Celebrating "Spring" in November

A lot's been happening this month, and you'll hear all about it once I've unpacked my suitcase and settled back into my writing, but I just wanted to announce that my story "Spring Pictures" is up at Clean Sheets this week. Set in Japan, this story celebrates my fascination with erotic woodblock prints and illicit getaways to elegant Japanese inns. The print you see here, by Suzuki Harunobu, was another inspiration for the piece. So, if you're in the mood for a little time-travel combined with art appreciation, grab a cup of green tea and get between the Sheets!

John Updike Made Me Do It

I'm thrilled to announce that my story, "John Updike Made Me Do It," is now available in its full natural splendor at Clean Sheets as of today!

This story is a favorite of mine, originally written for a themed anthology on polyamory, Swing!, edited by Jolie du Pre. (Check out that steamy book for an entire feast of polyamorously perverse short stories). When the call for the book went out, I knew I wanted to work with Jolie, but my real-life experiences with swinging were minimal to say the least. Fantasy, of course, is a different matter, and I immediately thought of John Updike and his tales of suburban sexual adventure as the perfect inspiration. Under John Updike's influence, I cooked up a story involving hot tubs, Tahoe and three married couples in a free-wheeling vacation frame of mind, not unlike the swapping game in Rabbit is Rich.

A few months after I wrote this story, in January 2009, John Updike passed away. I was glad then and still am, that I could acknowledge his influence on my work--as both a dutiful daughter and a rebellious one.

I suppose you really can say John Updike made me do this. Funny how life works that way....

I Like to Dress in Men’s Clothes….

…and hang around in bars. Well, not the bars part, I’ve never been much for bars. But I do have a history of dressing up in my lover’s clothes, just once or twice, to get a better sense of what it might be like to be him.

In fact I wrote a whole story about it, called “Being Bobby,” which you can read over at the wonderful online erotica magazine, Clean Sheets.

“Being Bobby” is about a college-age couple, so I thought it would be fitting to post a photo of myself from those formative years. I’m not dressed in my boyfriend’s clothes here, but I was definitely aiming for the male look.

I was dressed up for a costume party—it was winter, but the clubs at Princeton often had theme events like "come as you aren't"—and since I’d gone as a dance hall girl/prostitute at Halloween, I thought it might be fun to play the flip side and go as a gay hustler. That’s why I have circles under my eyes and carry my own Vaseline. As I recall this costume didn’t get quite the universal acclaim of the hooker outfit (I have a photo of that, too, but you will never see it). Only a few people guessed what I was supposed to be without being told, although I remember raised eyebrows and amused smiles over the Vaseline. By then I’d already gotten a bit of a reputation.

Well, all of this talk of cross-dressing is putting me in the mood to slip into a Suit and Tie! Be back later this week with my final porn stash installment....

Sex in the Suburbs? (You Bet!)

Today I want to talk about sex in the suburbs. Now, hold that yawn! I know it’s fashionable in an outré kind of way to assume that married couples with kids have bad sex or no sex and that an article about “sex in the suburbs” would be very short if not nonexistent, something along the lines of the purely snow-white pages of The Wit and Wisdom of Spiro Agnew I spied in a head shop back in 1969.

My dear blog reader, such an assumption is very, very wrong.

But don’t take my word for it. Check out the essay of my friend Jane Black, who has just received her contributors' copies of Love in the Time of Colic: The New Parents’ Guide to Getting It On Again by Ian Kerner and “naughty mommy” Heidi Raykeil.

You may remember Jane’s excellent story “The Painter” from Clean Sheets and her eloquent report in support of my Oakland reading for X: The Erotic Treasury. Her essay, “S/M in the Suburbs” is yet another example of her fine writing. It's witty, honest, beautifully written and yes, surprisingly romantic. Although I’m but a dabbler in edgy eroticism (although inarguably hardcore when it comes to gingerbread houses), I recognize this sentiment very well:

“Playing out an S/M scene colors our relationship for days -- and sometimes weeks -- afterwards. The afterglow lasts much longer than it does with vanilla sex. We're more gentle with each other. We touch each other more. We laugh more. We're more patient with the kids.”

And kudos to Ian Kerner and Heidi Raykeil for having the guts to include this essay in a book that is obviously getting plenty of reads from Amazon-shopping suburbanites. (Check out my review of some of his earlier books).

You can read a slightly longer version of the print essay online over at Good Vibrations. A must for parents—and a worthwhile read for anyone interested in the erotic mind.

Sarah Palin Erotica?!

Yes, it can be done, and I did it! Check out the latest issue of Clean Sheets for my gender-bending erotic dreamland tale about vice-presidential candidate "hottie," Sarah Palin. The story's called "Chasing Sarah," and it's teeming with action, suspense and innuendo of every kind.

Believe me, she's winkin' for a reason!

Special "Amorous" Issue of Clean Sheets!

The next stop on my shinkansen express blog tour for Amorous Woman is the big, beautiful erotica mecca Clean Sheets! I'm a huge fan of this magazine, known since its founding for first-rate erotic literature. They were also the first erotica venue to publish me back in 2003. The story I wrote for their first contest "The New Libertine" took first prize and went on to make Best American Erotica 2006 in a longer form under the title "Ukiyo." As you see, Clean Sheets represents a lot of "first's" for me!

But enough about the past. This week Clean Sheets is running three features about Amorous Woman. Leading the way, a review by Gwen Masters, one of my very favorite erotica writers. Praise from Gwen is high praise indeed! There's also an illustrated travelogue of photos of settings from Amorous Woman that I took during my trip to Japan in April. Wanna see where Lydia fell in love with the elegant dentist? The hot spring bath where she got into mischief? The streets of Gion where she escaped to indulge in seedier adventures? Or perhaps you'd like to climb the red stairway to the "Banana Room" and see what mysteries lie within to tickle your banana?

Finally, the Pillow Fiction section has my brand-new, never-before-seen story "The Day the Sun Goddess Got Laid" which is a riff on an ancient Japanese myth, with a decidedly erotic twist. Come frolic with the Japanese gods on the High Plain of Heaven. Things get pretty wild up there....

So stop by Clean Sheets and do leave a comment saying how wonderful and talented you think I am (but only if you mean it, of course!)