Happy early birthday to me: Women in Lust is here and it's HOT!!!

My editor copies of my 40th and hottest covered anthology, Women in Lust, arrived yesterday, a one-month-early birthday present.



I'm sending them off to my trusty Amazon.com reviewers, who make me super super grateful with their enthusiasm (THANK YOU to everyone who signed up, stay tuned to @raquelita on Twitter and my Tumblr for what will be more limited free book offers for Best Bondage Erotica 2012 and such in future) today and am very excited about this book, not just because I hope the cover will make it sell like crazy, but because it's so varied. I've been posting (and will catch up on all the stories this week) excerpts at womeninlust.wordpress.com and November 1-30 features 30 bloggers taking part in the virtual book tour. Here's a bit from my story "Hot for Teacher." I'll post when it's available on Kindle (and hopefully Nook too!).

This book makes a very sexy gift and is a milestone for me, especially at a time when I'm reflecting on what I do, and what I want to be doing. I'm awaiting my quarterly royalty statement and part of me tends to think, If these books don't sell, I'll find something more lucrative to do. That's what a smart person does, after all, finds the most lucrative thing and pursues it. Except that I gave up on the lucrative law career in 1999 to stumble down the path toward where I am now, and editing anthologies for me is the perfect counterpoint to writing. It's social, the way running my reading series was; it means bringing people together and learning about different ways of writing and approaching sexuality, ways I never could've conceived of on my own.

If you'd told me then I'd go on to edit 40 anthologies, with a dozen more on the way, I'd never have believed it. So I am pausing to savor this beautiful box of books, the glossy cover, the lovely words inside. I've learned a lot in this process, but there is always an infinite amount to learn, about how to actually make the stories I love reach the hands of readers, about how to stay afloat when bookstores are going out of business left and right, about trying to do things like postcards and also pay my rent. I'm looking forward to keeping on learning, and pushing myself to my limits in this new professional phase of my life.

He turned and beamed his full attention, not to mention two rows of extremely even white teeth, right at her. “If you ever have any questions, Meredith, you are more than welcome to visit me in my office during office hours. It’s totally confidential,” he said, and she wondered if she was imagining that his voice got low and intimate somehow on that last word. Were they still talking about homework?

“I think that might be helpful,” she said, meaning, in fact, I’d love to dress up for you and bend over your desk. “Well, I’ll see you soon,” she said.

“I hope so,” he said quietly, unless she’d imagined that too.

She went home and for the first time in who knows how long, she stripped down to her birthday suit and simply walked around every room enjoying the feel of the air against her bare skin. She took baths, of course, and even got massages, but those were merely utilitarian reasons for nudity. This afternoon was about her picturing herself prancing around for Professor Arthur, showing him her pendulous, large breasts, her sizeable ass, the curve of her belly, the dusting of red fuzz covering her pussy. She dyed her hair a very shiny brown, trying to fool the world into thinking her a brunette, but inside her lurked the soul of a redhead, one whose innate passion had been put on hold for far too long. Instead of taking a bath, Meredith stood in her bathroom and began touching herself the way she wanted Professor Arthur—”Ralph,” she said aloud to herself—to touch her. She began with her breasts, tweaking each one, holding up the nipples and tugging and twisting until the sight caused a corresponding tug in her pussy.

Then, staring at herself in the mirror, Meredith lifted her right breast and tucked her head down so she could suck on her own nipple. The flood of emotion and arousal was so intense she had to lean her left hand against the counter. She spread her legs, wondering if Professor Arthur was circumcised, picturing his cock as big and thick and aching just for her. She kept going, making sure to watch her every move, so that when she did go to her hot professor’s office hours, it wouldn’t be as a true schoolgirl, skittish and nervous, relying on her youthful charm and giggly giddiness, but as a mature woman who could tap into that spirit, but also had something more to offer. For all her pleated-skirt fantasies, what Meredith wanted was to be treated like a woman⎯a woman who knew exactly what she wanted, even if what she wanted was to be manhandled by a younger nerdy man who just so happened to hold her academic future in his hands.

and a little spanking teaser (this weekend I wrote a 4,000-word spanking story for my next spanking anthology called "Marks" that I'm also pleased with, and a few others are in the works, because I just can't seem to stay away from the topic in my fiction):

“When was the last time your ass got spanked, Meredith?”

She was quiet, and now tears rose to her eyes. “Never,” she whispered, and felt him again grab her ass, this time with both hands, holding her open.
Order Women in Lust from:

Amazon

Kindle edition (ebook) (available November 1st)

Barnes & Noble

Nook (ebook) (available November 1st)

Powells

IndieBound (search for your local indie bookstore)

Cleis Press

Get your free Women in Lust postcard right here!

Yay! Women in Lust: Erotic Stories (click to read my introduction and the table of contents), my 40th anthology, will be in my hands in mid-October, and at your local bookstore soon afterward. I'll let you know when it's for sale online and in ebook formats, but for now: postcards are in! Want one? (US only) Email me at womeninlust at gmail.com with "Postcard" in the subject line and your name and mailing address in the body. (FYI, I'm not trying to discriminate against non-US addresses, but since I pay for the postcard design and postcards and mailing, that's all I can afford.)



What else? Well, you can read excerpts from the stories at the Women in Lust blog!

Order Women in Lust from:

Amazon

Kindle edition (ebook) TK

Barnes & Noble

Nook (ebook) TK

Powells

IndieBound (search for your local indie bookstore)

Cleis Press

Pretty pearl handcuffs on cover of Bound by Lust edited by Shanna Germain

This hot 2012 anthology, Bound By Lust: Romantic Stories of Submission and Sensuality, will include my hot wax exhibitionism story "The Heart of Chaos," set in an art gallery, inspired in a weird diffuse way by the documentary My Kid Could Paint That.

Sexy book covers with my stories: One Night Only and Best Lesbian Romance 2012

Will share more when the pub dates are closer but I’m excited that my story “Rock Star Rewards” will be published in Violet Blue’s anthology One Night Only: Erotic Encounters (a post-concert female domination story) and the lesbian French fry in Paris story I’d blogged about, “French Fried,” will be in Radclyffe’s Best Lesbian Romance 2012. Just saw the covers on Amazon and wow wow wow! I was in a little writing...I don't know what to call it, but it was not good, for a while, but am finally getting my nonfiction and fiction mind back and I hope there will be more news to share soon. In both areas I'm trying to push myself to be rigorous and fearless and use everything at my disposal, especially when I think, "I can't." I think that all the time and the only thing standing in my way is that very thought.

My December book hotness: Women in Lust and Best Bondage Erotica 2012

These are my two December book covers – I have zero information on their contents because they are still being finalized, but I promise you they’ll be hot, and that Best Bondage Erotica 2012 is heavy on the female domination but, not to worry, those who like to read about women being tied up and teased and spanked and all sorts of fun things like that, there is plenty of that too. I’m so excited about these, even though the actual process of finishing the books makes me feel like I’ve never done this before and never want to again. Maybe that means something. Very soon I should have the table of contents for Women in Lust. Official pub date on Amazon is November 8th, 2 days before my birthday, so that means I should have it in my hands by mid-October. Follow me @raquelita on Twitter to find out how to get your free copy to review on Amazon.com - flaky people, don't even bother, really. I usually send out those Tweets a few weeks in advance, so in June will be asking for reviewers for my summer release, Obsessed (click for cover and details) - stay tuned for Obsessed book party info, but short version is, August 25th at Fontana's in NYC (Lower East Side).

So, if you are at all inclined to buy these, pre-ordering helps the books by letting Amazon or whoever you pre-order from know there’s a market for them. Not to put too fine a point on it, but if the sales don’t pan out, the series won’t continue, and that would be a damn shame. I’ll have more about them later and if you are some brilliant marketing whiz and have an idea of where I should be buying ad space or what I should be doing, save for getting naked in a book trailer (dying laughing on that one since Amazon rejected my Passion trailer, with all its HOT SEXY KISSING as too risque), do let me know. Right now, I will be a happy editor if I actually get them filed and out of my way so I can move on to projects that maybe are a smidge easier to deal with.

Anyway, even if you don't read them, you can appreciate the hotness - I'm SO thankful to be working with Cleis Press where they come up with dazzling covers and give me a say. If you saw the horror show that was my book Glamour Girls you'll know how the opposite of glamour it was, which is why no one bought it...well, I wouldn't really know cause Haworth went under, but that was a bad experience. I had one day to approve it and couldn't really say no. Sometimes indie publishing sucks, and sometimes it's awesome. Glad I'm on team awesome!

Click on covers below to pre-order from Amazon. Other links TK when the time comes.

Cover of my 39th anthology, Obsessed: Erotic Romance for Women

Once I get the copyedited version I will share my introduction and the table of contents, but I can now share the cover to my July release, my 39th anthology, Obsessed: Erotic Romance for Women, which is available for pre-order on Amazon. My story is called "I Want to Hold Your Hand." It's about size and jealousy and, yes, hot hand holding. And a foreword by Stronger Than Sin and Aztec Gold (both of which I recommend, especially for paranormal and history fans - Aztec Gold is contemporary, but has a touch of history) author Caridad Piñeiro®.



Actually, here's a tiny snippet of my sweet (for me) story - there are dirtier ones in here, I promise!

She smiled at him as she chewed the licorice while he held it, until she reached his fingers. She licked them gently, enjoying his soft moan, feeling almost giddy at their running off in the middle of their party to play at being luststruck. Or maybe they weren’t playing at all, because when he reached for her hand with his free one and held it, she felt nothing but love and lust coursing through her.

I'll have other purchasing links and more information closer to the pub date. Next is Women in Lust, Best Bondage Erotica 2012 and Best Sex Writing 2012, all out this year, then a bunch more hotness in 2012. Amazingly for someone like me, a few of those 2012 books have already been filed! Which leaves me more time to focus on brainstorming new ones and reading through piles of submissions and, in the case of Best Sex Writing 2012, searching far and wide and reading lots of books, magazines and websites for the authors on my wish list. It's gonna be brilliant, if I do say so myself.

Kinky BDSM submissive female erotica in Surrender: Erotic Tales of Female Pleasure and Submission

I love the positive feedback I've been getting for having a woman of color on the cover of Surrender: Erotic Tales of Female Pleasure and Submission. Which is here! In stores probably next week. The cover photo was shot by the one and only Barbara Nitke, who I am incredibly honored to have worked with. Introduction is below (might have been tweaked in copyediting, for some reason I don't have that final file, but I'll go over it and correct if if any little things are amiss).



Buy Surrender from:

Amazon.com

Kindle edition

Bn.com (Barnes & Noble)

Books-a-Million

Borders

Powell's

IndieBound (find your local independent bookstore)

Cleis Press

Introduction: Surrendering to Pleasure—and Power

Dear Professor Pervert Donna George Storey
Daddy’s Girl Teresa Noelle Roberts
Power Over Power Emerald
The Chair Lolita Lopez
Without Eyes Terri Pray
The Hardest Part Alison Tyler
Rapunzel Jacqueline Applebee
The Royalton–A Daray Tale Tess Danesi
The Sun is an Ordinary Star Shanna Germain
Belted Rachel Kramer Bussel
Lunch Elizabeth Coldwell
Schoolgirl and Angel Thomas S. Roche
First Date with the Dom Noelle Keely
In Control M. Christian
Wild Child Matt Conklin
Brianna’s Fire Amanda Earl
Forceful Personalities Dominic Santi
Veronica’s Body Isabelle Gray
The London O Justine Elyot
Pink Cheeks Fiona Locke
How Bad Do You Want It? Gwen Masters
Stripped Clancy Nacht

Introduction: Surrendering to Pleasure—and Power

I’m not surprised to learn that female submission is a hot topic. For the many women who fantasize about giving up control, bending over, hearing the click of a pair of handcuffs or engaging in kinky roleplay, that desire can consume them—and lead them to some wicked fantasies.

The stories here run the gamut from couples engaged in hardcore kink to the psychology of submission, with everything from coming in public to submitting to a Krav Maga teacher.

Whether you know you’re a submissive (sometimes or all the time, or just in your head) or you’re curious, this book rums the gamut and is an opportunity to read about things you might want to try, some you’d never dare, and some that will likely stay in your mind (and other body parts) for a long time to come. For me, the best erotica not only arouses my senses, as well as my libido, but takes me all the way into the character who’s experiencing such deliciously exciting erotic encounters.

These encounters are mostly focused on the women, the brats, the subs, the bad girls, but in them, you will find the most wicked of tops—wickedly insightful, wickedly mean, wickedly sadistic, wickedly keen on prompting pleasure out of these women who have chosen them to surrender to. These are the men who know the right time to push a woman’s buttons—and boundaries—who concoct vivid experiments in kink. Some of these tales are from their point of view, offering insight into what it’s like to desire a woman to be bound and at their mercy.

I shouldn’t have to say this, but I feel I must: these stories are not about men violating women. They are not about women being abused or mistreated. They are about women accessing a side of themselves that many of us bury, precisely because we feel it’s not “feminist” enough or is somehow otherwise politically incorrect to want to kneel, bend over, open our mouths, spread our legs, submit, and surrender. As Dominic says in “Power Over Power” to his student, Jackie: “You’re looking for power. In your own way, getting fucked rough like that will make you feel powerful. Is that right?” Vince echoes this to his wife in “Veronica’s Body” when he instructs her, “Don’t ever back down from me.” He wants a woman who can meet him in bed as an equal partner even as he whips her until she trembles. When he disciplines her, it’s an act of love as much as, if not more than, it’s an act of kinkiness.

Good BDSM erotica makes you understand all the emotions that can come into play when, well, playing: there can be uncertainty, nervousness, fear, excitement. I selected each of the 22 stories in Surrender because they’re blazingly hot and because they illuminate some aspect of submission that I think is

The authors of the stories you’re about to read understand the art of submission and the thrill of surrender, whether that’s personal space, sight (“Without Eyes” by Terri Pray) or culinary choices (“Lunch” by Elizabeth Coldwell).

What the women here want is to give up part of themselves to gain something else. They may still be skittish, but overcoming their fears, surrendering to them, yields beauty, pleasure and, in its way, power.

In “Dear Professor Pervert,” a student learns several very kinky lessons about how to get off—and follow orders.

With “Daddy’s Girl,” Teresa Noelle Roberts takes the topic of Daddy/girl play which, I fully confess, is not something I normally enjoy reading, and turns it into a kinky roleplaying tale which stays hot throughout while also explaining the Daddy dynamic. Emerald delivers a riveting tale of power play in “Power Over Power,” where a Krav Maga instructor shows his student that the heart of her true power lies in her owning her submission and baring more than just her body.

In “The Chair,” the title object becomes the ultimate sex toy for Cal to use in teasing and tormenting Lily, while Susan in “Without Eyes,” goes from being irate to being on her knees in moments.

Anticipation is often the hottest part of a scene, with the sub wondering when and how the action will happen. In “The Hardest Part,” Alison Tyler offers up the exquisite torture of waiting for your kinky fantasies to come true:

I’m over his lap. I’ve been needing a spanking for too long, and he’s been making me wait. In spite of everything I’ve done, he’s ignored the signals. I’ve been bratty. I’ve been bad. I may as well have worn a t-shirt with the words SPANK ME in bold scarlet letters across the front.

With “Rapunzel,” Jacqueline Applebee, when a woman agrees to give up her long locks, she bares herself in an unexpected way (any woman who’s ever submitted to a hairdresser’s chair knows the tension and masochism involved!), while in “The Royalton-A Daray Tale,” Tess Danesi makes a kinky fantasy come true in an upscale hotel.

With “The Sun is an Ordinary Story,” Shanna Germain takes something you wouldn’t expect to read about in an erotica book—cancer—and offers up a vitally human story about the transformative power of kink and how getting back to playing rough makes one woman feel more alive than ever.

In my story “Belted,” the narrator wonders what it is about her lover that turns her on quite so much:

Is it the belt that makes you come? The leather, the thrash, the pain, the jolt? Is it the force behind it? Is it the noises he makes as he does it, the hitches of breath that are nothing like your shuddering sobs but are music to your ears nonetheless--is that what makes you finally go over the edge? Is it him holding you down, him promising you pain that may or may not come?

I love stories that delve into the psychology of BDSM, and few writers do that better than Elizabeth Coldwell. With “Lunch,” she will not only have you eyeing your fellow deli customers with a keener eye, but also showing the erotic potential within even the smallest decisions, once we’ve given up the decision making power to someone else.

Erotica impresario Thomas S. Roche gives us “Schoolgirl and Angel,” a top and his sub find a new plaything at a dungeon party, one who’s a little more mouthy than they’re used to. Serena winds up taking off her panties in public, among many other things, in “First Date with the Dom.”

Sometimes a bratty girl doesn’t even know she’s begging to be put in her place, or how much she might like someone else taking control. In “Wild Child” by Matt Conklin, an older man sees beneath the veneer of the young woman sitting next to him on a plane, all too happy to show her what true rebellion is all about. In “Brianna’s Fire” by Amanda Earl, a slave is put to the test, while “Forceful Personalities” come into play when Christa takes a while to submit, even though she wants to, desperately. That tension between wanting to be as slutty as we are in our fantasies, and actually doing it, plays out in numerous other stories as well. A tourist attraction provides a welcome opportunity for public sex in Justine Elyot’s “The London O.”

“In Control” takes us online, to a chat room whose participants XX, while in Fiona Locke’s “Pink Cheeks,” a woman who’s been lurking in another online forum finds out what happens when someone she sees every day finds out her naughtiest secrets. Finally, in Gwen Masters’ “How Bad Do You Want It?” she asks the title question, which I might turn over to you, dear reader. I have a feeling you want it very, very badly, “it” being all the most out-there, I-could-never (yet I can’t stop thinking about them) fantasies that flirt at the edges of your mind when you are getting yourself off, alone or with a partner.

Rachel Kramer Bussel
New York City

Hot cover of my new book Surrender: Erotic Tales of Female Pleasure and Submission

In a few weeks, like just in time for Valentine's Day, my new book Surrender: Erotic Tales of Female Pleasure and Submission will be out. Even more excitingly, the cover was shot by the wonderful Barbara Nitke, whose work I've been a huge fan of for many years, and whose memoir I still hope Judith Regan or someone else very smart and wise resurrects because I still want to read it! There will be a Kindle edition too, I'll keep you posted and will post the Table of Contents when I find it in my inbox, busy few days ahead in LA. When I get home, one of my projects to tackle is finally recording some audio of my stories on my new voice recorder. I have the batteries and instructions and just need to get over my fear.



Want to find out how to get your free copy to review on Amazon.com? There are only 20 available (I'll take this part down once those are spoken for). See this Tweet - and follow me on Twitter if you want to be part of these giveaways going forward. I so appreciate all my dedicated Amazon reviewers, new and old.

Order Surrender from:

Amazon.com

Kindle edition (coming soon)

Bn.com (Barnes & Noble)

Books-a-Million

Borders

Powell's

IndieBound (find your local independent bookstore)

Cleis Press

"The Joy of Restraint" - Best Bondage Erotica 2011 introduction and table of contents

Best Bondage Erotica 2011 won't be out until late November/early December, but you can pre-order it now (and there will be a book trailer and postcards). I'm very excited about it and wanted to share the table of contents and introduction. And the cover again, because it's one of my very favorites of all the ones I've edited.



Introduction: The Joy of Restraint

The Long Way Home Elizabeth Coldwell
His Little Apprentice Jacqueline Applebee
Foreign Exchange Evan Mora
The Ingénue Janine Ashbless
Reasoning Tenille Brown
Subdue Dusty Horn
Relative Anonymity Emerald
Closeted Emily Bingham
Vegas Treat Rachel Kramer Bussel
The Cartographer Angela Caperton
The Apiary Megan Butcher
Wired Lisabet Sarai
How the Little Mermaid Got Her Tail Back Andrea Dale
The Lady or the Tiger Bill Kte’pi
Sealed for Freshness Jennifer Peters
Stocks and Bonds Rita Winchester
Helen Lay Bound Suzanne V. Slate
The Rainmaker Elizabeth Daniels
Do You See What I Feel? Teresa Noelle Roberts
Truss Issues Lux Zakari

Introduction: The Joy of Restraint by Rachel Kramer Bussel

Perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised to find, when putting together this anthology, that about 75 percent of the story submissions involved the submissive’s, or bottom’s, point of view. When it comes to bondage, the feeling of giving in, surrendering, allowing oneself to be placed at someone else’s mercy, comes alive on the page, and these authors certainly know how to vividly depict that appeal. Though there are stories here from a top’s perspective, told by dominants who delight in the thrill of watching a lover squirm, struggle and submit, most of the stories here go the other way.

Take “The Rainmaker,” by Elizabeth Daniels, in which Amy, a bit uncertain, allows herself to overcome her fears and get tied up:

Darkness and the ropes enfolded Amy like a chrysalis. Her mind was clear, finally at peace. After months of agonizing over every step of foreplay, after sex that consisted of checklists and flow charts compiled from hours of research, for once, she did not need to think or plan. Like extradark chocolate, such dependence was not something she would want every day, but for the moment, it was a bite of bitter bliss.

I especially appreciate the stories here that illuminate the leap of faith one needs to make to allow someone else to bind him. In “Truss Issues,” Emy repeatedly tells Samir that she’s not into bondage, doesn’t want to be tied up and yet, somewhere inside, she knows that isn’t totally true. “To her surprise, her body didn’t sync up to her beliefs. She felt a warm liquid rush flood her cunt… Cursing her body for its betrayal, Emy nestled her teeth in her lower lip and forced her breathing to remain calm, to not come out as a needy whimper.” What happens when she surrenders teaches her that she doesn’t have to give up all of herself to enjoy the sweet friction and emotional journey that submission to bondage can incur.

In the lesbian scene in Dusty Horn’s “Subdue,” the narrator finds herself, finds the core of her submission and learns how to be patient.

After what seems like eons without touch, her hot hand on my chin is electrifying. She lifts it up and back, pressing something against my smooth exposed throat. Tugging firmly up on the hair at the nape of my neck, she wraps the rest of the mystery object against the top of my spine where my still body meets my busy mind.

“This is mine,” she hums to me as she slides a metal clasp into place. “This is not your collar. It’s mine, for you to wear.”

The collar bulges around my neck, a leather halo engorged with blood.

Other stories stand out for their unique scenarios. In “The Ingénue,” by Janine Ashbless, a young woman finds a bound man outside in the yard, and goes to investigate this curious vision. “How the Little Mermaid Got Her Tail Back,” by Andrea Dale, puts a kinky twist on a beloved fairy tale. In “Sealed for Freshness,” Mitchell pays for his disobedience with a flogging against his plastic-wrapped skin, while in “Stocks and Bonds,” some historical role-play at a Renaissance Festival leaves Kerri begging for mercy.

I was looking for stories that spanned the world of bondage, and boy did I get that! Here, you’ll find rope and handcuffs, as you might expect, but you’ll also find cling wrap, Ethernet cables, stocks and bonds, silk ties and other implements whose creators probably didn’t intend them to be used in kinky play. There’s bondage at the office, bondage onstage and under a red turtleneck sweater dress. There are bondage beginners and seasoned pros, men and women who offer up their wrists, ankles, necks and other body parts to those just itching to play with them.

This is a book for anyone who wants to know what’s so arousing about being tied up. Whether you’ve ever experienced bondage or not, these authors boldly take you along as they negotiate what they are and aren’t willing to give up, and illustrate the blissful beauty that can take place, inside and out, when you make the choice to give up some of your freedom and mobility in order to access the world from a new perspective.

If what drew you to this book was the stunningly sexy image on the cover, I can assure you that the stories you’ll find inside is just as hot—possibly even hotter. They are about so much more than simply what one looks like while tied up: for instance, what it feels like to wait, longing for release while also hoping the joy of restraint never ends. That push/pull is at the heart of bondage, and that is what you will experience along with the characters, those brave subs, brats, bad girls and naughty boys who offer themselves up so their masters and mistresses—and you, the reader—can savor them, one click of the handcuffs at a time.

Rachel Kramer Bussel
New York City

I want to make love to this book cover

Kathleen Warnock told me last week that my story "Swollen" didn't make it into Best Lesbian Erotica 2010. It was the best possible kind of rejection - personal, a bit regretful, and she told me to submit it next year. I think that makes me 5 for 10 for the years I've been submitting to the series, basically every year since "Monica and Me" was in Best Lesbian Erotica 2001.

I'm disappointed, partly because I would've pulled off a Best Of hat trick, but mostly because this cover is one of the best, imo, I've seen Cleis do. SO hot. Plus a band (BETTY) is the guest guest judge, how cool is that?

Since I have to send out my own rejection letters soon, it makes it a little easier. There's always next year, which is the great thing about the annual series.