Archive for Sex+ Diversion
Tricks, Treats, and a Rendition With Reverence
I watched Dangerous Beauty for the first time last November. As the end credits began, I knew I wanted to be Veronica Franco for Halloween the following year.
Eleven months later, that desire had not abated an iota—and it was time to bring it to fruition. Rick Write and I hosted a Halloween party this year on Saturday (October 29). With a number of other things going on, including readying the house for a party a couple months after my having moved in, I felt I was leaving preparing my costume somewhat until the last minute. But when I began to focus on it, beginning mostly with a trip to my favorite fabric store (after revisiting the movie with the specific aim of studying the dress I had chosen to pattern my costume after), its conception seemed to come together smoothly. I won’t say I didn’t find it time-consuming and at times challenging, but it came together in a way I enjoyed and much appreciate.
Before I give the wrong impression, I do not know much about sewing! I did not “make” my costume. I do not own a sewing machine or any such thing—the last time I used one was when I was in 4-H, probably in my pre-teens. But I knew I really wanted to do justice to representing Veronica Franco, and to me that meant customizing something that really seemed to reflect what I had seen her represented as wearing. In this case, it was quite helpful that there was a movie based on parts of her life so that I got to pattern my costume after something her character wore in it. There is an actual portrait that was done of Veronica that is replicated on the cover of the book on which the movie is based (The Honest Courtesan by Margaret Rosenthal), but it’s only from the shoulders up, and I found it hard to tell what the outfit she’s wearing in it really looked like. So I went by what I saw in the movie.
I found that I had missed quite a bit of detail in what I remembered of the outfit I wanted to imitate when I went back to the scenes in which it is displayed. After studying Veronica’s attire and physical appearance in these scenes several times, pausing and making notes (yes, really :)), the vision of how I wanted to put together the costume formed in my consciousness. I wasn’t sure exactly what materials I would use or what I would find in a search for them, but I went off to the fabric store to see if what I wanted presented itself or perhaps the store held some surprises.
It did indeed. When I first walked by and spotted the fabric I ended up using to make the sleeves of the outfit I wore, it truly almost took my breath away. Though it didn’t really display colors I would usually find so appealing (the shade of green was darker and more muted than that to which I’ve usually found myself attracted), for whatever reason the fabric struck me when I saw it as possibly the most beautiful I’d ever seen. I knew I wanted to use it, though I also knew it was a bit of a stretch since the lace for sleeves displayed in the movie usually appeared plain white or beige and not necessarily the focal point of the outfit. However, the straps and border of the top of the dress in question worn by Veronica’s character in the movie were very intricate and elaborate, and I knew the corset I planned to use for the top was not decorated so much as such, so it vaguely occurred to me to take the liberty of switching it around a little and allowing the sleeves a focal extravagance since my corset was a little plainer.
I did, however, plan to somehow make the straps highly decorated as they are in the movie. So with a combination of a border I bought at the fabric store, four costume “diamond necklaces” from the Halloween store, and my (what seem to me) pretty limited sewing skills, I did my best to fulfill this. I did buy the incredible fabric for the sleeves, and in addition to using it as such I ran a band of it along the top of my corset to imitate the lushness of the top of the dress she wears in the move. The color and fanciness of the sleeves may still seem a bit divergent from the representation(s) in the movie, but it was a liberty I ultimately chose to take, feeling it did not detract from my aim in spirit to do the rendition of Veronica Franco justice.
The fabric store also provided the fabric I used for the skirt, and as I had forgotten to bring my corset with me to do my best to match the color, I was pleasantly impressed and astounded by just how exactly the shade of the fabric I bought for the skirt seemed to match my corset. I basically created the skirt by winding the fabric around my waist, sewing the gathering into the back, and connecting it slightly at the top in the front (in the movie, the skirt part of the dress appears open almost all the way to the top and simply drapes closed most of the time when she’s not walking).
The dress I was imitating is in the first 1:42 minutes of the clip found here of Dangerous Beauty. The hairstyle I imitated is more like the one displayed in this clip from about 8:00 to 8:35, though I did include the pearls shown in the previous one.
We did not get to take as many pictures as I would have liked given that, shockingly enough, I did not manage to be ready as far in advance of the party as I planned. So our pictures were taken after guests arrived among mingling and eating. :) I do feel the gist of the costume was captured, however, and I much appreciate Rick Write’s time, willingness, and skill in acting as my photographer!
Happy Halloween all!
Love,
Emerald
“Come with us and you will see…this is Halloween, everybody make a scene…”
-Marilyn Manson “This Is Halloween”
One of My Favorite Cities, with One of My Favorite Communities
The Strip in Las Vegas!
The short version is, I had an extraordinary and amazing time in Las Vegas at the Erotic Authors Association conference. But it is the long version that I have taken weeks to post here, and it thus follows shortly. I want to say first, though, that there are a number of great write-ups already out there from others who attended the conference (and blogged about it a lot more promptly than I, obviously)—they have been compiled by the utterly lovely Jade, whom I had the pleasure of meeting during the weekend, on her blog, Pieces of Jade. And do also check out the article the lovely Lynn Comella wrote about the conference for her column at the Las Vegas Weekly!
Okay, on to my own account…the truth is, I have felt exceptionally busy lately in a way I’ve found somewhat draining and disorienting. I moved in with Rick Write at the end of July, and since then I have left for previously-scheduled out of town trips five times. I have enjoyed and appreciated them, to be sure—it’s just that I’m also trying to unpack and organize and get a house in order, and the commute I had to one of the jobs I hold and some of the other places I regularly visit has approximately doubled, making some days include about four hours of driving.
So the fact is that right before I left for Las Vegas for the EAA conference, I felt some degree of trepidation. I didn’t really want to go out of town again, even though I felt excitement about the conference, and I was looking for an opportunity to just stay in one place for a while and put together my part of the house in which I’m now living. That’s one reason my trip was scheduled to be so short—I spent almost exactly 48 hours in Las Vegas. (Vegas, incidentally, is one of my favorite places I’ve ever been, so despite feeling what I just described, it did feel strange to not jump at the chance to spend extended time there!)
The degree to which I enjoyed the EAA conference blew any and all such concerns straight out of my consciousness. From the second I arrived, I was reminded of my intense love affair with Las Vegas, and as soon as I stepped foot in the hotel after a cab ride with a driver I found utterly delightful, I got to go up and see the extraordinary Tess Danesi, who had generously offered to let me share her room. Seeing her (and being her roommate for the weekend) was a complete delight, and my experience of the conference never fell below that introductory level of loveliness the entire the time I was there. To be candid, incidentally, I have tended to feel some wariness about sharing living quarters with people, and I experienced no such discomfort at all rooming with Tess. I could not have asked for a more enchanting lodging arrangement. :)
On that note, the thing I probably enjoyed most about the conference was one of the main reasons I went—which was to meet and interact with in person so many of the writers I’ve known or met online. I met or got to see loads of people with whom I was delighted to spend time, including (but not limited to as I will probably forget some) Andrea Dale—who is even more awesome in person than she is online—Aisling Weaver, Jean Roberta, Jolie du Pre, K D Grace, Sharazade, and Kathleen Bradean—who, of course, was in charge of this weekend-long shindig and is due much credit for her organizing and leadership in bringing it to fruition (big thanks Kathleen!).
I met some people I had not known or interacted with previously, like Siobhan Muir (with whom I look forward to doing an interview in a couple months when Best Erotic Romance comes out!), the aforementioned Jade Melisande, and Remittance Girl. And I got to see people I’d already had the pleasure of meeting in person and was thrilled to see again, like Tess, Rachel Kramer Bussel, D. L. King, Susana Mayer, Lara Riscol, and Lynn Comella. All of which was worth making the trip in and of itself!
In particular, in addition to the beautiful experience of sharing a room with Tess, whom I found a truly stellar roommate, I got to spend extended time, or more than I usually have before, with Rachel (Kramer Bussel), which was a real treat (ha—that reminds me of her story “Vegas Treat”!). And at the closing cocktail reception I approached Graydancer, whom I’d found intriguingly compelling during the panel of which he’d been a part and also while he had tied up Sharazade during the reception. Meeting him was one of the more extraordinary and memorable experiences I’d had in a while, and I feel gratitude to have had the opportunity.
Also at the closing reception on Saturday, I met the legendary M. Christian. I was pleased to have the opportunity to share with him that his was one of the first names I remember encountering and appreciating years ago when I discovered the Erotica Readers and Writers Association (Ashley Lister‘s is the other one) and that I had particularly appreciated his offering on how to write a cover letter. I was pleasantly shocked when he pulled out a copy of his book How to Write and Sell Erotica and graciously offered it to me! I began reading it on the airplane home and so appreciate this generous gesture on his part.
Susana Mayer, proprietor of The Erotic Literary Salon in Philadelphia (the destination of my second travel trip in September) brought the Salon on tour in Las Vegas, and she and Rachel Kramer Bussel co-hosted the respective reading event at the Erotic Heritage Museum—an environment which seemed to me exquisite for an erotic reading. More than 20 authors read for up to five minutes each from their or others’ work, and it was one of my favorite events of the weekend. Huge thanks to Susana and Rachel for organizing and to all who read! Below is a video of my reading from the evening, of an edited version of my story “Cougar,” which is published at the Good Vibrations Magazine (thanks to Tess for taping me!):
I did not know until I was already in Las Vegas that SlutWalk Las Vegas was occurring the Saturday night we were there. I was thrilled by this for a number of reasons: 1) I support SlutWalk; 2) it meant I would get to attend it with fabulous people whom I adore; and 3) when SlutWalk DC happened back in August, I was out of town and thus didn’t get to go. So I was delighted by the opportunity to get to attend one somewhere, this somewhere happening to be one of my favorite cities!
I profoundly enjoyed SlutWalk even though I had to skip out early to catch a cab along the Strip to go back to our hotel to pack up to leave for the airport (my flight back was a redeye Saturday night to Sunday morning). Despite that, though, I feel so much gratitude for having had the opportunity to attend SlutWalk in Las Vegas in the magnificent and extraordinary company of Tess, Rachel, Lara Riscol, and Susana Mayer.
For having felt the least bit of hesitance about going the day my flight to Vegas was to leave, the delight, energy, and gratitude I felt upon exiting the conference (and the city) was as striking to me as the glitz and brilliance of the Strip itself. I experienced a particular degree/aura of solidarity at the conference, which I have not infrequently experienced in circles attending overtly and openly to sexuality (I perceived a similar sense of cohesion at MOMENTUM in April). In this case, for me, there was the extra dynamic of being surrounded by mostly writers, something I have also tended to find intangibly resonant.
I felt a strange, pulling sadness as I left Las Vegas that Saturday night. I am not sure exactly why—I suspect there was something more involved than I was conscious of, more than simply the leaving of a city I love and interactions with people I felt profoundly heartened, appreciative, and delighted to meet and/or spend time with. It made sense that I would feel some degree of nostalgia as such, but not quite with the intensity I experienced. I appreciate the simultaneous curiosity and acceptance I feel around that.
At the airport, I tuned my iPod to the album Flamingo by Brandon Flowers, who grew up in Vegas and wrote the album not only about the city but also about the very hotel in which we stayed and after which the album is named. I’ve experienced the tone of that album as complementary to the way I felt, and I listened to it until I was seated on the plane and asked to turn all electronic devices off.
I extend heartfelt thanks to Kathleen Bradean, D. L. King, Jolie du Pre, and all others who helped with the planning and execution of the conference. I thank all who attended, especially those I got to meet, watch present, and/or enjoy spending time with. Last but not least, I extend thanks in general to all the erotica writers I know and love, including those who weren’t at the conference (who were greatly missed!) but with whom I have developed connections I so deeply appreciate and treasure. I love this community so much.
Love,
Emerald
“Welcome to fabulous Las Vegas, give us your dreamers, your harlots, and your sins…”
-Brandon Flowers “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas”
Joint Book Party for Obsessed and The Lost This Thursday!
Amongst moving, traveling, and a cold that I feel is quite close to outlasting its welcome (…which I guess it perhaps never had!), I am late in posting this, but I am very excited to be attending the joint book party for Obsessed and The Lost later this week! Specifically, the party is on Thursday, August 25 at Fontana’s in New York City. See the Facebook invite here!
The party, organized by Obsessed editor Rachel Kramer Bussel and Tied Up Events, is celebrating the release of the Obsessed anthology and The Lost by Caridad Pineiro (who wrote the foreward to Obsessed). I and fellow authors Logan Belle and Jennifer Peters will all be reading from our stories in Obsessed, and Rachel will be giving away a number of prizes and bringing, of course, free cupcakes!
I am really looking forward to attending and seeing friends from New York in just a few days! If you find yourself in the area on Thursday, we would love to see you there! :)
Love,
Emerald
“Here I am on the road again, there I am up on the stage, here I go playing star again…”
-Bob Seger “Turn the Page”
An Extraordinary Gathering (and a Gathering of the Extraordinary)
One week ago right now (that is to say, last Monday at 1:00 in the morning) I was in the bar of the hotel where the MOMENTUM: Making waves in sexuality, feminism & relationships through new media conference was held, engaging in a social hour(s…) with conference organizers Tess Danesi, Diva, and a number of the other conference attendees/presenters.
The moment I drove away from the hotel, and thus the conference, that night, I started missing it.
I experienced MOMENTUM as so extraordinary and magnificent it’s felt hard, really, to recreate it in words. The general energy of the gathering of people focused on, appreciative of, and fascinated by sexuality seemed palpable to me; I experienced this energy as vibrant, refreshing, and consistent throughout the conference, starting even before any of its official events had begun. It was like being in an energetic hot tub. In addition, Robin Sampson/Erobintica and a friend of hers came down to stay with me to attend the conference, which was an added pleasure of the weekend.
I do not feel it is an exaggeration to say that I found all of the workshops and presenters I attended/observed astonishing. The opening panel, composed of Tristan Taormino, Carol Queen, Jenny Block, Reid Mihalko and moderated by Lynn Comella, struck me as positively electrifying—serving as an appropriate tone-setter as such for the rest of the weekend. As I had followed the list of presenters in the weeks leading up to MOMENTUM’s beginning, I felt delighted and impressed by the figures Tess and Diva were securing to present there. Though I knew I felt excited to see/meet so many of them in person, I was truly blown away by the power and energy I experienced when the time came from the presentations I had the privilege of experiencing.
Saturday began for me with Megan Andelloux‘s workshop on educating about sexual health and pleasure. I’ve known of Megan since the story of the controversy about her Center for Sexual Pleasure and Health was reported on Good Vibrations Magazine in 2009, resulting in my immediate support for her endeavor and its success. Shortly after that I became acquainted with her online, and it was a delight to get to meet her in person and certainly to see her present. Also on Saturday I had the unexpected fascination of attending the impromptu presentation by Constance Penley, who was at the conference and filled in for another speaker who had canceled. Constance served as an expert witness in last year’s obscenity trial of John Stagliano, and I found it utterly riveting to hear her behind-the-scenes account and perspective of such.
Early Sunday morning saw a panel I found starkly fascinating and informative in Sex Positive Interventions: The Feminist Sex Wars and Beyond presented by Lynn Comella and Carol Queen. Later Sunday, having found his energy distinctly compelling during the opening panel Friday night, I attended the presentation of Reid Mihalko, my meeting of whom was one of my favorite parts of the conference. The conference closed Sunday afternoon with an open-to-the-public discussion from Tristan Taormino and Susie Bright, which it probably goes without saying I found magnificent.
After all the official offerings were said and done, it was with the social gathering at the bar Sunday evening that the conference weekend ended for me. This was one of my favorite aspects of the conference—the opportunity to personally interact with the others there (this happened Saturday night too, when Rachel Kramer Bussel was still in town and I got to see her—and eat one of the cupcakes she brought!—at MOMENTUM headquarters [i.e., Tess and Diva’s hotel suite] for a while). Here I got to spend much more time with Tess, Diva, Lynn, Reid, and others as well as connect for the first time with the lovely and delightful Greg DeLong, co-founder and designer of (the gorgeous!) njoy sex toys.
At one of my former day jobs at a nonprofit dedicated to supporting and protecting reproductive health and rights, we were asked at a board meeting one time to go around the room and introduce ourselves and say something we found inspiring. When it got to me, I said that I found it inspiring to be in a room full of people that I knew cared about this issue as much as I did—so much that they would devote their livelihood or time or resources to it and convene at this gathering where embodying and expressing such were at the forefront of our consciousness. Historically I have tended to profoundly appreciate being in the presence of such gatherings, to witness physically the existence of people who experience the same intensity and clarity about a subject that feels so important to me.
That’s how I felt at MOMENTUM. And immediately after I left Sunday night, I missed that camaraderie, the feeling/knowing I was surrounded physically by people who care as much about exploring, discussing, and appreciating sexuality as I do and the warm feeling of knowing I would be going back to that and surrounded by it again the next day. I relate to the description found here that fellow conference attendee (presenter, actually) Leela wrote about this phenomenon.
In summary, what an amazing conference. A result, of course, of amazing creators and organizers Tess and Diva, to whom I extend profound and enormous thanks—not only am I so appreciative of and impressed by what they created and convened, I am truly thrilled that I had the opportunity to personally be a part of it.
I can hardly wait for MOMENTUM 2012.
Love,
Emerald
-LIVE “All I Need”
Call-in Radio Chat with Rachel Kramer Bussel and Authors Today!
I’ve just returned from Florida so am rather late announcing this, but today (Saturday, March 19) at 2:00 p.m. Eastern U.S. Time (which is in an hour!), there will be a live call-in chat on BlogTalkRadio for Rachel Kramer Bussel‘s brand new brand new Online Book Club! The club debuted last week, and today’s chat will be recorded and archived afterward as well.
I will be one of the authors on the call today, and listener call-ins are welcome. The call-in number is 626-414-3413, and the call will be for one hour. Find all the details here. Feel free to join us just to listen in, and if you feel so moved to call, we’d love to hear from you!
UPDATE: The call-in chat, which included host Rachel Kramer Bussel and authors Mercy Loomis, Tenille Brown, Elizabeth Daniels, and myself, has taken place and been archived! It may be found here or listened to here via this widget:Emerald
“Operator, won’t you put me on through…hurry up, won’t you put her on the line, I gotta talk to the girl just one more time…”
-Garth Brooks “Callin’ Baton Rouge”
Video from the Philadelphia Erotic Literary Salon!
With what has seemed like almost constant holiday travel and festivities starting immediately after I was in Philadelphia last month, I feel like I’ve hardly been online the last few weeks. I just arrived back home last night, and one of my first orders of business has been posting the video(s) of my reading from December 21 at the Philadelphia Erotic Literary Salon on YouTube—where they are now live! Since it seems I went a little over my allotted 15 minutes (sorry Susana!), and YouTube only allows videos to be up to 15 minutes in length, I had to divide it into two segments.
Each is approximately eight minutes long, and I have embedded them here for any interested viewers. :) Once again, I was reading my story “Power over Power,” published by Cleis Press in Rachel Kramer Bussel‘s anthology Please, Sir: Erotic Stories of Female Submission.
Part 2:
Love,
Emerald
-David Cook “The Time of My Life”
The Philadelphia Erotic Literary Salon Rocks!
Anyway, I enormously enjoyed The Erotic Literary Salon and really recommend checking it out and/or attending it in general to all in the Philadelphia area. If I lived there, I suspect I surely would! The Salon is held the third Tuesday of each month, and the press release here contains the details about each month’s upcoming Salon and featured reader. Also, I was really remiss in forgetting to thank the numerous audience member readers tonight once I got to the microphone (an indication of nervousness, I suspect!). As was the case when I attended last month as well, I was deeply impressed by and appreciative of the open-mic readers’ offerings. It was an honor, and humbling, tonight to follow them.
I want to thank once again the founder and organizer of the Salon, Susana Mayer, for inviting me to be the featured reader this month and for creating such an incredible event that so many of the participants seem, in my experience, to enjoy so much. And a big thank you as well again to Jeremy Edwards for putting Susana in touch with me!
I also want to extend special thanks to Erobintica, who was also there tonight (and read one of her flashers from one of Alison Tyler‘s past flasher contests). Tonight was the fourth time Robin has been with me immediately prior to my doing a reading, and each time I have experienced her as exhibiting the same graciousness, patience, and support amidst (and, um, sometimes in response to) my running around like a grasshopper on speed—even the two times she was reading herself at the event in question (and apparently not seeming nearly as frazzled in preparation as I!). I appreciate it very much, and I thank her for not only her support again tonight but also for her presence at the Salon, which she too traveled to attend.
Incidentally, Robin also helped with videotaping my reading, which I plan to put up as soon as I 1) discern or attain help from someone who knows how to discern how to do such a thing, and 2) am not in the middle of packing for or traveling for the holiday season.
In the meantime, happy (slightly belated) Winter Solstice, and lovely Winter in general to all!
Love,
Emerald
-Wang Chung “Everybody Have Fun Tonight”
Only a Week Away!
December’s Philadelphia Erotic Literary Salon is just one week away! I am so excited to be the featured reader at the Salon for December and thank founder and host Susana Mayer again for inviting me (and fellow author Jeremy Edwards for introducing us).
I visited the Salon for the first time last month and read as an audience member—the Salon includes an open-mic segment, and audience members may have up to five minutes to read their own work or the work of others—relaying an edited version of my short piece “Play for Me” (published in 2008 at Good Vibrations Magazine). The featured reader is allotted up to 15 minutes to read, and next week I plan to read my story “Power over Power” from Rachel Kramer Bussel‘s anthology Please, Sir: Erotic Stories of Female Submission.
The Erotic Literary Salon has in the past hosted such featured readers as Jeremy Edwards, Robin “Erobintica” Sampson, and Heidi Champa, and I am delighted to soon be keeping such company. :) Details about the event may be found in the press release here, and of course I’ll post a reminder again next week!
Love,
Emerald
“Well conveniently enough, I want to fuck you too, Jackie,” Dominic whispered smoothly, and my legs trembled. “And I think I know what you want me to do. You want me to hold you down, fuck you hard, get pretty rough with you.” I wondered if for the first time I would come without actually being touched. “You’re looking for power. In your own way, getting fucked rough like that will make you feel powerful. Is that right?” My vision was becoming fuzzy, and I could hardly make sense of the words he was saying.
-from “Power over Power”
