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, March 29, 2010

Kinky Krav maga and erotic power exchange: Interview with Please, Sir author Emerald

Reposted from the official Please, Sir: Erotic Stories of Female Submission blog.

This is the first in a series of interviews with contributors to the anthology Please, Sir: Erotic Stories of Female Submission (Cleis Press), forthcoming in April 2010.



Name: Emerald
URL: http://www.thegreenlightdistrict.org



How did you come up with the idea for your story in Please, Sir?

I have taken Krav Maga classes before, and in a city where I used to live, I had an instructor on whom the character Dominic is based. I found it mesmerizing to watch him, and indeed I had a crush on him.

The autobiography in the story stops at the point when Jackie agrees to train with Dominic aloneæI did show up for a Saturday class one time and was the only one there. The quote from Dominic in the story, “If you want to stay, I'll work you,” is verbatim from my instructor that day, and I remember feeling quite affected by that phrasing…

However, I declined since I was the only student there and left that day. But it has crossed my consciousness since what might have happened (or what I wanted to happen!) that day had I stayed. This story is that carried out in fictional form.

Was it a challenging story or did the writing come easily?

What I found challenging was capturing the intensity of the attraction I personally feltænot only did I remember feeling it, but I felt it again as I wrote the story. While the events of “Power over Power” are not autobiographical, the attraction and intensity were. Feeling this so forthrightly as I was in the process of writing the story seemed daunting sometimes, as I wasn't sure if it was being translated effectively via the writing.

There was an aspect of ease, however, in that there wasn't very much research involved since I have taken Krav Maga myself, and many of the things Dominic says in the story are things I heard my aforementioned instructor say. I enjoyed incorporating some of the ones that have particularly stayed with me into this story.

Do you have a favorite sentence or paragraph from your story?

Actually the paragraph excerpted in the book's introduction is one of my favorites. In addition to that one, I would say this:

Despite the subject matter, there was no bravado or machismo in his countenance. I had seen from the pictures and accompanying labels hanging in the lobby that Dominic instructed traditional martial arts as well as Krav Maga. While I had never taken any myself, I sensed in him the understated confidence I had observed before in martial artist--an exquisite self-possession and understanding of their capabilities, the assurance as such that there was no need to prove anything to anyone. It was like they had power over their own power. It served them rather than the other way around. There was no compulsion to use it, to put it on display; it was just there, second nature, if it was ever needed.

I decided that “Risk and Reward” is an applicable theme for Please, Sir. Does this theme resonate with you for your story?

Indeed. My story doesn't contain very much actual bondage, hardcore sadism/masochism, etc. But there is not only the risk of rejection in Jacqueline's sexually approaching Dominic, there is also one she doesn't even realize in Dominic's consistent demand of authenticityæof what is really there, not settling for resisting what is uncomfortable in us, of the understanding that really, power is turning toward that and becoming aware of it and seeing what it really is or where it really comes from.

So in approaching Dominic as she does, Jackie is, without being consciously aware of it, risking the comfort of allowing that unconsciousness to remain unseen and inviting through Dominic's guidance the discomfort of facing what is in her that she doesn't want or like to face. Ironically, what she thinks she is going to get is just a more intense experience of avoiding it as she has done. While she is not consciously aware of that particular risk, it seems to me that a subconscious or intuitive awareness of what awaits her may account for the intensity of the attraction she feels for Dominic. Something inside her may know that that uncovering and demand is what she needs, even if consciously she wouldn't have recognized it.

Is this story similar to or different from the other erotica you've written?

I think while of course the subject matter and perhaps the emphasis on the power connection and interplay between characters may contrast with many other things I've written, I see a similarity to some of my other work in the touching on or examination of self-awareness. To me the import of self-awareness may hardly be overestimated, and how it may connect with/relate to sexuality is something I find fascinating. (I'd guess that's one of the reasons I've so loved to writing erotica.) In this story I felt like I really got to expose that, which I much enjoyed.

What do you think makes an erotica story successful?

The same thing that makes anything successful, if one wants to use that word: authenticity.

There is a quote from Eckhart Tolle that resonates with me so much that I have restated it frequently: “[O]ur level of consciousness is primary, all else secondary.” (A New Earth p. 266.) To me that means the place where something comes from inside or through us, the energy with which it is created, is what holds its aliveness as an offering. The level of consciousness or sincerity used in the creation of the story (or any offering) is that which it tends to touch in others. It doesn't matter what the subject or offering is.

Do you have any advice for budding erotica writers?

I don't necessarily feel in a position to be dispensing advice on the subject, but what resonates with me about writing (and creating, and living in general) reflects the answer I gave to the previous question.

Practically speaking, I highly recommend the Erotica Readers and Writers Association website (http://www.erotica-writers.com). For information about publishing calls, promoting one's work, technical aspects of writing, and more, I have consistently found ERWA a wealth of information for the erotica writer.

What are you working on now?

I have a new story coming soon at The Erotic Woman and am slated to be a guest blogger at Oh Get A Grip on May 1 (my birthday). I'm also excited to be scheduled to read at In The Flesh in New York on April 15!

Beyond that I am, as usual, in the midst of about half a dozen short stories at various levels of completeness. Also as usual, a few of them have submission deadlines, which I appreciate as they help keep me on track!

Pre-order Please, Sir from:



Amazon.com



Bn.com



Borders



Powell's



IndieBound



Cleis Press



Kindle version

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Social networking sites and me

A few social networking sites where you can find me (I'm on many of them but some are for my friends, these I'll add anyone, cause I'm easy like that):

My Facebook fan page

In The Flesh Reading Series Facebook fan page

Twitter (@raquelita)

Twitter (@cupcakeblog)

Twitter (@InTheFleshNYC)

Fetlife (sorry, not sure how to link my profile, but I'm easy to find) - please note, I am NOT in any way on Fetlife for dating purposes, just for catching up with people and promoting my events/books.

Yelp (same here)

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Friday, March 26, 2010

Abortion, "choice," women and responsibility

I have a lot of thoughts about this topic swirling around in my head, at the forefront because on Saturday I’m doing something I’ve never done before: accompanying a friend as picking up a friend after she gets an abortion (apparently I'm not allowed to go inside with her). When I was younger, I was super paranoid, constantly thinking I was pregnant even when I’d used a condom, even when I’d had my period. As I got older, I got slightly less careful, and I think the lesson I’ve learned most fiercely is that just as what to do with our bodies once we get pregnant is our choice, so is what we do before that point our responsibility. In part because men cannot know exactly what it is like to worry about being pregnant, to suffer the effects of birth control gone awry, or what the cost of that worry is.

Which brings me back to my friend, and makes me angry to the point of hysteria at the psychotic “baby killer” people. I just can't listen to that. It’s not my place to share her story other than to say that she does not in any sense of the word “want” to have an abortion. It is not a happy situation. It’s a tough and challenging and difficult and lonely one, as far as I can tell, and I can only be a friend and offer as much comfort as I can and say that I wish she were in a position to not have to do this, but she's not.

But it brought back to me both the primacy of women having the right to control our bodies and also the farce behind the idea of “choice,” so binary, so simple, yet this is not a simple decision for I would imagine many women. Certainly not for my friend. Yes, she had to make a choice, but it was not one where she could simply tally up the pros and cons. Similarly, I made a lot of choices that weekend—the lending of the money, the unprotected sex—that put me in a really bad situation. And it would be very tempting to try to pass off both of those onto the other people involved, but that is wrong. I chose both actions, and cannot say I was coerced in any way. I have rehashed and admonished myself about them plenty, so I’ll move on to say that I learned two major actions I don’t intend to repeat in the future. I don’t lend money, and am grateful no one’s asked because I also lent money to a friend close to that time and it caused (momentary) rifts in our relationship. And I do my best to make sure I have my birth control under control.

I realized when all that drama went down, when I was both emotionally miserable and not loving the aftereffects of Plan B, that I was acting like a child, like the girl who at 18 and 21 thought she was pregnant when there was pretty much no chance of that, but in the opposite way. I’d replaced her hypervigilance and neuroticism with a devil-may-care attitude hardly befitting someone my age.

And I realized that I need to surround myself with people who will help me be that mature person I want to be, not the childish one who lurks in me on even my best days. I don’t want to be coddled or not be forced to reckon with my actions, but I want to be with someone who I can actually talk to about Hard Topics, who will recognize both that my body is mine and mine alone to make decisions about how to use it, yet who wants to help me make the most informed decisions I can. For various reasons, that was not the relationship and would never be, with that person in that random city, and that’s okay. I am grateful for that rocky week because it taught me the value of money, of mistakes, of balancing living in the moment with actually living.

For the record, I’m not trying to give men a pass on taking responsibility for their actions either. But ultimately, I can’t really waste my time worrying about what the fuck men think about what I do with my body, even men who are my lovers. That might sound harsh and I’m not saying I’d make a decision as profound as what to do about a pregnancy without informing and discussing it with the other person but that at the end of the day, really, they are not the ones dealing with the day-to-day reality. Certainly not in my friend’s case, but even if he were, no matter how “supportive” a man may want to be, he is not the one going through those changes. That was a good lesson for me to learn, and I don’t think it made me more cynical, just more of a realist, and hopefully, a more responsible person who takes better care of myself, to everyone around me’s benefit.

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Monday, March 22, 2010

I want to get naked (news) for you

Back in October when I was in Toronto, I shot a segment with Naked News (link obviously NSFW). A very pretty and nice woman interviewed me, totally naked (I was clothed) about erotica and my erotic writing workshop.

The problem is, now I have the file, but can’t seem to host it on my site. Does anyone have any suggestions for where I could upload it to share it? (Obviously not YouTube). Or any troubleshooting ideas about why it’s not loading on my site? Email rachelkb at gmail.com and hopefully I can share what’s definitely been a highlight of my press adventures.

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Friday, March 19, 2010

The final word on "porn for women"

By which I don't mean porn aimed at women but the Porn for Women series of books I wrote about in 2007 at The Huffington Post in "Is There Such a Thing as 'Porn for Women?'"

I found the book slightly amusing at first, then rather annoying in its simplistic take on what's truly a complex topic: how equally does or doesn't play out in our daily lives. Firstly, the word "straight," as it often is when it comes to the catchall phrase "women," is implied. Second, the book deals with an array of common complaints by women about men ─ they're obsessed with sports, don't cook or do enough chores, skimp out on foreplay ─ that could just as easily read as clichés. It's a greatest hits compilation of the unequal division of labor, yet to me, something about it rings false. Perhaps because the wink-wink assumption behind the satire is that men wouldn't or don't really do these tasks, and if they do, it's in such a grandiose way they aren't just performing the chores, but are thrilled about it. I know plenty of self-sufficient men who are far neater than I am (admittedly, not a high standard), and ones who share in childcare and housework. Maybe they don't love every minute of it, but who does?



xkcd (via Feministing)

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An apt summary of my life's madness in 140 characters or less



This galley went right to the top of my to-be-read "pile" (which is really more of a...bag unto itself, or bags).

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I get jealous over at The Frisky

I wrote a piece for The Frisky called "Girl Talk: Should I Be Jealous of His Female Friends?" about my new guy and his many female friends. So far (in 2 days), it's spawned 80 comments (and a few conversations between me and said guy) and certainly hit a nerve:

The other night, after having sex with the new guy I’m seeing, he said casually, “I’m going out for a drink with my friend. I’ll be back in half an hour.” Fair or not, it bothered me that he was going out with a female friend (I’d still have been a little miffed it had been a male friend, but not in the same way). The fact was, I was exhausted after having flown home on a red eye that morning, so perhaps I was overly sensitive, but still, I was jealous … especially when three hours later I woke up and he wasn’t there.

I almost left, but he apologized, telling me his friend had some major issues to discuss and they’d lost track of time. He rushed back and we fell asleep together. The next night, I got to meet the woman I’ll call Alice when we all went to dinner. She was fun and sweet—and has a boyfriend. In just a few minutes, I could tell she wasn’t a threat to my relationship, but still, the fact that the majority of his friends are women, and there are lots of them, has given me pause.


Read the whole piece at The Frisky.

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Thursday, March 18, 2010

Madison Young tomorrow night too!

Tonight, as you know, Madison Young is performing at In The Flesh, along with 8 awesome readers for BDSM Night. Tomorrow night you can also catch her at a very special New York performance and benefit at Fontana's on the Lower East Side. See Tied Up Events for details and to register.


Madison Young, photo via LAist


In The Flesh logo by Molly Crabapple

IN THE FLESH EROTIC READING SERIES
BDSM NIGHT
March 18, 2010, 8 pm - 10 pm
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


Get kinky with memoir writers, BDSM educators, erotica authors, a porn star, and more at In The Flesh. Featuring Melissa Febos (author of dominatrix memoir Whip Smart), blogger Selina Fire (Pleasure Salon), rope bondage expert Monk (Twistedmonk.com), Julie Powell (author of Cleaving and Julie and Julia), erotica writer Xan West (contributor, Best SM Erotica 3), Mollena Williams (author, "BDSM and Playing with Race" in Best Sex Writing 2010, BDSM educator Lolita Wolf (LeatherYenta.com) and feminist porn star Madison Young (MadisonBound.com). Hosted and curated by Rachel Kramer Bussel (Best Sex Writing 2010, Bottoms Up, Spanked, Yes, Sir, Yes, Ma’am). Prize giveaways sponsored by Kink Academy (shirt, journal, purse, aftercare blanket, memberships and more) and Eden Fantasys (suede flogger and faux fur bondage cuffs). Authors' books will be available for sale by Mobile Libris. Free cupcakes by Baked by Melissa along with chips, candy and other snacks will be served.

Tomorrow at Fontana's (March 19th)

Empowerment is something that adult film star and gallery owner, Madison Young, is passionate about. Her passion has led her to direct cutting edge films that push boundaries and buttons in an effort to give the viewer more than just “bang for the buck” but also to immerse them in an experience that leaves them thinking about boundaries, sexuality, gender and the intersections of pleasure and pain. But that isn’t the only way 29 year old Madison has chosen to spread her mission of empowerment. Founding Femina Potens, a non-profit art gallery and performance space, in 2003, Madison brings that message to the gallery’s San Francisco neighborhood, combining art, education, theater, kink and sexuality in a safe and welcoming space for the LGBTQIK community and their supporters to congregate and experience art in a way that often blurs the line between artist and audience.



Tied Up Events supports Madison Young and the vision she has created and nurtured. We’re delighted to announce that on Friday, March 19th, Madison will be in New York City and we’d like to ask you to join us for a special fundraiser for Femina Potens to be held at Fontana’s.


From 6PM to 7:30PM, there will be a private wine and chocolate party (donation $35 in advance through Eventbrite), limited to 30 guests who will get to enjoy some one on one time with our guest of honor. Outstanding erotic photographer JM Darling will be there to photograph guests with Madison.


At 7:30PM the general public is invited to join us at no cost for the second half of our evening. Madison will be doing a special, interactive performance. Sexy, sultry N, ecdysiast and co-producer of Hypergender Burlesque, has generously agreed to perform for us. And, of course, there will be a raffle with fabulous prizes graciously donated by sponsors such as Stockroom and Kink Academy. So be sure to bring your cash; maybe you’ll even be one of the lucky guests to purchase your tickets from Madison. Spending $25 or more on raffle tickets will get the first 50 people signature Tied Up Events gift bags.



So come on out, heat up this cold and snowy NYC winter while supporting the arts and enjoying art, burlesque, a beautiful and brilliant adult film star, prizes and gift bags.

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Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Bloggers wanted for Please, Sir virtual book tour

I'm doing a 31-day (May) virtual book tour for Please, Sir: Erotic Stories of Female Submission. Want to be part of it? We have 30 spots left! Email pleaseantho at gmail.com with your URL and any preferred dates. Bloggers get a free copy of the book (if they're in the US, sorry, can't afford to send overseas) and are asked to post the cover and link to Amazon and the Please, Sir blog and can either review the book, post an excerpt, interview me or whatever else you'd like. Books will be mailed out in mid-April so I know that may not give the earlier bloggers much time to read it but I'll get them out as soon as I can.

Everyone else: I'm getting postcards for this book very soon and buttons and you can get a FREE copy at my signings (autographing area and in booth) at BEA if you're attending. If not, I should have copies hopefully as early as Nerd Sex Night (April 15th) at In The Flesh. Will post as soon as it's for sale! I'm shooting the book trailer April 3rd/4th and really doing a big push, so if you know someone who might like it, please let them know.



Introduction: Risk and Reward

Anticipation Shanna Germain
Because He Can Elizabeth Coldwell
Avery Says Sommer Marsden
The Sub Fairy Mercy Loomis
I Breathe Your Name Tess Danesi
Long Time Gone Heidi Champa
Power over Power Emerald
Knot Here! Yolanda West
Veronica’s Body Isabelle Gray
The Negotiation Remittance Girl
A Night at the Opera Evan Mora
Mommy’s Boy Doug Harrison
No Good Deed Alison Tyler
Masochist on Vacation Aimee Pearl
Lil’ Pet Brat, aka Lily Guangli Kissa Starling
Pleasure Keeper Charlotte Stein
Welcome to the World Ariel Graham
Stroke Lisabet Sarai
Sunday in the Study Justine Elyot
Walking the Sub Salome Wilde
Just What She Needs Donna George Storey
Your Hand on My Neck Rachel Kramer Bussel

Introduction: Risk and Reward

If you ask me, submission is an art form. It requires dedication, focus, commitment and desire--and there’s no single way of doing it. It’s about unlocking something within yourself so you can reach beyond your normal limits, exposing your body and soul in order to go somewhere you cannot get to alone.

I had a lover who always told me that the key to life is “High risk, high reward.” The same is true about kink, and this is evident throughout the stories in Please, Sir, which explores female submission and male dominance from the sub’s point of view. When these characters take risks, they are rewarded…even when those rewards look like “punishment.” They are rewarded in all kinds of ways, from being bound to being praised to being choked, spanked or put on display. They are rewarded by being tested again and again.

The women in these stories approach submission in different ways. Some, like Tess Danesi’s protagonist in “I Breathe Your Name,” live on the edge of fear and get off on pushing the limits with their masters, though they don’t always know where their boldness will take them. Some of these women are drawn to the charisma of a born leader, one like Krav Maga instructor, Dominic, in Emerald’s “Power over Power.” Jackie, his student, has been watching and fantasizing about him, but when he finally acknowledges her sexually, she is caught off guard:

I trembled, wanting to touch him but feeling frozen. Still looking at the ground, I nodded.

With characteristic efficiency of motion, he reached with one finger and pulled my chin up. A shudder ran through me as I felt his poweræthe power I saw in every move he made, that he exuded at the front of the class, that he spoke when he told us what we were capable of, that coiled and expelled from him whenever he slammed any part of his body into the punching bag. This was the power that lived unquestioned within him, so seamlessly that it was as though it wouldn’t exist without him.

Others don’t expect to be getting kinky at all, like the “Mommy’s Boy” in Doug Harrison’s story, where tables get turned in a most delightful way. In Lisabet Sarai’s “Stroke,” a woman risks getting kinky at work in order to realize her dream:

I just stood there, petrified by mingled fear and excitement. If anyone discovered us, I’d lose my job. I’d never work as a nurse again. Five years of education down the drain. But this might be my only chance. The chance to make my fantasies real.

The lesson there, and in all of these stories, is that there is risk involved in submission. I don’t mean the physical risks, but the emotional ones, the ones that require a leap of faith, a knowledge that what you are doing may unnerve you, confuse you and scare you, even while it makes you wet and eager and ready for more. As we see in Shanna Germain’s opening story, “Anticipation,” merely thinking about what he might do next, playing with power in one’s own mind, can yield profound results:

I can no longer breathe, much less make a noise of want. This is what he does to me, every day: whips me into a frenzy of words that makes me miss him more than I have the power to say, that makes me so wet that if he were here, I’d fuck him right now, bent over this table, with all these people watching, groaning his name with every thrust. I’d be begging him to fuck me, beat me, make me come with the kind of orgasm that makes everything else disappear.

I have to go, back to the work that calls, the work that keeps me here in this foreign and fuckless place, but I don’t want to.


Some, like Kissa Starling’s heroine, are brats, and enjoy pushing their masters to the limit. Some don’t deliberately provoke anyone, but wind up bent over anyway. However they come to their submission (and come from their submission), their journey is one charged with the spark of passing power between two people, of welcoming the risk of submission and all it entails.

I like the women in this collection, and not just because they remind me of me when I’m reveling in being slapped across the face, forced to the ground, utterly at my chosen lover’s (or master’s, or partner’s or top’s) mercy. It’s not just the actions here that are familiar, but the reasoning, the way they crave and cringe in the face of the power they are claiming, and the power they are giving up. They are smart enough to know that kink is not about simply embracing one’s fears, but grappling with them, battling with them, taking risks and seeing if, in fact, they yield very sexy rewards.

Rachel Kramer Bussel
New York City

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Beautiful book cover: Can't Help The Way That I Feel

I love this book cover! Haven't read Can't Help The Way That I Feel: Sultry Stories of African American Love, Lust and Fantasy yet but will be soon, it's being published by my publisher, Cleis Press, and the editor, Lori Bryant-Woolridge, is signing at Book Expo America. I'm hoping to book some of her contributors for an upcoming In The Flesh as well. See her blog for more information.

Contributing authors: The Big Bamboo, Teddy Bell, BLACK, Elle, Cynnamon Foster, Elise Gower, Sasha James, Toi James, Erika J. Kendrick, Noori Lun, Velvet.



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Monk promises free rope and dark chocolate at BDSM Night March 18th

Via @twistedmonk on Twitter. Join us all tomorrow night!



IN THE FLESH EROTIC READING SERIES
BDSM NIGHT
March 18, 2010, 8 pm - 10 pm
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


Get kinky with memoir writers, BDSM educators, erotica authors, a porn star, and more at In The Flesh. Featuring Melissa Febos (author of dominatrix memoir Whip Smart), blogger Selina Fire (Pleasure Salon), rope bondage expert Monk (Twistedmonk.com), Julie Powell (author of Cleaving and Julie and Julia), erotica writer Xan West (contributor, Best SM Erotica 3), Mollena Williams (author, "BDSM and Playing with Race" in Best Sex Writing 2010, BDSM educator Lolita Wolf (LeatherYenta.com) and feminist porn star Madison Young (MadisonBound.com). Hosted and curated by Rachel Kramer Bussel (Best Sex Writing 2010, Bottoms Up, Spanked, Yes, Sir, Yes, Ma’am). Prize giveaways sponsored by Kink Academy (shirt, journal, purse, aftercare blanket, memberships and more) and Eden Fantasys (suede flogger and faux fur bondage cuffs). Authors' books will be available for sale by Mobile Libris. Free cupcakes by Baked by Melissa along with chips, candy and other snacks will be served.

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April 15 is Nerd Sex Night at In The Flesh

And, of course, tomorrow is the not-to-be-missed free Peeps, candy, cupcakes and chips BDSM Night, complete with giveaways of bondage cuffs and a flogger by Eden Fantasys, Kink Academy memberships, sex toys and more! 8-10 pm, free, 21+ and we are opening up the downstairs since I expect a major crowd.


In The Flesh logo by Molly Crabapple

IN THE FLESH EROTIC READING SERIES
NERD SEX NIGHT
April 15, 2010, 8 pm - 10 pm
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


Get geeky at Nerd Sex Night! Featuring Mike Albo (The Underminer), Emily Cavalier (blogger, Dangerously Enthusiastic), sexual health researcher Laura G. Duncan, erotica writer Emerald (reading her Apple store erotica "Shift Change" from Best Women's Erotica 2010), chef and food stylist Akiko Moorman, author Stephen Elliott (The Adderall Diaries). Hosted and curated by Rachel Kramer Bussel (Peep Show, Bottoms Up, The Mile High Club). Free cupcakes by Baked by Melissa and chips and candy will be served.Hosted and curated by Rachel Kramer Bussel (Best Sex Writing 2010, Bottoms Up, Spanked, Yes, Sir, Yes, Ma’am). Free cupcakes by Baked by Melissa along with chips, candy and other snacks 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, NBC New York, New York Post, New York Observer, Philadelphia City Paper, Time Out New York, Flavorwire, Fork in the Road, Gawker, Gothamist, Jezebel.com, Nerve.com, Serious Eats, Tasting Table and Wonkette, and has been praised by Dr. Ruth.

Mike Albo is a writer and performer who lives and loves in Brooklyn. His
second novel, (written with his longtime friend Virginia Heffernan) is the
cult humor classic, The Underminer: The Best Friend Who Casually Destroys
Your Life.
His performances of the character have become internet hits and
can be found on Youtube like everything else in the world. His first novel,
the critically acclaimed Hornito, came out in 2000. Albo has written for
zillions of magazines and websites including New York Magazine, GQ, Details, and The Daily Beast. From 2007-2009 he was The Critical Shopper columnist
for the New York Times. He’s performed numerous solo shows including
“Spray,” “Please Everything Burst,” and “My Price Point” as well as with the
comedy trio Unitard. He is also a founding member of the legendary downtown
NYC naked glittery dance troupe, The Dazzle Dancers.
www.mikealbo.com



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 over 30 anthologies, including the kink-themed Spanked, Bottoms Up, Yes, Sir, Yes, Ma'am, He's on Top, She's on Top, Rubber Sex as well as Peep Show, The Mile High Club: Plane Sex Stories, Do Not Disturb: Hotel Sex Stories, Tasting Him, Tasting Her, and the non-fiction Best Sex Writing series. Her books won 3 2009 Independent Publisher Awards. 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. Rachel conducts nationwide readings and erotic writing workshops. She has hosted In The Flesh since October 2005.
www.rachelkramerbussel.com


photo by Anya Garrett

Emily Cavalier is dangerously enthusiastic about life. She's a freelance food writer, and works full-time as a business development exec in the event/media industry. The New England native has called Fort Greene, Brooklyn home for the past three years and is deeply in love with her neighborhood and its people. When not at the office, out drinking cocktails or getting lost all over NYC, you can find Emily's writing at http://EmilyCavalier.com and on her food website about New York City's ethnic neighborhoods, http://MouthOfTheBorder.com.



Laura G. Duncan is a sexual health researcher, educator and writer currently
living in Brooklyn. Her research deals with issues of sexuality within medical education and primary care, focusing on health literacy and accessibility among underserved populations. In addition to her current work in clinical breast cancer research, she has worked with high schools students, health non profits and in a medical school as a Gynecological Teaching Associate.



Stephen Elliott is the author of seven books including The Adderall Diaries, Time Out New York's best book of 2009. He's written for Esquire, GQ, New York Times, and been anthologized in Best American Non-Required Reading 2005 & 2007, Best Sex Writing, and Best American Erotica.



Emerald has been a writer since age seven, though her repertoire did not begin to include erotica until her early twenties. Now in her early thirties, her erotic fiction has been published in anthologies edited by Violet Blue, Rachel Kramer Bussel, Jolie du Pre, and Alison Tyler as well as online at various erotic websites. She resides in suburban Maryland where she works as a webcam model and serves as an activist for reproductive freedom and sex workers' rights.
www.thegreenlightdistrict.org



Akiko Moorman is a New York chef, food stylist, and self-proclaimed nerd. She believes wholeheartedly that all projects, whether it be developing a new menu or finding out what felching means, begin with reading reference materials, interviewing experts, and when all else fails, using the Google machine. She deeply regrets searching for felching on the Google machine. She, however, regrets little else. Akiko graduated from Columbia University’s writing program, where one professor once described her work as, “for lack of a better word, very Tarantino-esque.”

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Monday, March 15, 2010

If I'm gonna be the poster girl for sluts, I want credit, damnit!



I have no idea who made me famous on PostRejects, but I did want to point out that the photo (in its original form below) is by Stacie Joy and was taken at the video shoot for the Do Not Disturb: Hotel Sex Stories book trailer shoot. The video is below. We're shooting book trailers for Please, Sir: Erotic Stories of Female Submission (the book with the crazy hot book cover that I'm getting postcards and (a first for me) buttons for and will be giving away at Book Expo America!) and Fast Girls: Erotica for Women.

We're at over 90,000 views on the trailer, woo-hoo! I get my next royalty statement next month so I'll see how it's doing, I think pretty well. It's always a crapshoot (for instance, nobody's bought Rubber Sex) but I try to learn what works and what doesn't. I have a great feeling about all the books coming out this year...you know, all 9 of them. And this will be the year I learn to stop trying to publish so much and start working smarter, not just more, and focus in so I'm not thought of as the girl who will "write for everyone." A friend said that recently and she's right. I've written for free or cheap, to my detriment, and I need to learn to harness and focus that energy. Baby steps, baby steps. I'll still invest in myself with postcards and videos because, maybe it's just in my head, but I do think it's building toward something bigger, toward something so that someday I bring in the money I deserve from these books.




photo by Stacie Joy

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Bottoms Up: Spanking Good Stories up for NLA-I Award



I'm so excited about this recognition and for those attending, I'll be sending a batch of Bottoms Up as well as some Please, Sir: Erotic Stories of Female Submission postcards. I've been really enjoying Sexis and encourage you to check out Sarah Sloane's piece (linked below) and their other content, including Tuesdays with Nina - Nina Hartley, that is, a weekly video segment. You can also get a pretty print copy of Sexis.

FINALISTS ANNOUNCED FOR NLA-I WRITING AWARDS

(Columbus, OH) -- National Leather Association: International (NLA-I), a leading organization for activists in the pansexual SM/leather/fetish community, announced today the finalists for its recently created writing awards. Named after activists and writers Geoff Mains, John Preston, Pauline Reage, Cynthia Slater, and the organization Samois, they are awarded annually to recognize excellence in writing and publishing about leather, SM, bondage and fetishes.

The finalists for the Cynthia Slater Non-fiction Article Award are:

Gloria Brame, "Transformation and Transcendence in BDSM," which appeared in Filthy Gorgeous Things, July 2009, "Force" issue. Available at: http://filthygorgeousthings.com/

E.R. Chaline, "Contemporary Gay BDSM in the UK," which appeared in Skin Two (2009).

Jeff Mann, "How to be a Country Leather Bear," from Richard Labonté and Lawrence Schimel (eds.), Second Person Queer: Who You Are (So Far). (Arsenal Pulp Press).

Jack Rinella, "Juggling," which appeared in LeatherViews

Sarah Sloane, "The Biochemistry of BDSM," which appeared in Sexis. Available at: http://www.edenfantasys.com/sexis/sex/bdsm-biochemistry-110492/

The finalists for the Geoff Mains Non-fiction Book Award are:

Lee Harrington, Sacred Kink: The Eightfold Paths of BDSM and Beyond (lulu.com)

david stein, Ask the Man Who Owns Him: The Real Lives of Gay Masters and slaves (Perfectbound Press)

Two Knotty Boys, Two Knotty Boys Back on the Ropes (Green Candy)


The finalists for the Pauline Reage Novel Award are:

Melinda Barron, Graceful Submission (Loose Id)

James, Buchanan, Hard Fall (MLR Press)

Alex Ironrod, Obsession (Nazca Plains)

Claire Thompson, Submission Times Two (Romance Unbound)


The finalists for the John Preston Short Fiction Award are:

Kieran Wyn DeWhurst, "The Last Mistress of the Chatelaine," in Cecilia Tan and Sarah Desautels (eds.), Like a Thorn: An Anthology of BDSM Fairy Tales (Circlet Press)

Jack Fritscher, "Goodbye Saigon," in Phillip Mackenzie, Jr. (ed.), Special Forces: Gay Military Erotica (Cleis Press)

Shanna Germain, "Second Skin," in Cecilia Tan and Sarah Desautels (eds.), Like a Thorn: An Anthology of BDSM Fairy Tales (Circlet Press)

Jeff Mann, "Lost River," in Richard Labonté (ed.), Daddies: Gay Erotic Stories (Cleis Press)

Xan West, "Missing Daddy," in Richard Labonté (ed.), Daddies: Gay Erotic Stories (Cleis Press)


The finalists for the Samois Anthology Award are:

Cecilia Tan and Sarah Desautels (eds.), Like a Thorn: An Anthology of BDSM Fairy Tales (Circlet Press)

Rachel Kramer Bussel (ed.), Bottoms Up: Spanking Good Stories (Cleis Press)


The winners will be announced at the NLA-I’s Annual General Meeting, which will be held during Tribal Fire in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (April 30 - May 2 2010). Please contact the award committee chair, Steve Vakesh, for more information about the awards at stevevakesh@gmail.com. For more information about Tribal Fire, the National Leather Association, and the NLA-I's meeting on Sunday morning, see: http://www.tribalfireokc.com/ and http://www.nla-i.com


Bottoms Up is for sale from:

Amazon

Bn.com (Barnes & Noble)

Powells.com

IndieBound

Cleis Press

As sweet as it is kinky, "Bottoms Up" will propel you to pick up a paddle and share in both pleasure and pain, or perhaps simply turn the other cheek...For those who have an endless capacity to bare their ass in preparation for a sound smacking ~ or deliver the deliciously ecstatic pain to a lover ~ this torrid tour de force is essential reading.
Review at Rainbow Reviews

"...the stories here are a wonderfully diverse mix tackling spanking from a myriad different approaches.

For any fan of cheekily chastised cheeks, Bottoms Up is a collection that can’t fail to deliver."
-- Review at Erotica Readers & Writers Association

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Thursday, March 11, 2010

About last night, or more Village Tart-ness

What my last drink of 2010 looked like...a $16.33 (with tax) glass of champagne at Village Tart. I forget the name but it’s at the top of their champagne list on their drinks menu.



Also, I had meatballs. Also, I love that restaurant. I had an aggravating night last night but am putting it behind me. You may not be able to see the meatballs that well, but trust me, they were delicious - in a Japanese curry sauce. That place is just so luscious.

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Wednesday, March 10, 2010

March 18th BDSM lineup (with Julie Powell, Madison Young and more!)

IN THE FLESH EROTIC READING SERIES
BDSM NIGHT
March 18, 2010, 8 pm - 10 pm
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


Get kinky with memoir writers, BDSM educators, erotica authors, a porn star, and more at In The Flesh. Featuring Melissa Febos (author of dominatrix memoir Whip Smart), blogger Selina Fire (Pleasure Salon), rope bondage expert Monk (Twistedmonk.com), Julie Powell (author of Cleaving and Julie and Julia), erotica writer Xan West (contributor, Best SM Erotica 3), Mollena Williams (author, "BDSM and Playing with Race" in Best Sex Writing 2010, BDSM educator Lolita Wolf (LeatherYenta.com) and feminist porn star Madison Young (MadisonBound.com). Hosted and curated by Rachel Kramer Bussel (Best Sex Writing 2010, Bottoms Up, Spanked, Yes, Sir, Yes, Ma’am). Prize giveaways sponsored by Kink Academy (shirt, journal, purse, aftercare blanket, memberships and more) and Eden Fantasys (suede flogger and faux fur bondage cuffs). Authors' books will be available for sale by Mobile Libris. Free cupcakes by Baked by Melissa along with chips, candy and other snacks 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 Post, New York Observer, Philadelphia City Paper, Time Out New York, Flavorwire, Gawker, Gothamist, Jezebel.com, Nerve.com, Tasting Table and Wonkette, and has been praised by Dr. Ruth.

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 over 30 anthologies, including the kink-themed Spanked, Bottoms Up, Yes, Sir, Yes, Ma'am, He's on Top, She's on Top, Rubber Sex as well as Peep Show, The Mile High Club: Plane Sex Stories, Do Not Disturb: Hotel Sex Stories, Tasting Him, Tasting Her, and the non-fiction Best Sex Writing series. Her books won 3 2009 Independent Publisher Awards. 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. Rachel conducts nationwide readings and erotic writing workshops. She has hosted In The Flesh since October 2005.
www.rachelkramerbussel.com


photo by Anya Garrett

Melissa Febos is the author of the memoir Whip Smart, (St. Martin’s Press/Thomas Dunne Books). Her writing has been featured in The Southeast Review, Redivider, The Rambler, Storyscape Journal, Bitch Magazine, and Smut Magazine, among others. She co-curates and hosts the Mixer Reading and Music Series at Cake Shop, and teaches at SUNY Purchase College and The Gotham Writers’ Workshop. She holds an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College. More information about her work and projects can be found at melissafebos.com.



Selina Fire is a native New Yorker whose passion is sex. She blogs about her sexual adventures at selinafire.com. She co-hosts New York City's Pleasure Salon, a monthly gathering of sex-positive activists. Her 2007 column, "On The Edge," in Penthouse Forum, was banned in Canada because officials found it too obscene. She is currently working with artist Madame Cindy on a very dirty comic book.



Monk is dubbed “a unicorn” by his friends, because he is so many things that aren’t supposed to exist. Before launching his bondage rope company, this former Eagle Scout and evangelical missionary was a software cowboy, an actor/stuntman, and a filmmaker. Six years ago, Monk’s mother-in-law gave him Midori’s rope bondage book, and a ropemaker was born. Today, in addition to running the world’s largest bondage rope company, Monk enjoys a career as a sex worker, writer, activist, educator, and entertainer.
www.twistedmonk.com



Julie Powell thrust herself from obscurity (and an uninspiring temp job) to cyber-celebrityhood when, in 2002, she embarked on an ambitious yearlong cooking (and blogging) expedition through all 524 recipes in Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking. She detailed the experience in her critically acclaimed 2005 New York Times bestselling memoir, Julie & Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously, which was adapted into a major motion picture starring Meryl Streep and Amy Adams in August 2009. Julie has made appearances on national television shows from ABC’s Good Morning America and CBS’s The Early Show to The Martha Stewart Show and Food Network’s Iron Chef America, and her writing has appeared in numerous magazines and newspapers including Bon Appétit, Food and Wine, Harper’s Bazaar, The New York Times, the Washington Post, and more. She is a two-time James Beard Award winner in Journalism, was awarded an honorary degree from Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, and was the first ever winner of the Overall Lulu Blooker Prize for Books. Her highly anticipated second book, Cleaving, published in December, 2009.



Xan West is the pseudonym of an NYC BDSM/sex educator. Xan’s story “First Time Since”, won honorable mention for the 2008 National Leather Association’s John Preston Short Fiction Award. Xan appears in Best SM Erotica Volumes 2 and 3, Best Women’s Erotica 2008 and 2009, Hurts So Good, DADDIES, Biker Boys, and Leathermen.

Mollena (Mo) Williams, “Delicate, Trembling Flower of Submission”© is a NYC born and raised writer, actress, BDSM Educator and Executive Pervert. She is extremely honored, humbled and proud to serve as Ms. San Francisco Leather 2009. Active in BDSM since 1996, she speaks at Leather events across the US on many kinkcentric topics. A founding member of Crowded Fire Theater Company, she blogs on http://mollena.com. Mo is also author of the upcoming Toybag Gude: Taboo Play and of the essay "BDSM and Playing with Race" which appears in Best Sex Writing 2010.



Lolita Wolf is a native New Yorker, who discovered the BDSM scene back in the late 80's when “online” meant being on the phone sex lines. She is an activist who defends the sexual freedom for all consenting adults, spreads the word about BDSM, sex and poly, and helps the community grow and flourish. However, her primary goal is "to have fun." Her writing has appeared in On Our Backs and Prometheus magazines and The Lust Chronicles anthology and she has authored two books: Spanking and CBT in a Nutshell. Recently, she was featured in the New York Times' One in 8 Million series: http://vb.ly/255f, Her website can be found at http://www.leatheryenta.com/.



Madison Young is an international award-winning porn star, director, gallerist, and published author. She has been directing BDSM and erotic films since 2005 and has won great acclaim for her video line, Madison Young Productions, which has been awarded the 2008 Feminist Porn Award and at the 2009 Feminist Porn Awards was awarded Indie Porn Pioneer of the Year and Best Kink Film for her 2008 release Perversions of Lesbian Lust. In 2009 she was also awarded Best BDSM Movie by AEBN for Perversions of Lesbian Lust and nominated for Best BDSM Release by AVN. She has recently finished her book of memoirs, Breathe: The Sexual Evolution of Madison Young, based on her experiences in the adult industry, due out in spring of 2011. When she isn't documenting hot sex on film she is running her own non profit community art gallery in San Francisco, Femina Potens Art Gallery, which focuses on the expression of Art, Sex and Gender.
www.madisonbound.com



You will hear from the following books, which Mobile Libris will have for sale:


Behind the Bedroom Door
(featuring Julie Powell's essay "Lost in Space")


Whip Smart



Best Sex Writing 2010


Two sex toy prizes will be given away courtesy of EdenFantasys, a suede flogger and bondage cuffs:


Fulfill-a-fantasy flogger from EdenFantasys


Crave wrist restraints from EdenFantasys

Prizes will be given away courtesy of Kink Academy, listed below.

1) A Kink Academy shirt, journal, scene starters deluxe set & one year membership to www.kinkacademy.com.

2) Bible purse and 1 year membership to Kink Academy.

3) Aftercare blanket & 1 year membership to Kink Academy.

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Tuesday, March 09, 2010

I'm quoted in Danish Elle!

Click on images below for a larger version on Flickr. I was quoted in an article in Danish Elle even if I don't know yet what it actually says.



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Free food at In The Flesh Reading Series

In addition to our always stellar lineup of readers (coming up: Julie Powell, Melissa Febos, Madison Young and more at BDSM Night March 18th!, 8-10 pm, Happy Ending Lounge, 302 Broome Street, 21+), we always have more than enough free snacks to feed everyone who shows up. The early birds do, in this case, get the cupcakes as they are in limited supply (no matter whether I buy 100 or 200, they go fast!) Here's a sampling of what we tasted in February (more Peeps are coing next week!):




Cupcakes by Baked by Melissa

photos by Anya Garrett

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Monday, March 08, 2010

I'm looking forward to watching this

I don't watch porn very often, but last week while traveling this caught my eye, and magically, Vivid Ed sent it to me before I could buy it. Will definitely blog my review of Tristan Taormino's Expert Guide to Advanced Fellatio. As you may know, since I edited the IPPY-award winning Tasting Him: Oral Sex Stories, I have an interest in the topic.

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How to get your book signed

I loved Diana Joseph's memoir I'm Sorry You Feel That Way and I love how she's gotten her copy of her book signed! Via her blog (where there's more):



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Friday, March 05, 2010

NYC culture: free comedy, Jackie O, LSD and time travel: NYC culture at its finest

No time for anything more than links, sorry! I'm going to some of these, and even though I haven't seen them yet, I do recommend them because they sound interesting.



The finest free comedy around - my face still hurts from laughing at the first two!

Karen Finley: The Jackie Look - going tomorrow night, closing night

KAREN FINLEY, the most controversial woman in performance today, premieres her latest work THE JACKIE LOOK beginning January 30 at The Laurie Beechman Theatre. Performances have been extended through March 27, 2010.

In THE JACKIE LOOK, Karen Finley brings icon Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis back to life in this unique look at history, style, trauma, femininity and the demands of being the First Lady. Using the structure of a lecture set in the present day, Jackie, one of the most photographed woman of her day, contemplates her life in pictures. Jackie also makes use of You Tube and views online homages to her and her family. Along the way Jackie ruminates on Michelle Obama, Caroline's run for Senate, the art world, and the lasting impact of that fateful day on the grassy knoll in Dallas.

Since her first performances in the early 1980's, KAREN FINLEY has become synonymous with performance art. She is the recipient of two Obies, two Bessies, and multiple grants from the NEA and NYSCA. She has toured internationally with pieces including Make Love, George & Martha, The American Chestnut, A Certain Level of Denial and The Return of The Chocolate Smeared Woman. In 1990, Finley became an unwilling symbol for the NEA when she, along with Tim Miller, Holly Hughes & John Fleck, sued the NEA for withdrawing grants on the grounds of indecency.

THE JACKIE LOOK runs January 30 - March 27, Saturdays at 7:30pm. The Laurie Beechman Theater is located inside West Bank Cafe at 407 West 42nd Street -- at Ninth Avenue, accessible from the A,C,E,N,R,V,F,1,2,3 trains at 42nd Street. Tickets are $20, plus $15 food/drink minimum, available at 212-352-3101 or online here.



The Bike Trip

Going on the last day in NYC, March 7th. Click here to read more

The Great and Secret Show

Mike Daisey is well known for his hilarious, monologues, but he’s kept his radio career secret – until now. For the first time ever in its 114-year history, THE GREAT AND SECRET SHOW will be made available for a live studio audience in The Greene Space and to viewers at home via webcast at thegreenespace.org.

This unprecedented opportunity to witness three new live productions of the heretofore clandestine radio programme will take place on March 12th, April 16th, and May 12th at 7:00 pm.

Launched in 1896 at the dawn of radio and still transmitted via Tesla Oscillator today, the programme was designed exclusively for Masons of the 3rd Order and higher. Long assumed to be the stuff of conspiracy theories,THE GREAT AND SECRET SHOW is in fact the world’s longest continuously broadcasting radio programme. Though only heard by a small number of individuals throughout history, those Secret Masters have been the movers and shakers who have shaped the world as it is today.

THE GREAT AND SECRET SHOW features a blend of Mr. Daisey’s masterful and poignant storytelling with news and interviews with the newsmaking people of our day: bold adventurers, scientists (mad and otherwise), wayward princesses, dashing rogues, and other colorful figures of Our Society. The show covers the latest discoveries in cryptozoology, telluric currents, and advances in both steam and electrical technologies, presenting them in a manner both accessible and informative. Expect trenchant analysis, penetrating wit, and social critique both acid-tongued and whip-smart. Now, at long last, the programme beloved by the Secret Masters will be shared with the world.

When reached for comment, Mr. Daisey said, “From the depths of its black and unknown tunnels to the blinding heights of its terrible skyscrapers, New York City is the best, last bastion of civilization’s hopes and terrors. Sending my voice into its ether, night after night, in this impossible metropolis is both an honor and a privilege.”

Long-time listener Franklin Delano Roosevelt said of the programme, “THE GREAT AND SECRET SHOW is the most essential and clear-throated voice for liberty and civilization that can be heard in these dark times.”

Friday, March 12, 2010 at 07:00 PM
Duration: 2 hours
Tickets: $25

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Worst case scenarios

There is no real silver lining of a worse case scenario, except...that it forces you, in this case, me, to truly reckon with my actions, something I did not do at Yom Kippur, something that I so often do not do because it’s easier to ignore them. I can’t say more but I feel like this week has been a provider of many lessons for me, good and bad, none of them exactly earth-shattering but all of them vital.

I can't say any more, only that I've been in several such situations in my life, where I let a small problem spiral into a bigger and bigger one, watching as if from afar, which was never my intention. But, as I am slowly learning, intentions actually don't matter much, if at all. Actions do. So I am doing my best not to erase my past actions, but to both atone for them and not make them again, and try not to see things as so all or nothing. That would be incredibly easy to do, but if I have any strengths, I think they are in going to the rock bottom places and emerging from them. It's a shame that I have to go to the rock bottom to emerge, and that is something I'm going to work on in 2010 and probably for the rest of my life, but I'm both humbled and, in a way, energized by what's ahead, by the new challenges of trying to not simply wallow, but to move forward.

Junk Drawers recycled men's underwear, at Shag and Etsy

I discovered Junk Drawers Underwear last week at Williamsburg, Brooklyn shop Shag (where tomorrow 2-4 pm I teach my last NYC erotica class of 2010, there's still room!), and was immediately drawn to the colors and fabrics and design. Then I found out they're made from recycled material, and immediately had to buy a pair for my boyfriend! Check them out at Shag or their Etsy shop. Turns out they're based in one of my favorite cities, Minneapolis!



From their Etsy page:

Junk Drawers Underwear are repurposed and recycled garments made from new scrap materials left over from commercial cuts and remnant scraps discarded by the apparel manufacturing industry. We take this fabric from its certain death in a landfill and make clothes out of it. We also like to use cherished, precious, one-of-a-kind pieces of vintage fabrics and scarves.

Due to the inconsistency of fabric, each pair is unique in color and pattern but equally comfortable and fun! We make these from our home and work place and have been doing so since our business started.


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Thursday, March 04, 2010

Call for Submissions: The Big Book of Quickies

I have the wonderful opportunity with this book to published 75-80 authors, and plan to include many people I've never published before, so please do submit!

The Big Book of Quickies
To be published by Cleis Press in 2011
Edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel
Final deadline: June 1, 2010 (submissions accepted on a rolling basis, so if I get all the stories I need before June 1st, I may close the call sooner, so get yours in early!)
Payment: $20 and 1 copy of the book on publication

For The Big Book of Quickies, I’m looking for short, original erotica stories of 1,200 words or less spanning a range of topics, tones, settings, and sexual orientations. The book will include everything from quickie sex to threesomes, sex toys, public sex, BDSM, fetishes, fantasies and more. Use your imagination. Because there will be more stories than my usual anthologies (approximately 75-80), I’m especially looking for a range of sexual diversity and adventure. See my previous titles such as Do Not Disturb: Hotel Sex Stories, Peep Show, Bottoms Up, etc. for the kinds of stories I enjoy.

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 up to 1,200 words (this is a STRICT word count). 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 bigbookofquickies@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. Authors may submit up to 2 stories. I will get back to you by October 2010.

Payment: $20 and 1 copy 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 bigbookofquickies@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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March 18th BDSM lineup (with Julie Powell, Madison Young and more!)

IN THE FLESH EROTIC READING SERIES
BDSM NIGHT
March 18, 2010, 8 pm - 10 pm
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


Get kinky with memoir writers, BDSM educators, erotica authors, a porn star, and more at In The Flesh. Featuring Melissa Febos (author of dominatrix memoir Whip Smart), blogger Selina Fire (Pleasure Salon), rope bondage expert Monk (Twistedmonk.com), Julie Powell (author of Cleaving and Julie and Julia), erotica writer Xan West (contributor, Best SM Erotica 3), Mollena Williams (author, "BDSM and Playing with Race" in Best Sex Writing 2010, BDSM educator Lolita Wolf (LeatherYenta.com) and feminist porn star Madison Young (MadisonBound.com). Hosted and curated by Rachel Kramer Bussel (Best Sex Writing 2010, Bottoms Up, Spanked, Yes, Sir, Yes, Ma’am). Prize giveaways sponsored by Kink Academy (shirt, journal, purse, aftercare blanket, memberships and more) and Eden Fantasys (suede flogger and faux fur bondage cuffs). Authors' books will be available for sale by Mobile Libris. Free cupcakes by Baked by Melissa along with chips, candy and other snacks 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 Post, New York Observer, Philadelphia City Paper, Time Out New York, Flavorwire, Gawker, Gothamist, Jezebel.com, Nerve.com, Tasting Table and Wonkette, and has been praised by Dr. Ruth.

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 over 30 anthologies, including the kink-themed Spanked, Bottoms Up, Yes, Sir, Yes, Ma'am, He's on Top, She's on Top, Rubber Sex as well as Peep Show, The Mile High Club: Plane Sex Stories, Do Not Disturb: Hotel Sex Stories, Tasting Him, Tasting Her, and the non-fiction Best Sex Writing series. Her books won 3 2009 Independent Publisher Awards. 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. Rachel conducts nationwide readings and erotic writing workshops. She has hosted In The Flesh since October 2005.
www.rachelkramerbussel.com


photo by Anya Garrett

Melissa Febos is the author of the memoir Whip Smart, (St. Martin’s Press/Thomas Dunne Books). Her writing has been featured in The Southeast Review, Redivider, The Rambler, Storyscape Journal, Bitch Magazine, and Smut Magazine, among others. She co-curates and hosts the Mixer Reading and Music Series at Cake Shop, and teaches at SUNY Purchase College and The Gotham Writers’ Workshop. She holds an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College. More information about her work and projects can be found at melissafebos.com.



Selina Fire is a native New Yorker whose passion is sex. She blogs about her sexual adventures at selinafire.com. She co-hosts New York City's Pleasure Salon, a monthly gathering of sex-positive activists. Her 2007 column, "On The Edge," in Penthouse Forum, was banned in Canada because officials found it too obscene. She is currently working with artist Madame Cindy on a very dirty comic book.



Monk is dubbed “a unicorn” by his friends, because he is so many things that aren’t supposed to exist. Before launching his bondage rope company, this former Eagle Scout and evangelical missionary was a software cowboy, an actor/stuntman, and a filmmaker. Six years ago, Monk’s mother-in-law gave him Midori’s rope bondage book, and a ropemaker was born. Today, in addition to running the world’s largest bondage rope company, Monk enjoys a career as a sex worker, writer, activist, educator, and entertainer.
www.twistedmonk.com



Julie Powell thrust herself from obscurity (and an uninspiring temp job) to cyber-celebrityhood when, in 2002, she embarked on an ambitious yearlong cooking (and blogging) expedition through all 524 recipes in Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking. She detailed the experience in her critically acclaimed 2005 New York Times bestselling memoir, Julie & Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously, which was adapted into a major motion picture starring Meryl Streep and Amy Adams in August 2009. Julie has made appearances on national television shows from ABC’s Good Morning America and CBS’s The Early Show to The Martha Stewart Show and Food Network’s Iron Chef America, and her writing has appeared in numerous magazines and newspapers including Bon Appétit, Food and Wine, Harper’s Bazaar, The New York Times, the Washington Post, and more. She is a two-time James Beard Award winner in Journalism, was awarded an honorary degree from Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, and was the first ever winner of the Overall Lulu Blooker Prize for Books. Her highly anticipated second book, Cleaving, published in December, 2009.



Xan West is the pseudonym of an NYC BDSM/sex educator. Xan’s story “First Time Since”, won honorable mention for the 2008 National Leather Association’s John Preston Short Fiction Award. Xan appears in Best SM Erotica Volumes 2 and 3, Best Women’s Erotica 2008 and 2009, Hurts So Good, DADDIES, Biker Boys, and Leathermen.

Mollena (Mo) Williams, “Delicate, Trembling Flower of Submission”© is a NYC born and raised writer, actress, BDSM Educator and Executive Pervert. She is extremely honored, humbled and proud to serve as Ms. San Francisco Leather 2009. Active in BDSM since 1996, she speaks at Leather events across the US on many kinkcentric topics. A founding member of Crowded Fire Theater Company, she blogs on http://mollena.com. Mo is also author of the upcoming Toybag Gude: Taboo Play and of the essay "BDSM and Playing with Race" which appears in Best Sex Writing 2010.



Lolita Wolf is a native New Yorker, who discovered the BDSM scene back in the late 80's when “online” meant being on the phone sex lines. She is an activist who defends the sexual freedom for all consenting adults, spreads the word about BDSM, sex and poly, and helps the community grow and flourish. However, her primary goal is "to have fun." Her writing has appeared in On Our Backs and Prometheus magazines and The Lust Chronicles anthology and she has authored two books: Spanking and CBT in a Nutshell. Recently, she was featured in the New York Times' One in 8 Million series: http://vb.ly/255f, Her website can be found at http://www.leatheryenta.com/.



Madison Young is an international award-winning porn star, director, gallerist, and published author. She has been directing BDSM and erotic films since 2005 and has won great acclaim for her video line, Madison Young Productions, which has been awarded the 2008 Feminist Porn Award and at the 2009 Feminist Porn Awards was awarded Indie Porn Pioneer of the Year and Best Kink Film for her 2008 release Perversions of Lesbian Lust. In 2009 she was also awarded Best BDSM Movie by AEBN for Perversions of Lesbian Lust and nominated for Best BDSM Release by AVN. She has recently finished her book of memoirs, Breathe: The Sexual Evolution of Madison Young, based on her experiences in the adult industry, due out in spring of 2011. When she isn't documenting hot sex on film she is running her own non profit community art gallery in San Francisco, Femina Potens Art Gallery, which focuses on the expression of Art, Sex and Gender.
www.madisonbound.com



You will hear from the following books, which Mobile Libris will have for sale:


Behind the Bedroom Door
(featuring Julie Powell's essay "Lost in Space")


Whip Smart



Best Sex Writing 2010


Two sex toy prizes will be given away courtesy of EdenFantasys, a suede flogger and bondage cuffs:


Fulfill-a-fantasy flogger from EdenFantasys


Crave wrist restraints from EdenFantasys

Prizes will be given away courtesy of Kink Academy, listed below.

1) A Kink Academy shirt, journal, scene starters deluxe set & one year membership to www.kinkacademy.com.

2) Bible purse and 1 year membership to Kink Academy.

3) Aftercare blanket & 1 year membership to Kink Academy.

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