Christa Faust's Blog, page 5
March 4, 2012
Hardboiled Bootcamp
Want me to whip your sorry-ass fiction into fighting shape? Now's your chance. This month I'll be teaching my first class for LitReactor - Tough Dames: How to Write Believable Hardboiled Heroines. AKA Round One of Mistress Christa's Two-Fisted Finishing School for Naughty Word Sluts.
This isn't some kinda feel-good self-validating circle jerk where everyone gets a gold star just for trying. This is hardboiled bootcamp. And by the time I'm done with you maggots, you'll be lean, mean, pulp-writing machines. Or at the very least, you'll suck just a little bit less.
Space is limited, so sign up now.
This isn't some kinda feel-good self-validating circle jerk where everyone gets a gold star just for trying. This is hardboiled bootcamp. And by the time I'm done with you maggots, you'll be lean, mean, pulp-writing machines. Or at the very least, you'll suck just a little bit less.
Space is limited, so sign up now.
February 29, 2012
Ask Mistress Christa
Got issues? Burning questions? Or maybe you just need to be told what to do. Drop me a line at crimefactoryzine@gmail.com with "ask Christa" in the subject line to be part of my new no-holds-barred advice column for Crime Factory Magazine.
February 16, 2012
Considering Kickstarter
I'm considering using Kickstarter to help fund the next Butch Fatale novel: MY TONGUE IS QUICK. This series is a real labor of love for me. A sexy, edgy, queer, and truly indy project with little mainstream appeal, and so I feel that the DIY, my-dad's-got-a-barn approach is going to be the best way to make it happen.
What do you guys think of Kickstarter? Writers, have you ever used Kickstarter to fund a project? How did it work out for you? Readers, have you ever contributed to a project via Kickstarter? Were you happy with the result?
My one and only experience with Kickstarter so far has been on the giving end, in helping to fund the MR ANGEL documentary. It really did make me feel good to be part of that project, even in a small way. But I can't help but wonder if anyone would really care enough about my little hardboiled lesbian PI series to cough up the cold hard cash to keep it going.
Thoughts?
What do you guys think of Kickstarter? Writers, have you ever used Kickstarter to fund a project? How did it work out for you? Readers, have you ever contributed to a project via Kickstarter? Were you happy with the result?
My one and only experience with Kickstarter so far has been on the giving end, in helping to fund the MR ANGEL documentary. It really did make me feel good to be part of that project, even in a small way. But I can't help but wonder if anyone would really care enough about my little hardboiled lesbian PI series to cough up the cold hard cash to keep it going.
Thoughts?
February 3, 2012
On Cynthia Nixon, Bisexuality and Sexual "Likability"
After all the online hullabaloo, actress Cynthia Nixon has clarified her recent controversial "gay by choice" comments in the Advocate.
As a fellow no-respect-getting bisexual, I'll admit I was stung by her statement: "I don't pull out the 'bisexual' word because nobody likes the bisexuals." After all, if people only stand up and publicly identify with approved or "likable" orientations, then we'd all still be in closet. I'm proud to be an unconventional, kinky, pansexual pervert and refuse to let perceived likability get in the way of who I am. Which is why I stand proudly beside straight Dominant men and sumbissive bois and kinky transwomen and any and everyone else who falls outside the conventional lines of defined and approved sex and gender roles. We are who we are. You don't have to like us, but you do have to respect our basic human rights.
I'm glad Nixon has clarified her statements so her words can no longer be used by fundies as "proof" that homosexuality is a choice and therefore homosexual couples are not worthy of the same rights, respect and legal protection as heterosexuals. But it still sucks that such clarification was ever needed.
Thoughts?
As a fellow no-respect-getting bisexual, I'll admit I was stung by her statement: "I don't pull out the 'bisexual' word because nobody likes the bisexuals." After all, if people only stand up and publicly identify with approved or "likable" orientations, then we'd all still be in closet. I'm proud to be an unconventional, kinky, pansexual pervert and refuse to let perceived likability get in the way of who I am. Which is why I stand proudly beside straight Dominant men and sumbissive bois and kinky transwomen and any and everyone else who falls outside the conventional lines of defined and approved sex and gender roles. We are who we are. You don't have to like us, but you do have to respect our basic human rights.
I'm glad Nixon has clarified her statements so her words can no longer be used by fundies as "proof" that homosexuality is a choice and therefore homosexual couples are not worthy of the same rights, respect and legal protection as heterosexuals. But it still sucks that such clarification was ever needed.
Thoughts?
January 16, 2012
Butch Fatale is Coming (!)
Lock up your daughters! Butch Fatale, Dyke Dick is coming soon to an e-reader near you.
BUTCH FATALE IS A FAST-TALKING, SKIRT-CHASING, TWO-FISTED LESBIAN PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR WITH AN INSATIABLE APPETITE FOR TWO THINGS — WOMEN AND TROUBLE.
It started off easy. A little lost femme, a heartbroken butch and fat roll of bills. But when the beautiful corpses start stacking up, Butch realizes she's got enemies in high places and the Armenian mob measuring her for a plot in the Glendale Cemetery.
Butch Fatale's first book DOUBLE D DOUBLE CROSS will be released in e-book format on February 14th.
More details here or you can read a NSFW excerpt on my website.
December 12, 2011
A Very Indy Holiday
A lot of people are up in arms (and rightly so) about Amazon encouraging consumers to browse brick and mortar shops to find books, gifts or whatever, but then to actually buy the stuff from Amazon instead. In tough times when so many indy retailers are barely making ends meet, this seems like a particularly brutal fuck you. I know money is tight for everyone, but the holidays are supposed to be about generosity and giving back to the community, right?
I'm not going to hold it against anyone that prefers to shop through Amazon. I love using Amazon to buy e-books for my Kindle and to pick up various other small inexpensive items throughout the year. I'll be using Amazon to e-publish my hardboiled lesbian PI novel BUTCH FATALE, DYKE DICK early next year and I hope you guys will all buy three copies. I'm the last person on earth to be boycotting Amazon. Which I'm not. I'm just saying that Amazon isn't gonna go hungry this holiday season if you spend your money elsewhere. The same can't be said for your local indy bookseller.
So, in the spirit of whatever holiday you choose to celebrate, I propose a little switcheroo. Check out the items on my Amazon wish list (many of which are linked from indy retailers anyway) write down the titles and then go buy them in a real store. Or order them online from a real store, owned by a real person, like Murder By the Book, for example.
Then you can snail mail your holiday purchases, fan letters, chocolates, shoes, severed ears or whatever to my brand spanking new mailbox out here in the burbs:
11144 Balboa Blvd. #104
Granada Hills CA 91344
Also, as always, you can send me copies of my own books to be signed and/or personalized. Just be sure to include a self-addressed stamped envelope with sufficient postage for the weight of the book(s.)
I'm not going to hold it against anyone that prefers to shop through Amazon. I love using Amazon to buy e-books for my Kindle and to pick up various other small inexpensive items throughout the year. I'll be using Amazon to e-publish my hardboiled lesbian PI novel BUTCH FATALE, DYKE DICK early next year and I hope you guys will all buy three copies. I'm the last person on earth to be boycotting Amazon. Which I'm not. I'm just saying that Amazon isn't gonna go hungry this holiday season if you spend your money elsewhere. The same can't be said for your local indy bookseller.
So, in the spirit of whatever holiday you choose to celebrate, I propose a little switcheroo. Check out the items on my Amazon wish list (many of which are linked from indy retailers anyway) write down the titles and then go buy them in a real store. Or order them online from a real store, owned by a real person, like Murder By the Book, for example.
Then you can snail mail your holiday purchases, fan letters, chocolates, shoes, severed ears or whatever to my brand spanking new mailbox out here in the burbs:
11144 Balboa Blvd. #104
Granada Hills CA 91344
Also, as always, you can send me copies of my own books to be signed and/or personalized. Just be sure to include a self-addressed stamped envelope with sufficient postage for the weight of the book(s.)
December 10, 2011
March for Muffs
Don't get me wrong, I'm totally against women paying to chop off their labia, and have ranted extensively on the topic, all across the web. These March for Muffs protesters clearly have their hearts in the right place, but I have to disagree with their claim that the upswing in vaginal cosmetic surgery is due to "the pornification of culture."
The adult film industry is flawed and full of contradictions, but it cannot be accused of forcing women to cut off their labia. Case in point: Alexis Texas (VERY NSFW!) She is one of the most popular porn stars working today, and she also has an "outie." Meaning long, protruding labia, which she is deliberately exaggerating in the above linked photo.
Many women make their argument using magazines like Playboy as proof that men are being trained by porn to prefer small labia. But A) the photos in that particular magazine have been photoshopped to remove any visible naughty bits and B) the average guy is not spanking it to Playboy anyway. He's watching Alexis Texas stretch open her big fat labia on the internet.
I support the March for Muffs in spirit and agree that women need to stand up say "fuck no" to the mutilation of our bodies for profit. But porn is not the villain here. Porn has absolutely nothing to gain by women "tightening" their vaginas because you can't tell how tight a woman is on camera. When you're looking to solve a crime, look for motive. Who stands to profit? The real villains are the guys selling this kind of plastic surgery. The same guys selling us liposuction and facelifts and feeding off our insecurity and body shame. Because, sadly, women are often our own worst enemies.
So let your freak flaps fly! Be proud of your pussy, no matter what size, shape or color. And anyone who doesn't like it doesn't deserve it. Period.
The adult film industry is flawed and full of contradictions, but it cannot be accused of forcing women to cut off their labia. Case in point: Alexis Texas (VERY NSFW!) She is one of the most popular porn stars working today, and she also has an "outie." Meaning long, protruding labia, which she is deliberately exaggerating in the above linked photo.
Many women make their argument using magazines like Playboy as proof that men are being trained by porn to prefer small labia. But A) the photos in that particular magazine have been photoshopped to remove any visible naughty bits and B) the average guy is not spanking it to Playboy anyway. He's watching Alexis Texas stretch open her big fat labia on the internet.
I support the March for Muffs in spirit and agree that women need to stand up say "fuck no" to the mutilation of our bodies for profit. But porn is not the villain here. Porn has absolutely nothing to gain by women "tightening" their vaginas because you can't tell how tight a woman is on camera. When you're looking to solve a crime, look for motive. Who stands to profit? The real villains are the guys selling this kind of plastic surgery. The same guys selling us liposuction and facelifts and feeding off our insecurity and body shame. Because, sadly, women are often our own worst enemies.
So let your freak flaps fly! Be proud of your pussy, no matter what size, shape or color. And anyone who doesn't like it doesn't deserve it. Period.
November 2, 2011
Texas Bound
I'm taking off into to the wild blue yonder, leaving for Texas at the crack of dawn tomorrow morning. I'll be doing two signings, one in Austin and one in Houston. Here's the schedule:
Thursday November 3rd at 7pm I'll be signing at BOOK PEOPLE - 603 N. Lamar, Austin TX 78703 (512) 472-5050
Friday November 4th at 6:30pm, I'll be at MURDER BY THE BOOK with the always awesome Duane Swierczynski - 2342 Bissonnet Street Houston, TX 77098 (713) 524-8597
See y'all there.
Thursday November 3rd at 7pm I'll be signing at BOOK PEOPLE - 603 N. Lamar, Austin TX 78703 (512) 472-5050
Friday November 4th at 6:30pm, I'll be at MURDER BY THE BOOK with the always awesome Duane Swierczynski - 2342 Bissonnet Street Houston, TX 77098 (713) 524-8597
See y'all there.
October 11, 2011
San Francisco Black Envelope Event
I'll be participating in Subterranean SF's Litanies of Noir with Sara Gran and Donna Lethal, this Thursday October 13th at 8pm. It's an unusual event in that it will take place in an undisclosed location. To get your free tickets and find out the location, you must follow these instructions:
Invitations become available on Monday, October 10, 2011. Invitations may be picked up in-person at the front counter of City Lights Bookstore, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco, CA. Ask for the black envelope at the front counter. It will contain a map and navigation instructions. Seating is limited and by invitation only, on a first come, first serve basis. No reservations shall be accepted. Call City Lights to determine ticket availability (tel. 415-362-8193 x24) 21+ and over, please.
See you there!
Invitations become available on Monday, October 10, 2011. Invitations may be picked up in-person at the front counter of City Lights Bookstore, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco, CA. Ask for the black envelope at the front counter. It will contain a map and navigation instructions. Seating is limited and by invitation only, on a first come, first serve basis. No reservations shall be accepted. Call City Lights to determine ticket availability (tel. 415-362-8193 x24) 21+ and over, please.
See you there!
October 1, 2011
Noir at the Bar 2
... this time, it's personal!
From organizer Eric Beetner:
"Our second Noir at the Bar gathering is here! Our featured reader is none other than L.A.'s own femme fatale Christa Faust. We will be celebrating the release of her latest Hard Case Crime novel Choke Hold. Come join us for a night with the City of Angels' best crime writers. No cover. Free stories. Good friends."
Also reading will be:
Matt Funk
Jimmy Callaway
Pamila Payne
and more to be announced.
Sunday 9 October 2011, 8:00pm - 11:00pm @ Mandrake 2692 S La Cienega Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90034 (between Venice Blvd and Washington Blvd)
From organizer Eric Beetner:
"Our second Noir at the Bar gathering is here! Our featured reader is none other than L.A.'s own femme fatale Christa Faust. We will be celebrating the release of her latest Hard Case Crime novel Choke Hold. Come join us for a night with the City of Angels' best crime writers. No cover. Free stories. Good friends."
Also reading will be:
Matt Funk
Jimmy Callaway
Pamila Payne
and more to be announced.
Sunday 9 October 2011, 8:00pm - 11:00pm @ Mandrake 2692 S La Cienega Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90034 (between Venice Blvd and Washington Blvd)
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