Coming Soon: Journey to the Center of Desire

Hi, friends! I just signed a contract to be in J. Blackmore's new book from Circlet Press, Journey to the Center of Desire!

My story, Journey to the Disappearing Sea, imagines a much more active role for "little Gräuben," the love interest of the narrator of Verne's original Journey to the Center of the Earth. Gräuben deserves it, too. In the original, it's clear that she's brave and learned and every bit as deserving of adventure as Axl. You'll perhaps forgive me if I made her much more awesome than he was, and narrated in his voice, so he's the one who gets to tell you how cool she is?

I really love playing with classic works this way. My first story for J. Blackmore, "The Artist's Retreat," which was published in her collection, Whispers in Darkness: Lovecraftian Erotica, marks a turning point in my mental history of my own writing. It was studying Lovecraft, and imitating his style enough to sound authentic, that began to free me from the overly spare journalistic style I'd developed from years of writing articles. It gave me access to a tone I hadn't allowed myself for a long time, one that now feels essential to my voice.

I had an equally great time with Verne. And in case it's not clear by now, Ms. Blackmore has an enviable relationship with classic texts of all varieties. I'm not in these, but I can also recommend her takes on Austen and Carroll.

Reviews Are Coming In...

Best Women's Erotica of the Year, Volume Two, is starting to get reviews, so you can see what people are saying about the book if you're interested.

I'm particularly pleased at the many descriptors this review had to use to describe my story, "On Some Maps, But Not on Others": "M/F, F/F, S&M, voyeurism." And I'm glad to see love for T.C. Mill and other writers I admire as well.

In this review, I'm described as an author "familiar to erotica fans," which, hey, I guess so! Reminds me of the time, back when I was still fairly embarrassed about writing this stuff, that a woman asked me if my work was "anything she would have seen," and I replied, "Depends on how much erotica you read." I live for the moments I manage to be that witty.

Flippancy aside, I so appreciate everyone who takes the time to read my work and the work of the authors I share pages with. I don't like to comment on the opinions people express, because when I review stuff on Goodreads I like to pretend I'm talking just to other readers—I think that's who reviews are for. But it's a huge help to authors, editors, and publishers, too, when people leave reviews, because many of the websites that sell or recommend books are set up with algorithms that respond to things like quantity or quality of reviews. So if you've picked up or are planning to pick up this year's edition of Best Women's Erotica, please consider leaving a review once you read it. Even a sentence helps.

If you'd like to take a look at the book (or more of its reviews), you can find it here.

Best Women's Erotica Book Tour

Editor Extraordinaire Rachel Kramer Bussel has put together a four-stop book tour for Best Women's Erotica, and I'll be participating in all three of the East Coast stops! You can see the details in the image below.

My story in Best Women's Erotica is "On Some Maps, But Not on Others." It's about a lot of not knowing—not understanding gender, not knowing quite why what turns you on turns you on, and not being sure what fulfillment would look like or how to go after it. I love the story. It rips me open. I avoid direct autobiography in my work, but the themes are often really true to me, and this story expresses a lot of the uncertainty I struggle with. It also puts forth the idea, which I believe, that embracing those uncertainties can be hot.

I'm really excited to share this with people at Sugar, Bluestockings, and WORD, and I'm also really looking forward to hearing from the other authors! Please join us if you're in town (and West Coast people, there's a stop for you, too!).

In the meantime, if you'd like to check out the book, you can find it here.

2 Contracts I Signed Since the Last Time I Blogged

I'm still catching up on news from the dark of winter, when sunlight and blogging were scarce. Today, I offer glimpses of two contracts I signed since the last time I blogged:

Ticket to Ride
The good people at Sexy Little Pages are doing it again, this time with Beverly Langland's Ticket to Ride, a collection of erotica that takes place in and around various forms of transportation. I wrote my story, "Hey, Stranger," in the heat of a missed connection, and I got greedy with the forms of transportation I used: mine features a train, a plane, and a taxi.

Tournaments and Quests
I'll be working with Less Than Three press for the first time in their forthcoming anthology, Tournaments and Quests. My story, "To Rescue a Princess," brings together a bisexual knight, a lesbian princess, and a trainable dragon. I got to write about magic, duels, flying, hot sex, and expecting more.

Can't wait to share more about both of these projects with you!

Tea and Books with Circlet

Today, I'm driving up to Boston to attend Circlet Press's Tea and Sexy Books Party at Arisia!

Circlet promises "tea to sip and sexy books for your perusal," and the good people there are not the type to disappoint. I'll likely wave around copies of the book I edited for Circlet recently: MakerSex: Erotic Stories of Geeks, Hackers, and DIY Culture.

Join us if you're in the neighborhood, or sip a mug of tea in our honor!

3 Books That Came Out Since the Last Time I Blogged

My friends, I've been quiet lately. The reasons are several—holidays, horror at recent world events, some difficult recent personal events, the release of the Legion expansion for World of Warcraft, you name it. But it's a new year, a new day, and a new chance to catch up on telling you what's going on with my writing work lately.

So here are three books containing my stories that came out since the last time I blogged:

Goodbye Moderation: Lust

My story: "More Than Nothing"

A taste of it:

“I want to lick you.”

“Baby, I know. Tell me something I don’t.”

“I want to do it until my jaw aches and my tongue stings from your juices.”

“Mmm. Keep talking.”

“I want to do it until my neck is screaming for me to move and my back is cramping. I want to do it until I can’t feel my feet from being on my knees and I think I’m going to pass out if I don’t get a free breath. I want to start now and do it until I’m half-hallucinating because I’m hungry and I need to sleep, and then I want to do it until my phone alarm goes off because it’s morning and I’m supposed to get ready for work, and then I want to keep going until I miss work and my phone is beeping because people are looking for me, but I’m still here with my face between your legs.”

She laughs. “Cute. Impossible, though. Besides, don’t you think I’d be tired, too?” Her expression is surprisingly gentle. “What have you actually done, baby?”

The blurb:

Life doesn't necessarily go to plan and sex certainly isn't always chocolate and roses. But it can be dark, dirty and sinfully arousing. Welcome to the world of Goodbye Moderation, a series that throws out the rulebook to explore the urges, perversions and frustrations of sex through the naughtiest and deadliest seven sins of the world. Lust is raw, carnal desire and in these eleven intense stories, you'll find that words have power and there's a beauty in frustration. You'll read of people adapting to change, for better or worse. That love appears in many forms and when the past and present collide, there's always collateral damage. Featuring stories by Charlie Powell, Anna Sky, Sienna Saint-Cyr, Annabeth Leong, Jillian Boyd, Leandra Vane, Zak Jane Keir, Lola Sparkles, CeCe Marsh, M Marie & Rachel Kincaid, Lust will surely leave you panting for more. If you're a fan of billionaire fantasies or happy ever afters, this certainly isn't the series for you. Over 18s only. Not suitable for work.

Buy the book here.

Best Women's Erotica of the Year, volume 2

My story: "On Some Maps, But Not on Others"

A taste of it:

My girlfriend began an assault that drove Alex into exquisite throes of pain and carried my confused but intense desires along with it. She slapped and pinched that exposed purple head, driving in fingernails, hitting it so hard it never stopped bouncing. Alex began making strange, high-pitched noises in the back of his throat.

"Yes," my girlfriend moaned, and hit him harder.

He shook his head when she began to flick near the slit at the tip of his cock, and she paused. "Are you telling me no, pretty Alex? Is this cock not my plaything after all?"

"It's yours," he gasped. I noticed that his hair was plastered to his head now, and a tear threatened to leak from the corner of one eye.

"Is it? What do you want, Alex? What are you ready for?"

There was a tense pause. I needed something else, and I hoped to the depths of my soul that Alex knew what it was, that he could give it to me.

My girlfriend rested the tip of one finger on his slit, and he choked with fear.

"Tell me with words, Alex. What do you want?"

"More," he cried finally, as she grinned, sharp and final, and began to tear the rope away. "Oh God, I want more." He made it sound like a confession, a horror, but as she gripped him viciously he began to shoot; thick, white ribbons spurting up onto his stomach, and I wanted to come with him so badly that my insides hurt.

The blurb:

Best Women's Erotica of the Year, Volume 2 gives us fierce female passion, timeless love, and lustful encounters that are guaranteed to fill you with utter delight. Edited by the award winning Rachel Kramer Bussel, these sexy stories about women on the prowl span the globe, traveling from Peru to the Bahamas and beyond in pursuit of pleasure. Learn why "Teacher Appreciation" is so special, what sex is like "At the End of the World," and explore some very explosive "Volcano Nights." These unforgettable erotic tales by the top authors in the genre as well as newcomers will arouse and thrill readers looking for a hot time between the pages.

Buy the book here.

Best Lesbian Erotica of the Year, volume 1

My story: "The Last Time"

A taste of it:

I choked on the humidity of her closed-in car and strained to see her face in the dim light from the restaurant’s sign. She kissed me as if the inside of my mouth contained water, air, light, and food, but her hands stayed outside of my clothes, and soon my body was hot and wet while my mind roiled with confusion.

She tore a button off my shirt, and then froze and began to apologize.

“Stop it,” I said, and tore another button off myself.

I grabbed her hand. Looking into her eyes as best I could in the darkness, I guided her fingers into the space made by the missing buttons, leading her to the edge of my bra. Thea gasped, and her fingers fluttered. I helped her even more, tugging my underwire upward to let my breasts spill out beneath. One of them landed in her hand.

“Christ,” Thea said, and I grinned, because I hoped that meant she hadn’t disappeared entirely into that fundamentalist church. I opened the rest of the shirt, and she pressed her face to my chest.

The blurb:

The Best Lesbian Erotica series is back and sexier than ever! Helmed by one of the best dual erotica writers and editors in the business, Best Lesbian Erotica of the Year, Volume 1 collects the very best stories of femme desire, passion, and hot, lustful sex in one incredible anthology. From tales of a lady's first time with another, to ones of experienced women taking charge in the bedroom, to steamy bar hookups or love-making stemmed from long-held adoration, this collection of F/F narratives has something for every reader.

Buy the book here.

Truth in Fiction, Fiction in Truth

Every two weeks, I post at Oh Get a Grip, part of a set of ten erotic writers who together explore all sorts of topics. The topic right now is "True Stories." Many other people had written on the ways truth comes out in fiction, even if the story is made up. I decided to write on how fiction, and its techniques, come into truth, even when I'm doing my best to relay the story as it happened.

Here's a snip:

I can shift the true stories of my life in all sorts of ways. I could use them to tear myself down for sluttiness and risky behavior. I could use them to portray myself as an interesting, adventurous, experimental person. I’ve done both. And sometimes I wonder if there’s any really “true” way to see it all. It’s a true story, so there are true things about me in it. What those things add up to, though, is complicated, and, to some degree, chosen. I’m a writer, and it seems like I do get to write myself, depending on how I tell this and many other stories.

If you'd like to read the rest, you can do it here.