© Copyright 1999-2001 by silli_artie@hotmail.com
This work may not be reposted or redistributed without the prior
express written permission of the author.
A work of fiction, meant for adults. Read something else if you are
not an adult, or are offended by stories with sexual content. Then
again, if all you’re looking for is in-out, in-out, in-out, you
should probably read something else. I welcome constructive comments.
Enjoy.
Just what is "Tales of the Golden Mule" anyway?
At 145 thousand words, it’s not a stroke story. As I thought about how to describe it, a story that’s grown so much, with characters that have taken on lives of their own, it struck me -- it’s a fucking soap opera.
A fucking soap opera -- that’s the best summary I can give. It’s got plenty of erotic moments (except for Part 1, which is sex free, but sets the stage for everything else). Besides exploring what goes on between the legs, it explores what goes on between the ears -- and that to me is just as interesting.
Thanks to Wiseguy’s suggestions, this presentation has the first four Tales of the Golden Mule:
The Beginning - Parts 1 through 4, intruduces the main characters of the story, and sets the stage. Who is The Golden Mule, and why?
Miss Yellow - Parts 5 through 8, solves another piece of the puzzle.
In Search of Miss Brown - Parts 8 through 12, takes us on a search for another piece of the puzzle.
Finding a New Life - Parts 13 through 19, completes this part of the cycle.
I’ll give you a short review -- it was the best of times; it was the worst of times. Nah -- that’s been used. It’s a romantic story, although two characters get killed off in the beginning. The sex is there, hot at times, and mildly kinky. As a writer, I know I have trouble building and maintaining tension. The middle part is a lot of sex without a lot of tension. The action picks up near the end. There are plenty of loose ends left for future tales. I think it’s well written, although readers are encoraged to think some times.
If you want to read the whole thing, it’s available in HTML format on my web site (http://www.asstr-mirror.org/files/Authors/artie/www/TGM.html). It’s also availabe as a single LARGE (about 800kb!) text file on the asstr ftp site ( http://www.asstr-mirror.org//pub/Authors/artie/text/tgm.txt ).
Where is The Golden Mule going from here? I’ve got plans, and more outlines. But, I’ve also got a problem. I started writing TGM in July. I’ve had it posted to my web site since late July. In that time, I’ve had over 30,000 hits on the TGM web page. Since I started posting the single (large) file to the asstr ftp site in September, it’s been downloaded over 600 times. It has been downloaded over 400 times in December alone. I don’t want to know how many hours I’ve put into this story.
Know how many comments I’ve gotten? Over 30,000 hits -- the whole thing downloaded over 600 times? I’ve heard from 47 different people. That’s it. Of course some of those people, such as Wiseguy, MC Writer, and Melody have provided a lot of help. Wiseguy has provided invaluable assistance, since the beginning. They, and the others, have found problems, helped me fix errors, and have made suggestions that have improved the story greatly. Comments from readers have helped the characters grow. Questions from readers have helped me develop the characters, and understand them better.
But, how many short stories could I have written in that time? That’s a whole lot of 3 to 5 thousand word stories! That’s even a few 20,000 word stories! During this time I have completed and posted six stories -- including Life Cycle of the Kaelen, which is around 70,000 words. All those received reviews from Celeste of 10, 9, 9, or better. I’ve also added 6 stories to the Workbench -- still works in progress.
So what’s next for The Golden Mule? Well, the characters are on vacation for a while. They need a rest. So do I. They’ll probably be back. While they’re on vacation, I’ll finish up some things from the Workbench. Maybe I’ll catch up on my reading.
Got an opinion? Let me know!
Namaste-
artie
December 21, 1999
Tales of the Golden Mule
by silli_artie@hotmail.com
http://www.asstr-mirror.org/files/Authors/artie/www