Rachel Kramer Bussel's Blog, page 29

Chicago Best Women's Erotica reading March 31, Erotica 101 and Sex Writing 101 workshops April 1

I'm gearing up to head to Chicago next week for what will probably be my last live events of 2016 as I wind up my work travel for the year. I hope you can make some of these and if you can't, I hope you'll let Chicago folks know! I highly recommend the conference CatalystCon if you're interested in sexuality and activism. I've loved every one I've attended and while this will be my last for a while as I focus closer to home, I encourage you to attend and also to pitch a panel or presentation for their Los Angeles conference in September.

I wrote a piece for Lady Smut about why live readings are so important to me, and I'm dedicated to spreading the word about what I think is my best, sexiest, strongest, most diverse book, Best Women's Erotica of the Year, Volume 1 (so far, until Volume 2 comes out!) however I can. The truth is, traveling is expensive and beyond my capacity in time and funds these days, I'm doing it this time because I believe so strongly in this book and its stories and want to share them and give my amazing author a space to share their words in their own voices. I'm honored that The Pleasure Chest is hosting us and has the book in stock (yes, I list every indie store I know of that has my little book right here and would love to add more store names). I'll be documenting the reading on the book's Instagram account.



March 31, 6-7:30 pm
Free Best Women's Erotica of the Year reading
Join Best Women's Erotica of the Year, Volume 1 editor Rachel Kramer Bussel along with contributors Tara Betts and Rose P. Lethe, plus Corrine A. Silver, author of Wrecked and contributor to Come Again: Sex Toy Erotica, for a fun, free erotica reading. Q&A and book signing to follow.
The Pleasure Chest, 3436 N. Lincoln Avenue, Chicago, 773-525-7151
http://thepleasurechest.com/workshops-ch-erotica-reading-march-31-19815-prd1.htm or Facebook listing



April 1, 9:15 am-12:!5 pm
Erotica Writing 101 workshop
In this three hour workshop Rachel Kramer Bussel, professional erotica author and editor of over 50 erotica anthologies, such as The Big Book of Orgasms, Cheeky Spanking Stories and Serving Him: Sexy Stories of Submission, will take you through the ins and outs of modern erotic writing. Learn how to get started, find your voice, and write against type. You’ll discover how to incorporate everyday scenarios as well as outlandish fantasies into your writing, and make them fit for particular magazines and anthologies. The class will also cover branding yourself as a writer, using and selecting a good pseudonym, and using social media to promote your work and do outreach. She’ll also talk about submitting your work and keeping up with the thriving erotica market, including anthologies, ebooks, magazines and websites. Please bring paper and writing implements or a laptop to use for in class writing exercises. A bibliography with erotica resources will be provided. Organized by conference CatalystCon but open to all (you do not have to attend CatalystCon to attend). $45/person. Registration open through March 31 at (or $79 for both Erotica Writing 101 and Sex Writing 101).
Hyatt Regency O'Hare, 9300 Bryn Mawr Avenue, Rosemont, IL 60018

April 1, 1:30 pm-4:30 pm
Sex Writing 101 (Non-fiction)
In this three hour workshop, writer and editor Rachel Kramer Bussel will cover all you need to know about writing about sex, including blogging, first-person essays and journalism. You’ll learn how to ethically write about your love life, what editors are looking for, where to find experts on sexuality topics, and how to stay abreast of current sex news. Whether you’re looking to write a sex blog, column, articles or books, you’ll find out how to pitch, how much money you can expect to make, and how to maximize your editorial opportunities. The class will also cover branding yourself as a writer, using and selecting a good pseudonym, using social media to promote your work and do outreach, and how to pitch stories. Rachel is the author of Sex & Cupcakes: A Juicy Collection of Essays, a sex columnist for Philadelphia City Paper and DAME, and was a sex columnist for The Village Voice, Penthouse and The Frisky, and has written about sexuality for Cosmopolitan, The Daily Beast, Elle.com, Glamour, Inked, Marie Claire, O, The Oprah Magazine, Salon, Slate, Time.com, xoJane and many other publications. A resource list covering markets for sex-related pieces, including editors who are actively looking for pitches, will be provided. You do not have to attend CatalystCon to take the workshop. $45/person. Registration open through March 31 at (or $79 for both Erotica Writing 101 and Sex Writing 101).
Hyatt Regency O'Hare, 9300 Bryn Mawr Avenue, Rosemont, IL 60018

Saturday, April 2
I'm also speaking on two panels at CatalystCon! I'm moderating "Sharing Your Sex Life on the Page and the Stage" April 2 from 9:30 am-10:40 am and am part of "Partners in Pleasure: Building bridges between sex positive retailers and educators" that same day from 12:30 pm - 1:40 pm. See the full schedule here.

LitReactor student success story: new fiction in Lit Select food erotica anthology Love Slave: Sizzle

Few things make me happier than to hear that my students have enjoyed my classes, save for when they tell me that work they created in my class is now published, and that that came about because of me. It feels like coming full circle and a wonderful validation of all their hard work and the community that's formed in my LitReactor classes. So yesterday when writer LN Bey announced that their story "Just Desserts" was published in the new food erotica anthology Love Slave: Sizzle from publisher Lit Select, I was thrilled. In LN's words from a recent blog post:

This is a food-themed erotica collection; I wrote this story as an assignment in Rachel Kramer Bussel’s online erotica writing class via LitReactor and I’ve been saving it for just such an anthology. I am especially happy about the acceptance because I mentioned it in my last blog post as an example of how I sometimes enjoy playing with the tropes of erotica in my stories, and now I look much more knowledgable since the story will be in print (or online, anyway)!

It's also wonderful to see that Lit Select has several calls for submissions posted on such wide-ranging topics ranging from "what went wrong?" to sports to enchanted forests to second chances. When I say that erotica is a democratic genre always in need of new writers, this is precisely what I mean. You don't need to have studied it, in my classes or anywhere else. You don't need intense research, unless you're writing about some specific aspect of sex like rope bondage, in which you'd want to make sure you're being accurate. You really just need imagination and dedication. Of course, we go over lots more than that in my classes, but I want to shatter the myth that to get published you need to somehow work your way up. You need to write the best work you can and make it as unique and polished and exciting as you can, but that is something I truly believe more people are capable of than they realize. I think many new writers shy away from submitting their work because they are nervous about it, and I always tell them the worst that can happen is it gets rejected. My work has been rejected umpteen times, but that doesn't stop me from continuing to submit it. In fact, those rejections have served me especially well in the last four and a half years of working for myself, because rejection is something I face daily and I know that my livelihood depends on continuing to persevere on the projects I am proud of and believe are worthy. Believing in your work, being passionate enough about it to pursue it in the face of rejection, researching markets and finding the right fit, is part of being a writer, and those are values I try to instill in my students. Again, I never pressure anyone to submit their work, but I do encourage my LitReactor and other students to get used to the submission process because it's a wonderful feeling to have worked hard and been rewarded for that.

I've written before about why I put a focus on my erotica students submitting their work, and I stand by it. Of course, not everyone wants to send out their work, but I want them to know what markets are available and what the possibilities are. Especially if, like LN, they have a novel coming out, whether self-publishing, as in LN's case, or traditionally publishing, getting your work seen by an audience beforehand has a great impact in terms of name recognition. This is all the more so if you're talking about an anthology, where, I believe based on editing over 60 of them, the final product is far greater than the sum of its parts, because you have so many people's combined talent and creativity in one package. You will undoubtedly be tapping in to an audience that may overlap with yours but that will also be different, because the publisher and your fellow authors will have wider networks than you alone do.

I don't share every student victory here, but since this book is out now and I think food erotica is a fun theme and something I often teach, I wanted to share it. Also, there's an early bird discount for my next LitReactor class, which will run May 17-June 14 and will likely be my final one for the year as I focus on other projects; sign up by April 15th to take advantage of it. Those classes are limited to 16 people and it's likely to sell out, based on past experience. It'll be my seventh time teaching the class and, having just wrapped up my sixth, I'm looking forward to working with another dedicated, enthusiastic group.



If you prefer in person erotica writing workshops, my next one will be a three-hour class Friday, April 1st from 9:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. in Chicago (actually, Rosemont, Illinois). It's being organized by the wonderful conference CatalystCon but you do not have to attend CatalystCon to take my workshop. Full details are at the CatalystCon site and you can register here. Hearing fellow students read their work aloud and having that space and time to focus on expanding your writing boundaries is a wonderful way to kickstart your writing and you should go home full of story starts and prompts that will keep you writing for a long time to come. Official details:

April 1, 2016, 9:15 am - 12:15 pm
Erotica 101 workshop, CatalystCon
In this three hour workshop Rachel Kramer Bussel, professional erotica author and editor of over 50 erotica anthologies, such as The Big Book of Orgasms, Cheeky Spanking Stories and Serving Him: Sexy Stories of Submission, will take you through the ins and outs of modern erotic writing. Learn how to get started, find your voice, and write against type. You’ll discover how to incorporate everyday scenarios as well as outlandish fantasies into your writing, and make them fit for particular magazines and anthologies. The class will also cover branding yourself as a writer, using and selecting a good pseudonym, and using social media to promote your work and do outreach. She’ll also talk about submitting your work and keeping up with the thriving erotica market, including anthologies, ebooks, magazines and websites. Please bring paper and writing implements or a laptop to use for in class writing exercises. A bibliography with erotica resources will be provided.

This class will take place on Friday, April 1, 2016 at the CatalystConhost hotel. You must purchase a ticket to this workshop separately from CatalystCon on the registration page and do not have to attend CatalystCon to take the workshop. $45/person.. Register here.

Hyatt Regency O'Hare, 9300 Bryn Mawr Avenue, Rosemont, IL 60018

Femdom erotica sale this week: Yes, Ma'am: Erotic Stories of Male Submission is just $1.99!

Short version: my femdom BDSM erotica anthology Yes, Ma'am: Erotic Stories of Male Submission is only $1.99 this week on Kindle, Nook, Google Play, iBooks and Kobo. Bonus good news: this week only, the Yes, Ma'am audiobook is only $3.99, so you can read or listen (or both) for a much lower than usual price. It's for sale on Audible or Amazon. Below is what's in the book and me taking a moment to remind myself how far I've come. If you've already read it or read it now for the first time, I'd love if you shared your honest opinion about it wherever you purchased it or on Goodreads. Those reviews help sustain a book like this and keep it alive (yes, I have plenty of books I've edited that are out of print, never to be revived, not available in ebook or audiobook form, so this matters to me.)



What's in this fantastic femdom collection?

Yes, Ma'am table of contents

Introduction: Giving It Up: Letting Her Rule

Zero Sum Game Alex Mendra
Secret Desires Ellen Tevault
Tea for Three Lee Ash
Exhibit A Chris Cooper
A Different Kind of Reality Show D. L. King
Secretary’s Day Rachel Kramer Bussel
Wedding Night Dominic Santi
Flash Alison Tyler
It’s Cold Outside Stephen Elliott
An Invitation to the Dance Sylvane Alistair
Sticking with You L. E. Bland
i 1t u 2 do sumfin 4 me George Cross
Rope Burn A. D. R. Forte
His Lady’s Manservant Andrea Dale
Taming the Unruly Debra Hyde
The Big What Michael Hemmingson
The Mean Girl Teresa Noelle Roberts
Connection Kristina Wright

Introduction
Giving It Up: Letting Her Rule

“What makes a man cower before a powerful woman?” I asked in my call for submissions for this book. What you’ll find here are numerous answers to that question, though surely there are infinitely more waiting to be written. Men are the ones gifted with all sorts of power in our society, but our dirty little secret is that so many of them long to strip themselves of this power, to be tied down, gagged, spanked, taken, owned. They want to be made to do a woman’s bidding, whether that means being ordered into a threesome or put on full, naked display, as you will read about here. They want to ease the burdens of manliness, if only for a little while, to be “ordered” to do all the naughty things they’ve dreamed of.

Submissive men are some of the most misunderstood, and invisible, sexual creatures around. Their voices simply aren’t heard in popular culture, though you’ll find them in plenty of bedrooms, in the blogosphere, and in fetish clubs. After putting together the anthologies He’s on Top and She’s on Top, I wanted to look at BDSM from the bottom’s perspective. Why would a man want to give up control? What does he get out of such an arrangement? These stories show you some of the tantalizing possibilities out there for sniveling men and the women who love them.

Men who crave the company of a dominant woman find her with wives, girlfriends, and dominatrices, sometimes bringing out the kinky tendencies of their partners, other times tapping into what’s already well developed, yet we rarely hear their authentic voices telling us what makes them shiver with fear and excitement. There’s still a taboo element to our leaders—in business, government, and the home—voluntarily relinquishing the top spot. Men are taught to be the hunters, not the hunted, and when the tables are turned, many are all too thrilled to be treated like scum. The flipside is that any woman who can lure a submissive man into her lair knows just how valuable a prize she’s gotten and will surely want to keep him happy, even if this means putting her foot down, literally, upon him, as the boss in “Secretary’s Day” does to her new hire.

“Masturbation without permission was strictly forbidden. This was the most difficult for me because I got so worked up being Rikka’s little whore that I desperately needed to jerk off,” writes Alex Mendra in “Zero Sum Game.” He describes his setup with the commanding Rikka as “perfection,” striving to be everything she desires, but delighting in each form of punishment she cooks up, whether a firm spanking across his ass or the sudsy scene she cooks up for him.

In Stephen Elliott’s “It’s Cold Outside,” the element of realism he so beautifully captures takes us far beyond the clichéd Catwoman fantasy into the stuff of real life, where a woman commandeers the body of the narrator while her boyfriend is asleep. She leaves him tied up, helpless—and horny, and he takes her marks with him, literally and figuratively, when they part.

In “The Mean Girl,” Teresa Noelle Roberts writes of a man reminiscing about his first fantasy domme, now embodied by his real-life Cruella. “I tasted every humiliation I’d ever faced in my hopeless pursuit of Muffy Spaulding—made new and fresh and delicious because now it was coming from Heather, whom I loved. Whom I really did worship, kinky games aside.”

There’s also plenty of humor here. In “A Different Sort of Reality Show” by D. L. King, the author takes us behind the TV screen, where a man is controlled by a cacophony of women’s voices, each taking more delight than the next in ordering him to humiliate himself for their pleasure.

Debra Hyde encapsulates perfectly why the “unruly” man doesn’t just wish to be tamed, but needs to be. “Fear no longer dominates; submission does. I am vessel and vassal—tool and toy, the means to her pleasure. I am hers.” If those words resonate with you, making you long for a woman to come along and grab you by the scruff of your neck, or order you to your knees, or simply control you with one fierce, all-knowing look, then this is the book for you. Go ahead, say the words out loud: “Yes, Ma’am.” Wherever your domme is, she’ll hear you.

Rachel Kramer Bussel
New York City June 2007

This is one of my earliest anthologies, finished so long ago I had to formally go back and remind myself what's inside it, which is exactly what I needed this week. Why? Because lately I've been having a tough time, trying to figure out where to go next, what path to follow, or forge. I still don't know but am exploring new possibilities, ones that may be better suited to my talents and needs. So seeing work I produced when I was almost a decade younger, work that stands the test of time helps remind me that I do have the power to create, whatever that next creation looks like. It also reminds me what I love about the anthology editing process: getting to work with a range of writers, with very different styles and approaches, which I will be doing in a few short weeks for Best Women's Erotica of the Year, Volume 2 . I have largely moved away from anthology editing to other types of work, but it's an honor to get to work with women from around the world, one I don't want to take lightly. (If you know any women, especially women who might have great erotic stories lurking inside them but have never written erotica or thought of themselves as "erotica writers," I'd love if you'd pass on the call for submissions. The April 1 deadline is fast approaching!)

I do believe in signs, in reminders, in prods in the right direction when I can't provide them for myself, and while it's gratifying to see my book at 500 in the entire Kindle store (and charting on the Audible audiobook erotica bestseller list), it's even more gratifying to know that something I completed so long ago is still in print, still viable, still valuable to readers who may be exploring kinky sex for the first time or the four thousandth time. I can't and will never speak for anyone else, but for me, I needed that reminder to help me move forward, no matter what the future looks like.

Why "A New Canvas" by Tara Betts opens Best Women's Erotica of the Year, Volume 1 plus free excerpt

I'm devoting this year to promoting the book I'm most proud of, Best Women's Erotica of the Year, Volume 1 , and the next few weeks to getting as many women erotica writers from around the world to submit their stories to Volume 2 (the ; deadline is April 1). As part of that, and to give a sense of why I've chosen the stories I have for this first volume, I'm going to be blogging about each of them this month. I also want to give these authors the praise they deserve.



I'm starting with the first story, "A New Canvas" by Tara Betts, and I want to encourage you to come hear her read from it live on March 31st at from 6 to 7:30 pm at The Pleasure Chest in Chicago. Can't make it? Please help spread the word! In my ideal world, one that would require being independently wealthy, I would travel all over and do readings with every author in the book. Since I live in the real world, I can only do a limited number of readings, so I want to make those as spectacular as I possibly can. So if you live in Chicago, will be there for CatalystCon, or know anyone there who'd appreciate a free, sexy erotica reading, please let them know.

There were a few things I liked about this story. One was that it was about friends forging forward with a sexual relationship they've danced around. That part felt very realistic to me; Angela and Troy aren't star-crossed lovers or over-the-top romantics, but friends who are attracted to each other. I also liked how art played a role in their seduction dance; it's both creative and intimate and gives the reader time to get drawn into what's happening. There's also an element of awe that this is actually happening which I appreciated, such as when Betts writes, "Angela's mouth fell open. She was still stunned that her tea kettle might not be the only vessel making a high-pitched sound."

One of the things I balance in my anthologies is who's telling the stories. This opening story is in the third person, and Betts does something that's not easy to do, which is seamlessly give us insight into two characters at once. While Troy is drawing on Angela, there's this sentence: "He loved how every word fell from her tongue, and he wondered what her babies might be like inside her." There is a tenderness and passion in this story that certainly goes beyond sex, which I especially appreciated because it closes on an open-ended note. Betts captures how powerful a sexual encounter can be even when two people are not in an official relationship, but are engaging in much more than a hookup.

I chose this story to open the book for two reasons: One was the title, "A New Canvas," which signified a beginning to me. This is the beginning of a new aspect of their relationship, although it's one that's been simmering. The other reason is that for those who either use the "look inside" feature on Amazon or otherwise read the first few pages or pick up the book in a bookstore and start reading, they will see from the very beginning that even though the cover model is white, this is not just a book of white women's erotica, nor will Volume 2 be.

I wanted readers who, whether they read the whole book or not, to pick it up and know that there are diverse characters and scenarios. And that those who found the book lacking in certain aspects of women's lives or sexualities will submit stories precisely about what they found missing in the first volume. I'm honored that I have the opportunity to edit another book in this series, and it's not something I take lightly. I received over 200 submissions to Volume 1, and I hope to receive as many, if not more, this time around, and will do my best to create a book that is a complement to this first volume, and one that will appeal to as wide a range of readers as I can manage in my limited word count.

Here's a short excerpt from "A New Canvas" by Tara Betts, which you can read in full in print, ebook and, very soon, listen to in audiobook form, in Best Women's Erotica of the Year, Volume 1 from Cleis Press.

Excerpt of "A New Canvas" by Tara Betts:

At first, the cool, firm tip of each pen chilled her skin. She felt the goosebumps rise as he wrote Uhuru, the Swahili word for freedom, on her left forearm. He colored in the purple letters with pink and blue chevron-like stripes. He moved on to the right forearm and wrote if, the Yoruba word for love, in black. He colored in that shorter word with red and green. On the left side, he started drawing a purple arrow along the length of her body toward the pubic bone. "Directions for later," Troy explained. When he was done drawing that arrow, he capped the pen and traced the tip around the lips of her opening, which had been wet when he began. He stroked her clitoris a few times with the pen and Angela shuddered. When he touched her with his fingers, he smiled, reached for the black pen and drew the second arrow between her breasts, right next to the purple one.

Just above the collarbone, he etched in a purple and navy skyline, but included an array of tiny gold stars across her hips. A few outlined the constellation Cassiopeia between her shoulder and breast. When he got to her thighs, he started to sketch out anatomical images of the brain and the heart on one side and the uterus and tongue not he other. He leaned over and kissed her, and told her that her eyes and lips always drew him in, but the brain and the heart made it better

Get Best Women's Erotica of the Year now in print or ebook at the following online stores, or click here to see a full list of independent bookstores and sex toy stores where you can buy it:

Amazon (print)

Kindle

Barnes & Noble (print)

Nook

Powells

Books-a-Million

IndieBound (find your nearest local bookstore)

Cleis Press

Amazon UK (print)

Amazon UK Kindle

Amazon Canada (print)

Amazon Canada Kindle

Over sharing

I've been pretty quiet on my blog and social media the last few weeks, save for the occasional Instagram photo and crowdsourcing and article sharing. It's something I, who used to be quite the oversharer, am still grappling with. The last few weeks, and much of 2016, really, have been challenging in a lot of ways that I'm still sorting out. They're things that aren't well suited to dashing off an immediate update for all the world (or even a small subset of it). I'm slowly trying to write about it and figure out how to get back on track with all areas of my life.

Nothing is drastically wrong, don't worry, but that is part of the problem I keep circling back to: sharing anything about my life that's not grand and glorious and exciting can bring an onslaught of concern that I'm also not that equipped to deal with at the moment. In short, I'm trying, both in writing and in real life. Trying sounds, perhaps, half-hearted or weak or lazy, but for me, it's not. It's about recognizing what I am capable of and what I'm not and adjusting my life accordingly. I realize maybe addressing the change in output so vaguely doesn't really offer that much, yet I wanted to because I know I haven't really been as active as I could be. I may return to that level of activity soon, but it may be a while or, frankly, never. I do still plan to post things, but the majority of that is about work projects that are occupying the bulk of my attention and time. One of the things I'm working on in every area of my life is doing it anyway, even when I'm not sure what my next steps will be, even when I'm nervous or scared or uncertain.

I do have a lot I hope to write, and a lot of plans and projects in various stages of fruition, but these days, it's all about what comes immediately next, what I need to do to best look after myself. I've scaled back in a lot of ways, including my social life, such as it is, to really dig deep and work on myself. So that's what I'm up to when I'm not writing or editing or teaching or consulting, which, along with my relationship, are where I'm focused these days. It may mean I'm far more boring online than I once was, but if that's the worst thing I have to deal with, I am more than happy to embrace putting people to sleep with my dullness. That's more of a warning than an apology, but I do hope you'll keep reading.

I want to interview you about your sex life if...

I want to interview women (you can be anonymous) about your sex life if:

You've kept (or are keeping) a sex secret from a partner. This could be anything from your porn viewing habits or a particular fetish or sexual interest to sexting or flirting with someone, etc. Anything that would fall under "sex secret" is fair game.

And then for a new series of interviews I'm conducting for Elle.com, the first of which, about polyamory, is up now ("I'm in a Relationship With Five People. Just One Is My Husband."), I'd like to talk women who fit any of the following:

You've exclusively dated/slept with people of one gender and after 10 or more years decided to date people of another gender.

You're a single college student.

You've only slept with one partner (over an extended period of time).

You're having an affair.

You engage in a specific fetish.

You have a highly unique aspect of your sex (and/or dating) life that you'd like to open up about. I will leave it up to you as to what's "highly unique" but if you know any women with such a story who might be interested in being profiled, have them get in touch.

Email me at rachelkb at gmail.com with "Interview" in the subject line and a little about your story and I can give you more information.

When a book gets a second chance makeover, or, erotic romance anthology I Want You Bad is just $1.99 this week

To cut to the chase, my anthology I Want You Bad: Obsessed Erotic Romance for Women (formerly titled Obsessed), is only $1.99 this week on Kindle, Nook, Google Play, iBooks and Kobo. I don't know exactly how long the sale lasts, but probably until Friday, so if you're interested, grab it now for a cheap and sexy download!



Longer version: Sometimes, despite my best efforts, my books just fail to reach a wide audience. It could be the timing, the cover, the competition. Who knows? Sometimes it's that a major chain like Borders is closing right then the book comes out. I've edited over 60 anthologies and some of them are major sellers, and some, not so much. One of the latter was my erotic romance anthology Obsessed, despite the book cover cupcakes I had made for the book launch party and the usual attention to promotion I put into it. But what's very cool is that this book I could have considered a failure for not selling well got new life last year with a new cover and title: I Want You Bad: Obsessed Erotic Romance for Women. So if you read Obsessed, you don't need this one because the content is the same. But if you didn't, now's the perfect time to do so at a bargain price.

Many of my non-Cleis Press books were published with publishers like Alyson that have since closed up shop, and are no longer available. Those early titles never came out in ebook form so they don't get to live on in any way that helps me make a living (yes, you can buy used copies, but I get no royalties). That's a shame to me, because I love those books just as much as the newer ones, although I'd like to think my skills as an anthology editor have improved over the 12 years I've been doing it. My point is, getting a do-over on a book feels like a wonderful gift. How often in life have we bombed and would love to get the chance to start afresh? I know I have countless moments where that would be extremely welcome. In the rest of my life, I don't get those chances very often, but with this book, I did, and I treasure that because I believe in the stories and my authors and the collection.

I Want You Bad table of contents:

Foreword: Behind the Mask of Obsession Caridad Piñeiro
Introduction Rachel Kramer Bussel

Silent Treatment Donna George Storey
One Night in Paris Kayla Perrin
Concubine Portia Da Costa
Love and Demotion Logan Belle
Mephisto Waltz Justine Elyot
Then Emerald
It’s Gotta Be Fate Jennifer Peters
Hooked Ariel Graham
Aftershocks Bella Andre
Secret Places Adele Haze
Loser Charlotte Stein
Here In Between Kristina Wright
Spellbound by Garnell Wallace
Raven’s Flight Andrea Dale
Raindrops and Rooftops Elizabeth Coldwell
Topiary K. D. Grace
I Want to Hold Your Hand Rachel Kramer Bussel
(this one is my free erotic romance story gift to you, part of my Big Handsome Man stories and from a period where I was naming stories after songs) Storm Surge Teresa Noelle Roberts
Undercover Kink Louisa Harte

The Come Again: Sex Toy Erotica ebook is only $1.99 this week on Kindle, Nook, iBooks, Google Play and Kobo!

I'm happy to start the week off by letting you know that what I think is one of the most fun books I've ever worked on, Come Again: Sex Toy Erotica, is only $1.99 this week in ebook form on Kindle, Nook, iBooks, Google Play and Kobo! I don't know exactly how long the sale lasts but I believe it's at least through Friday, February 19th.



I loved working on this book because there's humor, playfulness and a lot of creativity going on (from ice play to a sex doll threesome and much more). There are sex toys you've likely heard of (and maybe even used), and ones that are purely function. There are toys used for very creative purposes and some used in the ways you'd likely expect, as a means of enhancing pleasure, surprising a partner or simply doing something that the human body alone cannot. I'll be posting some excerpts during the course of this week to pique your interest, but wanted to share the news since this is a limited time sale. Here's the blurb:

In the latest collection from award-winning editor Rachel Kramer Bussel, sex toys take on a life of their own as they bring couples, singles and strangers to new heights of pleasure. From two couples who happen to share the same remote controlled device, to some very hot rocks, a perfectly icy bed, a Superman dildo, and a day in the life of a very lucky vibrator. This fun collection will give you plenty of ideas for toys you’d like to try, and ones you wish someone would invent! From “The Secret Shopper” and “The Cure for the Common Lay,” these stories in Come Again are best read with your favorite sex toy handy.

Sex toys are more popular than ever and make life so much more fun! Nowadays, there are sex toys for every occasion and every act. And, to add to the joy of toys, they also come in all sorts of playful designs, from sweet little bunny vibrators to glamorous glittery harnesses, feather light smackers to heavy duty paddles. Whatever your favorite playtime is, you can probably find exactly the right toy—or make your own! Rachel Kramer Bussel, toy enthusiast and self-confessed spanko has gathered a delightful set of stories sure to give you ideas to try at home, or wherever your nearest toy box may be!

To further pique your interest, here's the table of contents; the final story, "My Life as a Vibrator" by Livia Ellis, is told from the point of view of a vibrator, from factory to being used in very intimate, hot ways. It's one of the most creative stories I've ever published and a wonderful way to round out this collection!

Dare You To Jillian Boyd
The Prototype Malin James
Icy Bed J. Crichton
Surprise Katya Harris
The Superman Dildo E. Bellamy
Lost and Pounded Zee Giovanni
In the Pink Rob Rosen
Dalia’s Toy Corrine A. Silver
Vegetable Love Susan St. Aubin
The Cure for the Common Lay Valerie Alexander
Claws Out Rachel Kramer Bussel
Sex Kitten Errica Liekos
Standard of Care Sybil Rush
Bikery Oliver Hollandaize
Pencil Dick Kathleen Delaney-Adams
A Tale of Two Toys Chris Komodo
Prickles Elizabeth Coldwell
Gift Dena Hankins
Get Your Rocks Off Jocelyn Dex
Byrd and the Bees Kamala St. Deeds
The Secret Shopper Kitten Boheme
Must Love Dolls Giselle Renarde
Sex Sells Adriana Ravenlust
My Life as a Vibrator Livia Ellis

Buy my erotica books in Berlin at vegan sex shop Other Nature

Yesterday, I read an article at Upworthy about feminist sex shops, specifically Other Nature in Berlin. They describe themselves on their site as "Other Nature is a feminist, queer-oriented, eco-friendly, vegan sex shop in Berlin Kreuzberg." Well, imagine my delight when I discovered that they carry my women's erotica anthologies Dirty Girls and the German translation of Fast Girls, which has a much sexier cover than the U.S. version, which is hot in its own way and is one of my favorite of my books:


on the Other Nature site

Both editions side by side:



Naturally (pun intended), I Tweeted about it, and here's what they said:



To inspire you wherever you are in the world as we head into Valentine's Day, here's my naked bubble bath book trailer for Fast Girls , whose title was inspired by the song of the same name by one of my favorite bands, Sarge (read more about that in the introduction to the book). Watching this again makes me miss making book trailers. People ask me sometimes whether they help sell books. Short and succinct answer: I have no idea, but I really enjoyed the process. As someone whose only real artistic talents lie with words, getting to work with images, to be onscreen and plan out these videos, was a lot of fine. It's not feasible to do these days, but I consider them a fond memory and wonderful learning experience.



For those outside Berlin, here's where you can grab a copy in print, ebook or audiobook form:

Amazon.com

Kindle ebook edition

Bn.com

Nook ebook edition

Powell's

IndieBound (find your nearest local bookstore)

iBooks

Google Play

Audible audiobook

Cleis Press

I love the first day of (erotica writing) school

Today is the official start of my sixth LitReactor erotica writing class, and I'm thrilled to be back. While it's a major immersion in the genre for my students, for me it's an immersion in doing something I love that is a wonderful complement to the loneliness of writing: working with other people. I am first and foremost a people person, and my erotica work has always involved working with others. From the very first short story I published, I didn't want the words to just live between the pages of a book, but to come alive in the air, so I organized a reading at New York's Bluestockings back in, I believe, 2001, for Best Lesbian Erotica 2001.

What's great about teaching online is that I am not limited to working with people in a specific geographic location. Students from around the world have taken my LitReactor class and shared knowledge of how sexuality works where they live that has helped inform others' stories. It's a space where camaraderie rules and people get intimate on the page in ways, I'm pretty sure, they didn't expect to.

I think back to the first online class I taught, which was only in 2014, but I admit I was incredibly nervous. I wasn't sure how what I had taught in person dozens of times would translate online. What I found was that I actually love the process of teaching online because there's more time to connect, think, experiment, write and learn. Students aren't stuck with only a few minutes to write the first thing that pops into their mind (which is a process that has value in itself). They can allow their imaginations to take flight, work on recurring characters if they choose, get detailed feedback not just on a few minutes' or writing but on completed stories, and spend quality time with their work. It's now my preferred method of teaching and where I will be focusing my efforts this year and beyond, because I believe I can offer the best of the knowledge I have in that form. That's not to diminish the work I do in live workshops, but I'm convinced that for me, online teaching is where I can have the most impact, connect with the most students from the widest range of places, and provide the most steady encouragement, support and tools to help writers go deeper and flesh out their erotica.

I'm at work on a website that will expand on my offerings as a writing coach and teacher, informed by what I've learned in these classes and working with private clients. It's a leap for me to focus on that arena, but since just this morning I got an email from a student who sold an erotica story, it feels like the right leap. For the next four weeks, I'll be devoted to my LitReactor class, but stay tuned here, in my newsletter and on my Facebook page, where I'll be sharing relevant advice, links and helpful hints for writers. I admit this year has been off to a somewhat rocky start for me in a lot of ways, with much upheaval and it's taken me a while to get my bearings, but today, I feel like I'm very clear on where I want to go and what I want to be doing.