Katie's Christmas Cracker

Checking in with the gang from "Throuple" for the holidays

This is another entry in my ongoing “My Filthy Hobby” series, in which I offer some thoughts on the stories I’ve published. This week, a look at Katie’s Christmas Cracker, a fun little holiday treat featuring the gang from Throuple.

Also - don’t forget to cast your vote in the Golden Pigtail semi-finals! I’ve got five stories in the running, plus the Rookie award this year. Voting ends February 14, so act now! You can find my nominated stories here.

This story originated with an article I stumbled on about Vibe Bar Wild One, a legendary Tokyo bar and sex toy shop. That sent me down a rabbit hole of researching various Japanese sex toys — you know that a country known for its wild high tech gadgets has got to have some innovative vibrators and butt plugs — and I just can’t do that kind of research without it finding its way into a story.

Since it was nearing the holiday season, I knew the story should have a Christmas vibe. I hadn’t spent any time with the gang from Throuple in a while, and they seemed like the perfect vehicle for this tale of toys: they’re a mixed gender group, they like to do a little playtime in various configurations, and they struck me as the sort of people who would appreciate giving and receiving gifts. It had already been established that Susie is originally from Japan, so she seemed like the perfect entry into the setting of a fancy sex toy shop modeled on the one in Tokyo: Lucky Fierce Vibes doesn’t quite live up to her expectations at first, but when their guide, Ronda, offers to demonstrate the King Dong Rod Master with the Love Seat Harness system, Susie is completely won over.

I was able to pour a lot of my research into the scenes at Lucky Fierce Vibes. All of the toys described are real, more or less as described, though some brand names are changed. I didn’t expect to also do some research into sake, more or less on the fly while writing. We have a nice sushi restaurant in my neighborhood with a good sake selection, but I haven’t sampled the full range of their wares (I’m a bit of a lightweight as I’ve reached a certain age, and more than a glass of wine or sake is going to wreck the next day for me). I had to rely on some sake review articles and some Reddit posts to describe the various drinks on offer at Lucky Fierce Vibes; if you’re a sake connoisseur, please don’t take office at my ignorance!

Hanging out with Katie, Susie, Dave, and Jim was a lot of fun, and I intend to do it again. I also think that there will be more in the future from Lucky Fierce Vibes and Ronda. T.J. Dallas’ Pride Trilogy, centering around the Cardinal bar, was in the back of my mind as I set the scene at Lucky Fierce Vibes — it seems like a place that could spawn a few erotic adventures.

There’s also a hint at a story that goes in a completely different direction than my usual writing in what might otherwise appear to be a throwaway exchange, but that has continued to pop up in my mind now and again. You may or may not hear more about that in the future, should I decide to go down that particular path.

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