Liz Everly's Blog, page 132

The Art of the Tease

By Liz Everly

So this weekend I attended a showing of  Gypsy, the musical. Besides being astounded by some of the local talent, it inspired me to think about the woman who was “Gypsy Rose Lee” and the art of the tease, which she is given the credit for “inventing” on the Burlesque dance stage. Others dancers were doing more than teasing. She, evidently, never stripped completely. Seeing the play also inspired me to think about what romance authors have in common with a good strip tease. Does that sound far-fetched? Keep reading. You’ll see what I mean.

Gypsy’s teasing was kind of clumsy—and her movements appeared unstudied and certainly not graceful. Here is a clip from a movie she was in giving a cleaner version of what she actually did. There was really nothing even remotely graceful about her. I had thought maybe that was just written in to the play to make it a bit more comedic. I was wrong about that. One of the ways in which she was brilliant was blending comedy and sexiness.

Check it out.

She was noted by the way in which she talked through her routine. As you can see from the clip.

It inspired me to think about so many things—like how little is left to the imagination with some of our young performers. (Ya don’t have to attend a Burlesque show to see a half-naked or naked woman these days. Just watch some music videos.)

I’ve never been to a Burlesque show, but I have a friend in England who made a good living from it. She had fun with it. I remember her dressing up as a baseball player and once as a Viking. I know she was naked from the waste up (with pasties) a few times, but I don’t think she ever took her g-string off. She made folks laugh with her funny and sexy routines. Her wit came through in those routines.

So did Gypsy’s. I think one of the reasons Gypsy was so popular is that she was relate-able for men and women. Even though she was prancing around on stage, she could be any man’s wife or lover prancing around for him behind closed doors. I think women liked her for that reason, as well.

Did you know Gypsy Rose Lee also wrote a couple of murder mysteries?

Just like characters in a romance novel. They have to be realistic, to some extent, but with some element of fantasy. It’s a fine line for writers to walk. If a woman is too “perfect” many women readers will not relate—and I think men, really, won’t be interested either. It’s our flaws that make us interesting. And it’s the same with characters.

Perfecting the “tease” is another element that romance writers juggle. If you give  it all up too fast, what’s the point for a reader to continue? If you tease and tease, and leave the reader hanging in an un-amusing way, they probably won’t come back for more.

There’s a lot about Gypsy Rose Lee’s art of the tease that we can learn from. As an erotic romance author, the sex is only part of the tease—the rest is everything else that’s going on between the characters. Where is the sex taking them? How does it change them? And, as writers we need to perfect that quality that  Mama Rose preached about in the play: “Always leave them wanting more.”

Love on the Brain

by Kiersten Hallie Krum

I’m watching the telecast of the Academy Awards as I stew over the fact that I have no topic in mind for this week’s post. Despite my well-known love for movies and TV shows, I’m burnt out on awards ceremonies. And yet I can’t help myself from being pulled in every year to the beauty and the glam and puzzling, ever puzzling, at what very unglamorous moments might lurk beneath that shine. Ellen Degeneres just preened about crashing Twitter with the billion retweets of the selfie she took with, among others, Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Brad Pitt, and Angelina Jolie. She also had a pizza delivery guy passing out slices to hungry A-listers. Meanwhile, Russia is invading the Ukraine, in case perspective felt lacking.

At the moment, I don’t have a lot of sexy on the brain despite the gorgeous people on my screen. There’s been family drama this week surrounding my grandfather who, at 96, is still my youngest living grandparent. My nana, my father’s mother, turned 101 this past January, which basically means good or bad, I’m gonna be around a helluva long time.

Despite his comparative youth, my grandfather had a health crisis last week and that meant surgery and hospitals and the many unpleasant, frightening, practical stuff that comes with life and aging. So the sexy is far from mind right now. But I do have love on the brain.

When my grandmother died six years ago, I had a rare front row seat to the demonstrative love my staid grandfather poured on her in the months leading up to her death. Not hearts and flowers or poetry or dramatic gestures. But the enduring, solid reality of committed love. He never left her side. At one point during a breathing crisis when I was certain I was watching her take her last breaths, he held her hands, stared into her eyes, and I swear he breathed for her until the crisis passed. Eight months after her death, his voice broke with sobs when I called to tell him my mother was near death from a bacteria infection. He sat on the other side of her ICU room from me and together we silently stood guard over my mother throughout that first night from the time my aunt and uncle arrived with him from Philadelphia around 11 until my sister came from Arizona the next morning. Every time I looked up he was there, watching her. Watching me. It was days later when I found out he’d tripped and fallen on his small patio earlier that day, which was how he’d come by the facial bruises and bloody nose he’d dismissed to me as “nothing”. He was 90 years old that year.

Here at Lady Smut, we talk a lot about heroes and heroines. We admire cut bodies and heroic gestures too broad and extreme to be understandable in the common world. We elevate real-life heroes too, those men and women who go to war or police our streets or run into fiery buildings instead of out of them, for example. We claim and celebrate our sexuality and the many joys to be found with it. Many of my fellow contributors write erotic romances novels; I write my own steamy level of romantic suspense. We dig the sexy hard. But our stories are not about the sex—not only about the sex, I should say—because that would be boring. We write about love, perhaps in its most dramatic and heighten sense, but love nonetheless and often in many forms. Because love isn’t only romance and sex; it isn’t so limited. It is endlessly complex and varied and incomprehensible. Love is all this and more.

Love is the best story.

Follow Lady Smut. We’ve got a lotta love to give ya.

If You Find It, You Will … Arrive: In Support of the G-Spot

The G-spot is a little smaller than this, but don’t worry. You won’t need a map.

By Alexa Day

It’s part of my job as a writer of erotica and erotic romance to keep an eye on all the latest Sex News. (Yes, it is capitalized like that.) I like to know what people are interested in, and what’s new under the sun, and I use the information to make sure my work is as hot as I can realistically make it. And it’s fun.

Last week, I ran across a distressing quote.

Dr. Susan Oakley, an Ohio OBGYN, has been working on a study about the relationship between the size and location of the clitoris and the frequency of the female orgasm. The Huffington Post ran a story on the study results, and it sounded like the kind of exploration I could get behind. But then Dr. Oakley said, “There’s no G-spot. There’s a C-spot — the clitoris.”

I don’t know if she meant that in a hip, ironic, the-G-Spot-is-so-last-year kind of way. Maybe she did. I don’t know if she’s saying that what we know as the G-spot is actually part of the clitoris. Either way, this is kind of a problem because when a medical professional says something doesn’t exist, people don’t hear it in a hip, ironic way. They don’t consider possible changes in nomenclature. They hear a fact. They hear a fact even when science seems to change its mind every 18 months or so about the existence, location, and proper care and feeding of the G-spot.

Let me be really clear about something. The G-spot does exist. The G-spot orgasm also exists. If the G-spot isn’t real, then I have one hell of an imagination, and so do plenty of other women. I think the trouble is that many people have a little difficulty finding the G-spot. Good thing we have Dr. Jennifer Berman to help us out. Here she is, using a sophisticated teaching tool to show Conan O’Brien exactly how to get to it.

So how did this denial of the G-spot happen? Well, I’m no scientist. I’m not sure I’m qualified to say. But I know that the G-spot is easier to find when women are very relaxed and very aroused. I’m guessing it’s tough to achieve those conditions as part of a scientific study (although I had fun imagining that sort of thing in my book).

We cannot make this a grim, forced march to the G-spot. That’s a recipe for frustration. The G-spot might be the only thing in life — more than true love, more than success, more than happiness — that we’re more certain to find when we are not actively looking for it.

I’m not going to get into what the G-spot orgasm feels like. To the extent it can be captured in words, other writers are doing it better than I can. I can say that the experience was kind of mindbending for me, very stimulating both physically and intellectually. And that was very real indeed.

Friends, too many people believe in the G-spot to give up on it. Can’t we have both a G-spot and a C-spot?

Why not leave a G-spot testimony in the comments? Then follow Lady Smut. We’re easy to find.

Sexy Saturday Round-Up

Hello, Sexy! Hope you are having a fun weekend. Here at Lady Smut we’ve been collecting some great blogs posts for your reading. Have you ever thought sexy Christian romances? Ever wondered how many nights a week you should be having sex? Read on, my friends.

From Liz:

Sexy Christian romance. Yep.

The Washington Post now has a romance column.

How to choose a literary agent.

Archetypes and stereotypes. The difference between them.

From Elizabeth:

How many nights a week should you and your man be doing it to be happy? The truth is here.

Good news! Size doesn’t matter, at least when it comes to the cl*t.

Change your brain! Making small changes to the way you think can mean the difference between success and failure.

It’s Oscars weekend! Check out this pictorial of every dress worn by the best actress from 1929 – present.

From Madeline:

How weird do knitters get? Here are some very crazy knitting projects. (Though I like the doggie deer hats.)

I love any blog that considers smart powerful women sexy–here’s a blog devoted to  hot barristers–one of them is George Clooney’s girlfriend.

Got a wheat allergy? There’s a dating site for that–and other niche matchmaking needs.

Sexiest parts of the body? Well, apparently, it’s not your feet.

Having sex makes you smarter. Duh.

Test your facial beauty! (Fun to try–but I warn you, the assessment is 2/3rds negative–pointing out your face is too narrow, etc.)

From C. Margery Kempe:

Broad Universe has an initiative for Women’s History Month to get more women SFF writers into Wikipedia.

Celebrate Women’s History month with a bunch of documentaries made by women filmmakers.

The Exorcist recut as an 80s sit-com (it’s all about the edits when it comes to film).

Stay sexy — and follow Lady Smut for all the news you really want!

Sexy Noir: Extricate

by C. Margery Kempe

We’ve talked about femme fatales before here at Lady Smut (or at least I have). There’s just something sexy about these men and women living on the edge of darkness, desperate and taking as many chances as they think they can get away with.

The ‘femme fatale’ in my alter ego‘s noir novella, Extricate, isn’t your typical vamp, luring men to their deaths, triumphing with a laugh then disappearing in a cloud of cigarette smoke. In fact, Judy is a sub who doesn’t know anything about her own desires, though she has a suspicion. But it’s not until she gets walked home by her boyfriend’s best friend that she begins to realize what it might be like to be with a lover who understands her secret desires:

‘You think I’d ever hurt you?’ He moved up again. Same step as her, he towered over her and itched to crush her in his arms, but he waited.

Judy fixed him with a stare. Not scared exactly, but she looked spooked nevertheless. ‘I bruise so easily.’ She put her head down and he barely heard her add, ‘and so prettily.’

Something in him snapped into place like a cocked trigger. Without thinking he clasped her arm in his hand and whispered, ‘Just one kiss.’

‘Not here.’ She did look scared now, her gaze darting up the street to see if anyone had appeared from the black between the streetlights.

‘Invite me in for a night cap.’

‘You want to have a night cap? Warm you for the walk home?’

‘Thought you’d never ask,’ he said, releasing her arm and shifting his hand to the small of her back as if to propel her inside faster.

She led the way through the lobby where all was quiet and down the dim corridor to her own door and he thought if he were Dud he wouldn’t let his girl live in a dump like this and then the door was closed and locked behind them.

‘I could–’

He stopped her words with a kiss. His hand slipped into her raven tresses, holding them tightly and tipping her head back to a convenient angle. He bit the tender flesh and she melted against him, mouth wide open to his invasion. Her breasts crushed against his hammering heart.

When he finally let her go something had changed in them both.

Because this is noir and not romance, all kinds of things go wrong, but their relationship isn’t what goes wrong. That was a deliberate choice. A lot of people look at kink and see pain and jump to the conclusion, it must be abusive! Judy’s other relationship is abusive, but not physically — he never lays a hand on her.

She’s happy with Peter because he understands, cherishes and loves her. They communicate and share tenderness — unlike her boyfriend who never really listens to her and has contempt for women in general. Judy loves being tied up, commanded and spanked. It gives her exquisite pleasure. She’s not sure she understands why that is, but she’s grateful to find someone who shares her special tastes.

He wrapped his arms around her and pretended he would never have to leave.

As they dozed, she said, ‘I’ve never been with anyone like you. You’re the first one who hurt me without being mean.’

‘Shhhh,’ he said, nuzzling her cheek.

‘Do you think there’s… something wrong with me?’ Her voice was very small.

‘I think you’re perfect,’ he said and kissed her to show her it was so.

Even in noir there’s a little bit of happiness now and then. It’s all about finding the right lover — someone who understands and values what you find sexy.

Follow the Lady Smut crew: we know sexy and have absolutely no regrets.

It’s Definitely Hard: Q&A with Laura Kaye

Book 1 –Laura’s writes smokin’ hot dudes.

By Madeline Iva

Hello lovelies! Today I’m over-the-moon because we have Laura Kaye with us for Q&A.  Laura is one to watch when it comes to romance.  BTW, we’re going to be on a publishing panel publishing at the Virginia Festival of the Book, Saturday, March 22nd.  It’s free–and we promise to be witty and entertaining. Come check it out and say hello afterwards. ;>

MADELINE IVA: Laura, tell us all about your new book.

LAURA KAYE: Thanks! I’d love to! Hard As It Gets is the first in my sexy romantic suspense series called Hard Ink, which is about the surviving members of a disgraced Special Forces team fighting to regain their stolen honor. Hard As It Gets pairs Nick Rixey, second in command of the SF team, with Becca Merritt, the daughter of the deceased unit commander whose dirty black op led to the deaths of half the team and the discharge of the rest.

This is Book 2 in the series.

MADELINE IVA: Yes, there’s a strong military element.  However, before we get to all matters military there are these h-a-r-d bodied guys who run a tattoo parlor.  I’m not even into tattoos and I thought they were smokin’.  How did you get into the whole tattoo thing?

LAURA KAYE: I’ve always been fascinated by tattoos, both as art and for their meaning. I have two myself—the word Imagine on my right wrist and a star with three roses inside on my right shoulder. For the Hard Ink series, I thought placing a military operation out of a tattoo shop combined two very sexy themes!

MADELINE IVA: Well, it’s pretty brilliant.  How difficult is it to do research on military types? Did you have fun? Did you watch that crummy movie the army put out that was actually acted by SEALS or something?

LAURA KAYE: I’ve worked for the U.S. Navy for the past eight years as a professor of history at the Naval Academy, so working in the environment and getting to know people in the military helped. But I also did a lot of reading of military sites, watched videos of patrols and other activities that are on YouTube, and watched documentaries and military movies (and yes, I did see the one you’re referencing!).

MADELINE IVA: It’s certainly not a rah-rah portrait of the military, yet I found it all the more interesting and layered as a result.  Meanwhile, as I was reading the book, I had my eye on a few potential heroes for your next novel in the series. Who’s the lucky guy?

LAURA KAYE: Good eye! The remaining SF team members will all get stories as follows:

HARD AS YOU CAN – 2/25/14 – Shane’s book

HARD TO HOLD ON TO – 8/22/14 – Easy’s book

HARD TO COME BY – 11/25/14 – Marz’s book

Untitled #5 – Spring 2015 – Beckett’s book

A little somethin’ somethin’ from Laura’s paranormal series.

MADELINE IVA: Tell us about what other romance genres you write in.  What led you to leave those and write contemporary suspense?

LAURA KAYE: I mostly write contemporary (Heroes, Hard Ink) and paranormal romance (Hearts of the Anemoi, Vampire Warrior Kings) and have two series in each, although the Hard Ink series definitely veered toward romantic suspense. My other contemporary series is also about Army Special Forces guys, although it’s straight contemporary, so the Hard Ink series isn’t too big of a departure. Going forward, I will write in all three, so it was more of a branching out rather than a leaving! *grins*

MADELINE IVA: Love paranormal–I’ll have to check those books out.  Taking my mind back to the gutter, I’d say this book was about medium-high in terms of the steaminess.  Do you write books that are even more steamy? Can you tell us about one or two of those? ;>

LAURA KAYE: I tend to write steamy in every book, using extended sex scenes with explicit imagery and language. It’s just what feels most natural and emotional to me. The books in my Vampire Warrior Kings and Hearts of the Anemoi series are very hot across the board, as is my contemporary story One Night with a Hero, which may also be my funniest book! The most erotic book I’ve written is a novella called Just Gotta Say, which is a ménage a quatres between a woman and her three male roommates. Heh.

MADELINE IVA: Yow.  Wow.  Going to have to check that out too.

LAURA KAYE: Thanks for having me here today!

MADELINE IVA: Laura, you’re a sweetheart, and you’re more than welcome.

Book 1 –Laura’s writes smokin’ hot dudes.

Ladies, like me you’re probably drooling for more, so keep reading below to read an excerpt from Book 1 and learn a bit about Book 2.  

“Edgy, sexy, and full of suspense! A great read from a great new author!”

~J.R. Ward on Hard As It Gets

Read an Extended Excerpt  of Book 1, Hard As It Gets

Here’s more about Laura’s current release– Book 2, Hard As You Can:

Five dishonored soldiers.

Former Special Forces.

One last mission.

This is Book 2 in the series.

These are the men of Hard Ink.

Ever since hard-bodied, drop-dead-charming Shane McCallan strolled into the dance club where Crystal Dean works, he’s shown a knack for getting beneath her defenses. For her little sister’s sake, Crystal can’t get too close. Until her job and Shane’s mission intersect, and he reveals talents that go deeper than she could have guessed.

Shane would never turn his back on a friend in need, especially a former Special Forces teammate running a dangerous, off-the-books operation. Nor can he walk away from Crystal. The gorgeous waitress is hiding secrets she doesn’t want him to uncover. Too bad. He’s exactly the man she needs to protect her sister, her life, and her heart. All he has to do is convince her that when something feels this good, you hold on as hard as you can–and never let go.

Buy Hard As You Can at  Amazon  |  B&N  |  iTunes | Kobo

Laura Kaye will be at Virginia Festival of the Book, Sat. March 22nd at 2pm

About Laura Kaye:

Laura is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of over a dozen books in contemporary and paranormal romance. Growing up, Laura’s large extended family believed in the supernatural, and family lore involving angels, ghosts, and evil-eye curses cemented in Laura a life-long fascination with storytelling and all things paranormal. She lives in Maryland with her husband, two daughters, and cute-but-bad dog, and appreciates her view of the Chesapeake Bay every day.

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Giving Birth To A Website

By Elizabeth Shore

As anyone who’s selling or marketing or trying to publicize anything knows, nowadays it’s mandatory to have a website. Without one it’s kind of like you either don’t exist or you’re not legitimate. So, seeing as I really do exist, I decided that I, too, needed a website. To my great fortune, I happen to be friends with an outstanding web designer, Alla Gringaus, who was willing to climb on board the Elizabeth Shore website express and work with me to put it together.  That was a year ago.

Now, I’ll say right up front that it certainly doesn’t normally take that long to slap up a site. People do it over a weekend. Maybe even in a single night. With my process it partially took so long because there were many months of breaks where nothing happened, mainly because I was so busy writing or editing my contemporary erotic romance Hot Bayou Nights, releasing later this year. But anyway, conception initiated right about this time last year and for the next 12 months gestation ensued. At least my ankles didn’t swell.

We started the process with a discussion about content. I studied other authors’ websites to see what they did. I attended an excellent presentation by Carina Press’s Executive Editor, Angela James, at the New Jersey RWA’s annual conference to learn do’s and don’t's about what makes a great website and what traps to avoid. There are basic things to keep in mind, such as not having a serene looking site if you’re a romantic suspense author. Or avoiding auto-start music or videos (it turns visitors off).

In the conversations I had with my web designer, we wanted to have interesting things on the site to keep visitors engaged and coming back. I can’t dedicate a whole lotta website real estate to my books since there aren’t – yet! – many of them. But as far as book content, what I did decide I wanted to do was give visitors a sample of my writing by including excerpts of unpublished manuscripts that haven’t yet found a home. Reader feedback is priceless, so why not show people what I have and let them tell me what they think. It’s hard sometimes for us writers to distance ourselves from our work. It’s our baby, after all, and beware anyone who tells us our child is ugly. At least that’s how some writers may come across. But difficult as it sometimes is to hear, if I’ve got stuff that’s not responding with readers, I want to know. So excerpts from unpublished books are included.

Another huge topic of my website discussion focused on whether to include my picture. Readers like pictures, but in the erotic romance genre it can be a tricky thing, particularly if you have a day job, or maybe have family members or friends who disapprove of your chosen profession (if they even know about it). It’s best in some cases to keep these things separate. Ultimately I decided to include a photo. But what photo? Should I get new ones or use something I already have? Eventually we figured it out with the help of photographer friend Alessandro Bologna.

I spent two entire weekends at Alla’s home (bless her dear husband who put up with me eating his food and taking over his apartment) because there were seemingly thousands of decisions to be made. Color scheme, fonts, background, menu items, social media links, blog content, placement, and on and on and on and on. When I think back on this process my head spins at the amount of discussion we had in order to launch the site. At one point I thought we were finally ready to launch when Alla dropped the bomb that no, there’s still SEO work to be done. Argh!! When oh when will it end? It seemed sometimes like I was never going to get through everything.

Once we finally did launch there was one final kick in the shins due to a huge technical glitch (not at all Alla’s fault) that nearly destroyed everything we’d done. Thank goodness for her brilliance and dedication – she literally spent the entire weekend fixing the problem, getting about five hours of sleep from Friday night to Sunday. Bless you, my friend.

Thus ends the story of the birth of my website. I really would love to hear feedback, so please stop by when you have a chance and tell me what you think. Now (sigh) on to Pinterest.

Movies, Love, and Eight Lays Around the World

By Liz Everly

Last week, I caught about the second  half of  “The End of the Affair” with one of my favorite actresses  and hunk  We were flipping the channels around, and there they were. One of my favorite sexy, sensual scenes in the movie consisted of this very luscious, silky looking blanket or bedspread–you know what they are doing beneath it, but you don’t see them, just waves and ripples of the blanket. It’s a fabulous, sexy, scene. But I digress.

What I really wanted to say about what I know of this film is that we have a husband and a wife who are not that into each other. Sad. But she has this incredibly passionate affair with the  character. Her husband figures this out and appears not to really mind. Or if he does, it’s because of propriety–not really his heart. “I’ve never been a lover,” he says.

So to sum up the movie a bit, toward the end, the husband confronts them—she and her lover during a night they spend together—but only because he’s gotten a phone call saying she only has a few months to live. The two men set aside their selfishness and decide to move in together to comfort and tend to her in her remaining months.

So my husband was the next room and I ask him what he thought of this. He said, “I’m not sure I’m that good of a person.”An honest answer. “You’re my wife and I don’t want to share you with anybody  like that,” he said. This was sort of off the cuff because he hadn’t been watching the movie to know the emotional context and so on. But still, I think most men I know feel like this about their wives.

I thought the husband in the film’s gesture was very selfless and way beyond understanding.  When she passes away and the two men embrace, my heart nearly bursts. (What is it about two men embracing?)

So in any case, the movie  and my husband’s reaction, and my reaction, inspired thoughts about my women characters in my books who are nontraditional. There’s Maeve in SAFFRON NIGHTS, who is a player, but only because she ‘s been so hurt before. When she and Jackson finally get together, she stops playing. Love will do that for you—sometimes. And then there’s  Sasha  in CRAVINGS, who has never had a “normal” sex life because she began working as a prostitute very young, then as a professional dominatrix. Maybe these women would be hard for some to relate to–but not for me. I know women like this. I know women who are swingers, or just not that into having one relationship. And there is a tiny part of the intellectual part of me that is like “Yes, I can see how that would work nicely.”

But my husband knows that the character I’ve written about that I’m most alike is Jennifer, who is featured in my next book  LIKE HONEY. She’s pretty traditional in that what she wants is one man, one relationship in which she can grow and explore. To date, this is my favorite book–ya know, my sexy beekeeper is in it and I’m still crushing on him.

But I love to write about the nontraditional woman, as well. I don’t think I will ever give her up.

Right now, I have a new short story published only on Amazon, which is really a part of a new series–EIGHT LAYS AROUND THE WORLD: EGYPT (A NAUGHTY TRAVELOGUE). I plan on eight of them, of course. My main character, Gigi is a 27-year-old writer that’s into the sex club and multiple partner scene. When she runs into her boss at a club, the story begins with a bang. He calls her into his office with a new assignment–to travel, experiment, and write to his “benefactor,” a very wealthy kinkster. The first stop is Egypt. She takes him up on the offer, of course. Gigi is great fun to write about. Young and free-spirited. If you’d like to check it out, I’m offering the first short story free until Friday.

Enjoy!

The Romance of Trains

by Kiersten Hallie Krum

A woman in period dress stands on a train platform. Smoke wreathes around her as the wheezing locomotive pulls into the station. The woman breathes a sigh of relief. This is how she’ll escape. This is the train that will give her freedom. This is the train that will take her on an adventure. This is the train that returns her beloved.

There is deep romance to be found in trains. Trains take you where cars fear to tread, high up into the mountains or winding around rivers and gorges or out into what wilderness can still be found in this world. Trains allow you to explore those last bits of wild majesty.

A train is a powerful beast of transport. Not the baffling physics of air travel (how does a thing that big get that high in the air?) or the aggravations of cars (why do people insist on going under the speed limit in the left-hand lane?!) or the dodgy environs of a lumbering bus (please don’t sit next to me), but the wheeze and clang of a force with which to be reckoned. 

Travel today has long since lost the romance of the journey. It’s become too difficult to navigate. These days, we tend to focus on getting to our destination in the fastest and cheapest manner possible. We’ve lost the ability to enjoy the journey itself.

But there’s a romantic rhythm to the swing and swirl of a train carriage as though you’re constantly in a dance to find your balance. Trains are infused with thrills and passion. Murder. Mayhem. Romance. Trains have hosted them all in novels and TV shows and movies. They carry the mystery of the unknown, the idea that anything can happen on the long push to a destination. Trains give you the luxury of not having to think about the particulars of travel so your mind can wander and dream. Rest.

Write.

What better place to write than on a train? Cut off from the rest of the world, lost amongst the netherland beyond civilization, in a world of one’s own, it’s the perfect environment in which any writer is sure to flourish.

Amtrak agrees.

Last week, news broke of a pilot program quietly tested by Amtrak that offered free “writer’s residencies” — long, round-trip journeys during which writers…write.  Amtrak has since confirmed its plans to make the program official and long-term by offering writers trips on its network routes for the sole purpose of writing (suspect the “free” part will likely change, however.)

Outstanding.

What is writing but a long journey into the unknown? Pairing that metaphorical trip with an actual journey seems the kind of no-brainer genius waiting to happen along the lines of shellacking peanut butter and jelly on two slices of bread and slapping them together. Or Nutella.

How did this all come about? Twitter. Yes, my social media baby has done it again, connecting the right people at the right time to create something fabulous. Author Jessica Gross tweeted the idea to Amtrak who responded with an offer to test out her theory on a New York to Chicago round trip. Kudos to Amtrak’s social media manager, Julia Quinn, (no relation to the bestselling romance writer) for swiftly moving to make the idea a reality.

Now particulars for future rides are still to be fleshed out, but given the overwhelming social media response to this news, Amtrak will not lack for applicants once they roll out their full schedule. Romance writers alone are sure to queue up for the experience. I find it hard to imagine a more inspiring environment; I could finish one book and get off at the end of the journey with ideas for five more. Plot bunnies abound!

Do you enjoy train travel? Would you take the trip to write in residence?

Follow LadySmut. We’re one hell of a trip.

Life Among the Dead: Is Michonne Ready to Love Again?

If you’re going to make an entrance, make an *entrance.*

By Alexa Day

I started watching The Walking Dead on AMC with the first episode. I didn’t know anything at all about the comics on which the show is based. I think I tuned in expecting to see another show entirely. Now my Sunday nights belong to this story about life in Georgia during the zombie apocalypse, and I recommend it to even the horror-averse.

I first met Michonne when she appeared at the very end of the show’s second season. Because I’ve never read the comics, so I didn’t understand the significance of the cloaked figure holding a katana and a leash attached to two zombies. But on his televised afterparty, Talking Dead, Chris Hardwick seemed very excited to see Michonne, so I decided to be excited, too.

Michonne hasn’t disappointed me yet.

She’s a total BAMF with that sword, mowing down zombies with lethal grace. That would have been enough for me. Then she went toe-to-toe and hand-to-hand with the Governor, and that would have been enough for me, too. (For those of you who don’t know the story, let’s just say that being a sociopath has served the Governor quite well during the apocalypse and leave it at that.) Thankfully, the folks behind the scenes are okay with spoiling me. This season, Michonne’s learning some hard lessons about having it all during the zombie apocalypse, and she’s got a takeaway for the rest of us out here who are kicking ass, taking names, and trying to build a home and family.

Michonne is learning that vulnerability works.

They’re kind of cute together … in a very specific way.

As awesome as she is with her katana, Michonne’s talents as a fighter had forced her into a life where she’d learned to rely only on herself. Hanging out with former friend Andrea started her on that blood feud with the Governor. (How bad was that? Well, the Governor’s out-to-get-Michonne torture kit included a speculum. Yeah.) Hanging out with the apparently reformed troublemaker Merle didn’t work out much better; he was actually going to deliver her to the Governor himself. It seemed that the harder Michonne was, the faster she found herself on the way to her enemy’s doorstep.

But being vulnerable has been good for Michonne. Recovering from an injured ankle (vulnerability in its most basic sense) forces her to stay put and let others take care of her. I think that experience, even after she was back on her feet, opened her eyes to her real role as part of the group led by former lawman Rick Grimes. She’s more than just a bad-ass. She’s a trusted companion and friend. She’s a mother figure. She can call others out on their bullshit, and they return the favor. But to get to this place, to share the entirety of who she is, Michonne had to set aside the sword, albeit temporarily.

When the Governor ultimately forces Rick’s tight-knit group to scatter, Michonne has a choice to make. She can either return to her old life, alone but for her sword and leashed zombies, or she can risk reaching out to join her family on the move. Tormented by a vision of the life she’d lost when civilization collapsed, a life where she held both her sword and her baby with equal ease, Michonne chooses to risk vulnerability. Life as solo swordswoman is familiar, but she seems to realize that her best chance of regaining what she’s lost and discovering what she might become is with Rick.

This week, I’ve got the same question Chris Hardwick posed recently on Talking Dead.

Should we start shipping Rick and Michonne?

Because love means having the other person’s back.

I think it would be good for both of them, honestly. Michonne is comfortable being vulnerable with Rick. She forgave him after he sold her out to the Governor. He knows that loss of a loved one drove her to the edge of sanity, a destination Rick has come to know quite well. Rick knows his son, Carl, needs the freedom to be a kid in a world that’s forced him to kill his own mother. Michonne seems to know when Carl needs a fellow warrior to back him up and when he just needs a stack of comic books. Most importantly, Rick is comfortable with Michonne’s fierce side. I don’t think her last boyfriend was totally okay dating a BAMF, but that fighting spirit is absolutely essential to Rick.

There’s no telling what’s in store for Rick and Michonne, though. Even reading the comics wouldn’t be a guarantee. I certainly hope these two go on to form a more perfect union. But I’d be willing to settle for a stranger asking if they’re together.

And if all else fails, someone is surely already hard at work on the Richonne fanfiction, right?

Follow Lady Smut today. We’ll have your back when it all goes down.