Chapter Eight Porcia Catonis—philosopher and notably known, as historical texts customarily stated unenthusiastically, as a political pawn of men during the Roman era—reportedly committed suicide by swallowing hot coals once she learned of her husband’s death. Historians—mostly men, of course—found that implausible probably believing women could never do something as abhorrent and painful, so unmaternal-like, insisting instead that she asphyxiated herself by carbon monoxide poisoning, alas, still, because she couldn’t live without her husband. Porcia was the second wife of […]

Categories: The Female of the Species • Tags: Romance, Serial Fiction, Serial Novella, She-Bear Thus Accosted, The Female of the Species

Chapter Seven Brody explored sex with less than a dozen people in the forty-three years he resided on this planet; fewer that even. He wasn’t much for socializing sexually. He preferred a more solitary and cerebral existence and imaginative means of carnal pleasures considering the other as a form of escapism—like the rare vacation or holiday. That didn’t mean he was inexperienced in the realm of pleasure. He studied tantric sex with an accomplished mistress and master and met expectations, […]

Categories: The Female of the Species • Tags: Romance, Serial Fiction, Serial Novella, She-Bear Thus Accosted, The Female of the Species

Chapter Six Layne needed to breathe. That breath bounced erratic in response to whatever it was that Brody Blake did to her nerves. Of the many things that Brody Blake brought into life, alliteration framed them all. On this, you need suffer, reader. Layne acknowledged early in life that her predilection for adventure would garner her many pleasures, and many more complications; neither of those mutually exclusive. She ultimately decided that she’d rather regret the things she did and not […]

Categories: The Female of the Species • Tags: Romance, Serial Fiction, Serial Novella, She-Bear Thus Accosted, The Female of the Species

Chapter Five Brody normally found these gatherings unremarkable and unpleasant—an aristocratic menagerie peddled and worn like loose change. Like most of these affairs, people paraded around masquerading in their pretense outwardly dim and stunted. Some even overtly flaunting it like an adjudication. This circle was an overwrought node; everyone infected. He learned long ago to view them as a novel or film he was required to review; its actual production process so entirely degraded that the eventual product stood empty […]

Categories: The Female of the Species • Tags: Romance, Serial Fiction, Serial Novella, She-Bear Thus Accosted, The Female of the Species

Chapter Four High ceilings and chandeliers baroque with light lackluster and forlorn; glitter and gowns and suits gaudy and grotesquely fitted around egos and bank accounts swollen and foul; the tinkling of glasses; a din of voices fixed and base; the droll of conversations overheard, none interesting or clever; money, old and white, loomed and festered; legacies lived in infamy; sadly, none virtuous. All swam about her like piranha. Except Lucretia. Lucretia was a shark, elegant and sleek devouring with […]

Categories: The Female of the Species • Tags: Romance, Serial Fiction, Serial Novella, She-Bear Thus Accosted, The Female of the Species

Chapter Three He realized early on he was giving away the game when he approached her as he did, but he needed to. She was…a diversion. And, an assignment. Wasn’t she? The case—assigned to him as an afterthought, forgotten in the mix of all things tempestuous—was another in a collection of oddities happening presently. It captivated and consumed him. All the evidence fragmentary and muddled purposely to obscure a larger mystery. He spent too many days, months…was it a year […]

Categories: The Female of the Species • Tags: Romance, Serial Fiction, Serial Novella, She-Bear Thus Accosted, The Female of the Species