Rachel Kramer Bussel's Blog, page 93

Anal sex erotica excerpt: "Rectified" by Tiffany Reisz, from Baby Got Back: Anal Erotica

More anal sex erotica for you, following on the heels of "Brenda's Booty" by Tenille Brown, in celebration of this month's Cleis Press anthology Baby Got Back: Anal Erotica . This excerpt is by bestselling author TIffany Reisz, of The Original Sinners fame (check out her other books, especially one of my favorites, Felt Tips: Office-Supply Erotica , since Staples is my favorite store and I have a huge fondness, though not a sexual fetish, for office supplies). I'm kicking myself for not taking a photo with her at RT Convention. Next year! I don't want to give away too much of what the story is about, but it starts in a bookstore, which to me is a wonderful setting!

From "Rectified" by Tiffany Reisz

“I’ve never gone to bed with a man I just met.”

“No wonder you’re crying in the bookstore.”

“You won’t think less of me?” She smiled at him.

“The only women I judge for their sexual choices are the women who turn me down. All none of them.”

“I’d hate to break your streak.”

“Then don’t.”

“It probably won’t work, you know? I’m warning you right now.”

“I’ll probably have you screaming from pleasure in under an hour. I’m warning you right now. Say yes.”

Lela laughed. Might as well. It was the least she could do for her poor vagina after all she’d put it through today.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Prepared for Pleasure (read it here) Brenda’s Booty Tenille Brown
Rectified Tiffany Reisz
Delivery Emerald
My Turn Anya Levin
A Winter’s Tail Veronica Wilde
No Rest for the Sick Medea Mor
Vin Rouge Pour Trois Erobintica
The Support Group Fiona Curtis
Lights Out Angela R. Sargenti
Bar None Mina Murray
Seat Belts Kate Dominic
Better Than a Massage Annabeth Leong
Body Heat Shoshanna Evers
What You Feel Like Talon Rihai and Salome Wilde
Her Kingdom for Her Ass Maggie Morton
A Taste of Jamaica D. Fostalove
Hard Astern Thomas S. Roche
In Training D. L. King
Everybody Knows Giselle Renarde
With Lucy in the Middle Kathleen Tudor
Keeping the British End Up M. Howard
Two-Timing Laura Antoniou
Plugged In Rachel Kramer Bussel

Buy Baby Got Back: Anal Erotica from (ebook links will be added when they're for sale):

Amazon

Bn.com

Books-a-Million

Powell's

IndieBound (find your local independent bookstore)

Cleis Press

My senior erotica article at The Daily Beast

I wrote about senior erotica at The Daily Beast in "Erotic Lit Your Grandmother Will Like", featuring Joan Price, Desiree Holt, Michelle Churchill, Cheyenne Blue, Tsaurah Litzky, Suzy Spencer and others - if you like it, I'd love it if you'd click like at the top/spread the word there. My suggested title was "Our Senior Erotica Moment," but I like this title better, and am sure my grandmother would have too. Thank you!

15 shows I wish I could see at Edinburgh Fringe Festival

Apparently I'm bad at intentions and since my book sales dipped depressingly low in the first quarter of this year (I was hoping to use my royalties to fund this trip), it doesn't look like I'll be going to Edinburgh Fringe Festival unless a freelance/life/money miracle happens ASAP. If by any chance you know of publications looking for Edinburgh Fringe Festival coverage, please email me at rachelkb at gmail.com - I will be pitching hard this week, but I'm sure there are plenty of venues not on my radar to try. But so my research has not been totally in vain, I will tell you that I am newly enamored of travel site Hipmunk as well as Jetsetter (their Facebook page is great too), which is (or more likely, was, by the time you read this) having a killer deal on flights to London. I searched lots of sights and only Hipmunk lays out the dates and options in a way that very easily lets you see what's available. I found it the easiest to follow and found the cheapest fares through them.

Full disclosure: I was busy researching flights so didn't get to look through all the almost 3,000 Edinburgh listings (I was focusing on theater, but still didn't make it through), so I'm sure there's many more I'd want to see. If I go, it would only be for a week so I couldn't see everything anyway. Still, a girl can dream, right? I never want to stop dreaming and if I can't go, I am hoping some of these come to NYC. And maybe the universe will give me a lucky break. Anyway, for what it's worth, here are a few shows in no particular order I wish I could see in Edinburgh (click through for descriptions):

Surrender

Nirbhaya

Phone Whore: A One Act Play With Frequent Interruptions

SingleMarriedGirl

Can't Buy Me Love

Signs of Our Occupy

Bedding Out

The Radicalisation of Bradley Manning

The Unremarkable Death of Marilyn Monroe

Sympathy Pains

Sweater Curse: A Yarn About Love

Laquearia

Ladyboner

Snap Out of It!

Threeway

Read this: The Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Robin Palmer

As a complete scaredy cat, daughter of an alcoholic and YA fan, I loved this YA novel, The Corner of Bitter and Sweet. The end of my week has pretty much sucked, but this book made me happy. Check out this Great Q&A with Robin Palmer.



Especially this quote:

The thing is, once you start going outside your comfort zone and taking risks (some people would probably call that living life), a weird thing starts to happen. Something gets flipped, and soon enough the thing that keeps you up at night and reaching for your notebook to make a list is the fear of not taking one. Once you’ve accumulated experience that shows that not only does the risk taking not lead to your world blowing up, but it actually makes your world bigger, it feels more uncomfortable to stay small.

ADD, Vyvanse, writing, fear and me

I wrote my second piece for Medium, about magical thinking, Vyvanse, writing and fear. It's called "Would ADD drug Vyvanse make me a better writer? I wish."

Anal sex erotica excerpt: "Brenda's Booty" by Tenille Brown in Baby Got Back

My new Cleis Press anthology Baby Got Back: Anal Erotica will be in my hands very soon, and for sale online and in bookstores probably by the end of July. I'll be posting short excerpts from each story here. And I have 6 more copies available to send to Amazon reviewers (I have 44 envelopes already filled out waiting to be mailed when my copies arrive); you must be in the U.S., have an Amazon account you've made a purchase from, and agree to review the book on Amazon.com within 6 weeks (you are free to review it elsewhere as well but this is a promotion for Amazon). Email analantho at gmail.com with "Amazon" in the subject line and your name and mailing address in the body. I'll update this post once those 6 are taken. The book is on Goodreads if you want to add it to your to read list. This excerpt is from the first story, "Brenda's Booty," by Tenille Brown, who you can follow @TheRealTenille on Twitter.

From "Brenda's Booty" by Tenille Brown

“You’re an ass man. How typical.” Brenda sucked her teeth.

This was after Lewis had hugged her hello and accidentally let his hand slip lower than the small of her back.

The first time she let him touch her and her ass was what he went for. Greedy and impatient, like a kid.

“How typical of you to call me typical,” Lewis said, blatantly and roughly rubbing her rump now through the cotton of her dress.

Brenda slapped at Lewis’s hands. “Don’t make me change my mind about getting in this car.”

“No, don’t do that. I have a whole thing planned, and that might just ruin it.”

Lewis was smooth, and Brenda was almost tempted to say she had met her match. It was all new to her. She was perplexed.

He stopped flirting with her ass long enough to open the door of his convertible for her.

The drive was scenic and long, but the talk was stimulating. Brenda barely noticed that nearly two hours had passed before they reached their destination.

“A drive-in?” She cocked her head.

“And it ain’t typical,” Lewis affirmed.

Brenda took off her seat belt and glared up at the screen. “Well, it was in nineteen-sixty-five,” she said.

Lewis removed his own seat belt and the belt around his jeans as well. “Then I want you to tell me if this is typical. Bring your slick-talking ass over here and have a seat on my lap.”

If she were in her twenties, Brenda might have hesitated, but she was thirty-seven. She didn’t have a three-month, three-week or even three-day rule. She could fuck whenever she felt good and goddamned ready.

And she was ready.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Prepared for Pleasure (read it here) Brenda’s Booty Tenille Brown
Rectified Tiffany Reisz
Delivery Emerald
My Turn Anya Levin
A Winter’s Tail Veronica Wilde
No Rest for the Sick Medea Mor
Vin Rouge Pour Trois Erobintica
The Support Group Fiona Curtis
Lights Out Angela R. Sargenti
Bar None Mina Murray
Seat Belts Kate Dominic
Better Than a Massage Annabeth Leong
Body Heat Shoshanna Evers
What You Feel Like Talon Rihai and Salome Wilde
Her Kingdom for Her Ass Maggie Morton
A Taste of Jamaica D. Fostalove
Hard Astern Thomas S. Roche
In Training D. L. King
Everybody Knows Giselle Renarde
With Lucy in the Middle Kathleen Tudor
Keeping the British End Up M. Howard
Two-Timing Laura Antoniou
Plugged In Rachel Kramer Bussel

Buy Baby Got Back: Anal Erotica from (ebook links will be added when they're for sale):

Amazon

Bn.com

Books-a-Million

Powell's

IndieBound (find your local independent bookstore)

Cleis Press

12 books I want to read

Firstly, happy July! I'm excited because Baby Got Back: Anal Erotica will arrive this month, and I get to send out 50 copies (my second favorite thing about a new book I've edited, the first being simply opening the box and seeing the finished book in final form). My boyfriend's directing Never Sleep Alone by Daniel McIvor July 18, 19 and 20 (come check it out if you're near Princeton, NJ, more info on Indiegogo, and I'm plotting how to get myself to Edinburgh Fringe Festival (both how to afford it and pitching stories about it).

One of my favorite things to do is reading. It might actually be my favorite thing to do. So here are 10 books I'm looking forward to reading. I usually post my reviews on Amazon and Goodreads if I liked the book. These are in no particular order - I want to read them ALL! And yes, I'm linking to Amazon because I get a tiny kickback but I do also encourage you to support your local bookstore; IndieBound lets you search by zip code and title. This list is heavy on YA; I discover a lot of these when I can't sleep and am browsing Amazon or book blogs.

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How the Lights Gets In: Writing as a Spiritual Practice by Pat Schneider (Kindle edition)

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Fame Shark by Royal Young (Kindle edition) - love the title, the name change, the topic and that it's about NYC. Read an excerpt here and an interview with the author here.


The Stud Book by Monica Drake - got this free from Amazon Vine. Great cover. (Kindle edition)


Tampa by Alissa Nutting - I don't think this is the actual cover, but I found this version on Goodreads. This novel about a female sex offender has been getting lots of buzz and sounds disturbing and fascinating. See interviews at Salon and Cosmopolitan. (Kindle edition)


Ghosty Men: The Strange but True Story of the Collyer Brothers, New York's Greatest Hoarders: An Urban Historical by Franz Lidz - part of my studying of hoarding, which I'm trying to add to my beats, since I know it pretty well from my own life. (Kindle edition)


The Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Robin Palmer - I'll read anything Robin Palmer writers, and bought this not even knowing what it was about. Turns out it's about the teenager daughter of an alcoholic former A-list actress who starts attending Alateen meetings and figuring out who she is separate from her mother. With the trademark humor I've come to expect from her books, with more depth. I'm halfway through, great so far. (Kindle edition)


Openly Straight by Bill Konigsberg - a teen is tired of being "the gay guy" at school so pretends to be straight at his new boarding school. (Kindle edition)


Since You Asked... by Maurene Goo - YA! Learn more about it and enter to win a copy at the awesomely named Book Nerd Tours (Kindle edition)


This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales (Kindle edition)


OCD Love Story by Corey Ann Haydu (Kindle edition) - Other books about OCD I recommend: Amen, Amen, Amen: Memoir of a Girl Who Couldn't Stop Praying (Among Other Things) by Abby Sher (see my Daily Beast interview with her) and OCD, The Dude, and Me by Lauren Roedy Vaughn


Confessions of a Hater by Caprice Crane (Kindle edition)


Born of Illusion by Teri Brown - I got an ARC of this YA novel about Harry Houdini and magic at RT, and once left it in my boyfriend's car and once left it at a nail salon. I have it back and am looking forward to finally finishing it! (Kindle edition)

I believe in the law of attraction and I'm asking to the universe to send me to Edinburgh Fringe Festival

I had a writing date the other day with my friend Kim Brittingham and she asked me if I believe in the law of attraction. I think I said yes, but I may have qualified it a little. I definitely said something along the lines of, "Well, I do believe that if you think negatively you attract negativity." I realized that in fact I do believe in the law of attraction, yet I'm also a little afraid of it, because sometimes I'm afraid of what I want, or that I won't be able to handle it if I get it, or that I don't deserve it, or myriad other reasons why I tell myself not to ask for things, not to dream too big in case I fail.

Maybe my issue is not so much the law of attraction so much as my need to cultivate a single-minded to devotion to...whatever it is I should right now be devoting myself to. As it is, I do this thing where I spread my energy very thin because I'm afraid to pin it all on one big thing, lest that thing disappear, whether through my fault or someone else's. But I decided today that even though this is my general m.o., I want to change. I want to be a go-getter. I want to push myself to work toward the hard things. I want to be more like the writers I admire every time I read them like Glennon Doyle Melton and Justine Musk. I don't necessarily know what that one big thing is for my entire life, but today, in a split second, I figured out what my big thing is for this summer of 2013. I want to go to the Edinburgh Film Festival for the first time to write about The Surrender , based on the memoir by Toni Bentley. Here's the official description:

Direct from a sold-out run at the National Theatre of Spain comes Toni Bentley's notorious, hilarious, erotic memoir and international bestseller. ‘An extraordinary book by a woman with an ax, and an ass, to grind’ (Barry Humphries), adapted in English and performed by Isabelle Stoffel, ‘a stunning actress’ (El Mundo). Directed by award-winning Spanish film director Sigfrid Monleón, the play tells of a ballerina initiated by a stranger into ultimate sexual submission and the joy she finds on the other side of convention. The Surrender is the witty, profound, true story of one woman's sexual obsession.

The second I saw this existed, via Toni Bentley's Twitter stream (the play has its own Twitter account), I wanted to go, but "wanted" is too weak a word. I had this click moment, where I felt like this was what I was supposed to be doing this summer, which is looming before me with a bit of aimlessness and randomness. I love my new apartment, and spend approximately 90% of my time in it, but I miss traveling. I can't afford nor do I want to do as much of it as I once did, but I want to travel more meaningfully and purposefully, to events and places where I can explore things I couldn't anywhere else. And I'm going to do my damnedest to make that happen by scouring all my go-to travel sites like Johnny Jet and Nomadic Matt and Airfare Watchdog, and pitch this story. Some of it will depend on my quarterly royalties, aka my salary, but I think the bulk of it will be on my figuring out a way to make it happen. I'll keep you posted, and if there are other must-see plays at Edinburgh, let me know (rachelkb at gmail.com). The run is from July 31st to August 26th, and I'd probably be going toward the end of it.



I was led to look Bentley up because of her recent article "The Vagina Fallacy" at The Daily Beast, about why we use the word "vagina" instead of "vulva." Here's part of what she had to say:

Why in this time of such relentless sexualization in the media, and ever-more detailed discussion and research on female sexuality, do women themselves persist using the wrong term for their own sexual arena? From sassy in-the-know Lena Dunham to Oprah Winfrey, mother to us all, to Naomi Wolf, feminist extraordinaire (she dedicated an entire book to the wrong place), to that smart lady Eve Ensler, they are all calling her their “vagina.” As a woman I am embarrassed by our ignorance.

Now, of course, one can indeed refer correctly to the vagina, meaning the relatively short, but expandable, passage of a woman’s sexual anatomy that connects the outside world to the inside one, its main purpose being impregnation through intercourse and, then in return, as the birth canal. But the vagina is only one of our many parts—it really is Grand Central down there —and while vital for reproduction it is somewhat secondary for female pleasure. How on earth did the poor little vagina, a single cog in the great female wheel, become the catchall for the whole shebang?

The erotica and queer communities say Fuck Cancer

Writing, by its very nature, is a lonely, usually solitary experience. I'm living in a town where aside from my boyfriend, I don't know anyone who lives here, and only have a handful of friends nearby. Yet I like the solitude, had been craving it amidst the overly busy seemingly must-attend functions in New York. I'm not the type who's easily able to say "sorry, I can't hang out, I have to write." It always sounds rude and narcissistic and untrue. And maybe it is rude and narcissistic but it actually is true. My point is, I like that I have all day to myself, even though I am working to find ways to force myself to actually write. And no, I didn't get paid for that piece, from Medium or Salon, which reprinted it. Not that it's anyone's business, but after reading Noah Davis's great piece at The Awl, I felt the need to (over)share. Some would consider that a mortal writing sin, and if you do, stop reading now because, news flash, I am not getting paid to write this blog. For me, it was selfish, as all writing is. A way to say something and also to make myself feel better about the last few weeks and most of this year's malaise, by getting something out there. I don't plan to make a habit of writing for free, though I may do it on occasion. I make no bones about being selfish, though I also do my best to give back by supporting books and authors I like in every way I can. Hopefully it balances out, but without indulging that selfishness and pushing myself and trying to say what feels unsayable on the page, I wouldn't have anything to give. Or maybe I would for a while, but then I'd feel hollowed out. Writing fills me back up in a way nothing else does.

So writing is lonely, but my job as an erotica editor, my former role as a reading series host, and just my inherent nature are social. Pretty much everything I do is based on relationships I've formed over a long time, since I started writing erotica in 1999. I never found those mentor-like or peer relationships in law school. Maybe I felt outclassed and alienated so didn't look for them. But I have found them in the erotica community, in New York, and in cities where I've done readings, and online, on Twitter and Facebook. I've found it through publishing authors from around the world and reading submissions from even more of them. I'm proud to be part of that community, and all the more so because recently the erotica and queer/LGBT community have come together to combat cancer. Not in an abstract save-the-world science-based way, but in a this-person-is-dealing-with-cancer-and-needs-our-help-immediately kind of way.

Alison Tyler is editing a summer erotica themed anthology, with the proceeds going to writer Sommer Marsden, whose husband was recently diagnosed with cancer, to help offset the costs of cancer. The deadline is August 1st. I submitted a story I wrote this morning, which was also a great exercise in brevity and again, got me writing, which is sometimes the hardest thing for me--getting started. When I speak of the "erotica community," please know that I don't think there's any criteria for joining that community, except wanting to, being interested. You don't need to "be a writer" (whatever the hell that means!) to write erotica or anything else, and you don't need to write anything to help show your support (see the "diagnosed with cancer" link above to donate directly).

Writer Kate Bornstein, author of the clasic and newly revised My Gender Workbook, the amazing Scientology memoir A Queer and Pleasant Danger, the life-affirming Hello, Cruel World and many other books, has been battling cancer and it looks like she's winning. The latest news: "1) There are no new cancer cells in my body and 2) The places where there was cancer have shrunk a LOT already." This was made possible by the medical community and, that supposedly dirty but also necessary to live word, money. Namely, $111,518 raised by 2,913 people, as of this post. You could add to that number, and any donation is not only greatly appreciated but put to good use. Right here, right now. You can read more at the link.

And I know not everyone has money to donate; certainly, the last few weeks and months, I haven't. But you can write something, which can be both a selfish and giving act, you can spread the word, you can say a prayer or let other people know or simply follow the work of these writers (@sommer_marsden and @katebornstein on Twitter).

So yes, writing is lonely, but it is also filled with amazing people, who I wouldn't know without writing.

My lesbian hookup apps article in The Village Voice, plus a hoarder turns a new leaf

I wrote about lesbian hookup apps for the Queer Issue of The Village Voice. Yes, it's an odd time to be writing for them, though this piece was assigned before the Michael Musto etc. firings, and was my first for them since my Lusty Lady column ended in 2007.

Comes on the heels of purging so many copies I'd been saving, who knows what for aside from vanity, that were part of the purging in my move. New me will not be getting a hard copy of this issue. See? People can change! I believe I will always be a hoarder, or at least, have a hoarding mentality, but I am trying to be a better person and less attached to possessions. It's a long slog, but if the reward is a home I love rather than one that makes me quake in fear that it might someday have to be shown to another human soul, then it's worth it. That being said, my goal for the rest of this year is to crack some print magazines, where the pay is higher. I don't want my hoarding mania to reach such heights that I only want to write for print publications so there's no more paper in the house! That would be some crazypants version of cutting off my nose to spite my byline. One day, one article, one short story, at a time. I'm trying to tame my ADD mind on my own, through much trial and error. Today that involves physically separating myself from my laptop and phone for extended periods of time so I can read a book I'm writing about and edit short story submission printouts. The lure is there, bigtime, every time I so much as walk by either of them. But I want to prove myself worthy of this new home, this new life. So far I haven't, but I don't plan on going anywhere, so I want to dig down deep into my mental reserves and figure out how to make the most of my time. I certainly know what doing the opposite feels like. Back to that, hopefully with good things to report sooner rather than later.