Posted By lantoniou on May 14, 2012

D.L. King, discerning editor and writer, has put together a collection of Butch / Femme stories titled The Harder She Comes. Here are some thoughts from contributing author Shanna Germain, about the love we all have for the strays that cross our paths…

On Writing About Women and Dogs

Shanna Germain

I have a thing for cute dogs. And cute girls.

So it’s probably not a surprise that a number of my erotic stories have featured sexy women and their adorable dogs. “Dog Day Afternoon” took place at a pet store and was filled with leash play, and two hot, panting women. My most recent novel features a woman who runs an animal sanctuary and meets the love of her life thanks to an adorable rescue puppy.

“Pound,” my story in The Harder She Comes, is no exception. Told from the point of view of Kay, a dog- and woman-loving woman who works at an animal shelter, Pound is a story of puppy love, sweet kisses and sexy sauciness, but it’s also a story of rescue.

Without giving away too much of the plot, I will say I believe that we all sometimes need to be rescued, usually when we think we need it least. True love, loyal pets, great sex – these are all things that can rescue us. If we’re willing to let them in.

Kiss kiss bang bang, s.

EXCERPT FROM “POUND”

You can tell a lot about how a woman fucks by the stray she takes home.

I know, you don’t believe me. I’m not ashamed to say I’m a girl who’s done her research. Some of it’s second-hand, of course — a girl can’t be that busy all the time, even if she’d like to be. But between me and YoYo — that’s Yolanda for those who don’t know her well — we’ve got the map pretty much covered.

We sit at the pound all day long, and we watch the pretty girls walk in, looking for a companion to take home. There are two girls in the dog room now, walking between the cages. One has a boy on her arm, and they’re doing the baby cooing noises that couples tend to do. The other is quite a bit older, maybe YoYo’s age, though she’d deny it, stalking the cages, looking at the medium-sized dogs, namely a brownish mutt and a golden cocker spaniel. YoYo and I already have a bet going that she’ll be taking the cocker home.

See, here’s what we’ve figured out so far. Any woman who looks at the yappers — you know, those little dogs that’d as soon as bite your ankle as look at it, she’s a nothing in the sack. Mind you, I love all the dogs — it’s my job — but there are some I love a whole lot more than others. A girl takes one of those little things, especially if she just happens to have a pink collar in her bag to wrap around the poor creature’s scrawny little neck, and you know she’s a priss fuck. The kind that’ll tease you with her little wiggling ass in a skirt, bend over the desk to show her tits, but who won’t want to get all down and dirty, no way. The kind that’ll have a meltdown if you mess with her hair.

YoYo likes those ones. Says she likes to push them over the edge, see if she can make them crack. “It’s all about cunny, Kay,” YoYo says, sticking her tongue between her thick fingers like some teenage boy. “You just gotta know how to eat it and a girl who’s wailing about her broken nail one second will be begging you to paddle her ass raw the next.” I trust YoYou in most things girl, but that, I don’t buy. Not for one second.

Now, slobbery breeds like boxers and bulldogs — a girl goes for one of them and you know she’s the wild kind. Doesn’t care about getting down and dirty. She’ll muck you up and get mucked up and not even blink twice. I like dirty, but that’s too dirty for me. Not the fucking, never that, but those are the girls with couches full of dog hair and cars that stink of cigarette butts and old pizza; girls who are still wearing yesterday’s undies and last year’s lover’s shirt. Pass. Nu-uh, not for me.

I like the ones who appreciate big, clean dogs. Nothing too hyper. Dalmatians are out. High-bred papered pretties that can’t so much as figure out how to pee without help? Out. And mean dogs are not an option — all those girls who pick breeds like pit bulls, just for sake of saying they have a pit bull.

Now, girls who pick labs, those are good. German shepherds. Huskies. The mixes. Smart, calm dogs with a fine spirit in their eyes. Intelligent enough to disarm you. The ones that will know their own pleasure, and want to discover yours. They’re the ones who will pull out a strap-on, or surprise you by knowing how to breath and let you open them up around your fist. Or they do this flutter thing with their tongue that will make you arch and scream. They’re the ones I like.

Shanna Germain is a writer, editor, leximaven, vorpal blonde and Schrodinger’s brat. Her work has appeared in more than 200 books, websites, and magazines, including Best American Erotica, Best Gay Romance, Best Lesbian Erotica, Best Erotic Romance and more. Visit her online at www.shannagermain.com

***

The Harder She Comes: Butch Femme Erotica

Edited by D. L. King

The Sexual Electricity of the Butch/Femme Mystique

“I want my girl to do dirty things; I want to do dirty things to her. I know she’d let me if only I asked, but sometimes the desperation is more fun. The arguing with myself. The attempts at resisting her sweet girlish body. Feeling dirty for wanting it so much that my palms ache.” —from “Good Girl, Bad Girl” by Sinclair Sexsmith

Some butches worship at the altar of their femmes, and many adorable girls long for the embrace of their suave, sexy daddies. In The Harder She Comes, we meet femmes who salivate at the sight of packed jeans and bois who dream of touching the corseted waist of a beautiful, confident woman. Editor D.L. King has curated a singular set of well-written stories filled with seductive sirens, strapping farmhands, femmes who demand perfect obedience and motorcycle-riding tattoo artists that will keep you coming back for more.

With contributed stories by Evan Mora, Andrea Dale, Elaine Miller, Stella Sandberg, Sinclair Sexsmith, Charlotte Dare, Rachel Kramer Bussel, Kathleen Bradean, River Light, Teresa Noelle Roberts, Beth Wylde, Aimee Herman, Crystal Barela, Shanna Germain, Miel Rose, Valerie Alexander, Anna Watson, and CS Clark.

Get it at Amazon or directly from Cleis Press.

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Posted By lantoniou on May 6, 2012

I am honored to announce that I have won the 2012 John Preston Short Story Award from the National Leather Association-International.  This is my second John Preston Award, and the second time ever that my writing has ever won an award, so thank you, NLA-International!

“The Man With The Phoenix Tattoo” is my first-ever story about Chris Parker that does not take place within a Marketplace novel. For you Chris Parker fans out there, you can find the story within the anthology Take Me There: Trans and Genderqueer Erotica - there’s a link to it on the rotating carousel of books on the left side of my website. You can also listen to me read from it on my Podcasts, Readings & Interviews Page.

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. You can see me read the story here.

I hope Take Me There not only introduces new readers to the Marketplace series, but that it will offer my long-time fans a look at Chris Parker’s fictional peers. And I am pleased and honored that NLA-International has chosen this story, in its genderqueer context, to honor with the John Preston Award this year.

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Posted By lantoniou on April 12, 2012

While I wait for the rest of the submissions for the Marketplace fan-fiction anthology to arrive, I am headed to the Boston area, where I will present two workshops.

Sunday, April 29th:  Romancing With Words, an erotic writing workshop on Sunday, April 29th.

If you’ve ever wanted to go beyond “love and kisses” at the end of your notes, or pondered how to seduce that hottie via e-mails, you’ll want to attend this class. From 140-character teases to a novel-length paeon to your perfect partner, you too can translate your sexy thoughts to text.  Find your voice and use your words and thoughts to rev up your romance. No writing experience necessary! Your experience, desires and imagination are all you need. Bring something to write on and write with.

Romancing With Words is being sponsored by the New England Leather Alliance. The class runs from 6:30-8:30 on Sunday April 29th, at the Unity Church of Somerville. There is a fee for the class, so please check the NELA website for more information and to register.

Monday, April 30th: Once We Were Slaves: Ritual at the Intersection of Sexual Identity, Community & Tradition.

How do we build ritual that authentically honors tradition while making room for the experiences of our faith communities? What can we learn from reading and participating in liturgies that draw deeply from the well of personal and group identity? Join me as I meet with Queer Rites at Harvard Divinity School to discuss “Avadim Chayinu: Once We Were Slaves,” the kinky Passover seder I co-wrote with my wife.  The workshop will take place from 1-2:30 p.m. on Monday, April 30th at the Rainbowitz Room of the Harvard-Andover Theological Library, Harvard Divinity School, 45 Francis Avenue, Cambridge. The workshops is being sponsored by Queer Rites, is a group of students who have come together to foster dialogue and to explore ritual around what it means to be queer, what it means to be spiritual, and where those two intersect and interact. RSVP not required but requested to trinsf (at) gmail (dot) com.

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Tags: travel, workshops

Posted By lantoniou on March 23, 2012

April 30 is the new  deadline for my Call for Submissions to No Safewords – A Marketplace Collection

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 my alternative universe. You can even add elements that do not exist in the books – want to make it paranormal? Set in the past/future? Care to slash together characters you thought shouldhave hooked up? 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!

I am the sole owner of the Marketplace series and all derivative works set in that universe. Therefore, I reserve the right as the owner/creator of the universe to refer to or use any character that an anthology contributor introduces, but by the same token, you the writer also keep the right to use that character yourself in your future work, although the MP setting will not be yours to continue to play with. Neither of us would have the right to stop the other from using a version of the character or name in future work. Fair ’nuff?

Questions I suspect will be frequently asked:

Q: I wrote this Mary Sue story ages ago! Do you want it?

A: Is it good? Then sure!

Q: I’ve written novels all about these other characters but I have this idea about what would happen if they encountered the MP. Is that OK?

A: If you own the rights to those characters and don’t mind that I might use them again later, then sure.

Q: What if these Star Trek/Twilight/Farscape/Disney characters found the MP, and…

A: Sorry, no characters belonging to other people, especially people who resemble large corporations with lawyers.

Q: So, Chris Parker is a vampire, see and Geoff Negel is a werewolf…

A: That story better be REAL good, that’s all I’m saying. Or, intentionally hysterical.

Q: We can write funny stories??

A: Have you read the books? Of course you can.

Q: Does it have to contain a sex scene?

A: Read the books. Sex scenes are not what drive these novels – power and the human relationships and conflicts do. Of course, kinky sex is more than welcome, especially if it is necessary to tell that story!

Q: Do I have to read the books?

A: I am editing other anthologies. Try one of those.

Q: Can I really write about any character? Doing anything I want?

A: I’m human. I am more protective about some characters and story arcs. But the key question remains – Is the story good?

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Posted By lantoniou on February 26, 2012

Usually, I wait until June to put on my rainbow duds and chant “I’m here! I’m queer! Buy my books, my dear!” But this year, Gay Pride comes early for me.

On Saturday, March 3rd, I am reading at a monthly “Queer Memoir” event. The March event’s theme is “Leather” and is being curated by my friend and fellow transgressive, Sassafras Lowrey.  It’s an evening for truth-telling, and I’ll be pulling up tales from my leather past and present to share.  It’s also a benefit evening to support another fellow transgressive story teller, Toni Amato’s Write Here, Write Now. Toni and I go way back, and we still bump up against each other on a regular basis, most recently when we were both published in Tristan Taormino’s Take Me There: Trans and Genderqueer Erotica. The event will take place at Queers for Economic Justice, 147 West 24th Street in Manhattan.

At the end of March, I’m attending the 4th annual Rainbow Book Fair, held at New York City’s LGBT Center in Manhattan. The Fair runs pretty much all day, and I’ll be wandering around, signing and selling books, and reading in the afternoon.  It’s the largest LGBT book event in the country, and it’s free. How could you say no? Join me Saturday, March 24th. I’ll autograph your books, whether you buy them that day or bring them with you.

If you are bummed that you’ll miss these opportunities to hear me read, fear not! Folks have been posting videos of me reading at various events over the past few months. You can find those videos, podcasts, and interviews of me here.

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Tags: books, readings

Posted By lantoniou on February 12, 2012

 A few months ago, I attended the first ever erotic writers conference in Las Vegas. It was a great motivator for me: since the conference, I’ve written and published several short stories, I’m completing a novel, and I am editing five anthologies – and of course, I continue to work on Book Six of the Marketplace series.

The conference was inspiring for many of us. So my fellow smut writers,  D.L. King, Essemoh Teepee and Genevieve Ash put together a great anthology of short stories written by the authors who attended the conference. With a Vegas theme, Voyeur Eyes Only is not only a hot collection of erotica, its proceeds help support the conference. My contribution includes some Marketplace characters, for you avid fans who like searching out the stories that don’t end up in my novels.

If you are an avid smut reader and want your writers to stay inspired and motivated to write, I encourage you to purchase Voyeur Eyes Only. 

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Tags: books, calls for submissions

Posted By lantoniou on January 31, 2012

I am making two NYC appearances this week – the first at Iron Bell Academy in Queens, where I’m presenting a new workshop on Thursday, February 2nd entitled That Ain’t Necessarily So: Lies, Exaggerations and Silly Shit You Keep Hearing in the Scene.

On Friday the 3rd, I’m joining the first Friday Ravenous Nights readings at the Happy Endings Lounge on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. The other readers will be Lolita Wolf, Angel Propps, Elizabeth Thorne, Sara Eileen, and my lovely wife, Karen Taylor. The theme is “leather,” so expect some hot kinky stories.

And with luck, you may be able to pick up this new edition of The Academy, with a hot new cover by Lochai if you see me at Providence Rhode Island Fetish Fair Flea Market February 10-12. If you can’t make it, keep your eyes out for the new edition to hit your e-book lists soon!

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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