Email: rachelkramerbussel at gmail.com



 

Lusty Lady

BLOG OF RACHEL KRAMER BUSSEL
Watch my first and favorite book trailer for Spanked: Red-Cheeked Erotica. Get Spanked in print and ebook

Wednesday, August 31, 2005

My new erotic reading series In The Flesh debuts October 19th

Mark your calendars - my new erotic reading series In The Flesh kicks things off October 19th at Happy Ending, 302 Broome Street, NYC

I'll have the lineup soon (it's not going to be the Naughty Spanking Stories from A to Z 2 release party, that'll happen in November or December), and I'm booking authors now and have some great people lined up. It's going to sexy and cozy and the perfect place to keep warm in the winter!

In The Flesh Reading Series
Every 3rd Wednesday of the month, 8 pm
at Happy Ending, 302 Broome Street, NYC
Upcoming dates: October 19, November 16, December 21, January 18, February 15
This new monthly reading series will feature the city's best erotic writers sharing stories to get you hot and bothered. Running the gamut from sensual and seductive to explicit and wild, these authors will let their naughty tales thrill and seduce you. Hosted and curated by Village Voice sex columnist and acclaimed erotic writer and editor Rachel Kramer Bussel (editor of Naughty Spanking Stories from A to Z and featured in Best American Erotica 2004 and 2006), In The Flesh will bring you a mix of several authors each month, along with several themed nights such as holidays, vacations, fetishes and much more. From erotic poetry to down and dirty smut, these authors get naked on the page and will make you lust after them and their words.

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this is my favorite of them all


Rachel01819
Originally uploaded by rkb1.
Photo by Celeste Smith.

and a cupcake classic photo


RKB 093
Originally uploaded by rkb1.
Wow, these seem like they were taken ages and ages ago, at least to me. This one's by Paul Sarkis.

my new column "Girl Talk"

My new monthly column "Girl Talk" is a print only one, and debuts in the October 2005 issue of Penthouse. The first one's about, appropriately enough, girl talk, and you can find it every month in Penthouse. Future topics including girl-on-girl lust, sex toys, and not going all the way.

somewhere between serious and sultry


somewhere between serious and sultry
Originally uploaded by rkb1.
Photo by Celeste Smith.

what might happen after you read my book


product placement
Originally uploaded by rkb1.

sultry me


sultry me
Originally uploaded by rkb1.
Found some more photos by Celeste Smith that may or may not have been posted the last go-round.

KEXP and Mary Lou Lord at CMJ

KEXP Live from NYC

KEXP will also be presenting the following showcases and other shows for the CMJ Music Marathon:

Barsuk Showcase: 9/14 at Mercury Lounge 11pm - 2am
Viva Voce
Aqueduct
John Vanderslice

Merge Showcase: 9/16 at Rothko 8pm - 2am
Richard Buckner
Crooked Fingers
The Rosebuds
Portastatic
Annie Hayden
Tenement Halls

The Bloodshot BBQ: 9/17 at Union Pool 1pm - 7pm (Brooklyn)
Bobby Bare Jr.
Deadstring Brothers
Cordero
Mary Lou Lord

Sub Pop Showcase: 9/17 at the Bowery Ballroom 7pm - 2am
Constantines
Kinski
Wolf Parade
Rogue Wave
Fruit Bats
Holopaw
Chad vanGaalen

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Pop Quiz Interview with John Hodgman

Claire Zulkay of MBToolbox interviews John Hodgman, author of The Areas of My Expertise and curator of The Little Gray Books Readings.

Let me just say - there are 700 (!!) hobo names in The Areas of My Expertise. 700! It's insane and fascinating and bizarre and smart all rolled into one.

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where I'll be in 3 days

Istanbul, here I come

"Debauchery With Reservations"

Shari Goldhagen visits Home, Marquee, Made, Rock Candy and BLVD for New York and gives the scoop on where to party.

How To Kick People TONIGHT

Wednesday, August 31st at 7:30pm
HOW TO KICK PEOPLE: MISSED CONNECTIONS
with Bob Powers & Todd Levin
and featuring:
- Jon Friedman (host/creator, The Rejection Show)
- Ophira Eisenberg (Comedy Central, VH-1)
- Jonathan Ames (author, The Extra Man & Wake Up, Sir!)
PLUS! music from Jesse Hartman (of the band Laptop)

Upstairs at Mo Pitkins' House of Satisfaction
34 Avenue A, between 2nd and 3rd Streets
Tickets: $8

There are no advance tix available, so you might want to arrive early.

for more information: http://www.howtokickpeople.com

Tuesday, August 30, 2005

Interview with Jason Pinter, Assistant Editor, Warner Books

Mediabistro's "From the Editors" series Interview with Jason Pinter, Assistant Editor, Warner Books

Even if you're not an author looking for a publisher, you should check out this one. He's hilarious and has worked on everything from Festivus to The Official Razzie Movie Guide to The Lost Blogs (and is editing the book version of Jewtopia). Lots and lots of great, funny stuff.

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a pretty little knife to sharpen your day

I just love this photo of Mistress Cherry so she's my site of the day:



Word of the day (because "social graces" and "social skills" were taken and "etiquette" doesn't quite cut it) is manners. I'll give an example: Thankfully, I have wonderful friends who help protect me from people without manners.

man·ner     P   Pronunciation Key  (mnr)
n.
A way of doing something or the way in which a thing is done or happens. See Synonyms at method.

A way of acting; bearing or behavior.

manners
The socially correct way of acting; etiquette.

The prevailing customs, social conduct, and norms of a specific society, period, or group, especially as the subject of a literary work.

Practice, style, execution, or method in the arts: This fresco is typical of the painter's early manner.

Kind; sort: What manner of person is she?

Kinds; sorts: saw all manner of people at the mall.

Monday, August 29, 2005

Naughty Spanking Stories from A to Z 2 cover

This image will be on the cover of my newest anthology, Naughty Spanking Stories from A to Z 2 (click for table of contents), due out in November 2005 from Pretty Things Press, with 30 (4 bonus stories) original, red-hot stories from some of today's top erotic writers, including Marilyn Jaye Lewis, Stan Kent, L. Elise Bland, Thomas Roche, Simon Sheppard, Michele Zipp, Tsaurah Litzky, Alison Tyler, Catherine Lundoff, Kate Dominic, Radclyffe, Lisabet Sarai, Saskia Walker, Ashley Lister, Sacchi Green, Tara Alton, and more!

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The Worst Noel and countless other literary events

I plan to spend the fall and winter nights bunkering down in my apartment writing, planning my reading series, and getting my life organized. Seriously, I love that I live in New York with all kinds of readings every night and of course want people to attend mine (like tonight at Galapagos) BUT...I can't go to readings often cause they just remind me of how much I need to do, all the book deals I don't have, and they activity my writer jealousy-o-meter that I try super hard to keep in check. And I know it's not jealousy but hard work, hours spent actually in Word and not Explorer, that will get me anywhere. And that's what I'm trying to do as I try to get a book and a book proposal out the door before my trip, along with, oh, interviews questions, a column or two, and reading a whole book and packing. So anyway, almost everything I post here (or, ahem, forward) is an FYI. I may go, I may not go. There's tons of things I want to go to but just don't have time for, so we'll see. As it stands now, the week I return is packed to the brim with Jill Soloway readings, The Rejection Show, The Reputation at CMJ, Sweet Paprika and Sara Schaefer, but since it's just me making these plans, I feel totally free to break them and bunker down in my room. Basically, the more I go out, the more I want to stay in. Thank goodness I have a vacation coming up.

Lots of events coming up at The Strand, including:

The Worst Noel: Hellish Holiday Tales with authors Cynthia Kaplan, John Marchese, Valerie Frankel, and Mike Albo

November 17 06:30PM - 08:30PM

With the holiday season fast approaching local New York authors help us to laugh, groan and commiserate about the horrible personal holiday stories that each of us has! Among them, Mike Albo (The Underminer) and his romantic Christmas-in-Paris dream, which turns into a nightmare after an accident leaves him with a bloodied cross on his forehead, and the festive car ride that Cynthia Kaplan (Why I'm Like This) takes, which goes astray when she hits a deer and Donner is Dead becomes her family's holiday story. Also reading, Valeria Frankel (The Accidental Virgin) and John Marchese (Building the Magical Box). Authors will personalize copies of The Worst Noel.

Lots of events at the New York Public Library, including:

A Celebration of The Paris Review: Salman Rushdie, Philip Gourevitch and Miranda July

Saturday, September 17, 2005
at 7:00 PM
Celeste Bartos Forum

Salman Rushdie reads and Philip Gourevitch, the new editor of The Paris Review, interviews Salman Rushdie. Miranda July performs. Co-presented with The Paris Review and Picador.

OF COURSE this photo is the "most interesting" on flickr with the spanking tag


Picture 031
Originally uploaded by candiedyams.
and it's my apartment, my paddle, my...well, we'll let her remain semi-anonymous, should she choose to do so. But those who were there know whose ass it is. And so coordinated, I love it!

more Morgan and Malice love

Here's an interview with Overheard in New York head honchos (neither of them fit "head honcho" in any way, but that's why I like it) S. Morgan Friedman and Michael Malice. I liked this part (and yes, I know I'm a total geek, I've just learned to embrace it):

Do you think you have to be familiar with New York to find this blog funny?

MM: If the blog is accessible to people outside then I have utterly failed in my job as an editor. We want the site to replicate the NYC experience as much as possible, and part of that experience is to baffle newcomers to the Big Apple. This is not a city with a welcome mat—thank God!

Which blogs do you like to read yourself?

MM: Gawker, this fish, radosh.net, Rachel Kramer Bussel. Morgan could care less about blogs.


Seriously, aside from Overheard, check out their personal sites. Both are very busy guys who are super smart, funny and creative.

a very Malice entry

word of the day: hubris (which I did learn in high school)

hu·bris     P   Pronunciation Key  (hybrs) also hy·bris (h-)
n.
Overbearing pride or presumption; arrogance: “There is no safety in unlimited technological hubris” (McGeorge Bundy).

and it's inspired by site #1 of the day: Michael Malice, who I've come to know and, if not love, continue to be fascinated by

also, he and everyone and their (ha!) sisters has been linking to a blog that I feel shouldn't amuse me yet does: Tale of Two Sisters, the Stephanie Klein parody blog.

Interesting - Klein's literary agency, which scored her the infamous $500,000 2-book deal with Judith Regan, also represented Jennifer van der Kwaast's novel Pounding the Pavement and this book:

Robyn Harding's first novel THE JOURNAL OF MORTIFYING MOMENTS, about a young woman living two lives--independent and successful in her advertising career, an insecure wreck with her boyfriend--who writes down her worst moments with men over the years to see where she is going wrong, with those "moments" serving as a structure for the book, as she strives to reconcile the two sides of her persona, to Linda Marrow at Ballantine, in a good deal, for two books, by Joe Veltre (North American).

Also: Mediabistro on pitching Arists Literary Group

SMUT! Reading! Tonight! Me! David Rees! Margot Leitman! Desiree Burch!

The title of this post pretty much says it all. SMUT Reading Series tonight. My last reading for a while. You'll have to show up to see what I'll be reading. Last time it was totally HOT. I promise it will be that tonight too, possibly even funny and hot.

August 29, 8 pm, FREE
Galapagos Art Space, 70 North 6th Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn (L train to Bedford)
Smut Presents
Rachel Kramer Bussel
with David Rees (whose site promises he will post 10,000 new comics at the end of August, also click on it to read some Get Your War On, My Filing Technique Is Unstoppable and My Fighting Technique Is Unstoppable comics and funny lady Margot Leitman
Hosted by Desiree Burch

Red Light Night tomorrow fyi

Wet your whistle, tickle your funny bone, and get your pulse racing with our final installment (at least for the summer) of saucy, sexy short scripts by emerging playwrights!

Firecracker Productions presents

RED LIGHT NIGHT
An Evening of Short Plays About Sex

Tuesday, August 30, 2005
8:00 PM at
The Slipper Room
167 Orchard Street (@Stanton Street)
212.253.7246 www.slipperroom.com

Plays by Joshua James, Ian Marks, Kate Kolendo,
Katherine Adamenko, Mark Snyder, Collin Worster, Luis
Amate Perez, Matt Lederman, Bryan Clark, V.E.
Kimberlin & Laura Buchwald

No Cover * One Drink Minimum * Donations Accepted

www.firecrackerproductions.org

Sunday, August 28, 2005

Best. Hostess. Ever.

I just had the BEST, most relaxing weekend I've had in ages at the country home of Susie Felber. Today we went to Bethel and saw the space where Woodstock was held, and went to an awesome farmer's market where I bought 14 green peppers, sampled umpteen treats, and we wandered through a corn maze (I'd never even heard of a corn maze). I also got maple sugar candy. And what can I say about the stew? It rocked. So did the cake, in a major major way. I got to chill, relax, sit outside, finish a whole book, work on several columns and just feel totally refreshed and renewed, and make new friends and chat and just have fun. In a word: perfect.

Also: NYT article on art in Istanbul, where I'll be in a week.

your quickie guide to Neil Strauss's The Game

I plan to read the most elaborately packaged book I own (Neil Strauss's The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists, complete with gold-embossed book edges and Bible-style gold font, except for, oh, that gyrating woman's silhouette on the spine) soon, but for now, Amy Sohn has reviewed it for Publisher's Weekly and there's a quick Esquire one, which I'm snagging via Amazon. I'm also told that Neil Strauss's book about Motley Crue, The Dirt, is an excellent read.



From Publishers Weekly
Reviewed by Amy SohnI never dated Neil Strauss, but I dated guys like him. Like many New York women, I have always gone for balding, pale guys because they're grateful and good in bed. But a few years ago, a distraught Strauss decided he was a loser with women and set about transforming himself into the world's greatest pick-up artist. The Game is his long, often tedious but hilarious account of how he did it. This ugly-duckling tale will affect different readers in different ways, depending on their degree of cynicism: some will be awed by Strauss's ménage-à-trois snowball scene, while others will suspect it was cribbed from a third-rate porno Strauss watched in his pre-macking days.When his story begins Strauss is, well, a Neil: an unconfident, self-described AFC (average frustrated chump). He is also, it should be noted, a well-known rock critic who penned porn star Jenna Jameson's autobiography, leaving one wondering just how pathetic women really found him. After paying $500 to join a workshop for aspiring PUAs (pick-up artists) led by a magician named Mystery at Hollywood's Roosevelt Hotel, Strauss becomes addicted to pick-up technique. He trains with several PUA gurus, including Ross Jeffries, a hypnotist rumored to be the basis for the Tom Cruise character in Magnolia. With his brains and dedication, Strauss renames himself Style and soon becomes a master of the game—able to get sex from beautiful women who once would have run the other way.But The Game doesn't get really interesting until Strauss deviates from his NC-17 Horatio Alger story and tells what happens when he moves into a Sunset Strip mansion with a group of other PUAs. He starts to see the misogyny of the sport and realizes that most of its leaders had miserable childhoods. The AFC who became a PUA to understand women ultimately becomes an expert on men.As Strauss grows restless to talk about things other than number closes and phase shifts (the book's glossary is a juicy read of its own), the mansion loses its appeal and he reluctantly grows up. When he meets a tough-talking band mate of Courtney Love's named Lisa and they bond over music, we can guess where the narrative is headed. In the book's final pages, he dumps onto his bed all the phone numbers he's collected and tells Lisa, "I've spent two years meeting every girl in L.A. And out of them all, I chose you," which is like telling your mother-in-law that the Thanksgiving dinner you had last year at Applebee's was nothing compared to the one she just prepared. But for some reason, Lisa doesn't flee. I can only hope that in the inevitable 2007 movie version, starring Jack Black and Kate Hudson, Lisa throws the numbers in his face and leaves him for a guy who knows how to pay a girl a compliment. (Sept. 1)Amy Sohn is the author of My Old Man, which was just released in paperback by Simon & Schuster, and she writes the "Mating" column for New York magazine.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Esquire Magazine, August 2005
One hugely entertaining story. I loved every page. And I'll never let Neil Strauss within 50 feet of my wife.

"I'm like Popeye except with ice cream."

Gotta love Kelli Nelson's latest comic. Kelli's half the power behind True Porn, the comics anthologies, and I'm writing about them for my Voice column at the end of September.

Unrelated: Cats in Sinks (exactly what it sounds like. via Jen Dziura)

Another Giulia Rozzi blog co-creation: You Cheap Tramp

Five for the Famous times infinity

For those who like Q&A interviews (sometimes I feel like my whole life consists of doing Q&A interviews, but I love 'em), I just found this site Five for the Famous while researching the fabulous Giulia Rozzi. Five for the Famous has interviews with all sorts of people, including Giulia, Heidi Fleiss, Xaviera Hollander, Marty Beckerman, Margot Leitman and many others.

word/site of the day

Word of the day: beguiling

beguiling

adj 1: highly attractive and able to arouse hope or desire; "an alluring prospect"; "her alluring smile"; "the voice was low and beguiling"; "difficult to say no to an enticing advertisement"; "a tempting invitation" [syn: alluring, enticing, tempting] 2: misleading by means of pleasant or alluring methods; "taken in by beguiling tales of overnight fortunes"


Once again, from a song: "Beguiling" by The Reputation

Site of the day: Fig and Plum

Saturday, August 27, 2005

change change change

Kelly James-Enger has a great newsletter for writers with ideas and information that I always really appreciate. In this latest one, she writes about "Scaling the Learning Curve," a topic I confront almost all the time, especially lately as I try to figure out how to write a book proposal and also generally how to move to the "next level." Big changes are in the works, little ones too, and I'll probably be hiring some people to help me or at least enlisting help on various projects in the coming months. It's not that I want to throw money out the window, certainly, and am really trying to make my peace with money--what I need it for, and what I don't, and figuring out what's valuable to me--but I do think that there is something to be said sometimes for paying someone versus having someone "help" you for free, especially if they're your friend. It just feels more professional and I think it makes me feel more empowered to ask for changes, like with my website, when I have a business relationship with someone. It makes a difference to me, though I also, in all the areas I need help with--website, cleaning, organizing, fitness--I don't necessarily want to be totally reliant on someone else, but able to work on it myself as well. When I get back from my trip and turn in all the due/overdue projects hanging over my head, I plan to really work on all these areas because I just more and more don't like the person I am because of these problems; it's not stuff I care to go into here, but there are things that eat away at me, that I've fucked up and need to figure out how to fix before I go insane. Because it really only takes a second or so before I just see my failures staring me in the face and have a little meltdown, before I start berating myself and just feel so awful. Sometimes it's the daily things, like not being able to find my building pass in my bag once I'm already late, or bigger issues, and these are all things I've probably grappled with for over a decade, and I hope turning 30 is going to push me in the direction of being an adult, of not doing everything half-assed, last minute, because I've run out of time, etc.

Anyway, my point was that Kelly had some wise words:

Don’t be afraid to put your dreams into practice and to try something new. Sure, it may feel scary or awkward or uncomfortable at first. But best case scenario, you find that this new activity gives you a satisfaction nothing else has—and you want to
do it again! Guess what? The second time is easier (and often better) than the first. Worst case scenario? You try something new—and you fail. Or you discover you don’t like it. Or that it isn’t worth the time and effort involved. Either way, you’ve learned something new—and you’re probably no worse off for having tried it.


It's so scary, especially for me, to try anything new. I get very stuck in my ways, and yet in my mind, I am constantly wanting to do more, to grow and expand, and regarding my career, I see things and definitely aspire to them. I definitely want to join the ranks of the VH1 talking heads. That's just one goal. I want to sell a big book to a big publisher with my agent, but it's not just the sale; I want my ideas to get out there. I want to put ideas that I don't see on the bookshelves there, I want to force myself to really do the time and think and wring the words out and create something real and solid and important that I can be proud of. I am proud of all the work I do but I do think there's a way I have of signing on for lots of small projects that are sortof "busy work" and make it look like I'm doing a lot but don't bring in much or any extra money and aren't really leading anywhere. I want to keep doing them all but also trying new things and seeing where they go. I don't want to just accept that I'm stuck in my ways. I wrote on the old blog a long time ago, at a very different point, how sad it is when people say "this is the way I am, I'll never change," and I don't want to be that person.

It's hard too because there's no guaranteed reward. With the little assignments, at least I know they have a home. I could put endless hours into these book proposals and have them go nowhere fast. But at the same time, I have to try. The book I'm working on, the big, meaty, nonfiction one, is based on ideas I've had since at least 1996, probably longer. I've been wanting to write about sex and empowerment and feminism and autonomy and a lot of these topics since I read Wendy Shalit's A Return to Modesty so many years ago, when I was still in law school. I've wanted to find a way to respond to that book, and now I do have platforms to write about the topics that interest me, which is great, but 1100 words every 2 weeks is not what I'm talking about. It's just strange because some days, I truly believe I can do anything, and others, I just don't see it. At all. It seems like an absolute waste of time, a pipe dream, a fairy tale. Those times I tell myself to stick to what I know, do 100 erotica books instead of waiting for that fabled book deal, that strike-it-rich moment. But then I realize it's not just about the money, though goodness knows I will feel such a huge burden off my shoulders once my loans are paid off. It's that I hate stagnation. As much as I hate unexpected change per se, I also hate the idea that my life, especially my career, is sitting still. I like momentum, I like to push myself in new directions.

That can be a good thing or a bad thing though. Because of that, once I get to a certain point, I'm almost bored with myself, or it's kindof this self-deprecating thing where I think "oh, they want ME to do that, well, that must mean it's not all that important." I don't truly believe that, but a little piece of me does, like I'm just never worthy, that I don't deserve it, despite the near-constant little bits of good news. Aside from thinking it's all a fluke or that I've stumbled my way into this career, along with my own tendency to self-sabotage, I've just always thrived as the underdog, that's always felt like the most comfortable position to me. So it would make sense that I'd walk away from NYU with no skills, no plan, no sense at all about what it takes to live in New York, and thereby affect my entire future. I don't regret that; at the time, I saw no other way out, but again, I let things spiral out of control, wasted three years and several hundred thousand dollars, for what? So I could live in the Village? Looking back I can see I was never going to be a lawyer, I sucked at it, but I think even though I knew that, I never truly thought I could be a writer either. That seemed like such a pipe dream, and those lack of skills and street smarts and common sense probably kept me at NYU longer than I needed to be.

And that's okay, I've pretty much made my peace with it, though I definitely feel a bit inferior to people with graduate degrees. I wish that had all gone down differently, though I do feel it's made me realize what I can handle. I can do paycheck to paycheck, I can do mindless boring day jobs where I have nothing in common with my coworkers, I can pretend that I'm one way at the office and then go off and live my real life. I'm grateful beyond words I don't have to do that anymore, but still, I could again if I had to. But most of all, I just cringe and want to literally harm myself in some way when I see myself making those very same actions. Going out instead of working, nonstop, just being a selfish loser, and I want to work on that, want to really dedicate myself to something bigger, even if there's never a reward, even if the book never sells. Because I'll never know otherwise, I'll just have all these little things to show, and my loans will remain, and I just won't be growing in any way and will just sit around and read other people's books and think "no, they're wrong" without having any substance behind that thought.

Postcard for my new book

The inset is going to be the actual book cover for my new anthology Naughty Spanking Stories from A to Z 2. Available in November from Pretty Things Press. If you're press/media and would like to review the book or interview me about it, send your name, publication, title and mailing address to me at blog at rachelkramerbussel.com

Book party/reading info when I have it.

Labels:

sublime

I am chilling in the country (to be honest, I don't know the exact town, and that's just fine) with some friends and food and much lounging, eating, relaxing, chatting. Listening to adult alternative which is taking me back with 10,000 Maniacs and the like, and I heard "Polaroids" by Shawn Colvin, which is the first song I ever heard Mary Lou Lord sing (on the very excellent Safe and Sound benefit CD which also has Letters to Cleo doing "You Dirty Rat," which is my favorite kind of fun, catchy pop song). Am almost done with the new Dan Savage book. Speaking of Dan, did you know The Stranger has a blog? I didn't. It's perfect here and just what I needed. (Kiddie book pop quiz: Which of these books does not belong here???)

Our cupcake blog was linked to by Metafilter ("Focused. Directed. Covered in frosting.") which is awesome. I have cupcakes on the brain as I compile tons of cupcake-related information into something concrete and tangible. Yes, I like lists. I like be pro-active. I am working on my ability to relax but I am admittedly compulsive, so I like when I can turn something I have a genuine passion for into something bigger than just my own...interest. Hobby. I guess you could say I have a big mouth, I get excited, and at various times in my life I've tried to be quieter, to be less big about things, but I've discovered that that doesn't really work for me. I've also found lately that my own lack of self-esteem, my lack of perspective, can sabotage me. I think people are just humoring by saying things about my writing, I assume my pieces won't make it in, so why bother.

But on the other hand, maybe deep deep down or in the very back of my mind, I do have the more than a big of ego and hubris, or at least, I want to. Because you can't get ahead, or I can't, I don't think, without at least somewhat "putting myself out there." I am just trying to craft ways to do that without foisting myself upon people. That's why I think the internet is perfect for writers and why I encourage any performer, comic and author I meet who doesn't blog or have a website to start, because it allows you to be "out there" but for people to discover your work on their own time, in their own way. The things I discover via my own curiosity are almost always more meaningful to me than things that are foisted upon me, though I love getting recommendations. I still want to (haven't done it yet, but I may take it to Turkey) read Elmer Gantry simply so that line in a Reputation song makes more sense.

Word of the day is sublime (see Ida's "The Morning" for its use in a song):

4 entries found for sublime.
sub·lime ( P ) Pronunciation Key (s-blm)
adj.
Characterized by nobility; majestic.

Of high spiritual, moral, or intellectual worth.
Not to be excelled; supreme.
Inspiring awe; impressive.
Archaic. Raised aloft; set high.
Obsolete. Of lofty appearance or bearing; haughty: “not terrible,/That I should fear... /But solemn and sublime” (John Milton).

n.
Something sublime.
An ultimate example.

Site of the day: Susie Felber, who is a lovely hostess and fabulous cook and just totally welcoming and encouraging and an all-around awesome person. Right now she's making us all some cake.

Friday, August 26, 2005

what several people, including myself, have been trying to tell me lately

C. is reading James Frey's A Million Little Pieces, which I started 2 years ago, right after I'd read Dry, and couldn't get past the first few pages of. Anyway, she quote this passage from the Tao te Ching and I wanted to as well - for me, her, and everyone else. Actually, just found a longer version of the quote here

What is more important, fame or integrity. What is more valuable, money or happiness. What is more dangerous, success or failure. If you look to others for fulfillment, you will never be fulfilled. If your happiness depends on money, you will never be happy. Be content with what you have and take joy in the way things are. When you realize you have all you need, the World belongs to you.

Like I said (and I'm sure will say again), a work in progress.

Scanned, Slit, Dan Savage's The Commitment, Over and Out

Friday tidbits:

I've been Scanned by Nerve and didn't even know it.

Slit magazine is going to interview me.

I'm off to the country to the home of Susie Felber, along with umpteen bags, where I will do my best to get a head start on relaxing. I've been freaking out a bit, even doubting my own ability to take a vacation, but I will, and it will be fun, and I'll return and work really hard.

Just in time for my weekend outing, I've been sent Dan Savage's new book The Commitment: Love, Sex, Marriage and My Family which is about, according to Amazon:

The true story of a marriage (not really), a lovable and relentless mother, a six-year old who says his parents cannot get married (but wants to go to the reception), a partner who doesn’t want to act like a straight person, and the author, who has written a hilarious and poignant memoir about making "The Commitment."

There is no hotter issue than gay marriage in the culture-war debate, and Dan Savage, one of America’s most outspoken and beloved columnists, takes it on and makes it personal in this rollicking memoir of coming to terms with the very public act of marriage. What he discovers will make readers—gay or straight, right or left, single or married—howl with laughter as well as rethink their notions of marriage and all that it entails.


Also:



I interviewed Dan about his last book, Skipping Towards Gomorrah, in 2002.

The latest Savage Love column

A book deal for Meet Judy Jetson via The New Yorker

Congratulations to Anastasia Goodstein of Ypulse, a site for teen readers, on her recent book deal. Be sure to also read her (linked below) reflections on rejection. She writes:

After a challenging yet invigorating process of shopping my book proposal to several publishers, it has found a home. With the excellent assistance of my agent Kate Lee (a rising star at ICM who I found in the New Yorker), St. Martin's Press will be publishing my book, which now has the working title "Meet Judy Jetson: Decoding the 21st Century Teen."

Teacher/student affair in R.A. Nelson's Teach Me

A personal note - I got this book and another and they are in a bag, somewhere, along with my new favorite green sweater, from last Friday, somewhere. I swear I am tearing everything apart and throwing out and sorting once I get back from Turkey, even if it means missing parties and events. I don't care anymore, I have to get organized so, I don't know, I can read a book that I start.

So anyway, what's funny about this is that I'm inteviewing Razorbill editor Kristen Pettit for Mediabistro, and am familiar with their line of young adult fiction, having read Will Leitch's excellent forthcoming novel Catch and randomly, this guy Russ Nelson emailed me a few weeks ago. But I thought his "real identity" was a secret, because he goes by "R.A. Nelson" as his pseudonym, but apparently the secret's out. Teach Me features high school student Nine, who pursues one of her teachers until they begin an affair. According to the article, it's Razorbill's lead title. Here's the publisher's blurb:

What happens when a high school student and her teacher cross that line?

Teach Me by R. A. Nelson is a powerful debut novel that readers will not be able to put down. From the very first page, Nine speaks in a voice that is at once raw, honest, direct, and unusually eloquent. "There has been an earthquake in my life," she says, inviting you inside an experience that fascinates everyone-an affair between teacher and student-and giving a personal answer to the question: How does this happen?

R. A. Nelson's strong writing is paired with a story we all want to hear, resulting in a novel that will speak to every teenager. A novel about a love so intense that the person you're with becomes your world, and when you lose that person, you lose your world.


Speaking of Razorbill, their motto is:

"RAZORBILL for teens who WANT to read, HATE to read, NEED to read, LOVE to read"

Apparently, they also have a book called Flirtology: Over 100 Ways To Release Your Inner Flirt.

Anyway, once I find the book and read more, I should have more to say about it - I read the first few pages and was intrigued by Nine and her sense of secrecy and alienation. Though really, I need to be reading some other work-type books and interview-prep stuff. I plan to read on the trip to and from Turkey: Neil Strauss's The Game and Jennifer Shahade's Chess Bitch (click for the book cover featuring a pink wig).

one of my favorite photos


Picture 018
Originally uploaded by candiedyams.
From our fabulous party what feels like a long long time ago.

Speaking of parties and events: change of plans. October 19th will NOT be a Naughty Spanking Stories from A to Z 2 party because I won't have the books until November but it'll still be the kickoff to my brand new reading series In The Flesh which means I need to hustle up some readers pronto. Will keep you posted, of course.

new blog/word of the day/site of the day

To those who are interested - I deleted the old blog (it's cached by google if you really must read it, just search around) and restarted this one because I needed to clear my head, clear a lot of things. I have a very love/hate relationship with myself, and therefore with blogging, and especially blogging about myself, but it's also necessary in some ways and useful. I want to have it to tie in with the column, so I can check in whenever, so I can let you all know when I arrive safely in Turkey (one more week until my trip!), etc. But as I wrote above, I'm a work in progress. Definitely, always. I often feel (and surely am) utterly uninteresting, so may have nothing to say, or may just point you to someone else's cool happenings. I am about to make major changes and take on and maybe even let go of some projects in the coming months. Will be living alone for the first time EVER, juggling all the usual things, including a full-time job, 2 columns, 2 interview series, several book proposals, running a reading series, turning 30, etc. It's a lot, it really is, and sometimes I have no idea how to cope. Not a clue. Which is why I sometimes have to laugh until I cry when people ask me for advice. I would show you photos but, of course, I don't know where I put the cord to connect my digital camera, but that's one of the teensy things I have chosen just to ignore for now. I AM being pro-active, I just can't be pro-active on all counts at all times. That's when I start bawling in the middle of the day, outside bars named after prepubescent girls, in the middle of comedy shows, in the middle of the night. I am trying not to let the pressure build in my head to that point, but also realizing it's okay if it does. So my word of the day is:

proactive

pro·ac·tive or pro-ac·tive     P   Pronunciation Key  (pr-ktv)
adj.
Acting in advance to deal with an expected difficulty; anticipatory: proactive steps to prevent terrorism.

Site of the day is:

Michelle Collins's You Can't Make It Up - trust me, she's hilarious and totally awesome. I knew that within minutes of talking to her, way back a few months ago at the Rejection Show, when she began extolling the virtues of Dr. Praeger's Spinach Pancakes (actually she recommended the broccoli ones, but I now swear by the spinach ones, and just discovered that they also make Bombay Spinach Pancakes - who knew?). Michelle is just one of those fun, smart, awesome, wacky, lively people who I'm always excited to see and am happy to chat, gossip, eat, and laugh with any time, especially on some random street corner.

Something that's very odd to revisit a year and a half down the road:

"I am woman, hear me blog"

The Daily News profile of several prominent New York women who blog. What's funny is that when it came out, I don't think I knew a single one, maybe I'd met Jen Chung. Now I write for Gothamist and am friends with and adore quite a few of these ladies, though, alas, don't get to see them often enough, especially Eurotrash, who never fails to make me laugh, most especially at her ability to laugh at herself:

"Loony slut from Hell wasting her life and writing drivel" is how Eurotrash (who prefers to remain anonymous) suspects some might see her blog.

Thursday, August 25, 2005

Lusty Lady #23, "Sex and Dating Deal Breakers"

Lusty Lady #23
Sex and Dating Deal Breakers
What's the one thing he or she does that turns you off immediately?


I also have a call at the end for you to tell me YOUR deal breakers - send 'em to mail at rachelkramerbussel.com for use in a future column.

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New Anthology Aqua Erotica 2

Recently got word that my brand-new, totally fictional lesbian anal sex story "Taking It All," which took a few revisions and a bit of trauma, is going to be published in Aqua Erotica 2 later this year. It's part of the Aqua Erotica series published by Melcher Media; they've also done Beach, which is waterproof as well, and one of my favorite books EVER, Clare Crespo's Hey There, Cupcake!. Melcher rocks--they also throw super fun parties and are very nice people, and this also helps pay the rent.

Here's the cover and Amazon description and link:



Aqua Erotica 2 is the sequel to the bestselling Aqua Erotica: 18 Stories for a Steamy Bath, which is now in its sixth printing with over 120,000 copies in print. The 15 original stories in this new waterproof volume explore both the possibilities and boundaries of erotic experience. Intelligent, provocative, and very, very sexy, this collection includes contributions by today's most erotic voices, including Mary Ann Mohanraj, Rachel Kramer Bussel, Michael Hemmingson, Simon Sheppard, Thomas S. Roche, Cecilia Tan, and many more. Aqua Erotica 2 promises to push the limits of our own private boundaries and inhibitions.

In the first Aqua Erotica, water served as an imaginative touchstone for a collection of great erotic storytellers, and the anthology offered sensuous teases and dangerous plunges into the dark waters of sexuality. So long as the fantasy remains safely just that-a fantasy-readers have proven game to test boundaries.

It is this realm of sexual boundaries that Aqua Erotica 2 will test-whether literal (encounters in foreign lands or between strangers) or figurative (adultery, fetishes, sex in public, and other "taboos"). The stories all share the idea of sexuality as a journey that starts in one place and ends in another, with infinite choices and surprises in between. The collection is eclectic, covering the spectrum of erotic tastes and inclinations: real and fantastical, male and female, dominant and submissive, gay and straight. Nothing is off limits.

In Aqua Erotica 2, readers will experience thrilling, button-pushing erotic events, the kind of sweaty, mysterious sexual encounters where mind and body seem to fall out of time and discover true ecstasy. Aqua Erotica 2 celebrates mind-bending and life-altering sex and promises to be the hottest and most explicitly, rawly erotic title of the series.

What's more, the book can go where other erotica collections can't. Made in Melcher Media's patented DuraBook¿ format, its sleek waterproof and stain-resistant pages can withstand a variety of aquatic environments. Take it with you to a secluded beach, a night-lit pool, a steamy sauna, or a sensual bath for two . . . whatever turns you on.

Celebrity Living and December 4th KGB reading

Check out pages 8 and 47 of the latest (September 5th) issue of Celebrity Living for my tips on "How To Tame a Bad Boy" (in relation to Sandra Bullock and Jesse James) and my advice for Jennifer Aniston on how to hang onto Vince Vaughn!

Also, mark Sunday, December 4th at 7 pm on your calendars - I'll be reading at KGB Bar from the new anthology due out in November Stirring Up a Storm: Tales of the Sensual, The Sexual, and The Erotic (featuring a whole bunch of women writers, including Selma Blair - yes, that Selma Blair!), edited by Marilyn Jaye Lewis.

Wednesday, August 24, 2005

Call for cupcake interviewees!

We need more interviewees at the cupcake blog. If you want to take our short interview (as taken by Lisa Loeb, Warren Brown of Cupcake Love, many comedians and other cupcake fans), just drop us an email at cupcakestakethecake at yahoo.com and we'll shoot the questions over to you.

How To Be The Perfect Author

Elizabeth Spiers and some prominent editors offer some tips on "How To Be The Perfect Author"

Cupcake blog in the news

The fabulous Nichelle is quoted in The Columbus Dispatch in an article entitled "Cupcakes on the Rise" about our cupcake blog Cupcakes Take the Cake.

girls in white


rkbmichellemeheidi
Originally uploaded by Alice Ayers.

We were all rocking The Big Jewish Quiz Thing on the roof on a gorgeous night. I laughed a lot even though I barely contributed any trivia knowledge, somehow my kickass team managed to pull through and win ourselves gift certificates to what everyone says is a yummy restaurant, Prune. Go team!

Then instead of being good and working (I am taking everything with me this weekend to the lovely casa Felber to snea in a little writing while I'm lounging around), I went to see I Can't Believe It's Not Manhattan which was a fun but incredibly looooong show. Baron Vaughn is apparently the host-of-the-moment. Sadly, there were no nephew stories, but another time for that (my last big comedy outing before my trip will be to How To Kick People). Laughed a lot last night and was immensely cheered up and ready to rock the keyboard and bang out these books, book proposals, columns, interviews...etc. 9 days till Turkey.

Tuesday, August 23, 2005

Jessica Cutler's TV deal

And lucky me, I can call this "research." I am working on but won't get to finish before I leave a huge book roundup, so many ideas percolating in the world of late about women and sex and it's fascinating how ideological it can get from multiple angles, and Cutler's at the center of a lot of these debates, if not by name, between the lines at least.

I'm gonna just say congratulations to Jessica Cutler for her recently-inked TV deal (via Wonkette, via New York):

HBO has acquired the rights to Jessica Cutler’s The Washingtonienne, a book based on the salacious blog she wrote while working as an intern on Capitol Hill; Sarah Jessica Parker will co-produce

Also:

My interview with Jessica Cutler at Gothamist



Washington Post article "Kiss and Blog" by April Witt

The messages warning Jessica that her private little joke had just gone very public came from a girlfriend over on the House side. Reading it, Jessica says, she was too stunned to wonder how Wonkette had discovered her blog. Instead, the portion of Jessica's brain that had evolved to help humans survive marauding mastodons screamed: Kill the blog! Kill the blog!

Washington Post chat chanscript with April Witt, where she starts with the following:

April Witt:
Good afternoon. There has been a huge outpouring of response to this story, and I don't think it's just because sex sells. I think Jessica's tale touches on a lot of issues of gender, sexuality and power that the culture is still trying to work through. When Brandi Chastain ripped off her jersey after she scored the decisive penalty kick against China to give the U.S. victory in the Women's World Cup final, it sparked a national debate about women's empowerment and body image. Now we have female Olympians posing nude - or scantily clad - in men's magazines and nobody is much complaining. That surprises me. Personally, I cringe at the notion of female Olympians posing in Playboy. Why would women who have real power and accomplishment in their lives want to pose for the sexual gratification of strangers? To me that is undercutting your power. Yet in yesterday's New York Times swimmer and sportscaster Diana Nyad opined that these women are redefining what it means to be sexy "They are both athletic and sexy - the new sexy," Nyad writes. Granted, Jessica's chosen sport seems to be an event we can't name in The Washington Post, but I do think the reaction to her touches on some of the same questions about what it means for women to be sexually empowered. I doubt we'll come up with any answers today. But I suspect the conversation won't' be boring.

Labels:

Reason #3,782* Chelsea Peretti makes me laugh

* randomly assigned number but give me enough time and I'm sure I could come up with, well, some more reasons:

this post

this photo takes the cake


Gay B/F
Originally uploaded by candiedyams.
As does the girl in it, who always manages to cheer me up and make me smile and is just awesomeness personified. I wish we were going to Amsterdam together but at least we can chill at the airport, if NYC doesn't kill me first.

Quotable

Someone who may or may not occasionally go by a wacky nickname (aka me) is quoted in two stories, including a cover story, about some celebrities in a forthcoming tabloid. Details and pics when I get 'em, I'm very excited about this and hopefully this will help pave the way for me to be a talking head! The world doesn't totally suck, I suppose.

Also, in that mythical free time I'm hoping to carve out, I'm gonna, in addition to the umpteen other tasks I've undertaken, try to work on some kind of novel so I can record all the crazy ass shit people have said to me, like "you talk to people like they're the only person in the room" (for shame! bad rachel, bad rachel as a certain dancing lady would say) and "your number's not on your card" (and also describe said person's actions because at least they made me laugh briefly in the midst of the crying, as did all my funny peeps) - those are too classic to be left alone.

weak-minded and brainwashed like Paris, that's me

and wtf is a neo-feminist anyway?

"A neo-feminist's view of abstinence" by Elisabeth Sandoval

Handsome Man at a Bar, you think I'm cute? Thanks. Do you appreciate me or the idea of having sex with me? Because your thinking has likely been influenced by the cavortings of Samantha and Co. in the "city" or the women in most rap videos. I am not those women. If you want a workout, go get a one-day pass at Bally. It's free.

Members of the "Sex is Natural and Fun and If It Makes You Happy, It Can't Be That Bad" club want sex so badly that they willingly and repeatedly live out the following scenario: Things go "great" for a month or two. Sex quickly becomes a part of your interactions. Maybe he even meets your parents. And then, well, things just change. He dumps you or you dump him.

Regardless of why the relationship died, you are now one of many women whom he could point out on the street. "See her?" he can tell his buddies. "She's cute, huh? Yeah, I had her." I never want to be "her."


What's ultra ironic is that while I disagree with almost the entire tenor of her piece and her conclusions, for myself and most of society, I DO get the whole "Do you appreciate me or the idea of having sex with me?" because that's all it's been lately on the personal front, which is why I've taken a step back, especially from the STUPID men who sortof flock to this idea of me as this person with no feelings who they are "safe" telling their fantasies to but blah blah blah and then they're gone.

Of course I'm happier on my own without that bullshit, but no, this week has not been good for me, but I'm going to woo that book proposal for all I'm worth and putting my money where my mouth is, so to speak, when it comes to dating my writing so I can afford that home office and get to finally say fuck you to sallie mae and just not feel so financially constrained. I'm gonna take my writing on to four star restaurants, put it up at the fanciest hotels, make love to it for hours, bring it flowers and gifts and give it backrubs and engage in countless acts of PDA. Whatever it takes, baby, whatever it takes. Becuase of course my writing is a better date, and, frankly, the only dating option I have right now. It might still break my heart, might still make me cry, but at least it's sortof somewhat even slightly under my control, unlike my crazy ass emotions. At least maybe it will have a payoff, maybe, even though I don't know if I truly believe it, maybe I can get me one of them there those fancy ass book deals. All I really want is to be debt free, then I feel like I can really move on with my life. Or maybe that's totally backwards, but if I'm gonna be single for the very foreseeable future, probably for a long long while, I better stop sitting around and feeling sorry for myself and bursting into tears willy-nilly and just put it all back into the writing. I'm about to read Neil Strauss's The Game, maybe I'll learn some tips from that too. Whatever it takes, 100% of my energy will be focused on the real writing. Because, as H. said, not blogging is the new blogging. Right on, I say totally hypocritically, of course.

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elliott

"i didn't understand" by elliott smith

thought you'd be looking for the next in line to love then ignore
put out and put away
and so you'd soon be leaving me along like i'm supposed to be tonight,
tomorrow and everyday
there's nothing here that you'll miss
i can guarantee you this is a cloud of smoke
trying to occupy space
what a fucking joke
what a fucking joke
i waited for a bus to separate the both of us and take me off far away
from you 'cos my feelings never change a bit i always feel like shit i
don't know why i guess that i "just do"
you once talked to me about love and you painted pictures of
a never-neverland and i could've gone to that place
but i didn't understand
i didn't understand
i didn't understand

Attention Six Feet Under fans: Jill Soloway reading dates!

Jill Soloway is awesome. She's also a writer (see "Diamonds" at Fresh Yarn), Sit 'N Spin reading producer, playwright ("Not Without My Nipples") and Six Feet Under writer co-executive producer. Read her bio and her short story "Courteney Cox's Asshole,", then read her spanking new book Tiny Ladies in Shiny Pants and go see her. I will be interviewing her soon. Hopefully I can find my copy of her book which, along with my brain and all of my belongings, or at least the ones I need, seems to have gone missing.



New York, NY
Monday, September 12, 2005 -- Reading & Signing
7:00 PM
MCNALLY ROBINSON
50 Prince Street
New York, NY 10012

Tuesday, September 13, 2005 -- Reading & Signing
7:00 PM
Me n' Jonathan Ames reading together
KGB BAR
85 East 4th Street
New York, NY 10003

Wednesday, September 14, 2005
9:00 PM
Tiny Ladies Extravaganza
From the good people who brought you Cupcake, Elizabeth Merrick and I present chapters from the book read by me plus Six Feet's Lauren Ambrose, Molly Shannon, SNL's Amy Poehler, Jodi Lennon and Jackie Hoffman.. Fun will be had, books will be sold and signed
Mo Pitkins
34 Avenue A
NYC 10009
212-777-5660

Boston, MA
Thursday, September 15, 2005
8:00 PM
Tiny Ladies Extravaganza
Will include special guest readings including Drugs Are Nice author Lisa Carver, SNL's Rachel Dratch plus songs by my sister (and local celebrity) Faith Soloway. Fun will be had, books will be sold and signed
CENTER FOR NEW WORDS
Cambridge Family YMCA Theater
820 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139
617-876-5310
http://www.centerfornewwords.org/

Los Angeles, CA
Monday, September 19th, 2005
8:00 PM
Tiny Ladies Extravaganza
Readers include: Kathy Najimy, Six Feet's Justina Machado, Illeana Douglas and Tina Holmes, plus House's Lisa Edelstein and music by Candypants! Afterwards, food, drinks, merriment, book purchase and signing.
Comedy Central Stage at the Hudson
6539 Santa Monica Blvd.
Hollywood, CA 90038
323-960-5519

Tuesday, September 20, 2005 -- Reading & Signing
7:30 PM
With guests Six Feet actresses Jennifer Elyse Cox and Becky Thyre.
BARNES & NOBLE
189 Grove Drive
Los Angeles, CA 90036


Saturday, October 8, 2005 -- Reading & Signing
7:30
With guests Sarah Silverman and Jordana Spiro.
SKYLIGHT BOOKS
1818 N. Vermont
Los Angeles, CA 90027
323-660 1175


Friday, October 14th, 2005 -- Reading & Signing
7:00 PM
With guests: Six Feet actresses Frances Conroy and Sprague Grayden
Serifos
3814 W. Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90026
323.660.7467
email: serifosusa@yahoo.com





San Francisco, CA
Wednesday, September 21, 2005 -- Reading & Signing
7:00
BOOK PASSAGE
1 Ferry Plaza, #46
San Francisco, CA 94111
415-835-1020



Thursday, September 22, 2005 -- Reading & Signing
7:00 PM
CODY'S BOOKS
Fourth Street Store
1730 Fourth Street
Berkeley, CA 94710
510-559-9500




Chicago, IL
Monday, September 26th, 2005
7:00 PM
Tiny Ladies Extravaganza
Readings and songs by me and my sister Faith along with Annoyance alumni including Jim Carrane, Susan Messing and Tony Stavish. Tiny Ladies books will be sold and signed.
Del Close Theater at ImprovOlympic
3541 N. Clark St.
Chicago, IL 60657
773-880-0199



Tuesday, September 27, 2005 -- Reading & Signing
7:30 PM
WOMEN & CHILDREN FIRST
5233 N. Clark St.

Wednesday, September 28th, 2005 -- Reading & Signing
7:00 PM
BORDERS
1700 Maple Avenue
Evanston, IL 60201
847-733-8852



Seattle, WA
Friday, September 30, 2005 -- Readings & Signing

12:00 PM
STARBUCKS HEADQUARTERS
1505 NE 55th St
Seattle, WA 98105


Saturday, October 1, 2005 -- Readings & Signing
6:30 PM
THIRD PLACE BOOKS
17171 Bothell Way NE
Lake Forest Park, WA 98155
206-366-3333

Best Bondage Erotica 2 and hot erotica covers

My story "Fire and Ice," which involved two girls, candles, wax, ice and sex, is in this new book Best Bondage Erotica 2, edited by Alison Tyler, for those who go for that sort of thing.



This one's not out till later this year but has a HOT cover.

Still here, barely

Been wanting to do that for a while. I'm sure the idiotic archives have been cached, but why bother, right? I've been realizing that I'm just some dumb girl with nothing to say, so like I said, bye bye blog. Wish starting over everything else were that easy. I'll just do my blubbering at, I don't know, comedy shows and my bedroom instead of the internets and try to actually be productive instead of a total mess. You can see me tonight at:

The 14th Street Y Presents
JEWBILATION! Downtown Entertainment of the Hebrew Persuasion
Part of HOWL! Festival 2005, www.howlfestival.com

The Big Jewish Quiz Thing, Tuesday, August 23 at 8pm, $5
The Big Quiz Thing, NYC's live-trivia spectacular, presents a special-edition game-show smackdown, pitting New York's savviest Jewish bigwigs against each other in a trivia contest of all things Hebraic.  Josh Neuman (HEEB magazine), Jessica Coen (Editor, Gawker.com), Rachel Kramer Bussel (The Village Voice), Susannah (AKA The Goddess) Perlman (Nice
Jewish Girls Gone Bad), Steven I. Weiss (Canonist.com), Rabbi Andy Bachman (Brooklyn Jews) and more test their Talmudic talent for a chance to win prizes and glory. Hosted by Ashkenazic quizmaster Noah Tarnow, Sephardic sidekick EDP, and gentile DJ GB.

The 14th Street Y is located at 344 East 14th Street between 1st and 2nd Avenues and can be reached by taking the L Train to First Avenue or the 4,5,6,Q, N, R, or W Trains to Union Square. For more information visit, www.14StreetY.org or call 212.780.0800.

I'll be wearing a funny t-shirt.