Rachel Kramer Bussel's Blog, page 84

Greetings from Austin, see you tonight at Bookwoman and Thursday at Bedpost Confessions!

Hello from Austin! I hope you'll join me or let your Austin friends know about my 2 events here this week, the erotica writing workshop tonight, Tuesday, November 19th from 7-8:30 at feminist bookstore Bookwoman at 5501 N Lamar Blvd A-105 ($15/person). Call 512-472-2785 to register or you can do walk-in registration too. Many thanks to do512.com, austintexas.org, The Austin Chronicle and CultureMap Austin for listing it. A little birdie told me there may be a piece in today's Daily Texan too.



Then Thursday night, November 21st, I'm expanding on my age play story at Bedpost Confessions, which sounds like a huge event and which I'm fairly nervous about, since I usually do better revealing those kinds of things behind the shield of my laptop screen, but I'm excited and think it builds character to do the things you're scared of. Bookwoman will be selling my books there too! It's the 21st at 8 at The North Door, 501 N I-35, Austin, TX 78701. Tickets are $10 at the door.



And a few fun photos from Austin so far, I arrived on Sunday and checked out the East Austin Studio Tour, which I highly recommend, and, of course, a bingo hall:




Fosters Tree - this was amazing, made with 9 miles of stainless steel!






I saw some little kids deconstructing one of these and thought it was allowed, like interactive art, until I saw them get reprimanded.


blue elephant behind Up Collective


We didn't win but I still had the best time playing bingo amongst what seemed like semi-professionals, with computers and words I didn't even know, though I liked that kids were allowed too!

Free story slam and storytelling in New York tonight

It's the How I Learned/Best in Show Blender tonight and it's free! Full details in my New York Observer writeup - I don't think I've heard of another event where you can tell a story and get professional feedback on it for free! Plus it benefits the wonderful folks at Housing Works, whose mission is "to end the dual crises of homelessness and AIDS through relentless advocacy, the provision of lifesaving services, and entrepreneurial businesses that sustain our efforts."

Sexy nerds and sex geeks: D20 Burlesque in Space tonight in New York

Tonight on the Lower East Side catch D20 Burlesque in Space at Parkside Lounge - my preview iwth all the detials is at The New York Observer. Please keep sending events for consideration (any kind of events you think would appeal to the Observer audience with FULL details including date, time, location, description, price, phone number) to 8dayweek at observer.com for events from November 27-December 25 (I don't know yet if I'll still be doing these after Christmas, but you can always send to 8dayweek at observer.com). 2 weeks notice or more is ideal. Thank you!

Happy editor news: my college paper The Daily Californian wrote about my reading

Because I'm determined to make The Big Book of Orgasms not only my best book but my bestselling book, I Google it every day. For whatever beyond me technical reason, that process yields finds that my Google alerts don't. Maybe it's crazy, but today I discovered a happy surprise: my college newspaper The Daily Californian wrote about my recent San Francisco reading at Good Vibrations, complete with illustration:

The stories are well written and surprising. They are personal and political, and each one pushes taboo and reminds us that sex is much stranger and more varied than we think. I lose track of the pronouns, and I stop assuming I can guess what someone will read by how they look.

That made my day! I was also interviewed by contributor Victoria Blisse and at Madison Kink, a site all about kink in Madison, Wisconsin. From Madison Kink:

Do you use any past experiences in your stories?

My first few stories were largely autobiographical. Now I still use elements from my life in my fiction, but it’s less direct, more subtle or disguised. I might take something that happened to me and twist it around or put it into the experience of a very different character. I love the real-life moments that beg to be written about, the ones that seem to find my by chance. I like burying the secrets in the stories like little erotic Easter eggs.

So yes, I'm a crazy narcissistic Googler, but that also means I'm finding hidden gems about my favorite book and that makes it worth it. Authors and editors, I recommend both Google news alerts on your titles and a bit of searching to find what falls through the search engine cracks.

Greetings from Santa Fe, and my favorite piece of art so far

I'm enjoying just how many art museums and galleries there are in Santa Fe. This Maria Chabot photo of Georgia O'Keeffe and Maurice Grosser is one of my favorite things I saw at the New Mexico Museum of Art yesterday (it's displayed there next to a Harley), and I'm off to explore more art today. You can read more about this photo at The Selvedge Yard. I also discovered the work of Mark Kostabi, which I want to see more of. This one in particular, "Inaccessible People Aren't Worth It," is a message I've needed to learn.

My 5 favorite sex toys and chance to win a free copy of The Big Book of Orgasms

Lady Cheeky, whose true story "The Massage" appears in The Big Book of Orgasms , asked me about my 5 favorite sex toys (hint: one is by Crave, whose Duet vibrator Betty Blac has already paired with some hot erotic reading) for the virtual book tour and she's giving away a copy at her blog. Enter now! And thank you, Lady Cheeky!

Albuquerque greetings, with a side of head tingling, green chile fudge and Rio Grande susnet

It's exactly 5 a.m., which is pretty typical for my atypical sleep patterns while traveling, especially so on this 38th birthday trip. So far, Albuquerque has been wonderful, not just for the sun and the sights, but for the people, who have gone out of their way to be kind to me, so much so I've even been invited back in May by a new friend, a lifelong resident who was kind enough to show me around. I am looking forward to tonight's erotica writing worskhop at the outstanding Self Serve, which I got to check out the other day while taking a walk and stumbling across it. I bought some cards, which are part of what keeps my relationship alive while I'm traveling, and am looking forward to teaching surrounded by sex toys. I was quite tickled and amused to see my name in the subject line of their recent email along with their head tingler sale:



Plus they stock lots of my books:



I was impressed by the bus system - I had walked and taken the bus (only $1) there from the Anderson Abruzzo International Balloon Museum, which was small and a bit out of the way but interesting, where I got to see things like the following, and it made me want to ride in a balloon, though that'll probably have to wait until my next trip (as, most likely, will the tram, so good thing I'm planning to return!):









I've been wanting to check out The Candy Lady since reading Samira Kawash's book Candy: A Century of Panic and Pleasure (she is also known as the Candy Professor, which is one of the best website names I've heard). Well, Candy Lady did not disappoint in any way. I tried green chile fudge, ate a piece each of almond toffee and dark chocolate covered peach, dried apricot and dried pineapple and sent some fudge home to my guy. If you are in Old Town, I definitely recommend checking them out:



I'm enjoying this issue of Albuquerque the Magazine and was pleased to see I'd already tried one place on their must-eat nachos list, Little Anita's. HOping to sneak in a few more while I'm here. One of the best things I've eaten was the green chile cheese fries at Gecko's. Delicious!



Something I didn't try but nonetheless admired were the fall leaf cookies at Flying Star Cafe:



And lastly, that sunset on the Rio Grande, where we took a lovely walk and I learned that the Sandia Mountains are named that for the Spanish word for watermelon, sandia, since the sky turns lovely shades of pink and red.

Meet Kathleen Hanna and Joan Jett tonight in New York City and support feminist publishing

Tonight you can meet Kathleen Hanna and Joan Jett and support feminist publishing at The Feminist Press Annual Gala Dinner. If I weren't in Albuquerque, I'd so be there. They've published many wonderful books, including The Feminist Porn Book, which I reviewed earlier this year at The Hairpin.

And please keep sending your New York City events for Eight-Day Week in The New York Observer with ALL the details (date/time/location/phone/price/description) to 8dayweek at observer.com with at least 2 weeks' notice!

November 26th I'm doing Literary Mischief in New York!

Doing my last New York event of 2013 on Tuesday, November 26th with an impressive lineup...

Literary Mischief with Slash Coleman
November 26, 7-8:30 p.m.
A monthly literary event hosted by award-winning PBS producer and author Slash Coleman featuring: Sweta Srivastava Vikram (No Ocean Here), Donna Minkowitz (Growing up Golem: How I Survived My Mother, Brooklyn and Some Really Bad Dates), and Rachel Kramer Bussel (The Big Book of Orgasms).
Where: Loft227 227 W. 29th St. New York, NY 10001
Cost: $5 at door
More info: www.loft227.com

Sex With Robots tonight!

No, I'm not having robot sex to celebrate my birthday, but if you're in New York, I encourage you to check out the final night of The Sex With Robots Festival by Caps Lock Theatre. There's more info in the link, but really, I think "sex with robots" is all you need to know (or at least, all I needed to know).