My story "Crossed," inspired by Dark Odyssey

I started writing my story "Crossed" while in the lobby of the hotel for Dark Odyssey earlier this year. I found the atmosphere ripe for writing, and below is the beginning of what I came up with. Something I talk about in my Erotica 101 workshops (hoping to be teaching more soon!) is using your surroundings as writing fodder, whether that means a desk, a bed, a kitchen, a moving vehicle. Obviously, a sex conference is a place that's ripe for this kind of exercise. I didn't do much there, save for spanking a few people (that was interesting in and of itself though) but I found the people around me, the atmosphere, and the furniture all of interest.

I parlayed my story into a finished piece that's just been published in Hurts So Good: Unrestrained Erotica, edited by Alison Tyler and just published by Cleis Press.

Crossed
by Rachel Kramer Bussel

I’m strung up on a St. Andrew’s cross, blindfolded, my breasts pressing through the space of the X as I face the wall, my back and ass exposed to any and all who want to look. And though my eyes may be covered, there are plenty who want to look. I can hear them chattering behind me while my husband, Chuck, readies his implements. I’m nervous, but the kind of nervous that makes my pussy tighten, my nipples harden. I like being nervous, I like trying new things. I like being pushed to my limits.

There’s a leather ball gag shoved in my mouth. I happen to know it’s purple, but only because Chuck told me after he’d blindfolded me. He bought it especially for me--large. I know because he used to use a smaller one on his ex, but he told me I not only have a bigger mouth, but I’m a bigger brat, and I needed more of a challenge. I’m such a competitive, horny slut that hearing this only made me open wide as could be. We both have mixed feelings about gagsæat the right time, there is nothing hotter than hearing a man or woman scream in ecstasy as she gets beaten in all the right ways. Those piercing cries can fill a room and become the perfect soundtrack to sadism. But there is also a charm in watching someone struggle, in being aware that those screams exist but for the moment are locked away, known only to the one holding them in. It’s like watching a silent movie, and the noise has to transform into some other outlet of pain, be it a wrenched face or muscle spasms or twisting and writhing, all of which can send any true sadist into orbit.

I should know, because despite my current enjoyable predicament, I am oneæa sadist, I mean. See, the two of us are switches, meaning that we go both ways kinkwise. We can get off on being held down, controlled, dominated, as well as being the one inflicting the best kind of pain in the world. I have been known to grin as widely as a lottery winner when I’ve got him over my knee and am turning his wide ass a beautiful shade of rose. But I can’t deny that being strung up, immobilized, cuffed into place is also one of the most highly charged fantasies I have.
We like to spice things up to make sure our lives never get stagnant. So for the annual BDSM conference we attend in our nation’s capital, far from our small Iowa town, we decided to bet on who would be the top and who would be the bottom for this momentous occasion, and who could get the other off the fastest. Having been high school sweethearts and marrying at age 20 (we’re now 42), we know a lot about how to make each other come. But apparently he knew just that much more than me, clocking in at three minutes, six seconds, while it took me three minutes, twenty-two seconds to make Chuck come in my mouth. Not that I’m complaining—first because I love blowing him and would gladly linger on his cock for an hour; and second because now here I am, with a whole audience watching my still trim ass and strong back as I await what will happen next.

For the rest, check out Alison Tyler's just-released anthology Hurts So Good: Unrestrained Erotica.

And the table of contents, direct from the editor herself:

The Sound of One Hand Clapping Nikki Magennis
Sting Jessica Lennox
No Substitute for Experience James Walton Langolf
Panty Lines Sommer Marsden
Lucky N. T. Morley
Testing the Water Teresa Noelle Roberts
Never a Rookie Craig J. Sorensen
Provocation Jay Lawrence
I Promise to Do My Best Teresa Joseph
Party Manners Morgan Aine
Trophy Buckle Rakelle Valencia
Toying with Lily Mike Kimera
Turnaround A. D. R. Forte
Flick Chicks Allison Wonderland
Equilibrium Anna Black
First Time Since Xan West
Omega to Alpha Diana St. John
Crossed Rachel Kramer Bussel
My Mainstream Girlfriend Stephen Elliott
Rock Paper Scissors Shanna Germain
All in the Wrist Alison Tyler