I can't resist this killer SMUT lineup, can you?

I'll be in the audience on Thursday night for SMUT, and performing on Saturday! I'll make sure to read something extra dirty...been writing stories about runners, ice, wedding threesomes and more, so I have plenty to choose from. Yes, I am cutting back on readings, but this is a very special event and OMG what a lineup. A-MA-ZING. Via Greg Walloch. I have been seeing Desiree Burch perform for years, though somehow have yet to see her do a full solo show. Must fix that ASAP. If I won the lottery I'd go to Edinburgh myself, but maybe another year. She is fabulous and I'm truly honored to be part of this lineup. Also gives me an excuse to dress up and make myself blush onstage, and in a venue I've never been to, always good things.





Don't miss SMUT: A Reunion (3 NIGHTS ONLY!) hosted by Desiree Burch. Greg Walloch will be performing on 7/14 with Erin Markey, Cara Francis, and Adira Amram & The Experience.




SMUT - featuring “Art that should carry a Parental Advisory label, with some of New York City’s best writers and performers” (New York Times)



3 Performances ONLY! With:



Corn Mo (Jimmy Kimmel, Bonaroo, Austin City Limits)

David Rees (Get Your War On, Huffington Post)

Greg Walloch (The Moth, USA Network)


Adira Amram & The Experience (UCB, Funny or Die)

Clay McLeod Chapman (Pumpkin Pie Show/ SCKBSTD)

Erin Markey (LOGO/PS 122)

Nathan Phillips (NPR, BBC)

Becky Yamamoto (UCB/Ars Nova)

Daniel Ajl Kitrosser (Primary Stages, The Lark)

Cara Francis (New York Neo-Futurists/The Flea)

Rachel Kramer Bussel (Author of Surrender and Gotta Have It)

Audacia Ray (Editor, $PREAD Magazine, Founder, Red Umbrella Project)



Hosted by the original curator and emcee: Desiree Burch (Huffington Post, New York Magazine, Carolines).



The weekly Monday night performance series—a hit of Galapagos Art Space from 2003-2006 that saw the likes of Mike Daisey, Mike Albo, Marga Gomez, Rachel Kramer Bussel, David Rees, Greg Walloch, Adira Amram, Christen Clifford, Baron Vaughn, Joseph Keckler, Erin Markey, James Braly, Audacia Ray, Cecelia Tan, Physical Plant Theatre of Texas, Opium Magazine, Vivid Video and scores of others—has its 5th Year Reunion July 14, 15 and 16 at 9PM at 59E59 Theaters. These three performances will help raise funds to send the show overseas to Edinburgh, Scotland this summer, to be part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the largest open arts festival in the world.



SMUT: Art That Should Carry

A Parental Advisory Label

59E59 Theaters


JULY 14, 15, 16 @ 9PM

Tickets: $18 - available at the door or at 59E59.org

I also encourage you to check out the rest of the East to Edinburgh Festival lineup!

Fast Girls: Erotica for Women is here!

My copies of Fast Girls: Erotica for Women arrived today and my lovely Twitter Amazon.com reviewers have already got theirs whizzing away via USPS. Follow @raquelita for free book giveaways every time one is out, in this case, write fastgirlsantho at gmail.com with your US mailing address and Amazon.com profile - you must review it within a month of receipt. Or just buy it, I promise it's worth it. Offer good til all my copies are gone. How could it not be with such a superstar lineup? I'm so honored that Tristan Taormino let me reprint a favorite of hers, "Winter, Summer," especially because she published my first ever erotica story "Monica and Me" in Best Lesbian Erotica 2001.

Fast Girls is the first of four women's erotica anthologies I've edited for Cleis Press (coming up: Orgasmic, Smooth and Passion).

Proof the book exists:





Fast Girls: Erotica for Women is edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel.



Pre-order Fast Girls: Erotica for Women from:



Amazon.com



Bn.com



Borders



Powell's



IndieBound



Cleis Press

Table of Contents

Introduction: Fast Is a (Sexy) State of Mind (see below)

Temptation Kayla Perrin
Waxing Eloquent Donna George Storey
Five-Minute Porn Star Jacqueline Applebee
Winter, Summer Tristan Taormino
Playing the Market Angela Caperton
Panther Suzanne V. Slate
Communal Saskia Walker
Fireworks Lolita Lopez
Flash! Andrea Dale
Waiting for Beethoven Susie Hara
Confessions of a Kinky Shopaholic Jennifer Peters
Let’s Dance D. L. King
That Girl Cherry Bomb
Oz Isabelle Gray
Married Life Charlotte Stein
Princess Elizabeth Coldwell
Chasing Danger Kristina Wright
Whore Complex Rachel Kramer Bussel
Lessons, Slow and Painful Tess Danesi
Speed Bumps Tenille Brown


Introduction: Fast Is a (Sexy) State of Mind

I like the fast girls best/they do whatever they wanna do. —Sarge, “Fast Girls”

I named this book after a song called “Fast Girls” by an indie pop/rock band called Sarge*. That song is a feisty, punk-rock ode to a hot girl who is captivating in all kinds of ways.

I’m sure you know a girl like that. Or a woman. Or a lady. Or a butch. Or a femme. Or…you get the idea. She’s the kind of babe who takes no prisoners, who owns her life and her sexuality and not only doesn’t apologize for them, makes sure you notice her and what she’s all about.

Two definitions of “fast,” according to Merriam-Webster are “wild” or “sexually promiscuous,” and while that is the seed of what I was angling for here, I didn’t just want to read about slut after slut after slut. I wanted to read about women who in some way defy the conventional norms-whatever those are in this day and age. That doesn’t mean being shocking for shock’s sake, but following their passion, seeking out what it is that they need to be truly pleasured.

What I love about these fast girls is that even as they are bold, daring and dynamic, they have a thing or two to learn about sex and themselves.

Consider Susie Hara’s fifty-one-year-old protagonist in “Waiting for Beethoven” as she gets it on with a younger man. In current pop culture terms, she’s the cougar, the aggressive older woman seeking her sexy prey. But she is actually nervous and uncertain, as well as aroused. “And now there was no point in telling him she wasn’t going to come when she could already feel a wave of pleasure rolling inside her, kind of a pre-coming feeling, but different than usual; she couldn’t really tell what was her clit and what were the walls inside her and what was contracting and what was releasing and then she realized she must be coming because her body had taken over and been taken over in this luscious finger symphony so she just gave in,” writes Hara, in a description of female orgasm that I think will be familiar to many.

In this book, fast is as much a state of mind as a state of motion. It’s not about trying to slut it up to impress anyone, but about finding what works for you. I was intrigued to find that playing with prostitution, or whoring, came up as a theme in many submissions, as did threesomes with one woman and two men. It makes sense that fast would be associated with women who mix cash and sex, as happens in Angela Caperton’s “Playing the Market,” where the new economy mixes with the world’s oldest profession. In my “Whore Complex,” whoredom is more a state of mind, a go-to fantasy that leaps from the bounds of dirty talk to real life with some unusual consequences. There’s also exhibitionism, such as in Jacqueline Applebee’s “Five-Minute Porn Star,” and submission--there’s a lot of very hot female submission and BDSM play in this book.

These girls are fast when they want to be…and slow at other times. They want to crack their lovers’ secret codes, find out what makes them tick, as happens in Charlotte Stein’s “Married Life.” I like this story because the wife is not just passively accepting her humdrum sex life, but she doesn’t want to have an affair or get a divorce. She wants her husband, the man she loves, but she wants him openly, honestly, freely and when they both give a little of themselves and bravely bare their souls, they find true happiness.

These girls don’t give it up for just anyone. Even the ones who get around have a reason for choosing their lovers, and it’s those reasons, those images, that resonate with me. Here’s Tristan Taormino in “Winter, Summer,” rhapsodizing about the woman she’s about to seduce (or perhaps, who’s about to seduce her is more accurate):

She’s the boy I have dreamed about and jerked off to too many times to count. The one who won’t leave my fantasies, who cruises me in my bedroom, who seduced me months ago in another lifetime with her voice, who plays pool and drinks beer, who grabs my ass in crowded bars just to fuck with my boundaries and catch me off guard, who makes my brain get wet and my pussy explode.

Exactly. Though there are women on the prowl here, women who go after younger men, women who pounce, women who pursue, there are others who are excited about being the object of another’s affection, lust and desire. For them, being fast means courting the man or woman (or more than one person) they are searching for.

These fast girls speak to me on many levels. I admire them, respect them, marvel at them, raise my eyebrows at them, want them. But most of all, I’m excited that they’ve broken free of whatever messages we all receive about how a woman is “supposed” to act and instead they are bent on acting however they damn well please. And that’s my personal definition of a fast, not to mention foxy, girl.

Rachel Kramer Bussel
New York City

* To hear more of Sarge, click here.

Virtual book tour for kinky anthology Please, Sir: Erotic Stories of Female Submission

Every day in May (a few dates at the end will be filled in ASAP - email pleaseantho at gmail.com with your URL and mailing address - US only for the free book - if you want to be part of the tour) a new blogger will post about Please, Sir: Erotic Stories of Female Submission. Join us! Links will be updated below as they're posted. (Note: some of these blogs are NSFW.)



Please, Sir book tour dates for May 2010

May 1 Baser Instincts
May 2 Man Eater Book
May 3 Hard and Fast
May 4 Erobintica
May 5 Dangerous Lilly
May 6 Sugarbutch Chronicles
May 7 The Sex Carnival
May 8 My Kinky World
May 9 Lusty Literati
May 10 Prurient Interests
May 11 Sarah Sloane
May 12 Hello Saraid
May 13 Desk Full of Dildos (That Toy Chick)
May 14 Julian Arancia (Flavius Iulianus)
May 15 Kristina Wright
May 16 Exploring Intimacy
May 17 Erotica Electronica
May 18 Our Goings On
May 19 SpastikFantastik
May 20 Alpine Subdreams
May 21 Orlando Sex & Relationships Examiner
May 22 Beth Wylde
May 23 Heather Lin
May 24 Pieces of Jade
May 25 Heartbreak Nympho
May 26 Yolanda Shoshana
May 27 ¡Qué sinvergüenza!
May 28 Leather Yenta (Lolita Wolf)
May 29 Marilyn's Room (Marilyn Jaye Lewis)
May 30 Wanton Lotus Reviews
May 31 Curvaceous Dee

I may be jaded but I never get tired of beautiful book covers

I have three books coming out in three months - April is Please, Sir, May is Please, Ma'am and June is Fast Girls. (There are a few other anthologies and then a non-fiction book for Cleis and my novel in 2010, but I only have these covers now.)

I've had to resign myself this year to the fact that erotica -- or rather, my erotica collections -- aren't ever really going to make me the money that I had originally envisioned. I think of it more as a hobby that maybe brings in some cash and gives me some "credibility." It goes to a question I was asked at the Come As You Are workshop in Toronto, which was, basically, "If all you'll make is $50 a story, why write erotica?" I said, essentially, for the self-expression. Because you want to. Because you have something to say. I still believe that, even if I'm not crying tears of joy in the Barnes & Noble in Chelsea (and not just because it no longer exists). I'm still honored with each story published, still get rejections, still learning. I'm trying my best to learn how to better market my books, how to makes ones that don't have negative sales (okay, that was just one, but still, a very sad royalty statement), how to improve both the quality of my writing, my editorial selections, and my sales.

I just saw these first two covers; the tables of contents are still being finalized, but I'm especially excited about Fast Girls, and you'll know why when I can share the lineup. I definitely want to shoot a book trailer for it, and again, for the sheer joy of expressing myself in a new medium. I will have to keep buying lotto tickets to try to get out of debt, and I'm okay with that. I still love editing books, no matter who's buying (or isn't).


Please, Ma'am: Erotic Stories of Male Submission, to be published May 2010 by Cleis Press


Fast Girls: Erotica for Women, to be published June 2010 by Cleis Press (and obviously, just as with Dirty Girls, which continues to sell well, it's not just for women!)

And because it's so beautiful and I do hold out hopes that this one will be a marketplace breakthrough...


Please, Sir: Erotic Stories of Female Submission, to be published April 2010 by Cleis Press

Fishnet fetish

Alison Tyler reminded me of a story I wrote for her book F Is for Fetish called "Fishnet Queen." Here's an excerpt, and see her blog for more fetishy goodness:

First thing I see are her legs, clad in the kind of stockings that make me hard just by thinking about them: fishnets. Her legs are long, and in her mini skirt, which rides up her thigh, I can see her pale skin augmented by the tightly woven black pattern that seems made just for her. She doesn’t just wear the fishnets, she owns them. I've seen women try to rock fishnets who simply can't pull them off, who wear them as if they were any other kind of stockings, tugged on hastily during a rushed morning, ripped in spots, slammed into sneakers, used and abused in the most careless manner possible.

There should be some kind of test when purchasing such delicate garments, I think, like an ID for cigarettes, but in all things fishnet, the test should be for class. I can always tell when a woman really cares about her fishnets, when she's the type who shakes them out before holding open the hole and sliding her foot into it, aware of every nuance of sensuality involved. I can tell when she makes sure that the seam up the back is perfectly even, forming a straight line right up to her ass, one I love to trace with my tongue, when she cares enough to buy the kind that have a seam. I can tell when the mere act of donning a pair of fishnets sends a rush of blood to her clit, when she morphs from gorgeous to goddess in the act, when she lets them transport her from ordinary to sex goddess. The rest of her outfit doesn’t really matter, nor how tall or short she is; a woman who wears fishnets like they’re her birthright is the kind I want to fuck, the kind whose fishnets I want to kiss and stroke and caress before ultimately peeling them down and plunging my cock inside her. Fishnet girls are all about foreplay, leaving me on the edge of arousal for as long as we both can stand it. That's the kind of woman I look for, who wears her fishnets not simply as artifice or armor but amour, who steps into her dominance one foot at a time.

What's funny is that while I remember in some way all the stories I've written (I think I'm probably up to 100 or so by now, will have to count at some point), I don't always remember the details of the content, but I remember other things. I wrote most of this story at the Starbucks on Delancey on the Lower East Side. I remember where I was sitting, remember thinking the story was too outlandish and over-the-top in its fetishism to work. I tend to gravitate toward the places where a piece of writing clicked, hoping I can pull it off again. Sometimes it even works!

True Sex Confession: My first strip club lap dance

"Lap Dance Lust," which I read in the video below from In The Flesh, is also one of the very first erotica stories I ever wrote, set way back in 2001, written, I think, in 2002. If you like it, do make sure you come out to True Sex Confessions Night on July 16th at In The Flesh Reading Series. It's FREE and I'll be reading a snippet of a hot story I wrote for my 2010 book Please, Sir about choking. All true! Plus you can even anonymous confess your own sex stories. Do join us!

Crowdsourcing my erotica brainstorming

I posed this question on Twitter yesterday, as I am currently trying to think about what to work on after the current crop of erotica books I'm editing are turned in.

Here are some of the responses I got. If you buy/read erotica books, I'd love to hear what you think too (rachelkramerbussel at gmail.com):

Writing guidelines: there for a reason

I'm going through submissions for Please, Sir, and have been pretty disappointed that about half the submissions I received were incorrectly formatted. (I say that to emphasize it's not just one or two, that wouldn't be the end of the world, but about half, and this is an ongoing problem - my guidelines are so long because every time I put out a call I see the same errors over and over, and it's, frankly, annoying.) I give people a pass if it's the first time submitting to me, but I wanted to share why this is so frustrating and time-consuming for me.

You might think, so what? The writing is what matters. But actually, the formatting is what first grabs my eye and when I have to manually indent paragraphs and reformat spacing and all those things that are clearly stated in my guidelines, it's a giant waste of time.

Then I'm in the bind of asking someone to reformat when I may not even want their story, or doing it myself, or just reading it with the incorrect formatting and deciding then.

It's not that it's necessarily a dealbreaker, it's more than cumulatively, when half of submissions have not followed the guidelines, it makes it much easier for me as a busy person to look at the ones that are formatted correctly. I would never sacrifice quality over formatting, but at the same time, I do a silent, non-moving jump for joy when I see a writer whose work I like and have published before...and know they have formatted it correctly before I even open it.

I in no way want to discourage people from submitting to my books. With the next few I'm editing for Cleis Press, I hope that, like with Peep Show, I can include writers I've never published before. I would love to read more stories like Elizabeth Coldwell's - she's someone whose work is relatively new to me but each time is just perfect. See "Lunch" in Yes, Sir for an example. That's what I'm looking for with Please, Sir (not literally that concept again, just writing as fine as that).

Anyway, I'm excited about the Please, Sir and Please, Ma'am books and a few others I'm working on, but just wanted to emphasize that guidelines, mine, anyway, really are there for a reason. I'd soooooo much rather someone ask a question if they don't understand something in them than send me something that will take me time to reconfigure before I even get a chance to read the story!

I'll end on a happy note: The deadline for these books is July 1st and both are wide open. I'm reading stories early and definitely need more.

Free sex toys at GLBT Erotica Night June 18th

All of the above sex toys, courtesy of Good Vibrations, will be given away, along with queer erotica from Cleis Press and e-book gift cards from Ravenous Romance.



IN THE FLESH EROTIC READING SERIES
3rd ANNUAL GLBT EROTICA NIGHT
June 18th at 8 PM (doors at 7; we recommend arriving by 7:30 for a seat)
AT HAPPY ENDING LOUNGE, 302 BROOME STREET, NYC
(B/D to Grand, J/M/Z to Bowery, F to Delancey or F/V to 2nd Avenue, http://www.happyendinglounge.com)
Between Forsyth & Eldridge. Look for the hot pink awning that says "XIE HE Health Club."
Admission: Free
Happy Ending Lounge: 212-334-9676
http://inthefleshreadingseries.blogspot.com

In The Flesh celebrates Pride with our 3rd annual GLBT Erotica Night! Featuring GO editor Diana Cage, comedian Kelli Dunham, and erotica writers Madlyn March, Kimberly “Q”, Rob Stephenson, and Xan West. Hosted and curated by Rachel Kramer Bussel (Glamour Girls, First-Timers, The Mile High Club). Free candy and cupcakes by Baked by Melissa will be served.

In the Flesh is a monthly reading series hosted at the appropriately named Happy Ending Lounge, and features the country'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, Mo Beasley, Susie Bright, 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, Zane and many others. The series has gotten press attention from the New York Times’s UrbanEye, Escape (Hong Kong), Flavorpill, The L Magazine, New York Magazine, New York Observer, Philadelphia City Paper, Time Out New York, Gothamist, Nerve.com and Wonkette, and has been praised by Dr. Ruth.

Rachel Kramer Bussel is an author, editor, blogger and reading series host. She is Senior Editor at Penthouse Variations and a former sex columnist for The Village Voice. She’s edited numerous anthologies, two of which (Up All Night and Glamour Girls) have been Lambda Literary Award finalists, most recently The Mile High Club: Plane Sex Stories, Do Not Disturb: Hotel Sex Stories, Best Sex Writing 2009, Tasting Him, Tasting Her, and Spanked. Her writing been published in publications such as Clean Sheets, Cosmopolitan, The Daily Beast, Fresh Yarn, Huffington Post, Mediabistro, Newsday, New York Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Tango, The Village Voice, and Time Out New York, and in over 100 anthologies, including Best American Erotica 2004 and 2006. She has hosted In The Flesh since October 2005.
www.rachelkramerbussel.com

Diana Cage is the author of three hilarious books on sex and dating: Girl Meets Girl: A Dating Survival Guide, Box Lunch: The Layperson’s Guide to Cunnilingus, and Threeways: Fulfill Your Ultimate Fantasy. She is the former host of The Diana Cage Show on Sirius XM and still pops up on the radio a couple of times a month to give advice on sex and love to lonelyhearts everywhere. Her writing has appeared in countless journals, anthologies and magazines and she currently writes on sex and politics for Shewired and Velvetpark. She is featured in the Here! Television series Lesbian Sex and Sexuality, and is now trying to figure out what's left to write about.
www.dianacage.com

Kelli Dunham is a genderqueer Fresh Fruit award-winning comic, ex-nun and a Wisconsin farmgrrl gone very bad. She has two comedy CDs to her credit: I am NOT a 12 Year Old Boy and Almost Pretty and is the co-producer of Gayety, Brooklyn's experimental queer comedy cabaret. She is on the organizing board of the Butch Voices
(www.butchvoices.com) and is the author of four published books of light hearted nonfiction and a frequent contributor to humorous anthologies. She is currently touring Pudding Day, an irreverent one boi show about her partner's struggle with cancer. In June she is launching the first of episode of Queerhouse Rock, an animated parody of the 1970 kids' cartoon series Schoolhouse Rock. She has performed at the Risque strip club in Philadelphia, at numerous churches, Lacrosse Wisconsin Pride, and a livestock auction. She once taught a nun to masturbate. With great success.
www.kellidunham.com

Madlyn March is the pseudonym of a writer whose work has appeared in the anthology First-Timers, Black Table, AfterEllen, AfterElton, Complete Woman, The New York Post, Time Out New York, and others. Toni is based on a bully who once tortured her, but the sexual part is all wishful thinking.

Kimberly "Q" (aka The Lesbian Goddess) is the writer, creator and author of Orchids: African American Lesbian Erotica One Night Stands, Orchids II: Reality or Fantasy and her just released Lesbian Funk A Journey Into The Oblivion. She formed her company Women of Choice to signify the choices of life that we as women dare to explore with a mission to go beyond the realm of women's comfort zones and normalcy by providing them with exotic adventures, unexplained pleasures, new and exciting ideas and inexplicable desires. Her books are episodes presented to entice, entertain and broaden the thoughts, actions and creativity of the lesbian sexual experience.
www.womenofchoice.com

Rob Stephenson's novel Passes Through will be published by Fiction Collective 2 in Spring of 2010. His novella U will be published later that year by Rebel Satori Press : Queer Mojo. Rob and Mikael Karlsson have made a CD called dog, now available from Please MusicWorks. They are currently working on new music that will be part of the Terry Riley Remixed CD released later this year by Innova Recordings.

Xan West is the pseudonym of an NYC BDSM and sex educator and writer. Xan's work can be found in Best SM Erotica 2, Got A Minute?, Love at First Sting, Best Women's Erotica 2008 and 2009, Men on the Edge, Leathermen, Backdraft: Firemen Erotica, DADDIES, Frenzy, Best Gay Erotica 2009, and the upcoming Cruising for Bad Boys, Pleasure Bound, and Sextime. Xan's story, "First Time Since", printed in Hurts So Good, won honorable mention for the 2008 National Leather Association's John Preston Short Fiction Award. Xan wants to hear from you, and can be found at xanwest.livejournal.com/ or emailed at xan_west at yahoo.com.

Erotica calls for submission deadline July 1st: Please, Sir and Please, Ma'am

I'm racing to put the finishing touches on Best Sex Writing 2010 and then I'll be waiting for the guest judge and my publisher to approve it. Fingers crossed I can get it all sorted out next week. I'm reading Lisa M. Diamond's excellent though very scientific/academic Sexual Fluidity: Understanding Women's Love and Desire, which I am hoping to excerpt from. Anyway, I have these two calls out and would love to see your stories. Please make sure to read and follow all directions if you submit!

I got an email from a man who told me he and his wife took Spanked and Do Not Disturb away with them and read erotica to each other while getting it on in a hotel room. HOT!

I also got the latest catalog from my publisher, Cleis Press, and omg have they pulled out all the stops with the gorgeous covers, especially Best Lesbian Erotica 2010, which has a stunning black and white cover and will have the band BETTY as guest judge. It's the first edition edited by Kathleen Warnock (my lesbian pregnancy/travel erotica story "Swollen" is a finalist - fingers crossed).

So please submit stories, pass this on, etc. Stories should be from the point of view of the submissive, but beyond that, and the usual no underage/bestiality/nonconsent, anything goes. I don't like to be too too specific about "what I want" in my erotica calls in terms of topics because then I get inundated with stories about those things, and I can't use them all, so all I can really say (well, beyond what's below) is be creative! I'll also say that I used a lot of new (to me) authors in Peep Show (click for Table of Contents) and hope to keep doing so in my upcoming anthologies.

Please, Sir: Erotic Stories of Female Submission and Male Dominance
Please, Ma’am: Erotic Stories of Male Submission and Female Dominance
Edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel
To be published by Cleis Press in Spring 2010

These two companion anthologies will explore the power dynamics of BDSM from the sub's/bottom's point of view. For an idea of the kinds of stories I like, please read my recent anthologies Yes, Sir: Erotic Stories of Female Submission and Yes, Ma’am: Erotic Stories of Male Submission. I strongly prefer modern settings, though have included the occasional historical piece. Futuristic/science fiction settings are almost never my cup of tea.

Please, Sir: What's it like to be a female submissive, whether a full-time slave to a powerful master, or a kinky woman involved in an intense scene? These stories should explore the range of ways women submit to men, whether masters, husbands, boyfriends, play dates, strangers, internet chatters, etc. Is the storyteller a lifelong bottom, or a new convert to kink? Does merely offering herself up to any guy get her off, or does something about this particular top excite her? Can be long- or short-term relationships, single encounters, or anything in between, as long as the characters and plot are believable and the story is hot. (I don't want simple snapshots of scenes that don't tell us anything about the characters' motivation.) Story should be from the point of view of a female masochist and or submissive/bottom, though it can be told from a first, second or third person POV (first is preferred).

Please, Ma’am: What makes a man cower before a powerful woman? Is he living out a lifelong fantasy, or has he always taken the submissive role with women? I want stories of sissy maids, hardcore masochists, visits with dommes, husbands completely devoted to their wives, full-time slaves, play partners, and much more. These can be long- or short-term relationships, single encounters, professionals, etc., as long as the characters and plot are believable and the story is hot. (I don't want simple snapshots of scenes that don't tell us anything about the characters' motivation.) Story should be from the point of view of a male masochist or submissive/bottom, though it can be told from a first, second or third person POV (first is preferred).

Both anthologies will feature stories from a wide spectrum of the BDSM world. The more creative your storytelling, the better. The examples listed above are just that, examples; feel free to let your imaginations run wild! I encourage you to think beyond clichéd scenarios and set your stories outside of the traditional play parties/dungeons, as well as thinking outside the box when it comes to "power play" and am especially looking for stories where not all of the erotic action is centered around physical sensation. There can also be more than two people in a given story or scene (or even just one if they are following someone's orders), and bisexual scenarios are welcome as long as the bottom/top relationship is a heterosexual one, as fitting the title. My biggest pet peeve with the submissions I’ve rejected in the past is lack of characterization/jumping into the BDSM scene too quickly.

Guidelines: Stories should be unpublished and not submitted elsewhere for publication. Stories should be 1,500 – 4,000 words, double spaced, Times New Roman 12 point font, in a Word document only. If it is truly impossible to send a Word document, please send as both a RTF AND in the body of the email. You MUST include your bio (50 words MAX) and full contact info (mailing address, phone number, real name/pseudonym) when you submit.

Payment will be $50/story and 1 copy of the book upon publication in Spring 2010. Contributors will retain the rights to their stories. You may submit up to two stories per book. Please note that the publisher has final approval over the manuscript.

Send your submission as a Word document to pleaseantho@gmail.com ONLY with either"Please, Sir Submission" or "Please, Ma’am Submission" in the subject line—if you are submitting to both anthologies, please send separate submissions for each (though you can attach 2 stories for one book in the same email).

Please make sure to follow ALL directions. I'm getting a lot of single-spaced, non-Word document submissions without bios or mailing addresses. Please also make sure you send your FINAL version of your story, not a first (and then second or third) draft. All of the pertinent information, including a polished version of the story and your bio/contact info should be included in a single email, not multiple ones. Thank you.

If you have any questions about Please, Ma’am or Please, Sir, please query
pleaseantho@gmail.com

Deadline: July 1, 2009
Expect to hear back from me by November 2009
Payment: $50/story, upon publication
Email: pleaseantho@gmail.com

Virgin Night rocked!

L to R (since there aren't really "rows"): Jenny Block, Gideon Levy, Nicolette Dixon, Sinclair Sexsmith, Megan Hart, Rachel Kramer Bussel, Sarah Wendell, Emily Farris
photo by Stacie Joy

Virgin Night at In The Flesh Reading Series was packed - standing room only! THANK YOU to everyone who came out, to our sponsors, Baked by Melissa (cupcakes!), Ravenous Romance (cookies), JimmyJane (massage candle!) and SexySlang (word games!). And to Megan Hart for the fun giveaways. (For those wondering, Kyria Abrahams couldn't make it.)

And as always, thank you to all the readers, everyone who came out, Stacie Joy for the photos, and the staff of Happy Ending Lounge, especially manager Gina and bartender Juan Carlos!

Please come back May 21st - full lineup and bios coming very soon.

See the full photo set from Virgin Night here.


Nicolette Dixon went into glowing detail about cleavage.


Sarah Wendell of Smart Bitches Trashy Books had us roaring with tales of tentacles in orifices and other romance novel delights from her book Beyond Heaving Bosoms: The Smart Bitches' Guide to Romance Novels.


Megan Hart read from her erotic novel Stranger, out from Harlequin Spice.


Sinclair Sexsmith reads hot poetry from the chapbook Sinclair Sexsmith.


Emily Farris read a true, amazing story of orgasms and real estate lust. She told me she was nervous beforehand but I told her the truth: that people actually relate way more to the true stories, because they've been there...or want to be.


Gideon Levy had many permutations on "ghetto-fab-i-diculous" (sp?)


Jenny Block read from her memoir Open: Love, Sex, and Life in an Open Marriage.

Megan Hart brought this "Bring Me My Hookah" t-shirt (the name of her awesome vlog with Lauren Dane):



We had cupcakes from Baked by Melissa - 100 of them and they were gone really fast:



And cookies courtesy of Ravenous Romance:



In addition to the giveaways, there was lots of free stuff (and fishnets):

Tonight's the BIG NIGHT! 92Y Tribeca Erotic Writing Workshop

PLEASE tell anyone who wants to know more about erotica writing - I definitely love to publish the work of people who take my classes, and it's only $12, and I have handouts, and...it'll be good, I promise.

February 12, 7-9 pm
Erotic Love Letter/Erotica 101 Workshop by Rachel Kramer Bussel
Express your sexiest thoughts on paper for the object of your affection. This class, taught by erotic writer and editor Rachel Kramer Bussel, will give both male and female students the basic tools for crafting short erotic fiction and letters. Pen and paper will be provided, along with handouts, a suggested reading list and sample stories.

Help get in the mood with our featured Chocolate Covered Cherry cocktail-plus ticket combo. Regsister online or in person. $12 ($17 with cocktail)
92nd Street Y Tribeca, 200 Hudson Street, NYC
A/C/E/1/6 to Canal Street
Info: 212-601-1000

For a little taste of some of the writing exercises we'll be doing, read this mini interview in Time Out New York.

Also: Time Out New York published my list of my Top 10 Erotic Books! Thanks, TONY!

My books on Kindle

Since today doesn't seem like it's turning into the most productive day, I will post these links to my books on Kindle (Amazon.com's e-reader) that I've been meaning to post. They're also in this Flickr set and also Yes, Ma'am is available on Kindle but there was no graphic for some reason. In reverse chronological order (mostly), click through to go to Amazon. Almost all are $9.99; the e-book The Lust Chronicles is $5.59.

Freaks Read (including me!) August 28th at gay bar Nowher

I'm reading at gay bar Nowhere for the Freaks Read series. I'll be reading an excerpt of my bukkake erotica story "A First Time for Everything," which is being published in Susie Bright's X: The Erotic Bedside Companion in October by Chronicle Books. Also, if memory serves me right, Nowhere has the naked girl game (my favorite video game ever).