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Lisabet Sarai

Erotic Lure Newsletter: Summer 2015 Edition

by | July 3, 2015 | | 2 Comments

From Erotica Readers & Writers Association
By Lisabet Sarai
_______

Dear Summer Sybarites,

What is it about summer and sex? They seem to go together like red wine and sharp cheddar, strawberries and whipped cream, whips and chains… Maybe it’s because of the minimalist clothing. Nothing sets my pulse racing like a tanned, naked shoulder or a bared midriff. Perhaps it’s the vacation vibe, the prospect of a holiday from the demands of the working world. A lazy afternoon in the hammock – a frolic in the surf – a balmy night on a grassy hill, under the blazing stars. Preferably with company, of course!

Whatever the reason, ERWA is here to make the season sexier than ever. Our Summer Edition is blooming with sensual delights, from incendiary fiction to uncensored films, carefully selected to enhance your personal pleasure.

In the Erotica Gallery we have a new crop of Awesome Authors, each of whom has contributed an erotic story or chapter to tantalize and arouse you. Whatever your preference for pairings, M/f, m/F, F/F or M/M, there’s something to satisfy your desires. Authors from our Storytime list add to the mix, with tales in every mood: humorous, desperate, nostalgic, fantastic. You’ll also find a brace of delicious poems to set you dreaming.

Send your imagination on vacation:
https://erotica-readers.com/story-gallery

If you’re worried about getting sand in your mobile device (I would be), we’ve got lots of  Books for Sensual Readers to spice up your time at the beach. The amazing Alison Tyler has two new erotic anthologies out, JUST FOR HER and JUST FOR HIM. Torquere Press has released MYTHOLOGICALLY TORQUED VOlUME 1, a massive collection of erotic tales with mythological themes which features not just the classical Olympians but also gods from Norse, Japanese and other mythological traditions. If you’re brave enough to venture closer to the edge, check out outrageous GONZO COLLECTION by Daddy X.

A.N. Roquelaure (Anne Rice) has released another book in her classic “Beauty” BDSM series, BEAUTY’S KINGDOM. THE INHERITOR by Laura Antoniou is a new tale set in her Marketplace universe. PLAYING DIRTY by C.L. Parker offers a steamy erotic romance full of nasty business tricks. Fans of gay fiction won’t want to miss James Lear’s latest Dan Stagg novel, STRAIGHT UP, set in the ultra-masculine world of Marines and Special Ops forces. And I’m adding at least one new title to my multi-page TBR list: ME AND MY BOI, edited by Sacchi Green. I’ve never been disappointed by one of Sacchi’s books.

Summer’s a time to be self-indulgent. If you feel the urge to purchase any of these volumes, or the dozens of others featured in our Books for Sensual Readers pages, please remember to use the affiliate links on our site. It doesn’t cost you anything, but it helps keep the Erotica Readers & Writers Association alive and writhing.

Beach reading was never hotter:
https://erotica-readers.com/books/

What about those of us who are creating all those books? The erotica market is growing, and so is our list of submission calls and publisher’s guides in Authors Resources. New this week in are two anthology calls from House of Erotica, a call for speculative erotic stories to be podcast (for pay) and two new imprints, Sinful Press and Pride Publishing. The latter is a just-opened outlet for all types of GLBTQI fiction, part of the Totally Entwined publishing group.

Check the authors page frequently. We update it whenever we receive information about new publishing opportunities. And while you’re there, why not browse the archives of craft articles from old editions of ERWA? You’ll find great advice and thought provoking commentary from veteran authors. The archives also include book reviews, sex toy reviews, and opinion pieces from the legendary Smutter’s Lounge. You could spend many productive and enjoyable hours in the archives.

Grow your writing career this summer:
https://erotica-readers.com/erotica-authors-resources/

But maybe “productive” is not what you want to be this season. In that case, you might want to explore the Sex Toy Playground. This edition shines the spotlight on our partner Adam & Eve, one of the oldest and most respected adult emporia in the business. Did you know that A&E donates 20% of the profits to charity? Why not do a good deed by purchasing some of the delightful gadgets showcased in the Sex Toy Scuttlebutt column?

And while you’re wandering around in the Playground, sample some of our past “how-to” articles. Anal sex? Spanking? Ben Wa balls? If you’ve got a question, our experts may very well have the answer.

Play with yourself – or others:
https://erotica-readers.com/sex-toy-playground/

When you’re bored with the toys (if that ever happens…), make our Adult Movies section your next stop. This month’s featured flicks include “Screwing Wall Street”, starring real life stock-broker-turned-porn-star Veronica Vain. Stormy Daniels directs “When It Comes To You”, a couples-oriented tale about a woman torn between two men. Sound like too much plot? Check out “Massive Curves” or “Threesome Fantasies Fulfilled Volume 5”. (I suspect volumes 1 through 4 are also available…) And I’m drooling over the digitally remastered classic “Maraschino Cherry”, directed by erotic master Henry Paris (otherwise known as Radley Metzger). As I may have mentioned in the past, I think Metzger’s brilliant. Too bad my birthday is six months away!

You don’t have to wait, though. Adult DVD Empire, SmutNetwork, Adam & Eve, Lesbian VOD, Gay DVD Empire – we’ve got links to all the best porn sources, and every purchase you make helps support the best sex-oriented site on the Web. (That would be ERWA, of course!)

Indulge in some visual stimulation:
https://erotica-readers.com/adult-movies/

Inside the Erotic Mind, the topic is private masturbation when you’re in a relationship. Is it okay to pleasure yourself, even when you’re having plenty of great sex with your partner? I found this discussion fascinating. To share your own thoughts and experiences, just click on the Participate link.

Meet kindred spirits inside the erotic mind:
https://erotica-readers.com/inside-the-erotic-mind/

This edition of the Erotic Lure is sponsored by Adam & Eve. The largest provider of adult products in the United States, A&E believes that your sex life should be as limitless as your desires. Every product they offer is backed by decades of experience, superior customer service, risk free shopping, and a passion for helping their customers explore sex in a positive way.

Before I sign off, I’d like to ask a favor. I’m running a reader survey, from now until July 25th. Could you take a few minutes to complete it? Every person who finishes the questionnaire will receive a coupon for a free erotic romance book. In addition, I’m giving away a $50 bookstore gift certificate to one lucky respondent.

The survey is here:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/JGNFVY8

Alas, all good things must come to an end, including this newsletter. I hope your summer is an endless adventure filled with pleasure.

Heatedly yours,
Lisabet
_________

Visit Lisabet Sarai’s Fantasy Factory
Check out Lisabet’s blog
Join Lisabet’s List

Write, learn, and play on ERWA. Details at:
erotica-readers.local/erwa-email-discussion-list

Erotic Lure Newsletter: Spring 2015 Edition

by | April 1, 2015 | | 0 Comments

From Erotica Readers & Writers Association
By Lisabet Sarai
_______

Dear Paragons of the Prurient and Perverse,

Welcome to the Spring issue of Erotic Lure, the newsletter of the Erotica Readers & Writers Association. As the days lengthen, the trees blossom, the sap runs and the natural world explodes into lusty life…we’re doing the same. The new edition of the ERWA website is guaranteed to get your juices flowing, with the sassiest, sexiest and most sophisticated adult content out there in cyberspace.

Our Erotica Gallery will have you slick and swollen in no time. Enjoy our amazingly diverse fiction selected from the Storytime list: a hooker who offers “the girlfriend experience without the girlfriend”; the sexual experience of a man in coma; a fantasy that explains why Henry Thoreau built his cabin next to Walden Pond; a searing tale of corruption and sexual favors guaranteed to make you squirm. And that’s just the start. This edition of ERWA introduces our new Awesome Authors feature. Read short stories or full chapters by some of today’s top erotica authors — all for free! The line-up this edition includes erotic heavyweights like Alison Tyler, Janine Ashbless and…well, go see for yourself!

Let our authors turn you on:
erotica-readers.local/story-gallery

Find more arousing tales in our Books for Sensual Readers section. Just the cover of Violet Blue’s new anthology PICTURE ME NAKED will set your pulse racing. We’ve got the very best for you in every sub-genre: BEST EROTIC ROMANCE 2015 (edited by Kristina Wright), BEST BONDAGE EROTICA 2015 (Rachel Kramer Bussel), BEST SEX WRITING (Jon Pressick), BOMBSHELLS AND BUTCHES: BEST LESBIAN EROTICA (Kathleen Warnock) — and that’s just the books with “best” in their titles. If you’re on the prowl for a novel, check out S.L. Jennings’ provocative TAINT, about a sexual sophisticate who “turns housewives into whores”, or my steamy new paranormal erotic romance THE EYES OF BAST. You’ll find great GLBTQ titles, too, including Neil Plakcy’s anthology of gay romance TAKE THIS MAN and Berengaria Brown’s LESBIAN LOVERS. Meanwhile, if you’re seeking something more explicitly educational, browse our sexy sex ed section. We have the ultimate guides to everything from sex after fifty to prostate pleasure. After all, no matter how good you are in bed, you can always learn new tricks!

As you browse (and fantasize), remember that it’s your purchases via our affiliate links that keep ERWA alive and kicking. If you just can’t control your impulses (and why should you?), please use our links to satisfy them!

Find pleasure between the covers:
erotica-readers.local/books

Speaking of covers, if you’d like to see YOUR name on one, spend some time exploring our Authors Resources pages. ERWA has the web’s most extensive listing of market opportunities for erotic authors. The Author pages are also your gateway to our extensive archives of craft-related articles (www.erotica-readers.local/insider-tips/) and a useful directory to services and resources for authors (www.erotica-readers.local/links/writers-resources/).

This month’s listings include new publisher Love Slave, the “Rough Edges” anthology of American western tales, and two lesbian calls, from legendary editors Cheyenne Blue and Sacchi Green. The listings are updated whenever we receive something new; incoming calls are also added to the ERWA blog, erotica-readers.blogspot.com, where you’ll find more great posts on writing.

You can’t claim there’s no market for erotica!
erotica-readers.local/erotica-authors-resources

No edition of Erotic Lure would be complete without a quick trip to our Adult Movies section. Featured this month is “Marriage 2.0”, a creative, sensitive and sexy look at a couple in an open relationship. Balancing love and novelty, adventure and commitment, is a tricky task. You’ll enjoy watching this couple rise to the challenge.

Also of note is Brad Armstrong’s latest, “Holly…Would”, starring the stunning Asa Akira as a high end madame. Looks luscious! And for those of you who find plot just gets in the way, I recommend “Student Nurses”. Their uniforms say it all!

Get visual:
erotica-readers.local/adult-movies

What the natural accompaniment for adult movies? No, not popcorn! I’m talking about sex toys. As usual, the Sex Toy Playground keeps you well-informed on the latest erotic implements, neatly summarized in our Sex Toy Scuttlebutt column. This month we also have an article entitled “The Good Vibrations Story”. Did you know they’ve been bringing you pleasure since 1977? Back then, I barely knew what a sex toy was. (Live and learn, I always say!)

Come play!
erotica-readers.local/sex-toy-playground

Finally, don’t miss this month’s Inside the Erotic Mind section. The topic is cybersex, and the personal tales are just amazing. Dangerous or delightful? Entertainment or addiction? What’s your experience? Share your thoughts by clicking on Participate.

Dare to venture inside the erotic mind:
erotica-readers.local/inside-the-erotic-mind

This edition of Erotic Lure is sponsored by Torquere Press. Torquere, the first GLBT Romance epublisher, began in 2003 as a general partnership, and has grown over the last decade into a much larger organization.

While many publishers in 2003 were publishing ebooks, very few were publishing gay and lesbian romance. The mission of Torquere Press was, and is, to provide readers with great stories, and to promote gay and
lesbian romance, and all the sub-genres of romance, as a genre to be reckoned with.

That’s all for this edition. I’ve got to get back to my latest work in progress. My characters aren’t being very cooperative. I keep trying to move the plot forward, but all they want to do is have sex. (I’m not kidding…)

Wishing you a squishy Spring!

Lubriciously yours,
Lisabet
_________

Available now:
The Witches of Gloucester by Lisabet Sarai
F/F Paranormal Erotic Romance

Visit Lisabet Sarai’s Fantasy Factory
Check out Lisabet’s blog
Join Lisabet’s List

Write, learn, and play on ERWA. Details at:
erotica-readers.local/erwa-email-discussion-list

Erotic Lure Newsletter: Winter 2015 Edition

by | January 2, 2015 | | 0 Comments

From Erotica Readers & Writers Association
By Lisabet Sarai
_______

Dear Winter Wankers,

The holidays are over. The mistletoe has been taken down and the champagne bottle’s empty. My fur-trimmed red velvet corset is back in the drawer, waiting for next year. Chill, dark months loom ahead.

Good thing you have the Erotica Readers & Writers Association to warm you up!

The Winter Edition of the ERWA website is the next best thing to a luxury vacation in the tropics: steamy, exotic, sinfully self-indulgent. And it’s all free!

In the Winter Erotica Gallery, our talented authors turn up the temperature with masterfully crafted explicit fiction that will have you sweating after the first few paragraphs. Lovers, strangers and spies, fetish clubs and sex videos, swinging (in several senses) – the deliciously diverse winter Gallery stories share one common feature: every one is sizzling hot.

Unfreeze your libido:
erotica-readers.local/story-gallery

By the way: it’s our January tradition to update the ERWA Treasure Chest with the very best of the galleries from the previous year. We’re a bit late this year (overindulging in eggnog can do that!) but we promise to add the gems from 2014 by the middle of the month. Don’t worry, we’ll announce the update right here on ERWA blog.

If the Gallery’s not enough to get you through those long, cold nights, I recommend a visit to our Books for Sensual Readers section. Short story fans will want to grab a copy of Maxim Jakubowski’s MAMMOTH BOOK OF BEST NEW EROTICA 13, or perhaps BEST WOMEN’S EROTICA 2015, edited by Violet Blue. (But then again, why not get both?) And what bibliophile could resist Rose Caraway’s collection THE SEXY LIBRARIAN’S BIG BOOK OF EROTICA? For those of you who like longer works, we have lots of novels and novellas, including COVER HIM WITH DARKNESS by Janine Ashbless, a tale of lust, ancient mysteries and fallen angels, and my own BDSM erotic suspense title BANGKOK NOIR. If you’re in the mood for a sexy love story, sample Beth Carter’s menage tale ALONG CAME MERRIE or Alice Clayton’s madcap romance SCREWDRIVERED. In M/M fiction, I recommend Tempeste O’Riley’s CAGED SANCTUARY, the riveting story of a man disabled in a gay bashing attack. BEST LESBIAN EROTICA 2015 is out, edited by the legendary Laura Antoniou. And I’m planning to buy myself a copy of BLACKMAIL, MY LOVE by historian Katie Gilmartin, an illustrated LGBT murder mystery set in the queer underground of 1950’s San Francisco.

We’ve got lots more incendiary titles for you, including classics and non-fiction. You could spend hours browsing our virtual shelves. If anything catches strikes your fancy, be sure to use our affiliate links to make your purchases. Every penny you spend after following our links to Amazon or iBookstore helps to keep ERWA’s fires from going out!

Read books that burn:
erotica-readers.local/books

I know lots of my author colleagues are setting goals and making New Years resolutions right about now. For some winter inspiration, pay a visit to the ERWA Authors’ Resources section. Our calls for submissions and publishers’ guidelines list dozens of places to submit your work. We update the page frequently, whenever we get new information. Right now, new publisher Sinful Press wants your erotic novels. Website Bright Desires is seeking erotic flash fiction and stories. House of Erotica needs spy stories. Totally Bound has calls out for half a dozen different sub-genres of erotic romance. That’s just a small sample of the list.

The Author pages also include great archived content on the craft and business of writing, as well as a page of useful links to marketing services, cover artists, review sites, and much more. And while we’re on the topic of useful links, take a look at THE SELF-PUBLISHER’S ULTIMATE RESOURCE GUIDE, a new book for indie authors setting out on their own. For more insight, guidance and support for your literary ambitions, follow us here on the ERWA blog where a dozen established erotica authors post about writing, publishing, sex and society. Or (and!) join our Writers email list, for lively discussions of everything authorly from commas to condom use in sex stories. Go to www.erotica-readers.local/erwa-email-discussion-list for details on subscribing.

Let your visions scorch the pages:
erotica-readers.local/erotica-authors-resources

The weather doesn’t matter as long as you have a good collection of toys with which to amuse yourself – and your friends. In the Sex Toy Playground, we keep you au courant on the hippest, hottest new erotic equipment. In this edition, the fine folks at Good Vibrations offer sound advice in “Bondage Basics” – just the help you need to get started learning the ropes. Our regular Sex Toy Scuttlebutt column spotlights a variety of intriguing playthings, including the sleek Iroha Minamo vibrator, the Frisky Fox Tail anal plug (I want one!) and the Fleshlight Phone Strap. The latter is a device that attaches your mobile device to your thigh so you can watch arousing videos even when your hands are – um – busy. I’m rolling my eyes, but I’ll bet it sells!

Play with fire:
erotica-readers.local/sex-toy-playground

Speaking of arousing videos, no visit to the ERWA website would be complete without a stop in our Adult Movies section. Headlining this month is Brad Armstrong’s “Aftermath”, a searing tale of taboo relationships involving several members of the same family. Also of note is “Exchange Student 3”. The exquisite Anissa Kate stars as a sexy foreign student brought into a household as a decoy by a wife trying to hide her infidelity. On the topic of spouses, don’t miss “I Love My Hot Wife”, tales of a guy who watches his wife get fucked by other men. In the porn classics department, we feature “Tout Est Permis” (Everything Goes), a 1977 French flick about a couple pushing their sexual boundaries.

We give you convenient links after each film we list, just in case you decide you can’t live without it. Use ’em!

For those who like to watch:
erotica-readers.local/adult-movies

Inside the Erotic Mind this edition, you’ll find an extremely active discussion (five pages so far!) on the topic of losing one’s virginity that dispels some of the myths perpetrated by popular erotic romance these days. To share your own experiences of that first time, just click on the Participate link.

You can read and comment on the other discussions on the Erotic Mind page, too. They’re all nicely categorized for your convenience!

Elevate your temperature:
erotica-readers.local/inside-the-erotic-mind

The Winter Edition of ERWA is sponsored by Loose Id, a leading publisher of erotic romance. The California-based company is an acknowledged industry leader with seven years in business. It publishes between 16 and 24 titles per month by more than 200 talented authors worldwide, unleashing readers’ fantasies with a full panoply of erotic romance subgenres, ranging from BDSM capture fantasy to yaoi, and including exceptional traditional favorites, contemporary and historical.

The company promotes itself through web and print advertising wherever readers of erotic romance may be found, creating a recognizable brand identity as the place to let your id run free and the people who unleash your fantasies. It is currently pursuing licensing agreements for foreign translations, and developing a print program of 2 to 5 titles per month.

Loose Id is looking for stories that unleash the power of fantasy and the id. Send us your new twists on old favorites, both erotic and romantic. Whether it’s that hot ass cop and the speeder he pulled over, a threesome with your two best gay friends, anonymous sex with the guy you saw pumping gas, capture fantasy, sex slavery, cowboy and city slicker, secret babies, secretary and sheikh, we want stories that tap specific reader fantasies and capitalize on the chemistry between the characters.

Well, that wraps up the Winter installment of the Erotic Lure. I hope this will be enough to keep you simmering until the ERWA Spring edition. As for me – stretched out naked in front of a roaring fire on our bear skin rug, with a mug of mulled cider in one hand and my lover in the other, I’m definitely not feeling the chill!

I wish you all a happy, healthy, lusty New Year!

Intimately yours, Lisabet
—

AVAILABLE NOW! Slush: A Holiday Romance by Lisabet Sarai
Amazon: www.amazon.com/dp/B00QNMYV5O
Smashwords: www.smashwords.com/books/view/499356
Read an excerpt: http://tinyurl.com/kbm3qqq

Visit Lisabet Sarai’s Fantasy Factory
Check out Lisabet’s blog
Join Lisabet’s List

Write, learn, and play on ERWA. Details at:
erotica-readers.local/erwa-email-discussion-list

Another Revolution

by | February 21, 2013 | | 14 Comments

By Lisabet Sarai

Most people have crappy sex lives.

All right, I will admit that is an
overstatement, intended to get your attention. Furthermore, I suspect
it is less true for the readers of the ERWA blog than for the
population in general. However, the claim is not too far from the
truth. The Durex Sexual Well-being Survey for 2007-2008 found that of
nearly 19,000 sexually active adults from 26 countries, only 44%
reported that they were fully satisfied with their sex lives. 38% of
women surveyed experienced orgasm “only sometimes”, “rarely”
or “never”. Although more than 60% of all respondents reported
having sex at least weekly, the average time for foreplay plus
intercourse was less than 20 minutes. Almost half of the respondents
said they would like to engage in some sort of sexual activity other
than their current practices (though the reported interest in
specific activities such as oral sex, anal sex or BDSM tends to be
around 10% per practice – supporting the old adage about different
strokes).

The statistics above tend to confirm
what I’ve heard over the years from friends and lovers. Men feel as
though they never get the sex they need. They’re amazed and delighted
when they meet a woman who’s sexually relaxed, assertive and
experimental (like me). Women report that men are selfish or
incompetent lovers who leave them feeling frustrated and used.

Personally I’ve been extremely
fortunate. Through a combination of luck and courage, I’ve had a
wonderful sex life – exciting, diverse and enlightening. I’ve been
blessed with intelligent, sensitive, adventurous partners who weren’t
hung up on the virgin/whore dichotomy, who respected me even when I
shared – or acted on – the filthiest of my desires. I’ve tried
everything on the Durex list of “other” activities, and quite a
lot of other items not on their menu.

On the flip side, I’ve had very few
really bad sexual experiences. Of course I’ve had ho-hum sex, and
I’ve had my heart broken once or twice, but I’ve never been raped or
abused. On the occasions when I’ve ended up with a bastard in my bed,
I’ve known enough to walk away.

For me, sex has been a path not only to
pleasure but also to self-knowledge. Some of my liaisons, of course,
were no more than hot and heavy romps with few metaphysical
implications. What I remember, though, are the encounters that
changed me – experiences of communion, insights into who I was and
what I really wanted, glimpses of spirit peeking through the veil of
flesh. As C. Sanchez-Garcia wrote a few days ago, sex is more than
just instinct or entertainment. The urge to couple and connect is a
fundamental aspect of our humanity.

Because of my personal history, I tend
write erotica that focuses on good sex – joyful, fulfilling,
empowering, and transformative sex. The underlying message in much of
my work is simply that sex can be good for you – both for your body
and for your soul. I want my readers to know and believe that the
sort of experiences I describe are not just some fantasy ideal. They
too can enjoy their sexuality, not just vicariously by reading my
stories, but by being willing to reach out and grab some of that
goodness for themselves.

Earlier this month, Remittance Girl
suggested that both porn and romance are in some sense damaging to
their consumers because they “ultimately leave people constantly
yearning for a reality that cannot exist”. Although I appreciate
her point (as well as its elegant expression), sexual and emotional
happy endings do in fact exist in the real world – not
forever after, of course, but for longer than the brief moment of
climax.

My erotica frequently explores this
territory of sexual fulfillment. It’s a far more complex landscape
than one might imagine. Perhaps the critical difference between my
work and the more stereotyped instantiations of either porn or
romance is that satisfaction is never guaranteed. It is, however,
possible. I fervently want to convey that truth.

Remittance Girl notes that refusing to
definitively choose either side of the Apollonian/Dionysian dialectic
is a revolutionary act. I agree. One should not compromise truth for
neatness.

On the other hand, I personally think
that writing about good sex that ends well is also a revolutionary
act. Many forces in society broadcast the message that if you have
sex, you’ll suffer later, partly because giving in to lust can in
fact undermine the stability that is the “civilized” ideal. A
number of past posts on this blog have commented that for a book to
be categorized as “literature”, sex must be portrayed in a
negative light. Those who indulge in carnality must be punished, by
misfortune or ostracism.

Well, guess what? In the real world, it
doesn’t necessarily work that way. My own life demonstrates that
fact. Considering the way I behaved in my twenties and thirties, I
should be totally miserable – damned, ruined, ravaged by disease,
saddled with feeble illegitimate children, scorned by society.
Instead, I’m solvent, healthy, childless by choice, moderately
productive, a respected member of my community, and in a loving
relationship. Oh, and I’m still close friends with a number of my
former lovers. My mother told me I was destined for hell, and perhaps
she was right, but in the meantime, I have no complaints.

I do write darker erotica sometimes.
Some encounters are destined for tragedy. A number of my stories
conclude with the deaths of the protagonists. A woman is burned at
the stake as a witch. Star-crossed lovers commit suicide rather than
be parted. A jaded sex addict is consumed by an exquisite tentacled
monster. I have played in the interstices between Eros and Thanatos.
Even in those tales, though, there’s some sense of transcendence. On
the verge of death, there’s a weird joy that comes from surrender and
acceptance – a kind of afterglow. I don’t think any of my tales are
likely to leave you feeling depressed.

I enjoy thinking about sex, writing
about sex, dreaming about sex. I suspect this shows in my work.

If the people who read my stories come
to believe that sexual happiness is possible, I’m delighted. If they
want more for themselves – all the better. Maybe that will stir
them to try something new, to move past their fears, to be more
honest with their partners.

That would be the sort of revolution
I’d be proud to support.

Pilgrimage

by | October 21, 2012 | | 7 Comments

By Lisabet Sarai

Although I’m an American citizen, I
live in Southeast Asia. Approximately once a year, my husband and I
travel back to the United States on a trip that combines business and
pleasure. We just returned from one of these odysseys yesterday (as
my current state of grogginess attests).

Our itinerary varies somewhat from one
year to the next. In 2011 (as those of you who follow my blog might
recall) we journeyed
from Chicago to San Francisco on Amtrak’s California Zephyr and
thus had the opportunity to visit friends and family on the west
coast, but usually our perambulations are restricted to the eastern
half of the U.S. We normally fly into New York City and branch out
from there – to Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maryland,
South Carolina, or Florida. No matter where our travels take us,
however, we always spend at least twenty four hours in Manhattan, so
that we can visit what has become one of our personal shrines: the
Strand bookstore on 12th and Broadway.

The Strand is deservedly one of the
most famous bookstores in the world. Established in 1927 and still
owned by the family of the founders, it occupies a good chunk of a
city block – about 55,000 square feet – every inch crammed with
books. On our most recent pilgrimage, just a few days ago, I noticed
that they’d done away with the bag check desk that previously
occupied a spot near the front door. Clearly they’d needed that space
for more volumes.

Entering the store, I experience awe
and delight similar to what I feel in Europe’s magnificent
cathedrals. Tables crowd the front area, piled not just with the
trendiest new releases but also with themed collections: staff picks,
seasonal titles, books purporting to be the favorites of various
authors. Memoir and biography, history, religion, politics,
psychology, fantasy – the idiosyncratic groupings mix famous
authors with those who are unknown (at least to me), new books with
classics. Further back, the shelves begin, rank after rank, more than
twice as tall as I am. Barnes and Noble shelves all its books within
easy reach of the customer. At the Strand, ladders are essential.

You can wander for hours among those
shelves, revisiting old literary friends and discovering new
treasures. The discounted prices are merely icing on the cake. If you
have the energy, you can climb two flights to the second story, where
you’ll find additional shelves packed with art, photography,
architecture, children’s books, and much more. There may even be a
third floor. I’m always so overwhelmed by what’s immediately at hand
that I haven’t investigated.

My husband and I come both to browse
and to buy. We know that every purchase will increase the weight of
our luggage, but we can’t resist. This time around we picked up
(among other finds) Umberto Eco’s latest novel The Prague
Conspiracy, Haruki Murakami’s After Dark, Elizabeth
Kostova’s The Swan Thieves,
and a posthumous collection of Philip K. Dick. Although we bring our
latest to-read lists, encountering the unexpected is one of the
Strand’s joys. We keep at it as long as our aging joints allow, until
our backs and knees ache, the books are spilling from our arms, and
we wake up to the reality that we have to lug all our purchases back
to our hotel.

For
some reason, this year I particularly noticed the people working at
the Strand. Almost everyone I saw was young (but then, compared to
me, almost everyone is). Given the vertical orientation of the
environment, I suspect the job requires considerable stamina. Rarely
have I seen more distinctive and quirky individuals. I found myself
imagining their interactions, roughing out a story set among the
stacks or in the stockrooms. The towering shelves, separated by
narrow aisles, seemed a natural setting for clandestine passion.

I
realized something else on this particular visit, too. In the past,
the pleasure I took in the Strand was always tempered by a trace of
bitterness. Why weren’t my books among those displayed for customers
to explore? Why was the erotica section restricted to two brief
shelves, hidden away near the bottom of one of the tables? Envy and
frustration used to leave a sour taste in my mouth, even as I was
enjoying the fruits of my literary foraging.

This
time, those corrosive emotions were absent. I’m really not sure why.
Perhaps I’ve reached a point where I don’t need that kind of external
validation to be proud of my own writing. Perhaps I recognize that I
make as much money on my ebooks as many of the obscure print-pubbed
authors whose volumes I leaf through but then put down. Maybe I’ve
simply accepted the fact that I’m a literary outlaw, that not only is
my work not viewed as art, it’s condemned as immoral trash. I’ve
always had a fondness for outlaws.

In any
case, I found this year’s pilgrimage even more fulfilling than usual.
The Buddha taught that attachment causes suffering. Maybe by
releasing my frustrated desire for literary fame, I’ve moved closer
to enlightenment.

Heat and Craft

by | February 21, 2012 | | 21 Comments

By Lisabet Sarai

I’m starting to wonder whether craft is the enemy of heat.

My first novel poured from my imagination onto the page in a breathless rush of passion. Looking back, I remember the process as almost effortless. Nothing seemed to block the flood of fantasy. My heroine Kate was my personal proxy, indulging in ever more transgressive erotic scenarios as she explored her sexual identity. As she surrendered to her master Gregory, I was reliving and perfecting my own odyssey of submission and then moving beyond recollection to conjure the imagined scenes I never had the opportunity to try. I wrote the whole book in a peculiar state of arousal – not exactly on the edge of orgasm, but with an exaggerated appreciation of every sexual stimulus, both internal and external.

Readers of Raw Silk tend to get turned on. The book has been called “scorching”, “outrageous”, “intensely erotic”, and “explosive”. And when I reread my favorite bits now, they still make me wet.

At the same time, I cringe when I notice the many flaws in the book. My sentences seem too long and complex, overly influenced by my academic training. The dialog strikes me as unrealistic and wooden. (This was before I learned to allow my characters to use contractions when they speak!) Repeated words, phrases and sentence structures jump out at me. And I realize, with a sinking heart, that some of the interactions that have the most visceral effect on me are overworked BDSM clichés.

In the dozen years since that first publication, I’ve matured as a writer. My prose is far more polished, less flowery and more direct. My characters can converse without sounding as though they’ve been filtered through Google Translate. I have conscious control over issues I used to manage by instinct – foreshadowing, flashbacks, suspense, sexual tension, narrative flow. Originality in premise and execution have become critical concerns. When I address a theme or a subgenre, I deliberately try to find a treatment or a twist to distinguish my work from the thousands of other authors writing erotica and erotic romance.

I was an amateur back then. Now I’m a professional. All my self-conscious craft, though, seems to have smothered the spark that used to kindle my readers (and me) into vicarious flames.

It’s much more difficult now to write a truly sexy scene. There’s too much going on in my head. Instead of simply reveling in my personal perversions, I worry. Is this too stereotyped? Is this too raw for romance? Is this too tame for erotica? Haven’t I written this same thing a million times before? Sure, it pushes my buttons, but didn’t I just read more or less the same thing in someone else’s story? And what about that sentence? I used “cock” twice already – should I change it to “prick”? Have I already used a storm metaphor for orgasm in this tale?

As a result, all too often these days I seem to find myself in a state of literary paralysis. The horny flow of erotic ideas has dwindled to a trickle. Sure, occasionally inspiration will seize me and a whole story will pour out of me in a few hours. I treasure those experiences – especially since they’ve become so rare.

I know that part of the problem is hormones – or lack thereof – as I age. And how could I not have become a bit jaded? I’ve probably read a thousand erotic short stories since I turned “pro”. I admit I’m almost as critical about other authors’ work as I’ve become of my own. It’s inevitable, I suppose, that one’s first story about anal sex is going to be a good deal more exciting than the fiftieth. You’re only a virgin once.

Still, I sometimes wonder whether I should stop being concerned about craft and just write “Sucking Daddy’s Big One” or “Slave to the Cruel Professor” or “The Pirate’s Whore” – the type of books that Amazon tells me people decide to purchase after viewing my recent BDSM story collection. It’s true – the stories in that collection are more subtle, surprising and literary than Raw Silk, but they’re not as hot. I don’t know if I COULD silence the analytical voice in my head, or ignore my concerns for originality and freshness, but if it were possible, would I be able to recapture the glorious searing intensity of my early work?

I’m a snob – I know it. A while ago I read a BDSM novel for purposes of a review and was appalled by the poor quality of the writing. Glaring grammar mistakes, incorrect punctuation, inappropriate word choice, confusing and inconsistent point of view – the book broke practically every rule of craft. Meanwhile, the story trotted out all sorts of stock BDSM elements: the stern but voluptuous employer in her tailored suits and spike heels, the innocent “natural” submissive with an inexhaustible appetite for abuse, the male “assistant” called into service to train the new slave. It had bondage, spanking, flogging, suspension, butt-fucking, medical play, pseudo-Victorian costumes… I wrote a pretty scathing review, but at the same time I have to admit (as I did in the review) that some parts of the book turned me on. The awful writing ultimately did not prevent me from being aroused.

So maybe, just maybe, the craft doesn’t matter. Could that be true? I know it’s possible to produce a supremely well-written erotic story that also has the power to arouse me – some of my favorite erotic authors do it all the time. And yes, elitist that I am, I find wonderful writing exciting in its own right. Perhaps, though, that aesthetic thrill could be teased apart from my baser (and more basic) sexual reactions.

Then again, perhaps not. The aspects of BDSM that arouse me most have to do with the emotional and psychological currents flowing between the dominant and the submissive. It takes a certain skill to bring those dynamics to life. Whips, handcuffs and gags by themselves won’t do the trick, at least not for me.

Does too much craft interfere with heat? Are the two independent, addressing totally different levels in the reader’s psyche? Should I switch to writing pure porn? Could I?

I really want to know what you think.

Intimacy with Strangers

by | January 21, 2012 | | 20 Comments

By Lisabet Sarai

This post is not about one night stands. I might explore that topic some other time: the thrill of the unknown, the intoxication with the unfamiliar, the tantalizing possibility that a random encounter might lead to a world-altering epiphany. Today, however, I’m actually talking about writing.

I publish both long and short erotica and erotic romance, in ebook and in print. I have a respectable back list for someone who doesn’t write full time. However, some of my best work doesn’t show up in the publishing history on my website, namely, the erotic tales I write to spec for Custom Erotica Source.

CES offers an unusual service. For a fee, and in complete privacy, CES provides a professionally written realization of a customer’s erotic fantasy scenario. Via an online questionnaire, the customer supplies all the details: the names, genders, ages, orientations, appearance and personalities of the characters; their relationships; the plot; particular erotic stimuli to emphasize; the type of language desired (from suggestive to filthy); and so on. Then the author (in this case, yours truly) takes this specification and spins it into a story from 1500 to 5000 words long (depending on what the customer orders).

At this point, some of my author colleagues may be shaking their heads. How can I prostitute myself in this way? How can I betray my art? Why would I surrender my creative vision and allow someone else to dictate the content and style of my work?

Well, of course the money is nice. But I do it partly because writing someone else’s erotic dreams is both a fascinating and an educational experience.

When I write something in response to a call for submissions, I have a generic audience in mind. I probably understand the type of tales a particular editor prefers. I know that Total-E-Bound’s readers are looking for something different than people who buy books from Cleis, or Xcite, or Republica Press. Furthermore, the anthology theme or the focus of the CFS provides some guidance as to content and tone. Within those broad boundaries, though, I’m free to follow my imagination in any direction it leads. I know I can intrigue and arouse at least some subset of the community of readers; I really can’t hope for more.

When I write for CES, on the other hand, I have an audience of one. I know exactly what turns that audience on – because the customer has shared his or her secret desires. It’s my job to put flesh on the bones of the story specification, to make my customer’s lusts concrete and then satisfy them.

To succeed in this task, I have to somehow sync my own erotic imagination with his. I can’t write an arousing story unless I see the characters and the situation through my customer’s eyes. Somehow, I have to intuit the customer’s reactions to the stimuli described in the spec and then coax myself into the same psychological state.

That’s where the intimacy arises. I don’t have any direct communication with the customer (although I am allowed to ask questions, via the management, if I see issues in the spec). Nevertheless, he (almost all my assignments have been writing for men) and I are connected, by his act of sharing his lewd dreams and my willingness to assume them as my own.

Some fantasies I’ve received as assignments don’t appeal to me personally at all. (I’m free to refuse assignments that I might find repugnant, of course. So far that hasn’t happened.) Still, I’ve managed to turn them into tales that pleased my unknown reader. This requires a kind of suspension of my own sexual identity in order to connect with his. By the time I’m finished, I’m usually turned on by the tale, regardless of my initial reaction. If I’m not, I know I haven’t fulfilled my part of the bargain.

Executing a CES assignment requires a possibly surprising degree of craft. I must pace the story in order to include all details from the spec while still keeping it within the word limit. I have to guard against adding erotic elements that push my own buttons, but might not have the same effect on my audience. At the same time, I need to add sensual details, plausible transitions and especially, emotional authenticity. That’s my added value, as a professional author. If just anyone could write a compelling, intense sexual fantasy, I’d be out of a job.

What really makes it work for me, though, is getting inside my customer’s head. Watching one of these stories unfold is a weird feeling, but exciting, too. It’s almost as though someone were whispering naughty ideas in my ear. I may have never considered these notions before, but when I wrap my mind around them, I begin to see the appeal.

It has occurred to me that my submissive tendencies account for some of my success in writing custom fantasies. My master once called me “suggestible”, and I suspect that’s an appropriate evaluation of my personality. The fact that I’m bisexual and exceptionally broad-minded about sex probably helps, too.

My one regret about these CES stories is that nobody else will ever read them. They belong to the customers who paid for them, not to me. I can’t post them on my website. I can’t even talk about the specific fantasy scenarios involved; that would be a breach of confidentiality. They’re eternal secrets, between my customer and me.

The last assignment I handled, though, involved an outrageous, kinky, gender-bending scenario that turned me on from the moment I opened the specification file. My personal sex life became significantly more interesting while I was working on the tale, because of the fantasies it inspired. I had no problem identifying with my audience in this case. And yet writing that story was possibly more difficult than my previous assignments, because I had to stop my own imagination from hijacking the customer’s vision.

I view my tales for CES as a sort of writing exercise. They require a level of control far beyond what’s needed for a free form story written to satisfy a vague theme. I believe that they’ve helped me hone my skills as an author of erotica.

The real payoff, though, is emotional – the heady sense of power that comes from bringing my customer’s dirtiest dreams to life. At the same time, it’s a sort of ecstatic surrender, a willingness to sink into my customer’s desires.

I will never know who my readers are, and they’ll never really know me. For a short while, though, we’re as close as lovers.

Hot Chilli Erotica

Hot Chilli Erotica

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