Patreon button and sign up for recurring donations of any amount. This is only open to the first 10 Patrons within the first 60 days from April 1st.
I will keep this post short, but I have an exciting announcement to make that you may have seen already on social media.
HI:W will launch it's first full episode including the first installment of Blood That Binds on April 1st! That is one month earlier than originally announced, and many thanks to my loving husband for pulling the trigger on a new laptop much earlier than planned. Early recordings have been going great, and I am so excited to be ahead of schedule. Stay tuned into the website and social media for a link to the podcast. I will be uploading other introductory content starting one week prior to launch, so be sure to follow the links I will post and subscribe! Episodes will be available on Spreaker initially, and will go up on iTunes, Spotify and other platforms as soon as the podcast is approved. I am very excited to release this short sneak preview from one of the early episodes of Blood That Binds! As always, I encourage your interaction and feedback on this preview via comments, email, contact form, discord or social media. Below you can find the audio file for download as well as PDF for any hearing-impaired fans, or anyone who just prefers to read rather than listen. Please share this with anyone you think would enjoy the story! But, do me a favor and share from this blog post or one of the posts on social media, rather than re-uploading the file yourself. I am still working the bugs out on posting audio to the website, but that won't be an issue once the podcast launches. Speaking of, there will be some exciting news regarding the launch very soon, so be sure to click the "Discuss" tab and follow HI:W Podcast on all social media so you don't miss it!
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"His eyes glow like those of a nighttime animal in the candlelight. A fang already peaks out over one lip. His cheeks are gaunt, and his hand trembles slightly as he takes the knife. Besides the hunger in his eyes, there is something else. The same desperation she knows is in her heart. Holding his gaze she joins in the chant with her own spell. A witch approaches and carefully binds her left hand to his offered right. The energy is palpable, intense, burning through her veins. His nostrils flare and she knows he can smell it in her blood..." - Blood That Binds, Mariah Powell Hello, and welcome to “Hobbies Include: Writing”, the creative fiction podcast. My name is Mariah Powell, and I am the author and creator of this work. I want to start out by introducing myself, and explaining the vision for podcast as a collaborative experience. Prior to this podcast, I have been the author of many unpublished fictional works. In the past I have written under strict deadlines for professional reasons, but never for my passion projects. Well, for the past year I have broken that pattern and held myself to a dedicated writing schedule in preparation to launch this podcast. That being said, the story I will share with you is not yet finished. Of course I have a plan for where the story is going. I've written about 10 episodes worth of content prior to launch. Beyond that, I am in a sense making this up as we go along. On a selfish level, making a commitment to you forces me to actually finish my stories, no matter what. My real goal is to create a unique entertainment experience. Podcasting and social media provide a unique opportunity for story tellers to connect with their audience and receive real-time feedback. I am fully embracing that opportunity by welcoming you input and critiques on every imaginable aspect of my stories...before I've finished writing them. I want you to advise the story as it is being written. You, dearest listener are my editor, fan, and muse all in one. I invite you to comment on the story, my writing style, the characters, etc., via email, social media, or on discord. Now, this isn't a choose-your-own adventure story. I am still ultimately the author, this is my creation and I do have my own vision of what it's going to be when it grows up. But, in a way, it is your creation too. And nothing in my mind is set in stone. At least, not until it is released in an episode. :) Our first story is Blood That Binds, and it is not your average vampire novel. Get ready for a heavy-hitting look into the relationships of the family you choose and the family you are born into, personal boundaries and 600 year old magic. But, don't take my word for it. Click the "Listen" button above or subscribe to HI:W on your favorite podcast platform for a sneak peak of the first episode. For anyone who is hearing impaired, PDF versions of each episode release will be coming soon! If you are already in love with what we're doing here and would like to help remove website ads, improve our sound quality and more, please click the "Support" tab and join our Patreon! Patrons can receive special benefits, including discord channel access to participate in special in-depth live Q&A segments every four episodes or so, where I will read and respond to some of your comments and questions. You can email me at [email protected] or through the contact form on our home page. To talk about the show with other listeners: click on the “Discuss” tab. You can join the Facebook page at Hobbies Include: Writing and follow the podcast on twitter @HIWPodcast and on Instagram at HobbiesInclude.Writing. Please subscribe on Spreaker, Spotify, iTunes, or wherever you get your podcasts. CONTENT WARNING: Be advised, this audio novel contains strong language along with descriptions of blood, biting and vampirism. |
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