The paperbacks are getting released a bit sooner (as soon as stock is in) than the Kindle editions, so for those Kindle readers, I wanted to let you know that Please, Sir: Erotic Stories of Female Submission is now for sale in Kindle form at Amazon!
Every day in May a new blogger will post about Please, Sir: Erotic Stories of Female Submission. Join us! Links will be updated below as they’re posted.
Please, Sir virtual book tour dates for May 2010
May 1 Baser Instincts
May 2 Man Eater Book
May 3 Hard and Fast
May 4 Erobintica
May 5 Dangerous Lilly
May 6 Sugarbutch Chronicles
May 7 The Sex Carnival
May 8 My Kinky World
May 9 Lusty Literati
May 10 Prurient Interests
May 11 Sarah Sloane
May 12 Hello Saraid
May 13 Desk Full of Dildos (That Toy Chick)
May 14 Julian Arancia (Flavius Iulianus)
May 15 Kristina Wright
May 16 Exploring Intimacy
May 17 Erotica Electronica
May 18 Our Goings On
May 19 SpastikFantastik
May 20 Alpine Subdreams
May 21 Orlando Sex & Relationships Examiner
May 22 Beth Wylde
May 23 Heather Lin
May 24 Pieces of Jade
May 25 Heartbreak Nympho
May 26 Yolanda Shoshana
May 27 ¡Qué sinvergüenza!
May 28 Leather Yenta (Lolita Wolf)
May 29 Marilyn’s Room (Marilyn Jaye Lewis)
May 30 Wanton Lotus Reviews
May 31 Curvaceous Dee
I was delighted to find out this week that Exquisite Restraint are the makers of the gorgeous, gorgeous magenta corset in the photo by Christine Kessler gracing the cover of Please, Sir: Erotic Stories of Female Submission. When I posted the cover online a few months ago, I got such wonderful reactions and know it makes the book stand out from the pack. Here’s another image of the corset, via the Exquisite Restraint blog:
Simone of Exquisite Restraint has a blog with more information about her pieces and custom corsets, including this post, on tightlacing:
An Exquisite Restraint Corset will nip your waist in quite naturally and comfortably without needing to lace it even tighter. Hence, our corsets are capable of being “tightlaced” but don’t have to be. You will still look incredible in Exquisite Restraint. For your first corset, you will be quite happy with ours and then can graduate to a custom-fitted corset when you are ready to embark on your tighlacing journey. For custom-fitted, we use your measurements to create a paper pattern just for you to cut out and construct your corset. If you live in Southern California, or will be visiting, we most certainly want to see you in person. If not, we are confident we can work with you long distance by e-mail or phone.
An Exquisite Restraint Underbust Corset, off-the-rack
An Exquisite Restraint Underbust Corset, off-the-rack
Tightlacing is a personal choice and I like to use it interchangeably with “waist-training.”
Many people like- no, LOVE- the aesthetic of a tiny wasp waist. Women AND Men love and admire it… Both Women AND Men also love being wasp waisted!
Do visit the beautiful corset photo gallery on the Exquisite Restraint site, featuring models like Aria Giovanni and Darenzia!
And from their FAQ:
Will my waist really get smaller in a corset?
Your corset will allow you to “lose“ 2-4 inches, plus you must have an approximate two-inch gap opening at the back of the corset (where the laces are.) If the back edges of a corset meet, it is “too big” for you. We all have squishy flesh under our ribcage and essentially a corset is squeezing and redistributing that. You are not actually losing weight when you wear a corset—you must be on some sort of weight loss program.
What is True Corsetry™?
True Corsetry™ for us means proper coutil fabric, all steel boning and a front opening in order to put yourself in and take yourself out of your Exquisite Restraint corset without removing all of the laces every time. The front of our corsets contain a steel “busc”, a fabricated component that has been in use since the early 1800’s.
Here’s both me (Rachel Kramer Bussel) reading my story “Your Hand on My Neck” from Please, Sir at In The Flesh Reading Series, as well as a separate excerpt.
Last week, you gave me a special gift: two hands there, each taking half, the pressure greater than one alone could handle. Your dick got even harder as you slammed into me, your weight shifting into your arms, making it hard for me to swallow. The shallow sound of my breath was loud in my ears as I willed you to twist a little. I longed for clothespins, imagined them standing upright on my nipples. You pulled one hand away to slap my clit, and I turned my head to the side, beckoning to the sheet, asking it for something I couldn’t ask of you. You knew, though, and tightening your grip on my neck, you slapped my cheek, the sting ringing in my ear. Slapping my face requires much more precision than spanking my ass. A stray slap down there can be corrected easily; a misplaced stroke can stop everything up above. Maybe because you’ve hit my sweet spot countless times, you know where on my face I crave it most, that fleshy apple bulge of my cheekbone, the part that makes me flinch, my teeth clamped. I look up at you through filmy eyes; I can’t look too directly because that would be too much, for both of us. There has to be a veil for me to let you do this. It’s why you’d stroke my neck across the table at a restaurant, or even lightly pinch my cheek, but would never in a million years slap me like this. Even a tap on the ass can be tolerated in public, but not this. This is more depraved somehow, and we both know it. My lips start to tremble and you lift your hand from my neck to cover them. You wind up covering part of my nose, too, and I force the panic to wind its way back down my throat before you slap my cheek again. Your dick is still inside me, but I wouldn’t say you’re fucking me with it, more like holding me in place, making sure I know you could fuck me at any time.
You switch hands and smack my right cheek, and I make sure my eyes are adamantly shut so I don’t see the blows coming, don’t know what’s going to happen, because that would ruin it a little bit for me. I feel you pull out and fear it’s over, fear you’ve tired of me, are bored by what’s increasingly becoming less of a game and more of a need. But instead your hand lingers on my face, seeing how much of it you can cover. I arch up against you, my back curving, straining to be covered by you. You give me what I want, pinching my nose, just for a minute, but long enough to make my insides seize up. You let go but then your face is right next to mine, the stubble I adore so much brushing against my cheek. I think you’re going to whisper something to me, but instead you bite me there, the fleshy part of my lower jaw. Not hard, but I’m sure it’ll leave an imprint. My clit is aching, but I can’t think about that too much because you grab my hands in yours and then tickle me under my arms. You’re not supposed to do that; tickling is off limits, but you do it anyway, followed by a sharp slap across my face, first one, then the other cheek. I want to ask you to do it harder, but I just think it, wondering if you’d be insulted were I to make such a request.
Read all of “Your Hand on My Neck” in Please, Sir: Erotic Stories of Female Submission.
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In the Please, Sir book trailer, you both see Tess Danesi and hear lines from her story “I Breathe Your Name,” including “So you want to play rough, Tess?” I thought you might appreciate this short excerpt from her story, but do be sure to read the whole thing:
He lifts me and presses my back hard against the marble wall, still cool despite the heated water. My legs, crossed at the ankles, are tight around his waist. His hands are flat against the wall, my fingers interlaced together behind his neck. My chin falls into the hollow of his shoulder, my tongue trailing up to his ear, licking up the plump water droplets that define my path. I feel his cock stiffening against my pelvis and thoughts of him buried inside me make me nearly feral. I bite harder than I’d planned into his soft earlobe. He doesn’t jerk away; he doesn’t even move, but he whispers words that I barely have time to comprehend, “So you want to play rough, Tess?” before he’s pushed me tighter against the wall with his hips. One of his large hands guides his cock into my ready cunt. A deep sigh, of relief, of satisfaction, is the last sound I make before both his hands are on my neck.
Fixing me in his dark gaze, his deep voice speaks softly, nearly drowned out between the dual cascades of water and the pulse beating a steady rhythm in my ears, “You should know by now, Tess, I repay pain with pain.”
Even as his hands tighten on my throat, I can’t take my eyes off his. I’m not sure what I hope to see in his stare. Sometimes he can go so cold that even while his eyes are fixed on mine, I know he’s looking beyond me, looking somewhere into the darkness that resides so close to the edge of his surface civility. And sometimes, like now, I know he’s watching me intently to gauge my reaction, and as my breathing gets more and more impaired as he cuts off my respiration, to determine when to stop.
It’s here and is the hottest book trailer I’ve ever seen! (Immodest, perhaps, but true.)
This is the fourth in a series of interviews with contributors to the anthology Please, Sir: Erotic Stories of Female Submission (Cleis Press), out now. (Read the first interview, with Emerald about kinky Krav Mag, here, the second, with Isabelle Gray, here, and the third, about a kinky college reunion, with Mercy Loomis, here.)
Name: Heidi Champa
URL: http://heidichampa.blogspot.com/
How did you come up with the idea for your story in Please, Sir?
The notice for my ten-year college reunion had come in the mail, and I was struck with an idea for a story. I think there is always a certain amount of dread that goes along with reunions and seeing people from our pasts after many years. As I sat in a random ballroom and caught up with old friends, I started to think about all the stories that were in that room; all the secrets and late night encounters. It seemed like such fertile ground for a good, hot story. It seems I was right.
For “Long Time Gone,” I wanted to show how desire and compatibility can be rekindled after so many years apart, and how certain times in our lives can be so transforming, like the college years.
Was it a challenging story or did the writing come easily?
It started out easy, but I found that my original idea began to change. I probably rewrote this story more times than most, but in the end, I’m extremely pleased with the result. It was worth all the work, for sure. Sometimes, the stories that you think are going to be easy and just flow end up posing the most challenge. That was certainly the case here.
Do you have a favorite sentence or paragraph from your story?
I think this paragraph is hot and sets the tone for the whole story. Like people always say: it’s the little things.
I had unofficially met Ethan soon after arriving at school, barely exchanging a few words. It was his touch that hooked me. From the outside, it looked incidental. As I stood on the outskirts of the group, I didn’t notice a handcart full of books headed my way. I was too busy staring at him. Ethan pulled me out of the way, never missing a beat. His rough hands dug into my arms, and on one bicep, there was a thumb-shaped bruise the next day. I was fascinated. The tiny pinch of pain I felt every time I touched it caused my stomach to tighten and my heart to flutter. No kiss, no handholding had ever given me such a thrill. The bruise took over my mind. If a simple touch could leave me marked, what could he do if he really meant it?
I decided that “Risk and Reward” is an applicable theme for Please,
Sir. Does this theme resonate with you for your story?
Absolutely. I think the entire relationship between Diana and Ethan is based on that very phenomenon. Diana takes a risk in listening to her desires for Ethan, and what giving herself over to those desires might mean. However, when she does just that, the reward is the fulfillment she so craved. Again, Diana takes a risk showing up for her reunion, in the hopes of seeing Ethan. She had put that part of her life behind her and went back to a sort of safe existence. Going back to that time in her life, and to Ethan, is a risk, but the rewards are just to great for her to pass up.
It is a concept that is very appealing to me, especially as an erotica writer, but also in other aspects of my life. This story really allowed me to explore that and take it to another level.
5)Is this story similar to or different from the other erotica you’ve written?
I’d say it is similar in style and voice to some of my previous work, but obviously, the subject matter isn’t something I’ve tackled a lot in the past. Power in relationships and more specifically in sex, is something that intrigues me, so it was a great chance for me to dig a little deeper into that dynamic and really have some fun with it.
What do you think makes an erotica story successful?
The building and developing of that lovely, delicious, almost unbearable tension between the characters is what I think makes an erotica story hot and ultimately successful. Good writing, strong character development and great turns of phrase don’t hurt either.
But, I want a story to transport me, slap me down on the bed (or backseat, or kitchen floor) right next to the characters and make me feel it. To me, if you can do that, even in a small way, then the story is successful.
Do you have any advice for budding erotica writers?
My advice would be to write as much as you can, write what turns you on, and be persistent if you want to get your stories published. It is so easy to get discouraged by rejection, but sometimes finding the right home for a story can take a long time. As long as you are writing what you love, I find the rest takes care of itself, it just may take longer than you want it to.
And, most importantly, check out Erotica Readers and Writers website. It has invaluable information and there is always something new.
What are you working on now?
I’m always working on several short stories that I hope will find there way into collections. I have stories coming soon in anthologies like Xcite Books Ultimate Spanking, Hard Working Men edited by Shane Allison, and Alison’s Wonderland edited by the wonderful Alison Tyler.
I do want to move on to some longer pieces, novella and my first novel. I’ve had the desire to write a novel for a long time now, and I’m trying to eliminate all my excuses so I’ll have to choice but to start writing.
Order Please, Sir from:
This is the third in a series of interviews with contributors to the anthology Please, Sir: Erotic Stories of Female Submission (Cleis Press), out now. (Read the first interview, with Emerald about kinky Krav Mag, here, and the second, with Isabelle Gray, here.)
Name: Mercy Loomis
URL: www.mercyloomis.com
How did you come up with the idea for your story “The Sub Fairy” in Please, Sir?
I wanted to do a story about more recreational D/s, about how a vanilla couple might get into it or incorporate it in their lives. And I really love that Halloween costume and I wanted to do something more with it than just wear it, hehe.
Was it a challenging story or did the writing come easily?
Figuring out how to frame the story was hard, but once I knew where I was going the rest came pretty easily.
Do you have a favorite sentence or paragraph from your story?
I didn’t understand the appeal, I truly didn’t, but after months of muttering “I don’t know why I like this, but I do,” I accepted it without question.” That, in a nutshell, has been my experience, and hearing it from other people has always made me feel better. I wanted to pass on that “oh good, I’m not the only one” feeling.
I decided that “Risk and Reward” is an applicable theme for Please,
Sir. Does this theme resonate with you for your story?
I think it does. The narrator takes a bit of a risk bringing up the subject, even though it’s not explicitly stated. She doesn’t know how her husband is going to react, and it can be scary rocking the boat in an established relationship, when you have a lot to lose.
Is this story similar to or different from the other erotica you’ve written?
Both. I write a lot of different erotica. I think it’s thematically closest to my story “When in Rome,” in that both stories deal with first or early experiences in D/s and with the risk of altering an established relationship.
What do you think makes an erotica story successful?
For erotica specifically, the heat has to be to purpose. Regardless of how explicit you get (some stories call for very, some call for hardly at all), the sex has to be important to the story.
Do you have any advice for budding erotica writers?
Don’t be afraid to experiment with your writing. Write a lot. If you don’t practice you won’t improve. Listen to your inner critic above all others – a lot of people will not get your work, so take outside opinion with that in mind. Pay attention to the possibilities that are all around you every day.
Ask “what if?” a lot! Love what you do.
What are you working on now?
I’m working on a couple of short stories and a novella, and trying to decide what novel I want to work on next.
Order Please, Sir from:
This is the first in a series of interviews with contributors to the anthology Please, Sir: Erotic Stories of Female Submission (Cleis Press), forthcoming in April 2010. (Read the first interview, with Emerald about kinky Krav Mag, here.)
Name: Isabelle Gray
URL: www.pettyfictions.com
How did you come up with the idea for your story, “Veronica’s Body,” in Please, Sir?
I saw an episode of a daytime talk show years ago discussing a book called The Surrendered Wife about women who literally surrender to their husbands in every way possible, from minor household decisions to matters of far greater importance as well as in the bedroom. Being what you might call uppity, I wondered what it would be like to surrender to your husband sexually whenever he wanted and I thought that was kind of hot so I wrote about this couple and this smart, capable woman who surrenders herself to her husband willingly.
Was it a challenging story or did the writing come easily?
At first, the story was challenging because surrender is not something that comes easily to me, but once I allowed myself to go there, the writing was easy and I felt like I had a really good sense of this couple and how they would be with one another.
Do you have a favorite sentence or paragraph from your story?
I do!
Oh wait, I suppose I should share which one:
On their wedding night, Vince told Veronica that he didn’t believe in punishment. He believed in discipline. Then he taught her the difference.
I decided that “Risk and Reward” is an applicable theme for Please, Sir. Does this theme resonate with you for your story?
That’s a great theme. Submission or surrender is a difficult thing. It requires trust both in yourself and your partner. It often requires endurance. That’s a whole lot of risk, to place your mind, your body in someone else’s hands but the reward is equally gratifying because surrender can be so freeing–to just let go, to allow yourself to move beyond your limits, I find that so powerful.
Is this story similar to or different from the other erotica you’ve written?
Probably similar. I tend to write the same kind of story over and over. Luckily, it’s a pretty good story.
What do you think makes an erotica story successful?
Good erotica turns me on. I know that’s what everyone says but its true. When I read a story and I feel it in my gut, when I’m squirming in my chair, I know I’m reading something good.
Do you have any advice for budding erotica writers?
Get a thesaurus. Having sex helps, too.
What are you working on now?
Thanks for asking! My alter ego has an anthology of her own, Girl Crush, coming out early this summer.
Pre-order Please, Sir from:
This is the first in a series of interviews with contributors to the anthology Please, Sir: Erotic Stories of Female Submission (Cleis Press), forthcoming in April 2010.
Name: Emerald
URL: http://www.thegreenlightdistrict.org
How did you come up with the idea for your story in Please, Sir?
I have taken Krav Maga classes before, and in a city where I used to live, I had an instructor on whom the character Dominic is based. I found it mesmerizing to watch him, and indeed I had a crush on him.
The autobiography in the story stops at the point when Jackie agrees to train with Dominic aloneæI did show up for a Saturday class one time and was the only one there. The quote from Dominic in the story, “If you want to stay, I’ll work you,” is verbatim from my instructor that day, and I remember feeling quite affected by that phrasing…
However, I declined since I was the only student there and left that day. But it has crossed my consciousness since what might have happened (or what I wanted to happen!) that day had I stayed. This story is that carried out in fictional form.
Was it a challenging story or did the writing come easily?
What I found challenging was capturing the intensity of the attraction I personally feltænot only did I remember feeling it, but I felt it again as I wrote the story. While the events of “Power over Power” are not autobiographical, the attraction and intensity were. Feeling this so forthrightly as I was in the process of writing the story seemed daunting sometimes, as I wasn’t sure if it was being translated effectively via the writing.
There was an aspect of ease, however, in that there wasn’t very much research involved since I have taken Krav Maga myself, and many of the things Dominic says in the story are things I heard my aforementioned instructor say. I enjoyed incorporating some of the ones that have particularly stayed with me into this story.
Do you have a favorite sentence or paragraph from your story?
Actually the paragraph excerpted in the book’s introduction is one of my favorites. In addition to that one, I would say this:
Despite the subject matter, there was no bravado or machismo in his countenance. I had seen from the pictures and accompanying labels hanging in the lobby that Dominic instructed traditional martial arts as well as Krav Maga. While I had never taken any myself, I sensed in him the understated confidence I had observed before in martial artist–an exquisite self-possession and understanding of their capabilities, the assurance as such that there was no need to prove anything to anyone. It was like they had power over their own power. It served them rather than the other way around. There was no compulsion to use it, to put it on display; it was just there, second nature, if it was ever needed.
I decided that “Risk and Reward” is an applicable theme for Please, Sir. Does this theme resonate with you for your story?
Indeed. My story doesn’t contain very much actual bondage, hardcore sadism/masochism, etc. But there is not only the risk of rejection in Jacqueline’s sexually approaching Dominic, there is also one she doesn’t even realize in Dominic’s consistent demand of authenticityæof what is really there, not settling for resisting what is uncomfortable in us, of the understanding that really, power is turning toward that and becoming aware of it and seeing what it really is or where it really comes from.
So in approaching Dominic as she does, Jackie is, without being consciously aware of it, risking the comfort of allowing that unconsciousness to remain unseen and inviting through Dominic’s guidance the discomfort of facing what is in her that she doesn’t want or like to face. Ironically, what she thinks she is going to get is just a more intense experience of avoiding it as she has done. While she is not consciously aware of that particular risk, it seems to me that a subconscious or intuitive awareness of what awaits her may account for the intensity of the attraction she feels for Dominic. Something inside her may know that that uncovering and demand is what she needs, even if consciously she wouldn’t have recognized it.
Is this story similar to or different from the other erotica you’ve written?
I think while of course the subject matter and perhaps the emphasis on the power connection and interplay between characters may contrast with many other things I’ve written, I see a similarity to some of my other work in the touching on or examination of self-awareness. To me the import of self-awareness may hardly be overestimated, and how it may connect with/relate to sexuality is something I find fascinating. (I’d guess that’s one of the reasons I’ve so loved to writing erotica.) In this story I felt like I really got to expose that, which I much enjoyed.
What do you think makes an erotica story successful?
The same thing that makes anything successful, if one wants to use that word: authenticity.
There is a quote from Eckhart Tolle that resonates with me so much that I have restated it frequently: “[O]ur level of consciousness is primary, all else secondary.” (A New Earth p. 266.) To me that means the place where something comes from inside or through us, the energy with which it is created, is what holds its aliveness as an offering. The level of consciousness or sincerity used in the creation of the story (or any offering) is that which it tends to touch in others. It doesn’t matter what the subject or offering is.
Do you have any advice for budding erotica writers?
I don’t necessarily feel in a position to be dispensing advice on the subject, but what resonates with me about writing (and creating, and living in general) reflects the answer I gave to the previous question.
Practically speaking, I highly recommend the Erotica Readers and Writers Association website (http://www.erotica-writers.com). For information about publishing calls, promoting one’s work, technical aspects of writing, and more, I have consistently found ERWA a wealth of information for the erotica writer.
What are you working on now?
I have a new story coming soon at The Erotic Woman and am slated to be a guest blogger at Oh Get A Grip on May 1 (my birthday). I’m also excited to be scheduled to read at In The Flesh in New York on April 15!
Beyond that I am, as usual, in the midst of about half a dozen short stories at various levels of completeness. Also as usual, a few of them have submission deadlines, which I appreciate as they help keep me on track!
Pre-order Please, Sir from:
Yes, Sir: Erotic Stories of Female Submission
Click here to read introduction and table of contents
Click here to buy on Amazon.com
He's on Top: Erotic Stories of Male Dominance and Female Submission
Click here to read erotic story samples
Click here to buy on Amazon.com
