Bisexual guy + voyeur girlfriend in "The Female Gaze" in Sweet Confessions

Lately I've had some kind of issue with writing. I miss it, I think about it a lot, I come up with scenarios and titles, I start stories and essays and pitches but...I don't seem to quite finish them. Maybe I start too many, or maybe I sleep too late, or maybe I just need a vacation. It sucks, though, because I know those ideas could've been worthy and would've had a good chance of being accepted. I do have a few stories pending that my fingers are (virtually) crossed on, but I don't want to keep making that mistake over and over. It does mean that the stories I have sold, I'm extra proud of. One is "The Female Gaze," which will be in Violet Blue's July 1st Cleis Press anthology Sweet Confessions: Erotic Fantasies for Couples.



Below is all the sneak peek you're gonna get...you should pre-order the book so you can read the whole thing! The title was inspired by the seemingly umpteen times I had to read people like Laura Mulvey and John Berger and Michel Foucault in my women's studies classes at UC Berkeley. My politics were very different but one thing I think I can safely say remains the same is that I'm not an academic and never will be. The male gaze is an interesting concept but I think when it comes to erotica and sexuality so many of these topics can be played with, fucked with, if you will. No offense if you dig those writers; my point was my title played on that, and also the idea that "men are more visual than women," which I think is such a broad stereotype as to be useless. I'm totally a voyeur, much, much more so than I am an exhibitionist. I also kindof wanted to turn the straight guy + bisexual women trope on its head a bit. And I did (well, you can be the judge).

The Female Gaze
by Rachel Kramer Bussel

Ever since they’d started dating three years before, Alex had been telling Rory about the boys who hit on him--the men, the bears, the daddies, the ones who looked like they were barely legal, the silver foxes, the shy boys who found in him a kinship, or just a look, a lust, an impulse. “The bartender comped my drink, then slipped me his number. Do I have to put on a wedding band before they get the picture?” he’d ask, chuckling as he kissed her lightly.

She ran her hands through his thick black hair before telling him that a wedding ring had never been a deterrent to men hooking up with other men. Maybe she should have been bothered by people checking out her man, the one who’d once been a model and graced ads for Calvin Klein underwear and Brooks Brothers before deciding that he really preferred environmental law. But she didn’t mind, not really, and certainly didn’t begrudge these men their hungry stares, their heartfelt offers. The women she could do without, the ones who blatantly clocked her man while they walked down the street, the ones who she could tell would him into the bathroom for a quickie if they thought they could get away with it. Rory wasn’t sure why, exactly, the former amused her and the latter annoyed her, but there it was. Actually, it was more than that; the thought of these men kissing her boyfriend, running their hands all over his firm, muscular body, swallowing his cock, plundering his bottom as she’d only fantasized about doing, well, it turned her on.

She couldn’t help but wonder if they saw in Alex the same things she did. Was that possible? Were they clairvoyant--or just horny? Was he just another pretty face or did they want him to speak to them in that booming, low voice? Did they want him to order them around, like she did? “Touch yourself for me. Show me how wet you are. Fuck yourself with the vibrator I got you.” Would Alex be a top or a bottom in bed with a man? The more these men propositioned him, the more Rory found these naughty images creeping into her mind when she was alone, when she let her fingers wander between her lips and her mind go free.

20,000+ views for Peep Show book trailer!

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



Some more info in case you missed it.



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

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

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

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

Introduction: Hungry Eyes and Sensual Show-Offs

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

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

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

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

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

Rachel Kramer Bussel
New York

It's available at:



Amazon



B&N



Powells



Borders



IndieBound



Cleis Press



or your local bookstore.

Peep Show author interview with Kissa Starling

How did you come up with the idea for your story “Busted” in Peep Show?

I have a wild imagination and I constantly think up story plots. Public displays of affection are sexy hot and I couldn't resist the urge to submit something for this anthology. The back row of a deep, dark movie theater or hotel by the hour? The only difference I see is the audience and I loved writing about how both sides would react to blatant, in your face, public sexual interactions.

Did the story change as you were writing it from your original conception of it?

I had most of the plot mapped out in my head before I ever tarted typing. I'm sure I embellished once the words transferred to the computer screen but my original thoughts stayed pretty much intact.

What’s your favorite line or paragraph from your story?

Lydia squirmed around on the seat, trying to make sure no bare skin touched the fabric. They weren’t the first to play like this and they certainly wouldn’t be the last. The thought of what might be on the stadium seats made her shudder. I like this look into Lydia's personality. She's getting ready to “perform” in front of an audience full of movie watchers but she takes the time to think of other exhibitionists that came there before her. The shudder is actually kind of funny considering she's preparing to do something similar to the crushed-velvet, theater seats.

Is your Peep Show story similar to or different from your usual erotic writing style?

I believe that readers will find this to be very similar to my usual erotic writing. A lot of my writing includes elements from the BDSM lifestyle. Voyeurism and exhibitionism are both rampant in dungeons all over the world where people practice the lifestyle so this wasn't a huge stretch for me.

What do you think is sexy about exhibitionism and/or voyeurism?

Exhibitionism is the freeing of ones mind from the preconceived sexual moral notions most of us are brought up with. There's nothing more exciting than looking up to find someone sharing a moment with you. Voyeurism is the flip side. Anyone who's watched an X-rated movie or spied on another couple's intimate moment is labeled a voyeur but what about those 'people watchers’ out there? I know a lot of people who go to the mall or out to dinner with the sole purpose of 'people watching.' It's a fun activity; I've done it myself. If those same people we love watching so much began kissing, groping or rubbing would we look away? Um, I can speak only for myself but of course not! Watching others gain pleasure from one another can bring the watcher his or her own pleasure and nothing is sexier than self pleasure.

If you care to answer, are you more of a voyeur, exhibitionist, or neither?

I definitely lean toward the exhibitionist end of the spectrum. I'm more of a get in the action type than a watcher but I can see the fun on both sides.

Do you think there’s something inherently exhibitionistic about writing, especially writing erotica?

There just may be. I mean it's not like an author can deny knowing about certain sexual ideas or proclivities if he or she writes about them. We authors insert a little part of ourselves into every story we create. Writing is often a form of anonymous exhibitionism and it can be truly titillating!

What are you working on next?

I am currently working on the fourth book in the Lifestyle Series for Red Rose Publishing. Chalan's Story is about a trainer and his pony. This is the first time I've written about the interesting fetish of pony play and I've learned so many things already. I hope to finish and submit it one before the end of the year.

I'm so glad to be a part of this anthology. Working with Cleis Press, and the famous Rachel Kramer Bussel, is fantastic! Learn more about me at www.kissastarling.com

Kissa Starling "Busted" (www.kissastarling.com) is a woman of many words. Her stories range from sweet to sizzling and everything in between. What started as a few words written in a diary has turned into a full-fledged writing career. She spends time each and every day dreaming up plots, researching settings, and dreaming up characters.

Below is an excerpt from "Busted" by Kissa Starling. To read the whole story, check out Peep Show: Erotic Tales of Voyeurs and Exhibitionists. Read excerpts from all 18 stories in Peep Show by clicking here.

“What are you wearing?” My man is such a perv. No wonder we get along so well.

“Everything that you requested. Why don’t you let me drive and then you can see what I’m wearing in person?” She laughed into the phone but Andy stayed silent. At times she wondered what she was doing with such a serious lover, but then she remembered the way he made her feel when he…

“Lydia. Are you there?”

“Yes, I’m here.” She squinted against the glare of the car traveling opposite her.

“Tell me what you’re wearing.” Lydia swerved to the right to avoid going over the yellow line.

“A short skirt…” So short that my ass peeks out.

“No panties, right?”

“Of course not. My black thin silk shirt…”

“No bra, right?” Why can’t I ever finish a sentence?

“No, Andy, no bra. Listen I have to drive.”

“Don’t hang up that phone.” Silence. “Tell me about your bush.”

“Again, just as you like it. I haven’t shaved in weeks.” Ten million men like bare pussy and I get an Indian guy who loves hair!

“Mmm. I can’t wait till you get here. You have me hot already. Now get off of that phone. You shouldn’t be talking and driving at the same time.” Just thinking of the night ahead spurred tingles throughout her body.

“Really? Well than maybe you shouldn’t be calling me. See you soon.”

Peep Show author interview with Jennifer Peters

Jennifer Peters

How did you come up with the idea for your story, “People in Glass Hotels,” in Peep Show?

Like my main character in “People in Glass Hotels,” I got the idea by watching Samantha Brown’s Passport to Europe on The Travel Channel. I was planning a trip to Germany—which I have yet to take—and the host of the show was visiting Berlin. The hotel she stayed in, the Velvet Hotel, had floor-to-ceiling windows, and the first thing I thought when I saw it was, “Wow, that’s an exhibitionist’s dream!”

Did the story change as you were writing it from your original conception of it?

Aside from the hotel, I didn’t really have a vision for the story beforehand. When I sat down to write it, I just started typing and let it go wherever it needed. By the time I reached the end, the only thing I knew had happened was that my couple had had sex in the hotel window; I had to go back and read it to find out the finer details of the story.

What’s your favorite line or paragraph from your story?

“Other times, I’d sit down at the computer with my vibrator and let it buzz deep inside my aching cunt while I looked at the hotel’s website, the exterior photos exciting me more than any of the real porn my husband liked to bring home.”

Is your Peep Show story similar to or different from your usual erotic writing style?

Since I spend most of my time writing and editing for adult magazines, my story for Peep Show was much less porny than my usual style.

What do you think is sexy about exhibitionism and/or voyeurism?

There’s something innately erotic about watching and being watched. Not just during intimate moments, but during even the most mundane minutes. Having someone look on as you eat lunch, read a book, pay for a purchase, it makes you wonder what they’re thinking and if those thoughts are dirty. And as the watcher, it’s easy to find ways to eroticize your subject’s every move. Especially if you don’t know the person, it’s exciting to imagine them in a new situation—or have them imagining you in that same position.

If you care to answer, are you more of a voyeur, exhibitionist, or neither? Do you think there’s something inherently exhibitionistic about writing, especially writing erotica?

I’m definitely more of a voyeur, but not just in the erotic sense; I’m a big fan of people-watching, and I love trying to guess who people are, what they do, where they’re going.

Writing erotica can be exhibitionistic if you let it, but for the most part my writing is entirely fictional—or based on someone else—so it doesn’t feel like exhibitionism. But on the occasion that there is a tinge of truth in my stories, I do feel incredibly exposed and can’t help looking around wondering if my editors know that a part of me is in the piece.

What are you working on next?

Most of my writing time is devoted to the family of Penthouse magazines and websites, where I’ve been for almost four years. Outside of that, I have no idea what’s going to happen next.

Hear Jennifer Peters read from "People in Glass Hotels" on Thursday, November 19th, 8-10 pm at In The Flesh Reading Series, Happy Ending Lounge, 302 Broome Street, NYC. Free, 21+, with 300 free cupcakes, click here for full details.

Below is an excerpt from "People in Glass Hotels" by Jennifer Peters. To read the whole story, check out Peep Show: Erotic Tales of Voyeurs and Exhibitionists. Read excerpts from all 18 stories in Peep Show by clicking here.

Felix made the next move, and before I could look away from the glass, he’d pushed me up against it. My breasts were flattened against the cool, smooth surface, and when I looked down, I could see several people looking back up at meæor at least I told myself they were all looking at me; it was hard to tell which window had captured their attention, and I was a bit distracted. I sighed as I stared down at them, and then Felix was pressing his body against mine, his stiff dick nestling between my asscheeks as he kissed my neck and ran his hands up and down my body, eventually wrapping his arms around me and letting his hands wander down toward my pussy. When a finger brushed my wet pussy lips, I moaned and pressed my forehead against the window, my eyes closed tight. When I opened them, however, there were still people staring up at me. And this time I was sure it was me they were watching, because the handful of people from a minute earlier were still there and were now joined by others, some of them pointing up at the window.

“They’re watching us,” I breathlessly told Felix, and he mumbled something in my ear that sounded a lot like, “No, they’re watching you,” though his voice was so rough with passion that it was hard to make out his exact words.

Craig J. Sorensen's first real-life Peep Show

Author Craig J. Sorensen wrote the following guest post.

Growing up in a small town in Idaho, I was raised to believe that the very notion of looking in on the private lives of others was unthinkable.

I secretly loved the idea, but in my little rural subdivision, I never worked up the nerve to try my hand at a peep. I didn’t want to chance getting caught. Everyone knew everyone, and that would be a heinous crime.

As such, my first peep show was as a teenager in New York City. We were on a high-school trip and we four potato-fed Idaho boys crept out of our room at a dive of a hotel near Times Square. Beyond the standard stops that they took students, Empire State building, Statue of Liberty, and so on, we found an adult bookstore.

Irresistible!

In the back of the store were booths with the little locks like one would see in a pay toilet. For the price of a quarter, I got my first Peep Show.

This was not a live peep (what did you expect for a quarter, kid?). But the experience was memorable. The show was the grandchild of the nickelodeon, and instead of watching through a small viewer akin to turn of the twentieth century stereopticon, it flashed on the door in front of me. The scene was dimly lit, matching the vibe of the small booth, and featured a young woman slowly working a glowing dildo over her body.

My friends saw much more graphic depictions of sex in their pay-by-the-pump shows.

I felt cheated. I’d never seen an adult movie and the show I saw seemed scarcely more graphic than a spread in Playboy or Penthouse, which was something I’d seen plenty of. But the image of this peep grew on me. In the end, I’m thankful that I saw the show that I did. The image was much more lasting than what was described by my friends. Maybe it says something that when a couple of them went back for another show, I didn’t.

Thirty years hence, I wonder how much of this brief film is as I remember it. Was her face so beautiful, in such rapture? Were the splashes of colors that emerged beside the roaming dildo in the red-is-grey-and-yellow-white surroundings as vivid? Was that crease down the middle of her stomach and the ridges bordering her ribs so tactile? Did her nipples rise so temptingly from her nubile breasts at the trace of the object?

Was her pubic hair, back lit by the dildo when it re-emerged from her folds really sweet-strawberry-blonde?

This was one of those slow-fuse lessons that erupts suddenly on growing perspective. I’ve been known to read the music to a song I’ve listened to for years only to find that certain notes or accents were only in my head.

I now wonder if the dildo even penetrated her body.

I now know that the magic in the peep is not just the show before us, but our investment in the tension it creates.

My story, “Ownership” from Rachel Kramer Bussel’s Peep Show examines the dynamic not only of peeping, but our investment in the peep, and how a peep becomes more vivid, like the light of the dildo along that girl-on-film’s body. The images that stay with us are often the surprise. The strange, magic moment that could never be repeated.

This is the essence of erotica – the essence of a peep.

Until next time, happy peeping!

Craig's bio from the book:

A country boy by breeding, Craig J. Sorensen “Ownership” got his first Peep Show at an adult bookstore in New York City during a senior trip in high school. He’s been peeping ever since, and parlays this fascination into his erotica. His work appears in anthologies and at various online locations including Clean Sheets.

Below is an excerpt from "Ownership" by Craig J. Sorsensen. Read the entire story in Peep Show: Erotic Tales of Voyeurs and Exhibitionists. Read excerpts from all 18 stories in Peep Show here.

Troy scooted closer to Kendall and handed the other beer to her.

Her eyes were the deep slate color of storm clouds when a small shaft of sunlight had managed to peek through. Her cheeks were bright red with a bit too much blush and her slim lips were slivers of vermilion. Soft blue eye shadow shimmered like mica in a cool riverbed.

Kendall’s body language remained shy, but her full hip pressed his. The aroma of mint and beer crossed the tiny divide between their faces. She accepted Troy’s first, soft kiss. He moved his lips slowly side to side against hers, and her mouth finally opened a little. His tongue could barely fit in. The tip of her tongue was rough and tasted of malt and honey. She received the kiss awkwardly but a deep moan promised great passion. Troy’s cock was hard as a girder. He kissed along her full cheek then gently licked her ear. She moaned, and her soft curves conformed to his skinny frame like a fitted sheath to a balanced blade.

Kendall pushed him gently away and took another drink. He nuzzled her neck until another breathy sigh issued from her chest. Troy unbuttoned the top button of her blouse. Her hand started to rise as if to push him away again, but relaxed and stroked his forearm as he nuzzled again and moved down the blouse. It fell open. Troy pulled off his T-shirt. Kendall combed his chest hairs with her fingers while he untucked her blouse and peeled it from her shoulders. “Umm, just because we took off our shirts—I mean, I don’t want you to think we’re going to—” Kendall covered her bra with one arm.

“Oh, sure, sure.” Troy smiled reassuringly. His cock pushed at his zipper like a lifer on the verge of a prison break. Troy was a skilled fisherman, and knew the essential value of patience.