Giving It Away

As I’ve shared in many blog posts, I went through a rather intense period in my twenties when I had lots of lovers. After long years as a nerd, I’d just discovered that I was in fact sexually attractive—I’d always known I was fascinated by sex—and this combination of insights encouraged me to experiment and explore. My default answer during those years was “Yes”.

I’m fortunate that almost all those experiences ended up being positive. One thing that struck me was how grateful my lovers seemed to be. I got the distinct impression that most men spent their lives in a near-perpetual state of sexual frustration. They were thrilled to find a woman without a lot of shame or hang-ups, someone who was willing to try new things and who enjoyed sex as much as they did.

These encounters were exciting and pleasurable, but I also got emotional satisfaction from giving these guys a gift they valued.

Now that I’m an author, I still enjoy giving away the fruits of my erotic imagination. If you follow this blog, you’ll know I hand out a lot of free books. My favorite way of “giving it away”, though, is to offer my work and my time to Coming Together erotic anthology projects. Coming Together, the brain child of author and artist Alessia Brio, publishes erotic fiction to support charitable causes. Since it was founded in the mid-2000’s, Coming Together has raised tens of thousands of dollars for a wide range of worthy charities. (It’s now an official 501 (3)(c) U.S. non-profit organization.) Authors who participate donate their work for free. Our recompense is knowing we’ve made a difference.

I’ve been associated with Coming Together for a long time. My work has appeared in roughly twenty Coming Together titles, and I’ve edited seven volumes for them (six of them single author Coming Together Presents collections).

What can I say? I love giving it away. And this week, in collaboration with other CT authors, we’re holding our Thanks-Giving Back Blog Hop, giving you lots of goodies and hopefully encouraging you to buy CT books and support our charities.

We’ll be giving away a $40 bookstore gift certificate to one person who comments on any of the blog hop posts. In addition, each author will have a special prize for commenters on his or her own post.

Today I’m going to share a bit from my most recent CT publication. Coming Together: Strange Shifters, edited by Lynn Townsend, came out on Halloween and benefits Bat World Sanctuary. The book includes my story “Snow Bound” as well as a dozen other fabulous shape-shifter tales. I know lots of my readers love shifters. I hope you’ll check out this book.

You’ll find links to all the hop posts below. The more you visit and comment, the greater the chances of winning the grand prize. Meanwhile, if you comment on this post, you might win a copy of my cat-shifter romance The Eyes of Bast. Don't forget to include your email address!

 

"Mind if I have some?" An unfamiliar male voice cut into her reverie. Ellen looked up to find a stranger holding out his goblet. He had pale skin, jet black hair, plump lips as red as strawberries, and the most gorgeous tuxedo Ellen had ever seen—inky dark satin that gleamed in the dim light, a snowy expanse of ruffled shirt, and a scarlet cummerbund. It fit his lean, muscled body perfectly, too.

"Of course," Ellen replied, a bit flustered at being faced with such a vision. "I didn't mean to hog it. Here, let me...." She filled his empty crystal flute—at least Alicia had pulled out her good glassware for the occasion—admiring the strong-looking fingers that held the delicate stem.

"Happy New Year," said the stranger with a melting smile as they clicked glasses.

"The same to you.” They sipped their champagne in silence. Ellen felt as though similar bubbles were cavorting in her chest. "I'm Ellen," she blurted out as the silence lengthened. "I work with Alicia."

"Very pleased to meet you, Ellen." The impeccably attired stranger took her hand. For an instant Ellen thought he intended to bring it to his lips. At the last moment, he merely gave it a firm squeeze. "Sean. I just joined the IT department. Night shift."

"Ah, that explains why I haven't seen you around the office. I'm sure that I would have noticed someone like you!" Ellen realized after she closed her mouth that she must sound like total bimbo. She blushed to the roots of her blond hair.

"Someone like me?" Sean raised one eyebrow, a twinkle in his blue eyes.

"Well—you know, so debonair and sophisticated... I mean, there aren't too many guys who could wear a tuxedo like that—so comfortably, I mean, as though you were born in it...oh, dear, I'm being terribly silly. I'm just impressed, to be honest. Most of these guys—outside of work, they're such slobs."

She gestured toward the other end of the loft, where Bert and his buddies gyrated to the beat of AC/DC. Topping their baggy jeans, they wore football jerseys, faded flannel, or stretched out hoodies.

"I must say that you look lovely," Sean told her. "The black velvet makes your hair glow like spun gold. And your eyes remind me of emeralds."

"Gee—um—thank you." Ellen was dumbfounded. Men just didn't say things like that these days.

Thanks-Giving Back Hop Links

Sunday 22 November

http://lisabetsarai.blogspot.com/2015/11/sunday-snog-for-good-mm-201.html

http://leighwantsfood.blogspot.com/2015/11/coming-together-giving-back-hop.html

Monday 23 November

http://lisabetsarai.blogspot.com/2015/11/giving-it-away.html

http://delilahnight.com/2015/11/23/giving-back-blog-hop/

http://paidbytheweird.blogspot.com/2015/11/coming-together-thanksgiving-giving-back.html

http://wp.me/p1EqZm-Vt 

http://alessiabrio.blogspot.com/2015/11/giving-time-money-and-thanks.html

Tuesday 24 November

http://lisabetsarai.blogspot.com/2015/11/funny-brutal-tender.html

Wednesday 25 November

http://lisabetsarai.blogspot.com/2015/11/erotic-visions-for-brave.html

Thursday 26 November

http://lisabetsarai.blogspot.com/2015/11/bloody-good-erotica.html

http://annabetherotica.com/

Friday 27 November

http://lisabetsarai.blogspot.com/2015/11/release-day-for-another-coming-together.html

Saturday 28 November

http://lisabetsarai.blogspot.com/2015/11/where-no-man-has-gone-before.html