Email: rachelkramerbussel at gmail.com



 

Lusty Lady

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Watch my first and favorite book trailer for Spanked: Red-Cheeked Erotica. Get Spanked in print and ebook

Monday, November 30, 2009

Jeff Sheng's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" gay military personnel photography project


"Jess, Bend, Oregon, 2009" by Jeff Sheng

Another fascinating Los Angeles Times story yesterday was about photographer Jeff Sheng's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" project. (click that link if you'd like to participate in the project)

But in the case of L.A. photographer Jeff Sheng's latest project, capturing his subjects' faces would almost certainly put their careers in jeopardy. That's because Sheng has set about to photograph U.S. military service personnel who are gay but closeted in their work lives. Titled "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," the ongoing project consists of a series of stark, sometimes sad, portraits of U.S. soldiers who are forced to hide a part of who they are.

"I want to give an invisible community some visibility, but at the same time, to keep them invisible," said Sheng on the phone from Vancouver, where he is working on another project.

"There's already a lot of journalistic work on gay people in the military who have been discharged. My project is more about people who are still serving."

To conceal the identities of current military personnel, the photographer has used lighting and shadow effects to mask part or all of their faces. Sometimes, the subject will conceal his or her face with a hand, as in the photo above, titled "Jess, Bend, Oregon, 2009." (The names and towns of the titles are fictional for the protection of identity.)

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Johnny Cupcakes doesn't sell cupcakes

And if you were a regular Cupcakes Take the Cake reader, you'd know that. Some photos from the LA store:

Johnny Cupcakes Melrose

Johnny Cupcakes Melrose

Johnny Cupcakes Melrose

Johnny Cupcakes Melrose snow tube

Johnny Cupcakes store Melrose

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Harlequin cover art exhibit takes Vegas

The Los Angeles Times had a great piece on the Harlequin cover art exhibit that I dumbly missed while it was in New York. Now it's in Vegas. We even learn Fabio's last name! (Lanzoni)

Inside a small room is a chronology of representations of desire.

The earliest covers draw from film noir and are rife with -- in hindsight -- unintentional comedy.

"Virgin With Butterflies" (1949) shows a brunet in thigh-high stockings encircled by five male heads sprouting butterfly wings. "Men Cast a Net for Her," the cover promises.

A decade later, women apparently dreamed of romance amid danger. In 1959's "The Yellow Snake" -- one of Semmelhack's favorite covers -- a gun-wielding, professorial man and a blond woman in pearls gasp at (as the placard helpfully explains) an "overtly phallic snake."

As women gained financial and political power, the coverboys were portrayed more as playthings than saviors. By the '70s, they were waiting to whisk away their ladies in helicopters and Austin Healeys. By the '80s (the era of Harlequin's signature bodice-ripping romances), they were groveling before corseted damsels.

And it's curated by Elizabeth Semmelhack, author of Heights of Fashion: A History of the Elevated Shoe cover below.

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Sunday, November 29, 2009

FREE copy of Best Sex Writing 2008 to first 10 Best Sex Writing 2010 pre-orders

Yes, it's true...the first 10 people to pre-order Best Sex Writing 2010 from any venue (which will be available in mid-December) will get a FREE copy of Best Sex Writing 2008 directly from me (US addresses only). Best Sex Writing 2009 was the winner of the IPPY Award for Best Sex/Relationships Book this year. Find out about all the editions at www.bestsexwriting.com - just forward your receipt to rachel at bestsexwriting.com - I'll post once the 10 winners are secured and we will have plenty of video interviews and Q&As with the contributors.

Best Sex Writing 2010

Foreword by Esther Perel
Introduction: My Favorite Sexual Outlaws by Rachel Kramer Bussel (click to read)

The Girl Who Only Sometimes Said No Diana Joseph
Secrets of the Phallus: Why is the Penis Shaped Like That? Jesse Bering
The Vagina Dialogues Johanna Gohmann
Sex Laws That Can Really Screw You Ellen Friedrichs
What Really Turns Men On John DeVore
It’s a Shame About Ray by Kirk Read
BDSM and Playing with Race Mollena Williams
Remembering Pubic Hair Paul Krassner
Sexual Outlaw Betty Dodson
Go Thin or Bust: How Berkeley’s Mayer Laboratories won the battle of the thin condoms Rachel Swan
‘Sex Surrogates’ put personal touch on therapy Brian Alexander
What’s The Matter With Teen Sexting? Judith Levine
The Anatomy of An Affair Michelle Perrot
The Portal Janet Hardy
Bite Me! (Or Don’t) Christine Seifert
Hot. Digital. Sexual. Underground. David Black
Loving Lesbians by William Georgiades
Lust and Lechery in Eight Pages: The Story of the Tijuana Bibles Chris Hall
The Trouble With Safe Sex Seth Michael Donsky
Piece of Ass Monica Shores
The Future of Sex Ed Violet Blue
A Cunning Linguist John Thursday
SWL(actating) F Seeks Sex With No Strings Attached Rachel Sarah
Toward a Performance Model of Sex Thomas MacAulay Millar
The Client Voyeur debauchette

Best Sex Writing 2008

Introduction: One Little Word, Infinite Interpretations (click to read)

Big Mouth Strikes Again: An Oral Report • Rachel Shukert
Double Your Panic • Kevin Keck
Battle of the Sexless • Ashlea Halpern
Kink.com and Porn Hysteria: The Lie of Unbiased Reporting • Violet Blue
The Prince of Porn and the Junk-Food Queen from Insatiable • Gael Greene
Tough Love • Kelly Rouba
Dirty Old Women • Ariel Levy
Stalking the Stalkers • Kelly Kyrik
Sex in Iran • Pari Esfandiari and Richard Buskin
Surface Tensions • Jen Cross
Sex and the Single Septuagenarian • Liz Langley
The Pink Ghetto (A Four-Part Series) • Lux Nightmare and Melissa Gira
To Have or Have Not: Sex on the Wedding Night • Jill Eisenstadt
How Insensitive • Paul Festa
The Study of Sex • Amy Andre
Dangerous Dildos • Tristan Taormino
Absolut Nude • Miriam Datskovsky
The Hung List from Hung: A Meditation on the Measure of Black Men in America • Scott Poulson-Bryant
The Glass Closet • Michael Musto
Menstruation: Porn’s Last Taboo • Trixie Fontaine
Buying Obedience: My Visit to a Pro Submissive • Greta Christina

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Belly dancer at Sex and Religion Night at In The Flesh Reading Series December 17th



IN THE FLESH EROTIC READING SERIES
SEX AND RELIGION NIGHT
December 17th at 8:00 PM (doors at 7)
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://www.inthefleshreadingseries.com


Sex and religion are the theme of the final In The Flesh of 2009. Featuring Mo Beasley (Urban Erotika), joined by singers DeAngela Napier and Jeff Jeudy, Johanna Gohmann (Bust), Gary Morgenstein (Loving Rabbi Thalia Kleinman), Cristy C. Road (Bad Habits) and Susan Wright (Confessions of a Demon), plus belly dancing by Sherri Eldin. Hosted by Rachel Kramer Bussel (Best Sex Writing 2010, Peep Show, Bottoms Up). Free cupcakes by Baked by Melissa will be served.

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. The series was named Best Reading Series by New York Press in 2009. 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, Mike Daisey, 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.

Performance Poet, Producer, and Writer, Mo Beasley, dubbed The Head Coach of Erotika, leads New York City’s longest running monthly erotic performance series. He also holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre Arts/Acting from Howard University. Since 1997, Beasley has also cemented himself on the spoken word scene. The award-winning poet has performed or been featured at the legendary Nuyorican Poets Café, Joe’s Pub, American Museum of Natural History (with Sonia Sanchez) and The Kennedy Center, among other known stages. Beasley is also a member of the Spoken Word Committee of the NY Chapter of The GRAMMY’s.

When not at the mic, Beasley teaches poetry, as well as Family Life and Sexuality Education classes, to students and adults throughout New York City. His current and past clients include Children’s Aid Society, NYC Board of Education, Planned Parenthood, and Kaiser Permanente, among others. He also lectures regularly at institutions on topics ranging from fatherhood (Beasley became a father at 17 and a grandfather at 36) to new perspectives about human sexuality for the 21st century.

Mo Beasley is also the co-author No Good Nigga Bluez - a collection of “anti-nigga creative writings.” He is also editing UrbanErotika: The Anthology, as well as contributing to an anthology on fatherhood. The relevance of Mo’s work has not escaped the attention of the media. He has been interviewed by Rev. Al Sharpton, hip hop legend Chuck D, and has been quoted, profiled, or featured in New York Newsday, Amsterdam News, rolling out UrbanStyle Weekly, NRG, KISS FM (NYC), XM Satellite Radio, New York 1 News and several other local and national media.



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

Sherri Eldin is a frequent performer all over the city with her unique and alternative form of belly dancing. This summer she danced in her first music video with Brooklyn band ZO2, stars of IFC's "Z Rock." In addition to dancing, Sherri is an actress, singer/songwriter, storyteller, and writer.



Johanna Gohmann has written essays, articles, and reviews for Bust, Elle, Red, Publishers Weekly, YourTango.com, Babble.com, Parade.com, the Irish Independent and others. Her article for Bust entitled "The Vagina Dialogues" was selected for Best Sex Writing 2010, and her essay "Design a Vagina" will appear in the Best Women's Travel Writing 2010. A native of Indiana, she lived in New York City for just shy of a decade. She currently resides in Dublin, Ireland. She doesn't always write about vaginas. But she likes to.



Novelist/playwright Gary Morgenstein is the author of four novels. In addition to Loving Rabbi Thalia Kleinman, a romantic triangle about a divorced man who falls in love with a beautiful woman rabbi -- while still not over his ex-wife -- his novels include Jesse’s Girl, a thriller about a widowed father’s search for his adopted teenage son, the political baseball novel Take Me Out to the Ballgame, and the baseball book Rocky The Man Who Wanted to Play Center Field for the New York Yankees. His prophetic play Ponzi Man performed to sell-out crowds at a recent New York Fringe Festival. His other full-length work, You Can’t Grow Tomatoes in the Bronx, is in development.



DeAngela Napier began singing jazz and standards in Manhattan cabaret clubs when she moved to New York in the late 80s. Jeff Jeudy has been infused with music since he was a child and taught himself guitar riffs from KISS albums. Together this acoustic based duo formed a band and performed in and around New York city from 2002 - 2006. They built a following of diverse music lovers that identify with their songs of Life, Love, Loss, and Redemption. Although no longer a band, they occasionally perform and write together. DeAngela Napier is now a photographer who can be reached through her website at www.dnapierphoto.com and Jeff Jeudy is a member of the band I Love Monsters and is a Graphic Designer who can be reached at www.jeffjeudy.com





Cristy C. Road is a 26-year-old Cuban-American illustrator and writer. Blending social principles, sexual deviance, mental inadequacies, and social justice- she thrives to testify the beauty of the imperfect. Her career began in 1996, when publishing Green’Zine- a fanzine entirely devoted to Green Day. Eventually she began including blurbs on other punk rock bands, gender identity, masturbation, sexuality, aimless travel, and anarchist organizing. Green’Zine ran for ten years. Today, Road has published two illustrated novels, Indestructible and Bad Habits; and a postcard collection, Distance Makes the Heart Grow Sick. Aside from publishing, Road has been contributing art to punk rock, literature, radical organizing, and much more for the last ten years. Road currently is working on paintings, short stories, and her punk rock band The Homewreckers. She lives in Brooklyn with a short attention span and a killer gas problem.
www.croadcore.org



Susan Wright is an activist and author. Her latest novel is an urban fantasy called Confessions of a Demon that will be published in December 2009. Other novels include the Slave Trade sf trilogy, and the fantasy duology To Serve and Submit and A Pound of Flesh, as well as 9 Star Trek novels. Susan is the spokesperson for the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom and has lectured extensively on sexual freedom around the country. She received her masters from New York University, and lives in New York City with her husband Kelly Beaton.
www.susanwright.info



You will hear from the following books:


Loving Rabbi Thalia Kleinman: Sex and Romance in God's House
by Gary Morgenstein


Confessions of a Demon
by Susan Wright

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jalapeño makes me happy

Jalapeño makes anything (except perhaps dessert) better. At Cafe Sushi last night:

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Saturday, November 28, 2009

10 things about my trip to LA

1. It was 80+ degrees when I arrived.

2. I've been waking up in a really sunny room and then am "cold" when I go outside and it's a little breezy.

3. I met an adorable 1-year-old and hung out with her going up and down stairs and throwing pool balls and got told I'm going to be a good mother by three separate people.

4. I tried on black and gold heels at Fluevog and a very kind fellow customer whispered to my friend that they were a lot cheaper at Zappos.

5. I took a bath today and read Marian Keyes' This Charming Man - coming to the end of this 550-page novel about domestic violence, alcoholism, cross-dressing, family and love. And Irish politics. I adore her writing.

6. Yesterday I got dropped off at the Arclight movie theater...the wrong one. Was like the Brooklyn/Manhattan mixup all over again. The upshot was I got to hang out with my aunt and cousins and watch Jeopardy! and eat pizza.

7. I looked at a ton of old photos, including my grandmother back in the day looking super glam, my mom and uncle when they were little, me when I was 8 or 9.

8. Today I visited the Sprinklesmobile, the tricked out Mercedes van that Sprinkles Cupcakes uses for special events. Video TK on Cupcakes Take the Cake.

9. I am in a mall (Beverly Center) and it's kindof like my youth spent in New Jersey malls, but different because I'm an adult and actually know how much I have to work to earn enough to buy anything (got tights because my bare legs are cold).

10. Andrew Sullivan mentioned and linked to my Daily Beast sex trends article!

Sprinkles Cupcakes Beverly Hills

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Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Serendipity and writing conferences

I often forget to email my updates to the Backspace mailing list (if you're a writer, do consider joining), but this month, I didn't forget. That led to emailing and then talking with the wonderful Karen Dionne, thriller writer and Backspace organizer, who invited me to speak at the 2010 Backspace Writers Conference which will be held in New York May 28-29, right after BEA. We're still working out what'll happen, I think I'll be moderating a panel on writing sex scenes.

I'm still trying to figure out my SXSW plans - I want to go but would need to be on a panel because I can't afford the conference cost. I'm available to talk about food blogging, dating/sex blogging, media, cupcakes, social networking and blogging...etc. rachelkramerbussel at gmail.com

And in April I go to the AWP Conference in Denver. Lots of travel booking up for 2010, which is always exciting. I love visiting new cities (and cupcakeries) and just seeing someplace new. I also want to go back to Toronto in the fall - that city came closest to being somewhere I could eventually see myself.

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Erica Kennedy reads from Feminista at In The Flesh



Erica Kennedy reading from her novel Feminista November's 4-year anniversary of In The Flesh Reading Series. See her blog for more information.


Feminista

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Call for Submissions: Best Bondage Erotica 2011

I generally like to wait so I'm not juggling so many submissions as once, but now that I have help from my virtual assistant Inara and we make Excel spreadsheets, it's much easier. Still, I looooove the feeling of turning in an anthology.

I also can't stress enough how much reading my calls, in full, will further your chances of me in turn reading your submission. I want easy to read submissions: title, name, double spaced, etc. I get all sorts of bolding and underlining and single spacing and AAAHGGHGHGHGH. Just follow the directions. Someday I'll get a sample posted on my site for easy question answering. It's not that I don't actually consider the ones that fall outside the guidelines, I just don't read them first. They often languish because the formatting is so off-putting to my eyes I'd much rather read something that my eyes like.

Call for Submissions
Best Bondage Erotica 2011
To be published by Cleis Press in late 2010
Edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel
Deadline: April 1, 2010 (but earlier is better!)

Best Bondage Erotica 2011 will collect the best bondage erotica stories, original and previously published, focusing on a range of techniques, implements, characters and scenarios, from newbies to seasoned bondage players and everything in between. Bondage should be a central focus of the erotic element of the story. As befitting the title, I’m looking for the best, hottest, most creative bondage erotica for this collection. All genders/sexual orientations. Original stories preferred, but reprints of work published (or slated to be published) between September 2009 and December 2010 will be considered. All characters must be over 18; no incest or bestiality. Please see my other kinky Cleis Press anthologies (Bottoms Up, Spanked, Yes, Sir, Yes, Ma’am, He’s on Top, She’s on Top) for an idea of the kinds of stories I prefer.

How to submit: Send double spaced Times or Times New Roman 12 point black font Word document with pages numbered (.doc, not .docx) OR RTF of 1,500-5,000 word story. Indent the first line of each paragraph half an inch and double space (regular double spacing, do not add extra lines between paragraphs or do any other irregular spacing). US grammar (double quotation marks around dialogue, etc.) required. Include your legal name (and pseudonym if applicable), mailing address, and 50 word or less bio in the third person to bestbondage2011@gmail.com. If you are using a pseudonym, please provide your real name and pseudonym and make it clear which one you'd like to be credited as. I will get back to you by September 2010.

Payment: $50 and 2 copies of the book on publication

I've been seeing numerous recent submissions that do not conform to my guidelines. They are there for a reason. Please read and follow them or risk your submission being rejected or returned for reformatting. If you have any questions, please contact me at
Bestbondage2011@gmail.com

About the editor: Rachel Kramer Bussel is the editor of over 25 anthologies, including Peep Show, Bottoms Up, Spanked, The Mile High Club, Do Not Disturb, He’s on Top, She’s on Top, Tasting Him, Tasting Her, Crossdressing, Dirty Girls, and is Best Sex Writing Series Editor. She is Senior Editor at Penthouse Variations, wrote the Lusty Lady column for The Village Voice, and has hosted and curated In The Flesh Reading Series, named Best Reading Series by New York Press, in since October 2005. Her writing has been published in over 100 anthologies, including Susie Bright’s X: The Erotic Treasury, Best American Erotica 2004 and 2006, and Zane’s Purple Panties and the New York Times bestseller Succulent: Chocolate Flava II. She has written for Cosmopolitan, The Daily Beast, Fresh Yarn, Mediabistro, Newsday, New York Post, Penthouse, Time Out New York, Zink and other publications.

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I'm thankful for...

Cupcakes Take the Cake being mentioned in The New York Times. This marks the fourth time, and we got a pretty prominent link in the online version. Yay!

Who knew that when I was a very earnest, possibly clueless teenager writing endless letters to The New York Times that someday I'd be someone who gets consulted (I talked to the reporter for an hour) about the ins and outs of the cupcake business?

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The Tipping Point of Lust contest from Cleansheets

If you don't already know, Cleansheets is a long-running, very highly-regarded erotica and sex writing website. This is a contest they are holding.

The Tipping Point of Lust Contest
Clean Sheets <http://www.cleansheets.com/exotica/contestthetippingpoint.shtml>
Deadline is January 31, 2010

First Prize: $100.00 and publication in Clean Sheets Magazine

Second Prize: $50.00 publication in Clean Sheets Magazine

Third Prize: A copy of any two Clean Sheets direct-books and publication in Clean Sheets Magazine

Tell us a story. Make it sexy. The theme is “The Tipping Point of Lust” or, the tipping point of anything erotic that you believe in -- maybe The Tipping Point of Love, The Tipping Point of Bondage, The Tipping Point of Craving Beautiful Glass Dildoes, The Tipping Point for Breasts...you get the idea. Bring the grand concept of the tipping point -- that one dramatic moment when everything can change all at once -- down to the personal level. There’s no need to go all Malcolm Gladwell (author of The Tipping Point) on us and be technical with his concepts, just tell a story that convinces the reader that somebody or something has reached that point where all the forces of the universe have aligned to alter things with a driving passion and the power of circumstance that are beyond anyone’s control. Make it poetic, profound, funny or wild, but be original.

Entries will be blinded (no names on them) and judged by a panel of Clean Sheets editors..

The Official Rules:

1. Less than 2,500 words only.

2. Theme must be erotic, and also must include the words "the tipping point" in the title.

3. In the subject line of your submission please include a descriptive line that includes your title.

4. E-mail submissions only, to tippingpointcontest@gmail.com

5. Send your submission either pasted inside the e-mail or as a .doc or .rtf attached file

6. No receipt will be be sent for your submission -- you can assume we have it unless it's returned to you.

7. Submission deadline is January 31, 2010, and winners will be published in early March 2010.

8. Prizes: Cash prizes will be sent approximately four weeks after the close of the contest.

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I'm not beautiful enough for BeautifulPeople.com

Unfortunately I didn't have this information by the time I had to file my story - I posted my photo on BeautifulPeople.com for my story "8 New Internet Sex Fads" for The Daily Beast. I used the photo by Anya Garrett that I use as my author photo on the site. I think this is hilarious!



Here's the reply I got yesterday:

Dear Rachel,

Unfortunately, your application to BeautifulPeople Network was not successful. The members of BeautifulPeople did not find your profile attractive enough.

Please note, only one in five applicants are currently accepted into BeautifulPeople.com.

BeautifulPeople welcomes you to apply again, perhaps with a better photo or a more interesting profile text.

To modify the contents of your profile and resubmit it for rating, simply follow these quick steps:

1)
Open "Edit Profile Page": http://beautifulpeople.com/home/editprofile/
Change your profile picture and modify your profile text to make it more appealing to the voting members.

2)
Go to the "Home Screen". (You can follow this link: http://beautifulpeople.com/home)
On the Home Screen, hit the “Vote me again” button to resubmit your modified application to the rating section.

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Over 10,000 copies of Dirty Girls: Erotica for Women sold!



Remember when I said that my erotica doesn't sell? Well, a lot of it doesn't sell that well, at least, not in proportion to the time it takes me to edit the books/money+effort spent promoting them.

But I just got yet another royalty check for Dirty Girls: Erotica for Women and was thrilled to see that since it went on sale in April 2008, it's sold over 10,000 copies, making it far and away my bestselling book (that I get royalties on - Up All Night may have sold more but obviously only Alyson cares since I don't get royalties - worst. rookie. mistake. ever.). I'm so thrilled so wanted to share some information about it here.

What do women really want? To be sensually seduced or pressed up against the wall for a quickie? To be tantalized by a peep show or the chance to join the mile high club?


Acclaimed erotica writer and editor Rachel Kramer Bussel knows: They want it all. They want to be worshiped, ordered around, sent blindly into ecstasy, and made hot in front of a mirror. They want strangers bearing ice cubes on a hot day and to be the party favor passed around among guests. They want sex at the office and in the great outdoors and on trains and airplanes. They want sex with the whole United States of America (or, at least, part of it). They want to be wooed, seduced, flirted with, taken. They want to handpick their lovers and make them do their bidding. They want men, women, and sometimes both at the same time.


In Dirty Girls, the country’s best erotic writers explore their sexual psyches. With contributions from Carol Queen, Alison Tyler, Sofia Quintero, Shanna Germain, Lillian Ann Slugocki, Tsaurah Litzky, and many others, this collection will set your heart racing as you savor these intimate, shocking, and passionate female fantasies.

Blurbs:


“Finally⎯a book about what girls REALLY think about. Well, maybe not


every one, but the dirty ones…and those are the ones who really

count.” — Joanna Angel, CEO, BurningAngel Entertainment


Dirty Girls is the post-feminist generation’s answer to Nancy Friday’s My Secret Garden, a collection of erotically charged short stories that reveal that, in the 21st century, good girls are dead and dirty girls are the new black.” — Susannah Breslin, author of You’re a Bad Man, Aren’t You?



“A spanking good collection of smart erotica assembled by always exciting ringleader Rachel Kramer Bussel, Dirty Girls begs the question ‘What are those dirty girls thinking?’ and answers with insight not just to how women want it, but why.”

– Lisa Beth Kovetz, author of The Tuesday Erotica Club


“This is an outstanding collection of hot women’s stories. That’s hot stories by women and stories by hot women. The table of contents reads like a who’s who in the best erotica writers around, an All Star team who deliver the raunch and punch the reader deserves. Rawr.”


– Cecilia Tan, author of Black Feathers and White Flames: Erotic Dreams


Table of Contents


Introduction – Dirty and Sweet Wrapped Up in One


1. Fucking Around by Marie Lyn Bernard

2. Live Tonight by Saskia Walker


3. Just Another Girl on the Train by Catherine Lundoff

4. Beautiful Creature by Kristina Wright

5. In the Name Of… by Isabelle Gray

6. Cheesy Boots by L. Elise Bland

7. Truck Stop Cinderella by Lillian Ann Slugocki

8. The Dream of Life by Tenille Brown

9. The Mile High Club by Kate Dominic

10. Like a Good Girl by Alison Tyler

11. The Garden of Sinn by Darklady


12. Bag and Baggage by Teresa Noelle Roberts

13. Icy Hot by Rachel Kramer Bussel

14. Dreams by Marilyn Jaye Lewis

15. Shocking Expose! Secrets Revealed! by Carol Queen

16. To Dance at the Fair by Donna George Storey

17. The First Deadly Sin by Gwen Masters

18. El Mar de Encanto by Sofia Quintero

19. Flight by Suki Bishop

20. Lily by Tsaurah Litzky

21. Opera Gloves by Maddy Stuart

22. Party Favor by Andrea Dale

23. Carn Euny by Madelynne Ellis

24. A Prayer to Be Made Cocksure by Melissa Gira

25. All About Hearts by Sage Vivant

26. The Next Thing by Gina de Vries

27. Until It’s Gone by Shanna Germain


Introduction: Dirty and Sweet Wrapped Up in One


“I can be dirty and sweet at the same time” reads my self-proclaimed motto on my MySpace page. When I wrote that, I meant that not so deep inside me lurks the soul of a highly perverted, kinky, dirty girl who can get aroused often by a single word whispered in my ear or a solid smack across my ass. Once someone gets me into that zone, I’ll do anything, no matter how depraved, to be with them. I’ll find myself fantasizing about all the wicked things we can do together throughout the day and night, waking from wild dreams with the wish that they were beside me. I’ll see their name in my inbox and get instantly wet. I’ll tell them in public exactly what I want them to do to me, and vice versa. Yes, that’s what I mean by “dirty.”



Yet I don’t think my sexual interests make me any less of a well-rounded, kind-hearted intelligent person. I’m “sweet” in the sense that I care about my friends and family, like sending cards and random gifts, strive to be a good person (also, I run a blog about cupcakes). I’m as likely to kiss a lover’s forehead tenderly and offer to tuck them into bed as I am to throw them down on the floor and strip them naked. For me, the sweet and tender and down-and-dirty go hand in hand; I’m most turned on, and most slutty, when I’m partnered with someone who brings out my sweet side. Once, I visited a boyfriend who was sick with a fever, and did the one thing I could think of to make him feel better: sank down on his bed and took his cock in my mouth. Playing the slutty nurse, horny yet doting, is another aspect to my dirty/sweet motto.


I’d originally meant the phrase as a throwaway line, but more and more I’m realizing that everyone (or almost everyone) has a dirty and a sweet side. All too often we denigrate the dirty girls⎯the ones who dare to publicly show their naughty sides⎯as incorrigible sluts, rather than realizing just how much exciting it is to tap into our lustiest selves. Once you crack the surface of those who are seemingly prim and proper (the demure suburban housewife, the suited-up banker, the quiet secretary, the curious bookworm, the shy computer nerd), you’ll very likely find that the simplicity of the word “dirty” doesn’t go anywhere near far enough to describe the kinks that lurk within them.


The women writing here don’t apologize for being dirty. They know who and what they want and they go after the objects of their affection in all kinds of different ways. Reading this collection⎯whether from start to finish or skipping around to your favorite authors or the most eye-catching titles⎯will give you a glimpse into what makes women wet, what makes us feel and act dirty, what makes us slick our lips and spread our legs. Maybe, just maybe, their stories attempt to answer Freud’s infamously infuriating query: “What do women want?” To judge by the twenty-seven tales you hold in your hand, they want to be worshiped, they want to be ordered around, they want to be sent spinning into ecstasy and then come crashing back down. They want strangers bearing ice cubes on a hot day, and to be a party favor passed around among guests. They want hot vacation sex, visits to peep shows, and a man who’ll lick stinky cheese off their boots. They want power, and they want to give up power. They want sex at the office and in the great outdoors and on trains and airplanes. They want sex with the whole United States of America (or, at least, part of it). They want to be wooed, seduced, flirted with, taken. They want men, women, and sometimes both at the same time.


Of course, there’s more to what women want out of sex than any one book could possibly capture. What I’ve done with this anthology is highlight some of the best erotic writing I’ve found from authors who show you exactly what makes their hearts beat and their clits stand at attention. What they’re up to is, as Marie Lyn Bernard so aptly puts it, “Fucking Around” (which I briefly considered as a very fitting alternative title to this book). When I first heard Bernard read this story tag-team style at my reading series “In The Flesh,” I was blown away. She captures so much of the drama of sex⎯the high highs, the low lows, the awkwardness and the intensity⎯in a playful yet totally hot way. And when she writes about the Big Apple, it’ll make you want to hop the first plane or train to get here: “New York fucks me. New York fucks me so hard that I cry. My pussy opens like the long throat of a flame-swallower. Her fingers make love to the inside of my bellybutton. I am sweating so much that our bodies glide against each other like fish underwater.” You’ll find yourself drawing a map of your own sexual conquests, marking your territory right along with Bernard.


But for every feisty babe here, there’s another just in the process of discovering what turns her on. “Dirty” can be a state of mind just as much as it can be a description of one’s bedroom antics. Carol Queen’s peepshow virgin protagonist Abby doesn’t quite know what she’s getting into with her new friends Daniel and Lila, but she desperately wants to find out. “Lila’s lips covered hers right away, soft and wet, licking and nibbling in one of the most arousing kisses Abby had ever experienced,” writes Queen. “Dirty” doesn’t always mean depraved, either; these stories aren’t all wham-bam-thank-you-sir (or ma’am) quickies. Many of them evoke the intensity of emotion sex can bring with it, the ways having a lover know you literally inside and out can throw your life completely off balance, as if they can read your soul like a map, using fingers, toys, tongues, and cocks to navigate you until they own your internal compass. The thrill of giving yourself over to someone, of giving up control for that deliciously delirious sensation of pure erotic adrenaline, surfaces throughout this collection.


The women you’ll find here are complex; they’re by turns playful and bashful, horny and haughty. They want to share much more with you than just the details of their latest screw. They want you to know what makes them tick, who haunts their dreams, why they can’t quite forget the man who fucked them senseless, even when they’re with someone new. They like to watch and be watched, to take risks, to live out their long-held fantasies. Some are in loving, committed relationships, ones that allow them room to get their freak on with the person who knows just how to push their every button. Others, like my “Icy Hot” protagonist, don’t even want to know their bedmate’s name: “I forgot about the fact that I didn’t really know him at all. Sometimes, in a city of millions of strangers, you just have to take a chance and let your body make the decisions for you, as I’ve learned over the years. And my body was saying yes, please, more, harder.”


“Dirty” doesn’t preclude poetry, the kind where the words roll off the page, roll from your tongue, so beautifully it’s like they themselves are making love to you. Writers like Marilyn Jaye Lewis, Suki Bishop, and Melissa Gira probe the twisted places women go in search of sex⎯and themselves. In “A Prayer to Be Made Cocksure,” Gira elevates the art of the blowjob to new heights: “I sucked your cock as if it was the last cock. I trusted you to let me keep breathing, to never take that final bit from me, to tell me that getting any air at all was your choice just by reaching your hand down the length of your chest to me, to cradle the back of my neck, to run your fingers across my lips, softly, as you plunged suddenly and held me at the edge.” She takes you right into that moment, where this intimate act is dissected, treasured, hoarded, and missed.


You’ll find a range of motivations here, from women looking to spice up a lackluster relationship to single girls on the prowl to kinky couples, daring dommes, and sultry sirens intent on performing on a sexual stage of their own creation. You may read their stories and ask yourself: Would you ever write your name across your lover’s cock? What about pick up a stranger at a rock concert or screw a doctor in a hospital? Get fingered at the opera? Go to a bondage club? These characters do all this and more, always making sure their wanting, lusting, panting, and perversions are met with equal fervor.


Take a hot and steamy trip with these writers as they unlock your deepest desires, or perhaps give you some new ideas to try out next time you shut your eyes and part your legs. From tender to tempting, sweet to sadistic, loving to lascivious, there’s something for every reader who wants to go to bed with images that’ll surely make you blush and just may spark some brand-new, unique fantasies of your very own.



Rachel Kramer Bussel

New York City

July 2007



Press:

Interview with me about erotica at Bookslut

Listen to me talk about erotica in a podcast at Seal Press

Read an excerpt from "Shocking Exposé! Secrets Revealed!" by Carol Queen

Lucrezia Magazine review:

However, Dirty Girls is certainly not just for girls alone. As Bussel was quick to point out at the New York launch party, which I attended, the book’s original title was Dirty Girls: Erotica by Women. Anyone with a love of erotic fiction can explore his or her dirty side with this volume. And I guarantee anyone will want to.

Get the best seats in the house at the Lusty Lady Theatre in the legendary Carol Queen’s “Shocking Expose! Secrets Revealed!” Explore a tangle of the senses and a melding of two strangers’ bodies in Rachel Kramer Bussel’s expertly crafted tale “Icy Hot.” Encounter the post-structuralist implications of ownership and autonomy within a relationship as Isabelle Gray’s “In the Name Of …” sees a couple exploring sensual pleasures outside their marriage for the first time. And delight in a darkly-tinged, BDSM tale in Alison Tyler’s provocative “Like a Good Girl.”


Fleshbot review:

At 27 stories long, “Dirty Girls” is a book for “literary size queens” (at least according to editor Rachel Kramer Bussel). Even though we usually tend to prefer our books short and sweet—who doesn’t like a good quickie?—we can’t deny that this book is well worth a read: from girls who like to take to stories of girls who like to be taken; girls who like girls, girls who like boys, and girls who like both; waitresses, dommes, college professors, college students … well, you can probably figure out that there’s something for everyone in this collection. (And don’t be discouraged by that “erotica for women” tagline: it may be made for a woman, but we promise it’s hot enough for a man as well.

Author interviews:

Interview with Tenille Brown ("The Change of Life")

Interview with Melissa Gira ("A Prayer to be Made Cocksure")

Interview with Gina de Vries

Interview with Donna George Storey

Interview with Kristina Wright

Interview with Lillian Ann Slugocki

Interview with Marie Lyn Bernard (watch her reading her story - part 1 and part 2)

Dirty Girls: Erotica for Women virtual book tour!

For sale from:

Amazon

Bn.com

Powells

Photos below by Stacie Joy at Dirty Girls NYC book party:




L to R: Lillian Ann Slugocki, Sofia Quintero, Suki Bishop, Rachel Kramer Bussel



More information at the Dirty Girls: Erotica for Women blog

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Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Singing Beatles cupcake telegram!

Please watch this singing Beatles cupcake telegram (and pass it on!) if you want to bring a smile to your day. That is why almost five years in, I still love cupcake blogging. Can't wait to try Saint Cupcake - I'm reading at Powell's in Portland February 22nd from Best Sex Writing 2010 with Kerry Cohen and Janet Hardy, and we are working on a Eugene, Oregon event. It's looking like Salt Lake City in March too!

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Monday, November 23, 2009

Tantric sex erotica story needed for my anthology Orgasmic

My official Orgasmic call for submissions deadline has passed (but click on that link for the Naked women's erotica call, deadline January 1st) but I do need a story that I will consider until this Sunday, November 29th. I need a Tantric sex erotica story. Should be from a female POV and looking for female authors (or trans/female-identified). Stories should be in Times or Times New Roman, double spaced, pages numbered, with byline and story title on first page, and sent as a Word document or RTF to orgasmicantho@gmail.com - 1,500-4,000 words. Email if you have any questions and feel free to pass this on. Here’s the original call.

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"8 New Internet Sex Fads" at The Daily Beast

My latest piece for The Daily Beast is "8 New Internet Sex Fads."

The Passion iPhone app screen grabs didn't make it in, so I'm posting it below:







And then to rub it in:





And if you like the piece, please consider Digging it. Thanks!

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Abiola Abrams does all whores proud

Abiola Abrams was the clear knockout of the night last Thursday at the 4-year anniversary of In The Flesh Reading Series. This is one of the best readings I've ever seen, not just at In The Flesh. She's a brilliant performer and the piece, from her next book The Goddess Playbook and read off her phone, was amazing. I could watch this over and over again. It's from her



Rachel will perform at the premiere of a new and must-attend reading series run by Abiola called Abiola's Kiss & Tell on December 15th.

Abiola's Kiss & Tell

Storytelling & Performance Reading Series

A Party Like A Book Star-Studded Monthly Soiree

Bestselling Authors, Skanks, Intellectuals

& Everyone In Between

Every 3rd Tuesday at MADAME X

94 West Houston Street between LaGuardia & Thompson

NYC's sexiest and most fun event.

FREE with $5 Kiss & Tell Champagne Cocktails

Drinks & Mingle at 7PM;

Show begins at 7:30PM SHARP.

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Saturday, November 21, 2009

I'm so vain

Yes, it's my blog and I'm going to post a bunch of photos of me. See this Flickr set or the In The Flesh site for others. Since I've decreed this a pretty much no-personal zone, you get photos in which I think I look okay.








Me with a copy of Penthouse Variations, where I'm Senior Editor


Me reading off a bunch of entries to win the gold vibrator (a virgin won!)

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Friday, November 20, 2009

You haven't lived until you've eaten your face off a cupcake







A few early shots from last night's AMAZING In The Flesh Reading Series 4-year anniversary. Photos and videos TK. The unofficial theme of the night was whores, and we did it justice. Oh, and cupcakes. Thank you so much to Treat for doing such delicious, glittery justice to the Molly Crabapple-drawn In The Flesh logo.

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Thursday, November 19, 2009

Getting cultured

Some plays/performances I'm attending soon. Will try to report back on them...as well as the one I saw last week at the new Galapagos Art Space about divorce, which was quite hilarious.


Creature - click for performance info

After being pestered by devils for more than half a year, Margery Kempe* – new mother, mayor’s daughter, and proprietress of a highly profitable beer business – is liberated from her torment by a vision of Jesus Christ in purple robes.

Visions are hard to come by, even in 1401. Should we trust the new Margery, with her fasting and her weeping and her chastity fixation, or burn her with the other heretics? Can a woman of insatiable appetites just up and audition for sainthood?

Playwright and OBIE-winning actor Heidi Schreck conjures a collision of contemporary and medieval imaginations: a very funny, a little bit scary new play about faith and its messengers.



In The Next Room or the vibrator play

Details/tickets at TheaterMania

Laura Benanti and Michael Cerveris lead the cast in this provocative, funny, touching and marvelously entertaining story about a young doctor and his wife set at the dawn of the age of electricity in the 1880s. Back then hysteria was a real diagnosis, and women were commonly treated with electrical stimulating machines to ease their condition! Playwright Sarah Ruhl wondered what exactly doctors were thinking when they used vibrator therapies on their female patients. And what did women think was happening to them? In the Next Room or the vibrator play looks at a young technology-obsessed doctor and the devoted wife who longs to connect with him -- but not electrically.

This comedy about marriage, intimacy and electricity had its world premiere at Berkeley Repertory Theatre.



Unitard

Tickets at Brown Paper Tickets

Coming to the rescue in this time of turmoil, like cash for your clunkers or extra-pure heroin, the Unitards (Mike Albo, Nora Burns and David Ilku) will bail you out of your dreary little lives with an evening of humor, wit, song and sarcasm. Following their sold-out evening at Joes Pub, Unitard returns with a brand-new twisted take on life in urbania. Spanning the gamut from Vampires to Burlesque, Hudson to Hindus, and Dungeons to DUMBO, their newest show promises to be brilliant, bawdy and hilarious, of course.

WHEN:Thurs Nov 5th 9:30pm, Thurs Nov 12th 9:30pm and Tues Nov 24th 8pm
WHERE:Laurie Beechman Theater/WESTBANK CAFE 407 West 42nd Street @ 9th Ave.
Reservations: 212 695-6909
TICKETS: $20


The Last Cargo Cult
December 3-13
Public Theater - but don't be like me and pay $40 when you can pay $20

In THE LAST CARGO CULT, groundbreaking monologist Mike Daisey (If You See Something Say Something) returns to The Public with the story of his journey to a remote South Pacific island whose people worship America and its cargo. This narrative is woven against a searing examination of the international financial crisis that gripped the globe at the same moment. Confronting the financial system that dominates our world, Daisey wrestles with the largest questions of what the collapse means, and what it can tell us about our deepest values. Part adventure story and part memoir, he explores each culture to unearth a human truth between the seemingly primitive and achingly modern.

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Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Not-to-be-missed In The Flesh 4-year anniversary November 19th

If you have ever attended In The Flesh and had a good time, please tell at least one person about tomorrow night's very special 4-year anniversary blowout event. This is my baby, my labor of love (I get a cut of the door but put that back into photography/videography/snacks) and my longest-running project. I've had 3 sex columns that have all been canned but this free event has been going and going. Here's the master list of everyone who's read (as of I think August).

Tomorrow is truly a not-to-be-missed event. We have sex toys and porn and books and the gold JimmyJane vibrator to give away, and art cupcakes with the drawing Molly Crabapple did of me. I can honestly say that in 2005 I had no idea In The Flesh would become so special. It's a hell of a lot of work - I am constantly booking, promoting, scheming about it, but I love it. Maybe not the being-in-front-of-the-mic-to-read-my-smut part - that still makes me nervous - but the hosting, that I love.

So please come out and join us for a truly special event. Doors are at 7 and that's when I recommend arriving; we will start at 7:30. I even bought a new timer to keep everyone in line. If you're running late, we'll be around until 10.

Also see the upcoming lineups:

Sex and Religion Night, December 17

Sex and Food Night, January 21

Love and Lust Night, February 18

And I don't have the lineup all HTML-ed yet but the March 18 BDSM Lineup (subject to change but pretty firm) is: Me, Melissa Febos, Selina Fire, Monk, Julie Powell, Xan West, Mollena Williams and Lolita Wolf. AKA, AWESOME.

And here's my Amazon.com list of the books we'll be hearing from in 2010 at In The Flesh...so far. April 15 is Nerd Sex Night and May 20th is True Sex Confessions and June 17 is GLBT Night.

You can also keep up with In The Flesh:





And just because, I will repost two of my favorite things that have been said about In The Flesh:

New York Press:

Even though Happy Ending Lounge is most closely associated with its namesake series (which has picked up and moved to Joe's Pub), there's something a bit naughtier brewing at the Broome Street den of debauchery. Now in its fourth year, In the Flesh, hosted by Rachel Kramer Bussel, features established and up-and-coming writers sharing their franky, funny, frisky tales of love and lust and manages to do so—for the most part—without veering into creepshow territory. Tension is cut by asking the audience to anonymously submit sexy secrets, and it doesn't hurt that Bussel provides hundreds of cupcakes and not-to-be-missed miniature peanut butter cups to lull everyone into a sugar-induced sense of security. Normally we would avoid an erotic reading series like the plague, but after venturing down here to catch a friend reading her dirty dissertation, we were charmed by the humor of the readers and crowd and not at all displeased by the fact that everything we heard was actually—surprisingly—sexy.

Susie Bright:

I have read and performed at hundreds of venues, all over the world— and in terms of sheer class, generosity, and author-happiness, the only producer who comes close to Rachel, is the British Film Institute. And they don't have cupcakes.


This Molly Crabapple-drawn In The Flesh logo will be on a dozen special cupcakes for the early birds!

IN THE FLESH EROTIC READING SERIES
4-YEAR ANNIVERSARY, SPANKING STORIES, SEX BLOGGER CALENDAR & MORE!
November 19th at 7:30 PM (doors at 7; note early start time)
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://www.inthefleshreadingseries.com


We're celebrating 4 years of sexy smut with a party and reading galore! Bringing back memoirists Lily Burana (I Love a Man in Uniform, Strip City) and Isobella Jade (Model Life, Almost 5'4"), Erica Kennedy (Feminista, Bling), Abiola Abrams (BET, author of Dare), Jennifer Peters (Penthouse Forum), Desiree (contributor, The Mile High Club) along with Bottoms Up: Spanking Good Stories contributors Tess Danesi and Rosalind Christine Lloyd. You will also hear from the organizers of the 2010 NYC Sex Blogger Calendar, which Tess and host Rachel Kramer Bussel (Peep Show, Spanked, Bottoms Up) posed for! Copies of authors' books and the calendar will be for sale. 300 free cupcakes from Baked by Melissa will be served. Prize giveaways include: 24-karat gold vibrator Little Gold ($325 value) from JimmyJane, paddle and slapper from Extreme Restraints, $100 Babeland gift card from Beyond the Birds and the Bees, 2 copies of the 2010 Sex Blogger Calendar (featuring Tess, Rachel, Abiola and others), Abiola Abrams' novel Dare, XXX porn film Afrodite Superstar and hot word game SexySlang.

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. The series was named Best Reading Series by New York Press in 2009. 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, Mike Daisey, 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.

Once upon a fabulous time Abiola Abrams was raised by Guyanese royalty in a gorgeous suburban ghetto of New York City, appropriately called the "Queens County." These are her chronicles: Dare is her first novel, and her writing is featured in the anthologies Dirty Words, Behind the Bedroom Door and A Memory A Monologue A Rant & A Prayer. Abiola's films range from Knives in My Throat, about mental illness, to Afrodite Superstar, about sexuality. She has hosted shows for BET, HBO and NBC and is now also a host-producer of The Planet Abiola Show. Recently audiences enjoyed watching Abiola get her dating game together as "Miss Picky" on VH1's Drew Barrymore-produced hit reality series Tough Love.
www.abiolatv.com



Lily Burana is a punk rock girl turned writer and editor. Since starting her writing life as a columnist and editor at punk and alternative 'zines, she has gone on to write for The Washington Post, GQ, The New York Times, Self, Glamour, Entertainment Weekly, Details, The Village Voice, The New York Observer, and others. She has been a Contributing Editor at SPIN and New York magazines. Lily married an active-duty Army officer in 2002. Her latest book, I Love a Man in Uniform: A Memoir of Love, War, and Other Battles (Weinstein Books, 2009) was inspired by the overwhelming response she received to her writing about the domestic side of military affairs--a Slate Diary and a New York Times Op-Ed. Her first non-fiction book, Strip City: A Stripper's Farewell Journey Across America (Miramax Books, 2001) made Best of the Year lists in Entertainment Weekly, Salon, New York Newsday, and Rocky Mountain News.
Lily Burana



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

Often based on her own explorations in the world of D/s and BDSM, Tess Danesi explores the darker side of erotica, writing with raw honesty about that shadowy area where pain becomes pleasure and pleasure pain. Tess has been published in several anthologies including Pleasure Bound by Alison Tyler, Do Not Disturb and Bottoms Up by Rachel Kramer Bussel as well as in Time Out New York. CarnalNation.com generously sends her amazing sex toys to review and she can often be found testing them in her high tech masturbation testing facility aka the office ladies room. In between all that and her actual job, for two years running, she’s produced the NYC Sex Blogger Calendar which raises funds for Sex Work Awareness. She blogs about life, death and everything in between at Urban Gypsy (http://nyc-urban-gypsy.blogspot.com).



Desiree is a brainy, sexy, foodie, geeky, writer chick from New York. She lives in Brooklyn with her vampire cat Snarf and has always had an inclination toward the naughty. She never backs down from a Scrabble challenge and once scored seventy six points with the word "clitoris." Her dirty stories have been published in anthologies such as Lust Chronicles and The Mile High Club: Plane Sex Stories and her musings about sex have appeared in the Huffington Post and The Frisky. She blogs about love, sex, and life at www.baserinstincts.com. For general info on her antics or to find out where to read her stuff, check out www.desireemoodie.com.



Isobella Jade is known as one of the tiniest working models out there. She is also the author of Almost 5’4”, her modeling memoir. In early November her graphic novel Model Life: The Journey of a Pint Size Fashion Warrior debuts. Daily Isobella gives modeling insight and advice on being a shorter-than-average model on her blog, and despite her height she has used what she does have and has modeled for Marshalls, Victoria's Secret, Easy Spirit, Macy’s, Bon Appétit, TLC, Univision, MTV, Women's World, and many, many others. Her story and advocating has been featured in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Publishers Weekly, The Los Angeles Times, Allure.com, Page Six, Ad Age, The New York Post, WSJ, Nylon, Mediabistro.
www.isobelladreams.com



Thanks to the aggressive heroine of her second novel, Feminista, Publisher's Weekly as called Erica Kennedy "the pioneer of bitch lit". She is also a screenwriter and blogger who began her writing career by blindly pitching and selling a humor piece on why women love to hate Gwyneth Paltrow to the New York Daily News women's section where she became a frequent contributor. She has written celebrity profiles and style pieces for In Style, Vibe, Paper and UK Elle. She blogs about pop culture and all things FEM at The Feminista Files (thefeministafiles.blogspot.com/).



Rosalind Christine Lloyd is a contemporary fiction and erotica writer (and occasional poet, journalist and music reviewer) whose work has appeared in over fifteen anthologies. She currently has two novels in progress, is working on a compilation of her published short fiction and has one completed screenplay. She lives downtown with her queer version of a nuclear family.
http://rosalindchristinelloyd.blogspot.com



Jennifer Peters is the associate editor of Penthouse Forum and Girls of Penthouse and a contributing editor to Penthouse Magazine. Her work has appeared in several places under numerous names, but her favorite bylines use her real name. Those rare works have appeared in Forum, Penthouse and Rachel Kramer Bussel's Peep Show anthology.



You'll be hearing readings from these books:


Bottoms Up: Spanking Good Stories



Model Life: The Journey of a Pint-Size Fashion Warrior



I Love a Man in Uniform


Giveaways include (more TK):


24-karat gold Little Gold vibrator courtesy of JimmyJane

From Extreme Restraints:



Strict Leather Black Fraternity Paddle


12" Slapper With Holes

$100 Babeland gift card from Beyond the Birds and the Bees


SexySlang word game


XXX porn film Afrodite Superstar


Abiola Abrams' novel Dare


We're giving away 2 copies of the calendar!

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