Tuesday, October 20, 2009

A Spanking Good Time on Sunday

I had a great weekend starting with three stunning soccer victories by the teams of my two athletic sons (how did that happen from a gym-loathing mom?) and ending with a highly pleasurable reading at Good Vibrations in Berkeley on Sunday evening in honor of the publication of Bottoms Up: Spanking Good Stories.

This is the first time I "officially" read at my local feminist adult-toy-and-bookstore, so it was a sort of a benchmark in my erotica writing life. I did participate in an open-mike sharing circle when I first started writing erotica maybe eleven years ago during which I read from my first erotic story, "The Blindfold," but it was cool to think about how far I'd come since. Good Vibrations is such a cheerfully buzzing place, and the hospitality was first-rate, including complimentary red wine and dark chocolate truffles, both very good for the circulation and bringing a blush to the cheeks. There was a decent crowd of listeners as well, and they even had to bring out more chairs!


The anthology's editor, spanking maven Rachel Kramer Bussel, opened the event with an introduction to the book and the spanking genre, while seated on an ottoman that would have been the perfect furniture for bending over and baring the buttocks. But the evening was about the power of words not paddles, of course.


I took the podium next with an excerpt from my story "A Thousand Words." You can get a sampling of the story here and a Youtube video will be available soon! I really enjoyed bringing my story to life. There was a lot of dialogue, so my high school reader's theater training came in handy. When the guy in the story talks look left. When the woman talks, look right. Straight ahead for the narrator and deliver the punchlines without looking at the text. I was also fresh from my younger son's school storytelling festival where I got to watch professionals perform, so I tried to channel their positive energy as I spoke, even if the content was rather different.


The next reader was the elegant Zille Defeu who did a very entertaining reenactment of her story called..."Reenactment." In another life, I'd devote all my weekends to historical reenactment, and the witty adventures of the fair lady and her "knight" in shining armor piqued my imagination in all sorts of ways.

Rachel concluded the event with a buffet of tidbits from the book including titillating background information on her story "The Spanking Machine" and a peek into the benefits of art gallery opening nights in Jerry Arthur's intellectually (among other things) stimulating "Ass Worship," which could certainly be seen as the theme of the book: Art meets palm meets buttocks.

Afterwards the three authors chatted a bit about the writing life and historical costumes, then Herr Doktor and I browsed the books, toys and videos. I've always loved Good Vibrations' sense of humor. Too bad the sign above can't be posted for some story collections as well, because we'd all benefit from the preview whether we're inclined to more or less of that damned literary content. It gives a new twist to the title of the Nanowrimo founder's book, No Plot, No Problem!

Anyway, it was a great evening, and thanks to all of you who were there in spirit, warming your buns with us....

13 comments:

SusanD said...

Congrats Donna! Sounds like a fun night! Great reading tips, too!

Jane Black said...

Dang it, I'm sorry I missed it. You're such a great reader and one of my favorite dates involves going to Sea Salt restaurant and then GoodVibes, which I haven't done in awhile. Sounds lovely.

Sekrit Shoppa said...

It looks like such a lot of fun - why don't we have spanking-specific book readings here? I would be there like a shot. Must get a hold of that anthology.

EllaRegina said...

Wow! What fun! And everyone looks fabulous!

Also, I learned something from your post:

When the guy in the story talks look left. When the woman talks, look right. Straight ahead for the narrator and deliver the punchlines without looking at the text.

I never knew that!

And yeah, the perfect spanking bench.

:-)

Craig Sorensen said...

I too found the look left, look right, look center, to be interesting.

And the "spanking" bench seemed inspirational.

It sounds like an excellent time, and I have it on good authority my spirit-self found it very satisfying!

Erobintica said...

Looks like it was fun - and yeah, the look left look right thing is very handy to know.

Donna said...

Oh, Jane, I should have invited you--but I feel shy imposing, you know. Good Vibes is a great place to shop, quite inspirational to see so many fresh-faced people walking over to the cash register with stacks of vibrators, lol.

Justine, I'm surprised there aren't more spanking-specific book readings on your side of the pond. Maybe Rachel should take her show international (and I could take a tax write-off trip to the UK!)

Susan, thanks for stopping by, wish you could've been there!

Hey ER and Craig, you know, I sincerely mean this, I hope I can be a useful engine, to paraphrase Thomas the Tank Engine. I didn't do much readers' theatre in high school, but it sure comes in handy with smut reading, lol. I'm sure the drama teacher would be proud!

Isabel Kerr said...

Sounds wonderful Donna, wish I could've been there!

Emerald said...

It looks/sounds delightful, and great pictures! I'm so glad it went well for you!

Danielle said...

what a wonderful post about a wonderful event..like i said..i wish i would have been there...:-)

Donna said...

I wish you could have been there, too, Danielle! And thank you, Isabel and Emerald :-).

Jeremy Edwards said...

Congratulations on your glorious return to the hometown erotica forum! I love your account, and the pictures, too (great group shot!).

Can't wait to hear you read again, next time we're in the same place!

neve black said...

Yes, Congratulations. Great pictures and lots of sexy, smiles.

I was there in spirit, even though I'm tardy at stopping here to say so.