Amazon reviewers, start your engines!

I'll be deleting this post Friday evening, so if you want a review copy (and will actually review it), details are below. Please note each book/mailing costs me $10. My choice, obviously, to do this, but flaky people jeopardize me doing it in the future. Anyway, here you go - I also post these giveaways on Twitter closer to the pub date. Thanks! Basically, if my books do well, I get to/want to keep doing them; if not, not So I try the best I can with the limited means I have, and this is one tactic that I hope also gives people who can't afford my books a chance to check them out. You can also try your local library for that.



If you'd like a free copy of Obsessed (and get to feel special cause you'll have it in your hands before it's in stores, and for free), the terms are: you are in the US, have an Amazon.com account you've made a purchase from at some point, and promise to review the book by August 31st. You'll receive it probably the 2nd week of July (I'm sending them media mail the prior week). That's it. If you're game, email me at obsessedantho at gmail.com with "Amazon" in the subject line and your name and US mailing address in the body. Then in early July I will send you a book. And you will review it. And hopefully like it (no pressure, but, I'm proud of this, and my story is about sexy hand holding and a hot big guy and...you'll see when you read it).

More about the book (excerpts are coming soon):

: Erotic Romance for Women is edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel, with a foreword by romance author Caridad Piñeiro, and will be published by Cleis Press in July 2011. Stay tuned for more information.

Obsessed is not about obsession for a new purse or a new car. Instead, these stories sizzle with the kind of obsession that is fueled by our deepest desires, the ones that hold couples together, the ones that haunt us and don’t let go. Whether just-blooming passions, rekindled sparks, or reinvented relationships, these lovers put the object of their obsession first. From the almost-divorced couple in “Aftershocks,” by Bella Andre, who finally confess their deepest desires during an earthquake, to a woman who confesses to her boyfriend just how much she lusts after another man in Emerald’s “Then,” these lovers push the boundaries of their relationship and the boundaries of their trust in each other. Obsessed lovers don’t always do what is rational; sometimes they chase their dreams, such as in Kayla Perrin’s “One Night in Paris,” across the world and across the landscape of their lovers’ bodies.

BOOK PARTY!!!

August 25, details TBA
JOINT BOOK PARTY FOR OBSESSED and THE LOST
Join editor Rachel Kramer Bussel and Obsessed contributors, along with The Lost author Caridad Piñeiro, and Tied Up Events for a fabulous book party celebrating The Lost and Obsessed: Erotic Romance for Women! Free cupcakes, snacks, giveaways and more!
Fontana’s, 105 Eldridge Street, NYC
obsessederoticromance.com
caridad.com
.tiedupevents.com

Pre-order Obsessed from:

Amazon

Kindle edition (available August 1st)

Barnes & Noble

Powells

IndieBound

Cleis Press

Foreword: Behind the Mask of Obsession Caridad Piñeiro
Introduction Rachel Kramer Bussel (see below)
Silent Treatment Donna George Storey
One Night in Paris Kayla Perrin
Concubine Portia Da Costa
Love and Demotion Logan Belle
Mephisto Waltz Justine Elyot
Then Emerald
It’s Gotta Be Fate Jennifer Peters
Hooked Ariel Graham
Aftershocks Bella Andre
Secret Places Adele Haze
Loser Charlotte Stein
Here In Between Kristina Wright
Spellbound by Garnell Wallace
Raven’s Flight Andrea Dale
Raindrops and Rooftops Elizabeth Coldwell
Topiary K. D. Grace
I Want to Hold Your Hand Rachel Kramer Bussel
Storm Surge Teresa Noelle Roberts
Undercover Kink Louisa Harte

The women in Obsessed show their passion for their lovers in all kinds of ways. For some it’s about indulging in acts of daring, for others it’s about letting go of their preconceived notions of propriety and going where their bodies tell them.

In many of these stories, communication, the touchstone of advice about good relationships, is missing in some key way, whether it’s the almost-divorced couple in “Aftershocks” by Bella Andre who finally, during an earthquake, confess their deepest desires, or the one-time lovers in “Silent Treatment” by Donna George Storey who find plenty to say with their bodies at a silent retreat. In “Then,” Emerald explores what happens after a woman confesses to her boyfriend just how much she lusts after another man. They push the boundaries of their relationship and the boundaries of their trust in each other—another theme of this book.

Charlotte Stein paints a portrait of a “Loser” who manages to capture the attention of the narrator–and keep it by impressing her with his ardent desire. Stein writes, “He does little things, like when I stop him saying words like those with my mouth on his, he brings his hands up to cup my face. Other guys don’t cup my face. And he does it as though he wants to keep me as close as possible, so he can fully concentrate on my mouth and the way it moves and how much tongue I’m giving him at any given time.”

Obsessed is not about obsession for a new purse or a new car or a new perfume. It’s not even about the obsessiveness of a crush, the kind of panting lust that cycles over and over itself with no end in sight. Instead, Obsessed is about the way a lover can get under your skin, can drive you crazy with lust as well as so many other emotions–love, longing, hunger, anger, confusion. Are there happy endings here? Yes, there are, but they are not always the happy endings you’d expect. These stories sizzle with the kind of obsession that is fueled by our deepest desires, the ones that hold couples together, the ones that haunt us and don’t let go. Whether experiencing just-blooming passions, rekindled sparks or reinvented relationships, these lovers put the object of their obsession first. They don’t always do what’s rational or proper; instead, they chase their dreams, as in Kayla Perrin’s “One Night in Paris,” across the world and across the landscape of their lovers’ bodies.

I hope Obsessed speaks to the part of you that knows what it’s like to do anything for the right person, to bare yourself body and soul in the hope that once stripped to your most secret self, you will be rewarded with someone who sees you for who you truly are. With these nineteen stories, though, you don’t have to hope–I can tell you now that these gutsy heroines find men who know exactly how to treat their wild, hungry hearts. How they get there is yours to savor.

Rachel Kramer Bussel
New York City

Kindle edition of BDSM erotica book Surrender now on sale for $8.10

I'm happy to announce, to those who are into BDSM erotica of the female submissive/male dominant kind and like to read Kindle e-books, that Surrender is finally out with a Kindle edition that only costs $8.10! What a bargain...through March 31st you can read my story "Belted," which is also in Surrender, for free at ERWA. I've gotten some great feedback on the cover - it's by one of my favorite photographers, Barbara Nitke, and I'm so honored to have her work gracing the cover of my book.




Buy Surrender from:

Amazon.com

Kindle edition

Bn.com (Barnes & Noble)

Books-a-Million

Borders

Powell's

IndieBound (find your local independent bookstore)

Cleis Press

Introduction: Surrendering to Pleasure—and Power

Dear Professor Pervert Donna George Storey
Daddy’s Girl Teresa Noelle Roberts
Power Over Power Emerald
The Chair Lolita Lopez
Without Eyes Terri Pray
The Hardest Part Alison Tyler
Rapunzel Jacqueline Applebee
The Royalton–A Daray Tale Tess Danesi
The Sun is an Ordinary Star Shanna Germain
Belted Rachel Kramer Bussel
Lunch Elizabeth Coldwell
Schoolgirl and Angel Thomas S. Roche
First Date with the Dom Noelle Keely
In Control M. Christian
Wild Child Matt Conklin
Brianna’s Fire Amanda Earl
Forceful Personalities Dominic Santi
Veronica’s Body Isabelle Gray
The London O Justine Elyot
Pink Cheeks Fiona Locke
How Bad Do You Want It? Gwen Masters
Stripped Clancy Nacht

Introduction: Surrendering to Pleasure—and Power

I’m not surprised to learn that female submission is a hot topic. For the many women who fantasize about giving up control, bending over, hearing the click of a pair of handcuffs or engaging in kinky roleplay, that desire can consume them—and lead them to some wicked fantasies.

The stories here run the gamut from couples engaged in hardcore kink to the psychology of submission, with everything from coming in public to submitting to a Krav Maga teacher.

Whether you know you’re a submissive (sometimes or all the time, or just in your head) or you’re curious, this book rums the gamut and is an opportunity to read about things you might want to try, some you’d never dare, and some that will likely stay in your mind (and other body parts) for a long time to come. For me, the best erotica not only arouses my senses, as well as my libido, but takes me all the way into the character who’s experiencing such deliciously exciting erotic encounters.

These encounters are mostly focused on the women, the brats, the subs, the bad girls, but in them, you will find the most wicked of tops—wickedly insightful, wickedly mean, wickedly sadistic, wickedly keen on prompting pleasure out of these women who have chosen them to surrender to. These are the men who know the right time to push a woman’s buttons—and boundaries—who concoct vivid experiments in kink. Some of these tales are from their point of view, offering insight into what it’s like to desire a woman to be bound and at their mercy.

I shouldn’t have to say this, but I feel I must: these stories are not about men violating women. They are not about women being abused or mistreated. They are about women accessing a side of themselves that many of us bury, precisely because we feel it’s not “feminist” enough or is somehow otherwise politically incorrect to want to kneel, bend over, open our mouths, spread our legs, submit, and surrender. As Dominic says in “Power Over Power” to his student, Jackie: “You’re looking for power. In your own way, getting fucked rough like that will make you feel powerful. Is that right?” Vince echoes this to his wife in “Veronica’s Body” when he instructs her, “Don’t ever back down from me.” He wants a woman who can meet him in bed as an equal partner even as he whips her until she trembles. When he disciplines her, it’s an act of love as much as, if not more than, it’s an act of kinkiness.

Good BDSM erotica makes you understand all the emotions that can come into play when, well, playing: there can be uncertainty, nervousness, fear, excitement. I selected each of the 22 stories in Surrender because they’re blazingly hot and because they illuminate some aspect of submission that I think is

The authors of the stories you’re about to read understand the art of submission and the thrill of surrender, whether that’s personal space, sight (“Without Eyes” by Terri Pray) or culinary choices (“Lunch” by Elizabeth Coldwell).

What the women here want is to give up part of themselves to gain something else. They may still be skittish, but overcoming their fears, surrendering to them, yields beauty, pleasure and, in its way, power.

In “Dear Professor Pervert,” a student learns several very kinky lessons about how to get off—and follow orders.

With “Daddy’s Girl,” Teresa Noelle Roberts takes the topic of Daddy/girl play which, I fully confess, is not something I normally enjoy reading, and turns it into a kinky roleplaying tale which stays hot throughout while also explaining the Daddy dynamic. Emerald delivers a riveting tale of power play in “Power Over Power,” where a Krav Maga instructor shows his student that the heart of her true power lies in her owning her submission and baring more than just her body.

In “The Chair,” the title object becomes the ultimate sex toy for Cal to use in teasing and tormenting Lily, while Susan in “Without Eyes,” goes from being irate to being on her knees in moments.

Anticipation is often the hottest part of a scene, with the sub wondering when and how the action will happen. In “The Hardest Part,” Alison Tyler offers up the exquisite torture of waiting for your kinky fantasies to come true:

I’m over his lap. I’ve been needing a spanking for too long, and he’s been making me wait. In spite of everything I’ve done, he’s ignored the signals. I’ve been bratty. I’ve been bad. I may as well have worn a t-shirt with the words SPANK ME in bold scarlet letters across the front.

With “Rapunzel,” Jacqueline Applebee, when a woman agrees to give up her long locks, she bares herself in an unexpected way (any woman who’s ever submitted to a hairdresser’s chair knows the tension and masochism involved!), while in “The Royalton-A Daray Tale,” Tess Danesi makes a kinky fantasy come true in an upscale hotel.

With “The Sun is an Ordinary Story,” Shanna Germain takes something you wouldn’t expect to read about in an erotica book—cancer—and offers up a vitally human story about the transformative power of kink and how getting back to playing rough makes one woman feel more alive than ever.

In my story “Belted,” the narrator wonders what it is about her lover that turns her on quite so much:

Is it the belt that makes you come? The leather, the thrash, the pain, the jolt? Is it the force behind it? Is it the noises he makes as he does it, the hitches of breath that are nothing like your shuddering sobs but are music to your ears nonetheless--is that what makes you finally go over the edge? Is it him holding you down, him promising you pain that may or may not come?

I love stories that delve into the psychology of BDSM, and few writers do that better than Elizabeth Coldwell. With “Lunch,” she will not only have you eyeing your fellow deli customers with a keener eye, but also showing the erotic potential within even the smallest decisions, once we’ve given up the decision making power to someone else.

Erotica impresario Thomas S. Roche gives us “Schoolgirl and Angel,” a top and his sub find a new plaything at a dungeon party, one who’s a little more mouthy than they’re used to. Serena winds up taking off her panties in public, among many other things, in “First Date with the Dom.”

Sometimes a bratty girl doesn’t even know she’s begging to be put in her place, or how much she might like someone else taking control. In “Wild Child” by Matt Conklin, an older man sees beneath the veneer of the young woman sitting next to him on a plane, all too happy to show her what true rebellion is all about. In “Brianna’s Fire” by Amanda Earl, a slave is put to the test, while “Forceful Personalities” come into play when Christa takes a while to submit, even though she wants to, desperately. That tension between wanting to be as slutty as we are in our fantasies, and actually doing it, plays out in numerous other stories as well. A tourist attraction provides a welcome opportunity for public sex in Justine Elyot’s “The London O.”

“In Control” takes us online, to a chat room whose participants XX, while in Fiona Locke’s “Pink Cheeks,” a woman who’s been lurking in another online forum finds out what happens when someone she sees every day finds out her naughtiest secrets. Finally, in Gwen Masters’ “How Bad Do You Want It?” she asks the title question, which I might turn over to you, dear reader. I have a feeling you want it very, very badly, “it” being all the most out-there, I-could-never (yet I can’t stop thinking about them) fantasies that flirt at the edges of your mind when you are getting yourself off, alone or with a partner.

Rachel Kramer Bussel
New York City

Where to post your book trailer

I just wanted to alert anyone who's looking for places to send their book trailer to this post on Author Culture. Personally, I highly recommend Blazing Trailers, and you can also post your trailers or other videos on Red Room and SheWrites. I'm working on getting all 8 of my trailers up in one spot on my site, and also making sure they all get viewed as much as they deserve, commensurate with the cost - otherwise there's no point in my continuing to make them. Same could be said for books - I keep thinking about that "if a tree falls in the forest..." saying. Why put out books if I'm not doing everything in my power to make sure they sell?

To that end, I'll post the Gotta Have It trailer again, featuring 17 international authors. And send a little public hope out to the powers that be at Amazon.com that they post the Passion trailer by, I don't know, Valentine's Day. Pretty please? I'm pretty sure it will help your sales too. xoxo, book editor and frequent customer (and for those who don't care, sorry, but it's very frustrating to feel utterly powerless, because you are utterly powerless in a situation like this - a blog isn't exactly power, but it's a voice, and a way to make me feel like I am doing at least a teeny something - we made a separate video specifically for Amazon according to their guidelines and everything)

Cupcakes and Cocaine - a different kind of mommy memoir

Actually, I don't know what it's like yet, but how could I not purchase a memoir called Cupcakes and Cocaine: From Being Perfect to Being Real? It's by Brienne Joelle, and I found it on Amazon looking up cupcakes. Just ordered it, though realized I should've gotten the cheaper $9.99 e-book edition, but noticed it too late. Keep forgetting I have Kindle for iPhone. Guess what? It's, separately, also the name of a Tumblr blog.



Here's the official description from cupcakesandcocaine.com, which sounds like it should be some sort of delivery service:

In her poignant and honest memoir, Brienne shares the story of her real-life journey through the pressures of parenthood and into the darkness of drug addiction, the shame and guilt of divorce, and eventual rehabilitation.

As she accepts the gift of cocaine with the hope she will gain energy to propel her through the hectic days, Brienne narrates how she soon found herself on a painful roller coaster ride that took her from the depths of hell to a new path where she learned to embrace her imperfections, build her self-esteem, and heal her emotional wounds.

Video Suku Amazon Peru yang Baru Ditemukan

Video Suku Amazon Peru yang Baru Ditemukan

Pedalaman Hutan Amazon yang meliputi beberapa negara di Amerika Tengah menyimpan kebudayaan masyarakat yang masih bersahaja. Tidak hanya di Brazil dan Venezuela masyarakat suku pedalaman ternyata masih banyak terdapat di sepanjang aliran sungai Amazon maupun di pedalaman hutan Amazon. Salah satunya adalah suku yang baru-baru ini ditemukan di Peru.

Violet Blue calls my "Espionage" "one of the most powerful stories I've ever read

Two very cool bits of news. First, editor Violet Blue has this to say about my second person story "Espionage" that she included in Best Women's Erotica 2011 (Cleis Press):

Not only famous in erotic writing, Rachel Kramer Bussel is an online media sensation. In one of the most powerful stories I’ve ever read, “Espionage” seems to pull from a very deep place to create a story I’ve returned to more than once. Here, we are the girl at the party who’s been having a torrid affair with the man of the house, seeing his wife for the first time as guests float in and out and finally mustering up the force to do something that dares him to be ours, even if just for that one intense moment that rips our fishnets.

Second is that I don't have my author copies yet, but I read that for free with my free sample I downloaded from the Kindle edition. Many Cleis Press anthologies, including my Peep Show, Bottoms Up, Fast Girls, Orgasmic, Smooth, Passion, Please, Sir, Please, Ma'am and Spanked (probably others too) now allow you to preview the book, reading the introdution and one story, sometimes part of a second. So check it out and read her sexy, ice cream-meltingly sweet and dripping and luscious introduction.



You can also order the paperback from Amazon or directly from Cleis Press.

Here's the start of my story "Espionage:"

You tuck your new pink and black coat, the one purchased earlier in the day just for this special evening, around your body, pull it tight like it’s cold out, except you’re indoors and the fire is roaring. You are cold, but it’s the kind of cold that can’t be heated by rubbing two sticks together or turning up the thermostat, the kind of cold that can only be vanquished once your heart catches up. Your heart is cautiously icy, watching and waiting; it isn’t safe to let it melt just yet.

Instead, you look—you could say spy, except you have an invitation, an elaborate listing of reasons this will be the party to end all parties, delivered right to your inbox. You’ve been promised bubble baths, servants, champagne, s’mores, drugs, debauchery. Those things intrigue you, sure, since you’re used to zoning out in front of the tv, quiet dinner parties, wholesome events like comedy shows and trivia nights, but you’d have shown up for gin rummy if it were held right here, in these rooms that hold a life that will never be yours, a life you’ve been given glimpses of but never truly peeked inside. Even better than any promise of party pampering, you’ve been granted access to this sacred space, this love shack you’ve up til now only imagined vividly. This is your chance to enter the inner sanctum, and you cling to it in the same way you hold your coat, and your heart—close. Still, despite the tacit permission, you feel like a spy, an Anaïs Nin emissary, as you walk through the rooms that make up their home, their urban house of love and lust and lasciviousness, a house you will never inhabit no matter how many times you fuck the master of it.

And while I don't necessarily "set out" to write bisexual protagonists, bisexuality weaves its way into many of my stories. In part, it's because I'm bi, and in part, it's because in erotica it adds all sorts of nuances and intrigues—you can definitely have those without it, but I like mixing things up.

You feel his eyes follow you around the room, feel his palms sweat as you tilt your head back and let the journalist whose byline you’ve read countless times tilt your head against her breast and slide her red lipstick over your lips, painting them as if she were making love to you. In a way, maybe she is, her fingers crushing your jaw, the not-quite-liquid, not-quite-solid of the waxy ruby pressing hard against your hips, hard the way he used to crush them, hard the way you like it.

She laughs an almost evil laugh that makes you wonder what else she could do with the lipstick, and feel a frisson of static pass from her small, bony hands into your cheeks when she pinches them, inspecting her work. You wonder, of course, if he’s fucked her, even though it shouldn’t really matter. Lots of things that shouldn’t matter take up space in your mind, fragments of jealousy on permanent repeat. You pucker up just to give your lips something to do, someone to make contact with who is not him. Her tongue traces the red, teases, darts but doesn’t claim you as her wicked laugh did. You let her know, with your lips, that she could have you, but she simply pulls back and smiles, her nails digging into your upper arm. Suddenly you want to pull her bleached blonde hair, tug hard until she can’t even make a sound, the feral domme inside of you wicking at your insides, aching to be let out for a moment. Instead you just smile wide and she slinks away to find another victim.

After, you think the lipstick will be smeared—that’s only right, isn’t it, after someone’s just fucked you with a tube from Mac?—but instead, it’s perfect. Redder than red, redder than you’d ever dare in your daily life. Fancy that. They should put that in an ad campaign. You go back to your spying-cum-ogling, your lips now signaling that you are the hussy you know yourself to be, the other woman come seeking vengeance, seeking something you will never have because it belongs to someone else.

Read the whole story in Best Women's Erotica 2011.

Kindle and Nook editions of Passion: Erotic Romance for Women available now!

Passion: Erotic Romance for Women has been out in print for a few weeks, and now is available in e-book form (click on the title above to watch the sexy book trailer and read more about the book, and do join us for a free reading and free cupcakes November 11th from 7-8:30 at Word, 126 Franklin Avenue, Greenpoint, Brooklyn). With Kindle, you get to read the introduction for free and most of Donna George Storey's "Big-Bed Sex," just click "send free sample." Also you don't need a Kindle to download - I did it on my iPhone, and you can also do it for Mac.


Passion: Erotic Romance for Women, Kindle edition

BN.com offers Passion for sale for their e-reader, the Nook.

Kindle edition of Orgasmic out now!

Click through below to buy Orgasmic: Erotic Stories for Women on Kindle, or click here to watch the book trailer and read the table of contents and introduction.

$2.20 buys you sex writing tips from me, Susie Bright, Stephen Elliott and Rachel Resnick

If you missed me, Susie Bright, Rachel Resnick and Stephen Elliott talking sex writing at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books (or just want to relive it), there's audio available for $2.20 on Amazon (I did not know we were being taped). It was such a blur because of the whole LA ride thing (I'm going back next month for the West Hollywood Book Fair but am gonna station myself early in WeHo somehow) and running around being interviewed for the radio that I dashed in and must've looked like a madwoman but I think it was a fascinating panel and was honored to be asked, and also impressed with the free event, which had a food section, outdoor stuff for kids, and was my first chance to meet the wonderful Jillian Lauren.

8 ways to buy Fast Girls: Erotica for Women

There are really more than 8 because at
IndieBound you can search for your local bookstore, and I encourage you to shop locally. But I want to offer you all the options because, well, because.

You can also get a free Fast Girls postcard by writing to me at fastgirlsantho at gmail.com and asking for one (put "postcard" in the subject line and give me your mailing address).

Read the introduction at the official Fast Girls site.



We also got the Orgasmic postcards in, only without writing on the back - if you want one of these, same deal, just write to orgasmicantho at gmail.com (I know, I'm a woman of many email addresses, but it helps me keep track of things).

And Amazon is really one place, but it's a separate link for the paperback or the Kindle edition. (I got the idea to use not just text but online bookstore logos from romance author Louisa Edwards, promoting her upcoming novel Just One Taste.)


Amazon.com


Kindle edition


Barnes & Noble


Borders


Books-a-Million


IndieBound


Powell's


publisher Cleis Press