This Saturday on Rocky Flintstone Unleashed the podcast, Rocky continues his series of how he would have written the characters differently… with Hank Skank and Belinda Blumenthal again having lunch… continue the stories… experience the Belinda vibe…
This Saturday on Rocky Flintstone Unleashed the podcast, Rocky continues his series of how he would have written the characters differently… with Jim Thompson getting an unusual treat when a computer glitch hits the Steeles Pots and Pans offices... continue the stories… experience the Belinda vibe…
I was sooo inspired I bought Topple... can't wait to play it with my grandson... he'll probably trash me into the ground!! ha ha
Thank you Amabel for the heads up on this forgotten game... next stop Mouse Trap!!
Next on the RFU podcast, we explore phrases Belinker’s use every day. We ask the question, where does Paddy O’Hamlin really live… and relive Butch the Sundance Kid’s most recent adventure in Rocky’s series of how he would have written the characters differently
This Saturday on Rocky Flintstone Unleashed the podcast we delve into Belindas visit to Alfonse Stirbacker in Rocky’s continuing series of how he would have written the characters differently.
Thank you Amabel for the piece of work which I thoroughly enjoyed recording...
Nice pic, poorly drawn cats and thx for letting me know! Rockyxx
Hey Roy!!! He's amazing. A century and not out!"!!
Thanks Eric... let us know how it went... jus askin...
Hey Belinkers... my new boardgame.. "Belinda's Big Bonus the special Belinkers edition" is now up for sale!! $79.99 or £64.99 with worldwide shipping and international taxes paid!! Order in time for Xmas. oh forgot, just drop me a DM here for payment details etc... or email flintstonerocky@gmail.com
Pants... pants... the dog stopped, panting.... THX Bumblesnuff... inspiration comes in many forms.... @belindablumenthal.bsky.social
Hey Amabel.... I'm just a pussy cat..... miaow.... jus sayin...
Until then, feel free to pester @amabel.bsky.social with any questions. She's been wanting to talk about this for *months* and is eager to blab. :-)
She's also available for interviews. Jus' sayin'.
Hollandspiele is at this moment working on the backlog of orders for Amabel's City of Six Moons. Once we're caught up, we'll have a better idea of the exact release date for BELINDA'S BIG BONUS. But we expect it to be in September or October.
It's been such a pleasure to assist Hollandspiele in this new Belinda Blinked universe... and of course, "when you get what you want... you feel great!!" Rockyxx
I absolutely adore this convoluted soap opera stuff, and so it’s no surprise it’s when that kicks into high gear - after the books pivot from near-plotless picaresque to espionage spoof - that I really fell in love with the series. Though the first three books contain some of my favorite characters and moments - Jim’s transplant, Giselle’s hen-do, the utterly grim incompetence of Ken Dewsbury’s cellar turned bachelor pad - it’s the spy stuff I look forward to the most whenever I revisit the books. I’ve done so a few times in the last five years. Though my life is filled with joy, it is not, strictly speaking, the best moment in world history to be a trans lesbian living in America. And so Belinda, Bella, and all their friends have continued to be a comfort. These people and the strange, silly world they inhabit have become quite dear to me. And so imagine my surprise and my delight when I got an email from Rocky Flintstone asking if I wanted to do a Belinda Blinked board game. I’ve never done a licensed game before, and had assumed that would remain the case. I’m not the kind of designer and Hollandspiele isn’t the kind of company where that kind of thing is usually feasible. Like, I love Godzilla but no one’s gonna let me within a hundred feet of designing or publishing (ha!) a Godzilla game. But, Belinda Blinked isn’t necessarily the kind of property that the people who make Godzilla board games would want to touch. And so, in a way, I’m sort of the perfect fit to make a jet-setting deal-making calendar-managing game based on this property. People expecting a salacious or titillating game from Belinda’s Big Bonus are going to be disappointed, but, in a way, people expecting salacious or titillating books from Belinda Blinked would be, too. While they’re stuffed to the lids with sex, they’re not really “dirty” books. I think that’s because Rocky doesn’t write the sex as dirty or shameful. It’s always treated as something joyful and exuberant. And I wanted to make …
CONFESSIONS OF A BELINKER 4 / 4
And none of these characters are particularly nuanced or complex, but boy, there sure a lot of them. In that sense, the books remind me of nineteenth century literature. Which isn’t to say that these books give me the same kinds or depths of pleasure as Austen or Trollope. Only that we have a large cast of characters, often defined by one or two traits or ambitions, tied together in a complex web of professional, romantic, and familial relationships. (Here there is a diagram showing a small sampling of important character relationships.) Belinda is betrayed by her best friend, Giselle, who works for Bisch to pay for the medical treatment of her own mother’s “weird illness that’s ill-defined and hard to say”. Which is, again, a line that’s funny on purpose.
CONFESSIONS OF A BELINKER 3 / 4
Rocky’s prose is often joyfully inappropriate and quite playful. There’s a moment in the first chapter of Belinda Blinked 4 where Belinda struggles to find a parking spot at Giselle’s wedding: Belinda parked her jaguar in the last available space in the very large Church carpark. “Good God,” she thought, and then remembered she was on hallowed ground, “Sorry God, but I didn’t really think so many people would be here.” God nodded, even he was surprised if truth be told. “God nodded” slays me every single time. It’s a perfect joke. And it’s also a nice character beat for Belinda to be surprised people would want to attend Giselle’s wedding. One of my favorite running gags is that Belinda is loyal, kind, and optimistic to your face, but often quite catty when there’s no one around. In the ad copy for Belinda Blinked 6, Rocky refers to himself as the “author who put the ‘rot’ in Erotica” and trumpets the many “totally forgettable characters” – a degree of cheeky self-awareness that runs throughout the books. But I actually think his characters are, to borrow one of his phrases, “instantly rememorable.” Herr Bisch is a cartoon supervillain, whose rapidly deteriorating body is as much of a gross-out gag as Jim Sterling’s penis transplant. (Like “God nodded”, Bisch’s “stinky gentleman woof” ends me every time.) Des Martin is a sad sack par excellence, too hapless and repulsive to be truly pitied. And I love Bella Ridley with all my heart. Belinda uses sex to get what she wants, but what Bella wants is sex. She is a creature of pure and unashamed appetites – always eager to eat or to fuck or to drink, and to do all these things in great quantities. Only Bella would wake from a coma because people nearby were having sex without her.
CONFESSIONS OF A BELINKER 2 / 4
CONFESSIONS OF A BELINKER. Like many people, I first came to Rocky Flintstone’s work through the podcast “My Dad Wrote a Porno”. I stumbled across it in 2020. It was an especially vulnerable time in my life. In addition to the pandemic, I had finally accepted myself as a queer trans woman. Or, to be more precise, I knew I was queer and trans, but didn’t know if I was going to do anything about it. The idea of casting off my old life for an uncertain and dangerous future felt impossible and absurd. The only thing more terrifying than chasing what I really wanted was recognizing how easy it would be to remain within the tight confines of my slow, dead life. Belinda’s misadventures provided distraction and comfort. When I didn’t want to think about everything, when I didn’t want to feel any of it, I binged the show, one episode after another. People so often look down on “escapism”, so often diminish it, but I needed escape. In order to move forward, I needed time away from the constant shocks of pain and terror. Before I reached the end of the fifth series, I had made my decision. When I tell the story of how I became Amabel, I don’t usually mention the dozens of hours I spent with Belinda. It’s not because I’m embarrassed of it being smut. I’m openly quite promiscuous, and have centered my life post-transition around the pursuit of pleasure without shame or apology. In a way, Belinda and Bella are girls after my own heart. Role models, even. I have myself written smut, and talked publicly about how it helped me find community. So what gives? What gives is I find it difficult to communicate the nature and genuineness of my affection for these books. Because I’m not enjoying it “ironically”. It’s not “so bad it’s good”. There are certainly ways in which one could argue it is “bad”. The sex scenes aren’t really arousing (and in some cases, aren’t anatomically feasible). The punctuation and spelling are, uh, idiosyncratic. But my enjoyment isn’t rooted in laughing at the…
Included in the game's rulebook is "Confessions of a Belinker", Amabel's personal account of why she loves these books.
1 / 4
(This is a lightish strategy game about Business and Leadership, and successfully managing one's calendar. Any visits to the Leather Room or the Maze, or any indulgence in a cherished Kilkenny custom, are left up to your imagination.)
A section of the game map, depicting several nodes (Edinburgh, London, Epsom, Amsterdam, East Berlin) connected by dotted lines. Four of the nodes have special events associated with them – a Factory Tour, the Steele’s Tombola, a Fancy Dinner Party, and a Garden Party. Also visible is a hand of four cards, portraying the characters Bella Ridley, Toffee Apple Chew, Sam the Youngish Manager, and Jail Man.
In Belinda's Big Bonus, 2-4 players join Steele's sales team. Work with Belinda, Bella, and all your favorite characters, jetting around the world to land big business deals. Will you be part of a new Glee Team? Or will betray your friends for a payday from the Wickedish Herr Wolfgang Bisch?
Back of the box. A picture of Rocky is accompanied by PRAISE FOR THE NOVELS OF ROCKY FLINTSTONE: “the man who puts the ‘rot’ in ‘erotica’...”(Chortle Magazine), “It is truly a masterpiece.” (Dan Levy), “Bloody Genius” (Dame Emma Thompson). A photo of Amabel is accompnaied by PRAISE FOR THE GAMES OF AMABEL HOLLAND: “a designer who stretches and strains the medium to its absolute boundaries” (Dan Thurot), “Widely considered one of today’s most innovative game designers” (The New Yorker). Back cover copy informs us that: Rocky Flintstone’s “Belinda Blinked” novels have been enjoyed by millions around the globe. These cult classics defy genre, combining espionage thriller, character comedy, unusual pornography, and, of course, business & leadership advice to tell the story of Belinda Blumenthal, the International Sales Director of cookware company Steele’s Pots and Pans. Among the “Belinkers” who love these books is Amabel Holland, the enfant terrible bad girl of board games. (No, I can’t believe I wrote that sentence about myself either!) In Belinda’s Big Bonus, you and your pals take on the role of new Steele’s employees, creatively working together to score Bigger and Bigger Business Deals. Along the way you’ll connect with fan-favorite characters like Bella Ridley, James Spooner, the Duchess of Epsom, and even Toffee Apple Chew. But make sure you manage your calendar and itinerary – you don’t want to miss special events like the Steele’s Tombola or the Pots-and-Pan-Pacific Cooking Convention. Will you come out on top of the other players, and win that Big Bonus? Or will you betray this new Glee Team for a payday from the wickedish Herr Wolfgang Bisch? A light, accessible business strategy game, Belinda’s Big Bonus is “perfecto” for fans of Rocky Flintstone, fans of Amabel Holland, people who are both, and, what the heck, let’s go for broke, for people who have never heard of either. Buy it! It’s neat!
The game is designed by @amabel.bsky.social , a Belinker herself! A regular-ish edition will be offered via Hollandspiele's website & through its UK partner, while a special expanded Belinkers Edition will be sold exclusively via Rocky's Pavilion (the author’s etsy store).
Today on RockyFlintstoneUnleashed the podcast, we explore... In your opinion, what is the funniest moment in all of MDWAP...
An amazing set of replies from Reddit followers!
Happy #RockyFlintstoneDay to all those Belinkers out there!
Thank you, @flintstonerocky.bsky.social, for this Chardonnay-soaked epic. Here’s to this year’s revisit!
Thankyou Te!! and all Belinkers.... Chards only after midday... but for all your edification Rocky celebrates his birthday with a bumper edition... on RockyFlintstoneUnleashed the podcast!!! jus advisin!!
Thankyou Rog!! and all Belinkers.... for all your edification Rocky celebrates his birthday with a bumper edition... on RockyFlintstoneUnleashed the podcast!!! jus advisin!!
Hey Belinkers, this episode on my podcast... Rocky delves into a remake of the Claus Bloch and Belinda scene. RockyFlintstoneUnleashed.... jus sayin...
Thanks Roy... good to see the grandchildren taking over!!! Rocky
Hey SL... you're welcome, so glad to be of service especially during the tough times!!!
Hey Schrodinger’s Latina… very good observation… I hadn’t even noticed myself!! Ha ha!
