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

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Excellent blog for writers: STET!

It's been a rough week, to put it mildly. Not entirely rough, some good (read: incredibly sexy) parts, and last night I did my photo shoot with my friend Desiree at the studio of awesome photographer Circe for the 2010 Sex Blogger Calendar (last call to buy days on it and advertise your product to peope who like, um, blogger boobs).

But, um, rough would be an understatement. Behind on a million things, my royalty check from Cleis went missing and I didn't realize it so have to wait til the end of next week, stuff like that. I'm off to Minneapolis tomorrow night for a super-packed weekend. Please come check out my Erotica 101 Workshop on Sunday from 7-9 if you're inclined to do so, at Smitten Kitten - there will be handouts and cupcakes, it's $15 and you can register in the store or by calling them.

So my point is, before I write about anything here, I have other obligations/tasks, like, um, locating my keys. But here's a link to STET!, the blog of writers' organization Backspace. I love what they're posting, from author interviews, like this one with Notes from the Underwire author Quinn Cummings, to whether Amazon reviews count. Check it out. It's way more interesting and useful than my life right now. Well, the parts of my life I can share here, anyway.

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Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Pasita is delicious!

Very briefly, just wanted to say how delicious the food was last night at Pasita, where I dined and chatted courtesy of co-owner and awesome writer Nancy Balbirer, who read at In The Flesh (video TK) this month and whose book Take Your Shirt Off and Cry I highly recommend. The food was amazing and I can't wait to go back and eat some more. Oh, and at In The Flesh I learned how to pronounce "boite."

Pasita pizza = delicious!

Pasita
I forgot what these were called by they were these corn fritters with nata cheese - looked like sour cream, which I hate, but was delicious.

Pasita ropa vieja pizza - I could eat this every night!
This ropa vieja pizza was my favorite. Sorry I can't be more descriptive, I'm super tired but in happy news, I got my teeth cleaned this morning, for the first time in longer than I care to admit. It didn't even hurt and I got complimented on my teeth. Have to go back for a deep cleaning, but I don't mind. I'm always so scared doctors (or anyone, really) are going to yell at or be mad at me.

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Monday, July 27, 2009

I'm getting (almost) naked for the 2010 Sex Bloggers Calendar - sponsor us!

On Wednesday night, I'm getting (almost) naked again for a sexy photo shot by Circe for this:



Why should you buy? To support Sex Work Awareness, and because Miss Calico is offering photos. See www.sexbloggercalendar.com for more info.

If you’re a business think about buying one day each month and being remembered all year or if you have special sales to promote, you can even include a promotion code for a specified time period. If you’re a blogger you can have your blog url on your day, or if you’re a reader, any personal message – you can wish us luck or send a greeting to your favorite blogger or celebrate your birthday or anniversary – up to 80 characters will be printed on your day. That $30 includes one pre-ordered calendar (shipping is extra) with all funds in excess of our expenses going directly to Sex Work Awareness. You can purchase as many additional days as you like depending upon availability for $10 each. Although this is a 2010 calendar, we are on schedule and can only sell days through , August 1, 2009 in order to give our graphic designer enough time before the finished calendar must be sent to the printer.

By clicking on one of the purchase buttons to the right you’ll be taken to the Audacia Ray’s Waking Vixen store to make your purchase. Some of you will remember last year that we used a Paypal account at first but after being reviewed by Paypal twice due to the word “sex” in our name we moved the sales to Dacia’s store to avoid the risk of having our account shut down by Paypal. What some of you may not know is that when Paypal shuts an account for what they feel is a violation of their TOS they confiscate all funds in that account.

When you complete your sale you may use the section titled “Shipping Instructions” to list your top three choices for dates on the calendar you want along with your 80 character message. Within 24 hours you will receive an email confirming your date(s) on the calendar. If you are purchasing more than one day on the calendar please just indicate your choice of dates and we will follow up with you by email for these 80 character messages you would like.


Or:

If you would like to use Paypal to purchase a personalize day on the 2010 calendar or pre-order the calendar email us at nycsexbloggerscal@gmail.com for details.

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"Spanking for Soccer Moms" by Donna George Storey



Reminder: Enter to win a paddle today only by purchasing Bottoms Up: Spanking Good Stories from Amazon.com and forwarding the receipt to spankingantho at gmail.com - click here for details.

Guest post by Donna George Storey, crossposted at the Bottoms Up: Spanking Good Stories blog.

Spanking for Soccer Moms
by Donna George STorey

To look at me--a mild-mannered, cookie-baking soccer mom--you’d never guess I enjoy receiving and giving a good spanking. According to almost every popular magazine article, women like me don’t have much sex at all, much less take an occasional dance on that fascinating tightrope dividing pain and pleasure, submission and liberation.

My husband and I had been married about two years and were still in our twenties when he first spanked me. I was riding him cowgirl style and suddenly smack! My eyes shot open and I stopped mid-thrust. No sooner had the words “what the hell are you doing?” taken shape in my head, then they were quickly replaced by “wow, that feels great, do it again.” Without any real words exchanged, my husband instinctively understood my desire and continued to spank me on toward a very hot orgasm.

You might wonder what happened next to this ordinary suburban couple after their first taste of non-vanilla sex. Did we immediately rush out to invest in a collection of flogging instruments worthy of The Story of O, frequent dungeons and Eyes Wide Shut sex parties, and sign up for nudist, swingers’ cruises? That’s the way the story goes in most erotic novels and porn flicks.

But in our real life, consensual erotic spanking merely became an occasional treat when we were in the mood for something edgier. The blows were never punishing, they never left marks—it was just enough to get the nerve endings singing. Sometimes I’d spank him while I gave him a blowjob because, you know, only bad boys let girls suck their cocks. He perfected the technique of spanking my tender spots just hard enough to make them warm and tingly. Later we found that spanking is an excellent garnish to imaginative bedroom power games of all kinds, a heady infusion of spice to any long-term relationship (not to mention the benefits of a “naughty schoolgirl” outfit, which is a great bargain on November 1).



Not to take anything from the dedicated spanking aficionados with a closet full of paddles and crops, but just as signing up for tennis lessons doesn’t imply you will or should be a contender at Wimbledon, an occasional flirtation with “rough caresses” doesn’t mean you have to remodel your life on the movie Secretary. Although, of course, there’s nothing to stop you if you want to!

Still, some of us aren’t quite ready to take it that far. So if you happen to be inspired to do a little hands-on experimentation after reading one of the hot stories in Bottoms Up, I say go for it one scintillating smack at a time. Even if you’re a cookie-baking soccer mom, the type all the magazines say isn’t supposed to have any fun in bed.

Believe me, you’ll have a great time proving them wrong.

Donna George Storey is the author of the erotic novel, Amorous Woman, which naturally includes a spanking scene. Read more at her website: www.DonnaGeorgeStorey.com.

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Bottoms Up: Spanking Good Stories contributor interview with Elizabeth Coldwell



Reminder: Enter to win a paddle today only by purchasing Bottoms Up: Spanking Good Stories from Amazon.com and forwarding the receipt to spankingantho at gmail.com - click here for details.

Name: Elizabeth Coldwell

What inspired your “A Firm Understanding” story in Bottoms Up?

I'd recently received a couple of copies of a publication called Corporal Contacts to write about in Forum magazine. They're put together by Rupert Pendragon, who I'd interviewed for the mag several years earlier. He specialises in offering old-fashioned discipline to men, particularly those who have a fantasy about being chastised by a strict schoolmaster or head prefect (yes, it's a very English thing...), and Corporal Contacts is full of stories and contact ads on that topic, as well as army discipline and similar scenarios which involve young men with pert bottoms being spanked/caned/slippered by older men. It's a real old-school (no pun intended) type of publication, photocopied, stapled and full of fuzzy photos of cute, semi-naked young men being punished. Though I'm not in the target readership, you can see why I might enjoy leafing through it! Corporal Contacts inspired me to write a male/male spanking story, but I wanted to write it from the point of view of a woman who's watching the action, because most spanking stories are either about the person giving the spanking or the one receiving it, and it's nice to add a bit of voyeurism to the mix once in a while.

How long did it take you to write it?

Once I had the idea, it all came together quite quickly - it was probably finished in two or three sessions of writing over the course of a weekend.

What is your favorite paragraph in your story?

For a moment, Sergeant Sterne placed the plimsoll on his desk, deliberately in Stephen's eyeline, as though to remind him of what was to come. He reached for the waistband of the shorts, unfastening them briskly and yanking them down. Stephen had been instructed to wear nothing beneath them, and as his buttocks were revealed I could clearly see the vivid, rosy imprints of the plimsoll's sole on his pale flesh.

How is this story different from/similar to your other work?

I haven't really done much male/male CP before now, though I certainly will again in the future. It's similar to my other work in that I like to explore the relationship the characters have and if and how it changes during the course of the spanking or other sexual encounter. One of the points I wanted to make in "A Firm Understanding" is that men often feel they have to be strong and macho in front of a woman, but that they can actually become stronger when they can admit to be being vulnerable, as when they're receiving a spanking.

What's your favorite spanking erotica you've ever read?

Ooh, the amount of good spanking erotica available is increasing all the time. If you want a taster of the depth and variety of current spanking fiction, I don't think you can go wrong with your previous Cleis anthology, Spanked. You're bound to find a story in there you like.

What are you working on next?

I'm in the middle of a story about a woman who gets into a relationship with a man who's obsessed with stockings. It doesn't have a home as yet, but I'd like to think someone will pick it up...

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McCain-Palin t-shirt in Levi's ad in subway station: What does it mean?

I saw this last night as part of several Levi's ads right next to each other in the 14th/8th subway station. What does it mean? Odd that I saw it right as Palin was resigning. "All I Need Is All I Got"? Losing candidates? Seriously, I'm perplexed.

Levi's ad with McCain-Palin t-shirt

Levi's ad with McCain-Palin t-shirt

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With cupcakes

As I pretty much was all weekend, this was taken at Sweet on Mass. Ave.

Holding cupcakes at Sweet

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Sunday, July 26, 2009

Happy Amazon Spike Day to me and Bottoms Up - now let's SPIKE SPIKE SPIKE it way lower than 26,890

Right now, as of 12:50 am EST, this is how my brand-new book Bottoms Up: Spanking Good Stories is doing on Amazon:



If you buy it anytime in the next 23 hours and 10 minutes in paperback (not Kindle) from Amazon.com, you will be helping lower this number, boost my sales, and be entered to WIN a paddle of your choice, from the multitude of offerings on Amazon. There are heart paddles, paddle brushes, leopard-print paddles, xoxo paddles, slut paddles, and so many more, and the winner, plus one extra winner, will also get copies of my 3 previous spanking erotica anthologies, Spanked: Red-Cheeked Erotica, Naughty Spanking Stories from A to Z 1 and 2. Basically, if you're at all inclined to buy Bottoms Up from Amazon.com, you should do it today. (I also encourage you to buy it from your local indie bookstore/sex toy store, but only Amazon.com is part of my one-day promotion.)

There are 20 kinky spanking stories in Bottoms Up that I think you'll like very much. Visit the Bottoms Up site for a free sample and stay tuned for author interviews.

Publishers Weekly said that it was "whipped up by the popular sex blogger." Yes, that's me, whipping up books in my kitchen. Ha ha.

Here's what erotica writer Neve Black had to say about Bottoms Up:

I really enjoyed how each story is varied and complex, much like the characters - like in Donna George Storey's A Thousand Words, I could feel his shame mixed with all the kinky lust running through his pulsing veins...superb. Or in Alison Tyler's, The Hardest Part, the excrutiating build up and power struggle between the two characters was intense, which made the story sizzle-hot...fabulous. Sommer Marsden's, Bossy had me chuckling, aroused and I could feel each and every hard smack...Wow! Actually, all the stories are amazing in this collection, because I didn't know what was coming next. Every story is a new surprise. It's fun, exciting, kinky and hot. Once you read this book, you'll be searching for a paddle, a wooden spatula, or a lover's hard hand - spanking is good, especially when you've been bad. Enjoy!

ps. I kindof like this paddle, described as:

Leave your heart throb a throbbing heart with a solid swing of this unique paddle. With each stroke, a cut-out heart shape on the end will leave a red heart behind on the skin for a kinky visual effect! Covered in soft velvet, this paddle is excellent for dual sensation play - just glide the sensual surface over reddened flesh for an erotic effect. A wrist loop ensures the paddle always stays firmly in your grip.Color: RedType: PaddleMaterial: Velvet, VinylLength: 15 inchWidth: 3 inchSpecial Features: Velvet Surface, Wrist LoopWeight: 5 oz

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Ben & Jerry's pro-gay marriage ice cream ad in Harvard Square subway station



My weekend was crazy, chaotic, ridiculous, fun, and cupcake-filled. I'd say it didn't go according to plan, but there was no plan, so that's not quite right. It was definitely an adventure and took me all over Boston and its suburbs. Despite my bad Boston travel karma, I made it onto the Bolt Bus home. Busy week ahead before flying Friday night to Minneapolis. Looking for a spot for long solo spa/writing weekend cause that's what I need. Well, what I really need is to get out of NYC for good, but I can't pull that off overnight, so in the meantime, a spa weekend would be nice.

I did get to sleep on piles of both firm and soft pillows at my hotel last night. They were heavenly, and made it very hard to get up.

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Actual swan


Actual swan
Originally uploaded by rachelkramerbussel.com

Swan boat, Boston Public Gardens


Friday, July 24, 2009

Bottoms Up in a box

It arrived yesterday! Backside up, naturally, but I flipped them for the second photo.

Details here.



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Ballsy book title: Marrying George Clooney



Marrying George Clooney: Confessions from a Midlife Crisis
by Amy Ferris

I'm looking forward to reading this! See more at Amy Ferris's site

While wide awake in the middle of the night (welcome to menopause!), Amy Ferris began chronicling every one of her funny, sad, hysterical, down and dirty, and raw to the bones stories. Along with fantasizing about marrying George Clooney, Ferris is faced with a plethora of other insomnia-induced thoughts and activities. From googling old boyfriends to researching obscure and fatal diseases on the web. She worries endlessly about her husband, relies heavily on Ambien, and tries to arrange care via the Internet for her mother (who has both severe dementia and a massive love-bubble crush on Jesus Christ)-all while refraining from lighting up just one more cigarette.

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Fishnet fetish





Alison Tyler reminded me of a story I wrote for her book F Is for Fetish called "Fishnet Queen." Here's an excerpt, and see her blog for more fetishy goodness:

First thing I see are her legs, clad in the kind of stockings that make me hard just by thinking about them: fishnets. Her legs are long, and in her mini skirt, which rides up her thigh, I can see her pale skin augmented by the tightly woven black pattern that seems made just for her. She doesn’t just wear the fishnets, she owns them. I've seen women try to rock fishnets who simply can't pull them off, who wear them as if they were any other kind of stockings, tugged on hastily during a rushed morning, ripped in spots, slammed into sneakers, used and abused in the most careless manner possible.

There should be some kind of test when purchasing such delicate garments, I think, like an ID for cigarettes, but in all things fishnet, the test should be for class. I can always tell when a woman really cares about her fishnets, when she's the type who shakes them out before holding open the hole and sliding her foot into it, aware of every nuance of sensuality involved. I can tell when she makes sure that the seam up the back is perfectly even, forming a straight line right up to her ass, one I love to trace with my tongue, when she cares enough to buy the kind that have a seam. I can tell when the mere act of donning a pair of fishnets sends a rush of blood to her clit, when she morphs from gorgeous to goddess in the act, when she lets them transport her from ordinary to sex goddess. The rest of her outfit doesn’t really matter, nor how tall or short she is; a woman who wears fishnets like they’re her birthright is the kind I want to fuck, the kind whose fishnets I want to kiss and stroke and caress before ultimately peeling them down and plunging my cock inside her. Fishnet girls are all about foreplay, leaving me on the edge of arousal for as long as we both can stand it. That's the kind of woman I look for, who wears her fishnets not simply as artifice or armor but amour, who steps into her dominance one foot at a time.


What's funny is that while I remember in some way all the stories I've written (I think I'm probably up to 100 or so by now, will have to count at some point), I don't always remember the details of the content, but I remember other things. I wrote most of this story at the Starbucks on Delancey on the Lower East Side. I remember where I was sitting, remember thinking the story was too outlandish and over-the-top in its fetishism to work. I tend to gravitate toward the places where a piece of writing clicked, hoping I can pull it off again. Sometimes it even works!

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Thursday, July 23, 2009

Win a paddle from me on the Bottoms Up: Spanking Good Stories Amazon Spike Day!

My copies of Bottoms Up just arrived today - pretty much the best, if not the only, good thing about this week. Anyway, here's the contest details:

I bet you probably didn't even know Amazon.com sells paddles! Well, they do, and they're a perfect pairing with my new book Bottoms Up: Spanking Good Stories, which I hope you will buy on Monday, July 27th, my Amazon Spike Day. Amazon Spike Day is a way to try to generate sales on Amazon and spread the word about a given book, so I will be teasing you with story excerpts and interviews. And photos of pretty paddles I wish someone would spank me with!



Unlike last time around, I can't afford to give everyone a free book, but I am giving away something even cooler: a paddle! And where better to get it from than Amazon.com? Actually, there are tons of great places to buy paddles, but it goes with the theme, and I just love that Amazon sells such kinky implements, don't you? One winner will get a paddle of their choice and my books Spanked: Red-Cheeked Erotica and Naughty Spanking Stories from A to Z 1 and 2 and a second winner will get all 3 books. Winner chosen randomly. Good luck!

Rules: You must purchase the paperback (not Kindle) version of Bottoms Up: Spanking Good Stories on July 27th (from midnight to 11:59 pm counts) and must be in the U.S. Then forward your receipt and put "Amazon" in the subject line to spankingantho at gmail.com with a link to the paddle you want sent to you - must have a retail value of $60 or lower. Hint: search "paddle" in the Health & Personal Care section.

Happy shopping, and remember, wait until Monday!

You can now read a sexy excerpt from Tess Danesi's story "The Purple Balloon" on the Bottoms Up blog.

Email spankingantho at gmail.com if you have any questions and thanks for your interest in spanking and support for my books!

All of these are possibilities:



Amazon description:

Mr-S-Leather Bloodline Wooden Paddle - 18" - Canary & Bloodline, $59.95

A truly beautiful work of art. You may already have a bunch of things to whack someone with...But this new 18' long Bloodline paddle will become your favorite instantly. These are made from three distinct layers of exotic hardwoods glued together, varnished and lacquered to a high gloss finish. 3 fluted indents on one side, while the back side is totally smooth. Add one of these to your collection and use on that special bottom's butt. For the amount of work put into making these and how beautiful they are, they are priced quite inexpensively.These all wood paddles are made from high quality, furniture grade domestic hardwoods, exotic hardwoods, or combinations thereof. All wood furniture and toys are finished with multiple layers of a high quality grade lacquer making a superior finish although it is not waterproof. These wooden toys should be cared for as you would fine wood furniture. Cleaning and care should be with a mild, non-abrasive cleaner intended for wood furniture such as Pledge, Pledge Wipes or Murphy's Oil Soap.





The one below is my personal favorite, not necessarily for how it'd feel, but how it looks:



Amazon description:

Heart 2 Heart Paddle Leather Pocket with Red Hearts Inlay, Black, $54.08

Your heart is afire and your butt will be too after a playful paddling by our pocket paddle with red leather heart inlay. The black suede lining on the backside provide a soothing softness for you backside. An adorable paddle? It could only come from the makers of Heart2Heart. Get all the matching heart-a-fire pieces!

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Wednesday, July 22, 2009

RIP Black Lace and Nexus

Adam Nevill, who until very recently was the erotica editor over at Black Lace and Nexus, sent these with an invitation to the wake of both imprints:





The irony of getting my author copies (but, um, no check yet) for Sexy Little Numbers, which I have two stories in, and isn't out in the US until September, didn't escape me. I haven't read it yet but it looks gorgeous and has my name on the cover.

Some Black Lace books I'm eager to read:



by two wonderful authors, Megan Hart and Lauren Dane, and the release date is my birthday, November 10th! And I liked their first joint effort, Taking Care of Business.

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Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Penthouse 40th anniversary issue!



As you may or may not know, I write book reviews every month in Penthouse. Many of them are online here. I reviewed Joshua Lyon's Pill Head and Jonathan Ames' The Double Life is Twice as Good in the 40th anniversary issue (see table of contents and photos of pretty girls here). Check it out, on newsstands now!

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Girldrive trailer



This is a fabulous trailer! Very impressed. The book is impressive too, with footage from the road trip(s) that make up the book. More about it closer to pub date. See the Girldrive blog for more info.

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My cupcake blog in The New York Times

This was very sweet news on Sunday:

Frank Bruni mentioned Cupcakes Take the Cake in "Fois Gras Palates, Hot Dog Pocketbooks" in the New York Times:

How crazy can it get? Do a Google search on “cupcake blog” and see how many pop up, including “Hello, Cupcake!,” “Cupcake Project,” “Crumbs and Doilies,” “No One Puts Cupcake in a Corner” and “Cupcakes Take the Cake,” whose inventory of posts includes “cupcake kebab how-to,” “cupcake license plates” and “cupcake bakeries on Twitter.”

The cupcake universe is obviously richer, subtler and more varied than was once imagined, but can doughnuts really reward much reflection? Especially chain doughnuts of the most basic order?

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Email delays

I had a draft of this post but it sounded kindof bitchy, which, honestly, I don’t really mind, but I’ll just keep it simple. Because of spam, stress, and not wanting to spend every moment of my day online, I may not respond right away, or even within a few days, to your email. If it’s urgent, write to rachelkramerbussel at gmail.com and put “Urgent” and my assistant Inara will make sure I see it. Most of the time, I’m totally on top of the email situation, but lately I have lots of other stuff to do, plus hundreds of new spam messages a day courtesy of I have no idea. So that’s the scoop – I am making a concerted effort to spend less time answering emails and more time being productive. Also trying to get 3 anthologies out the door, plus some freelance work, etc. So if it’s urgent, state your case, if not, just be patient. And always feel free to try me re: submissions – I should be getting back to everyone about Please, Sir, Please, Ma’am and Best Sex Writing 2010 by the first week of August, or else I will be very unhappy. I can’t wait to put these to bed so I can work on the new projects I have cooking!

One thing I actually like about New York: New York Sports Club

Lately, New York is not really my favorite place. Or rather, my favorite place to live (Freudian slip that I first wrote "leave?"). I am mentally fantasizing about others, though me and New York may not ever be able to break up. I'm good here for the next year or two, but then, who knows? That's why I'm squeezing in as much travel as I can, because I can appreciate New York more when I get away. Boston this weekend, Minneapolis the next.

But one thing I am loving about New York is my New York Sports Club membership. Last night I worked out next to my first home in NYC, 240 Mercer Street. I always have to laugh at how dumb and naive I was, thinking I could be a lawyer, thinking I had the stamina, the smarts, the whatever it takes to make it. I may have failed as a law student, but I hope I've made it as a New Yorker. Anyway, that gym had great machines and is open til 11 Monday-Thursday (I think, it was last night, anyway), and I had new sneakers and reading material for inspiration (interesting pieces on Amazon.com/Jeff Bezos/e-books and the chain that owns Olive Garden and Red Lobster in Fast Company, and Jill Soloway interviews Diablo Cody in BUST).

New sneakers

Gymspiration

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Monday, July 20, 2009

Hoping to cure my forgetfulness for $6.99

I'm even more of a disaster than usual lately between my innate
slackersom and...well, that. Trying to motivate and accomplish at
least one thing i can be proud of each day.

I'm a pro at quitting and failing but even a 33-year-old can learn new
tricks, right? Here's hoping the rest of the week's better. Took a
personal day today that sortof helped, but I need to figure some shut
out fast or I will be trapped here forever and that would be sad. I'm
so over New York it's not even funny. But I have faith I will escape
someday. In the meantime, just hanging in there, trying to not default
to being a fuckup and learning to say no to energy-sapping anything.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Blueberry picking in Gillette, New Jersey


Saturday, July 18, 2009

More spanking! Bottoms Up: Spanking Good Stories is officially out now!

Yes, my fourth book of spanking erotica, following Naughty Spanking Stories from A to Z 1 and 2 (more information about those books is available on my website) and Spanked: Red-Cheeked Erotica (read introduction and table of contents and watch the book trailer here) is now out! Below is the table of contents and introduction.

I will have details next week, but if you hold off buying the book until Monday, July 27th, anytime from 12:01 am-11:59 pm, on Amazon.com (yes, it has to be from Amazon during that time frame), you will be entered to win a special spanking prize package which includes Naughty Spanking Stories from A to Z 1 and 2, Spanked, and a sexy paddle, as part of my Amazon Spike Day promotion. Worth waiting for, I promise. I will be posting story snippets and author interviews throughout the week to hype it up.

Or, if you just can't wait, it's available now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Powells, as well as in a Kindle edition! (only $9.99)



Here’s the Table of Contents and Introduction:

Introduction: Getting Spanked Again (and Again)

A Thousand Words by Donna George Storey
The Hardest Part by Alison Tyler
A Firm Understanding by Elizabeth Coldwell
Prime Time by Teresa Noelle Roberts
Ass Worship by Jerry Arthur
The Purple Balloon by Tess Danesi
Sorority Sister by Dominique Dunbar
Days by Simon Sheppard
Bossy by Sommer Marsden
Oscar and Holly by Bill Kte’pi
Lonnie’s Licks by Tenille Brown
The Swinging Spankers Club by Stan Kent
Reenactment by Zille Defeu
Confessor by Craig J. Sorensen
The Spanking Machine by Rachel Kramer Bussel
Stuffing the Ballot Box by Andrea Dale
Tease for Two by Maddy Stuart
I’m Going to Grab Your Hair by N. T. Morley
Flaming by Jean Roberta
Helping Those in Need by Gwen Masters

Introduction: Getting Spanked Again (and Again)

This being my fourth book on the subject, by now it should be clear that I love spanking: giving, receiving, fantasizing about, and watching it.

So what’s different about this collection? For one thing, there are more male authors represented, a trend I fully support. For another, the tales are more imaginative; yes, there are first-timers and dedicated spankophiles, but there are also swingers and Renaissance Fair attendees living out long-held fantasies in highly unusual ways (see Tess Danesi’s “The Purple Balloon” for details). There are spankings here that aren’t all good or all bad, just as ones in real life don’t always conform so easily. Is the narrator of Dominique Dunbar’s “Sorority Sister” grateful for the spanking she got from Claire Spencer back in the day? Was that a pleasurable experience or one that teetered on confusion? Dunbar mixes things up so we’re not totally sure.

Alison Tyler also alludes to the push/pull of spanking, even for the most die-hard fan. “But now that I’m here, I’d rather be anywhere else. Name the place, and I’d rather be there: in line at the DMV; waiting in the doctor’s office; sitting at the back of coach on a packed flight. I’m scared, more scared than usual, because he’s taking his time…” She perfectly captures the way many submissives want what they know will hurt, want it and don’t want it at the very same time—something that good tops play into.

The same thing happens in Teresa Noelle Roberts’ kinky math nerd tale, “Prime Time,” in which the narrator finds herself tongue-tied as she’s given a challenging assignment. “My stomach flip-flopped. The bedroom spun. My heart raced in panic that I couldn’t convince myself was pointless. I fought back the urge to cry, fought it so hard that I started trembling.” You might think, upon reading that sentence, that she doesn’t really want to be spanked, that she doesn’t fantasize and obsess over her need, but you’d be wrong.

I’m also very glad this book has a fairly even mix of spankers and spankees, though of course some people can manage to be both at different times. The rush of delivering a spanking to one who wants and needs it is explored here in many scenarios, from Simon Sheppard’s wistful “Days” to the age-variant relationship in Bill Kte’pi’s intriguing “Oscar and Holly.” And in Maddy Stuart’s “Tease for Two,” two women get off on sharing the power of delivery, and learning from each other, as well as mutual delight in a job well done: “George’s technique was that of someone who had spanked a thousand exposed asses, but the overflowing smile and the sparkle in her eyes belonged to someone who was discovering it for the first time.”

Whatever kind of spankings you’re into–even if, like the characters in Donna George Storey’s “A Thousand Words” and Jerry Arthur’s “Ass Worship,” you’re not sure what you’re into--I hope you’ll find it within these pages.

And spank you very much for reading.

Rachel Kramer Bussel
New York City

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Friday, July 17, 2009

In The Flesh author photo

From last night at In The Flesh Reading Series


Back: Trans-Atlantic Friedman, Beatnik For Hire (bongo player), Mike Edison, Wickham Boyle, Blaise Allyson Kearsley, Mike Daisey, Maria Diaz
Front: Nancy Balbirer, Rachel Kramer Bussel, Megan Carpentier

Photo: Jen Peters

There were also cupcakes:


Baked by Melissa mini cupcakes


Baked by Melissa mini cupcakes

And bongo playing!

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Tremulous

The usual warning: If you don't want to read about my sex life, don't keep reading.

I've been doing readings since 2001 when my story "Monica and Me" was published in Best Lesbian Erotica 2001. That's a long time, and have hosted my monthly reading series since October 2005. You'd think I'd be better at reading or speaking in front of a crowd. But I'm not. I don't have the ease, the ownership, of the stage as you see stage performers or comedians or even other writers do. "Tremulous" was the word I believe Mike Daisey used last night to describe my reading (which you can soon watch and judge for yourselves).

I looked it up at Merriam-Webster:

Main Entry: trem·u·lous
Pronunciation: \-ləs\
Function: adjective
Etymology: Latin tremulus — more at TREMBLE
Date: 1611

1 : characterized by or affected with trembling or tremors
2 : affected with timidity : TREMBLE
3 : such as is or might be caused by nervousness or shakiness (a tremulous smile)
4 : exceedingly sensitive : easily shaken or disordered
trem·u·lous·ly adverb
trem·u·lous·ness noun

Here's the thing: he's totally right. My voice did and does shake. I'm nervous. I don't dislike it per se, but it's usually not until the moment I get up there that I realize, "Wow, this is really personal and intense." It's why I can read a story like "Lap Dance Lust," which I've read many times to Tsaurah Litzky's erotica class at The New School and at readings, but something like "Your Hand on My Neck," which I read an excerpt of last night, not so much. I guess I feel like I'm the opposite, or try to be, in my writing. Part of why I'm working on these pieces about rough sex is that I want to try to demystify what it's like--or rather, what it's like for me--because I hate the way things like that are perceived or tossed around, like they all evil. It makes a very strong boldface blurb but...what does it really say? But anyway, as much as in my head I can be all, "I'm standing up for us slutty bitches who are into rough sex," when I'm live, in front of people, that's not who I am at all. I'm wishing I'd chosen a safer, easier topic. I'm nervous about what people will think of me after. I'm editing on the fly a piece that's not yet done. I chose to read it at True Sex Confessions Night because it's a true story, my story, anyway. I would love, I would pay for, the top's side of this, the Eliot Spitzer or whoever. I would throw that sucker right into Best Sex Writing 2010 ASAP if I could find the perfect piece about what it's like from the other side. I could, of course, ask the person I do it with but...I haven't yet. That probably says a lot.

Anyway, it's a lot easier to type these words, or blog them, than speak them. The writing, when it comes (which, lately, is rare), it comes unconflicted, raw, pretty much finished when it leaves my head. The writing, in comparison to speaking out loud, is easy, having people look at me and expect entertainment from my twisted words, not so much. Probably always will be that way if the last 8 years are anything to go by. So yes, tremulous, that's me. If you want something else, go to another reading series.

Excerpt, story to be published in the tentatively titled Please, Sir: Erotic Stories of Submission, edited by me, published by Cleis Press, April 2010 (I am still editing the book, please be patient.)

Your Hand on My Neck
by Rachel Kramer Bussel

Your hand on my neck is all it takes to make tears race to my eyes, to put my body on red alert, to let me know that I’m about to go insane. It’s that simple…yet of course your fingers going for the jugular will always be more complex than I can ever truly describe. It’s the fastest way to get my attention, to snap me out of whatever meandering place my mind has wandered, back to where it should be: on you. Forget about when you raise your hand to spank me or reach for my nipples to pinch them or even when you grab my arm to slam it against the sheets or shackle my wrist to your bedposts, all of which you know I adore, your hand on my neck is what makes me unbearably, almost impossibly wet.

Is it because you were my first? Is it because I trust you more? Or is it because those tears that rush forth, the gasps that claw their way to the surface, the panic that bubbles just below the surface, speak to me in a language deeper than words ever could?

Sometimes, because you know me so well, because you know what it does to me, you do it while we’re sitting across from each other at a restaurant. To an outsider, it probably looks like a light caress, like your hand could just as easily be stroking my arm, your thumb caressing my inner wrist, or smoothing my hair, or tracing my lips. And you could be doing any of those things, but you’re not: You’re wrapping yourself from thumb to forefinger around the expanse of my neck, pressing just enough to make my lips go slack, my breath get short. You’re telling me so much without saying a word, and my first instinct is to do what I do in bed: bend my head back, elongate my neck, shut my eyes, give more of myself to you.

But we’re in public, so I wait, and soon the moment passes. A couple can hold hands, under or even above the table, or play footsie, with no problem, but the intimate of choking is probably pushing the envelope, even in Manhattan. Still, I think about it, even while waiting for my burger and fries, about how it feels when you press harder, when my through constricts and the gasps become sobs and I want to thrash and struggle so I can feel you clamp down harder...

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Frustration

Last night's reading went off without a hitch, I will post more about it later, but I'm so pleased. I'll have the next 2 months' lineups up soon. Then October we have our first guest host, Carolyn Castiglia, and it's also the 4 year anniversary of In The Flesh but we'll be celebrating that at spanking night November 19th. Though even if we call it a birthday, 4 spankings doesn't sound like very many. Will have to ponder that one.

Anyway, though, past few weeks have been full of frustration. I'm one of those people who always thinks everything's my fault, and obviously, sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't. But even when it's not, I try to look at what role I played, how I fucked up or could've made things easier on myself.

A few weeks ago, I was planning to go to the library during my lunch hour, but got an email about appearing on a local radio station. I then spent about 20 minutes of my lunch hour chatting with the producer, who made it sound like a done deal for the next morning. I asked if we were all set and she said something like, "Unless something major happens in Iraq..." So I took that to mean I was on, and didn't mind having thus wasted my chance to go to the library (it's a slightly far trip).

Then I get a call from her later in the evening telling me that I'm not on. From the impression I got from her end (something about a guest and scheduling), the segment wasn't happening. Turns out it was...with two people I know and respect. I took that to mean my answers weren't up to snuff, that instead of being asked to be on the show I was somehow auditioning. And, well, I was annoyed and a bit jealous. No, I don't have the proper credentials as those friends. I've never written a book, no longer have any column to attach to my name. I get it, but what frustrated me was the wasted time from speaking with her to researching the topic. And I hated that jealous feeling. Of course I was happy for my friends on the show but I was annoyed that my time had been wasted and wished I'd gotten to do the show. But it made me realize that if I want these gigs, I have to write a nonfiction book. Simple as that. It will happen...not anytime in my foreseeable future (I can only reasonably see about a year or two into the future), but it will. For now, I have other projects occupying my attention. I learned that next time, nothing is final until you are literally on the air. I should know that, but I either didn't or I forgot, so, lesson learned.

This week I had plans with someone. They were made the night before and somewhat tentative, but seemed more solid than not. I was waiting for them to call, and wound up rearranging whatever schedule I'd had to wait. And wait. I finally texted and turns out there wasn't going to be enough time to meet up. I felt stood up, and since this was kinda maybe sortof a date, or something like that, it made me feel like I did so many times when I was dating random people, that it was all about the sex, nothing about me. I realized that if this person thought there might be a future between us, someday, whether I do or not, it wouldn't have gone down like that. Right then and there, I lost my interest, at least, any potential sexual interest. There was a time when I still would've gone out of my way to pursue something like that (yes, I am in a relationship which is going quite well, this was just a mild flirtation), to find a way to work it out. I was a bit annoyed but I also knew we didn't have confirmed plans. And the person's young, young enough to, perhaps, not know better, or not try to see it from my perspective. I learned that I had to either not make future plans with this person, or realize that they're always tentative.

The other frustration is sortof two in one. I can't get into the details but I had a disagreement with a friend that left me rattled. Both were somewhat about the same topic, money, which is almost always touchy and tricky. It reminded me of my ex and brought up a lot of my issues, which I also can't, or rather, won't get into here. After a long night last night, I was standing in the bathroom in my boyfriend's apartment with tears streaming down my face. I don't really know that I was "crying" - to me, that word involves sobs and rocking and being on the verge of utter collapse. It wasn't like that, though it could easily have been. The tears are happening now as I write this. I couldn't get the loop of both my conversation with my friend and my role in it out of my head.

I see exactly how it happened, and it was one of those things where as I was doing something, I was thinking, maybe this isn't right. At the same time, I had the best of intentions, but things don't always go as planned.

I'm not one of those people who has lots of fights or arguments; the person I ever argue with the most is my mom, my dad second. I don't tend to argue with people I'm dating. Before this, I honestly can't remember the last time I had what I'd call a fight with a friend. I'm sure I have, but it can't have been recent. That's not to say there aren't slight disagreements or annoyances but those I move on from pretty quickly. The last one that comes to mind was many years ago, with a friend who'd borrowed a key to my grandmother's apartment after we'd stayed there, then lost it, and I really, really needed it, and wound up getting in trouble about it. Now, it seems silly and stupid, and that is not even on my radar when I see this friend. But this other problem, I don't know how it'll play out. I hope we can move past it because I feel awful to have come across like I don't care.

The lesson I learned there though is that money is such a huge topic it has the potential to make all of us act in less than ideal ways. I reacted from my gut the other day and while I don't think my feelings were wrong, I went about expressing them in a way that not only worsened the situation, but I know hurt my friend. I don't plan to mix money and relationships, friendship, familial, or romantic, again, because every time I have it has led to cracks in the relationship that weren't there before, and that is something I definitely can't afford.

All of which is to say that it's been a trying time the last few weeks. I need to get my focus back, mostly because the only person who's actions I can control is my own. Much as I know that, sometimes I get aggravated with people around me who aren't behaving the way I'd want them to. I know someone who almost every time I see them talks about how much they want to do something, who says they're going to do it, who laments not having done it, who vows to do that thing the very next day...and then doesn't. I don't personally care one way or the other but to hear it ad nauseum does make me wonder about their values, their meaning. That's what I liked about the integrity vlog.

I do it too, but hearing Kimberlee say it out loud, I realize that I want to be the kind of person who does what she says. I'm about to sign a contract and all I can think is how foolish and stupid and young and dumb I was when I signed another contract about three years ago. How full of hubris and full of myself. This one has no emotion, no elation. It's business, which it always, always was. It's words and numbers and signatures on pages. That's it. Maybe there will be something about it to celebrate, someday, when I approach that baby-making witching hour, when I am 35, a number that looks cold and scary and so not me, at least, right now. I hope there will be something good at the end of the rainbow, but I know I have to make it happen. No one will do it for me or hand it to me, and the greatest sin I can commit is to expect something magical. I learned so many lessons from round 1, which I can't dwell on now, as I'm in the midst of round 2. The point is, I need to retreat a little and look inward. I've been spending a lot of nights alone and I have to say, it's fucking awesome. I am not this social butterfly people seem to think I am. I love going out but I really do love being on my own even more, not feeling locked in to plans or expectations. So I'm trying to limit the going out lest I become too antisocial.

I've also been writing next to nothing, which means no extra money coming in. I have a few fun assignments that I'm excited about, for print and web. I was flirting with attending my first Romance Writers of America (RWA) conference this weekend, but so glad I'm not, as I'd have had to be on a bus to DC at the crack of dawn today, and would only have gotten 2 days of the conference. Instead, I will live vicariously by reading my pal Lauren Dane's novel Restless and look forward to next year in Nashville. And maybe get a hot stone massage.

And keep on sweating buckets at New York Sports Club - that has been so wonderful. I'm keeping myself on the elliptical machine by reading the new Sophie Kinsella, Twenties Girl, which has all the Kinsella hallmarks but actually takes things up a notch. It's about a young women with a failing business and love life who's visited by the ghost of her 105-year-old newly-dead great-aunt, Sophie, who regales her with stories from the 1920's (and beyond) and meddles in her love life and shows her a new side of things. I like Sophie because she takes lovers and smokes and has a much more devil-may-care, let's-have-fun now attitude than the protagonist, Lara. I've been trying to only read it at the gym, but now that I'm in the middle it's getting really good, so I either have to step it up at the gym, or break that rule.

This weekend I also plan to have a Mad Men marathon. I don't have cable (or even regular TV) and just got hooked in time for the DVD release of Season 2. If you're a fan--or even if you're not--check out Jezebel's "15 Feminist Moments from Mad Men."

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Thursday, July 16, 2009

Top 10 Reasons I Love Kirk Read's essay "It's a Shame About Ray"

I'm a longtime fan of writer Kirk Read. His memoir How I Learned to Snap is brilliant. He is this amazing performer, so of course I turned to his essay "It's a Shame About Ray" in the new Soft Skull Press anthology Hos, Hookers, Call Girls, and Rent Boys: Professionals Writing on Life, Love, Money, and Sex and was expecting something good. What I got was something that is genius. Trust me. The price of the book is worth it for this essay alone (even though there are some other amazing pieces in it too).



1. The title. He had me at “It’s a Shame About Ray” because I am a Lemonheads fan and loved that song.

2. He references a Burger King commercial to describe his escorting Internet personal add:

I used phrases like “non-judgmental” and “open to the fantasies that grip you.” Remember that Burger King commercial? The one with the jingle “Hold the pickles, hold the lettuce; special orders don’t upset us…” It was kind of like that.

3. He is a word nerd.

At the risk of being overly simplistic, I’ll say that all I did was use complete sentences. We live in an age of fission. All around us, the language is being split into tiny, marketable pieces. Here-second chunks of information--visual media is edited in such a way that we’re all careening toward epilepsy. Meanwhile, the sentence is an old friend. The sentence is a familiar revolution. I trust the sentence.

4. He debunks stereotypes while invoking the military industrial complex:

You know that stereotype about how clients want to tell you all their problems, so much so that you don’t spend very much time having sex? The sex worker as talk therapist? It’s complete bullshit. It makes non sex workers feel less threatened by the concept of sex for pay. Like when the government invades a country and launches a media disinformation campaign so people think the troops are just there keeping the peace, when really they’re carrying out midnight raids and razing apartment buildings and shooting civilians point blank. I grew up in a military family. I know that’s what really happens because the men in my family are all emotionally unavailable.

5. He likes guys who aren’t traditionally attractive, and claims that:

For me it’s a deeper practice to arrive with very little to go on. The clients who don’t give you any hints at all--no phone voice, no age, nothing. Those are the guys I end up learning the most from. Especially if they’re not traditionally handsome. Maybe they’ve got some extra weight, maybe their skin has red patches, maybe they have a micropenis. If there’s some characteristic that renders them defective in the eyes of the culture, it makes me more excited to play with them. Like when a firefighter gets a call for a five-alarm blaze. It’s exciting. It’s a challenge.

6. He’s from the South and proud, and explains the politeness of accepting a drink, even in the context of a sex work client.

7. He honors his client, Ray, sharing Ray’s fetish with readers in a way that never vacates his trust, that takes someone who is very likely misunderstood by the general populationæat one point, even by Read--and shows his humanity in the guise of a very specific interest.

8. He’s damn funny. He works in his own fantasies, experiences, and sex worker maxims while also telling a story about a specific client.

9. He’s wistful that he didn’t have more intimate contact with his client, thus debunking another stereotype: that it’s always only about money. Clearly, it wasn’t, so when getting to leave after two hours after being paid for an overnight visit, he’s disappointed.

10. He simply owns this piece. I wish I could carry it around and thrust it upon everyone I meet to read, immediately. It’s that good. It’s funny but never in a way that makes fun of sex. It’s unapologetic in its tone, forthright that he is all these things: a sex worker, queer, Southern, smart. It’s fierce and wistful and horny and forthright. It references Fahrenheit 451 and puts forth a vision of a world where people used full sentences and didn’t beat around the bush when speaking up about their desires. At one point, he writes, “Erotic freedom by any means necessary.” Exactly.

I also happen to think he's drop-dead sexy, so I'm gonna share some photos I found at his site:


photo by Lynnly Labowitz
via Kirkread.com


via Kirkread.com

And if you want to see him naked, covered in money (to be on the safe side, probably NSFW), click here

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Minneapolis Erotica 101 writing workshop August 2nd at Smitten Kitten

The Smitten Kitten Erotica 101 workshop, August 2nd

Not only are the staff of The Smitten Kitten SO nice, plus they stock awesome sex toys, but they also make artwork for the people speaking there! Awesome. See their blog for more details and to register, call them at 612.721.6088 to RSVP. August 2, 7-9 pm, $15.

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Pretty purple dumbbells

I swear, I didn't only buy them because they're purple! And yes, they are 6 pounds - they are not for bicep curls, but for tricep exercises. I did one with my trainer at New York Sports Club (don't care if that sounds pretentious, I'm loving it there, though after my 3 initial sessions, it's gonna get pricey) that I loved and had to have them at home (I'm too self-conscious to use free weights at the gym).

My pretty new dumbbells

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True Sex Confessions Night TONIGHT!

Thanks to all the great local publications who've covered this reading and to my friends/helpers (they will be passing out all the candy/chips/cupcakes/index cards to write your confessions on): Desiree, Diva, and Tess!

The always fabulous (subscribe! it's free!) New York Times UrbanEye newsletter said:

the In the Flesh series at Happy Ending features the monologist Mike Daisey, the memoirists Mike Edison (“I Have Fun Everywhere I Go”) and Nancy Balbirer (“Take Your Shirt Off and Cry;” ex-roomie of Jennifer Aniston) and others sharing their true sex confessions. As always for the wholesome part of you, there will be free cupcakes.

Time Out New York said In The Flesh is "like foreplay for the mind--no strings attached."

New York Press totally gets it:

Part of the In The Flesh reading series, tonight’s event will feature eight guests sharing some of their most intimate secrets. Well, they’re not exactly secrets, since most of the folks performing—including Take Your Shirt Off and Cry author Nancy Balbirer and monologist Mike Daisey—have either published their stories or slept with loudmouths who’ve told everyone all the juicy news already. Still, it will feel illicit to hear them talk about their naked foibles.

The Bottom Line: Give the Internet a break and check out some hot and heavy material with other people.


And New York Daily News gave us a shoutout!

Thanks as well to MurphGuide for the listing.

And if you've never been to Happy Ending Lounge (yes, it's a former massage parlor), it's a gorgeous, sexy, fun space. Also, a small space - I cannot stress enough how much I recommend arriving by 7:30. It will be crowded, but it's worth it, I promise.



Questions about In The Flesh? Email me at rachelkramerbussel at gmail.com - I book generally by invitation only, though I have a few spots left for In The Flesh offshoot Quickies: Short Erotica, Friday, August 7 from 7:30-8:30. For that, send me a short writing sample of what you'd read want to read and a bio.



IN THE FLESH EROTIC READING SERIES
TRUE SEX CONFESSIONS NIGHT
July 16th at 8 PM (doors at 7; we recommend arriving by 7:30 for a seat)
AT HAPPY ENDING LOUNGE, 302 BROOME STREET, NYC
(B/D to Grand, J/M/Z to Bowery, F to Delancey or F/V to 2nd Avenue, http://www.happyendinglounge.com)
Between Forsyth & Eldridge. Look for the hot pink awning that says "XIE HE Health Club."
Admission: Free
Happy Ending Lounge: 212-334-9676
http://inthefleshreadingseries.blogspot.com


In The Flesh is bringing back our most popular segment, True Sex Confessions Night! Featuring monologist Mike Daisey (21 Dog Years, If You See Something Say Something), memoirists Nancy Balbirer (Take Your Shirt Off and Cry: A Memoir of Near-Fame Experiences) and Mike Edison (I Have Fun Everywhere I Go), Melissa Gira Grant (Sexerati.com), Megan Carpentier (Jezebel.com), Blaise K (How I Learned Reading Series), Wickham Boyle (Pleasures, The Erotic Edge) and Maria Diaz (contributor, The Lust Chronicles). Hosted and curated by Rachel Kramer Bussel (Best Sex Writing 2009, The Mile High Club, Spanked). Free candy, cookies, chips and 100 mini cupcakes by Baked by Melissa will be served. Audience members will have the opportunity to anonymously share their true sex confessions throughout the night (via index cards that will be read aloud between readers). Free copies of the word game SexySlang will be given away.

In the Flesh is a monthly reading series hosted at the appropriately named Happy Ending Lounge, and features the country's best erotic writers sharing stories to get you hot and bothered, hosted and curated by acclaimed erotic writer and editor Rachel Kramer Bussel. 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. Since its debut in October 2005, In the Flesh has featured such authors as Laura Antoniou, Mo Beasley, Susie Bright, Lily Burana, Jessica Cutler, Stephen Elliott, Valerie Frankel, Polly Frost, Gael Greene, Andy Horwitz, Debra Hyde, Maxim Jakubowski, Emily Scarlet Kramer of CAKE, Josh Kilmer-Purcell, Edith Layton, Logan Levkoff, Suzanne Portnoy, Sofia Quintero, M.J. Rose, Lauren Sanders, Danyel Smith, Grant Stoddard, Cecilia Tan, Carol Taylor, Dana Vachon, Veronica Vera, Susan Wright, Zane and many others. The series has gotten press attention from the New York Times’s UrbanEye, Escape (Hong Kong), Flavorpill, The L Magazine, New York Magazine, New York Observer, Philadelphia City Paper, Time Out New York, Flavorwire, Gothamist, Jezebel.com, Nerve.com and Wonkette, and has been praised by Dr. Ruth.

Nancy Balbirer's memoir, Take Your Shirt Off and Cry, was published by Bloomsbury in April. She is the author and star of the critically acclaimed solo show I Slept With Jack Kerouac and Other Stories, the co-creator of the cult reading series, Cause Celeb!, and has co-starred on Seinfeld and MTV’s Remote Control. She is a graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and is the co-owner, designer and doyenne of the West Village boite, Pasita. She lives with remarkably few regrets in Manhattan with her husband and daughter.
takeyourshirtoffandcry.com


photo by Rob d'Entremont

Wickham Boyle, known as Wicki, wears many hats: writer, journalist, consultant and theater producer. As well as writing about sex and all things erotic, Boyle has written numerous articles on finance, parenting and travel for The New York Times, Savoy, National Geographic, Budget Travel, Real Simple, Gotham, Grace and the Downtown Express. She was one of the founders of Code Magazine, and editor-in-chief of Thrive, a magazine launched in late 2006 dedicated to the baby boom generation. Her essays can be heard on the AARP radio stations during their Prime Time show. Her erotic stories can be found in numerous collections published by Dutton, including the groundbreaking Pleasures and The Erotic Edge.



Rachel Kramer Bussel is an author, editor, blogger and reading series host. She is Senior Editor at Penthouse Variations and a former sex columnist for The Village Voice. She’s edited numerous anthologies, two of which (Up All Night and Glamour Girls) have been Lambda Literary Award finalists, most recently The Mile High Club: Plane Sex Stories, Do Not Disturb: Hotel Sex Stories, Best Sex Writing 2009, Tasting Him, Tasting Her, and Spanked. Her writing been published in publications such as Clean Sheets, Cosmopolitan, The Daily Beast, Fresh Yarn, Huffington Post, Mediabistro, Newsday, New York Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Tango, The Village Voice, and Time Out New York, and in over 100 anthologies, including Best American Erotica 2004 and 2006. She has hosted In The Flesh since October 2005.
www.rachelkramerbussel.com


photo by Hilary McHone

Megan Carpentier is a freelancer writer whose work has appeared on Jezebel.com, Wonkette, The Daily Beast, Glamour's blog Glamocracy, Foreign Policy's Madame Secretary blog, Ms., the Washington Post and Radar. Most of that was not about sex. Before she was an underemployed writer, she was an over-educated, mostly-inebriated lobbyist with a bad attitude and a foul mouth.
chaoticmegan.blogspot.com



Mike Daisey has been called “the master storyteller” and “one of the finest solo performers of his generation” by the New York Times for his groundbreaking monologues. His first film, LAYOVER, was shown at the Cannes Film Festival, and a feature film of his monologue If You See Something Say Something will be released this year. He’s been a guest on the Late Show with David Letterman, a contributor to WIRED, Slate, and Salon, a web contributor to Vanity Fair and Radar Magazine, and his work has been frequently heard on the BBC and NPR. His first book, 21 Dog Years: A Cubedweller’s Tale, was published by the Free Press and he is currently at work on a second book. He has been nominated for the Outer Critics Circle Award and two Drama League Awards, and has been the recipient of the Bay Area Critics Circle Award, three Seattle Times Footlight Awards, and a MacDowell Fellowship. He lives in New York City with his director and collaborator, Jean-Michele Gregory.
www.mikedaisey.com




Maria Diaz is a freelance pop culture and geekery writer based out of New Jersey and once in a while, New York City. She writes the blog BravoFan.com for b5media and is a contributer to British women's blog BitchBuzz. "Room 3025" from The Lust Chronicles was her first published story ever. She is currently working on a fiction zine of dark, sexy stories called Musical Beds. Her personal blog is at MariaDiaz.org.


photo by Amber Wolf

Mike Edison is the former publisher of High Times, a Hustler and Penthouse scribe, the former editor-in-chief of Screw magazine, and author of the memoir I Have Fun Everywhere I Go, plus 28 pornographic novel. In addition, he is known for his eclectic music career, and has collaborated frequently with noted wildmen Jon Spencer and GG Allin. He currently fronts his long-running gospel-blues-punk experiment the Edison Rocket Train, as well as his larger group, the Rocket Train Delta Science Arkestra. He lives and works in New York City.
www.mikeedison.com



Melissa Gira (“jee-rha”) Grant writes about sex & the internet at her award-winning blog, Sexerati. She is a contributor to Black Book and Gawker, and a columnist for $pread magazine. Her essays and reporting appear in Dirty Girls, Best Sex Writing 2008, Valleywag, RH Reality Check, and in Make: magazine & The Frisky. She lives in Brooklyn.
www.melissagira.com



Blaise Allysen Kearsley (also known as Blaise K because she is lazy) is the creator, curator and host of the How I Learned Reading Series at Happy Ending. She is also a writer, photographer and veteran blogger (who doesn't really blog anymore, actually). She has appeared at PS 122, Lolita, Bowery Poetry Club, Freddy's, Lucky 13 and Collective Unconscious. Between her writing and photography she has been featured in Nerve, Vice, Gawker, Gothamist, The Morning News, The Black Table, Jetpac magazine and Playbill, among others, as well as in the books Mortified and Cringe. She believes 2009 might be the year she finally finishes writing her novel, but she also has a lot of YouTube videos to catch up on. You can still stalk her former blog persona at www.bazima.com. (Bazima rhymes with vagina.)

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