Rachel Kramer Bussel's Blog, page 63

November 13, 2014

Losing my pegging virginity with the Sasha harness

This week's Philadelphia City Paper sex column is on "Pegging for the first time." I used this Sasha harness by SpareParts HardWear:

I'll admit upfront it's not my best work. I was at a huge loss and debated this topic vs. that topic endlessly for this one. The good news is that I'm cooking up lots of fun columns, from blowjobs to fetishes and beyond, and want to hear from you. What should I cover next? Sex parties, events, fantasies, relationship configurations, sexual health, sex toys, etc. I'm all ears! Email me at rachelkb at gmail.com with "City Paper" in the subject line and your ideas. If you're interested in being interviewed you can always be anonymous. Thanks for reading!

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Published on November 13, 2014 11:54

Win a copy of new erotic romance anthology The Lady Smut Book of Dark Desires

A sexy new erotic romance anthology, The Lady Smut Book of Dark Desires is out today from Harper Impulse, and can win a copy! Fittingly, authors Liz Everly, Madeline Iva, C. Margery Kempe, Elizabeth Shore all blog at Lady Smut, which you can also find on Facebook.

Here's the hot cover, and you can get the ebook for Kindle, Nook and Kobo.

DarkDesires

What's in the book?

Four paranormal stories of erotic temptation & paranormal thrills!

THE IMMORTAL LONGING OF BRENNA BANG by Liz Everly

When a vampire materializes through her computer, successful vampire-romance romance author Brenna Bang finds herself marked for inescapable passion with a tech savvy bloodsucker.

THE LYING, THE WITCH & THE WARDROBE by C. Margery Kempe

Christina tries to figure out how to unlock her grandmother's wardrobe and uncover what happened all those years ago when the goblins came to offer their sensuous erotic fruits.

SEXSOMNIA by Madeline Iva

Jenny needs to unravel the mystery of what she does at night and who she does it with in order to subdue the sexual demon inside her.

DIVINE by Elizabeth Shore

Locked in an abandoned mental asylum, an ambitious filmmaker soon discovers she’s trapped with a Dionysian god. He offers her a glimpse of astounding future artistic success—but it will only come true if she’ll perform an erotic ritual to free him.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Published on November 13, 2014 10:38

November 11, 2014

Free booze, free books and free cupcakes at my Sex & Cupcakes book party

Thanks to my fabulous boyfriend, we now have this lovely book party image for my debut book, Sex & Cupcakes: A Juicy Collection of Essays (I've edited lots, but this is my first written by me and I'm very proud), and if you want to invite people (the more, the merrier!), here's a handy Facebook link. No RSVP required, open to all (21+ to drink alcohol), Monday, November 17th, 6-8 pm, open bar 6-7, first 2 dozen cupcakes free, free book to first 25 guests. Sweet Revenge, 62 Carmine Street, NYC, A/C/E/B/D/F/M to West 4th Street. Yes, I'm excited!

And I got a birthday surprise: Lux Alptraum reviewed Sex & Cupcakes at Fleshbot and had this to say (and lots more):

After over a decade of using her pen to titillate and educate, Rachel Kramer Bussel’s learned a great deal about sex – and even more about writing thoughtfully on the topic. Sex and Cupcakes is a fantastic read for anyone interested in insightful essays about human sexuality (which, if you’ve read this far, is most definitely you). Do yourself a favor and download a copy to whatever futuristic device you do your reading on these days – and get ready to fall in love with Rachel Kramer Bussel. You won’t regret it.

Intrigued? Read it now via Kindle (here's the Kindle reading apps so you can read on your phone, tablet, computer, etc.) or iBooks. If you like it, I'd love it if you'd rate it on Goodreads. My fingers are crossed that this book does well so that I can go on to write more books! In a sexy reading mood this month and want Sex & Cupcakes for free? Check out my November BOGO book sale where if you buy any of my 50+ other current books, I'll send it to you as a thank you gift!

I actually did not get to eat any cupcakes on my birthday because I was so full from my wonderful dinner at The Bistro, a Japanese and Italian restaurant in Red Bank, New Jersey, but that means I have all the more room for them at my party! Don't worry, I won't cut into the free ones. Sweet Revenge's cupcakes are big enough that they are perfect to share.

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Published on November 11, 2014 05:11

November 10, 2014

It's my birthday and I'll BOGO if I want to, plus all my Amazon print and ebook links in one hand post

This post starts with a bit of a downer on how hard books are to find, so I'll pre-empt that with an upper of a reminder: to celebrate my birthday (today!) and my new ebook Sex & Cupcakes, I'm offering a November buy one get one free sale. Purchase any of my books listed below from any source (brick and mortar store, online store or audiobook, as long as it's purchased new and not used) and I will send you a free Kindle edition of Sex & Cupcakes (you do NOT need a Kindle to read it, you can read it on your phone, computer, whatever). To recap, to get this book free:

Just buy any of the books below, new, from any source between November 1st and 30th and then:

1. Forward the receipt (or send an image showing the receipt with purchase date) to rachelkb at gmail.com with "BOGO" in the subject line by November 30th at 11:59 pm EST.

2. Tell me which email address to send the Kindle edition of Sex & Cupcakes (cannot send to @kindle.com addresses) and you'll get an email shortly afterward with it as a gift from me via Amazon.

More good news: I have new calls for submission coming soon (and if you are waiting to hear from me on a previous call, you will by this month, or feel free to follow up). The thing is, though, while I love the process of putting out new calls and publishing new authors I've never worked with before, which I do in every one of my anthologies, I can only continue to edit books if there's an audience for them. Otherwise, I will move on to other types of work. So this goes for my books or any author or editor whose work you enjoy: support them! That doesn't have to mean spend money on their books, though it's great if you can. Request their books at your local library! Rate and review on Goodreads (I'll shamelessly use my birthday posting privileges to share the Goodreads Sex & Cupcakes link). Vote in the Goodreads Readers Choice Awards. Tell a friend, gift a book, blog, Tweet, like, whatever. It can be wacky and crazy, like Sheri Savill's fabulous new author interview series, which you have to read to believe. There are really endless ways to show your support for books and authors, and for me, I want to in turn show my support for readers, which is why I'm doing things like this promotion. I've been incredibly blessed and lucky to go from law school dropout to erotica writer, editor and teacher, and this is what I hope to keep doing, while hopefully trying new things along the way.

As I read about the sad state of affairs with Ellora's Cave (who I have never worked with), the lesson I've drawn is that it's hard to find certain books on Amazon, and this affects sales in a huge way. What does that mean? Here's one example from author Lissa Matthews. Note that I'm not saying my books are or aren't filtered because I don't totally understand the process, but I do know that my Amazon sales are down and I have on occasion had trouble searching for my own books on the site, so if I have, others must have too. No, my problems aren't on the level of the Ellora's Cave authors who aren't getting paid, but they are similar in that if people can't find my books, I cannot afford to keep editing them. From Matthews' post:

I have one book filtered at Amazon and I don’t even have a year’s worth of sales numbers on it, but I can tell you it definitely meets the ‘sells less than 100 copies in a calendar year’… No one even knows the book exists unless I tell them. And it’s filtered because I didn’t specify No Nudity for the cover.

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Published on November 10, 2014 09:07

November 9, 2014

Hello Kitty tombstone, Tera Patrick's Hello Kitty tattoo and more from Hello Kitty Con

Yes, I went to Hello Kitty Con, and wrote it up for Thought Catalog, who are the awesome publishers of my book Sex & Cupcakes: A Juicy Collection of Essays and sponsors of my open bar (from 6-7), free cupcake (first 2 dozen are free, so there's some incentive to arrive early!) book party November 17th at Sweet Revenge, 62 Carmine Street, NYC! Party is 6-8, but there's good reason to arrive early. Lots more photos in the article. Even if you can't make the party, if you know anyone in New York who likes sex, cupcakes, drinks and fun, please let them know. I don't know if/when I'll have another book party and am honored that both Thought Catalog and Sweet Revenge were generous enough to throw it for me.

Porn star Tera Patrick wore a Hello Kitty dress and has a Hello Kitty tattoo on the back of her neck:

This was one of my favorite pieces of art, by Yarns & Noble:

And my piece closes, as you'll see, with the big question of whether to go all out Hello Kitty when I die. I'm turning 39 tomorrow so hope that's not anytime soon, and really hope, more than anything in the world, that I get to use Hello Kitty diapers and bottles and all that jazz before my next birthday (the tombstone was in a "Hello Kitty life cycle" display):

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Published on November 09, 2014 07:18

November 6, 2014

I tried the We-Vibe vibrator during sex

You can read about what happened in this week's Philadelphia City Paper sex column. If you like the column, I'd love it if you'd share it via the social media buttons at the top, and I welcome ideas for future columns at rachelkb at gmail.com with "Column" in the subject line. Thanks to sex toy stores Sexploratorium, Kink Shoppe and Early to Bed for their couples' sex toy recommendations.

We-Vibe 4 Plus Render with Remote Purple

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Published on November 06, 2014 09:26

November 3, 2014

Home sweet Hello Kitty champagne glass

I've got lots to share, from a ranking of the four hotel rooms I stayed in in L.A. to new articles and such, but first just wanted to say how happy I am to be home. I adore travel, find it vital and necessary and energizing, but it's so wonderful to be at home with wifi on a chilly day. Tomorrow I'm getting a used Mac laptop because I just can't live by Google Docs alone anymore. In the meantime, writing awaits, but one of my crowning travel achievements this trip was getting this Hello Kitty champagne glass home intact!

champagneglass

This isn't really a segue, but no, I don't drink much champagne, but you can read about my bubbly adventures in my essay "Champagne Sex," only in my new ebook Sex & Cupcakes: A Juicy Collection of Essays . Want a free copy? Be one of the first 25 people to show up at my book party November 17th, 6-8 pm at Sweet Revenge, 62 Carmine Street, NYC (near the West 4th Street A/C/E/B/D/F/M trains). We'll also have an open bar from 6-7!

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Published on November 03, 2014 10:29

November 2, 2014

Ask me anything and I'll answer on video

My amazing publisher Thought Catalog Books (who I recommend submitting to if you're shopping an ebook) is taping a little interview with me on Tuesday about my new ebook Sex & Cupcakes , and wants to know what your questions are! They can be about sex, cupcakes, writing, being a sex columnist (though I hadn't even been approached about this latest one when I turned in the manuscript!), Hello Kitty, kale, whatever. You can either Tweet them at @TC_Books using the hashtag #sexandcupcakes or email me at rachelkb at gmail.com with "TC Books" in the subject line and I will do my best to answer everything on camera. Yes, I'm open to questions about anything. And a reminder that if you buy any of my other books in print or ebook or audiobook this month, I'll send you a free copy of Sex & Cupcakes. Here's the latest review from the November blog tour, by writer Ree Croteau. She writes, in part:

Sex & Cupcakes, like all good sexy writing, engages and challenges me to rethink what is hot. We find out how Kramer straddles the dichotomy of the real-world her, and the one online, the one who, as she puts it, has three names. She holds nothing back, talking about how she got started in this industry, the comments that people make in regards to her boyfriend, who is overweight, her struggles with orgasms being the be-all-end-all of sex, and why she doesn’t need a spreadsheet in the bedroom. She thinks about sex in a way that feels familiar, friendly, and open to me. If Dr. Ruth was a tiny old lady scolding you about sex, Sex & Cupcakes invites you over for coffee, tosses your coat onto a hook, then invites you to flop on the couch and tell it what you really think about the date you had last night.

Here's more info about the book:

Sex and Cupcakes by Rachel Kramer Bussel
Introduction: Writing What You Know When You Write About Sex

I Have Trouble With Orgasms
I’m Pro-Choice and I Fuck
What Kind of Submissive Are You?
Wearing My Tattooed Heart On My Sleeve
My Boyfriend’s Fat
I Don’t Want or Need an App to Measure My Sex Life
Sex and Cupcakes
Champagne Sex
Monogamishmash

Bonus photo that has nothing really to do with my ebook except that I just finished writing up a long article for Thought Catalog about Hello Kitty Con; here's two Hello Kitty "massagers" from the new exhibit at the Japanese American National Museum:

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Published on November 02, 2014 10:22

November 1, 2014

How to get a free copy of my essay collection Sex & Cupcakes this month

Happy November! It's my birthday month, which even though there's a lot riding on the next year, because 40 feels more like a deadline than a number, I'm excited to celebrate. I'm in the midst of teaching my first online class at LitReactor, and I finally after all these years became an author with my ebook Sex & Cupcakes . I cannot say enough good things about Thought Catalog Books, who I encourage you to check out if you have an ebook in you and if you like to read, and can't wait to have a book party in New York.

I used to throw book parties all the time; I thought if you went to the trouble of editing a book with your name front and center on the cover, you and it deserved a party. Almost 60 anthologies later, I realized that what I wanted even more was for people to read my work, to enjoy and connect with it. The past few years, especially after In The Flesh ended, I've focused on teaching and spreading the word about my books online. The truth is, most of the time, despite my inner social butterfly, I like being alone. I like having the time and space to sort out my thoughts. It's exciting and scary to feel like all eyes are on you, or at least, on what you've put out there. I was the most worried about protecting my relationship, while also exposing some of its secrets and inner life. It can feel like all eyes are on you, and sometimes I'm okay with that, and sometimes it's jarring. Yes, it's my eyes looking out at you from the book cover, but really it's the other way around.

But I also like connecting with people in real time, to seeing friends and making new ones, to hearing what people think. I hope this is a book that poly people (or poly-curious people) and fat people and their lovers and sex and erotica writers and pro-choice people and tattooed people will read, but really I hope it's a book anyone interested in sexuality and relationships will check out. I don't think you have to be like me in any of those ways to get something out of it.

Because this book is so deeply personal and such a milestone for me, and because of the generosity and kindness of both Sweet Revenge and Thought Catalog Books, I'm going to be sharing drinks and cupcakes with whoever wants to join us at the book party. That's happening Monday, November 17th, 6-8 pm, Sweet Revenge, 62 Carmine Street, NYC. Open bar from 6-7 and a free ebook for the first 25 attendees! And yes, cupcakes.

If you can't make the party (or even if you can), I've also got a special deal for you: from today, November 1st, through November 30th, you can get a free copy of Sex & Cupcakes from me. How? Just buy any of my Cleis Press titles, anywhere, in print or ebook or audiobook. Yes, any of the following titles, in any format, as long as it's a new copy purchased between November 1 and November 30. (For the early birds, these make great holiday gifts, at least, for certain giftees.)

Anything for You: Erotica for Kinky Couples; Baby Got Back: Anal Erotica; Best Bondage Erotica 2011; Best Bondage Erotica 2012; Best Bondage Erotica 2013; Best Bondage Erotica 2014; Best Sex Writing 2008; Best Sex Writing 2009; Best Sex Writing 2010; Best Sex Writing 2012; Best Sex Writing 2013; Between the Cheeks; The Big Book of Orgasms: 69 Sexy Stories; The Big Book of Submission; Bottoms Up: Spanking Good Stories; Caught Looking: Erotic Tales of Voyeurs and Exhibitionists; Cheeky Spanking Stories; Crossdressing; Do Not Disturb: Hotel Sex Stories; Fast Girls; Flying High: Sexy Stories from the Mile High Club; Going Down: Oral Sex Stories; Gotta Have It: 69 Stories of Sudden Sex; He's on Top: Erotic Stories of Male Dominance and Female Submission; Hide and Seek: Erotic Tales of Voyeurs and Exhibitionists; Hungry for More; Instruments of Pleasure: Sex Toy Erotica; Irresistible: Erotic Romance for Couples; Obsessed: Erotic Romance for Women; Only You: Erotic Romance for Women; Orgasmic; Passion; Peep Show; Please, Ma'am: Erotic Stories of Male Submission; Please, Sir: Erotic Stories of Female Submission; Serving Him: Sexy Stories of Submission; She's on Top: Erotic Stories of Female Dominance and Male Submission; Smooth; Spanked: Red-Cheeked Erotica; Suite Encounters: Hotel Sex Stories; Surrender: Erotic Tales of Female Pleasure and Submission; Tasting Her: Oral Sex Stories; Tasting Him: Oral Sex Stories; Twice the Pleasure: Bisexual Women's Erotica; Women in Lust; Yes, Ma'am: Erotic Stories of Male Submission; Yes, Sir: Erotic Stories of Female Submission

Then:

1. Forward the receipt (or send an image showing the receipt with purchase date) to rachelkb at gmail.com with "BOGO" in the subject line.

2. Tell me which email address to send the Kindle edition of Sex & Cupcakes (cannot send to @kindle.com addresses) and you'll get an email shortly afterward with it as a gift from me via Amazon.

That's it! Thought if you want to help make my birthday month extra special, leaving a short review on Amazon of Sex & Cupcakes would be fabulous - I'm aiming for 39 reviews by my 39th birthday!

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Published on November 01, 2014 10:15

October 30, 2014

Come on my face jokes, crossdressing and coming out at Philadelphia's Erotic Literary Salon

This week's Philadelphia City Paper sex column is all about the monthly Erotic Literary Salon hosted by Dr. Susana Mayer. Erotica writers, published or not, this is a wonderful place to have your work heard by an appreciative crowd! Next one is November 18th and details are in the column. If you like my column, I'd love it if you clicked "like" at the top and shared it. The more people who read it, the longer the paper will allow me to write for them, and I have lots of column ideas cooked up! Thank you.

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Published on October 30, 2014 11:04

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