A New Year, A New Look at my New Book!

Happy New Year and best wishes for a happy, healthy and creative 2013!  I'm starting off the year by joining in a popular writer's activity of 2012:  The Next Big Thing Blog Hop.  I was tagged by Emily Jane Trent, who appears with me in the very sexy and slinky Vixotica: Sexy Short Stories by Best-Selling Erotica Authors.  Emily is the author of the Masquerade Series, a five-part tale which starts with Passion Unleashed and ends with Passion Embraced.  Although it was first published in paperback in 2008, I am very proud of my beautiful new ebook version of Amorous Woman which was released this past autumn.  The blog hop gave me an opportunity to share some information--including a few new secrets--about my book.

What is the title of your book?

Amorous Woman

What inspired your book?

I spent several years living in Japan in the early 1980s.  Immersion is such a different and fascinating culture made a deep impression on me.  Amorous Woman is not completely autobiographical, but the sensual memories and the yearning to become closer to Japan are very much my own.  Of course, my greatest inspiration was the many wonderful people I met in Japan: friends, boyfriends, mentors, courteous strangers.

How would you classify it in terms of genre?

Literary erotica.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

Ken Watanabe as Kimura.  Emma Stone as Lydia.

Give us a short synopsis of your book.

It’s about an American woman's sexual awakening in Japan as she tests the limits of love and sensual pleasure.  She almost always gets an A on the test.

Can you tell us about the publisher?

The new ebook version is with Iro Books, the erotica line of Stonebridge Press.  If you have an erotica manuscript set in Asia, send it to them!

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

I’d been wanting to tell the story since the 1980’s, but when I was commissioned to write a book for Orion’s Neon erotica line in 2005, I finally had the chance to write it down.  I spent about six months writing intensely for the deadline—and I made it!  Thanks to too many cases of diet Snapple....

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

It’s not unlike Memoirs of a Geisha with more sex.  Lots more sex.

Describe an ideal setting for enjoying your book.

I suggest you take a long soak in a hot tub, then wrap yourself in a silk kimono and lounge on a futon (or bed) with a flask of sake and some sushi by your side.  Soft koto music is good accompaniment, although I listened obsessively to Tupac’s “All Eyez on Me” as I was writing the novel, so that’s an authentic alternative.

If I read your book, what’s in it for me?

My novel will take you on an intimate trip to a Japan few tourists ever see for much less than a plane ticket to Tokyo.  I’m talking threesomes, orgies, pornographic comics come to life, passionate affairs with married men, true love and descriptions of Japanese feasts to make your mouth water.  Believe me, it’s a bargain.

The Q&A is over, so what are you waiting for?  Pick up a copy of Amorous Woman for your e-reader right now.  If you’re looking for more delicious erotica to satisfy your appetite, check out these new works by some wonderful erotica writers:

Kristina Wright's Best Erotic Romance 2013 with a wonderful story by the very poetic Erobintica.

Lisabet Sarai's Coming Together In Vein, an anthology of sexy vampire tales.  Lisabet is a true master of our genre.

Emerald embodies the spirit of sex-positive warmth and wisdom and her latest publication appears in the Mischief anthology, Too Fast For Love.

Amorous Woman Gracefully Illustrated

Halloween is over, but the excitement continues with a very special guest appearance at K.D. Grace's blog: "An Amorous Woman's Exotic Journey: The Storey Behind the Story."  I talk about some of the settings that inspired scenes in my novel, Amorous Woman, and share evocative photos from my last trip there with my family a few years ago.  Plus you can enjoy some steamy excerpts from my favorite scenes.  So head on over to K.D. Grace's "A Hopeful Romantic" for your own armchair trip to a Japan few tourists ever see!

Singapore Slings at the Tiki Hut

Come join me for a Singapore Sling and some delicious excerpts from my story "Comfort Food" in The Cougar Book and from my novel, Amorous Woman over at Author Island's Tiki Hut today.

You can also win a copy of Amorous Woman, which is the book of the day over at Author's Island, so hey, lie back, enjoy the Pacific breeze and some smokin' sexy prose, too!

Amorous Woman at Fleshbot!

Well, just when you thought Lydia had truly taken her vows, she's back to her old tricks at the super-sexy site Fleshbot, with an excerpt from the ever-popular threesome scene with Kimura and Naomi from my novel, Amorous Woman. If you'd like a little nibble of some Japanese delicacies, stop on over and enjoy!

Here's to an Amorous (and Chocolate-filled) Holiday!

With Valentine's Day in the air, or at least a prominent theme in the stores, our thoughts turn to ways to show our appreciation to our lovers and other people who sweeten our lives. I have a few ideas for celebration of my own.

In years past, Herr Doktor and I have splurged on a box of Wittamer chocolates delivered straight from Brussels. Or some gourmet chocolates from one of the many local chocolatiers. But this year, in keeping with the frugal tenor of the times, we're going to make some homemade chocolate cookies and drink a good red wine from our cellar. We're hoping to find some time for amorous pursuits as well, although as parents, that can't always be planned exactly--but where there's a will, there's a way.

I hope you have some of your own special plans, but if you're still wondering what to get that special someone, I have one shameless suggestion. How about a trip to Japan, for just a tiny fraction of the cost, with an Amorous Woman? In the past year of promoting my book, I've heard many sweet reactions from readers: that they stayed up all night reading it; that they laughed and learned and were inspired to let their fingers get busy; that it touched them in other ways, too. These words of praise were truly gifts to me over the past year--better than a bonbon (and the delicious flavor still lingers!).

And to go along with that pulpy paperback novel with a heart of gold, why not bake some of my mother's flourless "Chocolate Crispies"? One of you can read the manga orgy scene aloud, while the other stirs....

1 1/4 cups nuts
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1 egg, well beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla

Stir sugar and butter together in a heavy-bottomed pan over low heat. Bring to a simmer, stirring constantly for three minutes. Remove from heat and stir in nuts and chocolate pieces. Cool five minutes. Add egg and vanilla and mix well. Drop by teaspoonful two inches apart on a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375F for 8-10. Watch carefully as the bottom burns easily. Cool cookies thoroughly before moving to rack to cool completely. Makes enough for a very amorous holiday!

By the way, while we're on the subject of fantasy trips to Kyoto, the Japanese have translated our Valentine's Day in an interesting way. February 14 is the day that women give men chocolates, and it's not just to their lovers. There's a very merchant-friendly custom of office ladies or other employees giving giri-choko--or "duty chocolate"--to their bosses and co-workers. The stores are full of cute and fairly inexpensive chocolates in the shape of golf balls, mini-tennis rackets, bandaids, Pokemon or other whimsical, non-romantic shapes (there are some hearts, too). The men are supposed to return the favor on March 14, "White Day," with marshmallow treats, but most of them forget, or so I was told. Still, the Valentine's Day ala japonais custom lives on and the shopkeepers are happy to help young women do their duty!

Don't Eat the Balls

MSNBC reports that seven Japanese diners were poisoned by an incompetent blowfish chef in Tsuruoka City in northern Japan this past Monday. The party ordered blowfish sashimi (pictured above in its peony-like glory), which is a standard delicacy in such restaurants. They also ordered grilled blowfish testicles (blessedly not pictured above).

That was their mistake.

Most of the blowfish's body is perfectly safe to eat, but the highest concentration of poison lies in the ovaries, liver and, well, the balls. Experienced blowfish chefs know how to deal with this—by which I mean they don’t serve these things to customers at all. Yes, this backwater chef was “negligent,” but the diners were also taking a foolish risk, in my opinion.

Still, as the blowfish seduction dinner in my novel, Amorous Woman, illustrates, we all are drawn to a dinner of this puffy sea creature's flesh--as much to flirt with danger as to enjoy the delicious flavor. But you’re much more likely to court a new lover rather than Mr. Death if you remember one key rule:

Don’t eat the balls :-).

Smarter Sex—or What Will the Neighbors Think?

My Amorous Woman national tour may be over, but my book promotion blitz marches on. This month I make perhaps my biggest splash with a profile in the “Up Front” section of The East Bay Monthly, the magazine with the largest circulation in the Bay Area. (I'm the "sex scribe" on the front cover!)

Renowned writer Autumn Stephens, author of the Wild Women series and editor of the essay collections Roar Softly and Carry a Great Lipstick and The Secret Lives of Lawfully Wedded Wives skillfully plied me with herbal tea and got me to spill my secrets about my shady past that inspired Amorous Woman, my higher goals in writing erotica, my thoughts on BDSM, and how I combine my day job as a cupcake-baking mom with my avocation as writer of very adult fiction.

Thanks to Autumn’s witty prose and incisive observations, my neighbors will never look at me in the same way again. I have to admit being interviewed by such a talented journalist—the Adam Gopnik of the West Coast--who makes me sound so interesting is a long-standing fantasy of mine. Who says (erotic) dreams can’t come true?

My Book's In Stock on Amazon US!

Yay! Finally, my book is in stock on Amazon. You can buy it now and it will go in your shopping cart and you can add a few more things and get supersaver shipping and like...my book is really for sale in this country! It's been a long wait.... Somehow this seems like the REAL release date. Time to celebrate--how about homemade cornmeal crust pizza with roasted asparagus and caramelized onions? With a salad of organic lettuce and sweet tomatoes on the side? And naturally, a rustic but satisfying red wine. Come on over and let's celebrate!

My Web Site Gets the Nod from Lisabet Sarai!

As I'm preparing to go off for my reading at Cafe Royal in San Francisco with Rachel Kramer Bussel and the local luminaries in her latest anthology, Dirty Girls, I wanted to mention another cool thing that's happened this month. Lisabet Sarai has chosen my Web site as her link of the month for April! I'm so thrilled because I'm a big fan of Lisabet's writing and her review of Amorous Woman was so insightful. Hell, I learned some things about my novel from her....

Anyway, check out her newsletter, Web site and her sizzling hot novels and stories!

Dirty Pictures: A Time-Honored Tradition

I’d guess a lot of visitors to my blog come in the hope of finding pictures of naked women or people having sex. I mean, much of my published work offers just that: pictures, albeit in words, of erotic activities. Some bloggers do offer lots of sexy images to spice up their words--just check out the “Sex” section of my blog roll!

I usually stick with words, but today, I decided to join the dirty picture bloggers in my own historical, Japan-tinted way in honor of my upcoming interview on the super-sexy and very visually satisfying UK blog Lust Bites. In my interview I talk a bit about Japanese shunga, literally “spring pictures.” Spring picture scrolls and prints were the racier cousin of the famous ukiyo-e of the Edo period (which lasted from the early seventeenth to the mid-nineteenth centuries). Most of the famous woodblock artists also did a little shunga-drawing on the side, and their reputations didn’t seem to suffer at all. If only our society was so open-minded!

I’ve always been intrigued by Japanese erotica, but I must admit the huge, magnified genitals in most of the prints made them more of a curiosity than a turn-on. Then I read Sex and the Floating World by Timon Screech. If you’re at all into art history, I highly recommend this book, a witty and enlightening exploration of erotic images in Edo-period Japan (it's currently available at a terribly inflated price on Amazon, but maybe you can find a reasonably-priced copy somewhere or check your university library?). I learned for example, that shunga were known as “laughing pictures” because one of the slang terms for masturbation was “laughing.” Now isn’t that more merry than “self-abuse”?

I was also introduced to the erotic images of Suzuki Harunobu and suddenly shunga took on a whole new dimension for me. I’d found my artist. Harunobu does not enlarge the genitals of his lovers to absurd proportions (although, to be my own devil’s advocate, I have suggested that the large genitals symbolize how you feel during sex—like one big, throbbing cunt or cock). They are real and tinted in pale, appealing colors. The faces of his lovers are as much a focus and the expressions are fascinating and complex. He is nothing if not elegant and his images are rich with suggestion, although certainly explicit enough. The image you see above, “Autumn Moon of the Mirror Stand” has inspired several of my stories, including “Spring Pictures,” “Courtesan with a Lover” and a scene in my novel, Amorous Woman, where Lydia and her wealthy company-president lover act out scenes from Harunobu’s work. The mirrors, the focus on female pleasure, the touch of melancholy to the scene, the samurai's knowing touch--something about the combination fires my imagination again and again. Now that’s a dirty picture that has spawned many thousands of words!

Tough Critics, Soft Landings

There’s a new review of Amorous Woman up on Trashionista.com, a popular chicklit review blog based in the UK. It’s a good review, although I could tell from the beginning, the critic (editor Keris Stainton) wasn’t exactly on my side from the start. And I can’t blame her. She rightly points out that the cover of Amorous Woman, both back and front, does not allow reading on the daily commute. It screams “dirty book”! Which it is—but I hope it’s so much more.

Yes, there’s no doubt Amorous Woman is a strange beast, neither fish nor fowl, nor even a side of beef or a vegetarian seitan kabob. But Ms. Stainton seemed to like it in the end anyway. After pointing out that Lydia’s story would take more than a few hours to tell in real life (okay, maybe, depending on how fast she talked), the review continues:

“…the book is compelling and beautifully written. Despite the fact that Lydia behaves fairly appallingly throughout, she is so open and honest about her wants, needs and weaknesses that I couldn't help but like her.”

And then there’s this:

“Since it's an erotic novel, you probably want to know whether it is indeed "erotic" (that word's never been the same to me since Waynetta Slob). It is. (Ha! Coy enough for you?)”

From a mainstream perspective, that’s as good as it gets.

It all reminds me of my challenge in promoting the novel. Amorous Woman does have a lot of sex scenes since I was writing on commission for an erotica line and there were certain expectations. Many “mainstream” novels have lots of sex scenes, too, but not as dependably or as required perhaps. Then again, Field Marshall McBirdie at LoveHoney was surprised when I didn’t make an encounter with a guy into a full-fledged sex scene, so it is hard to please everyone.

So I guess I’ll just have to settle for “compelling” and “beautifully written.”

More soon!

Rave Review of AMOROUS WOMAN from a Field Marshall in the Orgasm Army!

Most of the time, the novelist’s path is a lonely road. (Take out your hanky….) It’s hard to write a novel, harder still to get it published. Then comes the most terrifying part of the process—your virgin work is thrown to the critics to do with it what they will. I was fortunate enough to be initiated gently into this phase with Victoria Blisse’s wonderful review of Amorous Woman on SexyReads.

This week, I’ve moved into the thick of battle with an interview and review from a big gun in UK erotica criticism, Field Marshall McBirdie who blogs for LoveHoney, a super-sexy online store that will satisfy your every need. Or mine, anyway, because it’s the only place where you can buy Amorous Woman right now with no delay!

I can’t tell you how thrilling it is to get such a fantastic review from a reader who knows her stuff. The Field Marshall said it was rare for her to give a novel 4.5 stars and I am totally honored! Do go check out the interview and review and please consider leaving a comment. I’ll be eternally grateful.

To tease your palate, I’ll give you one of my favorite bits: “Focusing on sex in Japan is a great departure from the more usual erotic scenes and I certainly enjoyed getting a peek into such a different culture. Storey clearly has a love for and an interest in this land, and that comes through with her writing. A piece of erotica that works equally well story-wise and for an insight into a whole other life makes this a great addition to your erotic bookshelf. I have no doubt I'll be rereading this in the future.”

For a novelist, the praise doesn’t get better than that. So put away the hanky for the moment and join me in a glass of champagne as the Orgasm Army marches on to what I hope are many future victories!