Lessons for Lady Sin CH2 to be uploaded today

Lessons for Lady Sin - Chapter 2 will be uploaded later today. However, I'm not sure about Soompi Forum right now because apparently they've changed the forums and the uploaded fics are either cut or completely disappearing. Probably I would update first in Fictionpress and Wattpad so just stay tuned for announcements.

BTW, I've been receiving so many requests for Vena Cava. And when I say many, I mean more than a hundred requests T_T. Thank you so much for the e-mails, PMs, and reviews. Because of this, I've decided to work on the next chapter of Vena Cava after I update LLS. However, since I have decided to redo Chapter 9 which have been stuck in my laptop for quite some time now, please give me time to go through it. I don't upload a chapter unless I'm at least 99.9% satisfied with it. Also, writing VC needs some researching too (because it's a medical fic on top of sci-fi, so I wanted some realism as much as possible). It's quite difficult especially that I'm not in the medical field. So yeah, just give me some time to work on it. The story is still structured in my brain; all that's left is for me to put the story into writing.

Just in case you haven't watched the trailer for LLS yet, you can check out the sidebar or go to my YouTube channel (fistsandlipsticks).

Thanks for your continued support!

-hiro

Lessons for Lady Sin - Chapter 1: Poison now up

First chapter of my new fic Lessons for Lady Sin now available. 

Enjoy and tell me what you think of it.

Read in Fictionpress - http://www.fictionpress.com/s/3023659/1/Lessons_for_Lady_Sin

Read in Soompi - http://www.soompi.com/forums/topic/378467-lessons-for-lady-sin/

Read in Wattpad - http://www.wattpad.com/story/1360103-lessons-for-lady-sin

-Hiro

Lessons for Lady Sin - Coming VERY soon.

I just HAD to write this story. A truckload of inspiration hit me and before I knew it, I was formulating the storyboard and writing the first chapter of a new story I would be working on. For my blog readers/followers, here's a little treat. Be one of the first to catch a sneak preview of my newest story, which I called 'Lessons for Lady Sin'.

So, what is this new fic all about? I've written a summary, but won't Meia and Pamie's Lee and Victors Productions (trailer) show it better?

     

   The year is 800 AD -- the reign of Tang Dynasty. In the midst of corruption and political warfare, numerous rebel groups have arisen, the biggest of which led by the exiled Crown Prince Li Jian Yu. They plot an almost-successful assassination attempt against ruthless Empress Wu. The empress, hit by a poisoned needle, becomes fatally ill and will die in seven days. Her condition is kept in secret; otherwise she will be immediately removed from power. 

   Chancellor Gong Zai summons an old man to Prince Li's receiving room. The man calls himself the 'Sage of Mountain Tai', the person responsible for making the poisoned needles. Xin eavesdrops on the conversation and learns about the Empress' dying condition. She also overhears that the poison, which takes 3 decades to brew, had no known antidote. She immediately recalls a similar needle hitting her on the neck during the latest clash against the House of Li and turns out that she was also poisoned. This explains her weakened state, her skin turning pale, and her hair becoming white. She, too, is dying in seven days.

   But Xin is sly and ambitious. She refuses to die and will do anything to counteract the poison. Stealing a vitality potion from the Sage that will temporarily restore her strength, she fights her way out of the fortress. She also takes the Sage of Mountain Tai as hostage and keeps him in Wu Palace's underground prison for interrogation. The Sage tells her that there is indeed no antidote for the poison and the chance of death is absolute. There is only one way left. He tells her about a legendary Elixir that can completely restore a person's vitality and endow her with immortality. Xin sets out in a mission to seek the Elixir of Immortality under the guise of helping the Empress. In reality, however, she plans on using the Elixir herself to gain immortality and possibly become the Empress herself.

   She uses the Key of Heaven and Earth and meets the Spirit of Immortality, the holder of the Elixir of Immortality. As Xin attempted to reach for it, however, she was driven back by a powerful force and submerged back into the water, losing consciousness. The Spirit of Immortality enters her dreams and reveals to her that the Elixir of Immortality may only be acquired by someone whose heart is filled with the Seven Virtues of Heaven, namely love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faith, and self-control. A person like Xin can never attain immortality with her sinful ways. 

   And so, she was magically time-warped to modern Beijing Year 2012 as a high-school student. She had nothing but a set of school uniform, a bag of school books, and the Key of Heaven and Earth. There, she meets the ill-mannered and conceited student council president named Chen Qi Feng. The lessons start.

Yup, it's Chinese instead of Japanese this time. It's gonna be like WuXia meets high school romance, time-traveling, kick-ass swordfighting and kungfu, and fantasy thrown into a single story. And I'm very, very excited to write this story to its completion. There are some notable Bible elements in the story too (Like the 9 fruits of the Holy Spirit), but I modified some of them to fit the story better. It would also be my first time having an 'anti-heroine' as the main character of the story. By the way, Lessons for Lady Sin would be a lot shorter than F&L and Vena Cava. I'm planning to go only as far as 15 to 20 chapters. The writing style would be at its simplest, direct to the point, 3rd-person narration to make the story move faster, but not to the point of being rushed and not sacrificing descriptions (which, in my opinion, should be justified. China and its history is very beautiful). Of course, there would be a lot of brain-frying and plot twists involved too (man, I do miss fooling readers, lol).

Lessons for Lady Sin would be posted on Fictionpress, Soompi Forums, and Wattpad VERY soon. First chapter is done and in the process of editing. Will post in a few hours. I'm excited. How about you? Are you ready for your lessons?

Official PDF of Fists and Lipsticks 2: The Silver Crescent

Hello dear readers!

Due to INSISTENT and PERSISTENT public demand (hehe), here's the OFFICIAL PDF / doc version of Fists and Lipsticks 2: The Silver Crescent.

View online as PDF - http://www.mediafire.com/view/?jygd0iz4z4c8smp

Download PDF - http://www.mediafire.com/?jygd0iz4z4c8smp

Please DO NOT repost or reupload this file on any other website.

Sorry for the very, very late post. I know being a busy guy is an overused excuse, but I really was. But through those months I have been working on this massive round of revisions for the official PDF version of Book 2. Spelling and grammar errors and plot inconsistencies had been correct (for the most part, that is. Forgive me if there are still some mistakes that missed). Some scenes have been removed (due to repetitiveness, mostly the re-posting of Flashbacks, which added unnecessary bulk to the already lengthy story). Some scenes and dialogues had also been added and changed (to maintain the connectivity of the plot and its twists), so don't be surprised if you're reading it the second time around. Also, this PDF is ready-to-print just in case you wish to print it. Just don't sell it okay? Hehe. There are surprises inside the PDF version too, so just download it, hehe.

If the link doesn't work, feel free to e-mail me - hlarucea@hotmail.com. I'll be glad to personally send you a copy.

Fists and Lipsticks 2 will also be posted on Wattpad. I've received email suggesting that I do so, so okay I guess that's cool.

 Read Fists and Lipsticks 2: The Silver Crescent at Wattpad.com

I can't believe how many years it has been since I finished Fists and Lipsticks. And it still amazes me that so many still remembers me despite being on hiatus for quite some time. Although I couldn't reply to all your messages, I thank all of you from the bottom of my heart. As I've said many times before, F&L is a story close to my heart and being able to share it will you guys gives me so much confidence not only as a writer but as a person.

Fists and Lipsticks: Cross

Good news for my dearest F&L readers. At last, I'm 95% done with the .DOC/PDF version of Fists and Lipsticks 2: The Silver Crescent. In a turtle's pace, yes, but at least we're moving and getting there. Contrary to what I've promised, however (and also to my deepest regret), I haven't been able to thoroughly brush up the PDF Version 4.0 of BOOK 1 to re-write my chapters into a more 'novel-like' manner (instead of the current manga format with the cute onion emoticons). That means I wouldn't be able to release Version 5.0 of BOOK 1 with BOOK 2 within 2011. But I will TRY my best to accomplish it as well after releasing BOOK 2 PDF, hoping that my greatest enemy, Time, will permit.

Making final touches on the PDF version of Book 2 is also the main reason behind the temporary hiatus of Vena Cava. I sincerely apologize to those people patiently waiting for Sen and Sue's next mishap. The free time I have lately could only allow me to accomplish one particular writing task at a time. For now, I'd like that task to be the PDF of Book 2. I didn't want to mix Ayane's world with Sue's and I felt that I needed that great amount of concentration to finish this task. Thank God for this little free time - better than none at all.

And with this, I think this is the best time to announce a little surprise I've been keeping from you guys all these months.

Hehe *hyena grin*

Fists and Lipsticks: Cross will ONLY be available in PDF format. This is to promote downloading ONLY of the OFFICIAL Fists and Lipsticks 2: The Silver Crescent PDF. Unfortunately, despite my strong plead, various .doc/.pdf versions of BOOK 2 had been circulating on file hosting sites, presumably copy-pasted from Fictionpress or Soompi Forums. To those posting my story, I request that you take them down. After revising, I realized that BOOK 2 had A LOT of errors, both spelling/grammar and plot inconsistencies. Uh, please don't spread my mistakes further. It's kinda embarrassing, hehe... But yeah, seriously speaking, please don't upload .doc/.pdf versions of Book 2 other than the one I will upload within this month.

What is Fists and Lipsticks: Cross about? Well, aren't you curious about what happened to Crosse Williams during the the 8 years gap between Book 1 and 2? *hyena grin*. It's just a short one, something like a 'retcon'. But it's gonna be pretty cool with LOTS of brain frying stuff. The story would be told in first-person by no other than Crosse Williams himself.

Despite the fact that the events in this installment happened between Book 1 and Book 2, IF YOU HAVE NOT READ BOOK 2, PLEASE DO NOT READ THIS! AGAIN, DO NOT READ Fists and Lipsticks: Cross BEFORE READING BOOK 2!!! YOU WILL BE BIG-TIME SPOILED!!!

To my readers and to those who continuously support Meia and I, THANK YOU SO MUCH for all the love. Writing stories is exciting. Sharing them with you is priceless.

-Mark

Vena Cava Movie Trailer

So I've been suffering from a massive lack of motivation to write these past couple of months. This should be my worst 'writer's block' if you may call it. Not that I didn't know how my story would take it's course from where it left off. It's just that it's so hard for me to simply pick up my laptop and do the job. Writing takes so much time and, being the busy person I've become due to my preparations for my wedding, I couldn't really pull things together as easier as I did before.

But...



That was until Meia and Pamie came up with this awesomeness. Jesus Christ, it's like suddenly turning to Super Saiyan mode! Now my fingers are tingling to write the next chapter.

By the way, I'm nearing completion of the F&L Book 2 .PDF version. I'll get it up here once it's ready for grabs.

Thank you so much for the overwhelming support! I still can't believe that until now people are still reading and appreciating my stories.

Delay again

Thank you for everyone's tremendous patience. I apologize for not being able to post the next chapter as promised (again). I left the US and flew to the Philippines for Christmas and I failed to bring my external hard drive with the chapter of Vena Cava. Also, after re-reading the chapter, I felt not satisfied with the way it was written. It was a little too draggy for me and it didn't meet my personal expectations. Until then that I get things done well that I will be able to post the chapter as soon as I can. For now I choose to hold it until I make the revisions.

Yes, I am quite obsessive-compulsive. It's my new disease apart from my broken arm, hehe.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year everyone!

-Mark

Another Vena Cava Chapter 9 Teaser

Credits to Vincent Leung and Lemon Splash.

Vena Cava - Chapter 9 Teaser

"What do you do in your spare time?"

Chapter 09: Sue's Hobby

COMING THIS DECEMBER on Fictionpress and Soompi Forums.

Thank you for the continuous support!

-Hiro

Vena Cava - Author Notes for the past 8 chapters

I'd like to express my utmost thanks to those who continue to support and read not only Vena Cava but also Fists and Lipsticks and Fists and Lipsticks 2: The Silver Crescent. Although the latter two stories have been finished a year or more ago, the support, e-mails, and messages have been pouring in non-stop to this day and they all leave me very ecstatic and overwhelmed. I truly am blessed to have such readers who, despite my shortcomings (like not being able to update as often because I couldn't type on the keyboard as quickly as I do before, not being able to complete the long-overdue & promised .doc version of Book 2 of The Silver Crescent yet (*hides from flying frying pans*)), are still there to cheer me on. For the time I have not logged in to Soompi (because my mobile browser couldn't open the page for some reason since the 'upgrade'), I have received many pms (whic

h I only got to read today, sorry for the late replies, hehe) and I'm very touched that most of them were inquiring not only about my updates but about my arm injury. Thank you all for your concern. Regarding my arm, I'm still going through rehabilitation and electrotherapy. I can already fully move my arm all the way to my fingers and my wrist drop has improved markedly. Right now, I'm having strength and dexterity exercises and I'm doing pretty much well.

So, here goes my long-overdue Author Notes for my story Vena Cava.

**DO NOT READ THIS PART IF YOU HAVEN'T READ CHAPTER 1 - 8 YET!**

**SPOILERS AHEAD!**

Q: What is a HEART device? Is it the purple sphere with the letters 'VC' on it or the transplanted organ itself? - naizz from Fictionpress

^ The HEART device is the purple sphere...

(See picture above)

...and this device (which comes in different sizes according to where it is placed) is implanted to an organ, whether viable or not. For example, Albert Einstein despite having mental retardation has a fairly viable brain, so the HEART is simply implanted into his cerebrum (Chapter 08: Sue's Vision). Kato Kenta's legs, however, had to be replaced because of muscle atrophy secondary to his paraplegia secondary to his spinal cord injury secondary to trauma (car accident). His transplanted legs were 'manufactured' by the Vena Cava Corporation (Chapter 07: Sue's Risk) and to these legs, the HEART devices are later implanted.

A HEART practically works like how it is named: Human Energy Amplifying and Re-constructive Transplant device, which, in the most understandable explanation, 'powers up' an organ to perform superhuman abilities. Humans who have a HEART are called 'Vectors'.

For instance, let's have the Vector named Kato Kenta, the paraplegic. After having a HEART, he can now run so fast, even climb up and down buildings at ease (Chapter 05: Sue's Classmate). Albert Einstein, who was born with an IQ of 70, after receiving a HEART could memorize an entire encyclopedia and dictionary in less than an hour (Chapter 08: Sue's Vision). Takashi Ayase, the female tattoo artist working with the Black Sigma, who cannot move her fingers due to an acquired paralysis when she was born, became ambidextrous and can paint jaw-dropping artworks using both her hands. Kawakami Masao, born with pituitary dwarfism, can extend/grow his arms and legs to more than thirty meters (Chapter 07: Sue's Risk). Of course, who would forget Nogase Mami, the woman with cancer of the uterus? After getting her uterus transplant and a HEART implant, she can now give birth to a child everyday! In the latest chapter, Sen's HEART is confirmed - his eyes. Yes, he was blind. In fact, clues regarding his HEART were all over Chapter 06: Sue's Ego if you guys happened to catch that, but whether his blindness was caused by Vitamin A deficiency too? Hmm. What do you guys think?

Q: I wonder what happened to him (Sen) losing his eyes? Acid? Birth defect?

- ladyb from Soompi Forums

I'll leave this question hanging for now. This is one of the major mysteries to be uncovered in Vena Cava. Any more guesses?

Sen left a clue in the latest chapter, though --

"Care to tell me all about it?" my eyes were bright with interest. "About how you lost your sight?"

He shook his head, "I don't really like talking about it."

"Was the story behind it that bad? Too scary that it still freaks you just by thinking about it?" I paused, suddenly not sure whether asking him about his HEART straightforwardly was a good idea to begin with.

"It's not because it scares me," he suddenly said in a softer voice, leaning towards me until his face was mere inches away from mine.

"It's because it will scare you."

So let's assume it's really something 'scary'.

Hehe. *hyena grin*.

Q: What was the purpose of that glasses? Is that how Sen could see colors?

- chyne22 from Soompi Forums

Very good observation. I will let the unfolding of the plot in the next chapters explain more about this.

If you want clues regarding this part, let me give you one: re-read Chapter 04: Sue's Stalker. What was Sen doing in that chapter again? Driving? *cough* stoplight *cough*. Not unless he cares the least about Japan road rules like Miyazawa Aya does, well... And I think he was wearing something while driving... :-)

Q: So Sen's HEART is 'taking other people's heart' kind of HEART? - silvernecklaces from Soompi Forums

In Chapter 08: Sue's Vision, Sen revealed the nature of his job in the Black Sigma. He called himself a 'Confiscator', which pretty much explains what he does - confiscates HEARTS of those who abuse it.

How he does it? Don't worry, you'll see more of his 'confiscations' in the next chapters.

Again, Sen's HEART is his eyes. But maybe, just maybe, those blue-black-turning-purple eyes has something to do with his confiscations after all.

Q: - Why did Sen say that Sue was his girlfriend? Does he like her?? And did her heart stop temporarily or for good (when Sue and Sen jumped off the VC Corp building)? - beef taco from Soompi Forums

The conversation between Sen and Shouhei Lascaux during their visit in the VC Corp headquarters dropped some vital clues, the most obvious one is Sen's rather peculiar hostile attitude towards his 'boss' and protectiveness towards Sue (Chapter 07: Sue's Risk). Going back to the previous chapters (Chapter 05: Sue's Classmate), Sen tells Sue - "Little word of advice from me to you, Sue: If I were you, I'd stay away from him."

Or was it really protectiveness? Does Sen like Sue or does he have any ulterior motives?

Regarding the question about Sue's heartbeat, which for some reason stopped again when Sen made her jump off the building with him, it 'suddenly' came back in Chapter 08: Sue's Vision. It wasn't said exactly what happened, whether the heartbeats came back spontaneously or not? This would remain a mystery for now.

On the other hand, Sen said something to her while he was teasing her on the tree. What did he say again? That could be a clue :-). And if we go back a little further back (to Chapter 03: Sue's Revival), there was a time when Sue's heart was about to 'stop' then 're-started'. Who was with her that time and what happened? *cough* something NOT stimulating *cough*.

Q: I remember that Kenta was also caught by VC, but for what purpose? - chyne22 from Soompi Forums

Going back to Chapter 05: Sue's Classmate, the part where Kato Kenta enters the story - he was in an on-going chase running for his life. But why? Good question.

I cannot reveal this part yet because I have a chapter that will answer precisely this- Kato Kenta's 'side story'. But I will drop a big clue regarding this one - What was Kato Kenta holding at that time? And if you have answered this question, I'll ask you another one - Do you remember a similar scenario that happened some chapters back back back back? It just might have something to do with that. *wink*.

Q: I'm confused. Shouhei is part of VC but why is he with Black Sigma? Are they the same? Do they work together or something? - xxSanityx from Soompi Forums

Vena Cava Corporation (or VC) is a company that manufactures medical tools and machines and does nanotechnology research - or at least that's what the others know. In secret, it also happens to be the manufacturer of the HEART devices. Shouhei Lascaux is the heir of this VC corporation, but apparently he had been put on-charge because his father 'got ill' (as mentioned by Oshima Shiori in Chapter 04: Sue's Stalker). And again, I said 'got ill'.

Now who 'goes ill' in the VC corporation anyway? Now your detective imagination is working. Are you brain-fried yet? Hehe.

Regarding the Black Sigma, heavenfalling from Soompi Forums is right. It is indeed a group of Vectors who work for the Vena Cava Corporation tasked to hunt down HEART abusers. Going back to xxSanityx's question, NO they're not the same, but YES - they work together.

And they will be working more and more together in the coming chapters.

Q: Sue first met Sen when he's with the Black Sigma, why don't she reported him to Kojima or other SAT? - lullabunny from Soompi Forums

Because Sue is very, very curious about her 'heart-stopping abilities'. Apparently, the only person who claimed to know about her peculiarity is no other than Sen. He offered to answer all her questions in the condition that Sue 'gives him her heart' a.k.a. 'joins the Black Sigma'. That's the reason why she isn't turning him in. Yet.

Which leads us to this next question too...

Q: Why did Sen lie to Shouhei about why Sue was suddenly recruited into the Black Sigma? - madenloui from Fictionpress

Now this is the confusing part.

For now, just stay confused... and get ready for a bomb, hehe.

Q: If Sen is Oshima Shiori's younger brother and his family owns the university hospital and the school, why does he have to work? - kc_chua from Soompi Forums

Who doesn't ask this question at this point of the story? A gangster, a ramen waiter, a pizza delivery boy, a photographer, an ohagi vendor, a Confiscator - Sen's always seen running around doing random jobs. He seems very enthusiastic about earning money above anything else. Is there any particular reason behind this? Is he just an impulsive workaholic or is he hiding something?

For now, just stay confused too... and get ready for another bomb, hehe.

Also, I'm answering another question unrelated to Vena Cava. I like this question, hehe ----

Q: Let me ask you Hiro, are you more of the Kosu-kun or Crosse-kun type? or let me rephrase the question (your honor), who's character in F&L 1 and 2 do you most likely see yourself? is Aya-chan the characterization of Meia? hmmm... just wondering - jia_kickass from Soompi Forums

Meia and I?

Oh boy, we are like Akio and Lin. Imagine it, hehe.

My brief Q&A would end here for the mean time as my hands aren't cooperating anymore having typed so much text.

Actually, I've brainstormed about the plot of Vena Cava again for the nth time and I'm made some changes in the plot, some minor ones and some major ones. Looking at where this story would go, I'm beginning to think that Vena Cava, though shorter, has the potential of overthrowing Fists and Lipsticks off in terms of plot twists. Oh, this story's gonna be so crooked.

I'm very excited to fry some brains, hehe. Are you too?

Thank you for reading my writing blog. Until the next update!

-Mark

Chapter 08: Sue's Vision - will be out in a while

I will be posting Chapter 08: Sue's Vision today. Please give me a few more minutes for the final edits.

Thank you for the patience.

-Mark

Vena Cava Character Chart and New Poster for Chapter 8

Meia, Pamie, and Vincent came up with a really cool character chart. The aim is to aid brain-fried readers who are not used to Japanese names (especially readers from Soompi). Visuals like this could help readers take note of the 'who's-who's in the story better.



Note: The actors/models in this character chart are not, in any way, associated with the story and/or the author of Vena Cava. We are willing to take down this graphic if ever such related conflicts arise. No copyright infringement intended.



Next chapter is on the way. Just some pending finishing touches, a couple of grammar and spelling errors to be fixed and Chapter 08: Sue's Vision will be up.

Thank you for your continued support!

-Mark

PMs and PM list pending

For Soompi Readers:

PMs / PM list is temporarily on-hold. Meia is currently not feeling well. We will resume sending PMs soon. We do apologize for the inconvenience.

-Mark

Did last minute revisions

I did some last minute revisions on Chapter 7: Sue's Risk which took me 3 days to complete. I spotted some inconsistencies that may affect the plot later in the story and so I found it necessary to do the remedy while the injury's still fresh. I do apologize for the delay it caused.

I will be uploading the final version within 24-hours Thank you for the patience.

Quick updates ahead

Chapter 07: Sue's Risk will be up on Friday, September 3, 2010. It's actually done, but I'm spacing out the updates.

I can't wait to get this particular chapter out actually. From here on, the real plot of Vena Cava finally starts. Here starts the puzzles, brain-frying questions, and build-up of the plot. There are lots of revelations in this chapter too, and if you are smart enough to spot the gazillion clues I dropped in the past 6 chapters, you'd be able to connect a good number of what has been revealed so far at this early point of the story.

New characters come in too. There's a guy who's barely 4 feet, a girl who smokes cigarette like a chimney, a popular TV star,... of course the already-revealed characters like Albert Einstein, Kato Kenta, and Shouhei Lascaux.

For some reason, I think I'm beginning to enjoy building up the Sue-Sen relationship, in fact much more than I enjoyed doing Kosuke and Ayane's. I personally think that Sue and Sen are more flexible to control. As the author of the story and given the personality I assigned to them (lesser angst, hilarious and sarcastic rolled into one), I find it easier to create scenes involving the two of them compared to doing Kosuke and Ayane (I mean, imagine Kosuke and Ayane doing the ramen house scene of Sue and Sen in Chapter 4: Stalker? Weird huh?).

Regarding the PM list, unfortunately the links have been broken. It's been a while since we last dropped by Soompi Forums and I think the maintenance done on the site has something to do with it. Meia's currently re-doing the PM list. I would be updated on the installment of Chapter 7. Until then, just send her or me a PM if you intend to join/remain/be removed from the PM list.

Thank you for all the support and thanks for reading Vena Cava.

Chapter 06: Sue's Ego now up

Chapter 6: Sue's Ego now posted on Fictionpress and Soompi Forums. New poster from Vincent too.

I'm very excited about going back to writing. I'm keeping my fingers crossed (as usual) to having constant (if not frequent) updates for Vena Cava. I'm also very excited to unfold the plot from here on. Introduction had been quite long and now I'm ready to introduce you to many characters I have yet to reveal. I'm also looking forward to presenting the twists in this story which, although I have not put into writing yet, have been mapped out in my mind for the time interval I've 'vanished' from Fictionpress/Soompi.

I'm also working on the .doc version of Fists and Lipsticks. In fact, I'm half-way done. Here's a sneak peak of how it would look like in the final version:

Pretty cool huh?

Thanks for reading the latest chapter!

Will resume writing mid-August

As the title says, I will be resuming Vena Cava on Monday. For all the readers who have been waiting ages for the next chapter, thank you very much for your patience. Too much things are happening in the real world for me lately and it was really difficult putting things up according to schedule. I've been busy with my rehab and wedding plans as I've been fixing my immigration papers here and also my transcripts, completion of requirements, etc... you guys get the picture. For the past few months, I've been like a messenger running to places with stacks of documents. I barely got the time to sit down in front of my computer to continue my stories for God knows how long.

Thank you also for the e-mails I received regarding Fists and Lipsticks. A lot of people have been asking me for a PDF/doc version of F&L2. For this, I would like to announce that yes, I WILL be coming up with a PDF/doc version of Fists and Lipsticks for both Book 1 and Book 2 compatible with the iTouch/iPhone. At this moment, I'm still working on the revisions. F&L is a story comprising over 500,000 words and because I am re-writing some parts, mostly scenes from Book 1, I am taking really long. I am asking everyone to please bear with me with this. Thank you for everyone's patience. For now, you are free to copy-paste the story to your MS Word for your OWN reading pleasure. DO NOT DISTRIBUTE YET IN DOC VERSION.

Thank you everyone. I miss you all!

-Mark

Thanks for everyone's birthday greetings

Hey F&L and VC readers, thank you so much for the birthday greetings and e-Cards. I'm trying my best to respond to every email as much as my hand would permit me to.

Take care everyone.

-Hiro

Still alive

Just dropped by to say that I'm still alive, hehe. I receive everyone's mail and messages via e-mail (although I have yet to check Soompi for messages there - I couldn't access the site via Blackberry for some reason).

For the past weeks I've been very busy not only with my rehab but my make-up classes for the sessions I missed in school. Also, we've been laying out the plans for my wedding. Thank you for all the messages showing support not only to my stories but also to Meia and me. We truly appreciate the kind words and the boost of confidence you give us with your enthusiasm and expression of gratitude in whatever means.

I've been finding time to post the next chapter for Vena Cava. Actually, the chapter's finished many weeks ago, but I decided to change some scenes in the last minute, which would be quite crucial in the plot because it would involve not only one but two new characters. I would post it as soon as I polish the chapter to my liking and when time allows me too.

Again, thanks for all the support. For any messages you need reply for, you can reach me faster via e-mail - hlarucea@hotmail.com

New Rehab "exercise"

My physical therapist gave me a brand new hand and finger dexterity "exercise".

^ Now that's what I call exercise!

Everyone, play this game, seriously. If Fists and Lipsticks fried your brains, this one will eat it! Haha.