Rachel Kramer Bussel's Blog, page 24
September 6, 2016
Visiting 4 Boston bookstores in 24 hours
After my brief but fun August family trip in Cape Cod, I tacked on a 36-hour trip to Boston. Mainly, I wanted to visit bookstores. Why? Two reasons. One, I love books, and two, I wanted sing the praises of the Best Women's Erotica of the Year series, both supporting the bookstores that have stocked Volume 1 (Volume 2 pubs December 13th) and asking other stores if they would consider carrying it.
My original plan was to visit 6-7 Boston area bookstores but with my limited time, I wound up going to four: Porter Square Books and Harvard Bookstore in Cambridge, Brookline Booksmith in Brookline and Papercuts J.P. in Jamaica Plain. All of them I follow on social media, but that doesn't tell you precisely what it feels like to walk around a bookstore, to take in its energy and color and arrangements. I got to see how they shelved their romance and erotica and other categories and simply got a feel for what books they value. I can say with certainty that if I lived in Boston, I would shop at all of these stores on a regular basis. I'm so glad I got to browse and shop at these stores; I bought one or two books at each, because I think I have a much better chance of getting a store to listen to me if I'm also a customer, not to mention the fact that they all had amazing books.
When I'm going to have time for my giant to read stack, I'm not sure, but I will find the time by the end of the year. I sometimes walk around my neighborhood with a book in front of my face so I can multitask (yes, it's safe, I don't go in areas where there's lots of car traffic). During my trip, I also saw some wonderful art at the ICA museum. If I go back, I'll visit some of the ones I missed.
Here are the stores in the order in which I visited them.
Porter Square Books was a wonderful Cambridge bookstore that had an interesting Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump display. I bought the essay collection Known and Strange Things by Teju Cole.
Harvard Book Store - I'd been eager to visit this bookstore, in part because I applied to Harvard for undergrad and got rejected, in part because I've enjoyed Cambridge and Harvard Square the times I've visited, and in part because online they seem like they have a lot of erotica. I could have spent much more time here browsing their shelves. I liked that they had romances by authors such as Sonali Dev and Sarah MacLean, among others, and several other Cleis Press titles in their romance classics and erotica section, including my beloved BWE anthology! I bought the YA novel Learning to Swear in America by Katie Kennedy.
Brookline Booksmith - this was a store I also wanted to visit because I knew they stocked my book which interestingly enough is in the sexuality section alongside titles like The Joy of Sex, science and sex book Come As You Are by Emily Nagoski and The Ultimate Guide to Solo Sex by Jenny Block. I loved the layout and design (and it's right down the street from Good Vibrations and pizzeria Otto, which I know from my Portland, Maine visits). I bought the novel Visitation by Jenny Erpenbeck because it's set in Berlin and I'm planning to make my first trip there next spring. After the sex books are some funny titles they had by the counter, including Weird Things Customers Say in Bookstores and the excellently titled Women Who Read Are Dangerous.
Papercuts J.P. - I took an Uber from Brookline to Jamaica Plain and was so excited to visit Papercuts I forgot to take a photo of the outside of the store. This is a small bookstore, which recently celebrated its one-year anniversary. I've been following them avidly on Twitter and was excited to check them out, especially because they have a podcast and their very own anthology. What was very cool is that even though it's a small store, it's super welcoming and even has a couch!
I wound up buying two books, breaking my one book per store rule (because my shelves at home are bursting), because while I bought their The Papercuts Anthology: What Happened Here, Volume 1 , which includes work by authors who've read at the store during their first year, which I think is an awesome idea. I did see it at other bookstores but obviously had to buy it where it originated. I wound up also buying An Exaggerated Murder by Josh Cook, who actually works at Porter Square, because as a frequent mystery reader, I loved the idea of such an over-the-top concept and also the Chinatown reference, which cropped up last year in the play my boyfriend wrote, where he not so subtly shamed a character who largely resembles me for not having seen classic movies. As I told him, I finally get the joke on the page from the book pictured below.
My original plan was to visit 6-7 Boston area bookstores but with my limited time, I wound up going to four: Porter Square Books and Harvard Bookstore in Cambridge, Brookline Booksmith in Brookline and Papercuts J.P. in Jamaica Plain. All of them I follow on social media, but that doesn't tell you precisely what it feels like to walk around a bookstore, to take in its energy and color and arrangements. I got to see how they shelved their romance and erotica and other categories and simply got a feel for what books they value. I can say with certainty that if I lived in Boston, I would shop at all of these stores on a regular basis. I'm so glad I got to browse and shop at these stores; I bought one or two books at each, because I think I have a much better chance of getting a store to listen to me if I'm also a customer, not to mention the fact that they all had amazing books.
When I'm going to have time for my giant to read stack, I'm not sure, but I will find the time by the end of the year. I sometimes walk around my neighborhood with a book in front of my face so I can multitask (yes, it's safe, I don't go in areas where there's lots of car traffic). During my trip, I also saw some wonderful art at the ICA museum. If I go back, I'll visit some of the ones I missed.
Here are the stores in the order in which I visited them.
Porter Square Books was a wonderful Cambridge bookstore that had an interesting Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump display. I bought the essay collection Known and Strange Things by Teju Cole.
Harvard Book Store - I'd been eager to visit this bookstore, in part because I applied to Harvard for undergrad and got rejected, in part because I've enjoyed Cambridge and Harvard Square the times I've visited, and in part because online they seem like they have a lot of erotica. I could have spent much more time here browsing their shelves. I liked that they had romances by authors such as Sonali Dev and Sarah MacLean, among others, and several other Cleis Press titles in their romance classics and erotica section, including my beloved BWE anthology! I bought the YA novel Learning to Swear in America by Katie Kennedy.
Brookline Booksmith - this was a store I also wanted to visit because I knew they stocked my book which interestingly enough is in the sexuality section alongside titles like The Joy of Sex, science and sex book Come As You Are by Emily Nagoski and The Ultimate Guide to Solo Sex by Jenny Block. I loved the layout and design (and it's right down the street from Good Vibrations and pizzeria Otto, which I know from my Portland, Maine visits). I bought the novel Visitation by Jenny Erpenbeck because it's set in Berlin and I'm planning to make my first trip there next spring. After the sex books are some funny titles they had by the counter, including Weird Things Customers Say in Bookstores and the excellently titled Women Who Read Are Dangerous.
Papercuts J.P. - I took an Uber from Brookline to Jamaica Plain and was so excited to visit Papercuts I forgot to take a photo of the outside of the store. This is a small bookstore, which recently celebrated its one-year anniversary. I've been following them avidly on Twitter and was excited to check them out, especially because they have a podcast and their very own anthology. What was very cool is that even though it's a small store, it's super welcoming and even has a couch!
I wound up buying two books, breaking my one book per store rule (because my shelves at home are bursting), because while I bought their The Papercuts Anthology: What Happened Here, Volume 1 , which includes work by authors who've read at the store during their first year, which I think is an awesome idea. I did see it at other bookstores but obviously had to buy it where it originated. I wound up also buying An Exaggerated Murder by Josh Cook, who actually works at Porter Square, because as a frequent mystery reader, I loved the idea of such an over-the-top concept and also the Chinatown reference, which cropped up last year in the play my boyfriend wrote, where he not so subtly shamed a character who largely resembles me for not having seen classic movies. As I told him, I finally get the joke on the page from the book pictured below.
September 2, 2016
My Washington Post essay on Anthony Weiner and the allure of sexting
It's been a busy writing week, to say the least. I share all my writings on Twitter and my Facebook page if you want to keep up with the latest. By the end of today, I'll have filed seven pieces this week so it's hard even for me to keep track of them all! When something like the Anthony Weiner sexting scandal happens, a writer like me who's covered the topic in the past is often inundated with people wanting your opinion. Sometimes that's a good thing, because it forces you to keep up with the latest news and write quickly, without second guessing. Sometimes it feels daunting because I actually prefer to pause and (over)think and sometimes even agonize over my writing, but these days, with two part time jobs that equal full time hours, I don't have the time for that.
My first piece on was for Salon about the Weiner story and how he contradicted his past remorse.
Then The Washington Post asked me to explore why sexting draws so much attention for there PostEverything section, so I did. This was my second piece for that section (following last year's essay on hoarding) and rather than explore too much of the details of Weiner himself, I focused on the act of sexting and what makes it special.
If you want to hear even more from me on the topic, tune in to Radio New Zealand for Saturday Morning with Kim Hill, which airs at 6:12 p.m. EST tonight (Friday, September 2, for those on the East Coast of the U.S.).
My first piece on was for Salon about the Weiner story and how he contradicted his past remorse.
Then The Washington Post asked me to explore why sexting draws so much attention for there PostEverything section, so I did. This was my second piece for that section (following last year's essay on hoarding) and rather than explore too much of the details of Weiner himself, I focused on the act of sexting and what makes it special.
If you want to hear even more from me on the topic, tune in to Radio New Zealand for Saturday Morning with Kim Hill, which airs at 6:12 p.m. EST tonight (Friday, September 2, for those on the East Coast of the U.S.).
August 30, 2016
Get The Big Book of Submission and Gotta Have It for $1.99 this week!
New week, new sales: the book versions of The Big Book of Submission: 69 Kinky Tales and Gotta Have It: 69 Stories of Sudden Sex are on sale for just $1.99! Get these super hot and varied erotica collections while they're cheap! To summarize the, the submission book is all BDSM erotica focused on the submissive person, and Gotta Have It is really a free for all with everything from funny to kinky to couples to multiple partners to vanilla to BDSM and much more.
Buy The Big Book of Submission for:
Kindle
Nook
Google Play
Kobo
Buy Gotta Have It for:
Kindle
Nook
Google Play
Kobo
Buy The Big Book of Submission for:
Kindle
Nook
Google Play
Kobo
Buy Gotta Have It for:
Kindle
Nook
Google Play
Kobo
August 22, 2016
Sex Out Loud podcast, erotica writing interview & my career essay at Lady Smut
Here are some links to what I've been up to as I get ready to head off to a week of vacation in New England.
On Friday night, I appeared on Tristan Taormino's podcast Sex Out Loud, where she interviewed me about editing the Best Women's Erotica of the Year series, including why I want 500 submissions to Volume 3 (here's the call for submissions). Even more exciting for me was that we got to hear contributors Rose Caraway, Amy Butcher, Tara Betts and Lazuli Jones read from their sexy stories as well! Click the link above or the image below to listen (and please know it's not safe for work!).
The wonderful erotica author Emmanuelle de Maupassant interviewed me all about my erotica writing and editing career. Here's a snippet of what I said:
On Friday night, I appeared on Tristan Taormino's podcast Sex Out Loud, where she interviewed me about editing the Best Women's Erotica of the Year series, including why I want 500 submissions to Volume 3 (here's the call for submissions). Even more exciting for me was that we got to hear contributors Rose Caraway, Amy Butcher, Tara Betts and Lazuli Jones read from their sexy stories as well! Click the link above or the image below to listen (and please know it's not safe for work!).
The wonderful erotica author Emmanuelle de Maupassant interviewed me all about my erotica writing and editing career. Here's a snippet of what I said:
I’m interested in exploring aspects of sexuality and attraction largely ignored by pop culture: specifically bisexuality, polyamory, promiscuity, men and women with larger bodies and body image, male submissives, fetishes, or affairs. I don’t sit down to intentionally humanize and eroticize fat people (and those who love and are attracted to fat people) or male submissives and so on; it’s a by-product of the types of characters I tend to write.Lastly, over at Lady Smut, I wrote about how that career evolved from my law school days as part of second chance week, inspired by the brand new (out today!) very hot erotic romance Perfect by Elizabeth SaFleur, which you can learn more about on her site.
August 17, 2016
More kinky erotica on sale: Anything for You is $1.99 if you act fast!
I was casually looking up my books last night on Amazon, when I noticed that in addition to the He's on Top BDSM erotica sale, another of my kinky erotica books is also $1.99:
Anything for You
.
Now, I try my best to keep up with the sale prices so I can share the news with my readers (mark your calendars: the ebooks of The Big Book of Submission goes on sale August 29th, and Gotta Have It goes on sale September 1st, both for a week), but sometimes I don't get the memo, so I was as surprised as anyone, but excited, because to me, these sales are a chance for those who may have been curious about a given title to check it out very cheaply, or for someone who wasn't into reading about, in this case, kinky couples, to suddenly get to do so at a bargain price. In Anything for You, every story is about a couple (some new couplings, some long-term couples) who explores some aspect of BDSM; there are male and female tops/dominants and male and female bottoms/submissives in various configurations. Check it out for yourself for just $1.99 for a limited time (so limited I have absolutely no idea when this sale started or when it will end, so check prices before buying):
Kindle
Nook
Google Play
iBooks
Kobo
Now, I try my best to keep up with the sale prices so I can share the news with my readers (mark your calendars: the ebooks of The Big Book of Submission goes on sale August 29th, and Gotta Have It goes on sale September 1st, both for a week), but sometimes I don't get the memo, so I was as surprised as anyone, but excited, because to me, these sales are a chance for those who may have been curious about a given title to check it out very cheaply, or for someone who wasn't into reading about, in this case, kinky couples, to suddenly get to do so at a bargain price. In Anything for You, every story is about a couple (some new couplings, some long-term couples) who explores some aspect of BDSM; there are male and female tops/dominants and male and female bottoms/submissives in various configurations. Check it out for yourself for just $1.99 for a limited time (so limited I have absolutely no idea when this sale started or when it will end, so check prices before buying):
Kindle
Nook
Google Play
iBooks
Kobo
Win one of 25 copies of my women's sexual fantasy erotica book Begging for It - enter by Friday, August 19
If you aren't a subscriber to my monthly newsletter, you should be! Visit rachelkramerbussel.com to subscribe. In the August newsletter, I listed this Begging for It giveaway, which ends Friday, August 19, 2016 at 11:59 pm EST (open to U.S. residents who are also newsletter subscribers, only because overseas postage has become absolutely astronomical and well out of my price range for giveaways). I'll be sending 25 lucky winners autographed copies on Saturday morning. In this anthology, I asked authors to craft erotica stories around the theme of women's sexual fantasies, and boy, did they do so, from sex in public to wearing a corset to getting strung up by a bondage master and so much more. Good luck!
As a refresher, here's what's in Begging for It
Introduction: Beggars and Choosers Rachel Kramer Bussel
Symphony Dena Hankins
Tabitha the Cat Lauren Marie Fleming
Leo Rising Suleikha Snyder
Orcas Regina Kammer
Morning’s Come Sommer Marsden
Babes Elizabeth Black
Entreé Nous Darsie Hemingway
Dollymop Malin James
Best Laid Plans Oleander Plume
Lipstick M. Birds
Rediscovery Hedonist Six
A Proven Therapeutic Fact D. L. King
Caught Rei Pardieu
Jane’s Fantasy, Your Fantasy Annabeth Leong
Self-Denial Tilly Hunter
Ruthless Claire de Winter
Sucker Rachel Kramer Bussel
Apple Thighs Jade A. Waters
Little Girl Blue Laila Blake
Do Robots Breathe? Tamsin Flowers
As a refresher, here's what's in Begging for It
Introduction: Beggars and Choosers Rachel Kramer Bussel
Symphony Dena Hankins
Tabitha the Cat Lauren Marie Fleming
Leo Rising Suleikha Snyder
Orcas Regina Kammer
Morning’s Come Sommer Marsden
Babes Elizabeth Black
Entreé Nous Darsie Hemingway
Dollymop Malin James
Best Laid Plans Oleander Plume
Lipstick M. Birds
Rediscovery Hedonist Six
A Proven Therapeutic Fact D. L. King
Caught Rei Pardieu
Jane’s Fantasy, Your Fantasy Annabeth Leong
Self-Denial Tilly Hunter
Ruthless Claire de Winter
Sucker Rachel Kramer Bussel
Apple Thighs Jade A. Waters
Little Girl Blue Laila Blake
Do Robots Breathe? Tamsin Flowers
August 15, 2016
Hear me read from Best Women's Erotica of the Year, Volume 1 Friday night on podcast Sex Out Loud
This Friday night, August 19th from 8 pm ET to 9 pm ET (that's 5 pm PT to 6 pm PT), I'll be on the podcast Sex Out Loud hosted by the wonderful author, sex educator and anal sex expert (among her many other esteemed titles) Tristan Taormino, reading from
Best Women's Erotica of the Year, Volume 1
along with contributors Tara Betts ("A New Canvas"), Lazuli Jones ("Starstruck"), Rose Caraway ("The Carnalarium") and Amy Butcher ("Waiting to Pee"). In other words, we'll be reading about travel sex, painting and sex, sex at Comic-Con, polyamorous sex in a unique location and a very unique form of clandestine sex with a trans man in Dolores Park, as well as answering questions about our writing. I got to read with Rose, who also narrated the audiobook, and Amy at a live event in January, and Tara at one in May, but have yet to speak with Lazuli myself, so I'm really looking forward to hearing her read from her very hot story, which you can get a sneak peek of over at Ravishly.
Listen at sexoutloudradio.com and follow @SexOutLoudRadio on Twitter for updates. You'll also be able to listen afterwards. And a reminder: the deadline to submit original fiction to Best Women's Erotica of the Year, Volume 3 is December 1st, 2016.
Listen at sexoutloudradio.com and follow @SexOutLoudRadio on Twitter for updates. You'll also be able to listen afterwards. And a reminder: the deadline to submit original fiction to Best Women's Erotica of the Year, Volume 3 is December 1st, 2016.
August 9, 2016
BDSM erotica He's on Top is on sale for just $1.99!
My BDSM erotica anthology He's on Top, all about male dominants and female submissive, is on sale this week and next, through Sunday, August 21st, for $1.99 for Kindle, Nook, Google Play, iBooks and Kobo.
Official description: "He’s on Top pays homage to those irresistible men who control their partners with a glance, a tickling whip, or a measured smack on the bottom. As true tops, the bossy hunks in these stories understand that erotic BDSM is about exulting in power that is freely yielded. Contributors such as Amanda Earl, Mackenzie Cross, Alison Tyler, Mike Kimera, and others cover the full range of the male dom’s brand of sensual sadism, from spanking and bondage to public sex and power exchange."
Official description: "He’s on Top pays homage to those irresistible men who control their partners with a glance, a tickling whip, or a measured smack on the bottom. As true tops, the bossy hunks in these stories understand that erotic BDSM is about exulting in power that is freely yielded. Contributors such as Amanda Earl, Mackenzie Cross, Alison Tyler, Mike Kimera, and others cover the full range of the male dom’s brand of sensual sadism, from spanking and bondage to public sex and power exchange."
July 27, 2016
My pride and joy, Best Women's Erotica of the Year, Volume 1, is only $1.99 through July 31
In case you didn't know, editing the Best Women's Erotica of the Year series for Cleis Press feels like the grand prize for everything I've been doing in the erotica genre since I started writing in 1999, something I couldn't have envisioned back then (and not just because the first volume wasn't published until 2000). As I'm finalizing every last detail of Volume 2 for a big December launch and accepting submissions for Volume 3, I'm even more honored and aware of my mission with this series: to publish as many authors from around the world, especially writers I've never worked with before, as I can. So to do that, I'm going all out to get these books out into the world, in print, ebook and audiobook form. So stay tuned because I am planning readings and events and will be reaching out to bookstores and making postcards and attending conferences and generally spreading the word. Want to help? Follow the series on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and Instagram and share our news!
Buy it from:
Kindle
Nook
Google Play
iBooks
Kobo
Buy it from:
Kindle
Nook
Google Play
iBooks
Kobo
July 15, 2016
The Big Book of Orgasms is only $1.99 through July 20th!
I'm very excited that The Big Book of Orgasms: 69 Sexy Stories is only $1.99 in ebook form today through July 20th!
Buy this hot erotica collection from:
Kindle
Nook
Google Play
iBooks
Kobo
Buy this hot erotica collection from:
Kindle
Nook
Google Play
iBooks
Kobo
