Man Candy Wednesday

I’m off to France today, woohoo! MCM is late because I’ve been focusing on a deadline. Nailed it last night, meaning I am now allowed out of the country. Phew.

A small piece of excitement. My short story, The Lion Tamer’s Scars, is now available on an iPhone near you via the digital deliciousness that is Ether Books. The Ether Books app is free to download – and I know this because when my first story was published by Ether, I asked a total stranger in the pub if I could borrow his iPhone to check it out.

The Lion Tamer’s Scars first appeared in the fund-raising anthology, Ultimate Burlesque, where it was described as an “eroto-comic masterpiece of a story” by Jeremy Edwards, himself a master of the eroto-comic. I’m hoping to publish this story (and others) as a stand-alone e-short later in the year, so if you don’t have a smart phone, fret not!

But for now, je suis en vacances!

Here’s how the story starts:

The Lion Tamer’s Scars

Roxy Roxoff wanted to run away and join an office. Sure, the circus was fun and the contortionist was cute but getting naked every night took its toll on a girl. For three spangly years, Roxy had been stripping down to her well-waxed pubes, and now those watching eyes were starting to bug. In fact, Roxy was so goddamn tired of being ogled she could no longer have sex with the light on.

Raising money by reading!

Roll up! Roll up! I’m reading this Friday (16th) at the Ocean Rooms in Brighton, part of a huge, glitzy, charity gig celebrating the release of Ultimate Decadence. This is the second anthology from Burlesque Against Breast Cancer, an organisation raising funds for Macmillan Cancer Support. If you’re local, please come along and buy me a large gin! If you’re not local, please wish me luck!

I’ll be reading from The Lion Tamer’s Scars, my story from Ultimate Burlesque, the first BABC anthology, released last year.

Truly, these are two super-sexy, star-studded anthologies featuring filthy fiction from (amongst others) Alison Tyler, Jeremy Edwards, Nikki Magennis, Donna George Storey, Portia Da Costa, Maxim Jakubowski, Justine Elyot, Suzanne Portnoy, Rachel Kramer Bussel … oh, and loads more fabulousness! Help! Who did I miss?

And, super news, because I was not so delighted by a burlesque line-up featuring only female performers, we’ve pushed the boat out and managed to get TWO sexy guys on the bill! TWO! They are British Heart (who is doing a PhD in Boylesque) and Count Adriano Fettucini, a unicycling stripper. No, seriously! They are both true, and they both excite me greatly!

If you’re on Facebook, more here.

Hope you can make it – in flesh or in spirit! My voice, according to Alison Tyler, everyone’s favourite spankaholic, is divine – ‘like marmalade and honeysuckle with a dash of Jack Daniels’. I think maybe you have to be American to hear it that way but hey, you could try!

KLx

PS Photo of me reading is by Sam Collins of Tight Lip, taken at the last BABC gig held at Brighton’s Komedia. Thanks Sam!

Mayday!

I did my first ever reading last year; felt rather pleased with myself when it was all over and done with; and now I have three readings lined up for 2009. Yes, three! Yikes! The first takes place this Friday, May 1st, at Brighton’s Komedia when Club Smooch teams up with local lit salon, Tight Lip, for a burlesque extravaganza. I’ll be reading from the charity anthology, Ultimate Burlesque, along with Maxim Jakubowski, Carmel Lockyer and Emily Dubberley. Oh my!

If you can come along, please do! There’s a good chance I’ll be wearing stripy socks again – just for Jeremy Edwards! Tickets are £15, with £5 going directly to Macmillan Cancer Support, and are available here. The reading is from 8pm-9pm then there will be cabaret and glitter and Mr B the Gentleman Rhymer who I’ve never seen but have heard many good things about.

Because this is burlesque, I have a sneaking suspicion there’ll be plenty of sexy women in their scanties on stage but not many sexy men. Women do teh sexy, men do teh funny. Sigh.

Anyway, wish me luck!

News and reviews

Two excellent pieces of news: I got the official thumbs up from awesome Alison Tyler and my short story, Black Tulips, will be appearing in her kinky collection, Pleasure Bound, this summer. And I’m back at Black Lace having gone AWOL for a while. Sexy Little Numbers is set to be a big, fat annual volume of original fiction and the first collection, out in August, will feature my story, Rebecca.

Yes, that sound you hear is Daphne du Maurier turning in her grave!

Plus two excellent reviews: on ERWA Kristina Wright describes Rachel Kramer Bussel’s Best Sex Writing 2009 as an ‘impressive collection of sexual pop culture’. My article, The Pleasure of Unpleasure, is an ‘intimate glimpse into the darker side of desire’.

And over on Erotica Revealed, the charity anthology Ultimate Burlesque receives a great review from Ashley Lister who says, ‘Ultimate Burlesque is a celebration of life – and those saucy interludes that make all our lives fulfilling and satisfying. [...] This is a fun, frisky and fantastic collection of shorts that showcases a host of talented writers all writing sex-positive and upbeat tales that are rousing, raunchy and risqué.’ And I’m thrilled to report that my story, The Lion Tamer’s Scars gets praised for its ‘stylish and sexy wit’.

A Bit of a Dick

I’ve been an internet tart these last few days. Firstly, my essay from BSW, The Pleasure of Unpleasure, is reprinted at YourTango. Next, Stephen Elliott highlights one of my Erotica Cover Watch pieces on his wonderful webzine, The Rumpus (plus a link to my YourTango appearance). And now another Cover Watch post of mine has sprung up on Seattle-based zine The Stranger. The comments are fun so far. Writes one guy: ‘This woman likely reads erotica to compensate for lacking a connection with a man. What else could explain the fact she doesn’t understand how straight men interact with erotica or porn.‘

Vampires, strippers and a thousand tiny stab wounds

Lust at First Bite, the latest anthology from Black Lace, is out now. It features my story, The Funhouse is Closed Mondays, which centres on two characters from my vampire novella, The Vampire’s Heart. In The Vampire’s Heart, Simeon and Suzanne were living in Arctic exile with their other lover, Billy. They’ve since de-camped to New York where they’ve made their home in a derelict ghost train in Coney Island. Here’s an excerpt, set in the funhouse, where they meet Christophe, the leader of NY’s vampire pack.

A thud on the floorboards made them turn and there was Christophe on the far side of the room, knees bent as if he’d just jumped from a height. Grinning, he swaggered towards them, looking oddly like a thuggish black Cossack, bare chested with fur-lined boots below calf-length combats. His hair was close-cropped, a shadow of wool over a menacingly strong head, and a neat goatee framed his plump lips. His skin was the colour of stale chocolate, muscular slabs of brown tinged with a bloodless beige-grey bloom, and tattooed inky flames licked up one big brawny arm. Whorls of dark hair clustered around his pecs and his stomach was a washboard. Around his neck he wore, like a symbol of defiance, a large silver cross.

Simeon’s cock was rigid.

‘Nice to see you, friends,’ said Christophe and he clasped Simeon’s hand, giving it a single shake. Around them, the light was low and purplish, and a stormy lilac glow shone on Christophe’s body.

Before Simeon could reply, Christophe grabbed hold of his hair and plunged a fat, insistent tongue into his mouth. He kissed deeply, his thick lips pulsing, his beard scouring, and all the while, he kept Simeon’s hair bunched, making his scalp prickle as if with a thousand tiny stab wounds.

When they broke away, Christophe smirking and Simeon stunned, Suzanne was gawping. ‘Oh god,’ she said weakly. ‘I love watching men fuck. Keep going, please.’

Watching men fuck seems to have been a theme with me this year. Ah, what a life! The Lion Tamer’s Scars, my story in the recently released Ultimate Burlesque, includes some hot m/m seen through the eyes of Roxy Roxoff, a jaded female stripper working in Psycho Daddy’s Circus of Sin. Ultimate Burlesque is raising money for Macmillan Cancer Support, and last week I did a reading at my local Waterstones along with the founder of the Burlesque Against Breast Cancer campaign, Emily Dubberley, and anthology author, Carmel Lockyer (aka Kay Sexton who’s blogged about the event here). It was a great night, and apparently the book is doing fantastically, chart-toppingly well. Left to right in the pic is Kay, Emily and yours truly, clutching a cup of wine.

For more hot excerpts from Lust at First Bite, check out today’s post on Lust Bites. And don’t forget to take a moment to admire the cover of the book which not only features a sexy guy, but also matches my burlesque socks! It would be wonderful to see more sexy guys on the covers of erotica (as opposed to on erotic romance) but erotica, sadly, is still stuck in its sexist past, publishing thousands of books which act as if men are its only consumers. And the wildly offensive result is covers like this. If you think this is bang out of order, please add your voice to our campaign on Erotica Cover Watch. And thank you!