A VERY IMPORTANT Author's Note
First of all, I want to thank you guys for sticking with me so far. This story has a rather high story/sex ratio, so I'm gratified that, so far, the response has been extremely positive. I don't typically respond to comments, but believe me I read them and appreciate them greatly.
It has been a lifelong dream of mine to write professionally, and I've often fantasized about publishing. Normally, with just a few stories such talk of "e-books" would be extremely premature. However, an opportunity has come up, something I can't just ignore, and basically, I need to make a decision on what I want to do with FA sooner than expected. I've decided, in one way or another, I'd like to publish Fencing Academy.
I've talked to both my previous volunteer editors about this and they're both supportive. However, I want to be fair to you guys. The last thing I want to do is disrespect you but cutting you guys out, leaving you wondering what's going on, feeling like your wishes have been ignored. I hate it when authors do this to their base and I don't plan on doing it myself. So, I want to talk to you plainly what this will entail. While your feedback is invaluable and will be taken into account, ultimately, the decision is my own and I have to do what's best for me. If I didn't, Fencing Academy will never finish anyway and that's bad for everyone.
I won't lie, there is some self-interest at stake here. At this stage of my life, I could really use the money. More intangibly, this is an opportunity to break into a career I love, something I can't easily pass up. But, it is important to me that I write the best story I can possibly write, and I believe that this is the best way to do that. Publishing will allow me to make a far more cohesive work than I could possibly put together simply posting piecemeal to Literotica. A disadvantage of writing serially like this is that whatever you've written previously is set in stone. If I want to take the story in a more interesting direction, or perhaps alter something that isn't working, I can't. The whole story is weaker.
And I must say: personally, I'm really excited about this. I'm eager to revisit my earlier chapters and really revise them to make a strong story. I'm excited about seeing my work finally make the jump to book form. To craft a story that excites people is everything I have worked my life for.
In any case, I hope, when these stories come to a close, there will several books worth of erotic and character-based storytelling with intricate plotting. But you should know the implication of this decision would be that I could no longer post new chapters to Literotica.
Fencing Academy is something of an experiment. I wanted to see if I could write an erotic fantasy where the sexual elements were integral to the story, a plot which could have appeal to both men and women, a work that could not only stand as a good piece of erotica but as good piece of fantasy, and have neither of those things detract from one another. No matter what happens, I'm committed to that vision and I only hope you enjoy Fencing Academy in whatever form it takes in the future.
Anyways, please leave a comment. I'll take into consideration all your feedback, I hope for your blessing in this but again, ultimately the decision is my own. I hope, even if I didn't take the option you most wanted, we can still respect each other.
Edited by Redscaledknight. Lock your doors. Hide your daughters.
P.S. If I decide to publish FA, I will let you know in my Author's profile and my blog.
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In her nightly walks Sara found herself wandering far from her school. At this time, even the boulevards behind the Golden Gate were dangerous, but the vagabonds took up a decidedly rakish flavor. Lounging about were gangs composed of bored nobles, ruffians of a more professional sort, streetwalkers clinking with steel beneath their dresses. But Sara's reputation was well known. She was rarely accosted.
Night guardsmen patrolled All Saints Square, their boots echoing on the cobble road. The cathedral loomed like a gothic mountain, casting a black moonshadow. Some ways south the ring wall stood, and behind that the Ducal Palace, with all of its proud ministries dormant and dark. The gate guardsmen halted Sara.
"Papers?" he said from beneath a droopy mustache.
You know me, Tom,
she thought to herself as she obediently fished her vest for a sheaf of crumpled documents.
Tom gave them a cursory look, his mustache twitching. "Looks good. How your students doing?"
Tom had a strange habit of pretending all passing were strangers until the proper documents were shown in full. It would be more annoying if he wasn't so endearing afterward.
"Still cutting themselves on their own swords," smiled Sara.
"That's a relief to 'ear. So's my son, y'see, and it makes me hope 'e isn't as stupid as 'e seems."
"I'm sure that's not true. If you send him over to the school, I'll give him a free lesson.
One
free lesson."
"'e'll be 'appy with that, though it don't make a dumb boy smart in a day methinks. Well, enough mouthboxing, off with ye."
She knew Fiona had a private studio in the palace grounds. It was, in theory, a training hall to teach the Ducal family the martial arts, but Adriana had elected to attend a school instead: her school. Since then Fiona went there when she had nothing else to do. Fiona once told her she used it to meditate on her swordsmanship.
The air had the bite of salt and dew as always, and as she passed the tree-filled planters and tended curbs erupted a riot of cricket chirps. She strode past the barracks and entered the palace proper by a servant's entrance. She knocked on the studio door
"Who's that?" said Fiona beyond the door, in a huff of annoyance.
"It's me," said Sara to the door.
Sara heard Fiona shuffling stiffly. She had been perhaps kneeling, or reclining on the ground. "Hold on a second."
Fiona opened the door after dragging her feet. Her eyepatch seemed a little crooked, and her remaining eye was crumpled as if it had recently been closed. The silver streak in her hair fell unfashionably across her brow.
"Got through the guards again?" she said blearily.
Sara brushed her nails on her bolero. "Didn't need to. You were the one who was unwise enough to sponsor my security clearance."
Fiona nodded, arms folded. "I suppose you'd like to spar."
Sara wandered in the room. Sara at one point would have once been envious of Fiona's studio, with the waxy hardwood floors on which her boot clicked pleasantly, to the high ceilings and broad archways. Now, Sunderland had the greatest fencing studio in Rotham, perhaps the world. Royalty would have little finer. "You supposed right."
It took a few moments for Fiona to set up the chess set.
It was a checkered table with folding legs, beneath it two drawers with pieces. Both the women set their ranks. Sara happened to have white. She arrayed the marble pieces in front of her. Fiona's pieces were of a veiny red color.
Sara pushed her queen's pawn up two spaces. Fiona met her piece in the center with her own pawn. Sara played her second pawn.
"Queen's gambit," said Fiona.
Sara raised an eyebrow. "Is that a problem?"
Fiona sniffed, appraising the move while tugging on her eyepatch. "You're very predictable."
"It is a good opening," said Sara.
"It is a boring opening." Fiona captured the bishop's pawn, pushing it dismissively on its side.
Sara pushed her king's pawn forward one space. "Perhaps you are predictable, in your unpredictable way."
Fiona cocked an eyebrow, her chin resting on her knitted hands. "Hmm?"
"Your defiance for conventions means you make 'interesting' moves in favor of tried, tested one. It is a weakness."
Fiona's gaze returned to the board. "In war equal sides are rare."
Sara smirked. "Chess is not war."
Fiona pushed a pawn up to defend her attacking pawn.
"That's a bad move," remarked Sara with a frown.
Fiona winked with her remaining eye. "It is, but it's an
interesting
