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Sasha Distan

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  1. Sasha Distan

    Memory Loss

    By Sasha Distan,

    So most of you know I fell off my horse yesterday. These things happen, and everyone who rides will know, it's always a calculated risk. But I'm fine, more or less, and I didn't hit my head (my proof of this is that my head does hurt, no lumps or bumps, and my hat was not misshapen).
    I hurt generally on the left side, hips, butt, inner thigh and shoulder, and hopefully I'll end up with some pretty spectacular bruising because right now that whole area hurts like a bitch. My neck hurts too, but only because I had to spent the whole night on my right side.
     
    I have no, mostly pieced together the events, and I have discovered that when you go into shock, memory is a funny thing. Bits of it went missing, a certain section is still missing, but here goes.
     
    I remember thinking that I should find Ben (one of the cute mechanics at the farm) because he would give good hugs and be able to help me. Ben got Dylan (farm owners son and generally lovely bloke) and Christian (who owns the farm). I looked at Copper and found I had already taken his bridle off and put his head collar on, and he was standing with the truck as soft as anything. The guys tell me he was like this when I first called Ben, so my autopilot works well...
     
    I got taken to the farm house, and on the way saw the field where I fell off. I came off him at a full and flat out gallop (there wasn't a point yesterday where he wasn't running like a mad fool, too full of happy energy and excitement), but in the field closest to the house and main part of the farm. On seeing the field I remembered how I got back on.
     
    I sat in the grass, trying not to cry because I was in a lot of pain, watching my horse calmly eat lush green grass, and decided that there was no way in hell I walking back to the stables. I got up, took the reins, and together we walked over to the empty hay trailers that have sat in the field since it was cut and cleared in early August. I have a very clear photographic image of sitting on the hay trailer, trying to stomach the pain enough to stand up, watching Copper watching me. I got on, somehow.
     
    I do not remember getting out of the field or back to the stables. I remember the sensation of being on the horse, and this was about the time I started thinking I should fine Ben.
     
    Whatever else I may or may not have learnt from this, I know one thing: Copper brought me home. With a functionally unconscious rider, he brought me home to the stable and stood while I tied him up. He did not leave me, he did not take us somewhere else. Should I ever need him, should something awful ever happen, I know I can trust him to look after me.
     
    Great Spirits, I love that horse.
  2. Sasha Distan

    The Illusion of Choice

    By Sasha Distan,

    School.
     
    For those of you who do not:
    A) have children or grandchildren
    teach children
    C) work in academia
    ... September is any other time of year. Sad because it is the end of summer, but generally the same as any other month. For those of us in the second category, it marks the start of the new school year (at least, in the Northern Hemisphere) and a rollar coaster of emotions, frustrations, delights and horrors.
     
    We have now lived, survived, a full teaching week. I have met all of my classes and we have completed our first practical lessons (for those who don't know, I teach Food Technology, a much maligned subject which is NOT home economics, cookery or similar).
     
    Some of these sessions have been times of love and wonder. There is a strange and fierce joy to see the students whom you have watched grow up, little 11 year olds who are now teenagers, full of grand ideas and emotions. Too there is an almost possessive kind of loyalty and love when a girl in my tutor group arrived early, ran in and hugged me without a second thought. I was missed.
     
    There is often bad stuff too, injuries, accidents, this time, a death among the student population. There are the children you dread seeing, secretly hoping they had transferred to other schools: the one who made things hard last year and you fear will do the same again.
     
    I have discovered more recently that I prefer teenagers to children, and that if such a choice was available, I would teach high school. The littlest ones can be so needy, and while others find it endearing, I find it irritating that they have not yet been trained into the manner which I require. They will learn though, it is the entire purpose of their being here.
     
    Which brings us to this: I will often at the end of a short period of writing get a student to read to the class their work. I call them volunteers, but I pick them. Today, someone asked me why, and I was reminded of Sir Terry Pratchett, his wonderful work and the words of Lord Vetinari.
     
    "That greatest of all treasures, which is hope."
     
    I told the students I was imply giving them the illusion of choice, that this illusion was something they would get used to whether they liked it or not. The world is full of apparent choice, though very few of them are actually real choices. They nodded as though they understood and turned back to their work, as did I.
     
    We are all of us toiling away under the illusion of choice.
  3. Sasha Distan

    Winter Food

    By Sasha Distan,

    It has become winter here. All of a sudden, overnight on Sunday just past, it has become winter. We seem to have run out of seasons and are down to just two: winter (which is wet: containing mists and drips, slithers and chills but isn't particularly cold) and summer (which was short and absolutely sweltering).
     
    Yesterday, there seemed like nothing better to do than make the house smell warm and full of food. I made bread, a big loaf for us and a miniature one for my father, and while is was proving went back to the farm and gave Copper his dinner. My father even managed to call and say thank you, which is almost unheard of.
     
    And then, I made Minted Lamb Stew with Herby Dumplings, the recipe for which is below. It was delicious, succulent, and earned me extra kisses for the husband who declared the figure sat next to him on the sofa as "a single unit of best chef". I did well. Feeds four.
     
    For the stew:
    half a leg of lamb
    5 large carrots
    a red onion
    3 pints water
    5th jar mint sauce
    6 garlic cloves
    3 tbsp gravy browning
    3 tsp arrowroot

    Bone out the leg of lamb and place in a stock pot with the water. Simmer on low for 3 hours and discard the bone. Pour stock into a large casserole dish and whisk in the gravy browning
    Cube the lamb. Fry the pieces off in olive oil and transfer to the casserole dish.
    Add the mint sauce
    Place the casserole in a warm oven (150 degrees C, Gas Mark 5) for an hour or so.
    Cut the carrots into uneven trapezoid chunks. Fry using the pan the lamb was in, add the diced onion and saute gentle. Caramelize with a big knob of butter until glossy.
    Remove casserole dish from the oven, add garlic cloves whole and onion, carrots and frying pan juices. Stir and add salt and pepper.
    Put casserole back in oven for an hour-ish and turn up the temperature to 170.
    Mix the arrowroot with a small amount of water and stir into the casserole to thicken.
     
    For the dumplings:
    200g plain flour
    salt and pepper
    200g suet
    4 tsp mixed herbs (I use a combination of rosemary and basil)
    Water to mix

    Mix the ingredients into a thick soft dough and coat you hands with flour to stop them sticking. Divide into 8 even sized dumplings.
    Place the dumplings on the stew and with the casserole lid half-off, place in the hot oven for another 30-40 mins.
     
    Serve with buttered kale and cold cider.
  4. Sasha Distan

    And When I Die

    By Sasha Distan,

    Writer's die a lot.
     
    Death, that thing that cannot be known beforehand: writers can be said to experience it often. They are often little deaths, small hard moments of pain which pass soon, but in the moment they are with us, they are all to real. We die when he kill off a character, we die softly and quietly inside when they say goodbye to us, we ache with pain when our muses refuse to release them to our waiting fingertips. Depending on how much one writes, and on how long those stories last, a writers can die several times a year.
     
    Fans of Direct Confusion will know just what I am speaking off, for many of you died along with Greg several chapters ago. For me, that pain was written a long time ago now, but even though I was in charge of the words as they came (for a certain value of the phrase 'in charge') it was like getting punched through the chest.
     
    And now there is a different death. Those who know me or have read interviews will know my general claim of not knowing my plot until it happens: the work is character driven, and boy are my characters often driven. But the end of this particular novella snuck up on me unexpectedly. I finished writing a chapter of A Wolf and His Man, and as i opened the next word document, I knew with an awful clarity, that the next chapter would be the last.
     
    So, I did the mature and sensible thing, and procrastinated as much as possible to avoid having to say goodbye.
     
    But say goodbye I did. Last night I wrote those closing words, and felt a combination of two emotions. A high bright burning joy that I was finished, done, complete; and a deep mourning for the friends that I had lost. Oli and Boris will go on with their lives, but I won't be there. I believe that this parting is a very sad one particularly, because I first penned the story concept of A Wolf and His Man something like 6 or 7 years ago. I am glad I waited, because it is a better story now than it would have been if I had written it just out of my teen years.
     
    It is a little death, one that will not hurt for long, and the shouting of other characters in my brain will help to wear down the sharp edges of the loss until visiting Oli and Boris again will not be so painful.
     
    And Kieran Tristan Toyne does shout very loudly.
  5. Sasha Distan
    and thus, the House of Erotica anthology is released.
     
     


    Flappers, Jazz and Valentino is edited by Jillian Boyd and contains a wealth of stories of all pairings, sexualities and degrees of hotness. House of Erotica are, of course, an erotica publishing specialist so please don't follow the link if such things are age restricted in your country (I'm not going to stop you, but dude, be sensible). If you want to tweet about or follow the author interviews we are using #20sErotica to keep tabs on everything.

     
     
    My story is Limelight and Gin, and is available exclusively in this anthology. They have the rights for six years.
    Ruby Rose is the hottest jazz singer in town, and Eugene loves working for her as a backing dancer. He likes the limelight, the bootleg gin, and he's slightly jealous that it's only the girls who get to wear sparkly outfits on stage. The thing Eugene likes most about Ruby, is that she will keep his secret,and doesn't gossip. Unless, of course, gossiping will enable Eugene to finally get a date.
     
    The anthology is available as an ebook via the following vendors:
     
     
     


    Amazon UK



    Amazon US



    Amazon Canada

  6. Sasha Distan

    Desert Island Books

    By Sasha Distan,

    So I made a topic on this over in The Lounge, and asked people about their six Desert Island Books, the ones they couldn't live without. I wanted to keep my reply here too, for posterity, and because my top books have changed over recent years as I have re-found books from my past I am reading to my son.
    Here they are, in the order I first discovered them.
     
    The Tale of Peter Rabbit - Beatrix Potter
    Who couldn't love Peter and his gorgeous blue coat? I don't quite know the whole off my heart, but I adore it. Goblin loves it when I read to him, and this is a firm favourite in our house. I cannot remember the first time I ever read it, but the words are ingrained in my memory.
     
    The Enchanted Horse - Magdalen Nabb
    So I was a child who loved horses, and though I never understood as a child the references to God's Creatures in this slim novel, the descriptions captivated me. I had a version on tape (yes young ones, I used to have actual books on tape) and the voice of the narrator stayed with me my whole life. I can still recite entire passages by heart.
     
    Pyramids - Sir Terry Pratchett
    It's hard to chose one of the Discworld novels above all others, but though I adore Death, and Moist von Lipwig, and Angua, this is the only book in the whole series of 44 which is entirely stand-alone, and requires no other knowledge to work. I also love Pteppic, our reluctant King and hero, and I always empathised with him, because I've often felt like I was living a life which wasn't mine.
     
    Venus As A Boy - Luke Sutherland
    This was I think, the first novel I owned with a gay/bisexual main character, and I was quickly enchanted by the descriptions of Orkney, and by the strange journey the main character undertakes as he grows up. I read it over and over again, and it was the only book I took with me around the world. I read the whole thing in stages to my second boyfriend, just before we got together, and it set the tone of our relationship in a strange way.
     
    The God Eaters - Jesse Hajicek
    No couple in any other book have made my heart pound the way Kieran and Ashleigh do. Their world is rich and deep, their challenges enormous, the descriptions richly detailed, the conversations pithy and realistic. The blend of magic and logic is perfect, and throughout it all, their relationship makes me want to cry and laugh and shout with joy.
     
    Now Is The Hour - John Spanbauer
    for a long time after starting this book, I didn't understand it, or understand why I loved it so much. But John Spanbauer is the only person I've know of who has ever managed to describe the awe and majesty of Thunderbird, the hopelessness of death and betrayal, and the harshness of falling in love when it doesn't go well.
     
    What are your Desert Island Books?
  7. Sasha Distan
    In the lead up to what is already being called, in our household, The Big Move, I am focusing on editing and preparing manuscripts, rather than writing. This is because it is hard to write when you feel guilty for not packing your life into boxes, and secondly because whilst Cowboy Summer waits for covers and one last read-through, I have no finished the 17 tracks of the American Songbook.
     
    Yes people, I said 17 tracks. There are two tracks "Sandbar" and "Marshallville" which will only be available on the deluxe album version (both digital and print). Current word counts look to be around 150,000 which is going to make this a pretty hefty tome probably some 450-500 pages long. Should keep you busy! we are hoping for a release date this side of the end of May, if all goes to plan, and I'll let you know how things progress.
     
    The contents of the 'album' stands thus:
     
    1 - All Over The Road
    All Over The Road - Easton Corbin
    2 - Great-Grandaddy's Gun
    Grandaddy's Gun - Blake Shelton
    3 - Home Grown
    American Beautiful - The Henningsens
    4 - Nothin' Town
    This Nothin' Town - Jason Aldean
    5 - Country Girl
    Fresh Off The Farm The Farm Inc.
    6 - The Boy Who Was Summer
    Sunny and 75 - Joe Nichols
    19 You+Me - Dan + Shay
    7 - Tailgate Hangout
    Ready, Set, Roll - Chase Rice
    That's My Kind of Night - Luke Bryan
    8 - Payback's a Blast
    Get Even - Brad Paisley
    9 - Bright Thunder
    Blown Away - Carrie Underwood
    10 - Drunk Last Night
    Drunk Last Night - Eli Young Band
    11 - Our Song
    Play it Again - Luke Bryan
    12 - Worth the Drive
    See You Tonight - Scotty McCreery
    13 - Instantly
    State of Grace - Taylor Swift
    Crickets - Joe Nichols
    14 - Ladies' Man
    God Made Girls - RaeLynn
    15 - Lonely at the Top
    Hope You Get Lonely Tonight - Cole Swindell
    16 - Sandbar (Deluxe Album Version)
    Wish I Had A Boat - Tyler Farr
    17 - Marshallville (Deluxe Album Version)
    Water Tower - Jason Aldean
  8. Sasha Distan
    You ever have one of those days where everything goes just as it should, but all the little things irritate you? Like the rough edge of a finger nail catching on things or a tiny stone in your shoe you just can't shake loose, something tiny hangs around in your brain and puts a damper on all the stuff that went right, all the things you did well, and everything that made you feel good about what went before.
     
    So here are the broken down bits of my day:
     
    The good thing, the thing must first status today (sometimes students are good for the soul), was about the two wonderful, blissful, year 10 (freshmen) lessons that i taught back to back, and the 300 good words i wrote during break in between. the lesson was all about writing specifications, the words were about Clem telling... (SPOILER), and all was right with the world.
     
    So over lunch i decide to start a list of marking comments to have made up into stickers to make the whole process easier (because how many times do I need to write "please expand your annotations by referring to the ACCESSFM sheet in your book" by hand when 1/3 of the class haven't done it right?). While I was doing this I realised that it would be good to have these things as a department, and went to seek permission and input from my Head of Department.
     
    And then in an after school meeting, I had to watch him lay claim to my idea. Entirely. Granted, it wasn't my first ever original idea, it was shown to us in a INSET session on marking and feedback I attended, but he took credit for starting the list and getting these stickers organised, despite the fact this is i) untrue, and ii) I'll be the one sending them to repro-graphics.
     
    And then I realised (my second status for the day) that lots of people can have good idea, because I believe him when he said he was thinking of doing it too, but very few people ever actually act on them.
     
    It struck a chord with me because, with NaNoWriMo having ended, I look around the NanoBrighton forum and see dozens of good ideas lying at the wayside, abandoned because their owners could not do what they set out to. One of these is an ML's, people who are upheld as our 'leaders' in each region, many are those who claim to be 'writers' having never finished or made public a single thing.
     
    So I'll forgive my HoD for stealing my credit, because it's better than a kick in the teeth, and I pity him for having so little get up and go of his own.
  9. Sasha Distan
    As some of you know, I am a fairly recent and fully immersed convert to the power of twitter. I have discovered cool new art through twitter, bought awesome things, been amused by cats and found new horse-based free to boot. And boots, the guy who sells my western boots often posts pictures of new arrivals on twitter – it’s generally delightful.
     
    My twitter feed is made up of three things: general and often strange musings; #cowboyhour, a weekly event I run where each Friday we indulge in something suitably fitting for which I try and get photos (last week we had a play by play of horse shoeing, just for those who have never seen it done); and stuff about the writing. And it is, of course, on this last point that I wish to speak with you.
     
    There is lots of cool writing stuff on twitter, and you can keep up with your favourite authors with the #amwriting hashtag (there is also an #amediting for those who dedicate themselves to making us authors look a bit more clever than we actually are, and for this, we thank you). And because twitter is on my phone, I often accompany these with pictures taken from my current writing screen: tiny little snapshots into the world of the future. There aren’t ever any actual spoilers, but by following me on twitter, I guarantee you’ll get more information about Kieran and Robin, Oli and Buddy, and the Chalk Horse Hill pack, sooner than you would otherwise.
     
    The last part of this is that often, other agencies on twitter will launch competitions and challenges. Edinburgh Book Festival (@edbookfest) are currently running a series of themed ‘a story in one tweet’ challenges (for those of you who don’t know, twitter is limited to 140 characters per tweet), and I am lucky enough to have been features for yesterday’s challenge: “Beginnings”
     


    #StoryShop It was too hot to walk, so he took the train. And that was where he first saw the boy with the blue eyes. They shared a moment.

     
    You can follow all the entries with the #StoryShop hastag, and you can find out more about the challenges and the featured authors here: https://storify.com/edbookfest/twitter-storyshop-challenge
     

    You can follow me on twitter
    @sashadistan

  10. Sasha Distan
    Evening y'all,
    I am delighted to announce that I have/about to have, a second short story published exclusively by House of Erotica.
    The story is Limelight and Gin: Ruby Rose is the hottest jazz singer in town, and Eugene loves working for her as a backing dancer. He likes the limelight, the bootleg gin, and he's slightly jealous that it's only the girls who get to wear sparkly outfits on stage. The thing Eugene likes most about Ruby, is that she will keep his secret,and doesn't gossip. Unless, of course, gossiping will enable Eugene to finally get a date.
    The anthology



    Flappers, Jazz and Valentino is edited by Jilliant Boyd and contains a wealth of stories of all pairings, sexualities and degrees of hotness. House of Erotica are, of course, an erotica publishing specialist so please don't follow the link if such things are age restricted in your country (I'm not going to stop you, but dude, be sensible).
    The anthology comes out in e-book formats August 8th, published by House of Erotica books. I have included a list of the entries, in anthology order, for your titillation. You get a lot of words for £4.99.
     
    The Dance Partner - Lola White
    Aboard the Aquitania - Brent Archer
    The Sin in Syncopation – Blacksilk
    Life’s A Chocolate Cabaret – V.C.
    A Gal’s Gotta Make a Living Somehow... – T.G. Haynes
    The Nympho – Angela R. Sargenti
    Modern Motoring – Eva Starling
    Songbird – Blair Erotica
    Limelight and Gin – Sasha Distan
    Tooting The Trumpet Boy’s Horn – V.C.
    Genuine Chemistry – Annabeth Leong
    The Argentine Tango – Tabitha Kitten
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