When dropdown menus go awry

I was beyond tempted to upgrade myself to Senator, but I didn't. OMG. Also, Republic of Berkeley - Lady? Lord? Wow. My friend asked, "Is Duchess an option?"







And less the suffixes feel excluded:

West Coast book tour is this week: Berkeley, San Francisco, Los Angeles! All free, all with free cupcakes, and hot, hot stories.

I'll be doing a separate post about my 3 New York City events in February, but as a reminder, unless I'm already traveling or have a special occasion like a panel, this is my last year of doing a bazillion outside readings. I just can't pretend like I can afford them or that I'm rich, and it doesn't make financial sense to be running all over the country when I could be working smarter, better and trying to sell more books. So my point is: come see me in Berkeley, San Francisco and Los Angeles now! I'm hoping to get to a few other cities like Denver, Minneapolis and Milwaukee in 2011 as well, fingers crossed.

A reminder with Facebook links - I'd really love it if you'd spread the word. All these events are free, it's a chance to get the just-released Gotta Have It signed by me and contributors (Denise Hoffner, who wrote census taker erotica story "Concensus" in Gotta Have It, has been added to Thursday's Berkeley Good Vibrations reading) and I'm getting fabulous, unique cupcakes, different ones from different local bakers, for each event.

Saturday night I will also make my third appearance on The Dr. Susan Block Show - listen online! Saturday night, January 29th, 10:30 pm to midnight, PST, I'll be on with Shameless author Pamela Madsen - my interview with her will be up soon at SexIs Magazine.



January 27, 6:30-8 pm
READING AND EROTICA ADVICE WITH DONNA GEORGE STOREY
Join me and prolific local erotica writer Donna George Storey (author, Amorous Woman, contributor, Orgasmic, Gotta Have It) and Gotta Have It contributor Denise Hoffner as we read some of our favorite erotica and share erotic writing advice. Free!
Good Vibrations, 2504 San Pablo Avenue (at Dwight Way), Berkeley, CA
510-841-8987

Facebook invite (no need to RSVP though, but if you want to pass it on to friends)

January 28, 7:30 pm
READING WITH VIOLET BLUE AT BOOKSMITH



Me and superstar author and editor Violet Blue read along with Orgasmic contributors Susie Hara, Dusty Horn and Donna George Storey!

Free cupcakes!

Booksmith, 1644 Haight Street, San Francisco, CA
415-863-8688

Facebook invite (no need to RSVP though, but if you want to pass it on to friends)

February 1, 7 pm
COCO DE MER READING



Join me along with Eden Bradley (The Lovers), Pamela Madsen (Shameless) and Oriana Small, aka Ashley Blue (Girlvert) for a night of hot readings and free champagne and cupcakes in this beautiful setting!
At Coco de Mer, 8618 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles, CA
310-652-0311

Facebook invite (no need to RSVP though, but if you want to pass it on to friends)

Erotic author Donna George Storey in a corset and LIVE January 27th and 28th

I met Donna George Storey via Susie Bright. We both had stories in Best American Erotica 2006 and began emailing and then she started sending me stories and over the years, I've published a LOT of them! We've also read together in New York and Berkeley and...I'm very excited to be reading with her again twice next week. Please please please tell your Berkeley/San Francisco/Bay Area friends. The aspiring writers will especially want to come hear Donna and I read at Good Vibes in Berkeley and share erotic writing tips. Then next Friday there will be free vegan cupcakes and super fabulousness as we read about orgasms and hotness. But the real reason I wanted to talk about Donna is that she did a boudoir photo shoot with my friend Laura Boyd and wrote about her experience.

She writes:

Although middle-aged women are supposed to be invisible, I knew I felt much sexier, more confident and more me than I was at 25. I certainly felt bold and beautiful as I lounged about on the sets to the sultry sounds of my favorite jazz tunes, responding to Laura’s gentle instructions and encouragement.

You may have seen Laura speak about her experience behind and in front of the camera at In The Flesh; you can read more about her posing experience for Boudoir Divas here.


Donna George Storey in a corset I hope she wears to Booksmith (hint hint); photo by Laura Boyd

Berkeley is where I lived for three years, where I was a very different person, but definitely where I read my first erotica, so it's a special place, and now my publisher, Cleis Press, is based there. So I'm looking forward to heading back to Good Vibrations, where I last read along with Mary Roach and Violet Blue and Tracy Clark-Flory from Best Sex Writing 2009, which, though it has 2009 in the title, is still pretty damn red-hot imo.

January 27, 6:30-8 pm
READING AND EROTICA ADVICE WITH DONNA GEORGE STOREY
Join me and Orgasmic contributor Donna George Storey as we read some of our favorite erotica and share erotic writing advice. Free!

Good Vibrations, 2504 San Pablo Avenue (at Dwight Way), Berkeley, CA
510-841-8987

January 28, 7:30 pm
READING WITH VIOLET BLUE AT BOOKSMITH



Me and superstar author and editor Violet Blue read along with Orgasmic contributors Susie Hara, Dusty Horn and Donna George Storey!

Free cupcakes!

Booksmith, 1644 Haight Street, San Francisco, CA
415-863-8688

Go Team Cupcake, and Team Cleis (Press)

Because I got this card in the mail today (I turn 35 on Wednesday - yes, I'm a Scorpio!) from the whipsmart, amazing women of Cleis Press, and because I deal with them on a weekly if not daily basis, and am so honored to have Best Bondage Erotica 2011 coming out for my birthday and so many 2011 and 2012 anthologies in the works, I just wanted to say how proud I am and have been to work with Cleis Press for the last decade. They published my very first story, “Monica and Me,” in Best Lesbian Erotica 2001, edited by Tristan Taormino, just about ten years ago. I will never forget standing in the Chelsea Barnes & Noble with tears in my eyes seeing that beautiful byline.

I edit for them, and I also try my hardest to submit to as many of their anthologies as I can. Those calls challenge and push me as a writer to not be complacent. I have published probably over 100 erotica stories, I don’t know exactly, but the ones that I love, the ones that make my senses come alive, that preoccupy me, are the ones that make me feel the need to go deeper, to tell more than just a sex story. I consider them my publishing family, and this is not at all to knock other publishers I work with, who I’m of course a fan of as well, but to say that they have been there for me and with me and encouraged me and watched me grow as a writer and editor. I have learned a ton and I look forward to many more collaborations as we put out more kinky erotica and erotic romance and short shorts and who knows what else.

I love the way their books look and feel, the covers they get and the ritual of their annual anthologies. I love that I’ve befriended so many wonderful writers and editors through our mutual work with Cleis. I love working for a feminist, independent publisher whose offices are now in the town where I went to college (Berkeley, California). Go Team Cupcake, and Team Cleis, of which I am truly honored to be a part.

Part of why I love working with them is that I believe in the work they do, and have learned so much from their books (and been entertained and aroused), but they are also amazing people. This isn't just me telling you to buy their books, but me thanking the women who put so much time and energy into those books and the vision they had for their press in 1980. I'm so proud to be part of your world and have you be on my team and believe in me and collaborate with me. Anthologies are pure collaboration, between editor and publisher, and editor and authors (and, later, between authors, editors and readers), and that suits me very well. I enjoy the process of creating something from nothing, where not all the pressure is on me. I enjoy creating books where the whole is so much greater than the sum of its parts. I enjoy seeing what happens when we go from a call for submissions to a fleshed-out, varied, sexy book.

To read more about their history, click here. A huge thank you to Frédérique Delacoste, Brenda Knight, Felice Newman, Kat Sanborn and Kara Wuest. You rock!