Laura Antoniou: Author, Speaker, Pundit, Kvetch.

Posted By lantoniou on January 2, 2012

The new year is bringing a new edition of The Academy, new anthologies, and new trips around the country.  In other words, I’ll be busy, Busy, BUSY!

For fans waiting on the new e-book edition of The Academy, complete with hot new cover by my friend and photographer Lochai, keep your eyes peeled over the next few weeks. The book has gone into final edits, and, as with all of my new Luster Imprint editions, I’ve added a new short story available in the e-book edition only.  Continuing in my theme, “Life’s a Party,” the bonus story in The Academy will take place at a wild sex party.  Here’s an excerpt, featuring Trainer Marcy Teodor and her trainer-in-training, Stuart. 

I’ll be sticking close to home over the next few weeks while I review the stories that have been submitted to the various anthologies I plan to put together this year.  The largest event I’ll be attending during the winter is the Providence Rhode Island Fetish Fair Flea Market, a great shopping extravaganza for the kink-inclined. Otherwise, I’ll be in the New York City area, so check my events calendar on the right for upcoming trips. And as always, if your group is interested in having me come and present, please check my details at “Hire Laura,” and I’ll be happy to get in touch with you.

Happy 2012!

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Posted By lantoniou on December 17, 2011

Recently, I was challenged to write outside my usual area of “contemporary smut.”

I love taking on challenges like this – they help me stretch my writing muscles, and give me renewed creativity when returning to my main projects. Plus, I am a big fan of historical fiction, as anyone who has seen my bookshelves (heavily stacked with Clavell, Galebon, Jakes, McCullough,and others) can attest.

Given the season, I chose to set this story during the famous “Christmas Truce” of 1914:

On an icy Christmas morning on the Western Front, 1914, British and German soldiers huddled in trenches less than fifty yards apart, away from their homes and families, cold, weary and afraid. But Lt. Glbert Tillsdale and Captain Wilheim von Faulkner will spark more than a Christmas truce as they walk across no man’s land to shake hands. They find passion, comfort and pleasure in each other and share a moment of peace that can only be called miraculous. Purchase the story here.

My serious Marketplace fans will recognize the family name of one of the characters above — one that will return in a future Marketplace novel, as well.

Oh, and if you’re looking for some last-minute holiday gifts, please check out my extensive selection of e-books, easily and quickly available for a spicy stocking stuffer!

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Tags: books

Posted By lantoniou on December 14, 2011

A few posts back, I announced my intention to start editing anthologies again. The deadline for my companion volumes of stories about Hot Butches/Hot Femmes is due at the end of 2011! Here’s my reminder:

Hot Butches/Hot Femmes: Deadline – December 31, 2011 

Submission Guidelines and additional info can be found on my Calls for Submissions Page.

Wondering what else I’m looking for?

Leatherwomen 2012 – Still Kicking: Deadline – January 31, 2012

Is leather dead? Hell no! But it has changed and so have leatherwomen. Celebrate the thrill of skins and kink and the hot women who embody the name leatherwoman in this new universe of kinky potential. Like the previous Leatherwomen anthologies, stories may contain characters of any physical, emotional and sexual identity you believe falls under the name leatherwoman. BDSM, latex, punk, heterosexual, queer, single, couples, poly, orgies – if you believe your story and your characters belong in this crew, then convince me. Extra points for non white/American/party-going/lifestyle characters and situations, and much love for pushing the boundaries of identity and politics. Make it romantic or ironic; sweet or scary. But fill it with power and presence and desire.

No Safewords – A Marketplace Collection: Deadline – February 28, 2012

Do you have what it takes to enter The Marketplace? For the first time since The Academy, I am opening the doors to my exclusive playroom, for this first collection of fan fiction! Yes, you can write a Marketplace story – and this is your chance to really push the limits! Use any character, any setting. Delve into the online Marketplace wiki to brush up on existing characters or create your own. Fit the story to what already exists or imagine a sort of alternative universe to myalternative universe. Do you think there should have been more gay/lesbian/straight/rubber/steampunk/food fetish/Canadian/sexy accountant stories in the books? Now is your chance to write one!

Submission Guidelines and additional details on all of the Calls for Submissions can be found on my Calls for Submissions Page.

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Tags: calls for submissions

Posted By lantoniou on December 2, 2011

On the first Fridays of the month, there’s an erotic reading series at the Happy Endings Lounge in New York City that I sometimes attend. The December theme was – no surprise – holiday erotica!

What may be a surprise to some of you, however, is that I have actually written a short holiday erotica piece.  In the spirit of giving, here’s an excerpt from “Ho Fuckin’ Ho:”

A long and tall drink of water poured into a latex elf costume. Spikey green boots that clung to shapely legs all the way to the thigh, same color boy-cut shorts, and a plunging vest, both trimmed in white fur. Jaunty Santa style hat in the same green, with pointy ear tips rising to each side of her head. I groped for her name… Stacey!

“Hi, Santa,” she purred, leaning over to adjust my sack. “I’ll be one of your elves tonight. I hope you have a special present for me!”

Now, I am an equal opportunity Daddy, I like boys and girls, naughty and nice. This fiasco was looking up already.

I struggled and won the fight to not say, “I got your present right here,” and grab my package. Instead, I went for the equally cheesy, “What’s a nice femme like you doing in a boy’s club?”

She leaned in closer and whispered, “Hoping to get gang banged in the back room, later. You’re invited, if you’re not busy, and your boy, too, if he’s been real good.”  Click here for more…  

If you’re still looking for some gift ideas, don’t forget Circlet Press is offering a special deal on the first three books in the Marketplace series. In addition, several of the romance sites where you can find my other fiction are offering holiday specials, so check out the links here, too!

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Posted By lantoniou on November 25, 2011

If you’re like me, and prefer to do your holiday shopping on line, I have a great deal for you!  My original trilogy is available through December 31st at a discount price from Circlet Press.

Get The Marketplace, The Slave, and The Trainer, normally $19.95 each plus shipping, for only $55 including shipping within the US/Canada. This is a great way to introduce a friend to the series or to replace your lost/borrowed/stolen copies for yourself!

This limited time price is only offered until December 31, 2011. Please place orders by December 13 if you want the set in time for Hanukkah, by December 15 if you want them for Christmas.

And if you are buying electronic readers for yourself and special friends, why not fill them with some spicy erotic stories? In addition to the Marketplace trilogy, check out rotating carousel on the left side of my webpage, where you’ll find an array of my smut.  And nothing says “I know what you really like for the holidays” than that!

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Posted By lantoniou on November 6, 2011

While I am taking most of winter off to write and edit anthologies (see previous post), I have been doing some local readings and will have an upcoming appearance.

Last month, I read a story about Chris Parker that has not yet appeared in any Marketplace novel. It is in Tristan Taormino’s Take Me There, a groundbreaking anthology of transgender and genderqueer erotica. For those who missed it, here’s a video of the reading.

I am also a regular reader at the Ravenous Readings series which take place the first Friday of every month in New York City’s Happy Endings Lounge on the Lower East Side. The theme in November was erotic non-fiction, so I contributed my piece on how to train a pleasure slave, which appears in another Tristan Taormino anthology, The Ultimate Guide to Kink, BDSM, Role Play and the Erotic Edge.  

I will be headed to New Jersey at the end of this month, teaching I’ll be teaching “Beyond Bossy” and “Service Development” at Brimstone on the Jersey Shore.

And that’s where you’ll find me between now and the end of the year! I am booking dates in 2012, however, so please check out my speaking requirements or my tour calendar, posted on the right of the page.

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Tags: calls for submissions, readings

Posted By lantoniou on October 19, 2011

It’s twenty years since I started to collect stories for the original Leatherwomen, and anthologies have refused to die. With the explosion of e-book publishers of erotica, there has never been a better time to get your stories out into the world – and after twenty years, I’m eager to collect all sorts of delicious smut. From sweet and romantic to edgy and kinky, show me what you’ve got!

Submission Guidelines and additional info can be found on my Calls for Submissions Page.

Here’s a brief overview at what I’m looking for:

The Best of Leatherwomen: Deadline – Dec 31, 2011

Did you write for me back in the day? Find me, please! We’ll make a combined collection from all three of the groundbreaking Leatherwomen anthologies and you can get paid again for work you so long ago we all rode dinosaurs to the play parties.

Leatherwomen 2012 – Still Kicking: Deadline – January 31, 2012

Is leather dead? Hell no! But it has changed and so have leatherwomen. Celebrate the thrill of skins and kink and the hot women who embody the name leatherwoman in this new universe of kinky potential. Like the previous Leatherwomen anthologies, stories may contain characters of any physical, emotional and sexual identity you believe falls under the name leatherwoman. BDSM, latex, punk, heterosexual, queer, single, couples, poly, orgies – if you believe your story and your characters belong in this crew, then convince me. Extra points for non white/American/party-going/lifestyle characters and situations, and much love for pushing the boundaries of identity and politics. Make it romantic or ironic; sweet or scary. But fill it with power and presence and desire.

Hot Butches/Hot Femmes: Deadline – December 31, 2011 

No Safewords – A Marketplace Collection: Deadline – February 28, 2012

Do you have what it takes to enter The Marketplace? For the first time since The Academy, I am opening the doors to my exclusive playroom, for this first collection of fan fiction! Yes, you can write a Marketplace story – and this is your chance to really push the limits! Use any character, any setting. Delve into the online Marketplace wiki to brush up on existing characters or create your own. Fit the story to what already exists or imagine a sort of alternative universe to myalternative universe. Do you think there should have been more gay/lesbian/straight/rubber/steampunk/food fetish/Canadian/sexy accountant stories in the books? Now is your chance to write one!

Submission Guidelines and additional details on all of the Calls for Submissions can be found on my Calls for Submissions Page.

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Posted By lantoniou on October 13, 2011

I’m happy to announce that I’ll be editing several anthologies over the winter and into 2012. In addition to some new projects (keep your eyes out for “Calls for Submission”), I am bringing back my “Leatherwomen” brand.

If you are a writer who was published in one of my original Leatherwomen anthologies, I am asking you to get in contact with me at Antoniouedits (at) gmail (dot) com as I build a “Best of Leatherwomen” collection!

(cue harp arpeggios, musically implying that we are traveling back in time)

Back in the pre-internet 1990′s, there was a dearth of fiction available to kinky women written by kinky women. Pretty much all we had was the groundbreaking Coming To Power by Samois, the periodic s/m themed short stories in On Our Backs, and a few writers like Susie Bright, Artemis Oakgrove and a writer I consider my mentor, Dorothy Allison.

I decided to fill that void by editing a series written by and for Leatherwomen of all orientations. So, in the mid-1990′s, I put out a call for submissions.

There was only one problem. Pat (now Patrick) Califia and Robin Sweeney were collaborating on”The Second Coming: A Leatherdyke Reader,” billed to be the follow-up to the Samois anthology. Every kinky lesbian writer I knew had already promised their work to Pat and Robin.

I persisted, and not only published “Leatherwomen,” but even got out “Leatherwomen II (Revenge of the Leatherwomen)” before The Second Coming was published. I then published “Leatherwomen III (Clash of the Cultures)” in the late 1990′s.

Now, a decade later, I think it’s time to bring back the Leatherwomen brand. So much has changed in the kink community since Leatherwomen III was published, ranging from the rise of sex through social media to the increasing fluidity of gender and sexual identity. I think it’s time to hear from leatherwomen again.

To launch the return of the “Leatherwomen” series, I am calling all contributors to the earlier anthologies to get in touch with me. Let’s bring back those sexy, smutty, kinky, toe-curling stories and introduce them to a new generation of readers. Contact me at Antoniouedits (at) gmail (dot) com.

And for the rest of you: keep your eyes open for additional “Calls for Submission” from me!

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Posted By lantoniou on October 5, 2011

On Wednesday, October 12th, I’ll be reading The Man With the Phoenix Tattoo, the first-ever story about Chris Parker that is not in a Marketplace novel. The reading will be at 7:00 p.m. at Bluestockings, 172 Allen Street on New York City’s Lower East Side.

The story is part of a new anthology entitled Take Me There: Trans and Genderqueer Erotica. I’ve known editor Tristan Taormino for many years, and when she contacted me about this project, I knew Chris Parker needed to be included in this anthology. Trans and genderqueer folk are fiercely sexy to me, and I am proud to have created the first-ever FTM romantic lead in a long-running erotic series.

Take Me There is a great collection of  erotica by, for, and about transfolk, FTMs, MTFs, genderqueers, gender outlaws, as well as two-spirit, intersex, and gender-variant people. The power of seeing and being seen is a central theme in the anthology; it’s not simply about passing or not passing (an idea often explored with transgender characters), but about being acknowledged and desired in a sexual context.

Other contributors include authors Kate Bornstein (Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation), Patrick Califia (Speaking Sex to Power), S. Bear Bergman (Butch is a Noun), Ivan Coyote (Missed Her), Julia Serrano (Whipping Girl), Helen Boyd (My Husband Betty),  Toni Amato (Pinned Down by Pronouns), Alicia E. Goranson (Supervillianz), filmmaker Tobi Hill-Meyer, musician Rahne Alexander, songwriter Shawna Virago, blogger Andrea Zanin, and others.

If you join us on Wednesday, October 12th at Bluestockings, you’ll not only hear my story, but the contributions of author Rachel Kramer Bussel, blogger Sinclair Sexsmith of The Sugarbutch Chronicles, and poet/performer/activist Rachel K. Zall.

I hope Take Me There not only gives me an opportunity to introduce new readers to the Marketplace series, but that it will offer my long-time fans a look at Chris Parker’s fictional peers.  See you at Bluestockings!

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Tags: books, readings

Posted By lantoniou on September 18, 2011

I spend a lot of time at leather conferences. They make me feel good about what I write. But going to a writers’ conference makes me feel good about being a writer. 

I learned that earlier this month when I attended the Erotic Authors Association conference.  I returned to New York feeling energized, and ready to tackle some long-awaited (and some new!) writing projects.  I am dedicating my fall and winter to writing.

One of the workshops I taught at the conference was on how to write a series. I am bringing more creative energy to my own series, and hope to have The Inheritor, Book Six of the Marketplace series, completed by early 2012.  For those of you who wish you could find out more about it – visit my Marketplace wiki! I use this wiki as a codex to keep track of all the characters in the Marketplace universe… and as I write the sixth book, those characters are included on the wiki. Which, by the way, is an excellent tool for anyone writing a series (as I told my workshop participants.)

I also updated my workshop offerings to include some writing workshops. Look for “Romancing with Words: Erotica for Beginners,” “Unsafe Words – Exercises to Jazz Up Your Sex Writing,” and “It’s a Long Story: Writing an Erotic Series” among others.

I will also be joining some readings taking place in the NYC area in October.  I’m delighted to have a short story in “Take Me There,” a genderqueer collection edited by my friend, Tristan Taormino. My contribution, “The Man With the Phoenix Tattoo,” is the only story about Chris Parker that I have not published in the Marketplace series. Join us at Bluestockings on Wednesday, October 12^th at 7:00 p.m. and hear it live. For more details, check out my events calendar on the right.

And I’m working on a series of other projects as well. I’ll be sharing those with you over the next several weeks, as they come to fruition. So stay tuned! I’m going to have a very productive autumn and winter.

Stay tuned – I think it will be a productive autumn!

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