Liz Everly's Blog, page 105

Sexy Saturday Round-Up

By Liz Everly and the Lady Smut Bloggers

Hello Sexy! We’ve got a great line up of blogs posts for your reading pleasure. This week: diamond vibrators, Kim Kardashian’s ass, and hot guys with kittens. Among other subjects. What more could you want?

From Liz:

Diamonds that vibrate—a girl’s best friend?

Historical romance writers: How do you assign your character a trade? Check out this resource.

Women Owning their Own Sexuality

From Madeline:

Dispatch from China: Life as a fake beauty Queen

9 Shit Things Single Girls Are Sick of Hearing 

What women look at when they look at Porn.

What? WHAT? 9 Celebs who are in open relationships.

From Elizabeth:

Say it isn’t so! Kim Kardashian’s ass pictures are fake.

The science is in. Guys who are good looking give women the best orgasms.

Dance like you think you’re alone. This guy did, and it’s awesome.

There’s just something about hot guys with kittens that will make your heart absolutely melt.

From Alexa:

Take time to mourn and consider these tips for when some trollop steals your celebrity boyfriend.

Film director is done with the term “black film.”

Fan fiction has been very, very good to some folks. Very good indeed.

Stay Hungry,

Liz

Thank You!

From all the Lady Smut team, we give you our heartfelt thanks for the big excitement last night at our Facebook launch party. It was hard to keep up but we had fun, prizes and a lot of sexy bods flying across the screens! May your every dark desire come true :-*

Like a Virgin (Guy) Touched For the Very First Time: Dark Desires Post

“One of us should ken what they’re doing.”

by Madeline Iva

I am completely obsessed with a character/actor from a movie. Why? Because I suspect his character is a virgin.

Call it virgin creep. Have you noticed? Guys get to be virgins now. I should say guys get to be virgins now too.   I’m talking Mr. Sparkly you-know-who from Twilight–we won’t name him and draw out all the haters.

I’m talking Jamie in Outlander.

I’m talking – well, as it turns out I’m talking about my good friend Joanna Bourne’s latest character Pax in Rogue%20SpyRogue Spy. (We’re shared a release week birthday with her last week.)

Let’s not forget Tristan in the movie Stardust. (He represents a kind of cross-roads virgin – one who straddles old, horrible stereotypes with a new sensibility about male virginity.)

Virgins one and all. Virgins who, unlike in the past, aren’t ashamed of it. They choose it. They wait and wait for The One.

It used to be that any shamed virgin male youths were meant to be corrupted ASAP by some older seductress female – preferably from the raunchy side of the tracks. Not anymore! These virgin men I listed above find their mate. One who is eager for sex/more experienced at sex. One who is NOT from the raunchy side of life. Not one little bit.

So the whole virgin thing is shifting for men. Good I say!

OH HEY, BTW: We’re having a party tonight on fb to celebrate our anthology release. Want to come? Click HERE and join the fun. Also, click HERE to see some of the fab books we’re giving away before the party starts.

Okay…back to my movie obsession. The movie is A MOST WANTED MAN.

They don’t talk about the virginity thing in the movie—and probably not in the book either. It’s all in the context.

The character is named Issa. He is Chechen. He enters Germany illegally, and he’s all bearded, dirty, and wild. Then we see him a little cleaner in a domestic setting and learn a bit more about him. He’s been in prison – two prisons in fact. One in Russia and the other in Turkey.

He’s a terrorist. Or maybe not. When he was interrogated by the Russians he confessed to being a terrorist. As someone in the movie suggests—while that could be true, it could also be the case that they tortured him until he would say whatever they wanted. After all, he’s from Chechnya, and that place is messed up.

So his status in our minds is a little dubious at the beginning. But then the movie goes on to show us a little more. He’s thin, starving, and scarred from beatings—he does not meet anyone’s eye. Which is hard, because the actor is so tall, but he manages. The movie goes on to show him as victimized (his mother was raped by his father) and devout in his religion.   By the time the movie is half over, we think he’s a good guy because he’s so inoffensive, and…cute. It’s more a matter of him being sinned against rather than sinning.

And here’s the rub. He has to shave his beard because they’re going to try to hide him. Now he’s even cuter. He has to be alone with a woman because she’s his lawyer. She’s Rachel McAdams and therefore delectable, and inevitably—though it’s never talked about—her proximity takes a toll on him as he ends up seeing only her and relying upon her for everything–food and shelter and safety.

There’s this killer point in the movie where he’s talking to her and the hidden feelings and physical sensations just end up swamping him. He’s over on her side of the table suddenly, he’s physically tumbling almost right onto her, almost hugging her. His body is trembling.

At this point in 9 out of 10 films, they’d just do it. In this film, he manages to pick himself up and move away out of reach. She does nothing, remaining neutral, because clearly he is losing an inner struggle that he doesn’t want to lose.

And that’s where we end up seeing him as a good guy. He practices humility, moderation, and sincerity. He is good, he is devout. He is trying to stay true to the path of God, striving for purity after such unpure beginnings. Yet it makes one ache too, because he is so alone – his religion does not even permit a hug.

In the end, he gives Rachel McAdams a little gold necklace with a little charm – presumably of the Koran.   No words, just the gift.

I’m probably reading waaaaaay to much into this whole movie, but the way he behaved around her was Virgin guy 101 if you ask me. (Also, I’m telling you almost all the plot involving him—there’s not much more to it, so if you actually see the movie and come away feeling short-changed, don’t blame me.)

The plot line between Rachel McAdams and Issa is a minimalist jewel. There are a thousand ways in which it would never work out. These are never discussed, just like the inevitable attraction he has for her is never discussed.

Grigoriy Dobrygin who played Issa.

In not responding to his physical breakdown she shows her own purity—purity of motive. She is—as the historical authors like to say—‘wholly disinterested’. Her character wants to help him—and that is all. It’s not because she has fallen in love with him. She in no way seeks to profit for herself by assisting him.

It could never work is the big upshot here. Even though they’re both. Trying. Just to be. Good. People. (OH, the humanity!)

No, this is not a romance. Not at all. And this underscores the whole movie which is a spy movie, yes, but also a kind of metaphysical gang rape of the master spy guy (played by Philip Seymour Hoffman RIP). This is typical of every John Le Carre film: modest spy hero f***ed over by untrustworthy big government types.

In the end I had pinwheels in my eyes for the actor playing Issa. His name is Grigoriy Dobrygin, he’s Russian, and I want to see him in more movies. Like NOW.

Okay, enough about me. What about you? Have you followed us at Lady Smut?

Are you joining our par-tay tonight? We’ll try to keep the semi-nude pictures of hot men down to a minimum.

No—I’m kidding, we won’t do that at all. ; >

Tempted To Be Very, Very Bad

Tempted by the tease

By Elizabeth Shore

So I’m at work the other day and a colleague said something supremely annoying to me. It was one of those comments that was a pseudo compliment but with a dose of backstabbing buried within. Kind of like when you stuff your dog’s pill into his food hoping it’ll disguise the nasty med.  Maybe she was having a bad day. Perhaps she had a fight with her spouse, maybe she has money issues, maybe her hair dye came out wrong. Whatever the reason, her comment was damn rude and I was tempted to tell her where she could go with it. But I resisted the urge. I didn’t want to sink to that level, it would have been professionally a bad move, my mother raised me better, etc. etc. I can justify why I stopped myself but damn, was I ever tempted.

This whole experience got me thinking about temptation in general. I did a quick Google search on “denying temptations” and got a boatload of religious references, beginning with “The 3 temptations of Jesus.” Um, yeah. Not what I was looking for. But after a few more searches I hit pay dirt. Scottish novelist A.L. Kennedy wrote an article about why we’re tempted to do naughty things when no one’s looking. A-ha! Now we’re talking.

Her article points out that the influencers of good behavior, such as positive leadership, collaborative support, and moral guidelines can have the opposite effect and tempt people into bad actions when the oversight is removed. So when you know no one’s looking, for example, you might be tempted to swipe goods from a store or have an illicit affair. If we think we’re not going to get caught, the temptation to indulge where we ought not to proves – to some – irresistible. If you knew with absolutely, positively 100% foolproof certainty that you would never get caught, what would you be tempted to do? Would you be bad? Really, really bad?

I admit that the possibility of getting caught may have contributed to my holding back on that colleague. If I’d said something and my words had been made known to someone with influence over me it could have had a detrimental effect on my career. Or at least on my upcoming performance review. But what about if I had known with 100% certainty that I could fully speak my mind and it would never, ever be known to anyone aside from the two of us. Would I have said something? Part of me says, hell yeah. Let that biatch have it. But another part of me, a bigger part of me, would still have kept mum because I just don’t want to be that kind of person. Tempting as it was.

The other aspect of temptation that I find fascinating is why we’re not tempted toward the good and wise, as in, “I’m so tempted to exercise every day!” “I’m so tempted to be knowledgeable about the stock market!” Is it because being good is a lot more work and not very fun?

My story in our anthology that was released last week, The Lady Smut Book of Dark Desires, explores the temptation of having anything and everything you want – for a sky high price. I’m fascinated by the idea of how far people will go in order to get what they want. My character is a struggling documentary filmmaker who’s been surviving on hard work and crossed fingers for as long as she can remember. She can turn it all around in a single evening, but she can never get back what she has to give up. Will the temptation of having it all be too much to resist? Hopefully I’ve tempted you to read and find out.

In the meantime, come one, come all and join our Facebook release party tomorrow! We’ve got fabulous authors joining us! We’ve got giveaways! You’ll definitely want to be there, so click here and join the fun. C’mon, give in to the temptation.

 

START THE PARTY NOW: Anthology Release Week Give-Aways!

by Madeline Iva

Hey Kittens! We’re having a *wild* facebook party this Thursday night 11/13 from 7pm to 11pm (EST). Click HERE to join.

LET’S START THE PARTY NOW!

TONIGHT:  We’re giving away Cara McKenna’s book LAY IT DOWN at the FB party.  Right now.  Go–run!

Don’t freak out, but we’re giving away two copies of Cara McKenna’s latest anthology WILD HOLIDAY NIGHTS.  It’s happening at the FB event NOW.  Click above to join the FB party and win!

Paranormal box o’ books. We’ve also got a grab bag of paranormal novels.  Click up above to join the Fb party and win. :)

WED: We’re giving away two print copies of THREE NIGHTS WITH A ROCK STAR. Leave a comment below and you could win.

Elizabeth Staab–awesome writer pal–is giving away copies of our anthology.  Want one? Sure you do! Go HERE to her website for the spotlight give away and you might win. :)

TUES: we’re giving away (in any format you prefer) Rachel Kramer Bussel’s book HUNGRY FOR MORE.  This book of women’s fantasies includes a story by Tiffany Reisz! Leave a comment below and you could win.

PARTY GUEST LIST:

7 – 8 HOSTS: Liz Everly, Kiersten Hallie Krum, Madeline Iva
                 7:00 – 7:15 book give aways & other prizes
                 7:15 – 7:30 Laura Kaye
                 7:30 – 8:00 Charlotte Stein

8 – 9 HOSTS: Liz Everly, C.Margery Kempe, Elizabeth Shore
                 8:00 – 8:30 Megan Mulry
                 8:30 – 9:00 Lea Barrymire
                 8:45 – 9:00 Nic Tatano
9 – 10 HOSTS: C.Margery Kempe, Madeline Iva
The Lady Smut Book of Dark Desires (An Anthology): HarperImpulse Erotic Romance

Click to buy!

                9:00 – 9:30 Lavinia Kent
                9:30 – 9:45 Lynne Silver
                9:45 – 10:00 Elizabeth Staab
10 – 11 HOSTS: Alexa Day, Madeline Iva
                10:00 – 10:15 Vonnie Davis
                10:15 – 10:30 Carey Heywood
                10:30 – 10:45 Afton Locke
                10:45 – 11:00 We shut it down with prize give aways

Samantha Kane, Kemberlee Shortland, and Katana Collins will be dropping by as well!

Don’t forget to follow Lady Smut.com and get yer party on 24/7.

The Sexy Vibe of Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries

By Liz Everly

Have any of you watched the Australian-based series. “Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries” ? Its second season is now available on Netflix and I’m assuming elsewhere.

The basic premise of the series surrounded Phryne Fisher, a playful, unmarried, gorgeous, Jazz-age “lady detective.” Phryne was apart of all-women ambulance brigade in France during the last year of The Great War, and is decorated for courage. With all her relatives killed during war, Phryne is rich but remains beholden to her past. Because of her war experiences, she has a zest of life and love. Along with investigating murders, she sleeps around. A lot. Interesting to note that the only real critcisms of her sexy adventures have comes from conservatives in the U.S.—even though there’s no sex scenes just some very sexy before and after scenes. (I wonder if those folks watch James Bond????)

One of my favorite day-after-sex scenes is when she spots her stockings on the ceiling fan. How I love that image. Very intriguing and sexy, while leaving MUCH to the imagination.

I’ve become quite obsessed with the series. Here’s some reasons why:

The writing. I think this show is one of the smartest murder mystery series I’ve watched. And it could be studied in terms of “how far to push the envelope” with sex and gore. It’s very much a sexy-cozy mystery cousin to the cozy mystery books I’ve read. It keeps a very light touch, while maintaining a smart and sexy vibe.
The clothes. Okay, so if you are going to have a filthy rich heroine, you may as well dress her to the hilt. And WOW do I love Miss Fisher’s clothes. The 1920s have always been one of my favorites in terms of fashion (and music). But some of these clothes are just extraordinary.
The history. So, not only is it set in a fascinating time, but it also brings to light some other lesser-known bits of historical tidbits. One show had Latvian Jewish immigrants fighting for the Zionist cause. Another was focused on the cocaine trade.
The sex and romance. Okay, I love wondering who she is going to bed next. Usually it’s a good looking guest star, right? But I always wonder, how will they get from A to B…
The gorgeous and talented Essie Davis.

If you love good mysteries imbued with a little romance, check out Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries.

If you like your entertainment a little darker and a lot more graphic, check out THE LADY SMUT BOOK OF DARK DESIRES. Come to our Facebook party Thursday night.

The Name Game

by Kiersten Hallie Krum

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

Well, yeah, but only if you like roses. And you’d still have to call it something. Say, Herbert.

As you may have already guessed, I suck at the Name Game.

Most young girls play the game of “when I have a daughter, I’ll name her…” and come up with a name associated to what is foremost in their minds at the moment. For example, in this post-Frozen apocalypse in which we live, the most likely choice would be some variation of Elsa Anna Hanson. Me, I watched Battlestar Galactica and Wonder Woman and Buck Rogers and wanted to name my kid Athena Cassiopeia and not for the goddess or the constellation.

Really, it’s a blessing to the planet that I never procreated.

Clearly, I’ve been drawn to unusual names for a long time, though at least I’ve never considered fruit as a naming option. I’d probably wind up with some poor heroine called Pomegranate Kiwi. Actually…

Every time I start a new writing project, I get totally tripped up on the name game. Cherry Adair swears by making astrological charts for each character by which she not only comes with a name but maps out the characteristics and emotional conflicts too. But astrology has never connected with me or perhaps I’ve never connected to astrology. I suppose there’s probably something in my star chart about that.

I’ve tried the name books and web sites but it feels so clinical. Often I stick in a place holder name, like word association gone awry, and wait for the Writing Gods to bestow their benevolence on me. If you’re wondering how that works out, let’s just say the Writing Gods are pernicious and cruel and leave it at that. Once, in frustration, I cribbed a name from the author of an Irish history research book I was in the midst of reading for a paper. As it turned out, that’s still my favorite character name.

Names are important in fiction and often used as short-hand character description, most famously by Charles Dickens with his Cratchit and Scrooge, Mrs. Sparsit and Mr. McChoakumchild. Just last month during a read and review event at the New Jersey Romance Writers conference, an agent requested a submission but only if the author was willing to change a particularly off-putting name in the manuscript. Because names matter. They are our gateway, our first idea of who this person is going to be. It’s why there are precious few romance hero dukes named Horace and a proliferation of bad boy bikers heroes named some variation of Crash.

Free tip ladies: Never ride with a biker named Crash.

I tend to gravitate to the same names over and over again; I have no idea why, but there is always a man named Michael in every world I create. There’s so much brand association now with names too, it can be difficult to disassociate certain ones from their real-life embodiment. Likewise, if I choose a name of someone I know because I love the name, I worry that my character will resemble that person too.

The truth of it is, names have power. Whether we’re naming a person or character or merely calling someone a dumbass, there’s power in the word. Names are identity, they make people acknowledge who you are in all your unique wonder and madness.

In fantasy stories, knowing a person’s true name gives you power over them, such as with Rumpelstiltskin. “The name is the thing, and the true name is the true thing. To speak the name is to control the thing,” writes Ursula K. Le Guin. In folklore, an unnamed child is susceptible to be snatched by fairies. In romance novels, pivotal moments are made by the way a character says his/her lover’s name. Several of us here at Lady Smut use pen names, as do many writers, to protect our identities from everything from Internet trolls and criminals to the gossiping church ladies to judgment in our day jobs. I choose not to use a pen name because I have enough difficulty with the personalities in my head as it is. Naming them will only give them encouragement.

Sometimes, the name of character evolves out of the writing of his/her story. As I’m writing this post, a writer just posted on The Twitter how moments earlier she  renamed a character in book three and now has to go all the way back to book one and correct it. We do this because when we know it’s right, we know it’s right. The right name can reveal all…if only we could find it.

But in the meantime, as far as my books are concerned, expect to meet a lot of Michaels.

How do you name your characters? What are some names you can only associate with a specific person, fictional or otherwise.

Didja know we have a book? Relish all our dark desires in The Lady Smut Book of Dark Desires, now available from retailers.

Click on the picture to buy!

Be sure to join us for our Facebook Release Party on November 13th! There will be wine and chocolate with fabulous guests like Charlotte Stein and Megan Mulry and prizes from authors like Cara McKenna. Like us on Facebook and click this link to find out more!

Follow Lady Smut. We go by all sorts of names.

Party (of Two) Line: Hot, Scandalous Phone Sex

No, what are yooooou wearing?

By Alexa Day

Last week, I wrote about the way Tinder makes ordering a hookup simpler than ordering a pizza. I think that’s a good thing. The world is a complicated place, and a lot of us don’t have time and effort to spare.

By the same token, our complicated world holds sexy, hidden treasures that can only be unlocked with the investment of time and effort. Sexting is one of those things. Effort is the difference between the message that makes its recipient blush all afternoon and the message that goes up on #ByeFelipe. It shouldn’t take long to figure out how far one can go with a sext or to isolate the perfect tone and subject matter. But it’s possible to just dash something off and hope for the best, and so that’s what too many sexters are doing.

Phone sex is headed down the same path. At the outset, I think sexting is forcing phone sex onto the periphery, which is not good news for any of us. The real problem, though, is that the initiator is all too often unwilling to seduce the listener before going right to the sex. As the meme goes, one does not simply call and ask, “What are you wearing?”

Unless one wants to hear the unvarnished and unsexy truth.

This past Thursday, on Scandal, the leader of the free world engaged in a little phone sex with his favorite fixer. The phone sex component of the call didn’t take that long, but Fitz made the most of the time he had, as one would expect the President to do. And he got the job done. By the time he was done, Olivia Pope was squirmy and uncomfortable in the nicest possible way, which is certainly what he wanted.

In fairness, Scandal phone sex has a couple of advantages that our real-world phone sex is lacking. First, the man on the phone is Tony Goldwyn. He could call me with time, date and weather, and I don’t think I’d need anything more explicit from him.

Hellooooo, Felipe! Click to buy.

Because more is more on prime time, though, Scandal gives us the benefit of screenwritten phone sex. It’s easy to take things like that for granted on television … right up until one has real-world, unscripted phone sex for the first time. No one on television has ever created a long silence by wondering if now is the time to start with the phone sex — unless that’s the entire point.

Without a Hollywood-hot voice on the other end of the line, and without professionally written dialogue, it’s still possible to keep the daily check-in call smoking hot. All we need to do is lead up to the sexy part. Foreplay always matters, right? Phone sex starts with phone seduction, which means that the party who called should shoulder the burden. None of this “What would you do if I were watching TV on the couch with you?” nonsense. I’d keep watching TV on the couch, dude; you called me. #ByeFelipe.

Phone sex makes me think of Nicholson Baker’s Vox. Even if Monica Lewinsky gave it to Bill Clinton as a present, even if it opens with that question (“What are you wearing?”), even if the whole story is two people on a phone sex line, Vox is still a big deal for me. Sexy, sophisticated, and a good time. Definitely worth looking into.

And while you’re ducking the mainstream, go get your copy of The Lady Smut Book of Dark Desires. Vanilla will still be there when you get back, I promise.

Sexy Saturday Round-Up

Hello my femme friends.  Liz is gone for the weekend, but we’re still bringing you the smexy.  Enjoy!

Oh, and don’t forget to sign up for our facebook party on Thursday, Nov. 13th.  Here’s the link: https://www.facebook.com/events/757463174327006/ 

A sex weekend at Harvard.

Writing the story of your heart.

From Madeline:

The Shocking Benefits of Gossiping! 

Victoria Secret messes up big time with their “Perfect Body” campaign.  Let the back peddaling begin!

There’s something special about this model.

From Elizabeth:

Girl power! A dating site where women call the shots.

Add this to your to-do list: improve your life by improving your fascia. At least that’s what Gwyneth Paltrow wants us to think.

If you’re wondering whether or not you’re a pervert, read this.

Sydney residents awake to greetings by a giant pink condom.

From Alexa:

A study explores the experience of pregnancy for transgender men.

This photographer makes nude photos a more inclusive experience.

When in doubt, why not ask? Here’s an exploration of the many, many terms used for people of color.

 

Party With Lady Smut: Facebook Celebration for Anthology

The Lady Smut Book of Dark Desires (An Anthology): HarperImpulse Erotic Romance

Click. Buy. — It’s that easy!

by Madeline Iva

WHERE?  On Facebook

WHEN? Thursday, November 13th, from 7pm to 11pm (EST)

WHO?  All us Lady Smut gals (C. Margery Kempe, Liz Everly, Elizabeth Shore, Alexa Day, Kiersten Hallie Krum, and myself) and some good friends and AWESOME romance authors who have been on the blog over the last two years–including Laura Kaye, Lynne Silver, Lea Barrymire, Samantha Kane, Charlotte Stein, Nic Tatano, Vonnie Davis, Elizabeth Staab, Kemberlee Shortland, Carey Heywood, and Lavinia Kent!

WHAT *is* a facebook party, anyway, you ask?

Well, we all gather together at this link on Facebook at a certain time, and then your Lady Smut hosts and special guests will begin to put up face book posts.  You can respond to the posts and win free copies of the anthology or chocolate.  Or just enjoy a one on one chat with people who are obsessed with romance.  Our special guests may give away more books or other prizes as well.

It’s a whole lotta fun–try it!

Here’s the link you’ll need to find the party:

https://www.facebook.com/events/757463174327006/

We’ll see you there, yes?