Rachel Kramer Bussel's Blog, page 105

BUST-ed!

The February/March love and sex issue of BUST has an article called "The Thinking Girl's Guide to Erotica" by Rachel Friedman and here's part of what it says:

If you want to start boning up (har0 on quality erotica, you'll want to start with the work of some stellar modern female authors. Perhaps best known is Rachel Kramer Bussel, who edits and contributes to a slew of top-notch anthologies; aside from the Best Sex Writing series, she's worked on niche collections like Tasting Her: Oral Sex Stories; Please, Sir: Erotic Stories of Female Submission; and Suite Encounters: Hotel Sex Stories.

My fabulous publisher Cleis Press gets a big shoutout, as does ebook publisher Mischief Books. Yay!

Have drinks and chat with me and Melissa Petro on February 13th

Writers Bloq has been kind enough to invite me to co-host this February 13th event along with Melissa Petro. Click through to their Facebook page to participate and get an invite. This will probably be my last New York City event before I move in May. I'll have a few books with me to sell, and am happy to sign any if you've got them. Looking forward to it! And if you're coming to the dinner, I will very likely have hot off the press copies of Serving Him: Sexy Stories of Submission with me and I'll be extra happy if you tell me you liked it on Amazon.

BDSM erotica excerpt: "Chattel" by Errica Liekos

This excerpt from Serving Him: Sexy Stories of Submission is from the story "Chattel" by Errica Liekos. If you like it, please like Serving Him on Amazon! See previous excerpts: "The Coffee Break" by Kristina Wright, "What You Deserve" by Lori Selke and "Subbing" by me.

From "Chattel" by Errica Liekos

“Maybe I haven’t been making myself clear,” Alex said. “I let you go because I trust you to come back. Men like me don’t give away things they’re unsure of. But maybe you haven’t understood my confidence in you.”

“I…” Sasha started to speak, but Alex’s hand tightened behind her neck, and she stopped. He rubbed his five o’clock shadow against her throat then continued.

“I can see now that I made a mistake,” he said. “You don’t need your freedom, do you? You need to know you’re wanted. You need to know you’re loved.”

Sasha felt her legs go weak. She leaned on Alex, and he held her weight. There were no windows in their front hall. She opened and closed her eyes to the same solid black. “I’ll be clear from here on out. You’re mine. I own you. I tell you to spend time with your friends because it gives me pleasure to do so. Because I like you missing me, and I like it when you come home with new stories from your friends and your world to entertain me. I expect you to stay independent and entertaining to me. Do you understand?”

Sasha nodded.

“Because I have no interest in owning something weak and unchallenging, Sasha. I want you strong, and I want you to have your own interests.” Alex lowered his voice even more. “But you belong to me. Do you understand?”

Sasha nodded again.

“I’m not sure you do. Go into the living room. I’m going to show you.”

If you liked this excerpt, please do like it on Amazon, enter to win a $50 Amazon gift card by pre-ordering by January 31st, and stay tuned for more excerpts!

BDSM and coffee in "The Coffee Break" by Kristina Wright

I'm dedicating this post to all the coffee drinkers out there, and to anyone who's ever had a dirty conversation in public! This excerpt from Serving Him: Sexy Stories of Submission is from the story "The Coffee Break" by Kristina Wright. If you like it, please like Serving Him on Amazon! See previous excerpts: "What You Deserve" by Lori Selke and "Subbing" by me.

From "The Coffee Break" by Kristina Wright

The phone rings as I pick it up to check it for the hundredth time in thirty minutes. I’m so startled, I drop the phone and it skitters across the slick tabletop. I catch it as it slides off the edge.

“Hello?” My voice is as breathless as he always says it is. It would piss me off if I weren’t so excited.

“Are you thinking about me fucking you?”

That’s what I love about him. There’s no preamble, no chitchat. He cuts right through the bullshit and gets to what he wants. What we both want.

I laugh, but it’s the kind of laughter that’s an escape valve for all of my pent-up frustrations and nervousness. “Something like that,” I say, conscious of the people around me.

“Tell me.”

Damn. I should have known he wouldn’t let me off the hook just because I’m in public. I cup my hand around the phone and whisper, “I’m thinking about you fucking me.”

“Louder.”

I glance at the woman next to me, who is wearing ear buds and seems oblivious to my presence. “I’m thinking about you fucking me,” I say, louder this time.

Maybe too loud, because she glances over at me with a weird expression on her face. I turn my head to the wall, but the full-length mirror reflects the three tables of people behind me, not all of them wearing ear buds.

“Good girl,” he says, his voice silky smooth. He sounds like sex. He is sex. “I want you to go order a coffee.”

I look at the cup in front of me, nearly untouched. “I already have a coffee.” He makes a sound of impatience. I know that sound too well. It means I’ve displeased him. If he were here in person, there would be some punishment to go along with that sound. I can’t decide whether I wish he were here or not.

“I want you to order something specific,” he says. “A medium coffee with cream and two pumps of vanilla. Because you’re as far from vanilla as they come, aren’t you, Meredith?”

I nod, even though he can’t see me. There is nothing vanilla about me except the way I dress. I’m your typical coffee-shop freelancer, dressed for comfort, not for style. “Yes, Sir,” I say. “Then what?”

“You’ll know what to do. What’s your safeword, Meredith?”

“Latte,” I say. It was my choice of word—a tip of the hat to my love of coffee. “Will I need it?” I can’t imagine what he’s up to, but a shiver of anticipation tickles along my spine.

“I hope not.”

If you liked this excerpt, please do like it on Amazon, enter to win a $50 Amazon gift card by pre-ordering by January 31st, and stay tuned for more excerpts!

Free BDSM erotica short story excerpt: "What You Deserve" by Lori Selke from Serving Him

Here's another free excerpt, this time from Lori Selke's opening story "What You Deserve" in Serving Him: Sexy Stories of Submission , following the excerpt of my story "Subbing." If you like this snippet, please do me a favor and go on over to Amazon and click "like" at the top of the page while signed in to your Amazon account. The book has 61 likes and I'm trying to get to 100 to show Amazon just how many BDSM erotica fans are out there. THANK YOU! And if you are hankering to write you own erotica and get published, see my calls for submissions for 1,200 word or less BDSM submission erotica and Best Bondage Erotica 2014 , both with April 1st deadlines.

What You Deserve
by Lori Selke

He left me a voicemail message the morning of our date. “Tonight, my dear Deirdre,” he rumbled into the phone, “You’re going to get what you deserve.” He added a few details—a time for me to appear at his apartment, instructions to let myself in and read the note he will leave me on the dining room table, which will provide further guidance.

Jake and I had been dating long enough for me to not only have the key to his apartment but a small dresser drawer dedicated to my personal effects in his bedroom. We were an item. We only had eyes for each other. Our friends laughed admiringly at our continued chemistry.

If they only knew.

I wasn’t Jake’s full-time submissive. Neither of us were interested in that. But when we were together, the energy was undeniable. I wanted to please him, and he loved to put me though my paces. We’d figured out our mutual kinkiness early on and indulged it every chance we got. I’d worn a play collar for him once or twice—okay, a couple dozen times. He had toys he’d bought just to use them on me. A little trust game like this one was par for the course for us. Something not too heavy, but not entirely frivolous. Serious fun.

It was a journey we’d embarked upon together after one too many nights entangled together, whispering our sexual secrets to each other in the dark. Somehow it was always easier for me if I couldn’t see his face when I made my true confessions. He had noticed how turned on I got when he pulled my hair, yes he had. When he slapped my ass once or twice, or held my head down on his delectable cock. He liked to watch me blush when he trailed his fingers along my jawline. The rest felt as inevitable as gravity.

If I was ever supposed to be ashamed of my submissive desires for Jake, then I must have cut that class in school.

I rushed home after work and quickly showered and changed my clothes. Jake’s voicemail hadn’t left any specific instructions as to my attire.

So I dressed for myself. I put on a casual dress with a black crossover top and a pretty black and white graphic print skirt—it always made me feel like an old-time pre-Technicolor movie star. Black bra, black panties, bare legs, men’s-loafer-inspired pumps. Kind of like what I’d wear to the office, only a little bit funkier. Jake worked in customer support. He liked it partly because nobody ever saw his face—or his shoulder-length hair, or the tribal tattoos on his forearms, plus the one on the web between his left thumb and forefinger. He’d had a dissolute younger life that he’d only begun to divulge to me, but he reined it in when he started to go gray at the temples. Suddenly health insurance became a priority, too, and the debauchery could wait for the weekend.

Or nights when I slept over. Whatever worked.

I let myself into his apartment as instructed. And also as instructed, there was a note on his little two-person dining table, which was bare except for a slim little dog collar I was so very intimately acquainted with already, as well as a blindfold, one of those ruffled satin sleep mask styles. This one was pink. The note simply said, “Put these on.” So that’s what I did. First the collar, then the blindfold. Then I carefully perched on the edge of the dinette chair and waited.

He must have been waiting down the hall, perhaps in his bedroom; I heard his footfall on the carpet. He’d taken his shoes off. I straightened my back, hands in my lap, already squirming with anticipation. But instead of touching me or hearing his coarse whisper close to my ear, I heard the clanking of pots in the kitchen, then the gentle chink of china on the table next to me.

The first words he spoke to me were, “Open your mouth.” So I did. He slipped something inside it, to sit on my tongue. “Taste it,” he said. It was salty and tangy and sweet and creamy and chewy. Eventually the sensations sorted themselves out. Half a fig, stuffed with goat cheese and sprinkled with thyme and honey, he told me as I chewed. He gave me another. I licked leftover honey off his fingers.

He continued to feed me by hand—slivers of lemony roast chicken, slices of cheese, cubes of bread, olives, room-temperature cherry tomatoes that popped in my mouth. I tried not to giggle or bite the tips of his fingers, but it was hard. It was hard to hold still and let myself be fed. But when I got too fidgety, he just said, “If I have to, I’ll tie your hands behind your back.” I stopped fidgeting.

“Slow down,” he said again after a few more bites. “Savor it. We’ve got all night. Don’t worry, I guarantee you’re going to get what you deserve.”

If you liked this excerpt, please do like it on Amazon, enter to win a $50 Amazon gift card by pre-ordering by January 31st, and stay tuned for more excerpts!

Link love: erotica, fetishes, Tar Baby and more

Some items to check out:

BDSM erotica author Tiffany Reisz (The Prince) offers erotica writing tips.

Fetishes 101 by Jessica Wakeman at The Frisky.

If you want to see a piece of theater that will keep you on the edge of your seat, make you laugh and squirm and think and feel, go see Tar Baby (closing January 19th) by Desiree Burch at D2 Theatre off Union Square.

Also if you're in NYC, my friend Twanna Hines is teaching a Skillshare class on "How to Make a Living as a Creative Professional."

Help me get to 100 likes for Serving Him

I'm trying to get my book Serving Him: Sexy Stories of Submission up to 100 likes on Amazon (currently at 46) so if you're so inclined, would you please give it a click? I know you haven't read it yet, but I can promise you it's one of my hottest books yet. You can read more about it at servinghim.wordpress.com.

Here's a little teaser, and I think the rest of the story will be published next month, so I'll leave it at that, but if you like it, please stay tuned for more excerpts and help me out by liking it on Amazon. THANK YOU!

"Subbing" by Rachel Kramer Bussel from Serving Him.

“It’s just for a day,” Jesse wheedled, begging her best friend, Taylor, to fill in for her on the job. “And you’re already kinky,” she added, like that sealed the deal, like Taylor would want to spend her Saturday bending over to get spanked and pretending to drool over some guy she wasn’t interested in. It was true, she was kinky, not to mention single, but even though they were best friends, Jesse didn’t know everything that Taylor was into. She didn’t know how much Taylor had loved it when her ex, Brian, choked her, his big meaty hand wrapped around her slender neck while one leg pinned her down and his fingers pressed deep inside her. Jesse definitely didn’t know how much Taylor liked it when Brian had called her a slut and “threatened” to bring his friends over to fill all her holes and cover her in come. The dirtier the talk, the harder she’d come. But that was with Brian, not some stranger, even though, she had to admit, when Brian had teased her with the idea of being his whore, getting paid to service his friends, she’d practically crushed the fingers he’d been fucking her with.

In the end, it wasn’t the excitement that made Taylor say yes, but the fact that, even more than she was a bad girl, she was a good girl. She knew Jesse would’ve done anything for her, and she couldn’t refuse this rare favor. If she’d fill in for a friend working a cash register or serving as a teaching assistant, her other closest friends’ current jobs, she couldn’t refuse to get fucked for cash. Well, not fucked, Jesse clarified. “No sex,” she said, either ignoring or not seeing Taylor’s slight slump of disappointment. Wasn’t getting fucked the best part, the icing on the kinky cake?

Call for Submissions: short short BDSM submission erotica

To get a feel for the types of BDSM stories I'm looking for, see my books with a submissive POV such as Please, Sir; Yes, Sir; Please, Ma'am and Yes, Ma'am. For me the biggest challenge with editing 69 stories around a single topic is diversity in all sense of the word, so give me a range of characters, POVs (I welcome first, second and third person stories), settings, scenarios, motivations, experience levels, motivations, BDSM practices (which can be combined with other sexual acts), fetishes, couplings, relationships (yes, repeating this from the guidelines below, but it's the thing that makes or breaks a book like this, in my opinion, and as an editor I love having 3 times the room as I normally would in a given anthology to publish more authors and provide more of a range of storytelling and scenarios). This will be my third time working with such a large number of authors; I'm thrilled with how beautiful a book Gotta Have It: 69 Stories of Sudden Sex is, inside and outside, and the next one, about orgasms, will be out later this year. So whether you read Fifty Shades of Grey and were inspired to write your own submissive hero or heroine or couple or other permutation or are an old hat at erotica, I look forward to reading your stories. This is also an excellent opportunity for new authors (new to erotica and/or my books) to try their hand at erotica, since I have space for 69 stories. Looking forward to reading! READ AND FOLLOW THE GUIDELINES. That is the first and, dare I say, very best way to get your story included in any of my books! For those new to erotica, I strongly encourage you to submit to this anthology if it seems up your alley. Questions? Email shortsubmissionantho at gmail.com after you've read the guidelines!

Short Short BDSM Submission Erotica Anthology (title TBA)
Editor: Rachel Kramer Bussel
Publisher: Cleis Press
Deadline: April 1, 2013 (earlier stories strongly preferred and encouraged)
Email address: shortsubmissionantho at gmail.com Payment: $20 and 1 copy of the book on publication

Please make sure to read and follow these guidelines in order for your work to be considered. Editor Rachel Kramer Bussel is looking for short short stories of 1,200 words or less focused on the theme of BDSM from a submissive perspective. While the word count is short, I want complex stories with a beginning, middle and end, not simply scene snippets. I will consider stories from a dominant's perspective if that is the best way to illuminate the mindset of the submissive. The final book of 69 stories will contain an extremely wide variety of characters, POVs (I welcome first, second and third person stories), settings, scenarios, motivations, experience levels, motivations, BDSM practices (which can be combined with other sexual acts), fetishes, couplings, relationships, etc. All genders and sexual orientations welcome. All characters must be over 18; no nonconsensual activity, scat, incest or bestiality. No poetry. Original, unpublished stories only. Stories from authors I have not published before are especially welcome. See my books Please, Sir; Yes, Sir; Please, Ma'am and Yes, Ma'am to get a feel for the types of submissive stories I enjoy. See Gotta Have It: 69 Stories of Sudden Sex for examples of 1,200 word or less erotic stories.

How to submit: Send double spaced Times or Times New Roman 12 point black font Word document (.doc or .docx) with pages numbered OR RTF of 1,200 words MAXIMUM to shortsubmissionantho at gmail.com. DO NOT submit multiple versions of your story; submit ONLY your final, complete, edited version of the story. Note that this is a hard maximum. Stories that are not in keeping with the theme of the anthology or are over 1,200 words will not be considered. Indent the first line of each paragraph half an inch and double space (regular double spacing, do not add extra lines between paragraphs or do any other irregular spacing). US grammar (double quotation marks around dialogue, etc.) required. I will consider a maximum of TWO stories per author. Include your legal name (and pseudonym if applicable), mailing address. If you are using a pseudonym, please provide your real name and pseudonym and make it clear which one you’d like to be credited as. You will receive a confirmation within 72 hours. I will get back to you by September 2013.

Payment: $20 and 1 copy of the book on publication in 2014

Deadline: April 1, 2013 (earlier submissions encouraged and preferred)

Call for Submissions: Best Bondage Erotica 2014

Please read the guidelines in full (pretty much the first rule of doing anything, writing or otherwise, but it needs to be stated because almost all the questions I get asked are right there in my guidelines). Looking forward to reading your stories! And like it says below, ONLY SEND ONE FINAL, EDITED VERSION OF YOUR STORY. I'd rather get the best/finished version later than an earlier version followed by umpteen iterations, trust me. I'll risk sounding like a bitch to make the point.

Call for Submissions
Best Bondage Erotica 2014
Best Bondage Erotica 2014 will collect the best bondage erotica stories around, focusing on a range of techniques, implements, characters and scenarios, from newbies to seasoned bondage players and everything in between. Bondage should be a central focus of the erotic element of the story but the plot does not have to hinge on bondage. The final book will include stories focused on both the physical and mental aspects of bondage, from varying points of view. Bondage plus other sexual activity is welcome (spanking, tickling, exhibitionism, voyeurism, intercourse, oral sex, teasing, etc.). Original, unique, creative characters, settings, scenarios and forms of bondage are encouraged. As befitting the title, I’m looking for the best, hottest, most creative bondage erotica for this collection. All genders/sexual orientations welcome. No poetry.

Original stories strongly preferred, but reprints of work published (or slated to be published) between September 2012 and November 2013 will be considered but will be given lower priority than original work and author MUST include original publication information and retain reprint rights. All characters must be over 18; no incest or bestiality. Please see Best Bondage Erotica 2011, 2012 and 2013 or my other kinky Cleis Press anthologies (Anything for You, Cheeky Spanking Stories, Bottoms Up, Spanked, Yes, Sir, Yes, Ma’am, He’s on Top, She’s on Top) for an idea of the kinds of stories I prefer. I will consider up to two stories per author.

How to submit: Send double spaced Times or Times New Roman 12 point black font Word document with pages numbered (.doc, not .docx) OR RTF of 1,500-4,000 word story. Indent the first line of each paragraph half an inch and double space (regular double spacing, do not add extra lines between paragraphs or do any other irregular spacing). US grammar (double quotation marks around dialogue, etc.) required. Only submit your final, best version of the story you are submitting. Do not send multiple versions of the same story. Include your legal name (and pseudonym if applicable), mailing address, and 50 word or less bio in the third person to bestbondage2014@gmail.com. If you are using a pseudonym, please provide your real name as well as your pseudonym and make it clear which one you’d like to be credited as. You will receive a confirmation within 72 hours. I will get back to you by September 2013. I cannot give any feedback on rejected submissions.

Payment: $50 and 2 copies of the book on publication

Deadline: April 1, 2013 (earlier submissions strongly encouraged)

I’ve been seeing numerous recent submissions that do not conform to my guidelines. They are there for a reason. Please read and follow them. If you have any questions, please contact me at bestbondage2014 at gmail.com

About the editor: Rachel Kramer Bussel (rachelkramerbussel.com) is the editor of over 40 anthologies, including Best Bondage Erotica 2011 and 2012, Irresistible, Gotta Have It, Women in Lust Orgasmic, Fast Girls, Passion, Peep Show, Bottoms Up, Spanked, The Mile High Club, Do Not Disturb, He’s on Top, She’s on Top, Tasting Him, Tasting Her, Crossdressing, Dirty Girls, and is Best Sex Writing Series Editor. Her writing has been published in over 100 anthologies, including Susie Bright’s X: The Erotic Treasury, Best American Erotica 2004 and 2006, and Zane’s Purple Panties and the New York Times bestseller Succulent: Chocolate Flava II. She has written for Buzzfeed Shift, Cosmopolitan, The Daily Beast, Fresh Yarn, The Frisky, Glamour, Inked, Mediabistro, Newsday, New York Post, Penthouse, The Root, Salon, Time Out New York, xoJane, Zink and other publications.

Win a $50 Amazon gift card by pre-ordering Serving Him: Sexy Stories of Submission

I'm very excited that Serving Him: Sexy Stories of Submission will be out in February; you'll see it on tables at Barnes & Noble! It contains what I believe might be my dirtiest (for lack of a better word) story, called "Subbing," about a woman who fills in as a professional submissive, and 21 other BDSM tales that I know many of you will enjoy. To celebrate, I'm giving away a $50 Amazon.com gift card to one lucky reader who pre-orders the book by January 31st and sends their receipt by 3 am EST on February 1, 2013. Winner will be notified on February 2nd. To enter, pre-order the paperback for $10.41 on Amazon or $10.20 at BN.com and forward your receipt to femalesubantho at gmail.com with "Contest" in the subject line. Why am I doing this? Because pre-orders help booksellers know how popular a book will be, and I'm pretty sure that post-Fifty Shades of Grey, many readers are looking for the next hot female submission read. There will be an e-book version and I will link to it once it's available, but this contest runs through January 31st. If you have a spare moment, please do me a favor and click "like" on Serving Him on Amazon. Thank you!



Introduction: Lucky Naughty Girls (see below)


What You Deserve Lori Selke
Coffee Break Kristina Wright
Chattel Errica Liekos
Under Direction Teresa Noelle Roberts
The Letter Tiffany Reisz
Run, Baby, Run Vida Bailey
Tackling Jessica Maxine Marsh
Safe, Sane and Consensual Ariel Graham
The Golden Ruler Giselle Renarde
I Always Do Kiki DeLovely
Pinky Kissa Starling
The Breaking Point Cole Riley
Shining in the Dark Bex vanKoot
Room #3 Emily Bingham
Duo J. Sinclaire
Breath Mollena Williams
Silver Fish in the Crystal Pool Gina Marie
The Secret of Time Travel Jacqueline Applebee
Bared Gray Miller
In His Control Jade Melisande
Paper Doll joy
Subbing Rachel Kramer Bussel

Lucky Naughty Girls

“I’m so lucky to have such a naughty girl like you in my lap,” Jake tells Deirdre in “What You Deserve” by Lori Selke, the opening story in the book you’re about to read. In many ways, that sentence, its promise and passion, its claim and command, is what this book of kinky erotica is all about. There are a lot of naughty girls, a lot of laps and a lot of men who understand that, in fact, they are lucky—whether they ever voice it or not—to have a hot, eager, filthy-minded woman eagerly awaiting the chance to serve them.

The other half of the equation, one that is vital to any BDSM story, but especially those told with an eye toward female submission, is that the naughty girls themselves know how lucky they are—and if they don’t at the start of the story, they do by the end. They know they are lucky to have discovered a seed of submission somewhere within them and someone to complement and nurture that growing seed. They are lucky because they own their darkest, dirtiest desires, even the ones they struggle with, the ones that turn them on despite being taboo or unnerving in some way.

Actually, they are more than lucky; finding a master, a top, a boyfriend, a husband, a lover or simply a man who gets an essential truth about their submissive nature doesn’t just happen. Well, sometimes it does, but I believe it takes a certain kind of prowess to activate and draw forth those kinds of dominants, the kind you can trust with your body and soul, your pussy and your power. What I’m trying to say is that the women here don’t just wander down an alley and find a man to pin them against the wall; even when they encounter a sexy stranger, they are making a choice to obey him, to follow their own lust as much as another’s command.

In “Room #3,” when author Emily Bingham shuts the door on her characters, she invites us into a tale where we don’t know who is touching the narrator, nor does she; we only know how much she likes it. When the narrator offers up her body, she enters into the unknown, a thrill in and of itself. “The moment I knocked on this door, I consented to become his plaything. From here on out I have no say in what will happen. No words are to leave my mouth in this space; I am at his mercy. I can only hope I’ve made a wise choice.” In all the stories you will read here, a woman makes a similar choice, and we get to luxuriate in the ways that actively making that choice, owning up to our most dastardly, wanton, wicked fantasies can be a ticket to a ride we never want to get off.

I’m sitting in a coffee shop in San Francisco as I quote from Kristina Wright’s “Coffee Break,” wondering what I would do if a hot barista said to me, “Go to the bathroom now. Leave the door unlocked. Get undressed. Kneel on the floor facing the door.” Actually, it’s not the barista who delivers that message in her story, but it made me picture what I would do if I were handed a steaming cup of joe and such a command.

The stories in Serving Him are about everything from scenes in dungeons to the ways playing with power can extend beyond what we do when we are “playing.” In “Safe, Sane and Consensual,” by Ariel Graham, she takes that hallmark of BDSM safety and reflects on the ways we “safeword” when dealing with polite society. “May I ask what the spanking is for?” Aaron asks Annie, and his answer just may surprise you. There are plenty of surprises in store in this book, and whether you’re a novice or a seasoned BDSM player, I hope you’ll enjoy the exchanges to be found here—of dirty talk, power, roles, toys, games. These characters test each other, pushing boundaries from both sides of the top/bottom equation. Often it’s the women who push their men to push them, to stop being polite and start holding them down, making them open wide, forcing them to relinquish a kind of power they are eager to let go off.

Many of the stories here are as intense as the acts described; I see them as tender, but they are likely to take your breath away, make you tremble or quiver, make you just a little bit afraid. That edge of awe and fear, of want and need, of excitement and surrender, is just where I hope these stories keep you. You don’t have to be a naughty girl (or boy), in real life or in your dreams, to enjoy the twenty-two hot stories in this book, but I have a feeling they will bring out your inner naughtiness, whatever form that takes. I feel lucky to get to share them with you.

Rachel Kramer Bussel
New York City