Rachel Kramer Bussel's Blog, page 124

Contest: win a $250 Four Seasons gift card

Here's a very special announcement about an anthology I'm very excited about: Suite Encounters: Hotel Sex Stories . This book of hotel erotica will be out in May and anyone who pre-orders it, whether in ebook or print form, from an online or offline retailer or directly from publisher Cleis Press, and follows the instructions below, will be entered to win a $250 Four Seasons gift card from me! I'll update the ebook links thee moment they're available. I don't know the exact date this book will start shipping to bookstores/from online sellers, but it'll probably be shortly after May 15th. Love hotel erotica and want to support this book? Rate it on Goodreads and like it on Amazon. Suite Encounters also has its own Facebook page.

1. Pre-order the print or ebook version of Suite Encounters

2. Email the receipt or scan of the receipt to hoteleroticabook at gmail.com with "Contest" in the subject line by May 15, 11:59 EST.

3. Winner will be notified on May 16th

4. (optional) Bring your copy of Suite Encounters to a hotel for hotel sex and/or hotel reading!

Suite Encounters features hotel erotica in all its forms, from honeymooners having sex on the beach to loving couples on vacation to coworkers heading downtown for secret quickies, not to mention exhibitionist thrills (and chills) of getting it on in the pool on the roof at The Standard Hotel in front of everyone! The award-winning editor of the Best Sex Writing series, among many others, Rachel Kramer Bussel knows the winning formula of stories of sex in every possible setting — luxury hotels, seedy motels, spas, SRO's and everything in between.



Suite Encounters: Hotel Sex Stories Introduction: Sex Magic (see below)

Two-Way Ariel Graham
Selfish Donna George Storey
Air- Conditioning. Color TV. Live Mermaids. Anna Meadows
Proof of Desire Remittance Girl
Soundproof Emily Moreton
An Inspector Comes Suzanne Fox
Surrender with a Twist Suleikha Snyder
Unbound at the Holiday Inn Lily K. Cho
Travelodge Tess Justine Elyot
Business Expenses Elizabeth Silver
Return to the Nonchalant Inn Erobintica
The Deacon Tahira Iqbal
Love, Loud as a Bomb Steve Isaak
Night School Valerie Alexander
Feel So Dirty Andrea Dale
Please Come Again Tenille Brown
Dirty White Envelope Ellie Vokes
Tailgating at the Cedar Inn Delilah Devlin
Stiletto’s Big Score Michael A. Gonzales
Special Request Rachel Kramer Bussel

Introduction: Sex Magic

Hotel rooms are magical. Anything can happen in them, and the travelers in these stories know that well, using their hotel and motel rooms to engage in all sorts of explosive acts.

Sex work is, of course, a mainstay of hotel sex, but in this anthology, sex work happens with a twist. There’s the male escort and a desk clerk in “Night School,” by Valerie Alexander, the “Dirty White Envelope” in Ellie Vokes’s story and the professional procurer in my “Special Request.” Hotel workers play just as vibrant a role here as traditional sex workers.

Hotels give us an opportunity to engage in our favorite forms of sex magic on big, wide beds with plenty of pillows that can be used to lean back on or muffle screams of pleasure. We can indulge in the guilty pleasure of eavesdropping on our neighbors or walking down the hall hoping to spy or hear something juicy. Many of the characters here use hotels to escape from their everyday lives and engage in all sorts of flings and fetishes. Hotels bring out our most daring side, and let us strip down in a window, listen in on a stranger, star in an orgy and take part in all manner of other outrageous sex acts.

In “Two-Way,” by Ariel Graham, a couple rekindles their passion for hotel sex and exhibitionism, recalling past thrills while making new ones. Isabel, in Donna George Storey’s “Selfish,” sets out at age forty-four to try something new and a little risky, and her daring and selfishness pay off big time. The title of Anna Meadows’s “Air-Conditioning. Color TV. Live Mermaids” tells you a good bit of what her story’s about, but there’s a tenderness and longing in this beautiful tale of a real mermaid and the man who wants—and gets—her that you’ll have to read to fully appreciate.

The characters in Remittance Girl’s “Proof of Desire” get exactly that, and in her telling, it’s hot, urgent and fierce: “There it was. Need, desire so strong it burst into the stillness of the room, tainting the air with an ache. It hurt. It hurt deliciously to stand so close, to see the beads of sweat that birthed and glinted along the line of his sternum. To smell the faded scent of morning soap rise off his skin, and the sweetness of the oil he’d used on his cock, and the richer musk of his crotch. The tip of her tongue prickled with want.”

The hotel in “Soundproof,” by Emily Moreton is anything but, and listening to strangers get it on fuels Sam’s desire as he soaks in every word. Suzanne Fox teases us with a fun yet sexy murder mystery weekend in “An Inspector Comes”—yes, her use of the double entendre is deliberate. “Surrender with a Twist,” by Suleikha Snyder, takes us to, fittingly, Las Vegas; no book of hotel erotica would be complete without some Sin City sex. Lily K. Cho brings on the kink in “Unbound at the Holiday Inn,” as a marriage takes a vital step when Mark bares his bottom for a spanking, changing the course of their relationship for the better. “Travelodge Tess” is on the job, but that doesn’t stop her from having some fun along the way in Justine Elyot’s clever tale. Elizabeth Silver delivers a torrid threesome in “Business Expenses,” as Margo, Tonya and Javier enjoy sex toys—and each other.

The tone becomes nostalgic in Erobintica’s “Return to the Nonchalant Inn,” when Gerald and Jillian return to the island hotel they’d visited twenty years before and figure out if they can pick up where they left off. Tahira Iqbal looks at the head of a hotel empire, a modern-day Conrad Hilton named Mark Deacon, in “The Deacon,” as this corporate tycoon makes sure to do a very thorough inspection of his hotels, and a very special employee. Steve Isaak’s brief but powerful “Love, Loud as a Bomb” deals with the fear induced by a Hawaiian tsunami, and a clairvoyant who times her orgasm to a disaster.

Stories about sex workers abound in erotica, but they are usually women; “Night School” mixes things up with its male escort and a woman who turns him on to the thrill of being dominated. They exchange power in a way that unsettles and energizes them both. “He looked at the wall with this weird smile and I realized just how embarrassed he really was. I was the one whose presence had been requested tonight and he was the one who had done the requesting. He didn’t know who was the client here, him or me, and the ambiguity had robbed him of his usual confidence.”

In “Feel So Dirty,” by Andrea Dale, a storm knocks out the power, but that doesn’t stop Lea and Jon from skirting the edges of an affair as they enjoy a sexual connection that the close proximity of their hotel rooms enhances. “Please Come Again,” by Tenille Brown, manages to tackle homelessness in a way that doesn’t address it as an “issue” but rather looks at the core of humanity and desire for human touch Randall hasn’t lost, and that Simone welcomes as she takes care of him, sexually and otherwise.

Role-playing takes center stage in “Dirty White Envelope,” which opens with, “It took me three years to tell Ron I wanted to be treated like a whore,” and goes from there with this common, exciting fantasy. Erotic romance author Delilah Devlin gives us “Tailgating at the Cedar Inn,” in which Kelsey brazenly takes on two guys who are more than happy to enjoy her lusty attention. Michael A. Gonzales gives us a sexy heroine, Miki Jamison, a forty-five-year-old former blaxploitation star who luxuriates in the sumptuous hotel room, and her costar’s passion for her. Closing out the book, Francine is famous for being able to deliver anything to her guests by “Special Request,” and when Claudine requests she arrange—and attend—an orgy, she is more than up to the challenge—or so she thinks.

All of these stories capture some aspect of the thrill of hotel sex, and I hope you will enjoy them at home, at a hotel or wherever you happen to be, and perhaps you’ll be inspired on your next vacation, staycation, work trip, or wherever your travels take you, to engage in the spirit of these sexy stories.

Rachel Kramer Bussel
New York City

Pre-order Suite Encounters: Hotel Sex Stories:

Amazon

Kindle (link TK)

BN.com

Nook (link TK)

Powell's

Books-a-Million

IndieBound (find your local independent bookstore

Cleis Press

3 more readings: Santa Cruz, Berkeley and Writers With Drinks

I'm excited about the final 3 readings on this West Coast tour: April 12th with Susie Bright at Bookshop Santa Cruz at 7:30, with Donna George Storey giving free erotica advice Friday 7-8 at Good Vibrations Berkeley and Saturday night with writing luminaries at the long-running, super popular Writers With Drinks. Hope to see you there!

Here's what Susie Bright said about me in this Santacruz.com profile: "Rachel is a beloved feminist sex writer and editor, who's nearly singlehandedly responsible for the Internet cupcake craze. Yes, really. I became friends with Rachel years ago because we shared a mutual fascination with the young Monica Lewinsky. It necessitated further discussion."

Best Sex Writing 2012 event with me and Susie Bright
Thursday, April 12th, 7:30 pm

In Best Sex Writing 2012, sex columnist Rachel Kramer Bussel and Santa Cruz's own Susie Bright, (this year's guest judge), collect the most challenging and provocative work on this endlessly evocative subject.

Find out what's behind the latest political sex scandals in "Sex, Lies, and Hush Money", learn about how "Atheists Do It Better", and find out "Why Lying About Monogamy Matters". From an insider look at being gay in the military pre-DADT to an impassioned defense of circumcision to a dating site for people with STDs, nuanced explorations of teen sex laws, prostitution, sex at 66, SlutWalks, female orgasm workshops, and more, Best Sex Writing 2012 explores the smarter side of sexuality.

This is bedtime reading for erotic intellectuals and those who want to go behind the latest leering headlines for real talk about the topic on everyone's lips.

Please join us for this reading, discussion, signing, and Q&A.

April 13, 7-8 pm
FREE EROTIC WRITING ADVICE FROM PROFESSIONALS
Join Rachel Kramer Bussel, editor of over 40 anthologies, including Irresistible, Curvy Girls, Women in Lust, and Orgasmic, and local author Donna George Storey (Amorous Woman) for a free talk about how to break into erotic writing, writing prompts and how they each launched their careers in the field. Q&A and book signing to follow. Free cupcakes. Free admission.
Good Vibrations, 2504 San Pablo Avenue, Berkeley, CA, 94702, 510-841-8987
http://www.goodvibes.com

Writers With Drinks
Saturday, April 14th
Amber Benson (Serpent's Storm, Ghosts of Albion)
Glen David Gold (Carter Beats the Devil)
Malinda Lo (Ash, Huntress, Adaptation)
Rachel Kramer Bussel (Curvy Girls)
Sarah Kuhn (One Con Glory)

All proceeds benefit the Center for Sex and Culture.
At The Make-Out Room 3225 22nd. St., San Francisco CA, from 7:30 PM to 9:30 PM, doors open at 7 PM.

Binge eating essay at The Frisky

I wrote "I'm a Binge Eater (Sometimes)" for The Frisky. Check it out.

One aspect of my disordered eating habits has remained, an occasional crutch that feels all the more sinful because it's so rare: bingeing. Usually it involves some type of "bad" carb, be it cereal or cookies or, in this case, potato chips. Once I know a food is a potential trigger, I tend not to buy it, or if I do, I buy a small package of it so that if I want the giddy, joyful, getting-away-with-something feeling of literally shoving food in my mouth, I can do so without guilt. (Thank you, single-serving cereal packs, which I know are bad for the environment, but they let me shovel Lucky Charms into my mouth and not feel gross about it.) Sometimes it's Cheerios or Raisin Bran; I've even managed to binge on Grape Nuts, and that's a challenge. It's not that Cheerios are unhealthy in and of themselves, but when I eat anything simply because I want to feel and hear it crunch in my mouth until I zone out, it's not a good thing. For me, binge eating isn't only about eating "forbidden" foods. It's that I'm eating them alone, in secret, with a purpose that I know, even if subconsciously, has nothing to do with hunger.

My boyfriend had two large bags of potato chips in his kitchen; the jalapeño chips were almost decimated, so I decided to open the Kettle sea salt chips. As almost always happens when I binge, I didn't set out to eat all of them. I just wanted something salty and crunchy, something to take my mind off myself and my problems, and figured I could eat a few, close the bag, and I would look like a normal snacker, not a glutton. And it worked, for a little while; those first few bites were blissful. Then, after the initial handful of chips, I zoned out and kept shoving them in my mouth, long after the saltiness had made my tongue rough and even the crunch seemed dulled. Every time I paused, I realized how much I didn't want to face my own sluggishness, and the chips seemed easier to deal with … until I got to the very bottom of the bag. I didn't let myself look at the calorie count, because I knew if I did I'd be tempted to revert to my old ways and stick my fingers down my throat (when I did finally look, I saw that the entire bag contained 750 calories, and was relieved it wasn't twice that amount). I was like a living version of Heather Whaley's hilarious and a little-too-close-to-home cookbook Eat Your Feelings: Recipes for Self-Loathing.

The worst part wasn't my regret or stomachache, but that I couldn't keep it a secret. Like secret eater Shoshana Davis, I'm used to hiding the eating I don't want anyone to know about.

Read the whole thing

Say Please review of my story "A Slap in the Face"

Great review at My Whole Sex Life of Sinclair Sexsmith's new anthology Say Please: Lesbian BDSM Erotica that offers up two people's POVs about various stories. I haven't read the whole book yet (or seen it in the flesh) but I am looking forward to it. Here's what they say about mine:

A Slap in the Face, by Rachel Kramer Bussel

Evoë:
I think this was the most intense story in the anthology, and that's saying a lot because they are all pretty amazing. Partly it held me riveted because I find slapping somewhat taboo and therefore fascinating, partly I found the character development seductive. Yes, it's a short story, but I was charmed by the emotional progression. I appreciate the safeword explanation and appreciate that there is not a strap-on used in this story, although it's implied that there will soon be some strap-on play. It makes me want to follow these two women home!

Harold:
This powerful story put me in a place I often end up reading edgy BDSM erotica: wondering about the origins of the kink. I love and understand the heat, the almost unbearable turn-on that just the right mix of fear and pain can arouse, but I also sense roots winding back to some childhood trauma no child deserves. I salute the healing power of hot and loving kink, but it scares me, still, about what it is to be human.

Read an excerpt from my story here.

Free Best Sex Writing 2012 reading tonight: polyamory, why atheist sex is better, female orgasm and more

Tonight at 7:30 pm come enjoy free cupcakes and some of the smartest thinkers and writers about sex at the Best Sex Writing 2012 reading at Booksmith, 1644 Haight Street, San Francisco. Facebook invite here and below find excerpts from all of your readers: Susie Bright, Rachel Kramer Bussel, Greta Christina Tracy Clark-Flory and Thomas S. Roche. And yes, of course I want you to buy the book, and come to the reading, and get your book signed, but I am also linking to the pieces so you can read them in full (and then buy the book for all the pieces you can't read online and to support the series). If you like any/all of these, please let someone know about the reading, tweet about it (@bestsexwriting or I'm @raquelita), give it as a gift, let your San Francisco and Santa Cruz and NYC friends know about tonight, April 12th, April 25th; anything you can do to support this series is wonderful. And a reminder: I am in search of submissions for Best Sex Writing 2013. Original pieces, reprints, suggestions are all welcome as long as they arrive by May 1 and I will be announcing which San Francisco writer is our guest judge very soon! Thanks for reading and see you at Booksmith and Bookshop Santa Cruz and Housing Works. For my full event schedule, visit my website.



"Why Lying About Monogamy Matters" by Susie Bright

It must make Ross pout that unrelenting evidence proves abstinence programs are not only "ineffective," they actually cause higher pregnancy rates than in places where young people have info and access to birth control. Eww!

It can turn a smiley-face upside-down, if you're a Christian religious fanatic, but sometimes the truth is... proof-y.

As for women having an infantile essential nature, which desires innocence and vacuity above all other sexual traits, leading to an unparalleled state of happy brainlessness -- gosh, how do you even begin to document that, outside of scripture and tattered Catholic catechism pamphlets?

Douthat's faith is based on the tenets of unapologetic misogyny, sexism, gender determinism, and an all-around "Daddy Knows Best" approach. I'm sure you've heard how well the Catholic clergy has led in this regard.

In Christianity, men are the natural leaders, and must stand guard against their carnality. Grrr!

Women must follow man, doting on him, caring for the hearth. Women have a lot to atone for, because they're the reason human beans got tossed out of the Garden of Eden. That's where God created everything in Seven Days and there was a Magic Apple and it really tasted good... which was premature and ill-advised. To say the least

"Penis Gagging, BDSM, and Rape Fantasy: The Truth about Kinky Sexting" by Rachel Kramer Bussel

"You don't want to gag a woman with your penis unless you have some serious issues with the way you see women." So says Kirsten Powers, ex-girlfriend of sex-scandal star Congressman Anthony Weiner, in a piece for The Daily Beast. She is referencing his sexting relationship with a Las Vegas blackjack dealer. The transcript of their texts was posted by Radar Online, including one bit that prompted Powers' musing: "You will gag on me before you c** with me in you" and "[I'm] thinking about gagging your hot mouth with my c***."

This column is not about Weiner. I'm pretty over political sex scandals and am inclined to think that someone like Weiner wanted to get caught, consciously or unconsciously. The only positive thing I can say about such scandals is that they do help shed light on just how unenlightened we are about topics like monogamy and BDSM. Here we have an example of a woman making a blanket statement about something she clearly doesn't know the first thing about, simply because it offends her.

You know the phrase, "Taken out of context, I must seem so strange?" That goes double for pulling random bits of erotic conversation, texted or otherwise, and analyzing them as if they told a whole story. Without the motivation of the person sending and receiving them, you really don't know anything, and yet it seems that a default anti-BDSM reaction is acceptable. Our public squeamishness over the fact that some people can eroticize pain, degradation, and being ordered around, safely, consensually and pleasurably, is nothing more than a prejudice that needs to be eradicated.

"Atheists Do It Better: Why Leaving Religion Leads to Better" by Greta Christina

And sexual guilt doesn't just go up with more conservative religions. It goes up with more religiosity, period. The more religious your upbringing is, the worse your sexual guilt is likely to be. Of people raised in very religious homes, 22.5% said they were shamed or ridiculed for masturbating (to give just one example)... compared to only 5.5% of people brought up in the least religious homes. And of people raised in very religious homes, 79.9% felt guilty about a specific sexual activity or desire... while among people raised in the least religious and most secular homes, that number drops to 26.3%. That's a huge, huge difference.

But one of the most surprising conclusions of this research? Sexual guilt from religion doesn't wreck people's sex lives forever.

Guilt According to conventional wisdom -- and I will freely admit that I held this conventional wisdom myself -- religious guilt about sex continues to torment people long after the religion itself has lost its hold. But according to the "Sex and Secularism" report, that's rarely the case. Once people let go of religion, people's positive experiences of sex, and their relative lack of guilt, happen at about the same rate as people who were never religious in the first place.

Ray was surprised by this result as well. (Surprising results -- a sign of good science!) "We did think that religion would have residual effects in people after they left," he told me, "but our data did not show this. That was a very pleasant surprise. That is not to say that some people don't continue to experience problems, but the vast majority seem to shake it off and get on with their sexual lives pretty well." So letting go of religion means a rebound to a sex life that's as satisfying, and as guilt-free, as a sex life that was never touched by religion in the first place.

"The Worship of Female Pleasure" by Tracy Clark-Flory

Nicole Daedone pulls her long dirty-blond locks into a bun, rolls up the sleeves of her crisp white dress shirt and readies her lube. On the table in front of her there is a woman, naked only from the waist down, with her knees spread wide. The 40-something founder of OneTaste, a center dedicated to "mindful sexuality," is about to give a live and impromptu demonstration of orgasmic meditation ("OMing" for short) in a conference room at the sophisticated Le Meridien hotel in San Francisco. She takes a long look between the volunteer's legs and enthuses to the audience of roughly 40 women: "Oh my god, it's beautiful. It's an electric rose color. The swelling is already beginning."

Before long, Daedone is hunched over and vigorously stroking the woman's most sensitive "spot" — the "upper left quadrant" of the clitoris — with just her forefinger. The recipient moans wildly as though she is being taken over by a spirit and Daedone urges her on: "Good girl. Good, good. Reach, reach, reach, reach." As the woman's groans peak, Daedone lets out a throaty exhalation that sounds like it belongs in a Lamaze class. Two audience members overcome by the intensity of the performance are silently crying. The demonstration, which is part of a weekend-long women's retreat, continues for 15 minutes.

It is both arousing and deeply bizarre.

It isn't every weekend that I find myself watching a woman being repeatedly brought to orgasm in front of a live audience — but I hardly expected normality when I asked to sit in on the workshop.

"Men Who "Buy Sex" Commit More Crimes: Newsweek, Trafficking, and the Lie of Fabricated Sex Studies" by Thomas S. Roche

Are they joking? Buying sex is already illegal most places — and it also exists almost everywhere. But this group is actually claiming that it must be "criminalized"? How far out of the world we live in do you have to be before you can believe that prostitution hasn't been criminalized?

The answer? You just have to be a radical anti-sex feminist, apparently…in which case male-dominated society looks like just one big blur…at least, that's what I, as a man, take away. Equating a law enforcement structure that can't manage to stamp out street prostitution with men who frequent call girls and politicians who don't pass stronger laws is only possible if men aren't people.

What's more, places where sex work is most illegal (Saudi Arabia and other Sharia-governed states) are without exception where it's most dysfunctional (e.g., trafficked women). The nations that have the harshest anti-prostitution laws are the places where there are the greatest social strictures against consensual sexual encounters between men and women. Those countries are also — and this isn't an accident — the nations where there's the greatest difference between rich and poor, and the places where women have the lowest status. Oppressive laws disproportionately affect the poor, women, and racial, ethnic and religious minorities, no matter what they're passed to do.

But it gets way worse. The "hooker-free Utopia" Farley wants to see take root in the U.S. is even more extreme than she'd let you know. In the case of Arab countries like Saudi Arabia and Egypt, those nations have a documented constancy of homosexual rape in both social and penal circumstances, as well as anti-gay murders for anyone who isn't "discreet" about same-sex contacts.

Sex at the Holiday Inn and other Seattle fun

No, I did not have sex at the Holiday Inn, though I do hope I can find time to soak my feet in the hot tub. But I did snap this photo and if my man were with me I would definitely do him at the Holiday Inn. I will be posting a contest to win a $250 Four Seasons gift card for those who pre-order my latest book of hotel erotica Suite Encounters by May 15th next week, so stay tuned and save your receipts! There's a story by Lily K. Cho in that book called "Unbound at the Holiday Inn" and I was reminded of that. More info very soon on the contest and the book. Reminders: I'm reading Monday, April 9th at Booksmith in San Francisco, Thursday, April 12th at Bookshop Santa Cruz, Friday, April 13th at Good Vibrations in Berkeley and Saturday, April 14th at Writers With Drinks in San Francisco. The first 3 will have free cupcakes! Details on my website. Also April 25th at my favorite bookstore in the world, Housing Works in New York City.


me not having sex but enjoying my comfy bed at the Holiday Inn

Other Seattle photos:




my books on display at the awesome Elliott Bay Book Company


I bought Always Coca-Cola by Alexandra Chreiteh at Elliott Bay. Opening lines: "When my mother was pregnant with me, she had only one craving. That craving was for Coca-Cola."






my passion for Sweet Iron Waffles has continued with their kiwi and lime curd waffle and their goat cheese, hazelnut and honey waffle!


yesterday I learned how to dip a hi hat cupcake at Trophy Cupcakes!

My new tiger lily tattoo and free cupcakes at tonight's Powell's reading

I'm in Portland, Oregon, lying in my cozy hotel bed, armed with to do lists but enjoying the quiet at 5:41 am. Yesterday I went to New Rose Tattoo and my friend Mikal inked these gorgeous tiger lilies on my shoulder:



Tonight I'm reading at legendary bookstore Powell's at 7:30 with Best Sex Writing 2012 contributors and legendary writers Tim Elhajj ("An Unfortunate Discharge Early in My Naval Career"), Kevin Sampsell ("Pottymouth") and Lidia Yuknavitch ("Love Grenade"). Join us for these compelling true sex stories and a Q&A and booksigning and, of course, free cupcakes! Here's the Facebook invite if you want to pass it along (no RSVP required). All have written memoirs of their own I recommend: Dopefiend by Tim Elhajj, A Common Pornography by Kevin Sampsell and The Chronology of Water by Lidia Yuknavitch. Tomorrow night at 7 Kevin, Lidia and I are reading at Elliott Bay Book Company in Seattle (Capitol Hill), also with free mini cupcakes (by Cupcake Royale). If you know anyone in Portland or Seattle, please please please let them know about these readings! And yes, I know it's Passover...now. I didn't realize that when I booked these readings, and my apologies for those who will be at seders.

April 6, 7:30 pm
Best Sex Writing 2012 reading
Powell's, 1005 W. Burnside, Portland, Oregon
Free and free cupcakes! Reading and discussion featuring editor Rachel Kramer Bussel and contributors Tim Elhajj (author of Dopefiend, contributor to Guernica), Kevin Sampsell (author of A Common Pornography) and Lidia Yuknavitch (author of The Chronology of Water). 503-228-4651.



And as seen on the wall at New Rose Tattoo:

"Where Have All The Blowjobs Gone?" I respond to Esquire

Over at Open Salon, I've written "Where Have All The Blowjobs Gone? Why Esquire is Wrong" (I would have added "About The Death of Fellatio" but I didn't have room in my title.) Check it out and if you like it I'd love if you'd click "rate" at the top, comment and pass it on!

Saying Please to sexy face slapping

I'm posting this (belatedly, sorry!) as part of the Dirty Queer Sex virtual book tour for Say Please: Lesbian BDSM Erotica , the hot new book edited by Sinclair Sexsmith. For ebook readers, it's also available on Kindle and Nook.



Below is an excerpt from my story "A Slap in the Face" that I hope makes you want to read the whole thing! Right now I'm on my own West Coast book tour I'll be at Powell's in Portland, Oregon tomorrow night and Elliott Bay Book Company in Seattle Saturday night and am happy to sign Say Please along with Best Sex Writing 2102 (where my essay is about another kind of kinky sex) or any of my other writings/books!

Official book description:

Sinclair Sexsmith presents a cornucopia of lesbian kink — tantalizing tales rich in variety and saucy details of girls put in their place — and held there firmly. A girly-girl reaps a sweet punishment for refusing to mess up her oh-so-pink lipstick and a well-equipped top takes charge. Whether readers dream of surrendering to a lover or of taking control, Say Please offers plenty of erotic inspiration and gives readers exactly what they want!

In "The Cruelest Kind," Kiki Delovely's naughty narrator gets her just desserts from her butch girlfriend with some fierce back alley bondage while D.L. King's domme makes her submissive strip before un unseen audience, binds her to a bench, and gives her a good strapping in "A Public Spectacle." Anna Watson' bored housewife gets more than she bargains for in "The Keys" when she follows a lesbian animal trainer out to a queer bar and anything goes in Xan West's sexy "Strong" when a transgender butch and genderqueer sub engage in some very tough love.

"A Slap in the Face" by Rachel Kramer Bussel

Jade strolled into the bar, walked straight up to Amber, who was leaning against it wearing a slinky leopard-print slip, ripped fishnet stockings, a see-through black top along with a sheer black bra, and dangerously tall black heels, her red hair gleaming even in the low lights, and slapped her across the face. The sound was louder than Jade had expected, the sting in her palm stronger, both of which she liked. Amber didn't smile, not with her mouth, anyway, but Jade knew exactly how much she'd liked Jade's slap. She could read it in the way Amber shivered, the way her eyes skittered from the ground and, for a second, up to Jade's, from the way her body radiated a heady combination of fear, awe and desire.

This was not a kinky bar. It wasn't a dyke or queer bar, either. It was your average Brooklyn dive bar, filled with its mix of colorful high-glam hipsters in everything from hot pants to schoolgirl skirts, older white guys with huge beer steins who seemed like they'd been sitting there since before either woman was born, parents stealing a late-night cocktail before the babysitter came home. And Jade and Amber, who'd shared a stormy, kinky relationship of six months, one that Jade wanted to last even though she had no idea if they would blaze through all the intense passion zinging between them too fast and have nothing left, or could find ways to keep it going. She was trying to live in the moment, and this scene was part of her new mission. She kept any trembling she felt on the inside steady as she stared down at the girl who'd given so much of herself to Jade, but was always looking to give more.

To anyone watching, it would've looked like what it was: a slap in the face, a blow across her cheek, something at least a little mean, harsh, powerful, something that must have hurt and brought tears to Amber's eyes. And it was, certainly, all of those things⎯Jade would never have denied that it was one of the most powerful ways you could strike someone⎯but it wasn't unwanted; in fact, Amber thought it was the hottest thing she'd ever done, and she'd been to, and participated in, her share of extreme play parties. She looked up at Jade and realized that her fantasies had been fulfilled, technically, but not all the way; her face tingled in anticipation of the next slap. She suddenly wished she'd worn her matching leopard-print panties, the silky ones that rode up her ass, because her wetness was starting to trickle down her thigh. She liked it, even more than when Jade slapped her at home; she liked it so much she was torn between stepping between Jade's jeans-clad legs and pressing their bodies tight together and what she wound up choosing, looking right up into her girlfriend's eyes, letting her see the tears that shimmered there.

"You want me to slap you again, don't you?" Jade's voice was low, deep, quiet enough that only Amber could hear. Jade kept the tremor out of it, the awe that this creature was letting her do the most wicked things to her and kept wanting to push the envelope.

"Yes, Jade, I do." Amber let a tear fall, because she didn't totally understand why she liked it, she just knew she did, and she wanted people to know. Well, that wasn't strictly true. She couldn't honestly say she wanted people to know about her predilection for being smacked, but the fact that now, finally, they did, after so many months of fantasizing, made her pussy feel like it was both tightening and expanding all at once.

This time, Jade tenderly held her hand against one of Amber's cheeks, the pristine one, and with the other raked her short nails down the edge of the other. She waited, toying with her, trying to ignore their surroundings, because the exhibitionism was really Amber's thing, though she couldn't deny she got a small thrill from being so controlling in so public a location. Then, she did it again, a smack that reverberated through her palm, skin striking skin, and again. Jade stepped forward and shoved her knee between Amber's legs, pressed her mouth against her ear. "Thank me for it, or I won't do it again."

"Thank you, Jade. I love you." Amber hadn't meant to say that, but it came out in a rush. There were moments when she was afraid of Jade, but she liked those moments, she liked the way those moments spurred her on to be more daring, to let herself get pushed farther off what felt like a precipice, until everything she had was Jade's for the taking.

"Let's go," Jade said, plucking Amber's half-full glass from her hand and placing it on the bar, then rushing her outside, while Amber scrambling to put her pink fake-fur coat back on before they entered the chilly night. Jade would've stayed, but what was bubbling up inside of her was too fierce for public consumption. There's no way the patrons of that bar would ever have understood what she wanted to do to Amber; the truth was, she hardly understood it herself, but she knew it filled something primal within her, something that made her feel like she was enacting an ancient ritual, a hunt-or-be-hunted animalistic desire to go for the kill. Slapping Amber, beating her, tying her down, choking her, all took Jade's breath away as much as they did Amber's, though she didn't have the freedom to show it quite as much. "Why are you shaking?" Amber had once asked after a particularly cruel, intense scene. Jade had just shook her head, not having any further answer.

Free erotic writing tips Friday the 13th in Berkeley and other West Coast tour dates

I leave tomorrow night for Portland for my how-many-events-can-I-do-in-one-month-without-exploding-last-hurrah book tour! Yes, it's my last book tour, unless I win the lottery or something equally improbable. I am excited about it, but also excited to return home and spend quality time with my boyfriend and my laptop, without the pressures travel and hoping people will show up and forgetting major Jewish holidays provides (yes, I forgot that Passover lands smack during my book tour and I am too selfish and gluttonous to give up things like Sweet Iron Waffles). I'm extremely proud of Best Sex Writing 2012 and beyond honored to be doing events with guest judge Susie Bright, which is why I'm doing this, but I'm also realizing that how I prefer to live my life is as a writer, not a performer. That's probably one of many things I'm not supposed to admit, but I hate feeling like I shouldn't say something. I will also be sporting a brand new tattoo from New Rose Tattoo!

I'm instructing my assistant and anyone I know to stop me before I go insane again. I will be bringing cupcakes and fishnets and amazing authors to Portland, Seattle, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Berkeley and, on April 25th, New York City. Here's the Berkeley details; awesome to read in my former home. Looking forward to seeing many of you and if you can't make it but know someone in those cities, please let them know. Details on my website.

April 13, 7 pm
EROTIC WRITING TIPS FROM PROFESSIONALS
Join Rachel Kramer Bussel, editor of over 40 anthologies, including Irresistible, Curvy Girls, Women in Lust, and Orgasmic, and local author Donna George Storey (Amorous Woman) for a free talk about how to break into erotic writing, writing prompts and how they each launched their careers in the field. Q&A and book signing to follow. Free cupcakes. Free admission.
Good Vibrations, 2504 San Pablo Avenue, Berkeley, CA, 94702, 510-841-8987
http://www.goodvibes.com