Cover of And The Heart Says Whatever by Emily Gould

Updated

I'm told by the author herself that the book is not actually related to her New York Times Magazine cover story or Gawker/blogging so I changed this post to reflect that, but is in fact a memoir of her teens and twenties. I'm looking forward to reading it either way and will surely be posting and hopefully interviewing her about it for some publication or other, so stay tuned.

Emily Gould's And The Heart Says Whatever, is on my list of 2010 Books I Want To Read (which is incomplete, but I'm making my way through it). The cover just got posted on Amazon, with a blurb by Curtis Sittenfeld. (I tried to book her for In The Flesh but no luck, alas.)

Anatomy of a blurb

Girldrive cover via Girldrive blog

Thought you might want to see how a blurb becomes a blurb. My editor at Seal Press, Brooke Warner, asked me to check out Girldrive. I will post more about it closer to the pub date, but here's what I sent her:

"Girldrive is a fascinating, fiery, dramatic whirlwind tour through modern-day women’s lives. Aronowitz and Bernstein treat feminism both as sacred and something that can, and is, being refashioned, and in some cases, dismissed in favor of other ways of advancing change. Thankfully, they don’t only talk to self-described 'feminists,' but to all sorts of women of different ages, races, sexualities, and belief systems. Girldrive is very likely to make you excited, impassioned, and, at times, infuriated--and that’s a good thing. Rather than handing you preformatted answers, Girldrive lets its diversity of opinion speak to you, rather than for you."

I knew this was pretty long, but I have trouble cutting myself down, so this is what they went with:

"Girldrive is a fascinating, fiery, dramatic whirlwind tour through modern-day women's lives. It's likely to make you excited, impassioned, and at times infuriated‹and that's a good thing. It lets its diversity of opinion speak to you rather than for you."

I've been thinking about blurbs as I gather them for Peep Show: Tales of Voyeurs and Exhibitionists, which is kindof my birthday book, because it's coming out in November, and my birthday is November 10th. I realized that they're not just for the back cover of the book. I'm going to put mine on the book's postcards, on the blog, have my publicist put it on the press release.

I'm also just a book nerd, and like reading blurbs, like this one for Danny Evan's Rage Against the Meshugenah: Why it Takes Balls to Go Nuts:

"A sort of self-help book on crack, for the modern man.”
—Rebecca Woolf, author of Rockabye

I'd buy that, even though I'm not a man (and interestingly, the other blurb on Amazon was also from a woman).

Hot blurbs from Dr. Gloria Brame

The wonderful and very smart Dr. Gloria Brame, pictured above, whose blog is an absolute must read, just gave me great blurbs for Yes, Sir and Yes, Ma'am (which are now all done and will be out in March!). There will be pretty postcards for these books, as there already are for Dirty Girls, and when it gets closer I'll be doing a big mailing. As well as walking around with umpteen flyers/postcards in my bag (but mark my words, by March I'll be down to one bag!). Check them out:



"This literate and beautifully edited collection of femsub fiction delivers the mesmerizing mental foreplay that erotica readers love."



"A wet, hot paean to the infinite charms of dominant women, as told by some of the best erotic writers working today."

-- Dr. Gloria Brame, sex therapist, blogger, and author of Come Hither: A Commonsense Guide to Kinky Sex (which I reviewed in like 2000 or something for the sadly now defunct On Our Backs)

Heads up: August 15, September 1920 In The Fleshes, and Juicy Mangos

I'm very excited for the sexy, summery lineup on August 15th. And, Michelle Mulligan's hot new erotica anthology, Juicy Mangos, which you'll be hearing from then, is out now! Scroll down to read a little more about it, or visit the Juicy Mangos blog to read some excerpts. Yummy!



IN THE FLESH EROTIC READING SERIES
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15th at 8 PM
AT HAPPY ENDING LOUNGE, 302 BROOME STREET, NYC
(B/D to Grand, J/M/Z to Bowery, F to Delancey, http://www.happyendinglounge.com)
Admission: Free
Happy Ending Lounge: 212-334-9676

From some very juicy mangos to sex on Fire Island and more, August's In The Flesh dives into the bedroom and beyond with steamy stories from some of New York's naughtiest (plus a visiting guest from Minneapolis). Featuring John Blesso (Sharehouse Confidential), Perry Brass (Carnal Sacraments), Catherine Lundoff (Crave), Elisha Miranda (The Sista Hood), and Michelle Herrera Mulligan (Juicy Mangos). Hosted by erotic writer and editor Rachel Kramer Bussel (He's on Top, She's on Top, Caught Looking). Free candy and cupcakes will be served and authors books will be available for sale.

In the Flesh is a monthly reading series hosted at the appropriately named Happy Ending Lounge, and features the city's best erotic writers sharing stories to get you hot and bothered, hosted and curated by acclaimed erotic writer and editor Rachel Kramer Bussel. From erotic poetry to down and dirty smut, these authors get naked on the page and will make you lust after them and their words. Since its debut in October 2005, In the Flesh has featured such authors as Laura Antoniou, Andy Mo Beasley, Lily Burana, Jessica Cutler, Stephen Elliott, Valerie Frankel, Polly Frost, Gael Greene, Andy Horwitz, Debra Hyde, Maxim Jakubowski, Emily Scarlet Kramer of CAKE, Josh Kilmer-Purcell, Edith Layton, Logan Levkoff, Suzanne Portnoy, Sofia Quintero, M.J. Rose, Lauren Sanders, Danyel Smith, Grant Stoddard, Cecilia Tan, Carol Taylor, Dana Vachon, Veronica Vera, Susan Wright, and many others. The series has gotten press attention from Escape (Hong Kong), Flavorpill, The L Magazine, New York magazine, Philadelphia City Paper, Gothamist, Nerve.com and Wonkette, and has been praised by Dr. Ruth. This is not Amanda Stern's Happy Ending Reading Series.

Rachel Kramer Bussel is Senior Editor at Penthouse Variations, conducts interviews for Gothamist.com and Mediabistro.com, and wrote the popular Lusty Lady column for The Village Voice. Her erotic stories have been published in over 100 anthologies, including Best American Erotica 2004 and 2006, and she's edited numerous erotica anthologies, most recently He's on Top: Erotic Stories of Male dominance and Female Submission, She's on Top: Erotic Stories of Female Dominance and Male Submission, Caught Looking: Erotic Tales of Voyeurs and Exhibitionists and Naughty Spanking Stories from A to Z 2. Rachel has also written for AVN, Bust, Cosmo UK, Gothamist, Huffington Post, Mediabistro, Metro, New York Post, Punk Planet, San Francisco Chronicle, Time Out New York and Velvetpark.
www.rachelkramerbussel.com

John Blesso's latest book is Sharehouse Confidential: Sex, Drugs and the Single Life Inside an Epicurean Beach House, his comedic memoir of buying and renovating a seven-bedroom beach house to distract him from post-9/11 America. This behind-the-scenes tell-all takes readers on a wild tour of his epicurean playground where a pool of New York City singles dine extravagantly and commingle beneath his communal roof. In 2006, John Blesso was not awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.
www.johnblesso.com

Poet/novelist Perry Brass has published 14 books and been a finalist six times in three categories for Lambda Literary Awards. His work has been included in 25 anthologies, including The Penguin Book of Homosexual Verse and The Columbia University Book of Gay Literature. His novel Warlock: A Novel of Possession, won an "Ippy" Award from Independent Publisher Magazine. His novel, The Substance of God: A Spiritual Thriller, a Lammy finalist, asked the question: is our often censored urge toward sex the same urge as our urge toward a higher presence, known as God. His newest novel is Carnal Sacraments: A Historical Novel of the Future, set in 2075, when your lifespan will be determined by your job, privacy will be antiquated, and homosexuality will be permitted but only in its most sanitized and corporatized form. He teaches writing privately.
www.perrybrass.com

Catherine Lundoff is the author of two collections of lesbian erotica: Night's Kiss (Torquere Press, 2005) and Crave: Tales of Love, Lust and Longing (Lethe Press, 2007). Her short fiction has appeared in such collections as Periphery: Erotic Lesbian Futures, Lust for Life, Garden of the Perverse, Amazons, Caught Looking, Best Fantastic Erotica Vol. 1, Stirring Up a Storm and Naughty Spanking Stories from A to Z.

Under her pen name E-Fierce, Elisha Miranda wrote her debut novel, The Sista Hood: On the Mic. She received her MFA in film from Columbia University. Also an activist, film director, entrepreneur, and writer of television and film, she is the co-founder of Chica Luna Productions, a nonprofit arts company for young women of color, to create quality urban media. In 2006, she launched her multi-media production company, Sister Outsider Entertainment with creative partner, Sofia Quintero where they are developing an edgy Latina Sex and the City sitcom for television.
www.elishamiranda.com

Michelle Herrera Mulligan is the editor of Juicy Mangos: The Best Latina Erotica, the first-ever literary collection of Latina erotica in English. The collection of seven novellas was released by Atria Books this July. In 2004, she co-edited Border-Line Personalities: A New Generation of Latinas Dish on Sex, Sass, and Cultural Shifting, an anthology of essays on the contemporary American Latina experience. Michelle is a freelance writer based in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, and her articles have appeared in Time, Woman's Day, and Publisher's Weekly. She is currently working on her first novel.
www.myspace.com/juicymangosbook

And Juicy Mangos is out now! Here's some more about it, and Elisha and Michelle will be reading from it:

"Do not read this in bed or your sheets just might catch on fire. It is that hot!"

-- Zane

"Juicy Mangos is an amazingly well done collection of stories...not only a tantalizing read, but a deeply rewarding one as well."

-- Oscar Hijuelos, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Mambo Kings

Play Songs of Love

"Hurray to the writers of these clever (and revealing) stories."

-- Lisa Wixon, author of Dirty Blonde and Half-Cuban

"These stories aren't just juicy; they're spicy, sweet, seductive, tender, haunting, and hunger-inducing."

-- Rachel Kramer Bussel, editor of He's on Top and She's on Top

Book Description

Juicy Mangos will shatter your ideas of female innocence forever.

Here, the smartest, sexiest literary writers are gathered to tell stories of women at their rawest and most intimate. Each of the seven stories centers around a holiday -- from Valentine's Day to Christmas -- when these enticing characters slip out of their daily roles and take on new, daring personas: A married woman finds a back door to Eden where fantastical orgies force her to confront her true and dangerous sexual desires, a historiographer experiences a lustful affair while wearing an enchanting antique dress as an erotic disguise, a sex-toy saleswoman takes on a business partner with benefits to boost her sales.

With exotic backdrops around the world and beautiful, complex characters, Juicy Mangos is sexy enough to keep you glued to the page. But like its diverse protagonists, the stories are smart and provocative and will leave you hot long after your touch on the page has cooled.

Some heads up so you can get there EARLY. And we'll be taping it for posterity! Last time Jessica Cutler read (at True Sex Confessions, April 2006), it was a mob scene. I promise you don't want to miss this!

BEST OF IN THE FLESH EROTIC READING SERIES
WEDNESDAY, SEPTMEBER 19thNOW THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 20th at 8 PM
AT HAPPY ENDING LOUNGE, 302 BROOME STREET, NYC
(B/D to Grand, J/M/Z to Bowery, F to Delancey, http://www.happyendinglounge.com)
Admission: Free
Happy Ending Lounge: 212-334-9676

You've heard them read at In The Flesh before, now come back for round two! Audience favorites are welcomed back to the stage to read new material, so whether you caught them the first time around or not, you won't want to miss this spectacular lineup of people sure to make you laugh, squirm, and get turned on (perhaps all at once!). With Marie Lyn Bernard (This Girl Called Automatic Win), Andrew Boyd (Daily Afflictions), Jessica Cutler (The Washingtonienne), Polly Frost (Deep Inside), Todd Levin (Mo Pitkin's, The Morning News), Samara O'Shea (For the Love of Letters), hosted by Rachel Kramer Bussel (He's on Top, She's on Top, Hide & Seek). Free candy and cupcakes will be served.

In the Flesh is a monthly reading series hosted at the appropriately named Happy Ending Lounge, and features the city's best erotic writers sharing stories to get you hot and bothered, hosted and curated by acclaimed erotic writer and editor Rachel Kramer Bussel. From erotic poetry to down and dirty smut, these authors get naked on the page and will make you lust after them and their words. Since its debut in October 2005, In the Flesh has featured such authors as Laura Antoniou, Andy Mo Beasley, Lily Burana, Jessica Cutler, Stephen Elliott, Valerie Frankel, Polly Frost, Gael Greene, Andy Horwitz, Debra Hyde, Maxim Jakubowski, Emily Scarlet Kramer of CAKE, Josh Kilmer-Purcell, Edith Layton, Logan Levkoff, Suzanne Portnoy, Sofia Quintero, M.J. Rose, Lauren Sanders, Danyel Smith, Grant Stoddard, Cecilia Tan, Carol Taylor, Dana Vachon, Veronica Vera, Susan Wright, and many others. The series has gotten press attention from Escape (Hong Kong), Flavorpill, The L Magazine, New York magazine, Philadelphia City Paper, Gothamist, Nerve.com and Wonkette, and has been praised by Dr. Ruth. This is not Amanda Stern's Happy Ending Reading Series.

Rachel Kramer Bussel is Senior Editor at Penthouse Variations, conducts interviews for Gothamist.com and Mediabistro.com, and wrote the popular Lusty Lady column for The Village Voice. Her erotic stories have been published in over 100 anthologies, including Best American Erotica 2004 and 2006, and she's edited numerous erotica anthologies, most recently He's on Top: Erotic Stories of Male Dominance and Female Submission, She's on Top: Erotic Stories of Female Dominance and Male Submission, Crossdressing: Erotic Stories, Hide & Seek: 21 Tales of Exhibitionism and Voyeurism and Naughty Spanking Stories from A to Z 2. Rachel has also written for AVN, Bust, Cosmo UK, Gothamist, Mediabistro, Metro, New York Post, Punk Planet, San Francisco Chronicle, Time Out New York and Velvetpark.
www.rachelkramerbussel.com

Marie "Riese" Lyn Bernard is a half-Jewish, half-Midwestern Farmer's-Daughter freelance aspirant. She blogs at "The L Word Online" and is a Guestbian columnist on OurChart.com. Her work has appeared in The Bigger the Better, the Tighter the Sweater: 21 Funny Women On Beauty, Body Image, and Other Hazards of Being Female, Best Women's Erotica 2005, Best American Erotica 2007, the Lambda Literary Award-winning Erotic Interludes 2: Stolen Moments, Marie Claire magazine, Suspect Thoughts, nerve.com, Clean Sheets, Fresh Off the Vine, Conversely, Desdmona.com, and The Sarah Lawrence Review. She's currently looking to change the world with a gay television show called Living it Out. She's at her best on her blog, This Girl Called Automatic Win, at marielynbernard.blogspot.com. www.marielynbernard.com

Andrew Boyd is the co-founder of the satirical political campaign Billionaires for Bush and author of several ironically serious (or is it seriously ironic?) books: Daily Afflictions: The Agony of Being Connected to Everything in the Universe and Life's Little Deconstruction Book: Self-Help for the Post-Hip, both from W.W.Norton. He's at work on two others, from which he will read tonight.
www.andrewboyd.com

Jessica Cutler is best-known as the author of The Washingtonienne, both the blog and novel of the same name, which was published by Hyperion in 2005 and optioned by Sarah Jessica Parker for a television series for HBO.
http://www.jessicacutleronline.com

Polly Frost's book Deep Inside: Extreme Erotic Fantasies, was published by Tor in June. She just completely a tour of 10 cities across the country with "Sex Scenes: Erotic and Comic Tales of Hollywood," casting local actors in each city. "Sex Scenes" was co-written with her husband, Ray Sawhill. Together they also co-wrote and produced the erotic sci fi comedy The Fold this year, with director, Matt Lambert.
http://pollyfrost.com

Todd Levin is a stand-up comedian, a writer, and a severe disappointment to his parents. He performs all over NYC, at venues including The Upright Citizens Brigade Theater, Rififi, Mo Pitkin's, KGB, and Joe's Pub, and has appeared on Comedy Central's Premium Blend and at the 2006 US Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen. His writing has been published in Salon, Time Out, Esquire, McSweeney's, The Morning News, RADAR, and The Onion, and he is one of the contributing writers for the upcoming book, Gawker's Guide to Conquering All Media. He is also the proud father of a nine year-old personal web site, tremble.com.

Samara O'Shea has been writing letters since the restless age of seven. She launched LetterLover.net in April 2005 to save the art from extinction. The website led to her first book For the Love of Letters: A 21st-Century Guide to the Art of Letter Writing from the Elegant to the Erotic (HarperCollins, May 2007). Her work has also appeared in Woman's Day, Country Living, All You, and Pittsburgh magazine as well as the online magazines HappenMag.com and Hackwriters.com. She has appeared on Today in New York and on National Public Radio's the Kojo Nnambi Show.
www.letterlover.net

Polly Frost's Deep Inside: Extreme Erotic Fantasies is out now

Deep Inside: Extreme Erotic Fantasies by Polly Frost is out now. I blurbed it, along with Maxim Jakubowski and Ron Jeremy, and while they only used a tiny bit of the blurb, I thought you might want to read the whole thing. And really, I am SO not a sci fi kind of person, I have never been able to get into aliens or otherworldly anything, my mind is too literal, but this one is hot hot hot! She's doing some events and teaching an erotic writing class June 13th at The Pleasure Chest in Chicago, amongst other things, so check out her site too.

With Deep Inside, Polly Frost turns erotica on its head, making readers expect the unexpected from page one. Her stories' twists and turns make them all the hotter, from piercings and blood-suckers to magical dildos and futuristic sex machines, all featuring characters whose fetishes will dazzle you with their originality. Kinky to the extreme, these horny perverts know the brain is the biggest sex organ, so be prepared for mind-fucking extraordinaire as they leave their mark, often literally, on their lovers. However fantastical her scenarios, though, one thing Frost doesn't forget is the very human power of lust for another which pushes us along our individual erotic paths. Frost will very likely change the way you think of sex with this collection—it's never as simple as it seems. Go deep inside her exotic world of dirty dreams, and you may never want to come out.

Great new book out: Naked on the Internet

Amazon is showing that Audacia Ray's Naked on the Internet: Hookups, Downloads and Cashing in on Internet Sexploration is now in stock! I haven't seen it yet but I did blurb it. Not sure what they used of my blurb but here's what I sent to the publisher:

In Naked on the Internet, blogger, model, porn director and all-around sexy nerd Audacia Ray exposes and expounds upon the many reasons women go online for love, sex, and money. She masterfully delves into the far reaches of web-based communication to dish about women running companies, taking control of their health, and utilizing the power of technology to tune in and get turned on. You don't have to get actually be naked on the Internet like me⎯literally or figuratively⎯to learn a lot from this book. Ray gives voice to sex workers, online daters, bare-all blog babes and techie chicks while asking some important questions about what these innovations in computer know-how actually mean for women. Whoever you are, you're guaranteed to find something here to enhance your next online encounter, of the G or XXX-rated variety.

I also love, love, love the cover! And I'm quoted briefly in here too, as are many of the sex bloggers you may read regularly along with many people you might not expect to read in a book with this title. Meaning, it's not all about being literally naked. Do check it out and I look forward to seeing the actual book (I'm a nerd like that and really like book books, though I devour galleys too). But in terms of sitting on my bookshelf and holding in my hands, give me a real book any day.



Also major congratulations to Audacia for graduating with her MA in American Studies from Columbia! Check her site for the many, many book events she has going on around the country.

Buy this book: Full Frontal Feminism

My friend Jessica Valenti of Feministing fame has a new book out now that you should buy. And buy for your little sister.

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Full Frontal Feminism: A Young Woman's Guide to Why Feminism Matters

I blurbed her book (and so did Margaret Cho!). They only used the first sentence (but used this blog and my Best Sex Writing 2008 editorship as my credits) but I'll give you the extended mix:

Jessica Valenti breathes new life into feminism with her tell-it-like-it-is primer on why it's not only cool but also vital to
heed the call to make your world a better, more equal place—for yourself, your friends, your sisters and your brothers. She breaks down topics like equal pay, reproductive rights, and sexual freedom in her freewheeling, easygoing style and gives practical examples of activism made easy. Valenti's book is the equivalent of pulling you aside at a frat party and urging you to run off with her to the Le Tigre show next door. There's room in her world for everyone—male, female, queer, sex-positive—and she doesn't just tell but shows exactly why feminism never died but keeps coming back better than ever. Full Frontal Feminism is perfect for newbies to the topic or those, like me, who might need a reminder that the "F word" is alive and well and thriving online and off.

And be sure to come out to the book party on April 27th:

See also: my Gothamist interview with Jessica Valenti

I love For the Love of Letters by Samara O'Shea

I read a lot. Every day books cross my desk or catch my eye. I love that moment of cracking open a delicious new book that I've been anticipating. I read in a very specific way - I read the back and inside covers, then acknowledgements, then, if it's a straightforward narrative, dive right in. But I also like to peek - I cheat, and skip around, peruse, but I love when I just dig right in and fall in love. That happened with Samara O'Shea's beautiful, inspirational For the Love of Letters: A 21-st Century Guide to the Art of Letter Writing,which I was truly honored to be asked to blurb (the original title had "from the Elegant to the Erotic" tacked on) . Here's the blurb I sent in (though an edited version will appear on the book):

Samara O'Shea has outdone herself with her own passionate love letter to the written word. For the Love of Letters takes readers on a guided tour through epistolary history, including her own, and shows exactly when and how to craft a letter that will get your every emotion across. For those seeking to seduce, her section on erotic letters offers tasteful, yet totally hot, ways to make him or her drop everything and rush into your arms when they realize just what you're offering to them. Sensual and bold, O'Shea bares her soul in this book, serving up letters that will make you wish you'd received even one displaying such strong emotion. In our text message-mad era, she revives what's become largely a lost art. As soon as I was done, I got out my pen and started writing some very lusty letters of my own!

And...the legal eagles, copyright nerds, erotically-minded folks and literature lovers will appreciate the section about James Joyce's highly erotic letters, which Samara was unable to acquire the right to reprint from Joyce's grandson (but she includes her own letter to him). Samara will be reading from these explicit Joyce letters on May 16th at 8 pm at my erotic reading series In The Flesh along with literary It boy Dana Vachon (Mergers and Acquisitions) and others. Samara also includes one of her own very racy letters in the book (and I'm still lobbying to get her to read it in May!).

Now my awesome friend and one-time In The Flesh reader Felicia Sullivan (whose memoir The Sky Isn't Visible From Here is finally available for pre-order on Amazon was available the other day for pre-order and now has disappeared, boo! Update: heard from Ms. Felicia that the book's now coming out in January - trust me, I heard her read from it and it's gonna be something to tuck in with you under the covers some chilly winter night and stay up late until you finish.) is having a contest where you can WIN a copy of For the Love of Letters. What are you waiting for?

Felicia also linked to CraftyPod's ode to letter writing.