Guest Blog - Author Raven J. Spencer on her "A Perfect Dream" Universe

Writing Erotica: The A Perfect Dream Universe

Until I tried my hand at writing erotica, I had no idea how liberating it would be, opening up a whole new world, but it soon made sense to me.

Out in the real world, women’s sexuality is always under scrutiny and subject to judgment, more or less. There are consequences for not being in line with society’s expectations, slut-shaming, online and in everyday life. Writing erotica is breaking the rules, the mold of what women are expected to be. The women in those stories aren’t what society expects them to be.

When I had an idea and ran with it, I didn’t yet know that it would be the beginning of the A Perfect Dream universe, which is a kind of erotic utopia. The story was there one day, inspired by the image of a bathroom on some TV show, where ominous looking screen doors separated the master bedroom and the bath. Ideal if you invite someone to look in on you...

A Perfect Dream was born, and with it came Beatrice. The wife of a conservative lobbyist who is stuck in a loveless, sexless marriage, escapes her reality with erotic getaways for women only. She can’t imagine ever coming out, afraid of the looks and talk behind her back, until she meets another woman who might change her mind on the issue.

The women who attend the exclusive parties go for safe and consensual encounters in a discreet setting—anything goes as long as everyone included gives their consent. Kinks and fantasies are not questioned. Some are looking to meet someone…The One, even. Most aren’t, and that’s okay too. For every guest at the party, A Perfect Dream offers an escape from their lives, but also a chance: Free from society’s boundaries, they can explore their sexuality, their hopes, and who they really are. It changes them. For some, it means to try once and never come back. Others have found the perfect place they want to return to again and again.

My latest release, Off Screen, is a standalone within the same universe, and it explores the live of two actresses who play in the movies that party guests can rent or buy. The story does not attempt to paint an exact picture of the industry, on the contrary.

Like with the parties, there are rules to keep everyone safe, a framework in which the women involved defy the usual status quo. After this one, we’ll go back to the timeline of A Perfect Dream. In each story, we’ll have the unique point of view of one character, but meet with ones that are already familiar, so all instalments are connected.

In general, I wanted to dream up a world in which women have complete control over their bodies and what happens to them. There’s a happy and carefree atmosphere to these getaways, even though the women have to confront their actions and feelings.

There are different angles to the stories: One is the question of when coming out is unavoidable, and once that step is done, is there still the need for a secret place? Another is the fact that at those parties, the women do everything society would judge them for, regardless of their sexual orientation: Casual sex, multiple partners, every possible taboo—so there’s still a need for discretion.

Fantasy and reality aren’t always the same, so A Perfect Dream stories also explore questions of monogamy and commitment, and what this means to the characters in the setting of the parties, or in their homes.

Lastly, my intent is to provide fun and sensual stories spiced up with politics—because women in control are sexy.

Social Media links:

Blog: http://ravenspencer.blogspot.ca/ 

Facebook: http://on.fb.me/WsPXWX

Twitter: https://twitter.com/RavenJSpencer

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/ravenjspencer/

Goodreads: http://bit.ly/1nOHrqB

Buy links:

Raven J. Spencer on Amazon

Guest Blog - Author Cheyenne Blue on "Blue Woman Stories, Vol. 1"

Non-Exotica
 

G’day, I’m Cheyenne Blue, and I’m very happy to be here guest posting on Emily L. Byrne’s blog. Thanks, Emily.

I’m just back from a trip to Thailand.  While most of the time was spent in the rural north, I spent a couple of days with my brother who lives in the south with his Thai wife.  

My brother thinks he knows what I write. He knows I write lesbian and heterosexual erotica and romance, but (to my knowledge) he’s never read anything I’ve written. But from these skeletal facts he feels perfectly qualified to make a raft of assumptions as to the content of my stories.  When I said I was coming for a visit, he said, with a snigger, that Thailand would be the perfect place for me to research some stories.   When prompted, he expanded his comment to talk about Bangkok’s sex shows, sex workers, and ladyboys and everything that is for sale.  

Now sex shows, sex workers, and ladyboys are wonderful subjects for stories (and I’ve read some excellent ones) but he’s assuming that an erotic story must encapsulate the seamier side of sex, a power differential, a male-dominated world, where sex is a commodity, something to be taken instead of shared.  He’s assuming that my stories reflect this brasher, more obvious side of sex.

He’s wrong. 

The stories that turn me on aren’t about the misuse of the power gradient between two people, such as my brother imagines.  They’re about a shared experience, equal enjoyment for all parties.  I love stories that can place me in the experience, whatever that may be.  Sure, I love exotic stories, set in faraway places, with big, bold characters, the rich and famous, those with unusual and dangerous careers, with a back story that places them above the ordinary.  But my favourite stories are often set in everyday places, with characters I can relate to.  Here, the beauty is in the telling, and these are the ones I find most enduring.

Many of my stories are about everyday people finding love and lust in their everyday life.  Recently I’ve written about a tomato grower in Queensland, a mature lady falling in lust at a wine and cheese group, and a security guard and a card counter (well… maybe that one’s slightly out of the ordinary!)

After writing lesbian erotica for nearly 15 years now, I’m extremely proud that Ladylit Publishing (www.ladylit.com) has stepped up and the first mini-collection of my work, Blue Woman Stories Volume 1: collected lesbian erotica of Cheyenne Blue, is already out there.  In the five stories contained in this ebook, you’ll find stories about best friends connecting in the French countryside, a cop sent to investigate a suspected dope grower who finds an unexpected connection in a tropical garden, and a long-term couple relate a fantasy—or is it?  There’s conflict when a mountain cattlewoman comes up against a greenie on the opposite side of an ecological issue, and on a rainy Dublin night a couple nearly comes to blows over habitual lateness.

Blue Woman Stories Volume 2 is out on 26 November 2014 also from Ladylit, with five more of my best and favourite erotic lesbian stories.  Opposites attract in the Colorado Rockies, an unwitting voyeur has an eye-opening encounter on an Irish ferry, and love takes a lifetime to arrive in the poignant Glory B.  

You can find details of Blue Woman Stories Volume 1 (http://www.ladylit.com/books/blue-woman-stories-volume-1-by-cheyenne-blue/ )and Blue Woman Stories Volume 2, (http://www.ladylit.com/books/blue-woman-stories-volume-2-by-cheyenne-blue/)  over at Ladylit. 

Please do check me out!  I hope you enjoy the stories.

Cheyenne Blue’s erotic fiction has been included in over 90 erotic anthologies since 2000, including Best Lesbian Erotica, Best Women’s Erotica, Sweat, Bossy, and Wild Girls, Wild Nights. She is the editor of Forbidden Fruit: stories of unwise lesbian desire (Ladylit). Under her own name she has written travel books and articles, and edited anthologies of local writing in Ireland. She has lived in the U.K., Ireland, Colorado, and Switzerland, but now writes, runs, makes bread and cheese, and drinks wine by the beach in Queensland, Australia. Check out her blog at www.cheyenneblue.com, on Twitter at IamCheyenneBlue and on Goodreads at https://www.goodreads.com/CheyenneBlue  

Guest Blog Post - Author Emily Ryan on "Get Me Through the Night"

A big thanks to Emily for letting me be a guest on her blog. I’m really happy to have the opportunity to talk about my newest book, Get Me Through the Night.

I started writing this book longhand in a spiral notebook over ten years ago, and at some point I put it in a drawer and stopped writing for many years. I had this idea of a very repressed character that was only able to discover herself and her sexuality when she started experiencing the memories of someone else: her dead childhood friend. The story evolved into a ghost story, and while I may have taken an extended break from writing it, the idea never left me. About four years ago, I tracked down my old spiral notebook and began writing again (this time with a computer). I was surprised to see how the language and story I’d established so long ago was still exactly what I had in my mind.

Excerpt:

As I was wiping the water off of my face, I looked at myself in the mirror. Before my eyes, the reflection in front of me changed to Izzy’s. I saw her dark eyes staring back at me. She looked exactly like she did in high school. I let out a gasp, but the reflection remained unchanged. I stared at her face, her round forehead, the curve of her upper lip, the mole on her left cheek, the arch in her right eyebrow that was slightly higher than her left. There was no question that I was looking at the face of my best friend. I glanced around my bathroom, and I realized I was no longer in my bathroom. This bathroom was...nicer. It had beige walls, a marble top vanity, a stone tile floor, and a container with potpourri on top of the vanity. I looked down at my own body and realized that it wasn’t mine either. The breasts were larger, and I was shorter. It was Izzy’s body that I was seeing. It took me a moment to realize that I didn’t have control of the body I was in. It was as if I’d been planted in Izzy’s body from fourteen years ago. She was washing her hands in the sink--I recognized her hands--and I could feel the warmth of the water and the slipperiness of the soap between her hands and fingers. She dried her hands on the towel hanging from the towel rack, and she gave herself a nervous smile in the mirror before leaving the bathroom.

She walked down a hallway and into a living room that I recognized as Elena’s. A younger Elena sat on the couch with her feet tucked under her, and she looked up at me with a sweet smile.

“I paused the movie for you,” Elena said.

“Oh, you didn’t have to,” Izzy responded. I could feel her mouth moving, her vocal cords vibrating, and her heart rate jump.

         Izzy sat down on the couch next to Elena. She stared at the television, and out of the corner of Izzy’s eye I could see that Elena was staring at the television too. I recognized the movie as Castaway with Tom Hanks. I remembered how I rented that movie when it first came out so Izzy and I could watch it together, but she had already seen it. Elena was holding a bowl of popcorn on her lap, and she offered it to Izzy, but Izzy didn’t want any. Elena leaned forward and put the bowl of popcorn the floor, and I felt Izzy’s heartbeat speed up. As Elena leaned back, Izzy scooted closer to her. Elena smiled slightly and rested her hand on Izzy’s thigh. The two turned and faced one another, and I saw Elena looking at Izzy with the most tenderness that I’ve ever seen in anyone’s eyes. I felt butterflies in my stomach--or was it Izzy’s? I wasn’t sure anymore. Elena moved her hand from Izzy’s thigh to her neck, and pulled her toward her. I felt the softness of Elena’s lips and tongue as she pressed against Izzy’s mouth and gently parted Izzy’s lips with her tongue. Izzy returned her kiss, matching every stroke of Elena’s tongue with one of her own. I felt every stroke; every sensation. I felt an ache forming between my--Izzy’s legs, and I wanted Elena to ease that ache.

Get Me Through the Night is the first book in a trilogy of books that will feature the main character, Joss Evans, and I’m currently hard at work on the second book, Hold on to Me.

All of my books are available through major ebook retailers such as Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Feel free to write me at ladycultpublishing@gmail.com. You can find more information about me and my books at www.ladycultpublishing.com.

To buy Get Me Through the Night -

 http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00O4ILP08

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/479700

Writing update

Lots of cool news!
I'm going to have a story in Best Lesbian Erotica 2015, edited by Laura Antoniou. It's a reprint so it'll be appearing under Catherine Lundoff and it's called "Arachne." BDSM mythology with a kinky Greek goddess! :-)

I'm also going to have a story in the Princess's Bride, a collection of lesbian erotic fairy tales, also from Cleis and edited by Sacchi Green. This one is based on the fairy tale Toads and Diamonds. :-)

Just got two more stories subbed and am getting traction on my novel edits so I hope to have more good news soon.

New Guest Blog - Author MJ Williamz on "Escapades"

Greetings all and thanks for stopping by to check out this guest blog. And a major thank you to Emily for having me on.

My name is MJ Williamz and I write lesbian erotica. I’ve written over thirty short stories and five novels, including Goldie Award winning Initiation By Desire. My sixth novel, Sheltered Love, will be out in July.

My two novels that came out this year, Speakeasy and Escapades are both finalists for the Rainbow Awards. Speakeasy was released in eBook format in April, but will be released in paperback in January. Escapades was released in both formats in July.

I got my start writing erotica in 2003 when I submitted a short story to Bella Books for their anthology, “Back to Basics” and it’s all been flowing since then. I love writing erotic romance because I think that sex is an important part of life and relationships. I know that basic romance usually has sex in it, but I like to show characters based on their sexual activities. I think you can learn a lot about characters that way. And there’s a lot more sex in erotic romance.

Here’s a little info about Escapades:

In the women’s town of Maybon Tir, Joey Scarpetti is the resident playboi. She had sworn off relationships after college and her reputation is well deserved. Until she met Samantha Brewer.

All Joey is looking for was a little fun, but finds herself developing feelings for Samantha. Samantha is still grieving the loss of her dead partner and is three months pregnant. She doesn’t think she is ready to move on, especially with someone of Joey’s reputation.

Joey is at first terrified of Samantha’s pregnancy but soon warms to the idea of a family. But is Samantha ready to lay her lost love to rest? Joey struggles to convince Samantha she’s the right one for her, but feels helpless competing with a ghost.

Both women have reasons for avoiding the relationship, but sometimes the pull of true love is too strong to ignore.

Here is an excerpt from the first page of Escapades:

Joey Scarpetti’s tongue lapped at the blonde’s pussy while her fingers worked frantically inside the redhead. She glanced up and saw the women kissing, mouths open and tongues entwined. She sucked on the swollen lips in her face and continued to watch as the others fondled each other’s breasts. She watched as nipples were tugged and twisted, even as she plunged her fingers deeper in one and her tongue farther in the other.

The taste and scents that surrounded her left her dizzy with need. She wanted to fuck them harder, faster, and better than they’d ever been fucked before. The sounds of one cunt sucking her fingers while the other one closed around her tongue had her fighting to maintain control.

Breathing got heavier as Joey continued to tend to their needs. She was aware of them panting harder and heard soft mewling sounds as they teetered near the brink. She felt them twitching and moved her mouth to suck on one’s clit while her thumb rubbed the other’s. The women’s bodies tensed as they rode Joey, and they both screamed as the orgasms rocked their bodies. Exhausted but pleased with herself, Joey continued to tease the women until they pulled away, too sensitive for more.

Through the curtains, Joey saw the sky growing light, indicating that her adventure was over and it was time to get back to the community of women where she lived. She slipped out of the women, then out of bed and quietly dressed while watching the two dozing together. She washed up briefly before letting herself out into the morning.

I hope you’ll pick up one of my books and give them a read! Please visit http://www.boldstrokesbooks.com/9781626391833e.html to purchase Escapades or see other books to check out.

You can email me anytime at mjwilliamz@aol.com and follow me online at www.mjwilliamz.com.