Rachel Kramer Bussel's Blog, page 3

My Glamour article on stickers and sticker collecting

If there were ever an article I was born to write, this Glamour one, "Inside the New World of Sticker Enthusiasts," is it. The "research" started when I was eight years old in some ways, but more recently, began, as you'll see in the article, when I attended the conference Alt Summit in 2018 in Palm Springs. I reaffirmed my love of stickers and have been obsessed with them and sticker lovers ever since. I'm so grateful to Glamour for letting me write this and go long. This piece covers everything from feminist stickers to self-care, AOC, WAP and more.





In February, after my LA reading, I took the train on a lovely sunny day to San Luis Obispo to visit and shop at sticker store Pipsticks. I took dozens of photos (yes, I spent hours taking photos of almost everything in the store and soaking it all in and buying book and taco stickers), and they didn't all make it into the article, so here are four of them, plus my favorite sticker on my water bottle, which I actually got at a cute indie stationery store in Nashville. I love wavy guys and will always stare out the window in delight when we pass one, so I couldn't resist a wavy guy sticker. I hope this article brings a smile your way, whether you were also a sticker collector in the 80s, are one today, or just are charmed by all the sticker fandom and creativity I documented.

Out now: Best Women's Erotica of the Year, Volume 6 (plus giveaways and virtual events)

I couldn't be more excited that Best Women's Erotica of the Year, Volme 6 is finally out in the world in print and ebook! Audio is coming soon.



I meant to post this earlier but it's been such a whirlwind of a month it just didn't happen (you'll find me much more frequently @raquelita on Twitter). You can order the book from romance bookstore Love's Sweet Arrow, who hosted our book launch last night, or wherever you buy books or ebooks.

Here's some quick things to know:

There's a giveaway to win this 1,000 jigsaw puzzle of the Best Women's Erotica of the Year, Volume 6 book cover on Instagram (deconstructed), in the tin in the second photo and a copy of the book! Warning: It's one of the hardest, if not the hardest puzzles I've ever done, but was very satisfying to complete.





You can win a copy of the book on our virtual book tour through December 18

Watch last night's virtual erotica panel with from top left: Marissa Backlin of Love's Sweet Arrow, me, Olivia Waite, Evie Bennet, Mia Hopkins, Katrina Jackson and Naima Simone!



Here was my setup for the event, which was so much fun, so interesting and smart and full of laughter and book recommendations and insights. In fact, I felt more relaxed, at ease and happy moderating it than I have with my in-person events. Of course it's different, but that the audience could chat with each other in real time (many of them knew each other, and I saw book reviewers and bloggers, librarians and fellow authors chatting), and everyone was in their own home, felt special to me after almost 20 years of hosting in-person book events. Plus all of us live in different parts of the country, so it's unlikely I could have gathered that particular group for an in-store event even if those were safe to do right now.



Our next virtual event is Friday, December 18, 7 pm CT/8 pm ET, live on the Feminist Erotica Podcast Facebook page .



And a shoutout to Cookies by Kase on Instagram, who I ordered these super adorable and delicious book cookies from! One features the cover and the other five showcase the stories by Olivia Waite (shell grotto), Evie Bennet (red balloon), Mia Hopkins (boat), Katrina Jackson (motorcycle), and Naima Simone (tattoo reality show).

Free books for life giveaway and Book Angel program helping kids in need

My November articles (so far) for Forbes.com are below, where I've been covering all things books, publishing, libraries, authors, literary agents, book clubs and more since November 2018, are about some cool things independent bookstores are doing. You can follow me there so you don't miss anything, and I'm now working on January 2021 articles and beyond, so if you're a book publicist, editor, agent, bookseller, librarian or book club organizer or anyone else doing something new and unique in the book world, feel free to pitch me (rachelkb at gmail dot com with "Forbes" in the subject line).

Having this beat has totally changed my freelance writing career and given me a great way to focus my interests, and cover books for other outlets like Publishers Weekly and Washington Post Book World.

Here are two articles I hope you'll appreciate. You can nominate someone to WIN A BOOK A MONTH FOR LIFE from London, UK bookstore Heywood Hill through Sunday, November 8, and you can donate a book to a child in need with Oblong Books in Rhinebeck, New York, either in person or online. More details in the pieces.

"Why UK Bookstore Heywood Hill Is Giving Away A Book A Month For Life"





"Bookstore’s Book Angel Program Ensures Kids In Need Receive Books For The Holidays"

Dirty Girls flash sale - 27 erotica stories for $1.99!

I just found out last night while randomly scrolling online, as one does, that my Seal Press anthology Dirty Girls is on sale in ebook form for just $1.99 for Kindle, Nook, Google Play and Kobo! I don't know when the sale started or when it will end, though I imagine soon, so I encourage you to check it out. There are 27 very sexy stories inside. I'm so proud of this book, which came out all the way back in 2008 (hence the MySpace reference in the introduction!), and excited for it to reach more readers. Details about it below.



What do women really want? To be sensually seduced or pressed up against the wall for a quickie? To be tantalized by a peep show or the chance to join the mile high club?

Acclaimed erotica writer and editor Rachel Kramer Bussel knows: They want it all. They want to be worshiped, ordered around, sent blindly into ecstasy, and made hot in front of a mirror. They want strangers bearing ice cubes on a hot day and to be the party favor passed around among guests. They want sex at the office and in the great outdoors and on trains and airplanes. They want sex with the whole United States of America (or, at least, part of it). They want to be wooed, seduced, flirted with, taken. They want to handpick their lovers and make them do their bidding. They want men, women, and sometimes both at the same time.

In Dirty Girls, the country’s best erotic writers explore their sexual psyches. With contributions from Carol Queen, Alison Tyler, Sofia Quintero, Shanna Germain, Lillian Ann Slugocki, Tsaurah Litzky, and many others, this collection will set your heart racing as you savor these intimate, shocking, and passionate female fantasies.

Blurbs:

“Finally⎯a book about what girls REALLY think about. Well, maybe not every one, but the dirty ones…and those are the ones who really count.” — Joanna Angel, CEO, BurningAngel Entertainment

“Dirty Girls is the post-feminist generation’s answer to Nancy Friday’s My Secret Garden, a collection of erotically charged short stories that reveal that, in the 21st century, good girls are dead and dirty girls are the new black.” — Susannah Breslin, author of You’re a Bad Man, Aren’t You?

“A spanking good collection of smart erotica assembled by always exciting ringleader Rachel Kramer Bussel, Dirty Girls begs the question ‘What are those dirty girls thinking?’ and answers with insight not just to how women want it, but why.” — Lisa Beth Kovetz, author of The Tuesday Erotica Club

“This is an outstanding collection of hot women’s stories. That’s hot stories by women and stories by hot women. The table of contents reads like a who’s who in the best erotica writers around, an All Star team who deliver the raunch and punch the reader deserves. Rawr.” — Cecilia Tan, author of Black Feathers and White Flames: Erotic Dreams

Table of Contents

Introduction – Dirty and Sweet Wrapped Up in One

1. Fucking Around by Marie Lyn Bernard
2. Live Tonight by Saskia Walker
3. Just Another Girl on the Train by Catherine Lundoff
4. Beautiful Creature by Kristina Wright
5. In the Name Of… by Isabelle Gray
6. Cheesy Boots by L. Elise Bland
7. Truck Stop Cinderella by Lillian Ann Slugocki
8. The Dream of Life by Tenille Brown
9. The Mile High Club by Kate Dominic
10. Like a Good Girl by Alison Tyler
11. The Garden of Sinn by Darklady
12. Bag and Baggage by Teresa Noelle Roberts
13. Icy Hot by Rachel Kramer Bussel
14. Dreams by Marilyn Jaye Lewis
15. Shocking Expose! Secrets Revealed! by Carol Queen
16. To Dance at the Fair by Donna George Storey
17. The First Deadly Sin by Gwen Masters
18. El Mar de Encanto by Sofia Quintero
19. Flight by Suki Bishop
20. Lily by Tsaurah Litzky
21. Opera Gloves by Maddy Stuart
22. Party Favor by Andrea Dale
23. Carn Euny by Madelynne Ellis
24. A Prayer to Be Made Cocksure by Melissa Gira
25. All About Hearts by Sage Vivant
26. The Next Thing by Gina de Vries
27. Until It’s Gone by Shanna Germain

Introduction: Dirty and Sweet Wrapped Up in One

“I can be dirty and sweet at the same time” reads my self-proclaimed motto on my MySpace page. When I wrote that, I meant that not so deep inside me lurks the soul of a highly perverted, kinky, dirty girl who can get aroused often by a single word whispered in my ear or a solid smack across my ass. Once someone gets me into that zone, I’ll do anything, no matter how depraved, to be with them. I’ll find myself fantasizing about all the wicked things we can do together throughout the day and night, waking from wild dreams with the wish that they were beside me. I’ll see their name in my inbox and get instantly wet. I’ll tell them in public exactly what I want them to do to me, and vice versa. Yes, that’s what I mean by “dirty.”

Yet I don’t think my sexual interests make me any less of a well-rounded, kind-hearted intelligent person. I’m “sweet” in the sense that I care about my friends and family, like sending cards and random gifts, strive to be a good person (also, I run a blog about cupcakes). I’m as likely to kiss a lover’s forehead tenderly and offer to tuck them into bed as I am to throw them down on the floor and strip them naked. For me, the sweet and tender and down-and-dirty go hand in hand; I’m most turned on, and most slutty, when I’m partnered with someone who brings out my sweet side. Once, I visited a boyfriend who was sick with a fever, and did the one thing I could think of to make him feel better: sank down on his bed and took his cock in my mouth. Playing the slutty nurse, horny yet doting, is another aspect to my dirty/sweet motto.

I’d originally meant the phrase as a throwaway line, but more and more I’m realizing that everyone (or almost everyone) has a dirty and a sweet side. All too often we denigrate the dirty girls⎯the ones who dare to publicly show their naughty sides⎯as incorrigible sluts, rather than realizing just how much exciting it is to tap into our lustiest selves. Once you crack the surface of those who are seemingly prim and proper (the demure suburban housewife, the suited-up banker, the quiet secretary, the curious bookworm, the shy computer nerd), you’ll very likely find that the simplicity of the word “dirty” doesn’t go anywhere near far enough to describe the kinks that lurk within them.

The women writing here don’t apologize for being dirty. They know who and what they want and they go after the objects of their affection in all kinds of different ways. Reading this collection⎯whether from start to finish or skipping around to your favorite authors or the most eye-catching titles⎯will give you a glimpse into what makes women wet, what makes us feel and act dirty, what makes us slick our lips and spread our legs. Maybe, just maybe, their stories attempt to answer Freud’s infamously infuriating query: “What do women want?” To judge by the twenty-seven tales you hold in your hand, they want to be worshiped, they want to be ordered around, they want to be sent spinning into ecstasy and then come crashing back down. They want strangers bearing ice cubes on a hot day, and to be a party favor passed around among guests. They want hot vacation sex, visits to peep shows, and a man who’ll lick stinky cheese off their boots. They want power, and they want to give up power. They want sex at the office and in the great outdoors and on trains and airplanes. They want sex with the whole United States of America (or, at least, part of it). They want to be wooed, seduced, flirted with, taken. They want men, women, and sometimes both at the same time.

Of course, there’s more to what women want out of sex than any one book could possibly capture. What I’ve done with this anthology is highlight some of the best erotic writing I’ve found from authors who show you exactly what makes their hearts beat and their clits stand at attention. What they’re up to is, as Marie Lyn Bernard so aptly puts it, “Fucking Around” (which I briefly considered as a very fitting alternative title to this book). When I first heard Bernard read this story tag-team style at my reading series “In The Flesh,” I was blown away. She captures so much of the drama of sex⎯the high highs, the low lows, the awkwardness and the intensity⎯in a playful yet totally hot way. And when she writes about the Big Apple, it’ll make you want to hop the first plane or train to get here: “New York fucks me. New York fucks me so hard that I cry. My pussy opens like the long throat of a flame-swallower. Her fingers make love to the inside of my bellybutton. I am sweating so much that our bodies glide against each other like fish underwater.” You’ll find yourself drawing a map of your own sexual conquests, marking your territory right along with Bernard.

But for every feisty babe here, there’s another just in the process of discovering what turns her on. “Dirty” can be a state of mind just as much as it can be a description of one’s bedroom antics. Carol Queen’s peepshow virgin protagonist Abby doesn’t quite know what she’s getting into with her new friends Daniel and Lila, but she desperately wants to find out. “Lila’s lips covered hers right away, soft and wet, licking and nibbling in one of the most arousing kisses Abby had ever experienced,” writes Queen. “Dirty” doesn’t always mean depraved, either; these stories aren’t all wham-bam-thank-you-sir (or ma’am) quickies. Many of them evoke the intensity of emotion sex can bring with it, the ways having a lover know you literally inside and out can throw your life completely off balance, as if they can read your soul like a map, using fingers, toys, tongues, and cocks to navigate you until they own your internal compass. The thrill of giving yourself over to someone, of giving up control for that deliciously delirious sensation of pure erotic adrenaline, surfaces throughout this collection.

The women you’ll find here are complex; they’re by turns playful and bashful, horny and haughty. They want to share much more with you than just the details of their latest screw. They want you to know what makes them tick, who haunts their dreams, why they can’t quite forget the man who fucked them senseless, even when they’re with someone new. They like to watch and be watched, to take risks, to live out their long-held fantasies. Some are in loving, committed relationships, ones that allow them room to get their freak on with the person who knows just how to push their every button. Others, like my “Icy Hot” protagonist, don’t even want to know their bedmate’s name: “I forgot about the fact that I didn’t really know him at all. Sometimes, in a city of millions of strangers, you just have to take a chance and let your body make the decisions for you, as I’ve learned over the years. And my body was saying yes, please, more, harder.”

“Dirty” doesn’t preclude poetry, the kind where the words roll off the page, roll from your tongue, so beautifully it’s like they themselves are making love to you. Writers like Marilyn Jaye Lewis, Suki Bishop, and Melissa Gira probe the twisted places women go in search of sex⎯and themselves. In “A Prayer to Be Made Cocksure,” Gira elevates the art of the blowjob to new heights: “I sucked your cock as if it was the last cock. I trusted you to let me keep breathing, to never take that final bit from me, to tell me that getting any air at all was your choice just by reaching your hand down the length of your chest to me, to cradle the back of my neck, to run your fingers across my lips, softly, as you plunged suddenly and held me at the edge.” She takes you right into that moment, where this intimate act is dissected, treasured, hoarded, and missed.

You’ll find a range of motivations here, from women looking to spice up a lackluster relationship to single girls on the prowl to kinky couples, daring dommes, and sultry sirens intent on performing on a sexual stage of their own creation. You may read their stories and ask yourself: Would you ever write your name across your lover’s cock? What about pick up a stranger at a rock concert or screw a doctor in a hospital? Get fingered at the opera? Go to a bondage club? These characters do all this and more, always making sure their wanting, lusting, panting, and perversions are met with equal fervor.

Take a hot and steamy trip with these writers as they unlock your deepest desires, or perhaps give you some new ideas to try out next time you shut your eyes and part your legs. From tender to tempting, sweet to sadistic, loving to lascivious, there’s something for every reader who wants to go to bed with images that’ll surely make you blush and just may spark some brand-new, unique fantasies of your very own.

Rachel Kramer Bussel
New York City
July 2007

3 sexy book giveaways in October

There's so many exciting things happening, even I can hardly keep up! The biggest is that Best Women's Erotica of the Year, Volume 6 , which has a stunning cover (I mean, how HOT is that?) and 20 super hot brand new adventure-themed sexy stories, hits stores and e-readers December 8!



It just got a rave review in Publishers Weekly that I'm really proud of. I think sometimes people think editing anthologies is super easy and I just pick any random stories and cobble them together. There's so much more involved, and I worked super hard to make this book as varied as possible while also exploring lots of different types of sex and adventure.

So to celebrate the upcoming release, I'm giving away 5 signed copies of Best Women's Erotica of the Year, Volume 6 over at Goodreads. You have until October 15 to enter. It's open to those in the US and Canada, the only countries Goodreads would let me select.

But that's not all! During my book tour earlier this year, I got CD Reiss, Sierra Simone and Sabrina Sol to sign copies of their books Marriage Games, Misadventures of a Curvy Girl and Delicious Satisfaction respectively. Over on the Best Women's Erotica of the Year Instagram, I'm giving away signed copies of those plus a signed copy of Best Women's Erotica of the Year, Volume 5, which they've all contributed to, to one lucky winner. Open internationally. Deadline to enter: October 18, 2020.



If you're a subscriber to my newsletter, you can enter to win sexy romance novel Getaway Girl by Tessa Bailey by replying to the October newsletter. That went out yesterday, October 8, so look for it in your inbox.



Not a subscriber yet? Subscribe here and stay tuned for November's newsletter PLUS the most fun giveaway of my life, also happening next month.

New call for submissions: The Big Book of Orgasms, Volume 2

Thanks to YOU and all your support for the original The Big Book of Orgasms , I'm editing another volume for Cleis Press! The call for submissions is on my website, and the key details are: I want original, unpublished stories of 1,200 words or less on the them of orgasm by December 1, 2020 at the latest, but earlier submissions will get priority. The call will likely be updated based on the submissions I get. Pay is $25/story and one copy of the book. And I especially want to work with authors I haven't published before. Everything else you need to know is on my site. Hope you'll consider submitting a story and passing this on to any writers who might be interested.

I LOVE getting to work with so many authors and offer readers so many different takes on a single theme. So please submit to this book; I obviously can't guarantee that I can publish it, but I'm looking for lots of variety.

My new kinky anthology Best Bondage Erotica of the Year, Volume 1 is out!

I meant to post this way back in March, which seems like a lifetime ago, but having your book release at the same time you're preparing to stay home indefinitely during a pandemic means things sometimes fall by the wayside. So...I'm very excited that my kinky Cleis Press anthology Best Bondage Erotica of the Year, Volume 1 is out now in print, ebook and audiobook. Find out more about it below and ask for it at your local independent bookstore or library or use the links below.



Buy it from these retailers (I will add any additional buy links as they become available):

Amazon U.S. print

Barnes & Noble print

Kindle

Kobo

Audible audiobook

Super sexy, sensual, and surprising bondage stories from Tiffany Reisz, Somer Marsden, Valerie Alexander, and more collected in this exciting volume by erotica maven Rachel Kramer Bussel!

A cameraman puts a TV anchor on display in a whole new way… Two NASA officials wage an interstellar battle between protocol and desire, and one is taken captive . . . A gender-bending bounty hunter keeps his bounty hostage for more than just the monetary reward . . . Two warring neighbors discover that bondage can be a powerful negotiating tool . . . “Merlin” and the “Lady of the Lake” invoke the magic of the woods to fuel their fiery passions . . .

Best Bondage Erotica of the Year is back with erotica maven and award-winning editor Rachel Kramer Bussel compiling the most scintillating bondage stories into this one amazing collection. With a wide variety of different pairings, genders, and genres, these stories are all united in their deep desire for the mind-bending thrills of this o-so-delectable act. Whether you are exploring your kinky side, are looking for inspiration in the bedroom, or are simply interested in a sexy read, this collection is poised to please and titillate readers of any experience level who are keen to explore the depths of their own passions and penchants for the perverse.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Bliss of Bondage by Rachel Kramer Bussel Chained—Ria Restrepo Impropriety—Winter Blair Over Under—Kendel Davi Protocol—Angora Shade Beach Blanket Ballet—Richard Bacula Kneel—Kate Allure Pretty Tied Up—Zak Jane Keir The Deepest Part of the Forest—Deborah Castellano Connection—Lazuli Jones BYOB—Elizabeth Coldwell Contrary—Kim Kuzuri Freefall—Valerie Alexander Delicate Matters—Leandra Vane Boundless—Sammy Rei Schwarz Stronghold—Leif Often Necessary Roughness—Rachel Kramer Bussel Safe Sex—Violet R. Jones Hold On Harder—Dena Hankins The Student Seat—Sommer Marsden The Beguiling of Merlin—Tiffany Reisz

BDSM erotica flash sale: Serving Him is $1.99 through Wednesday, April 22

Good news, for those of you looking for your next kinky read: my anthology Serving Him: Sexy Stories of Submission is on sale at U.S. ebook retailers for three days only! If you haven't read it yet, snap it up between now and Wednesday, April 20 (and if you have, now's the perfect time to give it as a gift). More details and buy links below. And follow me on follow me on BookBub if you want to see what sexy books I'm recommending and find out when my books are on sale, which happens through the year.

Now is an especially challenging time for authors, so if you've read any or all of the book and want to share them, I'd love if you'd leave a review, no matter where you got the book, of any length at any of these sites: Amazon, BookBub and/or Goodreads.



Get all this kinky erotica for just $1.99:

Kindle

Nook

Google Play

iBooks

Kobo

About the book:

Serving Him pays homage to those irresistible men who control their partners with a glance, a pair of handcuffs, or a firm 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. Rachel and her coterie of contributors cover the full range of the male dom's brand of sensual sadism, from spanking and bondage to public sex and power exchange.

Table of contents:

Introduction: Lucky Naughty Girls

What You Deserve Lori Selke

Coffee Break Kristina Wright

Chattel Errica Liekos

Under Direction Teresa Noelle Roberts

The Letter Tiffany Reisz

Run, Baby, Run Vida Bailey

Tackling Jessica Maxine Marsh

Safe, Sane and Consensual Ariel Graham

The Golden Ruler Giselle Renarde

I Always Do Kiki DeLovely

Pinky Kissa Starling

The Breaking Point Cole Riley

Shining in the Dark Bex vanKoot

Room #3 Emily Bingham

Duo J. Sinclaire

Breath Mollena Williams

Silver Fish in the Crystal Pool Gina Marie

The Secret of Time Travel Jacqueline Applebee

Bared Gray Miller

In His Control Jade Melisande

Paper Doll joy

Subbing Rachel Kramer Bussel

Lucky Naughty Girls

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rachel Kramer Bussel
New York City

And as a little extra enticement, a snippet of my closing story, "Subbing," which, I promise, if you like the excerpt, the rest is totally worth reading:

She was aching, dripping, frantic before the crop even touched her. The first touch wasn’t a strike but a tease, as it brushed against her hard right nipple like a feather would, except this feather was made of leather, and she knew it wasn’t always going to feel so gentle. The man ran the crop all along her front, under each breast, along her gently sloping belly, up her neck. He let it rest gently against her cheek and meandered it along her underarm until she almost sighed in frustration. It was on; he tapped it against one nipple then hit the other one. Each nipple rose to attention, and after only a few slaps of the crop, Taylor was gritting her teeth, torn between watching the leather tip strike her tender nubs and closing her eyes to try to deal with the pain, the heat, the glorious rush she got each time the toy landed on her.

Just when her nipples felt like they were on fire, the man once again moved the crop down her body, this time to her inner thighs. He lifted her skirt and nudged her legs apart with his knee, then whapped her inner thighs. Taylor clutched the metal tightly, lest she sink down to the ground or be tempted to grab the crop and rub it against her wetness. The tender, padded flesh leading up to her sex had never been given quite so much attention, and Taylor bit her lip, aching with the sharp, pointed heat he managed to convey so expertly, like he was born to beat girls like her. She could almost forget they were actually playing a game, one in which she got paid for this, and simply be a girl who liked pain, craved it, needed it. It wasn’t until that exact moment that Taylor—as Tina—fully owned her innate submissiveness, her masochism that made even the hint of pain, like when the head of the crop teased her by merely resting against her skin, cause her to feel like she wanted to writhe in ecstasy.

Taylor mashed her lips together, suddenly longing for something between them, something to suck on or simply fill her up, and the look she gave the stranger was one of pure desire, one she was sure he could read just as clearly as the tears that sprouted to her eyes when he let the crop dangle and brushed a thumb lightly over her trembling lower lip. He moved closer, pressing her tight to the wall for a few seconds, then withdrew and raised his hand to her cheek. She shuddered so hard she thought she might come. “There’s so much I’d love to do to you, sweet girl,” he said softly, an equally fervent need crashing right through his voice. Taylor knew they were sharing a moment, a real one, despite its trappings, and her pussy actually hurt as it clenched around nothing. He’d landed one slap across her tender face and brushed away the tear that trickled down, when a buzzer sounded, signaling they only had five minutes left. Taylor twitched, wondering if the sub could request more time.

Intrigued? Read this and more in Serving Him, on sale for just $1.99 through Wednesday, April 22:

Kindle

Nook

Google Play

iBooks

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February Forbes articles on book publishing

Here's a roundup of my February 2020 Forbes.com articles on books and publishing, from why a bookstore isn't stocking a New York Times bestseller to a romance bookstore's business strategy to an Amazon Prime book purchase with inappropriate writing in it (find out what action Amazon took about it), Colin Kaepernick's memoir and publishing company and revamped classics. You can follow me there to see them as they get published. These are in reverse chronological order. For Forbes.com and outlets I freelance for, I'm always on the lookout for forthcoming books, trends in publishing and more, so if you're a book publicist, literary agent, editor, librarian or bookseller with a story idea, feel free to send me all the relevant details to rachelkb at gmail dot com with "Forbes" in the subject line and if it's something I can cover, I'll be in touch. I prefer to deal with people in those roles vs. authors but if it's something extremely timely and relevant, feel free to reach out.

"Penguin Vitae Series Reissues Hardcover Editions Of Classics By Reinaldo Arenas, Kate Chopin, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Nella Larsen And Audre Lorde"

"Why Mocha Books Is Crowdfunding To Open A Mobile Bookstore To Sell Children’s Books By Authors Of Color"

"Why Maine Bookstore Hello Hello Books Won’t Be Stocking Bestseller ‘A Very Stable Genius’"

"Colin Kaepernick To Release Memoir With Audible And His Own Publishing Company"

"How Chicago Area Romance Bookstore Love’s Sweet Arrow Grows Their Business"

"Rep. Ilhan Omar And U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo To Headline BookExpo Adult Book & Author Breakfast"

"Amazon Prime Order Of Book ‘Feminist Cross-Stitch’ Arrived With ‘Trump 2020 MAGA’ Inscribed Inside"

How to manage a cluttered inbox

For my first article for Medium productivity vertical Forge, I wrote about how to deal with email overwhelm without getting to inbox zero. Basically, I had such a cluttered inbox with almost 2 million unread emails that I was missing important ones, including an acceptance from an editor. So I asked productivity experts to help me and now my inbox is something I look forward to rather than dread. Read more at Forge, and as always, if you like it, shares and claps (holding the hands button 1-50 times, with 50 meaning you liked it a lot) are appreciated!