
Emily L. Byrne is an erotica and erotic romance writer from the scenic Midwest. Her stories have appeared in such venues as FORBIDDEN FRUIT, BLOOD IN THE RAIN V.3, FIRST, YEAR'S BEST LESBIAN EROTICA: 20th ANNIVERSARY ED. and WITCHES, PRINCESSES AND WOMEN AT ARMS. Her books MEDUSA'S TOUCH, KNIFE'S EDGE and DESIRE are all available from Queen of Swords Press.
Saturday, October 31, 2015
Thursday, October 15, 2015
Guest blog post - Author Xan West on "Where Matters: Writing Queer Public Sex"
Where Matters: Writing Queer Public Sex
By Xan West
Where matters,
especially for sex. It communicates tone, it illuminates connection, it shows
character, it drives plot. More
than that, for me, where tells a
critically important part of the story, because it places the sex, and the
people having it, into a context that can be as vitally important as any other
aspect of the tale.
I tell queer sex stories. To be more specific, I tell stories
about queer kink. My stories are primarily urban, and they take place in queer
contexts, queer community spaces. Place is one of the ways I root my characters
inside a queer cultural context. The where
of canonically queer sex is often a mix of shadows and light, of spaces that
are secret and found only with insider knowledge, spaces that could be exposed
at any minute to intrusion, public spaces that are bold and unabashedly in your
face.
Patrick Califia’s story, “Big Girls”, is one of the best I
know that really situates an erotic tale in a very clearly drawn community setting—the
bar Jax is critical to the story, and feels like it is a character in the tale.
In the afterword to Melting Point (the
book that story was first printed in), Califia describes one of the themes of
the book as “urban geography of sexual territories”, saying “community requires
territory,” and goes on to talk about Jax as a prophetic community space that
offered what did not exist in the current reality.
In my erotica, I document queer sexual geographies, and dream
up community queer sex spaces that do not yet exist. Ones that I yearn for. For
example, in my retelling of the Janet and Tam Lin fairy tale, I wanted to
create a mythical visionary dream community space, the kind I would want to
make my home, my sexual territory. In the original fairy tale, the place is
called Carterhaugh; I wanted to create a Carter Hall that was my vision for
community space, that centered queer and trans folks in a way that was
intentionally desiring a wide range of trans and genderqueer identities, was
intentionally and carefully accessible to folks with a range of disabilities,
that had a strong and dominant presence of queers of color and an antiracist
politic, that was multigenerational, where edge play was celebrated.
The story begins with the place. Before we meet either of the
titular players, we meet Carter Hall.
“Carter Hall was known in
certain circles. When the only three dykes from Albuquerque who were into blood
sports made a pact to get over the break-up drama by going to IMsL together,
Carter Hall was top on their list of places to go while they were in San
Francisco. When the genderfluid fat activist from Santa Cruz stayed in Oakland
for the summer, ze went to Carter Hall to cruise for the collective who made
that now defunct, fat dyke sex zine ze used to drool over in the 90s. And when
that butch boy/femme Daddy trans fag leatherati couple moved back to the Bay
Area after all those years, Carter Hall was the first place they went the night
they arrived in town.”
In “The Tale of Jan and Tam”, Carter Hall falls in that
dreamy queer space between public and private, where you can catch glimpses of
it, and then it slips through your fingers. Where you have to determinedly seek
it out, as Jan does, unless you are an insider already. What a perfect place to
set a genderqueer fairy tale retelling. I fell so hard for the Carter Hall I
wrote in that tale that I set
another story there. A story that could only have happened in a queer kink
space that cared about access, that had an antiracist politic, that created
space for a range of trans and genderqueer identities, and that celebrated edge
play. I’ve never been to a place like that. I yearned for that place, so I
imagined it into existence, if only between the pages of my new erotica
collection, Show Yourself To Me.
That’s the thing about place: it makes things possible. I
couldn’t finish either of those stories until I could clearly envision the
geography, the queer sexual community in which they occurred.
I write stories that take place in alleys and parks, public
dungeons and bathrooms, because those spaces matter. Because queers work hard
to carve out spaces where we can be ourselves. Because sex that takes place in
public, whether surrounded by others who are also doing queer sex, or a circle
of voyeurs, helps generate a different kind of sexual energy, one that feeds
and shapes the scene that unfolds. Because I love queer kink spaces and want to
give readers glimpses of possibilities that they may seek out, and mirrors of
the sexual geographies they know like the back of their hand.
Buy links:
For ebook or print copies at Go Deeper Press: http://godeeperpress.com/ projects/show-yourself-to-me- by-xan-west/
For ebook or print copies on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Show- Yourself-Me-Queer-Erotica- ebook/dp/B015RVWLGM/ref=sr_1_ 2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid= 1443534316&sr=1-2
For ebook or print copies at Barnes and Noble -
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/ w/show-yourself-to-me-xan- west/1122731925?ean= 2940152666939
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/
Book Description:
In Show
Yourself to Me: Queer Kink Erotica, Xan West introduces us to pretty boys
and nervous boys, vulnerable tops and dominant sadists, good girls and fierce
girls and scared little girls, mean Daddies and loving Daddies and Daddies that
are terrifying in delicious ways.
Submissive queers go to alleys to suck cock, get
bent over the bathroom sink by a handsome stranger, choose to face their fears,
have their Daddy orchestrate a gang bang in the park, and get their dream
gender-play scene—tied to a sling in an accessible dungeon.
Dominants find hope and take risks, fall hard and
push edges, get fucked and devour the fear and tears that their sadist hearts
desire.
Within these 24 stories, you will meet queers who
build community together, who are careful about how they play with power, who
care deeply about consent. You will meet trans and genderqueer folks who are
hot for each other, who mentor each other, who do the kind of gender play that
is only possible with other trans and genderqueer folks.
This is Show Yourself to Me. Get ready for a very wild ride.
Xan West's website:
The stops on the blog tour:
- October 1: Xan West https://xanwest.
wordpress.com/ - October 2: Book Birthday! Go Deeper Press http://godeeperpress.
com/ - October 3: Heather Elizabeth https://kinkopedia.
wordpress.com/ - October 4: Sinclair Sexsmith http://www.
sugarbutch.net/ - October 5: Hermia Swann http://www.cuntext.com/
- October 6: Dilo Keith https://dilokeith.
wordpress.com/ and Cecilia Tan http://blog.ceciliatan. com/ - October 7: Kinky Brits http://thekinkybrits.
com/ - October 8: Stella Harris http://stellaharris.
net/ - October 9: F. Leonora Solomon https://fdotleonora.
wordpress.com/ - October 10: Tasha Harrison http://
tashalharrison.com/ - October 11: Benji Bright http://www.
theeroticledger.com/ - October 12: Tamsin Flowers http://tamsinflowers.
com/ and Karida http:// submissionandthecity.com/ - October 13: Cassandra Perry http://cassandrajperry.
com/ - October 14: Peep Scoop http://www.peepscoop.
com/ and Radical Access Mapping Project https:// radicalaccessiblecommunities. wordpress.com/ - October 15: Sugar Cunt http://www.
sugarcuntwrites.com/ - October 16: Emily Byrne http://
writeremilylbyrne.blogspot. com/ - October 17: Oleander Plume http://
poisonpendirtymind.com/ - October 18: K. A. Smith https://authorka.
wordpress.com/ - October 19: Giselle Renarde http://donutsdesires.
blogspot.com/ - October 20: Butchtastic Kyle http://www.butchtastic.
net/ - October 21: Lisabet Sarai http://lisabetsarai.
blogspot.com/ - October 22: Syrens https://syrens.
wordpress.com/ - October 23: Anna Sky http://www.iamannasky.com/
- October 24: Jade A. Waters http://jadeawaters.com/
- Ashley Young https://indigostheory.
wordpress.com/ - October 26: Rebekah Weatherspoon http://www.
rebekahweatherspoon.com/ - October 27: Malin James http://malinjames.com/
- October 28: BD Swain http://www.bdswain.com/
and Jillian Boyd http://jillianboydauthor. wordpress.com/ - October 29: Kaleigh Trace http://thefuckingfacts.
com/ - October 30: Kiki DeLovely https://kikidelovely.
wordpress.com/ - October 31: Xan West https://xanwest.
wordpress.com/ and Annabeth Leong http://annabetherotica. com/
Bio:
Xan West is the nom de plume of Corey Alexander, a recent
transplant to Oakland from Brooklyn, who has been doing community kink
education for over ten years. Xan has been published in over 35 erotica
anthologies, including the Best S/M Erotica series, the Best Gay Erotica series,
and the Best Lesbian Erotica series.
Xan’s story “First Time Since,” won honorable mention for the 2008 National
Leather Association John Preston Short Fiction Award. Xan’s work has been
described by reviewers as “offering the erotica equivalent of happy ever after”
and as “some of the best transgressive erotic fiction to come along in recent
years.”
Xan refuses pronouns, twists barbed wire together with yearning,
and tilts pain in many directions to catch the light. Xan adores vulnerable
tops; strong, supportive bottoms; red meat; long winding conversations about
power, privilege, and community; showtunes; and cool, dark, quiet rooms with
comfortable beds. Find Xan’s
thoughts about the praxis of sex, kink, queerness, power, and writing at xanwest.wordpress.com.
Wednesday, October 7, 2015
Teaching update!
I'll be offering two classes at the Loft Literary Center in February, 2016. Both are one day workshops, 3-4 hours long.
The first is "Inflagranti Delicto: Writing Good Sex Scenes," offered on 2/13 (just in time for Valentine's Day!). This class will focus on building blocks for good sex scenes, integrating them into your plot and determining what purpose they serve in your story.
https://www.loft.org/classes/detail/?loft_product_id=160549
https://www.loft.org/classes/detail/?loft_product_id=160549
I'll also be offering "Lavender Ink: Writing and Selling LGBTQ Fiction." (2/27/15) This is a class for working with different kinds of fiction with queer protagonists and options for publication as well as ways to reach your audience.
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