4 sexy Best Women's Erotica of the Year giveaways - act fast!

My anthology of 21 brand new OUTRAGEOUS sexy adult storeis, Best Women's Erotica of the Year, Volume 5, came out this week from Cleis Press in print and ebook. I've been busy promoting it all over and will do a full recap next week, but wanted to let you know about four giveaways going on, the first three of which end today. Entry details at links below!

Win Best Women's Erotica of the Year, Volume 5 on any blog tour stop (Deadline: December 13, 2019)

Win Best Women's Erotica of the Year, Volume 5 on any Instagram tour stop(Deadline: December 13, 2019)

Win Best Women's Erotica of the Year, Volume 5 from Sierra Simone on Instagram (Deadline: December 13, 2019)

Win 5 books by Best Women's Erotica of the Year, Volume 5 authors from me, for newsletter subscribers only (Deadline: December 18, 2019)
To enter, reply to my latest newsletter, sent December 12; if you're not on my mailing list, subscribe here and be on the lookout for my January subscriber only giveaway

Open bar NYC book party for Sex & Cupcakes and bloggers wanted for virtual book tour

4 big pieces of news: my essay collection Sex & Cupcakes is now for sale on iBooks as well as Kindle (both are just $4.99 and if you buy on Kindle and send me your receipt by October 31st, I'll send you any of my other Kindle books free; click here for details), there's an audiobook version coming out and I want to celebrate with you November 17th in New York City! The official book party, sponsored by my publisher Thought Catalog Books, takes place Monday, November 17th from 6 to 8 p.m. at Sweet Revenge, 62 Carmine Street, which if you haven't been to is a delightful and delicious little restaurant with cupcakes, food and drinks (also be sure to go for brunch: their red velvet waffles are to die for!). It's open bar from 6-7 and the first 25 attendees will get a free copy of the ebook. No need to RSVP, just show up, bring friends if you like, and cash for cupcakes (they also take credit cards). It's fitting that the party is in New York because so much of the book takes place in New York, though I also hope to do an event in my home state of New Jersey as well!

What else? The virtual book tour kicks off in a few days and I need a few more bloggers to join us! You get a free copy of the book and can post an excerpt, review, do a giveaway, riff on some of the ideas in the book, whatever you like. The open dates are listed on Tumblr and you can email me at rachelkb at gmail.com with "Tour" in the subject line and your URL and what type of post you plan and any preferred dates, and I'll send you a copy and sign you up.

Getting off on mental kink and the joy of service in The Big Book of Submission

I'm someone who enjoys erotica about all kinds of kinks and fetishes, but I admit I have a soft spot for mental kinks, for filthy minds, for the way words and actions can combine in ways that set someone on fire (not literally). Some of my stories are more action-oriented, but usually I'd say there's at least some mental component too. I haven't been writing as much erotica lately as I I'd like to; it doesn't always come as easily as it once did, and I struggle more for it. I only occasionally go back and reread a story and think, Wow. I pulled it off the way I wanted to.


Lotus Blooms reading, front: Me, Tess Danesi, Michelle Augello page; back: Emerald, Kristina Wright

Last week at sex toy store Lotus Blooms (where you can get a copy!) in Alexandria, Virginia, I read the entirety of my story "Reverse Psychology" from The Big Book of Submission: 69 Kinky Tales, and I did think that. I liked that I had what I hope is a believable male narrator, one who isn't a sadist, but performs sadistic actions in the name of service. For me, a dirty mind is probably the number one thing that will make me attracted to someone, because then they can wield it in all sorts of ways, expected and unexpected. They can get me to do things I would never have thought I'd want to do, which is similar to my male protagonist. Perhaps someday I'll write his domme's side, about a woman who loves pain within the context of BDSM but doesn't have a submissive bone in her body.





This is the first post in the month-plus-long virtual book tour for The Big Book of Submission, so readers and authors will be sharing their takes on the book. You can read almost half of "Reverse Psychology" over at Unbound Box, who will also be posting 2 more excerpts from the book, so keep an eye on them. And I'll post as soon as the audiobook narrated by Rose Caraway is for sale! Again, when you don't 100% love your work, it can be awkward to hear it read aloud by someone else. When you know you've given it your all and are happy with the final outcome, rather than wondering, What if I'd added a line here, or rearranged this paragraph..., it's a far more exciting experience to have it read back to you.

Purchase from:

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Kindle ebook edition

Nook ebook edition

Amazon UK

Kindle UK

Kobo

Books-a-Million

Powell's

IndieBound (find it at your local independent bookstore)

Google Play

iTunes

Cleis Press

No bra or panties, blinfolded, waiting on a bed--my Slave Girls blog tour excerpt

I wrote a story inspired by several of my favorite things: hotel rooms, blindfolds, submission, surrendering control, in my story "Out of Sight" in the new anthology Slave Girls: Erotic Stories of Submission edited by D.L. King and published by Cleis Press, with a foreword from the brilliant podcaster and audiobook narrator Rose Caraway. Like many of my stories, it's fiction, with lots of my personal kinks in it. It's about a woman who puts on a blindfold with a certain word on it, one that could be an epithet or high kinky praise, one I've written a story about before, emblazoned on it. You'll have to read the full story to find out that word, but here's a little taste of my story. You can buy the book on Amazon or at your local independent bookstore and follow the rest of the virtual book tour. I haven't read the book yet but I've seen a copy and it's gorgeous (yes, I judge books by their covers--that's what covers are for!).



Official blurb:

The idea of a woman enslaved to her lover has captured the imagination of millions and created bestsellers such as The Story of O, Carrie's Story and Fifty Shades of Grey. Award-winning editor and writer D. L. King pulls back the velvet curtains to reveal a world where every sexual fantasy is realized, a world driven by desire and the need to be dominated. These Slave Girls want nothing more than to be subjugated and owned in body and soul. Trained and tested to suit every sexual taste, these women learn the ropes — literally. King and her masterful eroticists offer the reader an immersive experience. These sexy, subversive stories of submission are from the very best eroticists including Alison Tyler, Sommer Marsden, and D. L. King herself.

And now for my NSFW story exceprt, which is toward the middle but a little bit into the tale, but I'm sure you can catch up:

From "Out of Sight" by Rachel Kramer Bussel:

I shifted, the seam of my jeans pressing into my sex. I never used to wear jeans, only skirts and dresses, but that's something else Peter had insisted on one day. He'd made me try on a pair without panties, then explain what I'd done, pay for them, and walk around until I'd soaked them from all his commands. I was only allowed to wear them without panties, just as certain tops and dresses I was only allowed to wear without a bra, and certain skirts or stockings without panties. Those rules applied whether I was seeing Peter or not; I got the impression he liked it even better when I followed his rules on days he wasn't going to see me, when I could have gotten away with disobeying, save for my kinky conscience.

I took off my top and bra while the man watched. I didn't ask his name, and he didn't offer; instead, he took my breasts in each hand, pulled my nipples toward him, just hard enough to make me gasp. When I did, he pinched them, twisting each one until I let out another noise, one not quite so quiet. "You'll be good while I pierce you, right? No screams. I can give you a rag to muffle your noises, if you can't handle it. I've heard you can get pretty loud." The idea that Peter had told this stranger about what I was like in bed was at once infuriating and exciting.

"I'll be quiet." And I was. I thought of Peter the whole time, of how before I'd met him I never would've imagined being the type to get anything more than my ears pierced. Yet here I was not only eager to sport beautiful silver studs in each nipple, but for them to heal so he could play with them.

They did heal, and Peter did make sure he knew exactly how much more tender and sensitive my nipples were after that, and that I knew they'd remain that way from frequent use, whether that was making me suck my nipple while he shoved his fingers inside me or him simply brushing against me in public enough to make them stand at attention. But those studs were symbolic; as long as they were in, I would always wake up thinking of him, and any other lovers I took would see them, and even if they didn't know exactly what the metal meant, I would. I'd know exactly who I belonged to—and I liked it that way.

So as I finger the sensual silk, I savor the last few moments of sight to take in the grandeur around me. There's not a mirror on the ceiling, but there's a giant one across from the bed that can only be a sign of extreme narcissism or unabashed exhibitionism and voyeurism. I strip out of my outfit—one of his favorite dresses, hot pink silk, no bra or panties, fold the dress and place it on top of the dresser, so he's sure to see it. I resist the urge to inspect my naked body, since I don't know how much time I have before he arrives. Instead, I climb up onto the bed and carefully place the blindfold over my eyes, running my fingers over the letters like braille so they're positioned as evenly as possible, before I tie a tight knot. I shake my head back and forth to make sure the blindfold is in place, then lay down on my stomach, plant my cheek to the side, and reach behind me for my ankles. I grab them, then spread my knees, smiling against the sheets as I settle in to the familiar pose.

My 5 favorite sex toys and chance to win a free copy of The Big Book of Orgasms

Lady Cheeky, whose true story "The Massage" appears in The Big Book of Orgasms, asked me about my 5 favorite sex toys (hint: one is by Crave, whose Duet vibrator Betty Blac has already paired with some hot erotic reading) for the virtual book tour and she's giving away a copy at her blog. Enter now! And thank you, Lady Cheeky!

Why I love The Big Book of Orgasms better than all my other books, or "the big little book that could"

Maybe you're not supposed to say you love one book more than all the others, but I'm not exactly the type to stand on propriety. So there, I will say it: I am so excited about and proud of The Big Book of Orgasms I'm not even sure it's worth keeping editing erotica books (though I would love to do a sequel should I be so lucky). I will for a while, but this is my career high, the one book I am going to bat for and doing crazy things like flying out to San Francisco for less than 48 hours, because I believe in it that much, because I want it to succeed so badly.

I've been trying to unlock why this book feels so make or break for me, and I think it's in part that I truly think this is a book anyone can enjoy. Don't have a lot of time? Each story can be read in about five minutes. Curious about kink but aren't sure how far you want to dip your toes? There's plenty of it, but also plenty of lighter stories. Sometimes I hear feedback that my books don't have enough, for example, gay male stories, or some other type of content. While this book doesn't have everything, it comes as close as I am likely to with any of my books. I won't lie, though: it's far easier to edit 20-25 stories, from a logistical perspective, than 69. The editorial freedom is the flipside to 3 times as much paperwork, email and wrangling. That's only worth it if the book is beautiful and hot, inside and out, and this one is, for me.

This one was just a perfect storm of me getting everything I want as an editor, and, I hope, offering everything an erotica reader could want--except meaty stories; these are brief and will likely have you wanting to read more by these authors. If they were longer, the book would be too unwieldy to fit in a pocket and would lose some of its charm, in my opinion. I like that the minute you pick this book up, if you're the type who reads print, it looks and feels different than most erotica books. It can fit in a purse or pocket. It's handy and hopefully something you'll want to handle, hold, savor. I also think that because it has such a mix of writing styles, perspectives and scenarios, from multi-published authors and newcomers to the erotica genre, it gives readers a depth of sexual diversity.



I worked very hard to make sure "orgasm" didn't lose its luster as a theme from "The Beginning" by B.D. Swain to "The Final Challenge" by Heather Day. I think that is the potential danger of a themed anthology, but this theme was so wide open that there was room for plenty of ways of approaching it, including things I never in a billion years would have thought of myself, like the gender-bending technology of "Remote Control" by Logan Zachary. That's the kind of story I love to publish, because it's just so far out of how I write that it's like a gift to my brain. At Delilah Devlin's blog, I talk a bit about why there are 69 stories--yes, it's to get readers enticed, but as an editor, that format gives me so much more freedom, and I hope, in turn, that I'm giving readers more of what they want, including things they might not have thought they wanted.

This post is kicking off the virtual book tour (my post is late, but I will be linking to all the posts this month and next on a timely basis). I do hope you will join me and 9 contributors for a free reading this Wednesday at Good Vibrations, 1620 Polk Street in San Francisco, and if you can't, that you'll tell people in the area. It's my last San Francisco reading for a very long time, possibly ever. I think as I prepare to turn 38, with all the weight and pressure of that birthday, I'm starting to realize that I need to celebrate the parts of my work life I'm proud of, and this book is one I am unabashedly proud of. I gave a postcard for the book as I was mailing 70 copies to the clerk at my local post office, so now I'm known as "the one with the dirty book." I will give that postcard to anyone who asks (literally: want one? If you're in the U.S., email orgassmantho at gmail.com with "Postcard" in the subject line and your name and mailing address in the body and I'll mail one to you!)

This book has made me proud again to be an erotica writer and editor. Rather than my usual mumble with strangers, for fear of getting into an awkward conversation or having them spill some unwanted sexual secret, I'm boldly claiming it. This is what I do. This is my life's work (so far). This is the highlight of the trip I started as I left law school and wrote a little story called "Monica and Me," all in one beautiful little package. It's the big little book that could, and I hope it does, in every way. If you want to help make this best book of mine a success, I'd love it if you'd spread the word about the reading, join me January 3rd in New York City at Between the Covers at the Museum of Sex, 233 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, and share your thought son the book at Goodreads and Amazon (My dream goal is to get to 100 Amazon reviews by my birthday, November 10th.). Thank you, and thank you to all the authors in the book for making this book one I'm honored to have my name on. You can read excerpts from all 69 stories on the book's Tumblr and keep up with the news at @BigBookofOrgasm on Tumblr. win a copy from Johnny FunCheap through November 11th.

November: I'm touring 5 cities and The Big Book of Orgasms is touring lots of blogs!

I've got 7 events lined up in November in Northampton, Massachusetts, San Francisco, Albuquerque, Erotica 101 and Bedpost Confessions in Austin and New York, as well as a few days later, my December 3rd Erotica 101 workshop at Nomia in Portland, Maine. All those details are on my website and in the links above. Also happening from November into December is The Big Book of Orgasms (aka, my favorite book I've ever edited!) virtual book tour. Below are the confirmed blogger tour dates as of now, and I will be updating them as we fill in more. If you're a blogger and want to be part of the tour, email me at orgasmantho at gmail.com with your URL and mailing address and we'll get you added to the tour.



The Big Book of Orgasms virtual book tour

November 1 Lusty Lady
November 4 tgstonebutch/Xan West
November 5 Lula Lisbon
November 6 Sugarbutch Chronicles
November 7 Donuts and Desires
November 8 A.M. Hartnett
November 11 Kay Jaybee
November 12 Smut for Smarties/Lady Cheeky
November 13 Kinky World
November 14 Victoria Blisse
November 15 Robot Lovers Prey on the Lonely (Annabeth Leong)
November 18 Lillian Ann Slugocki
November 19 Valerie Alexander
November 20 Thea Landen
November 21 Lady Laid Bare
November 22 Kink, etc...
November 25 Quixotic Orchid
November 26 Ali's Addiction
November 27 The Ladygarden Project
November 29 Sex in Words
December 2 Tamsin's Supererotica
December 3 The Green Light District/Emerald
December 4 Tilly Hunter Erotia
December 5 Literary Vixens
December 6 The Feminist Librarian
December 9 Bitches n Prose
December 10 Clitical
December 11 Sommer Marsden
December 12 Stella Harris

Excert from erotica story "Craig's List" in Bending by Greta Christina

This is an excerpt from story "Craig's List," one of the stories in Bending: Dirty Kinky Stories About Pain, Power, Religion, Unicorns, & More by Greta Christina. Available as an eboook on Kindle, Nook, and Smashwords: audiobook and print editions coming soon.



From "Craig's List" by Greta Christina:

On her 24th birthday, she decided there were three things she wanted to do before she turned 25. Sexual things. All three involved taking stupid risks, putting her body into the hands of people she knew nothing about and had no reason to trust. All three involved Craig's List.

She knew she had to do them now. The older she got, the less reckless she'd become. She knew that if she waited until she was 30, she wouldn't be brave enough, or stupid enough, to try this. And she knew she'd always regret it if she didn't try.

The first one, she called Craig's List Roulette. She would go to the Casual Encounters ads, the Men Seeking Women section. She would pick an ad at random. No matter what it said, she would answer it. Unless she was literally and physically unable to comply with the ad's request, she would answer it.

She would use a random number generator, so she couldn't cheat.

She knew how stupid this was, how reckless, how dangerous. But she didn't want to be just another boring horny slut playing the personals. She wanted to set a new standard for sluts. She wanted to be the slut by which all other sluts measured themselves. Besides, reckless and dangerous was kind of the point. She wanted a real adventure -- and in a real adventure, you weren't in control.

The ad headline read, "young, horny, need to get sucked." Perfect. Simple. Easy to take care of. She took a picture of herself, naked on her knees, and sent it with her reply.

She was at his dorm in twenty minutes. He wasn't as cute as she'd hoped -- she thought he might have used a fake picture, actually -- but that was okay. Weirdly, it was part of the charm. She closed his dorm room door behind them, and dropped to her knees, thinking with a hard thump in her clit of how she had been manipulated, how she was being used. She dropped her head back and opened her mouth. He unzipped and pushed himself into her, and she opened wide and let him fuck her mouth.

He kicked her out politely when he was done, and she went home and masturbated for an hour and a half. She masturbated on her knees, with a dildo in her mouth and a vibrator between her legs. She kept thinking she couldn't possibly come any more... and then she would remember what she had just done, and her sore, tired clit would throb again, demanding just one more.

She was back on Craig's List the next day.

She hadn't expected that. When she first decided to do her three adventures, she'd assumed that she'd play each of them just once. But she loved Craig's List Roulette. It was like slut boot camp. It was like an accelerated study program in human sexuality. It was like a multi-week intensive course in letting go. Her requirements got a little more restrictive -- the guy had to ask for something specific, he couldn't ask to do drugs together, he couldn't ask to do it more than once -- but she stuck to the spirit of the game with remarkable discipline.

She landed on "Wanna watch me play with myself?" and was in a home-built weight room in a dingy garage, watching an oiled-up bodybuilder straddle his weight bench and stroke his cock, repeatedly murmuring, "You like what you see?", his eyes never leaving her face. She landed on "any one for a car date right now?" and was fumbling in the back of a Camry with a married ad exec, his hands groping at her tits, his cock pushing against her crotch through her panties, his breath pungent with weed. She landed on "Oral from behind" and was on her knees in a cheesy bachelor pad in the suburbs, a noisy tongue slurping at her pussy and occasionally, hesitatingly, perhaps even guiltily, slipping into her asshole. She landed on "Offering $$$ for pussy licking," and thought, "Sure, why not," and was on her back in a hotel bed with a tongue between her legs and three twenties on the bedside table. She thought she'd feel different after, and was surprised when she didn't.

She landed on "just give me a blowjob" and "Can a guy get a blow job please?" and "Looking for a woman in need of a facial" with perverse excitement. She loved how openly selfish they were. She loved how slutty it made her feel, how sordid, to get on her knees and open her mouth to a man who expressed no interest whatsoever in what she might need or want. She loved how it made her feel both purely sexual and purely invisible. And she loved feeling like the only woman in the city who would ever answer their ad. It made her feel extreme. Hard-core. Special.

She landed on "Looking For A Woman to Spank," and thought, "About fucking time." That was the first one -- and the last -- where she laid out her own guidelines. "I've never done this before," she told the guy. "I really want to. I want this to go well." The gentleman was older: in his early sixties, a little soft, a little frail, but patient and careful and grateful. He told her that she was beautiful, that she was bad, that he was going to teach her a lesson, that he was going to take care of her. He spanked her gently, until she wanted more than anything for him to spank her harder; and he spanked her harder, until she had no idea what she wanted anymore. He was the first one -- and the only one -- that she wished she could go back to. But that wasn't how the game was played.

She always felt a little guilty about the ones who just wanted to service her; the ones who ate her pussy or licked her feet or gave her long, drawn-out massages. It seemed like missing the point. But then she'd remember: This was what they'd asked for. When she lay back and let herself be taken care of, she was giving them the service they wanted more than anything.

It was disappointing sometimes. Naturally. There were clumsy men, smelly men, liars. But she kept the game up, a bit longer perhaps than she would have... because she was putting off the second one. She was a little afraid of the second one.

Deep inside Best Sex Writing 2013 - the virtual book tour kicks off!

I'm going to kick off the Best Sex Writing 2013 virtual book tour by simply telling you why I consider this book my pride and joy. Firstly, I'm a nonfiction nerd. I read more fiction than nonfiction in book form these days, but a heartfelt, can't-stop-thinking-about-it article or essay will always stay with me longer than fiction. Not that it's a contest, but it's true. It's why as I pack up my apartment I'm keeping so many of my books about sex, ones that are one year old, five years old, ten years old, fifteen years old. Because they are still important to me. And that's what I hope this book is: important. Provocative. Powerful. I hope that even though it has the word "2013" in its title that in 2023 and 2033 and 2043 people will maybe still pick it up and find something useful in it, though I hope by then we are more evolved on topics the book covers, like polyamory and sex work and bisexuality and BDSM.

Seth Fischer writes his coming out as bisexual essay "Notes From A Unicorn:" "I wanted to join a team so I wouldn’t have to answer any more questions, so I wouldn’t have to say that I preferred one or the other or whether I exist or if I’m a unicorn or how I can ever hope to be monogamous if I’m attracted to more than one gender." To me, even though his piece is about being bisexual, it speaks to anyone who's ever felt alienated about their sexuality, who's felt like they have to pick between sexual orientation A and B, fetish X and kink Y, identity 1 and identity 2. I'd venture that almost all, if not all, of the pieces in the book are similarly open to adaptation--about a very specific topic, but also about more. For instance, my essay "Baby Talk" is about age play, but it's also about exploring any fetish or fantasy with a new partner. I wrote in that essay:

One of the things I enjoy most about sex is the sense of connection where nothing is held back. If agreeing to be his “mommy” would get me to that place, I was game. I had long been a champion of people baring their deepest fantasies. You can’t do that in a half-assed way.

I love that the pieces in the book span so many topics, and explore business (such as Andy Isaacson's "Can a Better Vibrator Inspire an Age of Great American Sex?" to aging (Alex Morris's "Very Legal: Sex and Love in Retirement") to Tim Tebow, sports and virginity (Jon Pressick's "Holy Fuck: The Fourth-and-Long Virgin"). They look at worst case scenarios, best case scenarios, and plenty of scenarios in between. In this, I find them extremely human. I guess all writing is human, but sometimes writing about sex tries too hard to prove a point, and doesn't allow the nuances and complexities. I love the nuances and complexities, the moments of hesitation and complication, the places where sex meets so many other areas of our lives. A few touched on in the book are family, public spaces, sexual subcultures, the law, death. I write in the introduction: "Part of why sex writing is so vital is because we all have things to learn—about ourselves, and about others. While this book will not teach you how to have sex, you will learn about what motivates others in their sexual desires, whether to engage in multiple relationships, perform sex work, come out as bisexual, build increasingly advanced vibrators, or more." I hope you will take a peek at this book, or more than a peek. Yes, like many Best Of collections, most of these pieces are reprints, but I hope that even if you've read them before, they are worth rereading. I think they complement each other well, and also leave room for the endless pieces about sex written and yet to be written.



Best Sex Writing 2013 table of contents

Foreword by Carol Queen
Introduction by Rachel Kramer Bussel

Live Nude Models Jonathan Lethem
Can a Better Vibrator Inspire an Age of Great American Sex? Andy Isaacson
Sex by Numbers Rachel Swan
Very Legal: Sex and Love in Retirement Alex Morris
Notes from a Unicorn Seth Fischer
Rest Stop Confidential Conner Habib
When On Fire Island…A Polyamorous Disaster Nicholas Garnett
Cherry Picking Julia Serano
Holy Fuck Jon Pressick
Baby Talk Rachel Kramer Bussel
Dear John Lori Selke
Sex by Any Other Name Insiya Ansari
Enhancing Masochism Patrick Califia
Ghosts: All My Men Are Dead Carol Queen
Happy Hookers Melissa Gira Grant
Christian Conservatives vs. Sex: The Long War Over Reproductive Freedom Rob Boston
Porn Defends the Money Shot Dennis Romero
Lost Boys Kristen Hinman
The Original Blonde Neil Gabler

Purchase Best Sex Writing 2013 from:

Amazon

Kindle (ebook)

Bn.com

Nook (ebook)

Books a Million

Indiebound (independent bookstores)

Cleis Press

Virtual book tour for Best Sex Writing 2013

Tomorrow kicks off the virtual book tour for my editorial pride and joy, Best Sex Writing 2013: The State of Today's Sexual Culture. I'll be updating the blog links below as they post about the book. The book has an amazing lineup of writers, not just because you probably know many of their names, but because they go there in terms of saying things we aren't "supposed to" say about sex. It's been a great honor to edit this book and series and I am still a little bit "pinch me" over how this edition turned out. See the full table of contents at bestsexwriting2013.com and if you also are a fan of this book, I'd love it if you'd review/rate it on Amazon and/or Goodreads. Your support means everything, especially with a book like this.



May 7 Lusty Lady

May 8 Naked at Our Age (Joan Price)

May 9 SEXPress

May 10 Pleasure Mechanics

May 13 The Gestalt Boudoir

May 14 Hunting for Sex

May 15 Geeky Nymph

May 16 Pleasure Saucer Podcast

May 17 Greta Christina's Blog

May 20 Feminist Allies

May 21 Victoria Blisse

May 22 My Whole Sex Life

May 23 Tamsin's Superotica

May 24 Danielle Paradis/Dispatches from Paradis

May 27 Justine Musk

May 28 Sunny Megatron

May 29 D.L. King

May 30 Julian Arancia/Me, My Life, and My Thoughts

May 31 Jade Melisande

June 3 The Sexy Feminist

June 4 Clitical

Bloggers wanted for Best Sex Writing 2013 virtual book tour

Want a free copy of Best Sex Writing 2013 and to join the conversation about sexuality and culture? Sign up to be part of the virtual book tour. Your blog can be about anything, as long as you agree to post on your assigned date about the book. You'll get a copy (print or ebook) and I'll link back to you. Interested? Email bestsexwriting2013 at gmail.com with "Tour" in the subject line and your URL and name and mailing address (for print copy) or that you want an ebook copy and Cleis Press will be in touch about your date and posting instructions. For those who just want to read the book, it's for sale right now on Kindle and Nook and will be in print very soon.



Foreword Carol Queen
Introduction: A Different Kind of Sexual Education

Live Nude Models Jonathan Lethem
Can a Better Vibrator Inspire an Age of Great American Sex? Andy Isaacson
Sex by Numbers Rachel Swan
Very Legal: Sex and Love in Retirement Alex Morris
Notes from a Unicorn Seth Fischer
Rest Stop Confidential Conner Habib
When on Fire Island… A Polyamorous Disaster Nicholas Garnett
Cherry Picking Julia Serano
Holy Fuck: The Fourth-and-Long Virgin Jon Pressick
Baby Talk Rachel Kramer Bussel
Dear John Lori Selke
Sex by Any Other Name Insiya Ansari
Enhancing Masochism Patrick Califia
Submissive: A Personal Manifesto Madison Young
Ghosts: All My Men Are Dead Carol Queen
Happy Hookers Melissa Gira Grant
Christian Conservatives vs. Sex: The Long War Over Reproductive Freedom Rob Boston
Porn Defends the Money Shot Dennis Romero
Lost Boys Kristen Hinman
The Original Blonde Neal Gabler

Introduction: A Different Kind of Sexual Education

As editor of the Best Sex Writing series, and a writer about sex in both fiction and nonfiction forms, I’m privileged to hear from lots of people about sexuality, whether asking for advice or wanting to talk about the big issues of the day, whether that means attacks on birth control or Fifty Shades of Grey. The biggest thing I’ve learned, though, is pretty basic: we are all always learning. You can indeed get a PhD in sexology, like foreword author and contributor Carol Queen did, but that doesn’t mean you simply give up and assume you know everything about the wide world of sexuality and sexual variation. You can’t; it’s impossible.

Part of why sex writing is so vital is because we all have things to learn—about ourselves, and about others. While this book will not teach you how to have sex, you will learn about what motivates others in their sexual desires, whether to engage in multiple relationships, perform sex work, come out as bisexual, build increasingly advanced vibrators, or more.

I think it’s safe to say that whether this is the first book about sex you’ve ever read or the thousandth, you will learn something about what makes people tick, about sexual desire and sexual community. The latter is as important to me as the former, because it’s within the community of sex writers, educators and activists that I’ve carved out a place for myself as a bisexual, feminist, kinky sex writer. Lori Selke writes in her open letter, “Dear John,” about feeling disillusioned by the judgments being passed around her local leather community. “See, my kinky leather identity grew firmly out of my queerness and my feminism. All three of those elements are important and in some ways inseparable. It’s important to me to pursue the sort of social justice that ensures that our consensual relationships are someday entered into from a place of roughly equal societal power. Without that aim, we’re simply perpetuating oppression.” I suspect many people aren’t aware of just how committed to their ideals those in the kink and leather communities are. To assume it’s all about whips, chains, bondage and spanking is to miss the point—of course it’s about those things, but it’s also about much more.

The educational lessons here are often much more personal. When Conner Habib opens his essay “Rest Stop Confidential” with, “I was fifteen the first time I found out that men have sex in public,” I must admit that, at thirty-seven, I have only seen men having sex in public at parties specifically designed for sex. The first of many firsts Julia Serano details in “Cherry Picking” begins, “The first time I learned about sex was in fifth grade.” We are all both capable of learning more, and impacted by what we did—or didn’t—learn about sex at a young age.

Some of what you’re about to read is sad or scary or disheartening; I cannot promise you a book of shiny happy sex bouncing off every page, because that is not the world we live in. There are laws to fight against, AIDS plaguing the gay community, internalized oppression, questions that may have no answers, or multiple answers. I didn’t select these essays and articles because they purport to have all the answers.

Last year’s guest judge, the noted sexual commentator Susie Bright, when asked about The Guardian’s Bad Sex award, responded, “There is no art without sex.” I think the same could be said for the news; sex is not a topic squirreled away on the back page of the paper; it’s on the front page, in the sports section, the business section, the editorials. It’s covered in fashion magazines and newsweeklies. In Best Sex Writing 2013, hot topics include New York Jets quarterback Tim Tebow’s virginity and the laws governing condom use in porn.

Sex education remains at the forefront of the news and continues to be “controversial,” though, like birth control, another political battleground of late in the United States, I would think it would be a no-brainer. Yet I can still read articles like one in Time about the Mississippi county, Tunica, with the highest teen pregnancy that is only recently getting on board with sex ed, via a law mandating it do so. “During the four years Ashley McKay attended Rosa Fort High School in Tunica, Miss., her sex education consisted mainly of an instructor listing different sexually transmitted diseases. ‘There was no curriculum,’ she says. ‘The teacher, an older gentleman who was also the football coach, would tell us, “If you get AIDS, you’re gonna die. Pick out your casket, because you’re gonna die.”’”

We should not be reading articles like this any longer, but we are, and it’s not just youths who are in dire need of sex education. Just today, I received an email from an acquaintance asking if I could chat because, “I have found a wonderful woman with whom i have begun to explore areas of my sexuality i really have never followed through on or even verbally fantasized about.” He has questions. So do many people, but they don’t know where to turn.

This book doesn’t purport to have all the answers, and is likely to raise many discussions and propose multiple answers to questions about open relationships, prostitution, sexual orientation and other topics. It cannot take the place of talking about sex—with your lovers, friends, parents, children, neighbors and coworkers. Those shouldn’t be the same conversations, but they can exist, and by making sex a topic we don’t shy away from, we start to educate ourselves about what others are thinking, feeling and doing. So I hope that you won’t read this book and keep it tucked away on your bookshelf (or e-reader); while you are more than welcome to do so, I hope you will introduce some part of what you’ve read into a conversation, take it off the page and into real life. You will very likely learn something, and that is a process that can easily snowball; there’s never an end, because it’s a lifelong process, one that I look forward to every day.

Rachel Kramer Bussel
New York City

Knife play story "Beneath My Skin" by Shanna Germain rejected twice before landing in Women in Lust

I'm loving all the posts on the Women in Lust virtual book tour, and this one by author Shanna Germain really stands out. I know I'm rarely one to post about rejected stories, because I'd rather tell you about the ones that made it, the little story that could, the story that you can read, rather than one living only on my computer. So I think that's brave, and bold, and powerful. And, I hope, encouraging (have I mentioned that I very much need stories for my female submission anthology? Like, ASAP, and I truly need stories just like this: bold, powerful, take no prisoners, daring, creative, unlike anything else in my submissions inbox, which may or may not be helpful, but that's the thing - don't write it for me, write it for you, and make it an amazing, startlingly new and creative take on the topic, and it'll find a home). She writes:

Wouldn’t you like to know my real kinks? My real interest in sex and writing?

This story actually answers that. All of my stories answer that, if you read them carefully. Don’t look at the small truths. Not at the knife. Not at the kiss. Not at the way his hand moves across her skin.

Look at the emotional truths.

Here are some hints: No, it’s not about knife-play. No, it’s not about getting fucked while having a blade at my back. No, it’s not about having an orgasm.

It’s about opening ourselves to something greater than us. It’s about pushing past our safe places and seeing what lies beyond. It’s about taking the ‘real’ and turning it into something more, something that allows us to see the larger essence of our hearts and minds. It’s about touch and connection and those rare, precious moments where life splits us open and lets us be free

You can read an excerpt of "Beneath My Skin" at Smutketeers and a further one at Shanna's blog. I'm proud of Women in Lust because for the book, I do think it's an edgy story that may be too much for some readers, but for some readers, I hope, it'll be perfect, and for others it may lead them to an understanding of sexuality and humanity that they didn't have before.



Order Women in Lust from:

Amazon

Kindle edition (ebook)

Barnes & Noble

Nook (ebook)

Powells

Books-a-Million

IndieBound (search for your local indie bookstore)

Cleis Press

Happy November! Kindle and Nook $9.99 ebook versions of Women in Lust are out now!

November is one of my favorite months, not just because the 10th is my birthday (and National Vanilla Cupcake Day), but because, in this case, it's auguring good things. Like the ebook release of Women in Lust for Kindle and Nook and the kickoff of the virtual book tour! It's also National Novel Writing Month, which I encourage you to participate in. I'm doing it this year and extra determined to finish.

Also, you can win prizes, including a copy of Women in Lust, a vibrator and a fun to-be-determined sex toy by following along and picking my brain in the November 8th, 7-8 pm EdenFantasys (@Edenfantasys) Twitter chat with me (@raquelita), hashtag #womeinlust. Also next Tuesday, November 8th, Women in Lust is the subject of the Naked Reader Book Club. Join in!


(fyi, you can't search inside from my blog but you can by clicking through to Amazon)

Free book offer: Women in Lust virtual book tour bloggers and Amazon reviewers wanted

You get a free book and write about it in some way (a review, excerpt, interview, musing on "women in lust") and post the cover and 2 links. Want in? Email womeninlust at gmail.com with "Tour" in the subject line and your name, mailing address and URL, and you'll get a date assigned to you. For those who don't want to be part of the tour but still want a free book, you can sign up to be an Amazon.com reviewer and get a copy hot off the press (literally before Amazon even stocks it), in return for posting a review on Amazon.com by November 30th; you'd receive it by the 2nd or 3rd week of November. Same deal, just email womeninlust at gmail.com with "Amazon" in the subject and name and mailing address (for that one you must be in the US cause I'm mailing those out myself). Thank you!



Order Women in Lust from:

Amazon

Kindle (link TK)

B&N

Powell's

IndieBound (order from your local bookstore)

Cleis Press

Ladies Who Lust

Lust. It’s one of those four-letter words that trips off the tongue. When I say it out loud, it makes my lips want to curve into a smile. Lust is more than simple arousal; it is the force that makes us not just turned on, but craving a certain person (or people).

I used to write a sex column called “Lusty Lady,” named after the famed strip club, but somehow lusty, rhyming as it does with busty, sounds a bit like a joke, an added bit of humor, which is how our culture often treats sex. Lust, though, is different; it’s intense, overpowering. While in real life we may not always act every time lust calls to us, in fiction, we can abandon the safety of propriety and seek out lust and sex wherever we find them.

The characters in Women in Lust may vary in the objects of their lust, and how they go about acting on their urge, but what connects them is that pure impulse for a lover. Sometimes he is someone she knows well, is married to or dating; in other stories, he is a stranger, and is sexy precisely because he represents the unknown. Women also lust after other women here, as in Kayar Silkenvoice’s Japanese happy ending massage story, “Cherry Blossom,” and while we only hear one side of the story, I’d like to think the working woman is doing more than just her job. In addition to the culture clash, there’s the joy of throwing caution to the wind while on vacation, using travel to broaden one’s sexual horizons. Whether watching a lover playing guitar, using a webcam, going out for a smoke or simply embracing a chance encounter, these women seize the opportunities presented to them, and savor the lovers who teach them about themselves and help them open up to new sensual possibilities. Sometimes that means looking at the man they live with in a new light, and other times that means something much naughtier. Either way, their lust is a valued part of their lives, not a pesky afterthought or to-do list item on “date night.”

The objects of their lust are not always the “right” person. In “Rain,” a woman falls for her best friend’s boyfriend, one of the ultimate dating taboos, but she goes for it. Sometimes the desire itself, the way it can be used to tease and taunt, as in Charlotte Stein’s “Guess,” is maddening, but we embrace our lusts even when they are maddening, even when they make us do things we might otherwise consider reckless.

For every woman here who can locate her lust on the map of her body, who zeros in on her target and goes for it, there is another who is opened up to her lust by a lover, whether it’s Jen Cross’s narrator pondering what it was, exactly, her orally generous long-ago lover got out of being between her legs. The first words of Shanna Germain’s powerfully kinky “Beneath My Skin” are “I’m afraid,” to which her lover, Kade, responds, “You should be.” Fear can be a powerful motivator and, crossed with lust, can lead to explosive results.

Whether discovering the joy of a younger man, not to mention some delicious pudding, in “Comfort Food,” by Donna George Storey, or taking sex and bondage into the great outdoors in “Something to Ruin” by Amelia Thornton, these women indulge in new ways of getting off and pushing the limits of their lust. Thornton writes: “Despite my longing, there was still part of me that wanted to protest, to tell him to cut me loose, to run wildly through the forest back to the safety of our picnic blanket, but to me that is the beauty of rope: to desire escape but to willingly be imprisoned, to feel the pressure of something that prevents my movement, yet to know there is no place that I feel safer than when trapped like this.” She captures the excitement of giving in to a dominant lover, even when there is a small part of the narrator that is unsure, for that is precisely the part that fuels her desire. This story captures the true power that lies in submission and the many joys it can bring. In “Her, Him and Them,” by Aimee Pearl, the narrator submits to various lovers who question her and push her not only to be the best sub she can be, but to figure out why, exactly, she likes the thrill of submission and service.

I hope these stories inspire some lusty days and nights for you, as they’ have for me.

Rachel Kramer Bussel
New York City

Introduction: Ladies Who Lust

Naughty Thoughts Portia Da Costa
Guess Charlotte Stein
Her, Him, and Them Aimee Pearl
Bayou Clancy Nacht
Smoke Elizabeth Coldwell
Bite Me Lucy Hughes
Ride a Cowboy Del Carmen
Queen of Sheba Jen Cross
Hot for Teacher Rachel Kramer Bussel
Unbidden Brandy Fox
Something to Ruin Amelia Thornton
Guitar Hero Kin Fallon
Ode to a Masturbator Aimee Herman
Orchid Jacqueline Applebee
Cherry Blossom Kayar Silkenvoice
Rain Olivia Archer
The Hard Way Justine Elyot
Strapped K D Grace
Beneath My Skin Shanna Germain
Comfort Food Donna George Storey

24 spots left on the Women in Lust November virtual book tour

My 40th anthology, Women in Lust, will be out in October! Want to be part of November's virtual book tour? There are 24 spots left. Email womeninlust at gmail.com with "Tour" in the subject line and include your name, mailing address and URL and you'll get assigned a date and be signed up to receive the book in mid-October (instructions on posting will be sent in a few weeks). Thank you!



Order Women in Lust from:

Amazon

Kindle (link TK)

B&N

Powell's

IndieBound (order from your local bookstore)

Cleis Press

Ladies Who Lust

Lust. It’s one of those four-letter words that trips off the tongue. When I say it out loud, it makes my lips want to curve into a smile. Lust is more than simple arousal; it is the force that makes us not just turned on, but craving a certain person (or people).

I used to write a sex column called “Lusty Lady,” named after the famed strip club, but somehow lusty, rhyming as it does with busty, sounds a bit like a joke, an added bit of humor, which is how our culture often treats sex. Lust, though, is different; it’s intense, overpowering. While in real life we may not always act every time lust calls to us, in fiction, we can abandon the safety of propriety and seek out lust and sex wherever we find them.

The characters in Women in Lust may vary in the objects of their lust, and how they go about acting on their urge, but what connects them is that pure impulse for a lover. Sometimes he is someone she knows well, is married to or dating; in other stories, he is a stranger, and is sexy precisely because he represents the unknown. Women also lust after other women here, as in Kayar Silkenvoice’s Japanese happy ending massage story, “Cherry Blossom,” and while we only hear one side of the story, I’d like to think the working woman is doing more than just her job. In addition to the culture clash, there’s the joy of throwing caution to the wind while on vacation, using travel to broaden one’s sexual horizons. Whether watching a lover playing guitar, using a webcam, going out for a smoke or simply embracing a chance encounter, these women seize the opportunities presented to them, and savor the lovers who teach them about themselves and help them open up to new sensual possibilities. Sometimes that means looking at the man they live with in a new light, and other times that means something much naughtier. Either way, their lust is a valued part of their lives, not a pesky afterthought or to-do list item on “date night.”

The objects of their lust are not always the “right” person. In “Rain,” a woman falls for her best friend’s boyfriend, one of the ultimate dating taboos, but she goes for it. Sometimes the desire itself, the way it can be used to tease and taunt, as in Charlotte Stein’s “Guess,” is maddening, but we embrace our lusts even when they are maddening, even when they make us do things we might otherwise consider reckless.

For every woman here who can locate her lust on the map of her body, who zeros in on her target and goes for it, there is another who is opened up to her lust by a lover, whether it’s Jen Cross’s narrator pondering what it was, exactly, her orally generous long-ago lover got out of being between her legs. The first words of Shanna Germain’s powerfully kinky “Beneath My Skin” are “I’m afraid,” to which her lover, Kade, responds, “You should be.” Fear can be a powerful motivator and, crossed with lust, can lead to explosive results.

Whether discovering the joy of a younger man, not to mention some delicious pudding, in “Comfort Food,” by Donna George Storey, or taking sex and bondage into the great outdoors in “Something to Ruin” by Amelia Thornton, these women indulge in new ways of getting off and pushing the limits of their lust. Thornton writes: “Despite my longing, there was still part of me that wanted to protest, to tell him to cut me loose, to run wildly through the forest back to the safety of our picnic blanket, but to me that is the beauty of rope: to desire escape but to willingly be imprisoned, to feel the pressure of something that prevents my movement, yet to know there is no place that I feel safer than when trapped like this.” She captures the excitement of giving in to a dominant lover, even when there is a small part of the narrator that is unsure, for that is precisely the part that fuels her desire. This story captures the true power that lies in submission and the many joys it can bring. In “Her, Him and Them,” by Aimee Pearl, the narrator submits to various lovers who question her and push her not only to be the best sub she can be, but to figure out why, exactly, she likes the thrill of submission and service.

I hope these stories inspire some lusty days and nights for you, as they’ have for me.

Rachel Kramer Bussel
New York City



Introduction: Ladies Who Lust

Naughty Thoughts Portia Da Costa
Guess Charlotte Stein
Her, Him, and Them Aimee Pearl
Bayou Clancy Nacht
Smoke Elizabeth Coldwell
Bite Me Lucy Hughes
Ride a Cowboy Del Carmen
Queen of Sheba Jen Cross
Hot for Teacher Rachel Kramer Bussel
Unbidden Brandy Fox
Something to Ruin Amelia Thornton
Guitar Hero Kin Fallon
Ode to a Masturbator Aimee Herman
Orchid Jacqueline Applebee
Cherry Blossom Kayar Silkenvoice
Rain Olivia Archer
The Hard Way Justine Elyot
Strapped K D Grace
Beneath My Skin Shanna Germain
Comfort Food Donna George Storey

Get Fast Girls for only $8.04 now at Amazon

I don't know why but my hot anthology Fast Girls: Erotica for Women is only $8.04 right now on Amazon.com - their prices fluctuate so if you've been wanting it, please check it out. I'm reposting the dates of the virtual book tour below and will soon post some highlights
because people (men and women) really loved it!



Fast Girls: Erotica for Women virtual book tour

August 1 Minivan Libertine
August 2 From Socks to Fedora, It's Jeremy
August 3 Hard and Fast
August 4 The Dirty Geisha
August 5 Maneater
August 6 Modern Courtesan by YS
August 7 I Want Your Sex podcast
August 8 Dangerous Lilly
August 9 The Chicktionary
August 10 Rubicon Reader
August 11 Erobintica
August 12 RWA-NYC Blogging In The Big Apple
August 13 Lolita Wolf's Predictions and Predilections
August 14 Jenny Gardiner
August 15 The Four Horsewomen of the Metropolis
August 16 R.S. Bohn, Writer in Residence
August 17 The Time Has Passed So Easily
August 18 Naked at Our Age
August 19 Julian Arancia
August 20 Future Feminist Librarian-Activist
August 21 Sharazade
August 22 Writing Romance in the Big Apple!
August 23 Lusty Literati
August 24 Petals in Ink
August 25 Latina Book Club
August 26 Exotic Fair of a Wandering Muse
August 27 Jenny on the Page
August 28 Kinky World
August 29 Funky Brown Chick
August 30 The Green Light District
August 31 Wonderland





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 (listen to this story read by Mia on the I Want Your Sex podcast)
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 Fast Girls: Erotica for Women

I'll be posting some of my persona favorites from the tour, but check out the great blog posts (all will be filled in by September 1st). Thank you to all the participating bloggers!

Follow these blogs every day in August for reviews, excerpts, interviews and more from Fast Girls: Erotica for Women.



August 1 Minivan Libertine
August 2 From Socks to Fedora, It's Jeremy
August 3 Hard and Fast
August 4 The Dirty Geisha
August 5 Maneater
August 6 The Luscious Life (Yolanda Shoshana)
August 7 I Want Your Sex podcast
August 8 Dangerous Lilly
August 9 The Chicktionary
August 10 Rubicon Reader
August 11 Erobintica
August 12 RWA-NYC Blogging In The Big Apple
August 13 Lolita Wolf's Predictions and Predilections
August 14 Jenny Gardiner
August 15 The Four Horsewomen of the Metropolis
August 16 R.S. Bohn, Writer in Residence
August 17 The Time Has Passed So Easily
August 18 Naked at Our Age
August 19 Julian Arancia
August 20 Future Feminist Librarian-Activist
August 21 Sharazade
August 22 Molly's Diamonds
August 23 Lusty Literati
August 24 Petals in Ink
August 25 Latina Book Club
August 26 Exotic Fair of a Wandering Muse
August 27 Jenny on the Page
August 28 Kinky World
August 29 Funky Brown Chick
August 30 The Green Light District
August 31 Wonderland

Bonus!

September 1 Lise Horton

Bloggers wanted: Fast Girls: Erotica for Women virtual book tour

In August I'm going to do another virtual book tour, this one for Fast Girls: Erotica for Women. All info about the book is below. If you'd like to be on the tour, send your URL and mailing address to fastgirlsantho at gmail.com with "Book Tour" in subject line. You will get a free copy of the book and will post about it, either a review, interview, excerpt or musings, and will post the cover, Amazon link and blog link. Click here for an example of how it works. Looking for a range of blogs, and men/non-female identified folks are welcome. The cover says "Erotica for Women" but really it's erotica for everyone, by female authors, with female protagonists. Anyway, email if you're interested. Books will be sent via media mail in mid-June.

I also ordered 7,000 (I know, I got a little carried away) postcards from Mypostcardprinting.com for Fast Girls: Erotica for Women. If you'd like one, send your US mailing address (sorry, can only afford to send to US) to fastgirlsantho at gmail.com with "Postcard" in subject line.



Fast Girls: Erotica for Women is edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel and will be published in July 2010 by Cleis Press

Pre-order Fast Girls: Erotica for Women from:

Amazon.com

Kindle edition

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

Bloggers wanted for Please, Sir virtual book tour

I'm doing a 31-day (May) virtual book tour for Please, Sir: Erotic Stories of Female Submission. Want to be part of it? We have 30 spots left! Email pleaseantho at gmail.com with your URL and any preferred dates. Bloggers get a free copy of the book (if they're in the US, sorry, can't afford to send overseas) and are asked to post the cover and link to Amazon and the Please, Sir blog and can either review the book, post an excerpt, interview me or whatever else you'd like. Books will be mailed out in mid-April so I know that may not give the earlier bloggers much time to read it but I'll get them out as soon as I can.

Everyone else: I'm getting postcards for this book very soon and buttons and you can get a FREE copy at my signings (autographing area and in booth) at BEA if you're attending. If not, I should have copies hopefully as early as Nerd Sex Night (April 15th) at In The Flesh. Will post as soon as it's for sale! I'm shooting the book trailer April 3rd/4th and really doing a big push, so if you know someone who might like it, please let them know.



Introduction: Risk and Reward

Anticipation Shanna Germain
Because He Can Elizabeth Coldwell
Avery Says Sommer Marsden
The Sub Fairy Mercy Loomis
I Breathe Your Name Tess Danesi
Long Time Gone Heidi Champa
Power over Power Emerald
Knot Here! Yolanda West
Veronica’s Body Isabelle Gray
The Negotiation Remittance Girl
A Night at the Opera Evan Mora
Mommy’s Boy Doug Harrison
No Good Deed Alison Tyler
Masochist on Vacation Aimee Pearl
Lil’ Pet Brat, aka Lily Guangli Kissa Starling
Pleasure Keeper Charlotte Stein
Welcome to the World Ariel Graham
Stroke Lisabet Sarai
Sunday in the Study Justine Elyot
Walking the Sub Salome Wilde
Just What She Needs Donna George Storey
Your Hand on My Neck Rachel Kramer Bussel

Introduction: Risk and Reward

If you ask me, submission is an art form. It requires dedication, focus, commitment and desire--and there’s no single way of doing it. It’s about unlocking something within yourself so you can reach beyond your normal limits, exposing your body and soul in order to go somewhere you cannot get to alone.

I had a lover who always told me that the key to life is “High risk, high reward.” The same is true about kink, and this is evident throughout the stories in Please, Sir, which explores female submission and male dominance from the sub’s point of view. When these characters take risks, they are rewarded…even when those rewards look like “punishment.” They are rewarded in all kinds of ways, from being bound to being praised to being choked, spanked or put on display. They are rewarded by being tested again and again.

The women in these stories approach submission in different ways. Some, like Tess Danesi’s protagonist in “I Breathe Your Name,” live on the edge of fear and get off on pushing the limits with their masters, though they don’t always know where their boldness will take them. Some of these women are drawn to the charisma of a born leader, one like Krav Maga instructor, Dominic, in Emerald’s “Power over Power.” Jackie, his student, has been watching and fantasizing about him, but when he finally acknowledges her sexually, she is caught off guard:

I trembled, wanting to touch him but feeling frozen. Still looking at the ground, I nodded.

With characteristic efficiency of motion, he reached with one finger and pulled my chin up. A shudder ran through me as I felt his poweræthe power I saw in every move he made, that he exuded at the front of the class, that he spoke when he told us what we were capable of, that coiled and expelled from him whenever he slammed any part of his body into the punching bag. This was the power that lived unquestioned within him, so seamlessly that it was as though it wouldn’t exist without him.

Others don’t expect to be getting kinky at all, like the “Mommy’s Boy” in Doug Harrison’s story, where tables get turned in a most delightful way. In Lisabet Sarai’s “Stroke,” a woman risks getting kinky at work in order to realize her dream:

I just stood there, petrified by mingled fear and excitement. If anyone discovered us, I’d lose my job. I’d never work as a nurse again. Five years of education down the drain. But this might be my only chance. The chance to make my fantasies real.

The lesson there, and in all of these stories, is that there is risk involved in submission. I don’t mean the physical risks, but the emotional ones, the ones that require a leap of faith, a knowledge that what you are doing may unnerve you, confuse you and scare you, even while it makes you wet and eager and ready for more. As we see in Shanna Germain’s opening story, “Anticipation,” merely thinking about what he might do next, playing with power in one’s own mind, can yield profound results:

I can no longer breathe, much less make a noise of want. This is what he does to me, every day: whips me into a frenzy of words that makes me miss him more than I have the power to say, that makes me so wet that if he were here, I’d fuck him right now, bent over this table, with all these people watching, groaning his name with every thrust. I’d be begging him to fuck me, beat me, make me come with the kind of orgasm that makes everything else disappear.

I have to go, back to the work that calls, the work that keeps me here in this foreign and fuckless place, but I don’t want to.

Some, like Kissa Starling’s heroine, are brats, and enjoy pushing their masters to the limit. Some don’t deliberately provoke anyone, but wind up bent over anyway. However they come to their submission (and come from their submission), their journey is one charged with the spark of passing power between two people, of welcoming the risk of submission and all it entails.

I like the women in this collection, and not just because they remind me of me when I’m reveling in being slapped across the face, forced to the ground, utterly at my chosen lover’s (or master’s, or partner’s or top’s) mercy. It’s not just the actions here that are familiar, but the reasoning, the way they crave and cringe in the face of the power they are claiming, and the power they are giving up. They are smart enough to know that kink is not about simply embracing one’s fears, but grappling with them, battling with them, taking risks and seeing if, in fact, they yield very sexy rewards.

Rachel Kramer Bussel
New York City