"Life Prison" (fantasy story w/ asexual character)

[Dusk]

Story summary: In the unmerciful world of Mercy Prison, there is no rule but unending pain. For Merrick, the arrival of his new guard provides hope that he may break beyond the boundaries of his life prison. But appearances can be deceptive, and Merrick does not yet recognize the danger this guard poses to his future.

This historical fantasy novella is the literary equivalent of rated R for violence. Without giving away any of the plotline, I can say that the story fits the general description I have at my Website of my stories' content: "Although the stories' focus is on the characters' trials and tribulations, the mood is not one of unrelieved gloominess. Sparks of humor and joy burst out at unexpected moments."

There are two versions of the story. The original version keeps sex offstage. The more recent version has four extra scenes, including a gay sex scene.

Since this is a prison story, the asexual character isn't intended to be typical. But if authors only wrote about typical people, life would be boring for readers, wouldn't it?

When I wrote the original version of this novella back in 2002, it didn't occur to me that I was creating an asexual character, even though I'd read about asexuality several years before, when I was seeking out information on celibacy and stumbled across some asexuality sites in the process. When I first discovered those sites, I'd never heard of the word asexuality, and nobody had ever mentioned the topic to me.

Interestingly, a number of the people who've read the latest version of the story have immediately identified the character as asexual. That shows how much has changed between now and the late 1990s.

This is part of a series I'm working on, so the asexual character will turn up in later stories. (In fact, there are references to him in the next story in the series, which is online now.)

If you're video-minded, there's a trailer online for this series and two others that are set in the same world. In the trailer, the first image that comes after the title "Life Prison" is intended to represent the asexual character. Alternatively, here's the cover art for "Life Prison".

Feedback is welcome, of course. You may post it here or e-mail me.

[Edited to fix and add links.]

[Lehcar]

This was a really interesting read. Chilling, but interesting all the same. Personally, I'm not sure I'd define Merrick as asexual, since he obviously has psychological problems he has to work through before one could 'label' him free of interference of those issues. However, I thank you for the intriguing story, and I look forward to reading your other work when I have the time.

[Dusk]

I've created quite a few characters who are, well, psychologically a mess, and this is the first character I've created of that sort who didn't have any sexual desires. So I didn't assume that Merrick's psychological problems had shaped his asexuality - rather, I assumed they were two separate characteristics that had occurred alongside one another. But since I don't say anything about that in the story, one way or the other, that's a matter of reader interpretation. :)

I did want the story to present his changing perspective on his asexuality (not saying more here for fear of spoilers to those who haven't read the story). I hope I succeeded in that.

Anyway, thanks! I'm glad you liked the story.

[CopyFox]

I really liked the read, very well written and the characters were all interesting to get to know. Nice theme as well. I liked a lot of the imagery, the way you got into the mind of a murderer and described things that most would think gruesome instead as beautiful, etc.

I would have to agree with Lehcar that I probably wouldn't define Merrick as asexual. Most asexual people are still capable of being physically aroused. He sounds like he has a medical problem rather than an asexual orientation. But hey, as you said, he may just be an atypical asexual, haha.

Still, I think it's a great read.

[Dusk]

I'm sorry I've been so long in responding. I read the above message soon after it was posted, but had to go away for a while to think. (Okay, a full year is probably too long of a while.) The reason I wasn't sure how to respond was because I sort of felt like a writer who had posted a link to a story about an ebony-skinned character on a forum for African Americans, only to have two members who liked the story say, "No, your character isn't black."

I mean, I'm really not in the best position to say who is or isn't asexual.

However, this--

"Other asexual people experience little or no arousal."

--led me to believe, before I posted my link, that my character falls within the definition of being asexual. I never actually state what the cause is of his lack of arousal, though my protagonist seems to regard it as a matter of orientation.

As for Lehcar's earlier remark, "I'm not sure I'd define Merrick as asexual, since he obviously has psychological problems he has to work through before one could 'label' him free of interference of those issues" . . . I certainly hope that I don't have to work through all my psychological problems before I can label myself as bisexual. :) Isn't mental health a different thing from orientation? And if it's all right for someone to regard themselves as heterosexual if they're mentally ill, shouldn't a mentally ill person have the right to regard themselves as asexual? Because otherwise, it seems to me, we're placing higher criteria on asexual folk than we place on sexual folk.

Of course, the asexual person could be wrong - his asexuality could arise purely from ill health, psychological or physical. But then, someone's heterosexuality could also arise purely from ill health, yet we don't go around telling ill heterosexual people, "We need to run more tests before we conclude that you're heterosexual."

Anyway, that's my thoughts as someone who grew up in an era when gay teenagers were routinely told, "You're just going through a phase," while straight teenagers were not told that. But asexuality is obviously something I know far less about than you folks. So I'd be interested in hearing more discussion about this from folks here, since I don't want to misrepresent my story.

Incidentally, I've edited my original post in this thread so that people can read the sequel to "Life Prison" if they want to. I hope to have more stories in the series online next year.

Thanks again for the above responses.