Email: rachelkramerbussel at gmail.com



 

Lusty Lady

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

Monday, December 30, 2013

Fear and trembling and kinky age Mommy/boy play at Bedpost Confessions

Much catching up in the last two days of the year, so to summarize: I was so scared of doing Bedpost Confessions I put off finalizing what I would read til beyond the last minute. I half hoped the organizers would tell me not to do it, or that I'd be too sick to speak (I got a huge cold upon arriving in Austin but rallied for my writing workshop and Bedpost). I couldn't fathom what had prompted me to want to do it, save for the fact that the three-year-old event was uber-popular and I wanted to be part of the cool kids. I wound up going with my original long draft of my age play essay that was published in Salon and Best Sex Writing 2013, the version I wrote while on vacation in Honolulu only two months after the OkCupid turned age play date happened. If I'd known that reading erotica was permitted, I'd have gone with my strength.

But I got there in time for sound check and was amazed and awed at how welcoming and professional the setup was. These were women who know how to do a reading series right. For a second, I wondered what my fledgling In The Flesh Reading Series could have been if I'd been as committed as they are. The truth is, I almost forgot I used to run a reading series. I think I blocked it out because by the end it was so arduous and I worried I'd lose money each month, plus I was stuck in an easy but demoralizing job where I didn't get a raise the entire seven and a half years and felt like I was stagnating. But in Austin, people thanked me for running In The Flesh, said it inspired them and they remember it fondly, which made me remember it in a new way. It was a fancy stage, with two microphones and multimedia and a huge crowd who laughed where I wasn't expecting laughter, who waited patiently through my fear and shaking. I was humbled and honored and glad I did it, as petrifying as it was. Retelling that story also made me grateful that I'm what feels like a lifetime away from that girl, save for the wanting a baby thing. Clock is ticking so loud I often can't hear anything else. But that era of my life where I was seeking and searching and desperately dating and look for love in the wrongest places I could? It's all faded gently into the background of this new beautiful life where we are almost as different as two people could be, but have still merged our lives and homes together in a way that sometimes makes me pause and wonder how I got so lucky. You can listen to my attempt at storytelling here and subscribe to the Bedpost Confessions podcast on iTunes here.

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10 favorite things I wrote in 2013

Or rather, my 10 favorite pieces I wrote that got published in 2013. I'm starting off the new year with a new print publication credit, and I hope many more! In no particular order:

"Why Every Day Is No-Pants Day For Me" at Refinery29

"Welcome to 'Fun Home,' The Queerest Musical Ever Made About Growing Up In A Funeral Home" at BuzzFeed LGBT

"Kinky, Sober and Free: BDSM in Recovery" at The Fix

Interview with Carry On, Warrior author and Momastery blogger Glennon Doyle Melton at The Fix

"Hoarding Isn't Fashionable or Glamorous" at The Toast

"James Gandolfini Was My Celebrity Crush" at Medium

"Dear Mrs. Hall: Boys and Men Can See Sexy Selfies and Still Respect Women" at Boinkology 101 at Medium (should have added "And Girls" to the title though)

"Organic, Fair Trade Porn: On The Hunt for Ethical Smut" at The Daily Beast

"Erotic Lit Your Grandmother Will Like" at The Daily Beast

"What I Learned From My Stalker" at TueNight

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Saturday, December 28, 2013

Portland, Maine was one of my favorite places I visited this year

Portland, Maine was far and away one of my favorite places I visited this year, and where I had one of my most successful, sold out erotic writing workshops at sex toy store Nomia, which is currently having a 20% off sale on everything in the store through December 31st; see their Facebook page (you may have to friend them to access it) for details. Not only did the Portland Phoenix put me on their cover and interview me, but I also got to visit with someone I've been friends with since I was 6, see art at the Maine Jewish Museum, bought the reality TV novel Raw by Mark Haskell Smith at Longfellow Books, which I loved so much I'm rushing to read the rest of his work, enjoy mashed potato and bacon pizza at Otto Pizza, have breakfast that also served as a second breakfast and a way to make friends with a dog, via leftovers, from Bintliff's, eat yummy soup, write and drink delicious coffee at Bard Coffee, which has a free bookshelf (I plan to add to it when I return) and enjoy and bring home potato donuts from The Holy Donut. I'm planning to return when the weather is nicer for another workshop and more fun and feasting. Next time I'll get some photos of me in Maine!

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getting the star treatment in The Portland Phoenix

From Nomia, a delightful and very well stocked feminist sex toy store:

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Monday, December 23, 2013

Kindle erotica: Lust in Latex: Rubber Sex Stories and many more sex ebooks

I just found out that my latest anthology, Lust in Latex: Rubber Sex Stories, is now out for Kindle as well as print (hopefully other formats are coming soon). It's not mega selling monster erotica or dinosaur erotica (would that my books sold anywhere near those amounts!), but human erotica, and it makes a lovely gift to yourself or someone else! These are links to the Kindle versions of my books; many are also available on Nook, iBooks and Google Play. Most are only $9.99, and through December 31st, Best Sex Writing 2013, which has been hailed as a feminist gift by The Guardian and praised by Autostraddle, is only $1.99. You can find all my Kindle ebooks with this handy link, and I will do my best to fully populate the list below too.

lustinlatexkindle
Lust in Latex: Rubber Sex Stories


bestbondage2014kindle
Best Bondage Erotica 2014


bbookindlecover
The Big Book of Orgasms: 69 Sexy Stories


bbe2013kindle
Best Bondage Erotica 2013


bsw2013kindle
Best Sex Writing 2013, guest judge: Carol Queen


bsw2012kindle
Best Sex Writing 2012, guest judge: Susie Bright


babygotkindlecover
Baby Got Back: Anal Erotica


twicethepleasurekindle
Twice the Pleasure: Bisexual Women's Erotica


servinghimkindle
Serving Him: Sexy Stories of Submission


onlyyoukindle
Only You: Erotic Romance for Women


suitekindle
Suite Encounters: Hotel Sex Stores


womeninlustkindle
Women in Lust


anythingforyoukindle
Anything for You: Erotica for Kinky Couples


cheekykindle
Cheeky Spanking Stories


betweenthecheekskindle
Between the Cheeks: Anal Erotica


surrenderkindle
Surrender: Erotic Tales of Female Pleasure and Submission


gottahaveitkindle
Gotta Have It: 69 Stories of Sudden Sex


pleasesirkindle
Please, Sir: Erotic Stories of Female Submission


pleasemaamkindle
Please, Ma'am: Erotic Stories of Male Submission


goingdownkindle
Going Down: Oral Sex Stories

tastinghimkindle
Tasting Him: Oral Sex Stories


tastingher
Tasting Her: Oral Sex Stories


crossdressing
Crossdressing: Erotic Stories

(this book is a personal favorite that I'm extra proud of, and right now is only available as an ebook - gotta work on getting that changed soon)

bottomsupkindle
Bottoms Up: Spanking Good Stories


spankedkindle
Spanked: Red-Cheeked Erotica


donotdisturbkindle
Do Not Disturb: Hotel Sex Stories


trumentskindle
Instruments of Pleasure: Sex Toy Erotica


milehighclub
The Mile High Club: Plane Sex Stories


fastgirlskindle
Fast Girls: Erotica for Women


irresistiblekindle
Irresistible: Erotic Romance for Couples


busselpassionkindle
Passion: Erotic Romance for Women


bestbondage2012kindle
Best Bondage Erotica 2012


bestbondage2011kindle
Best Bondage Erotica 2011


obsessedkindle
Obsessed: Erotic Romance for Women


busselpeepshowkindle
Peep Show: Erotic Tales of Voyeurs and Exhibitionists


hideandseekkindle
Hide and Seek: Erotic Tales of Voyeurs and Exhibitionists


caughtlookingkindle
Caught Looking: Erotic Tales of Voyeurs and Exhibitionists


yessirkindle
Yes, Sir: Erotic Stories of Female Submission


yesmaamkindle
Yes, Ma'am: Erotic Stories of Male Submission


hesontopkindle
He's on Top: Erotic Stories of Male Dominance and Female Submission


shesontopkindle
She's on Top: Erotic Stories of Female Dominance and Male Submission

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Friday, December 20, 2013

I hate knowing so many people who've died way too young

This year, the world lost my grandmother and her first cousin, whose exact cousin-relationship to me I'm not sure of. I was very close to her, less so to him, and was saddened by their deaths, but I also know they were 89 and, I believe, 80, and it was their time. Not so, at least, in my head, for Carlos Batts, 40, and Ned Vizzini, 32. I only met Carlos at the Feminist Porn Conference, and was so impressed with his energy and humility and power. He was so present and aware of his art and his love for his wife, April Flores, as well as respect for her art and their personal and professional partnership, shone through.

Last night I read on Facebook about the passing of author Ned Vizzini. I hadn't seen him in years, but remember him being so friendly and welcoming at reading series like East Side Oral. I'd completely forgotten I once interviewed him for Gothamist. He wrote about depression and mental illness and suicide, and I have nothing to say further except that my heart hurts at the pain he must have been going through to commit suicide and leave behind a wife and two-year-old son. It's horrible and sad and the only positive I can see is the outpouring on Twitter and other social media from both friends and those who knew him from his writing, who've said some variation of: He helped me. He saved me. His words gave me hope. That is his legacy, one that will go on. Check out this lovely tribute by Kyle Buchanan at Vulture.

And if you are thinking of suicide, please call 1-800-273-8255, the National Suicide Prevention Hotline.

A video review of The Big Book of Orgasms!

Pretty sure someone has to like your book a lot to take the time to make a video review! Thank you, Ande Lyons, for praising my favorite of all my books, The Big Book of Orgasms: 69 Sexy Stories, and for interviewing me for The Loving and Lasting Show! Follow her @AndeLyons on Twitter for the latest news.

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Thursday, December 19, 2013

3 erotica calls for submissions: sex toys, female fantasies and bondage

You heard it here first! This female fantasy erotica anthology is a separate one from my previous call, though the wording is the same; please do not submit the same story you sent previously, unless I've requested you do so. Last time I got a huge abundance of lesbian fantasies; feel free to send those, but if you do, give it a very good twist. Though it has the latest deadline (April 1), the sex toy anthology I expect to fill up fast and I would encourage you to get your stories in as early as possible. I especially encourage those who've taken my erotic writing workshops to submit to any or all of these anthologies and each of my anthologies will publish work by writers I've never published before. The most important thing you can do in submitting work to me is follow the guidelines, and write an insanely hot story. I'm also reposting the Best Bondage Erotica 2015 call, which has a March 1 deadline. If you're waiting to hear back about my previous calls, I will reply to you by the second week of January - my apologies for the delay.

Call for Submissions: Sex Toy Erotica anthology, April 1 deadline
To be published by Cleis Press

Erotica editor Rachel Kramer Bussel is looking for your hottest sex toy erotica stories. Sex toys can include items such as vibrators, dildos, butt plugs, as well as items like handcuffs and other restraints, nipple clamps, paddles, cock rings, whips and canes, sex furniture, etc., but feel free to get as creative as you can with the definition of “sex toy” and its use in your stories. The story can focus on the sex toy or simply incorporate the use of a sex toy into the narrative. Sex toys should be given context and description, but shouldn’t read like catalog copy. Let the story you’re telling drive the detail used to convey exactly what the sex toy/s is/are and their purpose within the story.

The final book will contain a wide range of characters, scenarios, sexualities, locations, motivations and toys, from the types listed above that you’d find at a sex toy retailer, to everyday household objects, to fictional sex toys. The sky’s the limit! All characters should be over 18. No nonconsensual scenes. No bestiality, scat or incest. No poetry. Please see my anthologies Orgasmic, Women in Lust, and Fast Girls for examples of the kinds of stories I'm looking for. Unpublished stories only (this includes blogs and websites).

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 1,500-4,000 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. Only submit your final, best version of the story you are submitting. Do not send multiple versions of the same story. Include your legal name (and pseudonym if applicable), mailing address, and 50 word or less bio in the third person to sextoyantho@gmail.com. If you are using a pseudonym, please provide your real name as well as your pseudonym and make it clear which one you’d like to be credited as. For the smoothest editorial process, please double check that the byline you are using with your submission is the byline you'd want published. You will receive a confirmation within 72 hours. I will get back to you by September 2014. I cannot give any feedback on rejected submissions.

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

Deadline: April 1, 2014 (earlier submissions strongly encouraged)

NOTE: 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. If you have any questions, please contact me at sextoyantho@gmail.com

Call for Submissions: Female Fantasy Erotica, March 1 deadline
To be published by Cleis Press

This collection of erotica will feature female protagonists living out their hottest fantasies. From vanilla kinky, single to partnered, from 18 to elderly, I'm looking for stories of all sorts of women (transgender characters are also welcome) exploring new aspects of their sexuality. For inspiration, feel free to check out a list by Violet Blue of common sexual fantasies, but stories must capture what about that particular fantasy for that particular character is so compelling and make it red-hot to work for this book, and authors are encouraged to be creative, daring and provocative with exploring the definition of fantasy and how it plays out for your character. All characters should be over 18. No nonconsensual scenes. No bestiality, scat or incest. No poetry. Please see my anthologies Orgasmic, Women in Lust, and Fast Girls for examples of the kinds of stories I'm looking for. Unpublished stories only (this includes blogs and websites).

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 1,500-4,000 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. Only submit your final, best version of the story you are submitting. Do not send multiple versions of the same story. Include your legal name (and pseudonym if applicable), mailing address, and 50 word or less bio in the third person to fantasyantho@gmail.com. If you are using a pseudonym, please provide your real name as well as your pseudonym and make it clear which one you’d like to be credited as. For the smoothest editorial process, please double check that the byline you are using with your submission is the byline you'd want published. You will receive a confirmation within 72 hours. I will get back to you by September 2014. I cannot give any feedback on rejected submissions.

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

Deadline: March 1, 2014 (earlier submissions strongly encouraged)

Call for Submissions: Best Bondage Erotica 2015, March 1 deadline
To be published by Cleis Press

Best Bondage Erotica 2015 will collect the best bondage erotica stories around, 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 but the plot does not have to hinge on bondage. The final book will include stories focused on both the physical and mental aspects of bondage, from varying points of view. Bondage plus other sexual activity is welcome (spanking, tickling, exhibitionism, voyeurism, intercourse, oral sex, teasing, etc.). Original, unique, creative characters, settings, scenarios and forms of bondage are encouraged. As befitting the title, I’m looking for the best, hottest, most creative bondage erotica for this collection. All genders/sexual orientations welcome. No poetry.

Original stories strongly preferred, but reprints of work published (or slated to be published) between September 2013 and November 2014 will be considered but will be given lower priority than original work and author MUST include original publication information and retain reprint rights. All characters must be over 18; no incest or bestiality. Please see Best Bondage Erotica 2011, 2012, 2013 or 2014 or my other kinky Cleis Press anthologies (Serving Him, Anything for You, Cheeky Spanking Stories, 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. I will consider up to two stories per author.

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 1,500-4,000 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. DO NOT submit multiple versions of your story; submit ONLY your final, complete, edited version of the story. Include your legal name (and pseudonym if applicable), mailing address, and 50 word or less bio in the third person to bestbondage2015@gmail.com. If you are using a pseudonym, please provide your real name as well as your pseudonym and make it clear which one you’d like to be credited as. You will receive a confirmation within 72 hours. I will get back to you by September 2014. I cannot give any feedback on rejected submissions.

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

Deadline: March 1, 2014 (earlier submissions strongly encouraged)
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. If you have any questions, please contact me at bestbondage2015 at gmail.com

About the editor: Rachel Kramer Bussel (rachelkramerbussel.com) is the editor of over 50 anthologies, including The Big Book of Orgasms, Baby Got Back: Anal Erotica, Serving Him, Best Bondage Erotica 2011, 2012 and 2013, Irresistible, Gotta Have It, Women in Lust Orgasmic, Fast Girls, Passion, 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, and Dirty Girls. 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, Inked, Mediabistro, Newsday, New York Post, Penthouse, The Root, Salon, Time Out New York, xoJane, Zink and other publications.

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Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Luxury hotels on the cheap during New York's Hotel Week and my hotel sex makeout book trailer

I love pretty much everything about hotels--the soft beds, the newness, the anonymity, the adventure, especially when I'm traveling. Most of all, I love that it's a space to borrow, to indulge in, to enjoy. So I wanted to share these amzing Hotel Week in New York deals with you, via Johnny Jet, one of my favorite travel bloggers. I highly recommend his newsleter and website for all sorts of travel tips and deals, some timely, such as sales and advice on everything from taxis to frequent flyer miles to layovers and more.

And to show you how much I love hotels and hotel sex, here's the scoop on my 2 books of hotel erotica, plus my sexy book trailer shot in an actual New York City hotel.



Suite Encounters features hotel erotica in all its forms, from honeymooners having sex on the beach to loving couples on vacation to coworkers heading downtown for secret quickies, not to mention exhibitionist thrills (and chills) of getting it on in the pool on the roof at The Standard Hotel in front of everyone! The award-winning editor of the Best Sex Writing series, among many others, Rachel Kramer Bussel knows the winning formula of stories of sex in every possible setting — luxury hotels, seedy motels, spas, SRO's and everything in between.



Suite Encounters: Hotel Sex Stories
Introduction: Sex Magic (see below)


Two-Way Ariel Graham
Selfish Donna George Storey
Air- Conditioning. Color TV. Live Mermaids. Anna Meadows
Proof of Desire Remittance Girl
Soundproof Emily Moreton
An Inspector Comes Suzanne Fox
Surrender with a Twist Suleikha Snyder
Unbound at the Holiday Inn Lily K. Cho
Travelodge Tess Justine Elyot
Business Expenses Elizabeth Silver
Return to the Nonchalant Inn Erobintica
The Deacon Tahira Iqbal
Love, Loud as a Bomb Steve Isaak
Night School Valerie Alexander
Feel So Dirty Andrea Dale
Please Come Again Tenille Brown
Dirty White Envelope Ellie Vokes
Tailgating at the Cedar Inn Delilah Devlin
Stiletto’s Big Score Michael A. Gonzales
Special Request Rachel Kramer Bussel


Introduction: Sex Magic

Hotel rooms are magical. Anything can happen in them, and the travelers in these stories know that well, using their hotel and motel rooms to engage in all sorts of explosive acts.

Sex work is, of course, a mainstay of hotel sex, but in this anthology, sex work happens with a twist. There’s the male escort and a desk clerk in “Night School,” by Valerie Alexander, the “Dirty White Envelope” in Ellie Vokes’s story and the professional procurer in my “Special Request.” Hotel workers play just as vibrant a role here as traditional sex workers.

Hotels give us an opportunity to engage in our favorite forms of sex magic on big, wide beds with plenty of pillows that can be used to lean back on or muffle screams of pleasure. We can indulge in the guilty pleasure of eavesdropping on our neighbors or walking down the hall hoping to spy or hear something juicy. Many of the characters here use hotels to escape from their everyday lives and engage in all sorts of flings and fetishes. Hotels bring out our most daring side, and let us strip down in a window, listen in on a stranger, star in an orgy and take part in all manner of other outrageous sex acts.

In “Two-Way,” by Ariel Graham, a couple rekindles their passion for hotel sex and exhibitionism, recalling past thrills while making new ones. Isabel, in Donna George Storey’s “Selfish,” sets out at age forty-four to try something new and a little risky, and her daring and selfishness pay off big time. The title of Anna Meadows’s “Air-Conditioning. Color TV. Live Mermaids” tells you a good bit of what her story’s about, but there’s a tenderness and longing in this beautiful tale of a real mermaid and the man who wants—and gets—her that you’ll have to read to fully appreciate.

The characters in Remittance Girl’s “Proof of Desire” get exactly that, and in her telling, it’s hot, urgent and fierce: “There it was. Need, desire so strong it burst into the stillness of the room, tainting the air with an ache. It hurt. It hurt deliciously to stand so close, to see the beads of sweat that birthed and glinted along the line of his sternum. To smell the faded scent of morning soap rise off his skin, and the sweetness of the oil he’d used on his cock, and the richer musk of his crotch. The tip of her tongue prickled with want.”

The hotel in “Soundproof,” by Emily Moreton is anything but, and listening to strangers get it on fuels Sam’s desire as he soaks in every word. Suzanne Fox teases us with a fun yet sexy murder mystery weekend in “An Inspector Comes”—yes, her use of the double entendre is deliberate. “Surrender with a Twist,” by Suleikha Snyder, takes us to, fittingly, Las Vegas; no book of hotel erotica would be complete without some Sin City sex. Lily K. Cho brings on the kink in “Unbound at the Holiday Inn,” as a marriage takes a vital step when Mark bares his bottom for a spanking, changing the course of their relationship for the better. “Travelodge Tess” is on the job, but that doesn’t stop her from having some fun along the way in Justine Elyot’s clever tale. Elizabeth Silver delivers a torrid threesome in “Business Expenses,” as Margo, Tonya and Javier enjoy sex toys—and each other.

The tone becomes nostalgic in Erobintica’s “Return to the Nonchalant Inn,” when Gerald and Jillian return to the island hotel they’d visited twenty years before and figure out if they can pick up where they left off. Tahira Iqbal looks at the head of a hotel empire, a modern-day Conrad Hilton named Mark Deacon, in “The Deacon,” as this corporate tycoon makes sure to do a very thorough inspection of his hotels, and a very special employee. Steve Isaak’s brief but powerful “Love, Loud as a Bomb” deals with the fear induced by a Hawaiian tsunami, and a clairvoyant who times her orgasm to a disaster.

Stories about sex workers abound in erotica, but they are usually women; “Night School” mixes things up with its male escort and a woman who turns him on to the thrill of being dominated. They exchange power in a way that unsettles and energizes them both. “He looked at the wall with this weird smile and I realized just how embarrassed he really was. I was the one whose presence had been requested tonight and he was the one who had done the requesting. He didn’t know who was the client here, him or me, and the ambiguity had robbed him of his usual confidence.”

In “Feel So Dirty,” by Andrea Dale, a storm knocks out the power, but that doesn’t stop Lea and Jon from skirting the edges of an affair as they enjoy a sexual connection that the close proximity of their hotel rooms enhances. “Please Come Again,” by Tenille Brown, manages to tackle homelessness in a way that doesn’t address it as an “issue” but rather looks at the core of humanity and desire for human touch Randall hasn’t lost, and that Simone welcomes as she takes care of him, sexually and otherwise.

Role-playing takes center stage in “Dirty White Envelope,” which opens with, “It took me three years to tell Ron I wanted to be treated like a whore,” and goes from there with this common, exciting fantasy. Erotic romance author Delilah Devlin gives us “Tailgating at the Cedar Inn,” in which Kelsey brazenly takes on two guys who are more than happy to enjoy her lusty attention. Michael A. Gonzales gives us a sexy heroine, Miki Jamison, a forty-five-year-old former blaxploitation star who luxuriates in the sumptuous hotel room, and her costar’s passion for her. Closing out the book, Francine is famous for being able to deliver anything to her guests by “Special Request,” and when Claudine requests she arrange—and attend—an orgy, she is more than up to the challenge—or so she thinks.

All of these stories capture some aspect of the thrill of hotel sex, and I hope you will enjoy them at home, at a hotel or wherever you happen to be, and perhaps you’ll be inspired on your next vacation, staycation, work trip, or wherever your travels take you, to engage in the spirit of these sexy stories.

Rachel Kramer Bussel
New York City

Order Suite Encounters: Hotel Sex Stories:

Amazon

Kindle ebook edition

BN.com

Nook ebook edition

Powell's

Books-a-Million

IndieBound (find your local independent bookstore

iTunes

Google Play

Audible audiobook edition

Cleis Press

Order Do Not Disturb: Hotel Sex Stories from:

Amazon

Kindle edition

Barnes & Noble

Nook

Powells

IndieBound

iTunes

Google Play

Audible audiobook edition

Cleis Press

Do Not Disturb: Hotel Sex Stories



Table of Contents

Introduction: Made for Sex (see below)

Welcome to the Aphrodisiac Hotel by Amanda Earl (read author interview about hotel sex)
Tightly Tucked by Alison Tyler (read author interview about hotel sex)
From Russia with Lust by Stan Kent
Mirror, Mirror by by Andrea Dale
The Royalton--A Daray Tale by Tess Danesi (read author interview about hotel sex)
So Simple a Place by Isabelle Gray
Heart-Shaped Holes by Madlyn March (read author interview about hotel sex)
The St. George Hotel, 1890 by Lillian Ann Slugocki
The Lunch Break by Saskia Walker (read author interview about hotel sex)
Memphis by Gwen Masters (read author interview about hotel sex)
The Other Woman by Kristina Wright
Talking Dirty by Shanna Germain (read author interview about hotel sex)
A Room at the Grand by Thomas S. Roche (read author interview about hotel sex)
Tropical Grotto, Winter Storm by Teresa Noelle Roberts
G is for Gypsy by Maxim Jakubowski
Reunion by Lisabet Sarai
Hump Day by Rachel Kramer Bussel
Guilty Pleasure by Elizabeth Coldwell (read author interview about hotel sex)
An Honest Woman by Tenille Brown
Room Service by by Donna George Storey

(read author interview about hotel sex)

(read "Love Hotel Madness")

Introduction: Made for Sex

Hotel rooms are, in a word, hot. The minute I enter one, I want to strip off all my clothes and dive naked between the sheets, whether I have a lover there to share in the indulgence with me or not. Much more so than my own bed, hotel beds make me horny. They are, or at least, seem to me, to be made for sex.

Hotels give us the chance to unwind, relax, and, if we choose, become someone else. Behind closed doors, we are free to frolic, fuck, and flaunt ourselves. It doesn’t matter whether the hotel is in a faraway land or in your own hometown; the point is, it’s a clean slate. It’s not your home filled with all the reminders of what you could or should be doing. Other people have fucked and will fuck in the bed you’re about to sleep in; that can be a turn-on in and of itself. It’s your borrowed space, for an hour, a day, a night, or longer, and in that time, you can claim it, control it, use it for your own naughty purposes. Other guests are prowling the hotel, checking in, checking out, banging and getting banged against the wall. There’s a sense that anything can happenæand quite often, it does.

To me, the anonymity of hotel rooms, their personality wiped clean with each new guest, is part of their appeal. They beckon us with their welcoming ways. They offer an escape from the everyday, a chance to let loose and become someone else. In Do Not Disturb, I wanted to capture the ways hotels fit into our erotic imagination, whether they’re a necessity or a luxury. Hotels let us explore parts of our passion that get left behind in the rush of daily life.

The authors whose work you are about to read understand perfectly the allure of a fresh hotel roomæor a hotel lobby. Indeed, the entire atmosphere a hotel offers can simply scream of sex. This goes for five-star and by-the-hour joints. They each have something to add, and here you’ll find romps between lovers and strangers, reunions and quickies, as these characters indulge in their new settings.

Many of the characters here use hotels for secrecy, relying on the unspoken code of employees to never share what goes on. Others use them for flirting, for catching their prey. Many need a hotel room in order to engage in an affair or a roleplay. Whether exploring Japan’s love hotels in Isabelle Gray’s “So Simple a Place” or getting “A Room at the Grand” for a very special callgirl, the men and women you’ll read about get off on their surroundings. The hotel itself becomes a player in their affair, a sign of the lengths they’ll go to be together.

And this book wouldn’t be complete without some extramarital affairs that can only happen in hotel rooms, like the lovers in Lisabet Sarai’s “Reunion” or Gwen Masters’s “Memphis.” For these characters, the hotel room takes on added meaning for it is an ever-changing venue where their relationships grow, where they can savor each other’s bodies without their spouses knowing, or so they hope.

Hotel rooms are also perfect for quickies, those fast fucks that you only need an hour or so for, made all the more arousing for their brevity. In Saskia Walker’s “The Lunch Break,” a sultry waitress pounces on a diner, and in my “Hump Day,” a couple shed their business personae once a week to become the kind of people they could never be (or fuck) at home.

Even in the more innocent stories here, the vacation sex, the getaways among couples, there’s something just a little clandestine about these hotel room hookups. That air of perversion is what makes getting serviced in a hotel (or motel) infinitely sweeter than doing it anywhere else. It’s a private way of being an exhibitionist, of leaving the staff and fellow guests guessing (or parading around in your hotel robes). Sometimes it’s a neighbor who’ll lure you from the safety of your relationship, such as the lesbian who teaches Madlyn March’s protagonist a thing or two in “Heart-Shaped Holes,” or the way Elizabeth Coldwell’s fellow jurors wind up relieving some tension in between trial time.

There’s a hotel in New York, the Library Hotel, that has long intrigued me. They offer an Erotica Suite, filled with strawberries, whipped cream, red roses, erotic dice, Mionetto Presecca, edible honey dust, and a Kama Sutra pocket guide. They’re upfront in their intention that you truly savor their package, as well as your lover’s. I’ve never stayed there, or done more than pass by. In some ways, I prefer to keep its beauty safely tucked away in my imagination, the kind of room I’d use with a rich lover from out of town who’d seduce me with his or her accent, whisper to me in a foreign tongue before taking that foreign tongue and licking me all over. That’s another thing about hotel rooms: they are perfect to fantasize about. In them, and in your dreams about them, you can have any kind of sex with anyone (or everyone) you want.

I can tell you that the sex I’ve had in hotel rooms has been some of the hottest of my life. I get off on knowing that neighbors may hear me, and in fact, that brings out the exhibitionist in me. The sexiest porn director I know took me to his hotel room in Manhattan one night and while his porn star girlfriend was elsewhere, we indulged in one of the most dirty, powerful, delicious fucks I’ve ever had, and when he came all over my chest, I reveled in it. I didn’t wash it off, either, but proudly let it dry on my skin and couldn’t stop the smile that found its way to my lips as I took the subway home.

Once, in some random seedy L.A. hotel, another lover and I hadn’t brought any condoms, and instead had to make do with a paddle and a butt plugæpoor us. In a seedy Midtown motel, I spent a few hours romping with a very sexy young man who showed me all kinds of ways I could twist my body to extend my pleasure, then felt a shocked, naughty thrill as he entered the bathroom while I peed and watched me before dipping his fingers into the stream. Something I likely wouldn’t have allowed at home became acceptable in a place I’d likely never find myself again. And when I’m in a hotel room by myself, tucked away under the sheets, I feel naughty and decadent, even if the only party guests I’m hosting are my fingers and my pussy.

While I doubt hotels are going to be stocking this book in their dresser drawers alongside The Bible, I hope that it finds its way into hotel romps. I picture lovers reading aloud to one another as they get ready to mark their hotel room, or in the afterglow, perhaps leaving it behind for the next lucky guest. I hope hotel staff spirit it away and read it during their downtime. I hope the next time you enter a hotel lobby, even if you have no intention of getting busy with anyone you may find there, that you’ll at least notice the many erotic possibilities that greet you.

My most recent hotel rendezvous was at the ultra-fancy art-filled Chambers Hotel in Minneapolis. I was staying by myself for two nights, and while I didn’t share my bed, the room itself beckoned to me. I found myself getting horny as I dove between the covers, wishing I had a lover to share my good fortune with. Now I have this book, which I hope you’ll take with you on your travels, perhaps read it while lounging in a hotel lobby, or whisper from it into your lover’s ear before you make so much noise in your hotel room bed that someone calls security. However and wherever you read this book, I hope it turns you on as much as it does me.

Rachel Kramer Bussel
New York City

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2013 sex, from ball ironing to Blue Is The Warmest Color to Farrah Superstar: Backdoor Teen Mom

It's all in my New York Observer year in sex roundup. You can also find my daily picks (with 2 on Wednesdays!) in their Eight-Day Week section - tonight's are The Ramen Burger Effect and Employee of the Month with Piper Kerman and Kathleen Hanna (Hanna was a late addition so it may not show up yet in my writeup), among others.

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Amanda Seyfried in Lovelace

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Thursday, December 12, 2013

Read Jonathan Lethem, Carol Queen, Patrick Califia & more for only $1.99 in Kindle edition of Best Sex Wrting 2013

Best Sex Writing 2013 was my last year editing the series (though I am still editing the Best Bondage Erotica series and plenty of erotica!), and you can find Jon Pressick's call for Best Bondage Erotica 2015 here. Through the end of December, the Kindle edition of Best Sex Writing 2013 is on sale for $1.99 - it's a smart, wonderful read I'm proud of, and I'd love to have my editing of the series go out with a bang, so if you're looking for a sex nerd holiday gift for yourself or others, give this one a try.



Purchase Best Sex Writing 2013 from:

Amazon

Kindle (ebook)

Bn.com

Nook (ebook)

Books a Million

Indiebound (independent bookstores)

iBooks

Google Play

Audible audiobook

Cleis Press

About the book (aka, why I'm so giddy about it and want you to read it):

Foreword Carol Queen
Introduction: A Different Kind of Sexual Education

Live Nude Models Jonathan Lethem
Can a Better Vibrator Inspire an Age of Great American Sex? Andy Isaacson
Sex by Numbers Rachel Swan
Very Legal: Sex and Love in Retirement Alex Morris
Notes from a Unicorn Seth Fischer
Rest Stop Confidential Conner Habib
When on Fire Island… A Polyamorous Disaster Nicholas Garnett
Cherry Picking Julia Serano
Holy Fuck: The Fourth-and-Long Virgin Jon Pressick
Baby Talk Rachel Kramer Bussel
Dear John Lori Selke
Sex by Any Other Name Insiya Ansari
Enhancing Masochism Patrick Califia
Submissive: A Personal Manifesto Madison Young
Ghosts: All My Men Are Dead Carol Queen
Happy Hookers Melissa Gira Grant
Christian Conservatives vs. Sex: The Long War Over Reproductive Freedom Rob Boston
Porn Defends the Money Shot Dennis Romero
Lost Boys Kristen Hinman
The Original Blonde Neal Gabler

Introduction: A Different Kind of Sexual Education

As editor of the Best Sex Writing series, and a writer about sex in both fiction and nonfiction forms, I’m privileged to hear from lots of people about sexuality, whether asking for advice or wanting to talk about the big issues of the day, whether that means attacks on birth control or Fifty Shades of Grey. The biggest thing I’ve learned, though, is pretty basic: we are all always learning. You can indeed get a PhD in sexology, like foreword author and contributor Carol Queen did, but that doesn’t mean you simply give up and assume you know everything about the wide world of sexuality and sexual variation. You can’t; it’s impossible.

Part of why sex writing is so vital is because we all have things to learn—about ourselves, and about others. While this book will not teach you how to have sex, you will learn about what motivates others in their sexual desires, whether to engage in multiple relationships, perform sex work, come out as bisexual, build increasingly advanced vibrators, or more.

I think it’s safe to say that whether this is the first book about sex you’ve ever read or the thousandth, you will learn something about what makes people tick, about sexual desire and sexual community. The latter is as important to me as the former, because it’s within the community of sex writers, educators and activists that I’ve carved out a place for myself as a bisexual, feminist, kinky sex writer. Lori Selke writes in her open letter, “Dear John,” about feeling disillusioned by the judgments being passed around her local leather community. “See, my kinky leather identity grew firmly out of my queerness and my feminism. All three of those elements are important and in some ways inseparable. It’s important to me to pursue the sort of social justice that ensures that our consensual relationships are someday entered into from a place of roughly equal societal power. Without that aim, we’re simply perpetuating oppression.” I suspect many people aren’t aware of just how committed to their ideals those in the kink and leather communities are. To assume it’s all about whips, chains, bondage and spanking is to miss the point—of course it’s about those things, but it’s also about much more.

The educational lessons here are often much more personal. When Conner Habib opens his essay “Rest Stop Confidential” with, “I was fifteen the first time I found out that men have sex in public,” I must admit that, at thirty-seven, I have only seen men having sex in public at parties specifically designed for sex. The first of many firsts Julia Serano details in “Cherry Picking” begins, “The first time I learned about sex was in fifth grade.” We are all both capable of learning more, and impacted by what we did—or didn’t—learn about sex at a young age.

Some of what you’re about to read is sad or scary or disheartening; I cannot promise you a book of shiny happy sex bouncing off every page, because that is not the world we live in. There are laws to fight against, AIDS plaguing the gay community, internalized oppression, questions that may have no answers, or multiple answers. I didn’t select these essays and articles because they purport to have all the answers.

Last year’s guest judge, the noted sexual commentator Susie Bright, when asked about The Guardian’s Bad Sex award, responded, “There is no art without sex.” I think the same could be said for the news; sex is not a topic squirreled away on the back page of the paper; it’s on the front page, in the sports section, the business section, the editorials. It’s covered in fashion magazines and newsweeklies. In Best Sex Writing 2013, hot topics include New York Jets quarterback Tim Tebow’s virginity and the laws governing condom use in porn.

Sex education remains at the forefront of the news and continues to be “controversial,” though, like birth control, another political battleground of late in the United States, I would think it would be a no-brainer. Yet I can still read articles like one in Time about the Mississippi county, Tunica, with the highest teen pregnancy that is only recently getting on board with sex ed, via a law mandating it do so. “During the four years Ashley McKay attended Rosa Fort High School in Tunica, Miss., her sex education consisted mainly of an instructor listing different sexually transmitted diseases. ‘There was no curriculum,’ she says. ‘The teacher, an older gentleman who was also the football coach, would tell us, “If you get AIDS, you’re gonna die. Pick out your casket, because you’re gonna die.”’”

We should not be reading articles like this any longer, but we are, and it’s not just youths who are in dire need of sex education. Just today, I received an email from an acquaintance asking if I could chat because, “I have found a wonderful woman with whom i have begun to explore areas of my sexuality i really have never followed through on or even verbally fantasized about.” He has questions. So do many people, but they don’t know where to turn.

This book doesn’t purport to have all the answers, and is likely to raise many discussions and propose multiple answers to questions about open relationships, prostitution, sexual orientation and other topics. It cannot take the place of talking about sex—with your lovers, friends, parents, children, neighbors and coworkers. Those shouldn’t be the same conversations, but they can exist, and by making sex a topic we don’t shy away from, we start to educate ourselves about what others are thinking, feeling and doing. So I hope that you won’t read this book and keep it tucked away on your bookshelf (or e-reader); while you are more than welcome to do so, I hope you will introduce some part of what you’ve read into a conversation, take it off the page and into real life. You will very likely learn something, and that is a process that can easily snowball; there’s never an end, because it’s a lifelong process, one that I look forward to every day.

Rachel Kramer Bussel
New York City

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Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Tonight: make a gingerbread house in NYC!

Today I wrote about a gingerbread house making class in New York at Taste Buds Kitchen. Check it out and keep sending me your New York events to 8dayweek at observer.com for this section.

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Tuesday, December 10, 2013

My sexy gift guide includes sex toys, candles, dual purpose jewelry and a hot erotic novel

Check out my top 5 sexy gift picks at TueNight, where you can also find all sorts of other gift guides, including music, pet gifts and more.

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