Lisabet's November Newsletter

Happy Thanksgiving!

Welcome to the autumn harvest issue of my newsletter. I've got information about new and upcoming releases, free reading, and a fabulous, easy contest!

New and Upcoming Releases

Since my last newsletter, I've released two books with Excessica, Bangkok Noir and Exposure. Both fall into the category of erotic suspense. Both have received rave reviews (see for example, here and here). Jim at BDSM Book Reviews wrote about Bangkok Noir:

This is definitely one of the most original D/s themed books I have read in a very long time. The exquisitely kinky and erotic BDSM play is just a bonus.

The new editions feature covers designed and implemented by yours truly. Although I'm not very skilled with graphics tools, I'm pretty happy with the results.


My other two major titles that were orphaned when I left Books We Love have also been contracted. My BDSM romantic erotica novel Nasty Business will be released by Fireborn Publishing in January. Totally Bound will republish my paranormal romance The Eyes of Bast in March. I've got a cover for the latter. Isn't it gorgeous?


In addition to these single-author titles, I've got stories pending in high profile anthologies. My lesbian tale The Late Show will be featured in Best Lesbian Erotica 2015, editing by the legendary Laura Antoniou. And I have two stories in this year's Mammoth Book of Best New Erotica (Volume 13), edited by Maxim Jakubowski: Layover (F/m BDSM) and Limits: A Love Story (M/f BDSM). You know me - I like variety!

You can find excerpts from all of these tales on my books and coming soon pages.

Looking a bit further into the future, I'm planning a series of BDSM short story books with Excessica, called D & S Duos. Each book will have two BDSM-themed stories, back to back, about 10,000 words. Just the right thing for a quick read before bed...! The first one should be out just after the new year. I'm also putting together a book length collection of lesbian erotica and erotic romance, which will include some brand new content. Finally - well, not finally, of course, because there is always another story in the wings - I'm hoping to get back to work on The Gazillionaire and the Virgin, my turnabout erotic romance. More on all this in my next newsletter.

Contests and Other News

I've updated my free reading page with the first chapter of a new erotic romance serial, Unveiled. I started this book, in which the heroine is a belly dancer, years ago, then put it aside while I worked on other projects. I'm hoping that making a commitment by putting it up on my website will encourage me to finish it! (By the way, you might want to check out the photo of me in my belly dancing costume - taken many years ago!)

Speaking of free reading, have you checked out my M/M BDSM vampire story Renfield's Lament in the Erotica Readers & Writers Association gallery? Brand new, first time published. Warning: it does not have a happy ending.

I've decided to reinstate my monthly newsletter contest. This month, I'm running a giveaway called What's Your Fantasy?. You could win a custom story, written especially for you, that features your favorite erotic fantasy - as well as several gift certificates!

Here's how it works. Send me an email at contest [at] lisabetsarai [dot] com with the subject line "My Fantasy". In the body of the email, briefly describe the story you'd most like to read. Keep it short, no more than one or two sentences.

I will read your fantasies and pick the one that most inspires me, then write that story, dedicated to you! If I pick your fantasy, I will also send you a $5 Totally Bound gift voucher. In addition, assuming I get at least 10 entries, I will draw a random winner from among the remaining submissions and give that reader a $10 Totally Bound gift certificate. You have until December first to send in your fantasies. But why not do it now, before you forget?

For my November VIP readers contest, I'll be giving away another copy of The Ingredients of Bliss. Only people on my email list are eligible. If you want to join, just send me email at at lisabet [at] lisabetsarai [dot] com with the subject line "VIP subscription" and I'll get you signed up right away. I'll announce the contest rules on the mailing list next week!

Lisabet's Pick of the Month
 
My November pick of the month is The Velvet Lair, the blog of my prolific colleague Suz de Mello. Suz loves to travel, as I do. She write sexy erotica and erotic romance, often with a BDSM flavor. In short, she's a woman after my own heart. She posts almost every day, either about her own stuff or that of her guests. Visit The Velvet Lair for fun and passion!

Love is Like Writing

As an author of romance, I should be an expert on love. Yet it remains mysterious, elusive, something that slips away just as I think I've figured it out. 

I've pondering the nature of love is, what it means, how it can be captured in fiction, how it can enrich real life. And I've realized something.

Love is like writing.

You can't force it. Your parents may introduce you to the perfect spouse, but if the spark isn't there, no amount of wishing is going to make love happen. In a similar vein, you can make yourself sit in your chair and put your fingers on the keys, but regardless of goals or deadlines, it's not always possible to create something worth reading. I go through the motions anyway, hoping for the best, but I know the difference between inspiration and stubbornness, and I suspect that my readers do, too.

It's not rational. Love comes from someplace beyond or beneath the conscious mind. Maybe it's literally chemistry, neurotransmitters or endogenous opiates or pheromones, as some studies have suggested. Maybe it's a connection of spirit, an indication of intertwined karma or the fallout from past lives. It's not something that can be analyzed, though. Love is not a decision (although commitment may be). In the same way, I can come up with a dozen “reasons” why I write, but none of them get the to core compulsion. I write because I've always written – because it's what comes naturally, the way I express myself, the way I order my thoughts and understand my world. It's a part of me, that I at least believe arises from the soul – though maybe someone right now is discovering the enzymes that turn someone into a great author!

It's different for different people. Some people can separate love and sex. I really can't. If I don't feel some special connection to my partner, having sex is going to be boring or even aversive. Not everyone feels that way. The “zipless fuck” works perfectly well for some.

At the same time, there are people who can love deeply without ever having any kind of sexual component to their relationship. That would be pretty rough for me. I've had plenty of unrequited loves, but always accompanied by at least a fantasy of carnal interaction.

In the same vein, every writer approaches the activity differently. I sit down with a setting, a premise and some sketchy characters and write from the beginning of a story to the end. One of my crit partners is blessed (or cursed) with vivid scenes that he captures in words; then he strings them out on his “clothesline”, trying to to fit them together. I've compared notes with some of my other colleagues and I'll can tell you: everyone's method is somewhat different.

Rejection hurts. When you love but the feeling is not returned, it cuts to the bone. It feels like a repudiation of who you are as a person. Rejection of your writing can feel almost as bad, especially at first. However, in love and in writing, you can't allow bitterness, fear or disappointment stop you from plunging back in. Here's where making a decision is relevant. You can't force love or writing; you can't go looking for it. But you can decide to remain open, to be willing to love – or write – again, even when you're suffering the pain of rejection.

There's always more. Love is not some kind of finite, measurable quantity. You can't run out of it. If you give love to one individual, that doesn't necessarily decrease the amount you have available for someone else . You can love multiple people, at different stages of your life, or even concurrently. There may be solid arguments for monogamy, but the notion that the amount of love we can give or receive is limited to one person doesn't seem reasonable to me.

I think that writing is the same way. Every one of us has had disappointments: the horrible cover, the book full of typos, the publisher that folds, the publisher that won't release your rights no matter how hard you beg. When I'm tempted to get depressed by this sort of occurrence, I remind myself: there's always another story. I've been publishing for nearly a fifteen years now, and I recently figured out that I've had more than seventy stories included in various anthologies. I never dreamed, when I wrote my first novel, that I had so many tales inside.

Yes, I think love is like writing. Or maybe it's the other way around. When I'm deep in the throes of inspiration, it feels like being in love. I think love and writing come from the same place, the passionate, creative center within us all.

What Casts the Shadow?

[Today I'm hosting Seth Mullins' tour for his new novel What Casts the Shadow? This tale of a young musician's search for meaning sounds really intriguing. And of course, there's a giveaway at the end... Enjoy! ~ Lisabet]

Interview with Janie McCabe

Janie McCabe captured the first series of official Edge of the Known band photos, one of which also graced the cover of their first album. She’s the girlfriend of the band’s singer/guitarist Brandon Chane.

Interviewer: How did you first meet Brandon?

Janie: It was at the Pumpkin Festival in Jennes. His band was playing; but they weren’t called Edge of the Known back then. They were billed as Witch with a Hangover. I was working a jewelry table at one of the tents, and I was so intrigued by what I was hearing that I left for a while to check them out.

Interviewer: What was it that intrigued you about them?

Janie: Well, it was him, mostly. I don’t mean to take anything away from the other two guys. But you know how you can listen to, like, a hundred bands, and yet there will be just a handful that you really take to your heart and cherish – like, the music becomes a part of your life that you’d never want to be without? I was moved by this music in that way, right away, and particularly by the way Brandon sang and his presence onstage. He was so passionate; and yet he didn’t flaunt it in any way. He’s not a showman. In fact, he seems to drift into his own world when he plays. And yet somehow that was more captivating to me than someone up there doing acrobatics.

Interviewer: And then the two of you became romantically involved shortly thereafter.

Janie: Yes. And I don’t know what kinds of stories he puts out about it, but I’d just like to say for the record that I made all the moves. [Laughs] I knew he wasn’t going to, though I could tell that he wanted to. My man is chivalrous to a fault sometimes. And that just drew me to him all the more. Plus, I’d just had an encounter out in that audience with a creep with absolutely no sense of boundaries, so… It was probably the perfect moment for me to meet someone kind and respectful, someone who thinks with his heart first. He’d probably get embarrassed and deny that; but that’s how I see him.

Interviewer: You’re blushing.

Janie: Yes, well, if that’s a problem for you then you’d better change the subject!

Interviewer: Fair enough. You mentioned your jewelry table. Is that a hobby of yours?

Janie: Jewelry and clothing, I make. Yeah, it’s a hobby; but of course I’d love to just devote my life to it if I could. It’s all inspired by crafts of Native Americans and other indigenous peoples. Not that I want to copy anything. I take their visions, and work as closely with the same materials as possible, and try and create something new that still pays homage to the past.

Interviewer: So it’s your dream to make this your livelihood someday?

Janie: I’d like to have my own shop someday where you could walk in and, by the time I was through with you, you’d be decked out from head to feet like a tribal shaman. And not only would you look completely authentic, but I’d be able to tell you all about the symbolic significance of everything you were wearing, too. You won’t get that from any costume shop!

Interviewer: That’d make for an interesting image for Edge of the Known, too…

Janie: Believe me, I’ve thought of that and have already mentioned it a few times. Not that I’d want to go completely tribal… but I do think that something with that influence would suit them well. Their music sounds shamanic to my ears anyway. But Brandon, you know, he can be hesitant about trying radical new things. I’ll just keep giving him gentle nudges until he finally gives in!

Blurb

A troubled young rock musician, a mystic mentor, and a generation of lost souls longing for a new voice to emerge from the wilderness...

When an altercation outside of a performance venue nearly proves fatal, Brandon Chane begins to realize how far his life is spinning out of control. His efforts to channel his pain, frustration and thwarted loves into his music may not suffice to save him. Then he meets Saul, a crisis counselor with the soul of an ancient medicine man, and a far-reaching journey of healing - one that may teach him how to steer away from the very edge of the abyss - begins.

Excerpt

I suppose you could compare it to driving on a high mountain road. You don’t realize how close you are to free-fall, or how sheer and far is the plunge, until you go around a bend where one side is exposed to open air and then there it is: The Abyss.

There’s this edge that you can come to – I imagine it’s a different place for each of us – and you just know that once you get swept over it you won’t be coming back. By the time you’re close enough to see it it may already be too late. You could find yourself teetering, suddenly hearing the warnings that life had been giving you all along, knowing that it’s become impossible to step back; because by that time, those other forces – the ones pounding like the rapids at your back, always trying to push you towards that edge and then over it – have grown too strong.

Tommy and I first talked about forming a band together before either of us had learned to play an instrument. We both perceived music – particularly, its heavy, extreme underside - as the ideal vehicle for our personal salvation. The first guitar that I purchased, a Fender Telecaster that I immediately spray painted black to my father’s horror, became my refuge. It was my best friend and confidante. It gave me a convenient excuse to avoid social situations that, more often than not, would only remind me of how far off the beaten path I really was.

About the Author

Seth Mullins draws upon the great sweep of human soul-journeying to weave his tales. He's inspired by music, shamanism, dreams and the mysteries and miracles of our inner life. His greatest love as a writer is for fiction that depicts a journey towards self-awareness in the deepest sense.

"Probably the most valuable thing that I learned throughout my spiritual journey in this life is the importance of trusting in one's self. Many of our cultural lessons encourage us to ignore or even fear our inner reality. And yet it is this realm that really does hold the answers to all of our questions, and can point the way towards the most fulfilling life experiences possible for us."

Mr. Mullins has lived in Maine, Connecticut, New Mexico, Oregon and Vermont.

http://www.humanityswayforward.com (Humanity's Way Forward - my website)

http://frontiersofconsciousness.blogspot.com (The Edge of the Known by Seth Mullins - my blog)

"What Casts the Shadow?" (The Edge of the Known) on Amazon: http://amzn.to/1rkhffS

My Amazon author page: amazon.com/author/sethmullins

https://www.facebook.com/seth.thomas.37454

http://twitter.com/SethMullins1

https://www.facebook.com/WhatCaststheShadow

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Sunday Snog #149: A F/F Kiss from Exposure

I've been working all day on my lesbian witch story - it started as a short but it's up to nearly 10K words and I still have at least two more scenes to write. I don't know where this is coming from, but it's fun.

Anyway, since my mind has been dwelling on the charms of the female sex, I thought I'd share another F/F kiss from Exposure.

After you've finished her, click back to Sunday Snog Central for lots more delicious kisses.

I’m prepared this time, when her mouth meets mine. Somehow, I expected this, from the moment I heard her voice on the phone. She probes almost tentatively at the joining of my still-closed lips. I open and suck her tongue into my mouth, tasting lemon and butter this time, I will not be taken. I will not be passive and vulnerable.

I grab her shoulders and pull her against me. My mouth is rough on hers, mashing her lips against her teeth. My tongue probes rudely.

She likes my forcefulness. I can feel her melt beneath me as I push her back against the cushions. She sighs when I pull my mouth from hers and nip at the flawless skin of her neck. I let my hands wander shamelessly over her body, its curves and hollows hardly hidden by the light crepe of her clothing.

isn’t wearing a bra. Her breasts are compact against my palms, the nipples poking smartly through the cloth. I give them symmetrical squeezes and she moans, squirming and rubbing herself against me. Guess I’m her type, too.

like that. I don’t trust Francesca but her lustful behavior is so at odds with her proper exterior, I can’t help feel some affection. Not to mention answering lust. My silk panties grow wetter every time she whimpers at my touch. She is slumped against the wrought iron back of the bench, her thighs splayed open in a most unladylike way, her ankle-length black skirt bunched up to her knees.

Bending closer to her, I take one of those pert nipples in my teeth and at the same time slide one finger through the cleft between those thighs, under the skirt. I find no panties, only bare, shaved skin, slick and soaked. My cunt swells and seeps with matching desire. Her pelvis jerks forward at my first touch. I stroke her, lightly, but she grabs my hand and tries to push it into her. Liquid gushes around my fingers. A musky perfume rises from her, mingling with the floral scents around us.

It all floods back, what I learned from Layla during our brief, incandescent affair. My fingers know exactly what to do. Francesca is desperate, twisting and writhing, reaching for release. I rake the tip of a fingernail across the rigidness of her clit and her back arches in response. 

Almost, almost there. “Stella...” she moans. “Please, Stella.”

She seems to have no connection to the prim, well-coifed widow who wrung that orgasm from me two days ago. As for me, I’m enjoying having power over her. At this point, I bet she’d do anything I asked, sexually. I could make her kneel in front of me and I could force my hairy pussy into her face, and she’d lick me till I told her to stop. The image creates delicious spasms in my cunt, but I don’t follow through with the notion. I don’t want to give myself up to her, not again, not this time.

The Very Sweetest Thing

Today I have an interview with my fellow author and long time friend Julius.

In The Sweetest Thing, the debut short story collection by Julius Addlesee, the author shares his love of women and sex. There is adoration in every connection, from the man who is fascinated by his next-door neighbor’s breasts, to the woman who revels in discovering the exuberance in a young man’s sexuality. Unlikely couplings range, from a young soldier and an officer’s wife briefly marooned together, to a writer and his fan acting out one of his stories. His characters give in to their desires with sincere affection. 

 

1. How did you come to write erotica?

I started writing erotica in my late teens. Not for nothing do I term it mental masturbation. When you love writing and love sex - writing erotica is, I suppose, a natural evolution.

2. It's obvious from your stories that you love women. Can you talk about what you find most attractive?

Their differences, they are easier to talk to than men. Mental intimacy can develop within a just few sentences. "Opening up" just happens. Then of course, there are all those delicious naughty bits.

3. What's the hardest thing about writing erotica?

Describing an orgasm, his or hers. We're not truly conscious during an orgasm are we? Describing those moments when time sort of disappears is nigh unto impossible. I can only describe the just-before and the just-after. A bit like a nuclear explosion.

4. You belong to the Erotic Readers and Writers Association. Can you
tell us how you joined and what you enjoyed about belonging to that group?

I joined a dozen or more years ago, can't remember how it came about. I'd been a member about a month and was on line at their site when someone said, "Go turn on the TV!" ...... The towers were falling and the world was about to change, forever. Magic people at ERWA, their critiques transformed my writing. Some might call them pervs - they're the nicest pervs in the world!

5. Does your family know you write erotica and what do they think of your work?

"Yes." he replied with a chuckle. My partner writes too so she approves. #1 son is intrigued and wants a copy of the book. #2 son considers it "All too much information."

6. Who reads your stories when you are working on them?

Just my maiden. But then, she inspired about half of them.

7. How did this collection come about?

At Nan Andrews' suggestion I think. No Nan = No Publishing & No Book.

8. How does it feel to see your work in print?

I can't imagine a greater thrill. It's a tiny bit of immortality really. And a chance to flip the bird to a world that largely still sees sex as unclean.

9. Are you continuing to write erotica? why or why not?

Yes, and I'd like to finish a few of my unfinished stories just in case people fall in love with Volume 1

10. Tell us something about Julius Addlesee.

Just a guy who has a thing about the ladies and those naughty bits and loves to write about them both. A Canadian, ex-pat Brit who still loves the way an English girl says the word "knickers." As for the nom de plume, my maternal grandmother was an Addlesee and a sailing-barge skipper's daughter. I wonder what she called a vagina?

Blurb

Desire comes in all shapes and sizes. There’s a moment between two people when the spark overcomes circumstances -- between neighbors, co-workers, with that girl in the donut shop, or the woman you already live with -- and to hell with the consequences. The taste, the scent, the feel of skin on skin; it really is the sweetest thing.

Excerpt from “Pussy-holic” by Julius Addlesee

Sonya took off her watch and put it, face down, on the small table at her elbow.

“There, time is on hold.”

She drank three swallows of beer and sensed she had a slight buzz. She’d not eaten since she’d left her apartment.

“Mustn’t get too drunk, anything might happen.”

“Indeed, just about anything.”


“Back to the story?” she asked.


“By all means.” He held out his hand and she passed him the book.
 He read, ‘Maureen knelt astride his lap and reached for the top button on her blouse.’

Sonya took another swallow of beer, put the bottle down and stood up. She turned, knelt astride his lap, her ass on his knees and reached for the top button of her blouse.

Simon licked his lips. He was going to get to see those breasts.

With the last button undone, she opened her blouse and shrugged it off. Her bra was a lacy, white affair. It was low cut and gave her a delightful cleavage. His cock responded. She reached behind her and unfastened the hooks. She slipped the straps of her shoulders and the bra joined her blouse on the sofa beside them.

Her breasts were big and looked delightfully heavy. His hands moved of their own accord, he badly wanted to touch.

“They’re too big,” she said quietly, as if she feared he’d think so too.

“They’re beautiful,” he said with a sincerity that made her close her eyes and smile. The nipples were big and dark. They jutted from their dark surrounds. He thought they begged to be loved.

“Are you a breast man, too?”


“Too?”


“Well, the hero of your tale says he’s a pussy-holic.”


“I guess I’m both. How could I not love those?” he whispered.


She reached down and took his hands and placed them on her breasts. They were so soft, so heavy, their skin like warm silk. He cock was rigid again. Jutting up between them. He circled his palms on her nipples and she moaned, squirming her ass on his lap. He kept his hands moving and she began breathing through her mouth.

He took his hands away and looked. Hers were the biggest nipples he’d seen. Erect now like his cock, they just had to be suckled. He took her right breast in both hands and lowered his head. With his lips round the nipple he sucked gently and teased with his tongue. He felt an awful urge to bite.

About Julius

Julius Addlesee is a retired aviation engineer and writer of smut. He lives in eastern coastal Canada with the love of his life, living, breathing, loving words and women.

This is his first short story collection.

The Sweetest Thing is available for purchase at Amazon.com in both paperback and Kindle ebook editions.

Print

Ebook

 

Two Free Books This Weekend!

Greetings!

I'm giving away two free books this weekend.

On Saturday I'm participating in the Reader Appreciation Day at The Sweet Spot, a great Yahoo group for lovers of M/M erotic fiction. You could win a copy of my paranormal BDSM Christmas story, Tomorrow's Gifts.

More than a dozen other M/M books are up for grabs, too!

The party takes place here:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheSweetSpotMM

Meanwhile, on Sunday, I'll be offering a copy of The Ingredients of Bliss on The Romance Studio's Book-A-Day page:

http://theromancestudio.com/bad_form.php 

(The books on offer change every day!) All you have to do is register to be part of the drawing.

I hope you'll take advantage of both these opportunities!

Be The Change You Want to See

The Romance Studio (TRS) is helping author Joseph Morgan (The Originals) and his wife Persia White to raise money to build a well in Ethiopia. Every day, 1,400 kids under the age of five die from water-related illnesses. 

If you want to help them change this, consider donating something to the campaign.

Donate here: https://my.charitywater.org/be-the-change-you-want-to-see-1#.VFG1FnWHzkc.gmail

Once you've donated, contact TRS to let them know of your contribution.

Any amount is appreciated.

Authors:  For each donation, you’ll get the same amount in advertising @ TRS, the minimum being a cover or banner ad on our main site ($15 value)

Readers: TRS will select 3 readers to win books from the TRS prize vault, to be mailed before Thanksgiving break.

I just made a donation. I hope you will too!

And while we're talking about giving - check out Sacchi Green's fabulous review of Coming Together Presents Amanda Earl over at Erotica Revealed. All proceeds from sales of this book benefit AIDS charity GMHC. 

Get yourself a copy! You won't be sorry!