Sh! recaps

Me being me, my last day is super hectic, but I've had a brilliant time and definitely want to come back for all the places/people I've missed seeing. I spent last night in bed with lovely supermarket foodstuffs watching and being inspired by Working Girl and reading a book I'm writing about after so much running around and didn't feel guilty about not being out and about in the least. I could use less guilt, more me. Trying trying trying...2011 is all about overhauling my life, or if it's not, it should be. Reluctant to go home just yet but hoping I'll be back while I still somewhat know my way around London a bit more, having taken the Tube lots, plus the overground and the train out to Hitchin.

Thanks to everyone who showed up at Sh! and made the evening so wonderful and did recaps! Who needs MSM anyway? (I say jokingly, but of course, cause I'm a media whore and always will be. But in this case, I was so moved by the people who came out and what they said about my work. When I visited England in 2002 for my friend's wedding, I never ever could've predicted books with my name on the spine would be on shelves. Next stop, Waterstone's, who are big on YA. A girl can has to dream.)

Justine Elyot

Lucy Felthouse

KD Grace

Janine Ashbless

More when I'm back. As always, make sure to visit Cupcakes Take the Cake for reports on cupcake adventures.


cupcakes at You Don't Bring Me Flowers

Learn from my mistakes: never book a plane ticket on good faith

A heads up: I will only be doing one event in London, the July 2 reading at Sh!. I want to impart my lesson to you because I never would have booked the trip if I'd known I was only doing one reading. It just makes zero financial sense. I will deal with it but this is not a year for me to be wasting money, so authors, especially those funding their own events: do not ever take anyone's word for anything. I should've known that, and you should too (like, DUH, right?), but sometimes we (or maybe just me) are too trusting/gullible when it comes to business, and pay the price for it. So I would just warn you to always get something in writing when it comes to events. I will take that advice if I do any future events, though I have no plans to save for a joint event I'm working on for Las Vegas in September. I am going to focus on what I want to be doing: writing and editing. I have done enough readings to last my lifetime, I think and will leave entertaining to the professionals who love being on stage. I don't, except as a host.

My week is too insane and there is literally nothing I can do about it for me to be too upset, but I do feel a little foolish and naive. The only thing I can proactively do is let you know not to make my mistakes. I am most upset with myself, because I'm the one who bought the ticket and agreed to go without truly investigating everything and that is very poor decision making on my end, for someone in my financial situation. Not something to be proud of at 35. Live and learn. As I said, this is the last year I plan to do any readings outside New York City. I want to travel not like a crazy person who is always working and hustling and begging people to come to events and spending money like a rich girl, but someone who can fully appreciate her time in other locations. New me, indeed! Overhaul is in place right this very second. I'll chalk this error up to the old me.

That being said: London! I am excited to have time to explore and see friends and enjoy myself. It'll leave me more time for fun and hopefully will draw more people to Sh!, who have been professional, prompt, enthusiastic, supportive and wonderful. My first London reading is going to be a success, I predict.

July 2, 6:30-9:30 pm

LONDON READING AT SH!
Join New York-based author and erotica editor Rachel Kramer Bussel for her first UK reading. She will be joined by authors Janine Ashbless, Jacqueline Applebee, Justine Elyot, KD Grace, Kay Jaybee and Carmel Lockyer, reading steamy selections from books such as Orgasmic, Smooth, Best Bondage Erotica 2011 and Gotta Have It: 69 Stories of Sudden Sex.

Free cupcakes and bubbly while supplies last!

Books will be available for sale and signing.

True to our female focused ethos, we ask that male guests are accompanied by a woman.

Spaces are limited, so make sure to book your space early as this FREE event will fill up quickly! Email us at shop at sh-womenstore.com and we'll add your name to the guest list!

Sh! Women's Erotic Emporium
57 Hoxton Square
London N1 6PB

Please pass this on: Facebook invite

Free champagne and cupcakes July 2nd at Sh! in London - please RSVP

If you plan to join me for a very sexy reading from my books Smooth, Orgasmic, Best Bondage Erotica 2011 and Gotta Have It at Sh! in London July 2nd, please RSVP to shop at sh-womensstore.com so they know how much bubbly to carry, and if you'd do me a giant favor and let your London friends know (you can do so via this handy Facebook invitation) I'd greatly appreciate it. I'm taking a bit of a gamble with this pricey trip but I think it's going to be fabulous and am very excited to meet these booksellers who are excited to host me and all these authors whose work appears in my anthologies. More info about them and their stories TK. I'll be joined by Janine Ashbless, Jacqueline Applebee, Justine Elyot, KD Grace, Kay Jaybee and Carmel Lockyer, all very accomplished authors in their own right, do look for their books. I just ordered some and have a few more to catch up with before my trip. And if you have any London press contacts please let me know at rachelkb at gmail.com with "London" in the subject because we are happy to send books, press release, etc. There will also be a July 4th event, location TBA, and I will be available for interviews July 1-5.

Official reading details:

Sh! Women's Erotic Emporium
57 Hoxton Square
London N1 6PB

Join New York-based author and erotica editor Rachel Kramer Bussel for her first UK reading. She will be joined by authors, reading steamy selections from books such as Orgasmic, Smooth, Best Bondage Erotica 2011 and Gotta Have It: 69 Stories of Sudden Sex.

Free cupcakes and bubbly while supplies last!

Books will be available for sale and signing.

True to our female focused ethos, we ask that male guests are accompanied by a woman.

Spaces are limited, so make sure to book your space early as this FREE event will fill up quickly! Email us at shop at sh-womenstore.com and we'll add your name to the guest list!

You can listen to some of them (you'll know) in the Gotta Have It book trailer below!

London readings July 2 and 4

I'll have lineups and addresses soon, but for now, I can tell you that I'm going to London (UK) and doing my very first readings every there! I'm so looking forward to it, and as a fan of Sh! and Coffee, Cake and Kink (which has since closed their previous venue but we are cooking up something fabulous), having visited both places on my last visit there in, I think, 2007, I'm extra excited. And of course there will be cupcakes! The readings will be:

Sat 2nd July at Sh!

&

Mon 4th July at Coffee, Cake and Kink (venue tba)

And look, Sh! is excited too!

London calling!

I’ll have details soon, I’m finalizing venues and authors, but it looks like I’ll be doing my first London (UK) readings the weekend of July 4th, probably July 2nd and 4th. Very excited! Much is going on, so if you want the whole scoop in one place, sign up for my newsletter on the left-hand side of rachelkramerbussel.com (I will also post and tweet the link to see the newsletter online). It's monthly.

Hello Kitty Johnny Cupcakes limited edition t-shirt coming in December

This is what you miss if you don't read Cupcakes Take the Cake daily (or add us to your RSS feed). You can also like us on Facebook. And obviously, if you're in Seattle or New York, don't miss our December 7th bicoastal 6-year anniversary parties!

I am a major Hello Kitty and Sanrio fan, and right now they are doing a popup tour (I saw a very cute limited edition Hello Kitty iPhone case at CupcakeCamp LA!). I’m getting to the cupcake connection, I promise…

Johnny Cupcakes, who is in the process of opening up his London (UK) store in 2011, will be launching a limited edition Hello Kitty t-shirt next month, an item that is shooting straight to the top of my holiday wishlist! How fun. Stay tuned to johnnycupcakes.com and his blog (scroll down for photos from Sanrio's 50th anniversary), as well as Twitter and Facebook (where over 70,000 people are fans!), for ordering information. via Nitrolicious




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for the guys: Cupcakes and Crossbones Mesh Johnny Cupcakes shorts


Dice will be randomly placed in Johnny Cupcakes orders!

"Cocktease" erotica for charity

I have a story called "Cocktease" in this charity erotica anthology Ultimate Decadence. No clue what the distribution in the US is like; their last one, Ultimate Burlesque, which I don't have a story in, doesn't seem to be available from Amazon. But anyway, back to me...here's the TOC and this is the official site. Big thanks to co-editor Emily Dubberley along with Aly Fixter for asking me to contribute. A minimum of 15% of the cover price goes to Macmillan Cancer Support. In the U.S., Amazon is listing a September 29th pub date. Will let you know more when I get my copies/hear anything.

Contents include:

Ultimate Decadence	Poppy Winters
Beautiful Things	Kitty Meadows
Blind Man’s Buff	Justine Elyot
A Costume Drama	Daphne Bing
Endless Night	Marcelle Perks
Freefall	Emily Dubberley
Blow the Candles, Baby	Suzanne Portnoy& Simon Morgan
New Blood	Wersha Bharadwa
Roses	Miranda Forbes
The Decline of Conversation	MonMouth
The Gilded Fountain	Jeremy Edwards
The Night at the Hotel	Elizabeth K. Payne
Swing Town	Lauren Wissot
More	Donna George Storey
Tube Journey	Paris Orsini
Wedding Day	Jennifer Dark
Dark Horse	Karen Krizanovich
Pink Champagne	Laura Godman
Double Take	Madeline Moore
Sculpted to Perfection	Elizabeth Coldwell
Coming Home	Josephine Jay
A Night at the Opera	Sarah Berry
Alice’s Indulgence	Adam Sawyer
Sweet Like Chocolate	Mark Farley
Henry	Mistress Grace
Cocktease	Rachel Kramer Bussel
Indulgence Calling…	Angel O’Neill
Fantasy	Sarah-Louise Young
Take Me to Carnevale	Maxim Jakubowski
All or Nothing	Henrietta Maddox

I so haven't edited this and saw a bunch of typos (bad me! bad me!) so hopefully those got fixed, been a little nutso on the writing end but here's an excerpt:

Cocktease
by Rachel Kramer Bussel


“No, I’m not gonna do it,” Brad said, sounding more like a petulant child than the self-made chef he was.

“Not for everyone in the world, just for me. Right here. That’s what I want: to see you touch yourself. I want to watch, baby. You know I love looking at your cock, right?” I was starting to whine, but I couldn’t help it. Seeing him do his own private circle jerk had become the reigning fantasy, playing on rotation in my mind nonstop.

I was poised in front of him, on my knees, in easy sucking distance, like I’d been plenty of times in the last six months. Truth is, I wanted to suck him, too, but even more than that, I wanted to update the homepage in my mind, to see what he looked like when he wasn’t with me, but was getting off.

But for the life of me, I couldn’t get Brad to comply. He even started, his hand moving up and down, playing hide and seek with his gorgeous cock but then burst out laughing and looked away. “Baby, I wish I could do it for you, but I just can’t. I feel awkward with you watching.”

I couldn’t understand it; I’d seen his dick hundreds of times. So I decided to take matters into my own hands--and out of his. “Fine, then, if you can’t do me this one itsy little favor…I have another idea.” I fished out a pair of black and gold fishnets of mine that I know he loves, bending over to reach them so my ass would be right in his reach. He started to fondle my bottom, but just as he got into it, I shifted around so I was behind him, and started to tie his hands behind his back, with my stockings.

“What are you doing, Brenda?”

“Oh, nothing. I’m just going to show you how excruciating it can be to not get what you want. Kindof like you did to me.”

Read the rest in Ultimate Decadence.