Archive for Sex+ Writing: Others’
Power, the Ocean, and “Changing Tides” #MFRWsteam
Welcome to the MFRW Steam Hop! While this is somehow my first time participating in it, the Steam Hop was conceived and initiated last year for MFRW (Marketing for Romance Writers) authors promoting fiction that tends to be rated, say, hard “R” and above. Since I write erotica, that definitely includes me! (Please note: That also means the below excerpt will be sexually explicit. Proceed—or not—as desired.) Led by Lisabet Sarai, the Steam Hop takes place on the second Tuesday of each month. Please check the list below to visit all the other authors participating this time around!
I’ve been recalling the ocean quite a bit lately, in part because it’s close to the time of year I’ve historically traveled with my family to southern Florida. Coronavirus precautions kept us from gathering this year, and I’ve missed getting to visit the ocean. “Changing Tides,” which is one of the four original stories from my latest collection Initiative: Tales of Erotic Boldness, was inspired by these annual seaside trips. Told from the point of view of Ray, an ambitious but recently disillusioned businessperson on the cusp of his fortieth birthday, “Changing Tides” details his introduction to Sabrina, a mysterious fifty-something widow, as he visits coastal Florida with his dog Jameison.
Charity Sunday: World Wildlife Fund
I’m sneaking in under the (deadline) wire to participate in this month’s Charity Sunday, hosted by author Lisabet Sarai. Charity Sunday, which takes place on the last Sunday of each month, is a blog meme that invites authors to choose a charity to support and donate a set amount to said charity for each comment received on their respective post. I appreciate the generous nature of this meme and am grateful to Lisabet for conceiving of and hosting it, and I am glad to participate this month! Please see the link list at the bottom of this post to visit the other participants of today’s Charity Sunday.
Usually, I would be likely to choose a more local charity, but it happens that the well-being of wildlife is resonating deeply with me right now. I appreciate the World Wildlife Fund‘s (WWF) mission and work on its behalf, and I am happy to donate $3.00 per comment left on this post to their worldwide work.
The Erotic Literary Salon 12th Anniversary Party (Online)!
Longtime readers of this blog may remember several previous appearances I have made at the remarkable Philadelphia Erotic Literary Salon founded and curated by Susana Mayer. It is indeed a venue I have truly appreciated, both on my own behalf as a place Susana has graciously offered me to promote my own work, and also as a space to offer attendees to write, read, and/or take in erotic words spoken out loud. Susana had a beautiful—and obviously accurate—notion that such a space seemed to be largely missing in our culture, as well as desired, whether overtly or on an underlying level.
And here we are twelve years later…with the Erotic Literary Salon still meeting the third Tuesday of each month and going stronger than ever! Under the current circumstances, the Salon has moved online and, as it was in April, will be held via Zoom this month. Tuesday, May 19, will mark—as well as celebrate—the twelfth anniversary of the Salon’s existence!
In addition to this celebration, I am honored that Susana has offered me the opportunity to read from my brand new short story collection, Initiative: Tales of Erotic Boldness. I don’t know which story I will read from yet, but I am so appreciative, as usual, to have the opportunity to do so for her audience. While the reasons for the move online are obviously sobering, the Zoom setting also offers the opportunity for attendance from those for whom travel to Philadelphia has been untenable.
Given this new online setting, Susana is only charging $5 (half the usual price of admission) to attend the Salon while the event and its audience adjust to its new virtual environment. Ticket sales will stop Monday, May 18, so this weekend is the time to procure yours!
For more information about the Salon or how to sign up to read at it, as well as a link to a basic Zoom tutorial, please visit the Salon website. Thank you, and we would love for you to virtually join us on Tuesday!
Love,
Emerald
“We light it up, we won’t come down, and the walls can’t stop us now…” –The Greatest Showman Original Motion Picture Soundtrack “The Greatest Show”
A Little Bit of Sunshine #MFRWhooks #MFRWauthor
I’m participating in Marketing for Romance Writers (MFRW) Book Hooks today—a weekly meme that gives authors the opportunity to showcase their work and readers an opportunity to find their next read!
This is an excerpt from my brand new short story collection, Initiative: Tales of Erotic Boldness, which just released on May 1. It’s from the story “Sunshine”:
The Poignant Beauty of Bound: A Daughter, A Domme, and an End-of-Life Story
In November of 2012, a post from Elizabeth Anne Wood, whom I know in person and am Facebook friends with, appeared in my Facebook feed. It said that she was “putting [her] phone on silent overnight for the first time in seven months.” I remember finding the statement deeply poignant. I had learned from a post two days before that her mother was no longer alive in that physical form.
I had been peripherally aware via Facebook that Elizabeth had been caring for her mother through an intensive and terminal illness. Not long after, I learned that Elizabeth planned to write a book about the experience of being her mother’s caretaker during the health challenges that arose shortly after her mother’s later-in-life sexual exploration and foray into erotic domination. I made an immediate note to read it when it came out.
