Ask a sex writer (me!) anything

My publisher Cleis Press is making a video featuring me answering all your questions about sex and erotica writing. Email them at marketing at cleispress.com with your questions and I'll do my best to answer them all on their YouTube channel!

Join me in Princeton, NJ July 20-22 for the play Dead Man's Cell Phone (watch trailer)

Every summer since 2012, I've gotten a special summer treat: to see a play in an intimate 60-person theater in Princeton, New Jersey. My boyfriend is the co-director of Chimera Productions, so he's worked on all those plays, and more before that (this is their 12th year), and he even wrote his own amazing play, Bottle Factory, two years ago. This July 20, 21 and 22 they are putting on the comedy Dead Man's Cell Phone by Sarah Ruhl, which I'm really excited to see, partly because with the dreadful news blaring nonstop from my TV, I could use a laugh, partly because I loved her play about vibrators and hysteria but was utterly puzzled by her play about polyamory, so I look forward to a third chance to see her work. TL:DR - you can come see this play for just $15 cash at the door (doors open at 7:30 each night, the play starts at 8). That's a huge bargain and you're not going to find too much theater at such a low cost. It all takes place at The Arts Council of Princeton, 102 Witherspoon Street, and it's right near tons of great restaurants (and amazing ice cream at Halo Pub).



I won't pretend I'm not biased (or a user of double negatives), but I've truly been awed by each and every performance, and most years I go to all three nights of the show, as I will this year. The actors do amazing work and the space is truly transformed into a theater using the most minimal of sets. When someone gets shot, you hear the gasps of your fellow audience members. You get to see the reactions of the actors up close and very personal. And the stories they put up stay with me. When they put on the Adrienne Rich poetry quoting play After Ashley by Gina Gionfriddo, it promoted a lot of soul searching from me.

On a personal level, I love getting to spend three nights immersed on characters and ideas and art. I also love being part of an artistic household where we can have a play's opening night and a book release in the same month. I love that yesterday I got to help pack up props to go to the theater and wonder what those props would be used for. And as someone who believes the arts are for everyone, I especially love knowing that many people coming to these plays only see this one piece of theater each year. I try to get out of my suburban town and see theater when the timing and opportunity arise (I once even flew to Charlotte and saw The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity by Kristoffer Diaz) for the second time because I'd loved it so much at Washington, DC's Woolly Mammoth, and was stunned to see an utterly different rendering of the wrestling play), but I know that's likely rare amongst Americans. I'm in awe of how much heart and soul and passion everyone involved puts in for free, simply because they believe in theater and its power to touch people and entertain them. We are living in a time when our federal government cares not an iota for art, and our president would rather hang fake magazine covers on his walls than anything real. To me, this makes theater even more urgent and necessary. For those who feel like theater is overpriced or out of reach, their shows are an antidote to that, because they are, as I mentioned above, only $15 to get in (and if you want perks like snacks and the best seats, donate $25 via their Indiegogo campaign, which goes to cover the price of putting on the production, including theater space rental, props and other costs - it's an all volunteer production so the directors and cast are unpaid, doing it for the love of theater).

I do my best not to read any reviews and not to attend rehearsals or find out too much about Chimera's plays before I see them, but this year I'm helping with publicity, which coincides nicely with some of my copywriting duties and my general attempts to become better at marketing because that's where my career is taking me. So because of that, I've gleaned slightly more information about the play than I might have other years. I know that it probably will speak to dependence on technology that I, as someone who almost always has her iPhone in her hand and her eyes glued on it, can relate to. I know from the trailer that it's probably going to make me laugh; I even asked if I should sit near the exit so I can dash out to pee if I laugh that hard. Watch the trailer yourself:



And I'm going to throw in a special bonus as a thanks for reading this far and supporting the play: If you donate $10 or more, which means you can also select the perk of getting thanked in the show's program, and email me a screenshot of your donation by July 19, 2017, I'll send you a free autographed book of mine (U.S. only because overseas postage costs over $20 - sorry!). Just send your screenshot to rachelkb at gmail dot com with "Chimera" in the subject line along with your full name and mailing address and I'll send your book on July 20, 2017. I can't guarantee which book it will be (I'll send from my surplus stash) but if you have a request of a specific title or subgenre let me know and I'll try to send it.

Nicole Arbour's hate-filled "Dear Fat People" video

Sunday night, I was watching TV with my boyfriend and scrolling through Facebook when I read about a video called "Dear Fat People." At the time, it had been taken down from YouTube, but someone else had put it up. I watched it, and was horrified. I don't say that only because I'm in love with a fat man, though of course, that certainly colors my view. But there was something so sickening to me about how she talked about fat people, literally as if they should not exist, or only exist if they were spending their entire lives working to no longer be fat.

So at 11 p.m., I sent some emails and made some calls and did interviews. At midnight, I wondered, What am I doing? Nobody had assigned this to me; I wanted to cover it, both because I knew it was going to be a buzzed-about story, and because I wanted to add another voice speaking up against the hatefulness of this video.

So I did, and Salon liked it, and published it. Right now, as I type from an airplane on my way to L.A., it's their third most viewed piece.



It's also one I've gotten rare hate mail for, which I've posted on my Facebook page. Those emails, to me, say so much. People are willing to speak out defending someone basically saying fat people are the scourge of the world, because she backs up their own prejudice. I want no part of that, ever. Lindy West also has an excellent response at The Guardian. I certainly couldn't muster that much empathy for Arbour.

I was far less interested, personally, in the "free speech" canard as I was in how telling fat people to fuck themselves could become a rallying cry. We need to do better, and we are, I hope.

As I gear up to teach a new set of writing students on Friday in Burbank (there's still room to join us!), I'm looking forward to hearing what they think about their own lives, about their fantasies, about things they want to say and share but perhaps don't know how or where to go about doing so.

Open bar tonight 6-7 for my Sex & Cupcakes book party in NYC!

Tonight's the night! Yes, it's dreary as can be outside but inside Sweet Revenge at 62 Carmine Street, NYC (subway to West 4th Street) at my Sex & Cupcakes book party tonight from 6-8 (open bar 6-7) it will be sweet and cozy and sexy and fun. Can't make it? Let a friend know! Here's the Facebook invite. Sweet Revenge owner Marlo Scott had this to say. I have to say a giant thank you to Thought Catalog Books for sponsoring this.

Here's me there on Saturday enjoying their ridiculously delicious brunch (if you go, while my burrito bowl was delicious, with wonderful hot sauce, do get the red velvet waffles):



Want to know more about the book? My awesome publisher Thought Catalog Books asked me lots of questions, like whether I write better erotica when my sex life is booming and what I'd tell my future 9-year-old child about sex.



My friend Stacie Joy took this photo below of me on Saturday, and I adore it so much. If you've read Sex & Cupcakes, you know that the book is as much about love as sex, about falling hard and getting my heart broken and falling in love again. While my boyfriend is incredible and amazing and designed this postcard and doesn't mind that I wrote about him in essays like "My Boyfriend's Fat" and "Monogamishmash," it's not one of those happily ever after my-life-is-awesome-cause-I'm-not-single books. My life is awesome because I went through a lot of hard times and tried a lot of things, I dropped out of law school and stumbled my way into an erotica job and a sex column, I went all out, I let my heart lead the way, and still do. If you want to know more about that, this book is my most personal writing ever, and the thing I'm proudest of this year. You can get it for Kindle or iBooks, and if you don't have a Kindle, not to worry; you can read it on your phone, laptop, tablet, etc. Click here for details on that. Thank you for reading and responding; it's still scary, 15 years later, to open myself up in the way I do in this book, but I do it because that's how I'm made, and because I hope it reaches someone with a message that's useful in their lives, somehow.

On having a sense of humor about my work, or I've got "crazy ex-girlfriend eyes"

As I was preparing to teach my 4-week LitReactor erotica writing class Between the Sheets, I of course did some vanity searching on their site, because I'm narcissistic like that. So while I was doing that I came across my Spanked: Red-Cheeked Erotica book trailer, the very first one I ever made (embedded below) in a list titled "10 Hysterical, Sexy, Awesome, Ridiculous, Scary Book Trailers" written by Joshua Chaplinsky (from 2012, over two years ago, it should be noted). How could I not want to read it? This post is not meant to slam that list because a) I like LitReactor and am excited to work with them and b) I have a sense of humor.

So why did my book trailer make the list? Here's their take:

The trailer for this spankophilic anthology is the very antithesis of erotic. It features the book's scantily clad editor, Rachel Kramer Bussel, who comes across more awkward than sexy. She proceeds to extol the virtues of all aspects of fanny tanning, including the use of spatulas, journals, paddles, rulers and hands. Yup. Guess that about covers the full spectrum.

Then the trailer switches gears, giving us a dose of insipid prose layered over a montage of the most unenthusiastic spanking ever filmed. It illicited nary a tremor from the ole' tallywhacker. Cardboard cutouts would have given a better performance. If only Kristen Schaal had starred in this trailer...

Then there is the final, haunting shot of Ms. Bussel and her crazy ex-girlfriend eyes, mechanically dropping her own book on someone's lifeless posterior like a gavel. They say you should never fuck crazy, and in this case, I don't think I'd even read it.

I took a break from listening to the new Ryan Adams album to re-watch the trailer, and you know what? I do kindof have crazy eyes at the end. All I can think about watching it is how nervous I was, because I'm not an actress, and there were so many variables going on because I don't know anything about making videos, even though the friend who directed it does.

Also, because I knew I wanted it on YouTube, I couldn't make it too too sexy, so no nudity or anything. The post mad eme think about the purpose of doing book trailers, something I could afford back when I had a full-time job and that I'm trying to get back into in a budget-friendly way. I don't necessarily think my book trailers for the niche genre of erotica have helped sell tons of books. Who knows, really? But I had fun making it. I felt like I accomplished something wholly different than the also challenging task of editing an anthology. Maybe it is more funny than sexy, but the book isn't, and if any of the 253,163 people who've viewed the trailer have clicked through and read more about the book, I've done my job.

Were I making it today, I'd probably employ better YouTube tools like embedding a clickable URL. I'd probably do so many things differently, but to me, that's the beauty of it. I didn't know what I was doing, but I did it anyway because I wanted to see what would happen. Most days I still don't feel like I "know what I'm doing." I don't have all the answers, and to be honest, sometimes I feel like I should. But I am that awkward girl, just as I'm someone who can write about being spanked until they cry in an erotica story. That's actually at the heart of my essay collection coming out next week, Sex and Cupcakes: that I'm all those things at once.

Smut writer, nervous nellie, crazy, bold, willing to flop if it means trying something out, and also being able to laugh at myself. One thing I always tell aspiring erotica writers, though it's true about all writing, is that once you put it out into the world, you cannot control how people react to it. And, frankly, you shouldn't want to. Your job is done. Same with a book trailer or any creative project. That's my lesson when I saw that post. I'm not Kristen Schaal. I'm not a natural on screen or on a stage. I still tremble when I do readings, but I do them anyway. I've found that I love teaching because it's an interaction, not a performance. Whenever I've shot a book trailer, I've had to go over the lines so many times that they probably do sound a little robotic.

But I've also discovered that I'm never trying to make the slickest, sexiest, fanciest book trailer. I'm not those things. I'm someone who wants my indie erotica books to have as wide a reach as possible, who is excited to be finalizing Best Bondage Erotica 2015 and work with so many authors I've never published before. I'm wearing sweatpants and a Brooklyn Industries hoodie I treat like a blanket because it's so soft, one I had to get because when I went on my last trip I forgot something warm. I'm that bundle of awkward/weird/shy/outgoing/bold/provocative and umpteen other things and those are what you see, in my words, in my videos. For better or worse, I can't do that thing where I try to pretend to be someone I'm not. So, from my crazy eyes to your screens, thanks for laughing along. Here's the video and a little bit more about a book about a topic near and dear to my heart...and other body parts. And because I'm also a total people pleaser, it now occurs to me that I wrote that I have a sense of humor and maybe I took this too seriously. I do that too, but it did genuinely make me laugh because I agree with some of it. Maybe one day I'll try my hand at a totally hot erotica book trailer. For now, you've got this.

Bringing this all the way back around (something I also think works well in erotica stories!), there are 3 spots left in my LitReactor erotica writing class, which takes place entirely online, meaning you can do it on your schedule any time over the four weeks from October 16-November 13. And while we will be discussing business practices, pseudonyms, the best publishers to submit your writing and building your author brand, we probably won't discuss book trailers in my writing class. But we might! I'm open to answering any and all questions about the creative and business sides of erotica. See you next week at LitReactor.




Spanked: Red-Cheeked Erotica book trailer

Buy Spanked from:

Amazon

Kindle

Bn.com

Nook

Powell's

Indiebound

Audible audio version

Cleis Press

Table of Contents

Introduction: “A Fantastic Kind of Pain”

Spanking You Rick Roberts
Perfect Bound Shanna Germain
Betty Crocker Gone Bad Alison Tyler
Laser Tag Madeline Glass
A Rare Find Donna George Storey
Game, Set, Match Sage Vivant
Tied Down Andy Ohio
Through a Glass, Sharply Elizabeth Coldwell
Reunion Madlyn March
Riding the Storm Thomas Christopher
The Breeding Barn L. Elise Bland
Pink Cheeks Fiona Locke
Page by Page Laura Bacchi
Fiscal Discipline Simon Sheppard
Pre-Party Thomas S. Roche
Still Life with Infidels #56 M. David Hornbuckle
Indulgences Tenille Brown
Logan Rosalind Christine Lloyd
Daddy’s Girl Teresa Noelle Roberts
The Depths of Despair Rachel Kramer Bussel

Introduction: “A Fantastic Kind of Pain”

Just as I have a seemingly endless capacity to bare my ass and get it smacked soundly or make a squirming bottom hover on the edge of erotic oblivion with loud, ringing, stinging whack after whack, I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of reading stories about spanking. There was a time when I wasn’t sure I could say that; after all, just how much is there to say about bending over and letting a firm hand connect with a pertly offered-up bottom? Or striking a pretty pair of buttcheeks so well the person beneath you moans in ecstatic agony? Well, as I’ve learned while editing this collection, there are an infinite number of ways to talk about the pleasures of getting spanked or spanking someone. While the actions may look alike, we all experience them differently and have different motives for indulging in this beloved kinky activity.

Me? I get off on just thinking about bending over for that special someone. Maybe I’m wearing panties, and only part of my bottom is visible. Maybe I’m not, and my spanker can see everything, including my wetness. I get wet at the mere idea of offering up my entire body to a lover to play with, tease, spank, and arouse. I’ve also had plenty of eager bottoms spread before me, offering asses that just begged to be spanked, whether they speak words to that effect or not. But for me, and for many others, spanking is about much more than just the physical. It’s about what that sensation creates inside of us. Spanking breaks down our barriers in ways even sex sometimes doesn’t; it stirs up emotions; it makes us whimper or cry, or be proud of just how much we can take. It’s primal and powerful, not to mention incredibly popular. I was thrilled to see spanking make an appearance on Showtime’s Californication, where the bratty, bossy bottom of a secretary demands that her boss spank her for any office infraction. “Hit Me Baby One More Time,” indeed.

And those who bestow spankings, whether with hands, paddles, hairbrushes, or other devices, relish that power to bring pleasure and pain mixed together, to completely undo the person they are spanking with just a few (or possibly many) whacks.

The authors included here get just how intense spanking can be. Reading these stories took my breath away, and, even more so than my previous collections (Naughty Spanking Stories from A to Z 1 and 2), made me instantly horny. They’ve tapped into the beauty of spanking in a way that newbies, seasoned spankophiles, and those who are simply curious will be able to understand in an instant.

Rick Roberts opens this anthology with “Spanking You,” a story I’ve read and reread numerous times, mesmerized by its rendering of a man so entranced by the vision he makes when he spanks his girlfriend, you imagine he could do it all night, every night, and never tire of it. He even offers up a little bit of a how-to for those would-be spankers looking for the courage to simply turn him or her over and begin this sensual process:

I used to tease you at the beginning of every spanking. As you’d kneel before me on the bed, not a stitch of clothing on your tan body, I’d fake the first blow—stopping just short of your ass, letting the air kiss your skin—and then place an affectionate caress onto your behind. By removing the certainty of whether the next sensation would be soft or a stinging slap, I’d keep you centered in the moment, keep you waiting and vulnerable, and your anticipation for the spanking grew. I would look down at you and smile, knowing that your desire for the first slap on your ass was growing unbearable by the moment.

Part of the thrill of spanking someone is being able to dangle what they most desire before them, to see them there waiting, panting, asking for it with body and soul, to know (or at least, fantasize) that they can’t get off any other way than by the “punishment” you are about to deliver. Elizabeth Coldwell paints a portrait of a true top in “Through a Glass, Sharply,” when she writes, “You have never really known power until the man you love is at your feet, naked or very nearly so, helpless and vulnerable, while you remain fully dressed and completely in control.”

Madlyn March describes a first-time spanking in a way that will be familiar to any who have gasped, trembling, as they realized they not only can take, but crave, a whole lot more spanking than they’d initially expected:

I remembered how it felt when Mimi did it to me. At first, you’re surprised someone’s hitting you, even if you’ve asked her to. Then you’re excited. Then you’re in pain, but it’s a fantastic kind of pain. Each slap makes you want more, as much as you can take, until you can’t take any more, and you’re shaking, more than ready to have an orgasm, the kind that can only be gotten from a woman diving headfirst into you with her wet tongue licking rapidly.

Any time an author can make me hot for something that in real life actually unnerves me, I’m sold. I’m not usually a fan of Daddy/girl stories, but in Teresa Noelle Roberts’ excellent story, simply entitled “Daddy’s Girl,” she renders that role-playing relationship and its spanking potential perfectly, dissecting her characters’ motivations while maintaining the magic they each hold so dear about their arrangement.

For some people, spanking is playful, almost silly--sexy in a way that makes you laugh as you come. This spirit is alive and well in L. Elise Bland’s “The Breeding Barn,” where a cheese paddle does double duty on the ass of an unsuspecting but happy boy bottom. And for the woman who goes by the name “Pink Cheeks” in the story of the same title, her fantasy comes true, to the letter, though in a setting she’d never have expected.

What I love most about this book is that while there are plenty of naughty boys and girls, that potentially clichéd setup never gets boring, because the authors take you right there, into the heart of a punishment spanking, letting you know that, on some level, each of these naughty boys or girls doesn’t just deserve but needs to be spanked for his or her own reasons. The authors play around with these tropes, recreating the act of spanking until it morphs into something endlessly entertaining, just as a good top can keep a bottom on the edge, smacking harder and harder, then backing off, drawing out the play.

While I’ve subtitled this book, “Red-Cheeked Erotica,” what happens on the surface of the skin is just the beginning when it comes to spanking. There’s an elegance, a poetry, a beauty to spanking that is much more akin to making love than fucking. It’s a rhythm, a beat, a gracefulness, a way two people can connect without saying a word. These elements come together in M. David Hornbuckle’s simple yet powerful “Still Life with Infidels #56,” in which a planned kidnapping is set against the sparse backdrop of a steel mill as two recently reunited lovers attempt to recover what they’d lost.

The thrill of erotic spanking is nothing new, even if each time can make even the most experienced bottom feel like a blushing virgin all over again. James Joyce wrote a series of spanking-loving letters to his beloved wife Nora in December 1909 (and for a lesson in the art of sensual, utterly kinky yet romantic erotica, look up Joyce’s naughty letters online). I cannot legally quote him here, though believe me, Joyce was a full-on spankophile according to these missives, understanding precisely what it means to submit (and to willingly struggle).

As I already told you, when it comes to spanking, I simply can’t get enough. I hope these stories turn you on, inspire you, and spark your own imagination about just how hot a spanking from someone who knows exactly what he’s doing can make you.

Rachel Kramer Bussel
New York City

Want to listen to it? Here's the audiobook complete with free sample when you click through.

Sex at the movies: Twanna Hines and I review Orgasm Inc.

Even though she didn't believe me that Quad Cinema, one of NYC's independent movie theaters, existed (really), Twanna Hines and I finally made it over to 13th Street to check out Liz Canner's documentary Orgasmic, Inc.. We did a relatively short review below, and you can see Tracy Quan's interesting take on it at MyDaily. You can also follow @Orgasm_Inc on Twitter and like the film on Facebook. Apologies for being so slow to get this posted; let's blame it on technical difficulties.

I definitely encourage you to see it; if anything, it will make you look at the pharmaceutical industry with a bit more skepticism (if you don't already), and the idea of what women "should" be doing when it comes to orgasms is something I will be exploring in a future SexIs Magazine column, both related to this film and in general, because in my personal experience there is a lot of pressure on women (okay, me) to have orgasms in ways that feel unrelated to my personal pleasure, and in fact impede that pleasure by putting so much focus on it, but that's another discussion.

Dusty Horn reading her lesbian erotica story "Share" from Orgasmic

Please join us, and tell your San Francisco/Bay Area friends, to join us on January 28th; here's the official Facebook invite if you want to let people know about it, but you don't need to RSVP. You'll be among the first to get your hands on Violet Blue's new book Total Flirt and copies of Gotta Have It: 69 Stories of Sudden Sex, with stories by me and Donna George Storey, will also be for sale! And free cupcakes, including vegan ones! Below is Dusty reading from her story "Share" from Orgasmic at Orgasm Night at In The Flesh. She also has a very hot story called "Subdue" in Best Bondage Erotica 2011 that I'm sure she'll sign at Booksmith too!

Next on my reading list: Cami Ostman's marathon memoir Second Wind

I like working with publishers, such as Harlequin, Cleis Press and Seal Press, to name three, that publish books I like to read. They all do, and while I don't have time to read everything they publish, I try to keep up and have discovered some amazing authors that way. While Seal always has lots of titles I'm interested in (I'm basically the target audience for Pretty Neat, you know?), what I love about discovering books the most is just that: the discovery. The act of hearing about a book in some fashion, usually through a friend, review, via social media or, in this case, via the publisher, and thinking, Wow, that sounds amazing. Also in this case, thinking, And that is the perfect gift for my marathon-running stepfather.

So I haven't read it yet, but I look forward to the memoir Second Wind: One Woman's Midlife Quest to Run Seven Marathons on Seven Continents. Her official site is 7marathons7continents.com and you can also keep track of her goal to run a marathon in each of the 50 United States by 2017!

Publisher's description:

Second Wind is the story of an unlikely athlete and an unlikely heroine: Cami Ostman, a woman edging toward midlife who decides to take on a challenge that stretches her way outside of her comfort zone. That challenge presents itself when an old friend suggests she go for a run to distract her from the grief of her recent divorce. Excited by the clarity of mind and breathing space running offers her, she keeps it up—albeit slowly. Soon the old friend, Bill, now a romantic interest, invites her to Prague to run a marathon. Little does either of them know that this race will be the first of many international marathons, and that it will ignite a quest to run seven marathons on seven continents.

Up hills and through flash floods, more often alone than with company, Cami forges a path through some of the most exotic places in the world—and into some of the most enlightened, and darkest, places in the psyche. Insightful and uplifting, Second Wind carries the reader along for the ride as Cami runs her way out of compliance with the patriarchal rules about “being a woman” that long held her captive and into authenticity and self-love. Her adventures—and the personal revelations that accompany them—will inspire readers to take chances, find truth in their lives, and learn to listen to the voice inside them that’s been there all along.



I liked the book trailer because she said some things like "You need to find your own authentic pace in life" that transcend running, even though her book is about running. Of course it's about more than that (okay, maybe not "of course," but as an avid memoir reader, there is almost always something more going on that the surface topic).

Review: The W. Kamau Bell Curve: Ending Racism in About An Hour

Putting together race and comedy can and sometimes is a recipe for disaster (side note: I think Hitler needs to be retired as comedy fodder, having heard a few too many of them last night), but in The W. Kamau Bell Curve: Ending Racism in About an Hour, on now at PS 122 as part of the SoloNOVA Festival, W. Kamau Bell not only makes his points funny but uses media clips, storytelling and crowd work to get people thinking about race, and laughing.

I saw it on Sunday at 6, during a gorgeous day, so the theater wasn’t full. I walked in and showing on the screen were Bell’s thoughts on some modern films, like why Jake Gyllenhaal was cast in Prince of Persia. Bell then comes out and shares some thoughts on race and racism, and the difference between the two. Bell is noted for telling the first joke about Barack Obama back in 2005, a clip he shows.

At one point, after seeing some horrific clips where John Stossel and others basically defended the government staying out of racism in the workplace, those of us who are white were led to chant, “Say it loud, I’m white and I’m proud.” Yes, it was funny, but it was also a very surreal and disturbing feeling (speaking for myself) to say that, let alone think it, but I believe Bell’s point was that being proud of who you are doesn’t only belong to the crazy white people, and that white people who don't want to be associated with racist white people need to also recognize that being white in and of itself isn't something to be ashamed of. That was my takeaway, anyway.

Bell also took us through the 2010 census, which by now we’ve probably all seen (even, um, those of us who got a notice on our door because we sent ours in way late), but he also talked us through the very earliest version of the census which made this country’s priorities at the time quite clear.

He talked only briefly about his own life, showing a photo of his parents, one of the few he has, and sharing a story of realizing he was black, and thus different from his white schoolmates, at the age of six. I wish there had been a little more personal detail because Bell is a compelling performer and one who, by his own admission, thinks about race and racism all the time. I’d have loved to hear a little bit more about how those thoughts evolved into the show (which has been running in various venues and evolving for the last few years), but I do realize he only has “about an hour.” He also talked about interracial marriage, the issue and, briefly, his own and the Loving vs. Virginia Supreme Court decision and shared this quote from Mildred Loving, which I hadn't seen before (taken from About.com) and tied it in to Prop 8 - a minor mention but one of many seemingly disparate issues that Bell weaves into the show in a seamless way, so you don't quite realize how much information and how many ideas he packs into the small amount of time.

I am still not a political person, but I am proud that Richard's and my name is on a court case that can help reinforce the love, the commitment, the fairness, and the family that so many people, black or white, young or old, gay or straight seek in life. I support the freedom to marry for all. That's what Loving, and loving, are all about.

Perhaps the most powerful moments, for me, were when he shared YouTube comments he received on some of his videos. On one level it’s easy to dismiss them, and I would think someone who’s so out there would be immune to that, but he revealed that they gave him pause (I’m not going to repeat them because I didn’t have my notebook out and the visual element is really what made it strong).

I liked the show because while yes it was a one-man show, Bell encouraged some degree of audience participation and truly seemed invested not in having us all think exactly the same way he does about these topics he brings up but in simply thinking about them rather than brushing them aside or pretending that we are, in a phrase he wisely mocks, “post-racial.” He showed a hilarious clip of some news commentator saying that when he looks at President Obama (and I’m paraphrasing) that he forgets that he’s black. “You know who doesn’t forget that Obama is black? Black people!” roars Bell.

To bring this back to, you know, me (jk, kindof), the other day I was having cupcakes with my friend Twanna (aka Funky Brown Chick) and she mentioned something about the blog Angry Asian Man and I said I knew it and then I was like, “Wait, I mean…” and she was like, “Disgracian?” and I said yes and maybe you had to be there but it was this "all Asian blogs look alike" moment that I was thinking about during the show because we can and do laugh about it. There was this other part of the show where Bell reveals two things never to ask a black person (you should see the show for that) but it also reminded me of when I felt like a complete idiot and both Googled and asked Twanna if black people should wear sunscreen, because I honestly wasn’t sure and felt very, for lack of a better word, white, and thus ignorant, about it. And she very kindly assured me I wasn’t an idiot. Both of those examples were moments where we could talk, but also laugh, about race, and I think sometimes that’s something that only happens amongst close friends and, well, I’m sure plenty of people don’t have a chance to actually engage or think or, most importantly, laugh about race and Bell gives people a space to do that while also talking about historical racism and present-day racism and, best of all, laughing, while we do so.

I'm clearly not a theater reviewer or comedy blogger (anymore) and don't aspire to be, so this review is perhaps a little disjointed but I encourage those in NYC to check out the show tonight, tomorrow or Friday.

And I went solo, but there really is a deal that if you bring a person of another race, tickets are 2 for the price of 1! Use the promo code "solo241" when buying tickets here.

Here's a clip from a previous incarnation of the show (from what I know, it's constantly being updated, so Arizona gets some play in this version). See more videos here.



Official show details via PS 122 - an extended version can be found here

THE W. KAMAU BELL CURVE: ENDING RACISM IN ABOUT AN HOUR
comedy
JUNE 2, 3 at 8PM,
JUNE 4 at 6PM

Written & Performed by W. Kamau Bell
Directed by Paul Stein
75 minutes

Black President or not, racism continues to make a comeback. And W. Kamau Bell is here to make (non)sense of it all. Irreverent and thoughtful, The W. Kamau Bell Curve skewers pop culture, news pundits and the man himself, Barack Obama. According to Comedy Central, Kamau told the very first Obama joke way back in 2005

"Smart, stylish, and very much in the mold of politically outspoken comedians like Dave Chappelle and Margaret Cho."- San Francisco Weekly (though he was more excited that they called him "handsome.")

"W. Kamau Bell is the most important guy doing comedy right now. Do yourself a favor and go see him. He's got the most astute, hilarious and completely righteous material going and he's going to be a legend in his own lifetime like Richard Pryor and Lenny Bruce. Think Bill Hicks but slightly taller." - Margaret Cho

20,000+ views for Peep Show book trailer!

I know this means nothing in terms of sales or anything, really, but it made me happy to see that the Peep Show: Erotic Tales of Voyeurs and Exhibitionists book trailer, in which I, like I will be tonight, get topless (in the shower, though it's YouTube so we don't show anything but my back) and spy on people and generally show off and make out.



Some more info in case you missed it.



"Rachel Kramer Bussel has, once again, assembled a top-flight collection. This naughty gem will appeal to both the connoisseur and the curious reader who just wants a peek."
--Lily Burana, author of Strip City: A Stripper's Farewell Journey Across America

"Peep Show takes you through the looking glass and into an erotic world of wonder where looking and being looked at creates hot encounters of the highest order."
--Audacia Ray, author of Naked on the Internet

Introduction: Hungry Eyes and Sensual Show-Offs (see below)

Showtime by Susan St. Aubin
Clean and Pretty by Donna George Storey
Superior by Monica Shores
People in Glass Hotels by Jennifer Peters
Indecent by Lolita Lopez
Ownership by Craig J. Sorensen
Audience Participation by Elizabeth Coldwell
Now You See Her by Andrea Dale
Watcher in the Shadows by Cheyenne Blue
Glass by Nobilis Reed
Sleeping Beauty by Malcolm Ross
The Theory of Orchids by L. A. Mistral
Missing Michael by M. March
Busted by Kissa Starling
Satisfaction Guaranteed by Sommer Marsden
Rosse Buurt by Geneva King
I’ve Only Got Eyes for You by Rachel Kramer Bussel
Calendar Girl by Angela Caperton

Introduction: Hungry Eyes and Sensual Show-Offs

When the stories started rolling in for Peep Show, I was surprised to see that so many were about sex work: strippers, burlesque babes, and other professional show-offs and their customers. I had intended the title to be a sexy suggestion of the complementary fetishes of exhibitionism and voyeurism, not necessarily the main setting for the bulk of the stories. As I kept reading, though, I realized that peep shows and other forms of commercialized sexual displays are a major way we as a culture sanction the act of watching.

There’s a sense of the forbidden in many of the stories you’ll read here, whether money changes hands or not. There is the thrill of baring your body in exactly the place you’re not supposed to, which Lolita Lopez zeroes in on with her nude campus performance art protagonist in “Indecent.” As Lopez writes, “Trini couldn’t stop herself. The risk heightened the allure.” In Malcolm Ross’s “Sleeping Beauty,” the main character catches his gorgeous wife in repose in the middle of the night, and is compelled to keep on watching. M. March gives us a poignant, moving story of being watched over from above.

As for those peep shows, there’s plenty of very sexy jiggling to be seen here. Donna George Storey beautifully and, as always, utterly erotically captures a different kind of peep show in “Clean and Pretty,” in which an American woman in Japan soaps up in the shower, getting paid handsomely, while exulting in the one viewer who can look for free. Geneva King takes us deep inside Amsterdam’s famous red-light district, or “Rosse Buurt,” A woman is drawn to a woman she sees there, a woman who “stands in her window on the second story, not banging on the glass like the other girls, just standing, surveying the crowd, like she picks the customer and not the other way around, like she’s deciding who is lucky enough to experience any bit of her.” This is the kind of woman who sells her body in this book; one who’s knowing, aware, yet can allow herself to get swept away by passion, even when she’s on the clock.

Modern technology also plays a role here in the webcam-themed “Audience Participation” and “I’ve Only Got Eyes for You,” where private citizens become amateur porn stars. When you think of voyeurs, you probably picture the iconic image of the Peeping Tom, and he’s to be found in these pages as well, once, even wearing a trench coat. But rather than being the town creep, here the various peeping Toms (and Thomasinas) are more than just stereotypes. They see and hear things they aren’t supposed to, and sometimes, as with Sommer Marsden’s Jared in “Satisfaction Guaranteed,” they even get caught.

Neighbors, coworkers, spouses, and hotel guests all experience the power of looking, and being looked at. Even the most intimate relationships can get closer when one person opens himself up to being studied, caressed not with the hands but with the eyes. These stories honor the art of the striptease, the daring of the nudist, the boldness of the person who’ll go out of her way to get more than an eyeful. I hope the sensual visions these stories create stay in your mind’s eye for a long time to come.

Rachel Kramer Bussel
New York

It's available at:



Amazon



B&N



Powells



Borders



IndieBound



Cleis Press



or your local bookstore.

Spanked: Red-Cheeked Erotica book trailer on hiatus; watch these instead

So one major thing I've learned is that when making a book trailer (or any video), make sure you have the rights to the music! The trailer for Spanked: Red-Cheeked Erotica had a great run, and we will get it back up online soon, but it was pulled because we'd used music that wasn't authorized. Oh and the Spanked blog on Wordpress is not more but the one for Bottoms Up: Spanking Good Stories is still around. Will be working on getting as much detail about my books posted in 2010 as I can.


The Spanked trailer will be back up for your viewing pleasure soon, I promise.

I still have two very hot trailers up and plan to make more in 2010!


Book trailer for Do Not Disturb: Hotel Sex Stories (click to read table of contents and introduction.


Book trailer for Peep Show: Erotica Tales of Voyeurs and Exhibitionists (click to read table of contents and introduction

The music (authorized) is by one of my favorite bands, Ida, and the song is "599" from their album Heart Like a River

Old interview with Tango

Which is now YourTango.com and I will be writing for them a little bit if I can get off my ass and finish a few things. Just saw on YouTube that this great interview they did with me has been viewed over 42,000 times. Very cool.

Happy birthday to me and Keavy

Yes, I'm 34 today. I have a ton of work to do and as you may have noticed, for many reasons this has become more my "professional" blog and the Tumblr my personal one, with some exceptions.

So yes, it’s my birthday, and in the spirit of birthdays and love and friendship, please check out the sweetest birthday present I’ve ever seen anyone give…from Michael to my friend Keavy of Kumquat Cupcakery. Sorry I didn’t get mine in on time – I was there in spirit and am so happy to share a birthday with someone so so cool. One of the things I very much want to do is be a better friend and a better meeter of responsibilities in the coming year, so that next time, I don't miss out on such true sweetness as this.

In Rachel world, big piece hopefully going up tomorrow. Fingers crossed. Join my newsletter to get the scoop.

Me reading from Peep Show at Litquake

I read part of my story "I've Only Got Eyes for You" from Peep Show: Erotic Tales of Voyeurs and Exhibitionists on Thursday at Litquake. It was a fun night with spankings, beds, smut and a Q&A. I was a little nervous about not being at In The Flesh but loved the setting and the crowd.

NYC exhibitionists and voyeurs wanted: earn $10 and YouTube immortality!

I’m shooting a book trailer on Sunday afternoon from around noon to 6 pm for my new anthology Peep Show: Tales of Voyeurs and Exhibitionists and basically need people to make out, primp and look hot and like they’re about to get it on in public. Since I intend to put this on YouTube/Vimeo/Blip, there will be no actual nudity, but the idea is to be exhibitionistic and voyeuristic within those confines. We will also be shooting some indoor scenes simulating things like a Peeping Tom, spying on people having sex, webcam action, etc. To get an idea of what we're looking for (but obviously a different topic), see my book trailers for Do Not Disturb: Hotel Sex Stories and Spanked: Red-Cheeked Erotica.

I’m paying for this so all I can offer is $10 and a copy of the book and a credit in the trailer, so obviously it’s a labor of love on everyone’s part but the other two book trailer shoots I’ve done have been really fun. Real-life couples are especially wanted.

Email me at peepshowantho at gmail.com if you’re interested with the times you're available and any ideas you may have. Because of the nature of the video, I’m only working with people I know in real life unless you’re a friend of a friend and they can vouch for you. Payment will be made in cash after you’ve completed the video and signed a release; books will sent as soon as they arrive, in about two weeks. Fun outfits/makeup/adventurousness a bonus.

Shoot will take place near 53rd/6th, possibly partly in Central Park. I will probably need you for about an hour. Feel free to reblog, repost, spread the word. Thanks!

Listen/watch me read about hotel sex

This is me at the March In The Flesh Reading Series, reading from my introduction to Do Not Disturb: Hotel Sex Stories, as well as reading a portion of Isabelle Gray's Japanese love hotel story "So Simple a Place."



Also check out Nerve blog The Modern Materialist for all kinds of hotel sex tips, and they call Do Not Disturb:

an anthology of titillating tales that covers everything from five-star luxury sweet spots to "no-tell" motel meets. With stories ranging from solo to multi-player action, and writing rich with drama, humor, and kinky fun, this book will have you raring to go. As an extra bonus, you could even bring it along and stage a mini-reading with your partner.

Mention in Publishers Weekly!

This Publishers Weekly article talks about "tech makeovers" and social media use by two indie bookstores, Harvard Book Store and The Booksmith in San Francisco, where I did the Best Sex Writing 2009 reading and video in February.

Other changes involve serving emerging writers better. For example, The Booksmith dedicated the month of January to new writers and has begun posting author interviews online, as well as listing some store events. “None of these ideas helps sell books,” Madan acknowledges. “It’s more about having a larger conversation with your community.” Not that he’s unhappy when book sales result, as they did from a YouTube posting by erotica writer Rachel Kramer Bussel, who pointed out her favorite sexy titles (and chocolate) at the store (www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRiaXX9_y0s).

“Most bookstores struggle in knowing how to use technology effectively, including us. There is no bookstore, with the exception of Powell’s, that uses the Web well,” Madan says. “We believe that the days when bookstores could ignore the Web are over, as are the days of having boring, static sites that accompany excuses like 'we only use our Web site for informational purposes.’ ” Next month, he and Evans plan to launch a new site that makes better use of social platforms to build a broader, ongoing conversation with readers and writers. They are also creating a new staff position, Web marketer.

And you can watch the video here:

More from February's In The Flesh

The rest of the February In The Flesh Reading Series readers on YouTube!

Paula Bomer:



Martha Garvey:



Tsaurah Litzky:

Over 20,000 hits for the Spanked trailer!

The book trailer for (NSFW blog) Spanked: Red-Cheeked Erotica just hit the 20,000 view mark on YouTube! Yay - I consider that a success (you can also watch it on Blip). I won't see sales numbers for probably six months, but I think Spanked is poised to be my bestselling book; at least, I'm counting on it!

I'm planning a fun/sweet/sexy trailer for my Avon Red (Harpercollins) debut, an anthology of novellas, Bedding Down: A Collection of Winter Erotica, out December 1st. More on that when it gets closer to pub date; there should also be a NYC book party (something I don't do much anymore, wisely, but in this case I have such fabulous support, I want to go all out).

Samara O'Shea's must-watch Note to Self book trailer

I've had the wonderful Samara O'Shea at In The Flesh twice now, both times to rousing applause as she read naughty letters (watch one appearance here).



In this book trailer (via Galleycat) for her wonderful new book Note to Self: On Keeping a Journal and Other Dangerous Pursuits, she dishes about an ex and why journaling is so important. Comedy fans, be sure to watch for a standup cameo. And please come out July 17th to hear Samara tell us something dirty about journaling.