Welcome to the very first Flesh Digest. Each Saturday I gather the week so you can take it to bed, the car park, the late train, and leave warmer than you arrived. This round is about first touch, the jealous animal that still lives under ethical love, and the quiet thrill of a five-minute fantasy that makes you feel seen.

A small tease before we begin. My first bite-sized independent workshops are coming very soon. Think of them as a weekend sprint for the self, building steadier breath, clearer boundaries, lighter shame, and a voice you trust.

More details soon.

This week in Flesh Margins

Five-Minute Fantasies for Busy Bodies
When a story makes you come and then makes you feel seen, that is literary intimacy.

Ask Rowan #1: The Sex Comp
Comparison, envy, the ache to be chosen. Send your own question and I will meet you with care.

Flesh Notes*

Relationships

• When Jealousy Visits an Open Bed
  Naming it without shame so love can breathe. Read →
• Why We Cheat Even When We’re Loved
  Even the happiest people ache for something outside what is safe. Read →

Bodies

• The First Time I Was Touched and Knew It Mattered
  The kind of touch that asks rather than takes. Read →

Taboo

• Why We Fantasise About What We Shouldn’t
  Some fantasies are maps to what needs healing. Read →
• When Pleasure Starts to Look Like Control
  The more we taste control, the more we confuse it with care. Read →

* There are three Flesh Notes planned for publishing per week. They will not be emailed individually, we are concious of overloading your email inboxes. They will be collated in the Flesh Digest each week.

Elsewhere in my world this week

Launching soon The Minute Economy

Joining A Man Of Substance a new serial in the style of R.J. Thornwell

On Arrow-Far-09, comfort is counted in minutes. Water sings for the patient, queues decide the mood, and laughter can cost.

Verity Dunn keeps the colony breathing, until one petty rule shoves her off the polite path. A joke becomes a resistance. Love arrives where rules are kept. Betrayal follows close behind. Choices made in steam and music grow teeth.

This is an adult sci-fi comedy with consequence, sharp and tender. The planet smiles while it prices you.

Allocation is tonight. Pick a line, say your name, pay, and step through.

A Man Of Substance

Start the saga here in 1973. Christian’s life, from thirteen to empire. Tender, bruised, determined. Begin reading →

Where Worlds Begin ~ Maps vs. Memory (The Art of Writing Fiction)

Choose the right tools for the draft in front of you. Draw the coastline, or hold the city in your chest. New writing guides every Tuesday Read →

Cockfeld! ~ The Egg (with Barney Farnham)

“You ever notice how every rooster thinks he’s the main character of the barnyard? You stand on the fence, do one decent crow, and suddenly you’re some kind of spiritual leader. The sun comes up whether I yell about it or not, but sure, let’s all pretend it’s me keeping the planet turning. Read →

Loose Gems ~ Bathroom Mirror Fog (with Candy Pleasure)

Steam, reflection, a name written in the glass. Small hotel, large hunger. Read →

XXX & Bone #9 ~ Hostel

Backpacking, a crowded bunk room, a whisper in the dark that refuses to wait until morning. Read →

Stay close

Thank you for bringing your body here, and your attention. This work only breathes because you do. If you wish to step closer, become a paid reader or a founder, and help me keep the lights on for everyone.

Until next Saturday, be gentle with the skin you live in, and let touch ask rather than take.

Rowan

P.S. Something filthy is coming soon, a collaboration almost too hot to handle…