By Donna George Storey (Guest Blogger)
Thanks
so much for hosting me at your blog, Lisabet. It’s an especially
fitting place to celebrate the ebook release of my novel, Amorous
Woman,
because your first novel, Raw
Silk, a
mesmerizing erotic tale of Thailand, was a great inspiration for me
to write about my own experiences living in Japan.
Perhaps
it’s not surprising that both of our novels follow a time-honored
master narrative—a woman’s journey of erotic discovery. And in
both Raw
Silk and
Amorous
Woman,
the heroine’s relationship with her lovers is mirrored by her
growing intimacy with a new and fascinating culture. I’ll confess
I also lifted another model for my first book-length project: the
plot of a 17th
century Japanese erotic classic called The
Life of An Amorous Woman
by Ihara Saikaku. With a sharp eye for the humor in Japanese
society, Saikaku allowed his lusty protagonist to experience every
role open to women of her time from a court lady to a streetwalker.
(Perhaps the perennial appeal of the female experience earned this
book more sales and critical acclaim than his The
Life of an Amorous Man).
I translated this story into an exploration of a foreigner’s
experience in Japan in the late twentieth century. My protagonist,
Lydia Evans Yoshikawa, starts off as an English teacher, marries a
Japanese businessman, becomes a bar hostess, the mistress of a rich
man, and finally a call girl. Her desire to get closer to Japan is
sometimes frustrated, sometimes delightfully fulfilled. I’m
gratified to say that fellow gaijin
(the Japanese word for “foreigner”) almost always tell me I got
it just right.
While
I thoroughly enjoyed bringing to life my sensual memories from the
three years I lived in Japan—the delicious and beautifully arranged
meals, the scent of fresh straw floor mats and the cool glide of a
silk kimono on my skin—I found as I wrote Amorous
Woman
that I was gaining a valuable perspective on my own sexual odyssey.
Society gives us so many messages about what sex should be. The
appeal of the story of a woman’s erotic education may indeed be
that we all—male or female--must discovery for ourselves what sex
and pleasure mean for us personally.
In
that spirit, I wanted to share a scene from the novel that
illustrates a critical moment of discovery for Lydia while she is
still in America, but one that will resonate throughout the novel.
She’s always been an “A” student and a “good girl,” still a
virgin at eighteen. Her worldly cousin Caroline throws a party with
plenty of handsome college boys so that Lydia can choose the man to
deflower her. She also gives Lydia a lesson on how to give a good
blow job to develop her confidence when she’s alone with her first
lover. At the party, Lydia picks out the lucky guy and proceeds to
seduce him by being light-heartedly honest about her intention to
have sex with him that very night.
From
Amorous
Woman:
“Are
you sure it’s okay if we use your cousin’s bed?” Mike said,
frowning at the “Do Not Disturb” sign on the doorknob, which I
ignored.
“Oh,
yes, she knows we’re going to have sex. She reserved it especially
for us.”
He
shook his head and laughed again.
And
then, well, I don’t remember exactly how we got naked, or who
pushed whom down on the bed, or when exactly we stopped kissing and
started doing other things, but there were more than a few firsts
that night.
It
was the first time a guy kissed my breasts so softly and slowly, I
learned that lips tugging gently on my nipple could make me wet
between my legs.
It
was the first time I tried Marybeth’s lesson on a real penis—thank
you Marybeth for a gift that keeps on giving. It was bigger than a
thumb, but far more interesting. I loved the way it twitched when I
stroked it, the way it grew even harder in my mouth, the way Mike
moaned softly as he watched me do it, eyes glowing.
It
was the first time I heard my favorite sound on earth—his sweet
groan of homecoming as he slid inside my cunt.
And
then, somehow, it wasn’t new any more. It’s as if I’d always
known this: his warm weight pressing me down, his musky boy's smell,
his soft lips and slick, snaky tongue, his satin-tipped hard-on and
the taut curve of his ass. Then of course, that moment when he
bucked and groaned and went crazy because of me just being there,
just being.
I
didn’t come that night--that first would happen thanks to the
persistence and skill of the justly famed cunnilinguist Doug--but I
was happy enough to take my ecstasy once-removed. Mike, bless him,
didn’t ask too many questions.
I
was the one who decided to confess as we lay together afterwards,
just like on TV, with my head resting against his shoulder and his
arm around me like we were a real couple. “That was the first time
I’ve ever been with a guy, you know.”
“Lydia,
you can stop kidding around now,” he said, but gently. Did he
notice that of course, all my “jokes” turned out to be true?
“Why
do you think I’m kidding?”
He
frowned. “First of all, you give great head. There’s no way that
was your first time. You’re a pro. Well, I didn’t mean it that
way, you know, just that you knew exactly what to do.” He laughed,
embarrassed, and stroked my hair. “And then, well, you were really
into it.”
“I
do like to joke around. It’s an old habit.” It wasn’t exactly
a lie.
“You
know what? You’re fun. It’s easy to be with you.” He pulled
me on top of him. “Wanna do it again?”
I
nodded. Back in my high school, a million years and a billion miles
away from where I was now, naked and straddling Mike’s hard belly,
it was a bad thing for a girl to be “easy.” Now I knew the
secret.
It
was good.
**
That,
I believe, is the secret of writing erotica as well!
Donna
George Storey’s adults-only tales have appeared in over 150
journals and anthologies including Penthouse,
Best Women’s Erotica, The Mammoth Book of Erotica Presents the Best
of Donna George Storey,
and Best
Erotic Romance.
Her novel, Amorous
Woman,
will
change your image of Japan—and erotica—forever.
Amorous Woman is available
at:
