Come see Ken in Portland and Eugene!

Live in Oregon? Ever want to hear Ken's talk about his experiences on the Iron Butt Rally? Well, here's your chance!


Saturday, February 26, 6 p.m.
BMW of Western Oregon, Tigard
12010 SW Garden Place
Tigard, OR 97223


Sunday, February 27, 6 p.m.

BMW of Western Oregon, Eugene

2891 W 11th Avenue

Eugene OR 97402

The Iron Butt Association is a loose-knit group of riders dedicated to safe long-distance motorcycling. Entry into the club is obtained by documenting long-distance riding challenges, such as 1,000 miles in under 24 hours, or Coast to Coast in under 50 hours. Every two years the IBA hosts their premier event, the Iron Butt Rally. Billed as "11,000 miles in 11 days," this Rally tests the mettle of selected riders by sending them all across the US and Canada on a giant two-wheeled scavenger hunt. In fact, more people have gone into space than have completed an Iron Butt Rally.

Ken Meese has been riding ever since he snuck his parents' 125cc bike out of the garage as a teenager. He has logged several hundred thousand miles on BMWs and has ridden in Asia, Europe, and North America. Ken has ridden numerous Long Distance Rallies and Iron Butt certificate rides that have covered nearly every US state and most Canadian Provinces. 2009 was his first Iron Butt Rally, but definitely not his last.

This evening will be full of road tales, travails, and triumphs as Ken shares his experiences of competing in the ultimate motorcycle endurance Rally, and shows just what it takes to survive on a BMW for 11 days and 11,000 miles.

Aaaand she's off!

Whee! So much going on!

Yesterday I got seven short stories back in the mail, did 10K words on a copyediting job, and wrote a story for Custom Erotica Source (link clearly NSFW). I also did laundry, etc., etc. Before that, I wrote a short story for an upcoming workshop…that one was really hard, though, because the theme not only wasn’t one I’m normally that interested in, but it leant itself to darker stories, and I really need light and fluffy right now.

I’m super-excited, though, because this afternoon my friend Anwyn is coming to visit! (If I weren’t a Real Writer [TM], I’d add a million exclamation points at the end of that sentence!) We knew Anwyn in Wales, although she’s really from Australia, and I haven’t seen her nine years! Squeebouncity!

She’s visiting her beau in the Bay Area, so they’re driving down today. Tomorrow I’m co-teaching a cord-making class at an SCA event, so we’re all off to that, along with lunch with friends in Santa Barbara. Sunday they want to go to Disneyland, which is convenient because I have friends who throw an annual Superbowl bash each year, and they live pretty close to Disneyland. Between all that there will be much eating (she’s making me her patented six-cheese lasagne!) and drinking and watching A-Ha videos and talking until the sun comes up. Busy weekend!

So, before she arrives, I still have to…

• read through my CES story and mail it
• review and return a contract
• review another story and mail it
• get a novel proposal in the mail
• take Eostre to the vet
• go to the gym for an hour of cardio
• shower, etc.
• get water
• get cat litter
• get gas
• put away laundry
• do more laundry
• wash the sheets
• tidy the sewing room so I can blow up the air mattress
• put my sheets on the air mattress and other sheets on the bed
• clean all the crap off the dining room table (aka sweep it all up and dump it on the sewing table)
• print the handouts for tomorrow's class
• probably more little things I’m forgetting right now

I’ve almost finished drinking my morning tea. 1-2-3…go!

A brief, stream-of-consciousness update

My cleaning lady is due to arrive in less than an hour, I’m still in my pyjamas, and I haven’t tidied in preparation for her.

I have a list of phone calls to make.

The supplement that miraculously healed Eostre’s kidneys is backordered everywhere and I can’t get anymore and I’ve run out. Fuck.

Ohmygods where did all those overdue e-mails come from??

The story I’ve been writing has been eating my brain to the extent that I’ve gotten no other work done for several days. It must be finished today, though, and I’ve got bits and pieces of the end written, so hopefully it just all needs to be stitched together into some attempt at a coherent narrative.

Downton Abbey was awesome with a side of awesomesauce.

The wind was so wild last night it woke me up around 4:30 a.m., and then at 5 I had to get up to make sure the roof over the kitlings’ run hadn’t blown away, and then at 5:30 I got up to see if it was our gate that was banging and crashing (it wasn’t). Ugh.

I miss Ken.

I'm in a book trailer!

Well, at least, my voice is, reading two sentences from my story "Wasn't It Good?", which appears in Gotta Have It: 69 Stories of Sudden Sex! I didn't have time to get all gussied up and figure out how to record a movie of myself, so my voice is what you're gonna get.

The book trailer is up on YouTube, and isn't graphic, but it's still probably NSFW. (It's sensuous/steamy/sexy.)

Can you guess which excerpt is mine before you see the credits?  ;-)

Recommended Reading, September & October 2010

I know, I’ve fallen behind on this. I have the list of books I want to rec each month, just haven’t had the time to write up the info. But I’m almost there, and for this installment you get two months for the price of one!

Under Heaven, Guy Gavriel Kay. Okay, okay, you know GGK’s my favorite author evah, so I was predisposed to love this book. But I’ve loved some of his more than others, and this one’s toward the top of the list. What I love is how he immerses the reader into the characters—so often, I feel like I know them, even in just a few pages—and the world. For those of you who haven’t read him, what he does is take a historic time period and creates a very similar fantasy world. Characters may be based on real historic people—but he’s explained that he doesn’t want to write a historical novel and put words in people’s mouths. It’s his way of exploring that time and place and those events in history. The fantasy/magic in Under Heaven is subtle—it’s not dragons and wizards—so don’t expect that going in. Also, it’s a big book, and gorgeously written, not something you’ll want to skim, so block out the time to savor it.

Hyperbole and a Half. Hyperbole and a Half is a web comic, and it’s…well, there are a couple I’ve read repeatedly, and each time, by the end I’m crying with laughter. The artwork is crude but amazingly deft—those little stick figures have real emotion and reaction in their triangular faces—but it’s her stories that are the gems. She mostly relates scenes from her childhood, dipping into how her childlike brain interpreted a situation and made decisions, but told with an adult’s perspective. Does that make any sense? I don’t know! All I know is that in November, I went back to the very first page of the Hyperbole and a Half blog, and I read it all the way through to the present. (In the beginning she just tells funny stories; the cartoons come later and really are the icing on the cake.) My personal favorites are “This is Why I’ll Never Be an Adult,” “The Party,” and “The Year Kenny Loggins Ruined Christmas”. Paaaarp!

Ashes and Light, Karen L. McKee. I had the privilege of copyediting this book, which was fantastic because it’s something I might never have picked up otherwise (except maybe for the fact that the author is a writer-friend). A romantic suspense set in modern Afghanistan? Really? NY publishing just wasn’t ready for that (she got great “we love it but the subject matter scares us”-type rejections), and that’s NY publishing’s loss. Also, McKee knows her stuff—she’s a world traveler and has visited Afghanistan. Romantic, suspenseful, and in an unusual and exotic location. Yum. 

Jukebox stories, Dean Wesley Smith. Over the years, Smith has written and published a number of stories set in the same bar with the same basic premise that’s explained at the very beginning of each story (so, this is not a spoiler, ‘kay?): There’s a jukebox that has the ability to send a listener back in time to when a particular song had meaning for him. And when he’s back there, he has the length of the song to change things if he chooses. We all have a moment we regret, right? Or a moment we look back on and say, at the very least, what if I’d done X instead of Y? Smith explores this idea in each story, often to heart-wrenching results. Some characters chose to change the past, for better or worse; others don’t. I’ve been wanting to read these for years, and Smith is now publishing them online. Each week he’s publishing a free story on his website (some Jukebox stories, some not), so keep an eye there; you can also buy the rest of them as e-books via the usual venues (Amazon, B&N, Smashwords, etc.). Also, here’s a link to an e-book of a collection of five of the stories. I suspect he'll have a paperback of them out soon!

Pretty!

Here's the cover for More Scary Kisses, a paranormal romance anthology that will contain my story "Matchmaker" (the one I wrote years ago that went to a bazillion markets before getting accepted by this one!). Isn't it pretty?!

More Scary Kisses will be released in April 2011. Squee!

Present to myself

When my maternal grandmother passed away (back when I was in high school), my mother put her money into a trust, and every year my sisters and I get a Christmas check from Grandma L. She loved giving gifts (oh, the enormous box that would arrive every Christmas!) and this is a glorious way of remembering her.

The rule is that we’re supposed to use the money for ourselves—not for the household, not as a gift to anyone else, etc. (In other words, buying groceries is not okay, but going to for romantic dinner with the husband would be just fine.)

I haven’t officially used my gift in the past few years, because I could never decide what I wanted. Then, at Thanksgiving, Ken commented, “We really need more light in the living room. We should buy lamps.”

And I said (not really gritting my teeth…much), “Absolutely. You mean, like, the lamps I’ve had on my wish list for years?”

As it turned out, those lamps were on sale, and I’ll take a picture of them gracing our living room soon. (Along with the new curtains, which are perfect!)

But this post isn’t about them. This post is about what I did with this year’s money:

A picture is worth a thousand words, right? So I shall say no more.

Because I have to go practice!

Keeping breathing...

So, as I said to a few friends privately, I feel as though I can breathe again. The family member who is ill has made great strides…it will be a long road, but much of the fear is gone. Yes, it’s a cliché, but it does feel like a weight has lifted.

When you’re worried about someone in the hospital, it consumes you. It’s hard to let go, to think about other things; normal routines seem pointless and difficult. Feeling happiness feels like a betrayal. When you work in a creative field, it’s even harder: You struggle with whether what you’re doing is important or necessary or worthwhile, and gods, it’s so hard to be creative when you’re worried or scared or consumed.

I don’t think I was even aware of the fog ‘til it lifted. I’m sort of stunned by how bright the world is again. And I can really look forward to the things I’m looking forward to:

• Ken’s coming home! I’ll have another session of getting crazy amounts of work done at the airport while waiting for him (so I don’t have to drive there in the dark) on Tuesday, and then he’ll be home!
• Five—count ‘em, five!—Styx shows in a row, starting next week! And for four of them, we’re road-tripping with my friend Sara from Arizona. She’s flying in for show to, and the adventure will culminate in Arizona with the last show.
• A trip to LACMA to see their Fashioning Fashion exhibit.
• Anwyn’s coming to visit!  ::squeebouncity!::
• Nanci & Lenny’s annual awesome Superbowl party. I go for the friends, not for the game (as every year, I have no clue who’s even playing).
• Flying back to GA to visit family—this time, a much more positive and hopeful trip!
• Seeing Dennis De Young perform—it’s been way too long.
• Road-tripping to Oregon with Ken: We’re hauling the two old bikes up there for him and his buddy Ernie to get into selling condition, and I’m going to an Oregon Coast Writers workshop. Four of us ladies are sharing a room, and there will be a major gab-fest the night before the workshop starts!
• Then in March, two more Gowan shows! And this time, Ken’s coming, too! And Nanci and Helen again, and we will meet up with lots of other Gowan fans, and lo, Niagara Falls will never be the same.

Meanwhile, I have a slew of things to do before that Styxgian road trip… Back to work!

Filling the soul, or, a request for a bookplate

So, recently I received a lovely e-mail from someone I guess I should call a fan: She read and enjoyed “Lost and Found” in Lesbian Lust, and wanted to know if I had any signed bookplates.

Here’s the thing. We writers write in a vacuum. We hunch over our computers and sometimes the words flow and other times they’re chiseled out by one-armed dwarves wielding rusty pick-axes. We do the best we can, and when we’re done with our art, it becomes our product, and we fire it out into the world and hope it sells, because that’s what pays the bills.

We also hope that someone reads it, and that some of those people who read it kinda like it.

If someone actually writes a positive review, or asks for an autograph, etc? That just about sends us over the moon. Really. Honest. Wow. That’s what fills the soul.

Anyway, I didn’t have any bookplates. Hadn’t even considered they might be necessary. I went online and found a slew of ones I couldn’t afford (in terms of, I don’t need 500 of them at this time, but when I do, I assume I’ll be able to afford them!), and then I found erinshelby.etsy.com and picked up some lovely affordable customizable ones.

If anyone else wants a signed bookplate (i.e., you’re not local and can’t hand me a book), just let me know and I’ll fire one off to you. That is, if you want an Andrea Dale autograph. I’m still sorting out all the other pseudonyms! (But if you do want a different pseudonym, still let me know, so I know there’s a need for those bookplates!)

Wow.

Lo, some things are spiffy indeed

Despite the chaos I see everywhere and the lists of things to do I have (yes, I have multiple To Do lists…doesn’t everyone?), I feel like I’m slowly chipping away at the mountains and actually accomplishing something.

Still, I’m overdue at mentioning several very spiffy things!

First, Alison Tyler, who’s bought a number of my stories and is an author and editor who just amazes me (she has so much energy!), listed my story “The Queen of Christmas” as one of her favorites when it comes to, as she puts it, “happy porn.” I have to admit, the story makes me giggle every time I re-read it. So, thank you, Alison!

(If you want to read “The Queen of Christmas,” is available as an e-book from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords, as well as in the Alison-edited anthology Naughty or Nice: Christmas Erotica Stories. Oh, and if you like it? Please leave a review…kthnxbai.)

Second, let me direct you to this fabby review of Orgasmic: Erotica for Women, in which I have two stories, one as Andrea Dale and one as Kendra Wayne. Although neither of my stories is given a shout-out, I’m dead chuffed by the positive review of the anthology overall, because it is, in fact, a great one!

Third, I have spaghetti sauce in the slow cooker, veggies prepped for stir-fry tonight (the aforementioned sauce is for future meals/freezing), all the dishes are done, and Eostre and I had a nice long scritchies-and-purring session. Now I’m off to clean the sewing room and finish up a few projects in there. Later, I plan to finish and short story and get some copyediting done. :-)

In Her Hands - first chapter available

To start off the new year with a bang, the scrumptuous folks at Soul's Road Press have posted the first chapter of my short spicy romance novel (written as Andrea Dale), In Her Hands, for all and sundry to read! Absolutely free!

Sarabeth Delany’s fantasies come to life when she meets male model Michael Steele—the inspiration for her erotic sculptures. They bond over a discussion of art and passion…which leads to steamy nights with blindfolds and erotic photo sessions.

Michael appreciates the advantages modeling has given him, but he’d really rather be behind the camera. He longs for a woman who’ll love him for who he is, not his fame. When he finds out about Sarabeth’s sculptures, will it mean the end of their affair…and her career?

Sarabeth' fantasies come alive when she meets model Michael, the inspiration for her erotic sculptures. Their discussion about art and passion leads to steamy nights with blindfolds and erotic photo shoots. Michael would rather be behind the camera. He longs for a woman who doesn't care about his fame. When he finds out about the sculptures, will it mean the end of their affair…and her career?

“In Her Hands” was a top-10 finalist in the Brava Novella Contest.

Go here to read it...and enjoy!  :-)

"The Tale of the Tigress" now available as an e-book

In exchange for his brother’s life, a young man strikes a bargain with Budhi Pallien, goddess of the forest…and the Kama Sutra position of the Tigress was born. “Pain and pleasure twine hand in hand, and if you open yourself to the possibilities, you may find your passion to be as strong as a goddess’s.”

“The Tale of the Tigress” originally appeared in The Mammoth Book of the Kama Sutra (Running Press, 2008).

Buy it for your Kindle

Buy it for your B&N Nook

Buy it in a variety of formats on Smashwords

Yesterday was something of a bust. First I had an acupuncture treatment, which really just focused on my ankle (and the swelling went way down, wooh!) and my ear (no change, really, but as it turned out I didn’t have an infection, I’m not surprised). Then my acupuncturist basically cut me loose, because I haven’t had a hot flash since the beginning of December. Also wooh!

Then I dashed home and took our tenant out to lunch at Fresh and Fabulous for her birthday, where I nommed on a turkey/avocado/bacon/pesto mayo on whole grain bread, and drank my happy way through nearly an entire pot of Queen Victoria tea. We talked about e-publishing and they brought her a cupcake with a candle in it and sang Happy Birthday to her, yay.

After I got home, I did a few quick things, then threw up my hands in defeat and went to the Urgicare place. They didn’t have any appointments until Monday, and there was no way I was waiting that long, so in I went to wait. But I’m reading a very good book (Kate Morton’s The Distant Hours), so sitting there for a couple hours wasn’t entirely a hardship. The good news was that I don’t have an ear infection; they irrigated my ear, leaving me dizzy and cold but wax-free and hearing better in my left ear than my right. I do have to take some mild antibiotics because irrigation can irritate the eardrum and thus an infection can crop up, but I can live with that.

But after that, it was home and drinking my protein shake and talking to Ken and talking to my sister and making a big salad for dinner and then eating it and then watering the cats with Morgana, and after all that it was very late and I was tired, and I accepted that it was a Day Off and I should just go to bed because I was pretty sure Grimoire has a urinary tract infection and I wanted to get up early and make a vet appt for him.

At which point I discovered the Law & Order: SVU I’d recorded was a two-fer, and my 40 minutes of TV turned into twice that length. Sucked in again. Argh.

I still got up relatively early today, but Grimoire’s appt isn’t until this afternoon (I then had to move my hair appt to Saturday), so I have a little time now before my boot camp session to get some copy editing done. And after boot camp and showering and lunch, I need to decide whether I should run errands (which includes buying ink so I can print the synopsis and cover letter for What Beck’ning Ghost so I can get it in the mail to the editor who requested the full ms), or write. Because after taking Grimoire to the vet, I have to deal with dinner (no idea what that will be, although another errand is the grocery store to buy the makings for spaghetti sauce in the slow cooker) and then there’s the Shire meeting.

I am so sleeping in tomorrow.

Now, though…copyediting.

Return to Wildwood now available as an e-book

The ancestral mansion and lands Julia inherits from her aunts comes with a price: regular tribute to the lord of the forest in exchange for his protection. The Green Man regains his power when Julia freely submits to him, finding true ecstasy in the pleasure and pain. When a shady developer threatens Julia, her guardian spirit saves her, and her gratitude comes in the form of the perverse rituals she’s grown to crave.

“In Andrea Dale’s ‘Return to Wildwood,’ Julia inherits the ancestral home along with its mysteries: ‘Every mistress of Wildwood has kept to the rituals.’ There’s a villain making her an offer she can’t refuse and a woodland guardian spirit offering protection in return for submission both painful and ecstatic… ”
– Gary Switch, www.sensuoussadie.com

Buy it for Kindle

Buy it for the B&N Nook

Buy it in a variety of formats at Smashwords

Paranormal sale to a very cool market!

I know, I know, I’m always delighted and chuffed and thrilled by sales. But honestly, some have more squee value than others. This is one of those.

I wrote “Matchmaker” back in 1999. I thought it was a short, cute little fantasy. Now, 11 years and 38 submissions later, I’ve sold it—to an anthology looking for paranormal romance. Yes, I’m stubborn!

“Matchmaker” will appear in More Scary Kisses (although the story’s not scary at all  ;-)  ), edited by Liz Grzyb, from Ticonderoga Press in Australia.

Here’s the TOC and info:

Heather Albano - "The Dark Season"

Annette Backshall - "Hunting Rabbits"

Liz Coley - "Marriage of Convenience"

Dayle A. Dermatis - "Matchmaker"

Roxanne Dent - "Miss Luella's Magic Shop"

Felicity Dowker - "Berries & Incense"

Donna Maree Hanson - "Phantom Love"

Martin Livings & Talie Helene - "The Last Gig of Jimmy Rucker"

Kirstyn McDermott - "Frostbitten"

Nicole R. Murphy - "The Protector's Last Mission"

Jason Nahrung - "Resurrection in Red"

Amanda Pillar - "Philomena and the Blond God"

Carol Ryles - "Snake Charmer"

Fraser Sherman - "Sword of Darcy"

Eric Steele - "3am"

Frank Summers - "Dances with Werewolves"

DC White - "The Dark Night of Anton Weiss"

Seventeen stories from some of Australia's brightest talents, complemented by fantastic tales from the US and UK.

More Scary Kisses promises vampires, aliens, fairytale princesses, parallel universes, voodoo, werewolves, wizards, phantoms, dryads and cherubim.

More Scary Kisses will be launched in April 2011.

Squee!

20% off all Cleis Press titles!

Still catching up…. I'm sorry for all these writing-related/promo posts, but honestly, life is stressful right now and it's not stuff I'm comfortable sharing with the world. I hope you all put up with me for a bit longer!  :-)

Anyway. Some of you are still buying holiday gifts, right? And everyone loves a sale, right? Well, have I got a sale for you!

Cleis Press, purveyor of many fine anthologies of the sexy variety (as well as other books) is having a 20% off sale this whole month! Here's your chance to pick up all those anthologies I have stories in that you haven't gotten around to buying! Just enter special offer code GG on your web order to receive your discount.

In fact, here's a list of Cleis Press anthologies that contain stories written by me as Andrea Dale or Sophie Mouette (with Teresa) or Kendra Wayne. Or some combination thereof.

Orgasmic: Erotica for Women

Lesbian Lust: Erotic Stories

Best Lesbian Romance 2011

Fast Girls: Erotica for Women

Fairy Tale Lust: Erotic Fantasies for Women

Best Bondage Erotica 2011

Sweet Love: Erotic Fantasies for Couples

The Sweetest Kiss: Ravishing Vampire Erotica

Lesbian Cowboys: Erotic Adventures

Best Lesbian Romance 2010

Bottoms Up: Spanking Good Stories

Peep Show: Tales of Voyeurs and Exhibitionists

Caught Looking: Erotic Tales of Voyeurs and Exhibitionists

Where the Girls Are: Urban Lesbian Erotica

Playing With Fire: Taboo Erotica

Do Not Disturb: Hotel Sex Stories

Afternoon Delight: Erotica for Couples

Frenzy

Rubber Sex

Dirty Girls

Naughty or Nice

Best Lesbian Love Stories: Summer Flings

Best Lesbian Romance 2009

Hide and Seek

Crossdressing: Erotic Stories

Got a Minute? 60 Second Erotica

C is for Co-Eds

She's on Top

He's on Top

H is for Hardcore

Best Women's Erotica 2007

Remember, if you already have these, you can always buy a copy for a beloved friend! Who doesn't love to find their stockings stuffed with...books!

I gotta have it! Don't you?

Here's the final TOC and introduction to the exciting and (I confidently predict!) steamy Gotta Have It: 69 Stories of Sudden Sex, containing my show tunes story "Wasn't It Good?" and (I confidently predict!) scintillating short tales from a slew of stellar writers.

There's a brief blog about the book, too, with everyone's bios. (I always try to say something in my bio that relates to my story, and then I promptly forget what I wrote, so it was fun to look at my bio and giggle because it was a good one!)

Introduction: Short, Sweet and Totally Sexy 

Seven-Letter Word Heather Lin
No Blame, No Shame Jeremy Edwards Wasn’t It Good? Andrea Dale <-- hey, that's me!
The Things a Woman Will Make a Man Do for Her Isabelle Gray
Special Collections Fiona Curtis
Wonderland Madeline Elayne
Red Light Angela Caperton
My Femme Evan Mora
Genesis Shanna Germain
Serious Moonlight Michael A. Gonzales
Too Wondrous to Measure Salome Wilde
Hors d’Oeuvre Stan Kent
Missed Connection Tigress Healy
Ties That Bind Daniel Burnell
Eat Me Marina Saint
Jarret Shane Allison
Lucky Number Fifty-One Jennifer PetersLaissez Les Bons Temps Rouler Tara Young
Spunk Sylvia Lowry
Time Cecilia Tan
Dining in the Dark Elizabeth Daniels
Downpour Elle
Need-Leash Mike Kimera
Crushed Satin Organza Carmel Lockyer
Not on the Mouth Cole Riley
Hot Buns on a Sunday Afternoon Erica Rivera
Feel the Burn Thomas S. Roche
Trixie Jen Cross
Police Dogging Elizabeth Coldwell
Tip Me Kiki deLovely
Marxist Theory Elizabeth Hyder
The Dirty Things She Says Sinclair Sexsmith
Laughter in Hades Teresa Noelle Roberts
The Quick Stop Shashauna P. Thomas
Pain Surfer Cate Ellink
After Ten Years Christen Clifford
Over His Shoulder Maximillian Lagos
Manners Rachel Kramer Bussel
Veronica’s Ass Matt Conklin
Punishment Befitting the Crime D. L. King
Lies Kristina Wright
A Forced Witness Vampirique Dezire
Consensus Denise Hoffner
Don’t Struggle Valerie Alexander
Plotter Monocle
Intercept Burton Lawrence
Not a Bang, but a Whimper Jacqueline Applebee
Suggestion Emerald
Hands Free Effie Merryl
Remembering the Wrinkles Penelope Friday
Leaves Elise Hepner
The Copilot Mike Bruno
Pierced Kirsty Logan
Last-Time Lesbian Geneva King
Anal-yzed Donna George Storey
Independence Day Kate Pearce
Going Bald Craig J. Sorensen
Continuing Education Anya Levin
Meet Me in the Kitchen Giselle Renarde
Over the Line Helia Brookes
Not Just a Myth Heidi Champa
Hunger Maria See
The Tipping Point Lolita Lopez
The Advantage of Working from Home Kay Jaybee
For Dessert Jordana Winters
Good Neighbors Mercy Loomis
Laugh Sommer Marsden
A Good Stiff One Kathleen Bradean
Vacation Pictures Robert Peregrine  

Introduction: Short, Sweet and Totally Sexy

Everyone needs a break from his or her everyday life sometimes, and what better way to escape than with a short story that gets right to the point? The authors of the sixty-nine stories you hold in your hand understand exactly how to pique your interest and get you off , and they do it all in 1,200 words or less. You don’t need long to get drawn into the drama, tension and lust.  

I received close to three hundred submissions for this collection, more than I ever have before, and I think that’s because no one, writer or reader alike, can resist a short story that seduces instantaneously. These stories aren’t all about quickie sex, though there’s plenty of that. There are strangers who meet and know right away they must have each other, neighbors, travel mates, coworkers and long-term couples such as those in “After Ten Years” and “Remembering the Wrinkles” who are looking for ways to hold on to that spark. There are stories of sex in libraries, vacation sex and lots of outdoor sex—in the rain, in the street, all over. There are lovers with pecan rolls dripping in caramel, and meals where lovers feast on nothing but each other. There are even a few stories with no actual sex in them at allæyou’ll have to hunt those down and see why anticipation can be the sexiest act of all. 

There’s humor, kink, flirtation, Godzilla, missed connections, sex toys, and one very bold census taker. But I don’t want to take up too much of your time that could be better spent getting intimately acquainted with these short but incredibly sexy stories. I hope you will savor them, read them aloud and return to your favorites again and again. Because all of us have a few minutes set aside for a quickie, don’t we?

Rachel Kramer Bussel
New York City

Part of the best

I’m terribly behind on everything due to the fact that I’ve been away from home on a family emergency, but I have a few minutes to deal with peripheral work things and wanted to point ya’ll towards this.

The Violet Blue, who once included me in a list of “legendary erotica heavy-hitters” recently posted her annual Hot Sex Book Gift Guide 2010, and I’m thrilled to be included in two of the anthologies she recommends:

Fairy Tale Lust: Erotic Fantasies for Women (edited by Kristina Wright). “Think “Wicked” comes of age. Skilled authors craft eerie, hot, romantic and pivotal erotic encounters within classic fairy tales. Very fun.” This contains my story "How the Little Mermaid Got Her Tail Back" (written as Andrea Dale) and many other really great stories!

Best Bondage Erotica 2011 (edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel). “Superb writers with a range of stories on tying and getting tied up, restraint, and power exchange.” Interestingly, this contains a reprint of "How the Little Mermaid Got Her Tail Back"! The book's sitting on my desk at home, awaiting my return…

(Violet’s site is NSFW. Delicious, so don’t go there if your boss is looking over your shoulder. Anthology links are to the books at Amazon.com. Editor links are reasonably safe.)

Lots of my stories now available online!

I’m delighted to announce a new, exciting phase of my writing career: I’ve partnered with a small publisher to sell my previously print-published stories (and a few new stories, and maybe even a novel or two) as e-books!

The smashing folks at Soul’s Road Press have been hard at work getting some of my Yule/Solstice/winter-themed erotica available in time for the season. In fact, they even got a Halloween-themed story up in time for that holiday, but I was too busy to promo it!

The stories are available in a variety of formats for a variety of e-readers (or just for reading on your computer): Kindle, Nook, .pdf, you name it.

I’m especially chuffed about having my short novel (novella-length, for those of you who get that term) In Her Hands up and available for sale. Erotic romance In Her Hands was a top-10 finalist in the Brava Novella Contest a few years back, and in fact two different publishers were interested in buying it (in the end we couldn’t agree on a contract). But the thing is, I love this story, and everyone who’s read it (first readers, contest judges, editors) have also loved it. I hope my readers love it, too!

Sarabeth Delany’s fantasies come to life when she meets male model Michael Steele—the inspiration for her erotic sculptures. They bond over a discussion of art and passion…which leads to steamy nights with blindfolds and erotic photo sessions.

Michael appreciates the advantages modeling has given him, but he’d really rather be behind the camera. He longs for a woman who’ll love him for who he is, not his fame. When he finds out about Sarabeth’s sculptures, will it mean the end of their affair…and her career?

Secondary characters Brad (Michael’s best friend) and Anya (Sarabeth’s best friend) are crying out for their own love stories to be told. They’re not going to end up together, though: Brad’s going to be smitten by a torch singer named Genny, and Anya, a voice actress, is destined to fall for a voice actor just from talking to him…before she ever meets him face-to-face.

"In Her Hands" for Kindle

"In Her Hands" for Nook

"In Her Hands" at Smashwords (variety of formats)

If In Her Hands sells well as an e-book, I’m definitely going to write Brad and Anya’s tales, and then package all three together as a print book. Fingers crossed!

Meanwhile, you can also buy the following erotica stories, all also written as Andrea Dale:

“Redemption”

“Peppermint Stick”

“The Witch of Venice”

“The Queen of Christmas”

“Frozen”

And one (so far) sweet romance, “The Best Catch,” written as Andrea Loewen.

Moving forward, I’ll try to be better about announcing when new stories are available. But if I’m busy writing, you can also check out Soul’s Road Press and see what new stories they’re offering!

Free fiction! One day only!

Want to read some free fiction by Teresa and me (writing as Sophie Mouette)? Well, here’s your chance! Our story “Pow! Bash! Yes, Yes!” is part of Circlet Press’s Erotic Advent this year!

But hurry, because our story is up for one day only! If you miss it, the only place you can read the story is in the e-anthology Like a Mask Removed: Erotic Tales of Supervillains!