In the Flesh is a monthly reading series held the third Thursday of every month at the appropriately named Happy Ending Lounge, and features the city's best erotic writers sharing stories to get you hot and bothered, hosted and curated by erotic writer/editor Rachel Kramer Bussel (Best Sex Writing series, Do Not Disturb, Spanked, Dirty Girls, etc.). From erotic poetry to down and dirty smut, these authors get naked on the page and will make you lust after them and their words. Themed nights have included True Sex Confessions, Revenge of the Sex Columnists, GLBT Night, and Comedy Sex. Readers have included Laura Antoniou, Mo Beasley, Susie Bright, Lily Burana, Jessica Cutler, Stephen Elliott, Martha Garvey, Gael Greene, Andy Horwitz, Debra Hyde, Maxim Jakubowski, Josh Kilmer-Purcell, Tsaurah Litzky, Suzanne Portnoy, Sofia Quintero, M.J. Rose, Danyel Smith, Grant Stoddard, Cecilia Tan, Carol Taylor, Veronica Vera, Zane and others. In The Flesh debuted in October 2005. Contact rachelkramerbussel at gmail.com for bookings, press, or questions. Click here In The Flesh: Los Angeles. “…writer and host Rachel Kramer Bussel welcomes eroticism of all stripes, spots and textures to the Happy Ending lounge on the Lower East Side.,” New York Times UrbanEye newsletter, August 15, 2007 email rachelkramerbussel at gmail.com for booking or other information or interview requests

Thursday, March 23, 2006

Full May 17th lineup

IN THE FLESH EROTIC READING SERIES
WEDNESDAY MAY 17 at 8 PM
AT HAPPY ENDING LOUNGE, 302 BROOME STREET
(B/D to Grand, J/M/Z to Bowery, F to Delancey, http://www.happyendinglounge.com)
Admission: Free
Happy Ending Lounge: 212-334-9676
http://inthefleshreadingseries.blogspot.com


In May, celebrate springs with an assortment of New York’s finest authors, from the fiction of Ron Bass, to CAKE co-founder Emily Scarlet Kramer, “Ivy League Homegirl” Sofia Quintero (aka Black Artemis), Edges: O Israel, O Palestine author Leora Skolkin-Smith, Charlie Anders (Choir Boy, She's Such A Geek) all the way from San Francisco, and the racy words of Polly Frost who wrote Vivid Girl Tawny Roberts’s novel Private Access, along with new work by host Rachel Kramer Bussel.

In the Flesh is a monthly reading series hosted at the appropriately named Happy Ending Lounge, and features the city's best erotic writers sharing stories to get you hot and bothered, hosted and curated by Village Voice sex columnist and acclaimed erotic writer and editor Rachel Kramer Bussel. From erotic poetry to down and dirty smut, these authors get naked on the page and will make you lust after them and their words. Future themed nights include GLBT stories, porn star night, and erotic memoirs.

Charlie Anders can jump up to 100 feet in the air, but can't walk. She lives in a hot air balloon over Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. Her novel Choir Boy (Soft Skull Press 2005) is a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award and the Edmund White Debut Fiction Award. She's the co-editor of the anthology She's Such A Geek (Seal Press 2006), publisher of other magazine and organizer of the Writers With Drinks reading series. www.charlieanders.com

Ron Bass recently read in the Swift Ink reading series at Swift Hibernian Tavern. His short story The Varieties of Orgasmic Experience and his interview with the writer/director Dan Roentsch have been published on the Erotic Authors Association website. He is currently working on To My Twenty-Fifth Century Biographers, a novel about the life and times of the controversial Pulitzer Prize winning poet, Brockden ("Bronc") White.

Polly Frost's short story collection Visions of Ecstasy will be published next year by Tor. She also recently collaborated with the artist Jess Fink on the "Head 14" anthology of graphic stories for Eros Comix, which will be out in February. She also wrote the Vivid Girls Tawny Roberts novel Private Access, which has just been published. With her husband, Ray Sawhill, Polly co-writes the ongoing erotic soap opera, "Sex Scenes," that's read by actors in monthly performances at Cornelia Street Cafe and other venues. In addition to her erotica, Polly has written on movies, books, food and music, and her humor pieces were published in the New Yorker. http://pollyfrost.com

Emily Scarlet Kramer is the co-founder of CAKE, an entertainment company dedicated to providing education and information about female sexual culture, and the co-author of A Piece of CAKE: Recipes for Female Sexual Pleasure. She received her B.A. in Women and Gender Studies from Columbia University and has spent the last five years writing about female sexuality and actively educating women on the subject. http://www.CAKEnyc.com

Self-proclaimed "Ivy League homegirl," Sofia Quintero was born and raised in a Puerto Rican-Dominican family in the Bronx where she still resides. She is the author of the "chica lit" novel Divas Don’t Yield and also pens hip hop fiction under the pseudonym Black Artemis. She co-founded the nonprofit Chica Luna Productions (www.chicaluna.com) as well as Sister Outsider Entertainment (www.sisteroutsider.biz.) Sofia's first erotic novella will appear in an anthology of Latina authors to be published by Atria/Simon & Schuster in 2007. http://www.chicaluna.com/sofia.php

Leora Skolkin-Smith’s novel Edges: O Israel, O Palestine, was selected by Grace Paley for Glad Day Books. Also nominated for this years 2006 PEN/Hemingway Award by Grace Paley, Edges is Skolkin-Smith’s first published full-length novel. Born in Manhattan in 1952, Leora spent her childhood between New York and Israel, traveling with her family to her mother's birthplace in old Jerusalem every three years. http://www.leoraskolkinsmith.com

Monday, March 20, 2006

In The Flesh in the press

In The Flesh has been getting some good buzz lately - major thanks to The L Magazine for plugging it under "Lust" in their Decadence issue and New York magazine in this week's roundup of barroom readings. To clarify - Amanda Stern's Happy Ending Reading Series is different from In The Flesh. Hers is every 2nd and 4th Wednesday and literary/musical, mine is the 3rd Wednessday of the month and erotic. Both are at Happy Ending Lounge.

Next up is True Sex Confessions Night on April 19th with me, Dan Allen, Jessica Cutler, Miriam Datskovsky, Josh Kilmer-Purcell, Judy McGuire, Audacia Ray and Felicia Sullivan. It's at 8 pm and is free and there'll be free candy and book giveaways. If you want a handy postcard to remind you about the next few dates, just email me at rachelkb at gmail.com with your mailing address or Ill have them on me when I'm out and about.

Labels:

Saturday, March 18, 2006

April, May, June, July, August, September, October and November In The Flesh lineups

I'm happy to report that In The Flesh will also be going on all summer and into the fall. Here are the latest lineups, and I'll have July's and August's up when they're booked.

April 19, 2006, 8pm


In The Flesh Reading Series, Happy Ending Bar

Sexy nonfiction on the theme of "True Confessions" from local erotic authors, sex columnists, and personalities including comedian Dan Allen, Jessica Cutler (The Washingtonienne), Miriam Datskovsky (Columbia Spectator sex columnist), Josh Kilmer-Purcell (former drag queen, author, I Am Not Myself These Days), Judy McGuire (Dategirl columnist for Seattle Weekly), Audacia Ray (wakingvixen.com) and memoirist Felicia Sullivan. Free refreshments will be served.
Audience members will also have the chance to anonymously submit their own true sex confessions to be read aloud.
302 Broome Street, NYC

Directions: B/D to Grand, F to Delancey, J/M/Z to Bowery

Free.



May 17, 2006, 8pm


In The Flesh Reading Series, Happy Ending Bar

Featuring Sofia Quintero (Divas Don't Yield, Friday Night Chicas, Black Artemis novels), Emily Scarlet Kramer of CAKE and co-author of A Piece of Cake: Recipes for Female Sexual Pleasure, Leora Skolkin-Smith, author of Edges: O Israel, O Palestine), Polly Frost (Tawny Roberts Private Access, "Sex Scenes"), Charie Anders (Choir Boy, She's Such a Geek) and Ron Bass ("The Varities of Orgasmic Experience"). Free refreshments will be served.
302 Broome Street, NYC

Directions: B/D to Grand, F to Delancey, J/M/Z to Bowery

Free.



June 21, 2006, 8pm


In The Flesh Reading Series, Happy Ending Bar

GLBT Night with Cheryl B. (Best Lesbian Erotica, Coming Out of the Closet Again), Gena Hymowech (First-Timers: True Stories of Lesbian Awakening), Trebor Healey (Through It Came Bright Colors, Sweet Son of Pan), Sam J. Miller (Velvet Mafia, Best Gay Erotica 2006), Scott Pomfret (Romentics, Hot Sauce, Hot Gay Erotica, Honcho, Playguy), and Jane Vincent (Educated Slut blog, Everything You Know About Sex Is Wrong, First-Timers: True Stories of Lesbian Awakening). Free refreshments will be served.
302 Broome Street, NYC

Directions: B/D to Grand, F to Delancey, J/M/Z to Bowery

Free.



July 19, 2006, 8pm


In The Flesh Reading Series, Happy Ending Bar

With Diana Cage (Box Lunch, Bottoms Up, On Our Backs Guide to Lesbian Sex), Desiree Burch (SMUT Series), Zaedryn Meade, Doreen Orsini (No One But Madison, Tanner's Angel, Hunting Diana), contributors to The MILF Anthology, rest of lineup TBA.
Free refreshments will be served.
302 Broome Street, NYC

Directions: B/D to Grand, F to Delancey, J/M/Z to Bowery

Free.



August 16, 2006, 8pm


In The Flesh Reading Series, Happy Ending Bar

With Lily Burana (Try, Strip City), Shari Goldhagen (Family and Other Accidents), Caridad Piñeiro (Sex and the South Beach Chicas, The Calling Vampire series), Shane Luitjens (Revolutionary Voices, Suspect Thoughts), Marie Lyn Bernard (Cleansheets, Best American Erotica 2007), Riain Grey (Mammoth Book of Best New Erotica, Scarlet Letters), and Lisa Montanarelli (Whipped!, Strange But True).
Free refreshments will be served.
302 Broome Street, NYC

Directions: B/D to Grand, F to Delancey, J/M/Z to Bowery

Free.



September 20, 2006, 8 pm


REVENTE OF THE SEX COLUMNISTS!
In The Flesh Reading Series, Happy Ending Bar

With Julia Allison (AM NY dating columnist), Laura Leu (Underdares, Penthouse "Sex Diary" columnist), Jamye Waxman (Playgirl sex advice columnist), Ellen Friedrichs, rest of lineup TBA.
Free refreshments will be served.
302 Broome Street, NYC

Directions: B/D to Grand, F to Delancey, J/M/Z to Bowery

Free.



October 18, 2006, 8 pm


In The Flesh Reading Series, Happy Ending Bar

With Jami Attenberg (Instant Love), Mo Beasley and Urban Erotika, Christen Clifford (17 Guys I Fucked, Baby Love), and P.F. Kozak (Sins and Secrets.
Free refreshments will be served.
302 Broome Street, NYC

Directions: B/D to Grand, F to Delancey, J/M/Z to Bowery

Free.



November 15, 2006, 8 pm


Comic Sex Night at In The Flesh Reading Series, Happy Ending Bar

Funny sex stories from some of NYC's funniest comedians. With Sara Jo Allocco, Claudia Cogan, Jessica Delfino, Todd Levin, Mindy Raf, Baron Vaughn, and musical guest Adira Amram.
Free refreshments will be served.
302 Broome Street, NYC

Directions: B/D to Grand, F to Delancey, J/M/Z to Bowery

Free.

Labels:

Thursday, March 16, 2006

Susan Wright's To Serve and Submit book party

To Serve and Submit

To Serve and Submit



Susan Wright read from To Serve and Submitl at In The Flesh last night and I wanted to pass along this info about her party:

Book Launch and BDSM Play Party
for To Serve and Submit
by Susan Wright

Friday, April 14
KFMK Galleries
515 W. 29th St (between 10 & 11th), NY, NY
7pm-1am
$20, 18 and over

Pass the handcuffs instead of the hors d'oeuvres, this isn't your usual book launch party! There will be a book signing from 7-9pm, with an SM Exploratorium for those who've always wanted to find out what hot wax or bondage feels like. Everyone is welcome to watch without having to participate. A BDSM play party immediately follows for all you hedonists.

Come celebrate the launch of To Serve and Submit, a vivid exploration of a young woman's submissive nature as she saves Vinland and its guardian spirits from Viking warriors bent on pillage, rape and land theft. Published by Roc, Trade Paperback, April 2006; ISBN 0451460685. The sequel, A Pound of Flesh, will be published in April, 2007.

Susan is the author of over 25 fiction and nonfiction books, including the science fiction trilogy Slave Trade, Slave Masters and Slaves Unchained. Susan is also Spokesperson for the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom. For more information, go to: www.susanwright.info

Proceeds of the Book Launch and BDSM Play Party will be donated to NCSF, a national organization committed to creating a political, legal, and social environment in the United States that advances equal rights of consenting adults who practice forms of alternative sexual expression. www.ncsfreedom.org

Photography will be allowed at the Book Signing from 7-9pm. No photography will be allowed at the SM Exploratorium or BDSM play party.

Reading at In The Flesh last night


IMGP2820
Originally uploaded by Alice Ayers.
Thank you so so much to Alice Ayers for all the photo taking and help with raffle tickets, and GirlyNYC for help with the raffle and candy passing out. As soon as a new person walked in the door, they were ON IT, tearing off a raffle ticket. I think I gave away maybe 15 things - definitely a lot! I had a great, great time and hope everyone else did too.

April 19th is True Sex Confessions Night!

You don't want to miss this one!

IN THE FLESH EROTIC READING SERIES
TRUE SEX CONFESSIONS NIGHT
WEDNESDAY APRIL 19 at 8 PM
AT HAPPY ENDING LOUNGE, 302 BROOME STREET
(B/D to Grand, J/M/Z to Bowery, F to Delancey, http://www.happyendinglounge.com)
Admission: Free
Happy Ending Lounge: 212-334-9676
http://inthefleshreadingseries.blogspot.com

In April, New York’s hottest personalities share their 100% true sex confessions. From bad sex to porn obsessions to prostitutes and more, they’ll make you cringe, laugh, and turn you on (maybe even all three at once!). Featuring comedian Dan Allen, blogger and novelist Jessica Cutler (The Washingtonienne), Columbia Spectator sex columnist Miriam Datskovsky, memoirist and ex-drag queen Josh Kilmer-Purcell (I Am Not Myself These Days), Dategirl columnist Judy McGuire, nude model, porn reviewer, and sex worker Audacia Ray, memoirist and editor Felicia Sullivan, and your host, Rachel Kramer Bussel. Audience members will have the opportunity to anonymously submit their own true confessions to be read aloud. Free refreshments of the sweet variety will be served.

In the Flesh is a monthly reading series hosted at the appropriately named Happy Ending Lounge, and features the city's best erotic writers sharing stories to get you hot and bothered, hosted and curated by Village Voice sex columnist and acclaimed erotic writer and editor Rachel Kramer Bussel. From erotic poetry to down and dirty smut, these authors get naked on the page and will make you lust after them and their words. Future themed nights include GLBT stories and erotic memoirs.

Reader Bios:

Dan Allen is a NYC-based comedian and writer. He has appeared on Comedy Central's Premium Blend and is a regular contributor for Us Weekly's Fashion Police. He is currently writing Kevin Bacon's biography in the sixth person.
http://taoofdan.com

Rachel Kramer Bussel is a New York City-based author and editor. She is Senior Editor at Penthouse Variations and a Contributing Editor and columnist for Penthouse and writes the Lusty Lady column for The Village Voice. Her erotic stories have appeared in over 50 anthologies, including Best American Erotica 2004, and she’s edited her own collections, including Naughty Spanking Stories from A to Z 1 and 2. Rachel has also written for AVN, Bust, Metro, New York Post, Punk Planet, Time Out New York and Velvetpark. http://www.rachelkramerbussel.com

Jessica Cutler is best-known as the author of The Washingtonienne, both the blog and novel of the same name, which was published by Hyperion in 2005 and optioned by Sarah Jessica Parker for a television series for HBO. She is currently working on a second novel. http://www.jessicacutleronline.com

Miriam Datskovsky is a 21 year old writer and a junior at Barnard College, Columbia University, where she studies human rights and political science. Ms. Datskovsky is the Editorial Page Editor for the Columbia Daily Spectator, authors the newspaper's bi-weekly sex column, and speaks and writes about relationships. http://www.miriamdatskovsky.com

Josh Kilmer-Purcell was raised in rural Wisconsin and graduated from Michigan State University with a BA in English Literature in 1991. He began his advertising career in Atlanta, and was transferred to New York in 1996. His drag career began in a contest in Atlanta but turned into a full fledged second career, performing in nightclubs and venues around the country and the world. After "retiring" from drag in 2000, he refocused on his advertising career, winning numerous awards, and is currently a partner in a creative advertising agency in downtown Manhattan. He is the author of the recent New York Times bestseller memoir I Am Not Myself These Days and lives on the Upper East Side with his partner of five years.
http://www.iamnotmyselfthesedays.com

Columnist Judy McGuire has worked a number of very odd jobs in her life, including stints as an auto-parts delivery person, a heroin ethnographer, and managing editor of the well-known stoner journal, High Times. Ironically enough (to anyone whose known her for over a year), she writes "Dategirl," a sex & love advice column, for the Seattle Weekly. In addition to print, Ms. Judy has also worked in television, her latest gig being associate producer on a Court TV documentary about the murder of punk singer Mia Zapata, called Death of a Rising Star. Like everyone else and their mother, she has a blog: http://badadvice.typepad.com

Audacia Ray is a New Yorker, writer, sex worker rights advocate, alternative model, safer sex educator and intrepid pervert. Her writing has appeared in Everything You Know About Sex is Wrong, The SexHerald, and the forthcoming
First-Timers: True Stories of Lesbian Awakening. She is executive editor of the Utne Independent Press Award winning $pread magazine, writes and edits porn site reviews at SugarClick.com, and was named #3 on Fleshbot's Top Ten Hotties of 2005. Audacia blogs and shows her boobs at WakingVixen.com.

A New-York based writer, Felicia Sullivan's work has been published in Swink, Post Road, Mississippi Review, Pindeldyboz, Publisher’s Weekly, and the anthology, Homewrecker An Atlas of Illicit Loves. Algonquin Books will publish her memoir in 2007. http://www.feliciasullivan.com

Labels:

Monday, March 13, 2006

March 15 is the next In THe Flesh!

IN THE FLESH EROTIC READING SERIES
WEDNESDAY MARCH 15 at 8 PM
AT HAPPY ENDING LOUNGE, 302 BROOME STREET
(B/D to Grand, J/M/Z to Bowery, F to Delancey, http://www.happyendinglounge.com)
Admission: Free
Happy Ending Lounge: 212-334-9676
http://inthefleshreadingseries.blogspot.com

In March, In The Flesh features several of today’s most prominent erotic writers. Laura Antoniou is beloved by the BDSM community for her ongoing Marketplace series, as well as her diverse erotic fiction and kink-oriented lectures. Debra Hyde runs the blog Pursed Lips (pursedlips.com) and has contributed to numerous anthologies, including Leather, Lace and Lust and Best Lesbian Erotica 2006. Maxim Jakubowski, who’s edited 13 volumes of The Mammoth Book of Erotica series and written numerous erotic novels, makes a rare appearance from his home in London. Susan Wright has written the kinky Slave Trade trilogy and is the Spokesperson for the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom. Host Rachel Kramer Bussel will read her story, “Taking It All,” from the new anthology Aqua Erotica 2 (http://aquaerotica.melcher.com) Over a dozen books, including copies of Aqua Erotica 2, The Mammoth Book of Erotica, Amazons, Vanilla Slim, The Mammoth Book of Illustrated Erotic Women, and The Catalyst and Other Works will be given away throughout the evening.

In the Flesh is a monthly reading series hosted at the appropriately named Happy Ending Lounge, and features the city's best erotic writers sharing stories to get you hot and bothered, hosted and curated by Village Voice sex columnist and acclaimed erotic writer and editor Rachel Kramer Bussel. From erotic poetry to down and dirty smut, these authors get naked on the page and will make you lust after them and their words. Future themed nights include true confessions, GLBT stories and erotic memoirs.

Reader Bios:

Laura Antoniou has been writing erotica for over 20 years. In addition to the Marketplace series (The Marketplace, The Slave, The Trainer, The Academy, and The Reunion), she has also authored The Catalyst and Other Tales and edited three Leatherwomen anthologies. Antoniou has also contributed to numerous collections, including Writing Below the Belt: Conversations with Erotic Authors and The Burning Pen: Sex Writers on Sex Writing. Her notorious 1995 essay, “Unsafe at Any Speed, or, Safe, Sane and Consensual, My Fanny,” was first presented at the University of Washington, and she has also been a featured speaker at Columbia University, Rutgers University, the New School, and New York University as well as at s/m and leather conferences. http://www.iron-rose.com/marketplace

Rachel Kramer Bussel is a New York City-based author and editor. She is Senior Editor at Penthouse Variations and a Contributing Editor and columnist for Penthouse and writes the Lusty Lady column for The Village Voice. Her erotic stories have appeared in over 50 anthologies, including Best American Erotica 2004, and she’s edited her own collections, including Naughty Spanking Stories from A to Z 1 and 2. Rachel has also written for AVN, Bust, Metro, New York Post, Punk Planet, Time Out New York and Velvetpark. http://www.rachelkramerbussel.com

Debra Hyde writes across orientation and tastes when she concocts her many erotic tales. Her work has appeared in a good three dozen anthologies, most recently in Aqua Erotica 2, Best Lesbian Erotica 2006, and Out of Control: Hot, Trashy, Man-on-man Erotica and the extensive nonfiction collection Everything You Know About Sex Is Wrong: The Disinformation Guide to the Extremes of Human Sexuality (and everything in between). Debra keeps the long-running weblog, Pursed Lips, and produces the newly launched podcast, Pursed Lips, Speaking, where she explores the intersection between sex and culture—and tells the occasional, real-life dirty story. http://www.pursedlips.com

Maxim Jakubowski is a British writer and editor of the bestselling Mammoth Books of Erotica series, which has now reached 13 volumes. He lives in London and this will be only his 3rd ever reading in the USA. His recent books include Life in the World of Women, Kiss Me Sadly, The State of Montana and Skin In Darkness, which have all been reissued in recent months in America. Appearing soon are his collection of stories Fools for Lust, his round-robin erotic novel American Casanova and, in the fall, his latest novel Confessions of a Romantic Pornographer. He has been called by no less than The Times ‘The King of the Erotic Thriller.’

Susan Wright is the author of many science fiction novels including the Slave Trade trilogy, and she is currently the Spokesperson for the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom. Her latest novel of erotic fantasy is To Serve and Submit.
http://www.susanwright.info

Thursday, March 09, 2006

Updated flyer

And In The Flesh will continue through the summer and into the fall...a paper version of the flyer is coming soon to a bar/bookstore near you as well.

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Eros Zine hearts In The Flesh

Rachel Kramer Bussel describes herself as a "people person," and nothing could be a better description -- there's no one more perfectly adapted for showcasing the fount of creativity that is today's world of literary erotica. Each month, Bussel has been hosting the In the Flesh Erotic Reading Series at Manhattan's Happy Endings Lounge, and by all accounts the series just keeps getting better and better.

In March, Bussel will really be outdoing herself -- In the Flesh features a group of writers who will knock your socks off. Literally. You think I'm joking -- but I know many people who've been inspired to remove at least one item of clothing during a reading by any one of these kickass writers.

Friday, March 03, 2006

Updated March 15th In The Flesh lineup

I've added another kinky erotic writer to the lineup: Susan Wright! And don't forget: April 19th is True Sex Confessions Night.

IN THE FLESH EROTIC READING SERIES
WEDNESDAY MARCH 15 at 8 PM
AT HAPPY ENDING LOUNGE, 302 BROOME STREET
(B/D to Grand, J/M/Z to Bowery, F to Delancey, http://www.happyendinglounge.com)
Admission: Free
Happy Ending Lounge: 212-334-9676
http://inthefleshreadingseries.blogspot.com

In March, In The Flesh features several of today’s most prominent erotic writers. Laura Antoniou is beloved by the BDSM community for her ongoing Marketplace series, as well as her diverse erotic fiction and kink-oriented lectures. Debra Hyde runs the blog Pursed Lips (pursedlips.com) and has contributed to numerous anthologies, including Leather, Lace and Lust and Best Lesbian Erotica 2006. Maxim Jakubowski, who’s edited 13 volumes of The Mammoth Book of Erotica series and written numerous erotic novels, makes a rare appearance from his home in London. Susan Wright has written the kinky Slave Trade trilogy and is the Spokesperson for the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom. Host Rachel Kramer Bussel will read her story, “Taking It All,” from the new anthology Aqua Erotica 2 (http://aquaerotica.melcher.com) Over a dozen books, including copies of Aqua Erotica 2, The Mammoth Book of Erotica, Amazons, Vanilla Slim, The Mammoth Book of Illustrated Erotic Women, and The Catalyst and Other Works will be given away throughout the evening.

In the Flesh is a monthly reading series hosted at the appropriately named Happy Ending Lounge, and features the city's best erotic writers sharing stories to get you hot and bothered, hosted and curated by Village Voice sex columnist and acclaimed erotic writer and editor Rachel Kramer Bussel. From erotic poetry to down and dirty smut, these authors get naked on the page and will make you lust after them and their words. Future themed nights include true confessions, GLBT stories and erotic memoirs.

Reader Bios:

Laura Antoniou has been writing erotica for over 20 years. In addition to the Marketplace series (The Marketplace, The Slave, The Trainer, The Academy, and The Reunion), she has also authored The Catalyst and Other Tales and edited three Leatherwomen anthologies. Antoniou has also contributed to numerous collections, including Writing Below the Belt: Conversations with Erotic Authors and The Burning Pen: Sex Writers on Sex Writing. Her notorious 1995 essay, “Unsafe at Any Speed, or, Safe, Sane and Consensual, My Fanny,” was first presented at the University of Washington, and she has also been a featured speaker at Columbia University, Rutgers University, the New School, and New York University as well as at s/m and leather conferences. http://www.iron-rose.com/marketplace

Rachel Kramer Bussel is a New York City-based author and editor. She is Senior Editor at Penthouse Variations and a Contributing Editor and columnist for Penthouse and writes the Lusty Lady column for The Village Voice. Her erotic stories have appeared in over 50 anthologies, including Best American Erotica 2004, and she’s edited her own collections, including Naughty Spanking Stories from A to Z 1 and 2. Rachel has also written for AVN, Bust, Metro, New York Post, Punk Planet, Time Out New York and Velvetpark. http://www.rachelkramerbussel.com

Debra Hyde writes across orientation and tastes when she concocts her many erotic tales. Her work has appeared in a good three dozen anthologies, most recently in Aqua Erotica 2, Best Lesbian Erotica 2006, and Out of Control: Hot, Trashy, Man-on-man Erotica and the extensive nonfiction collection Everything You Know About Sex Is Wrong: The Disinformation Guide to the Extremes of Human Sexuality (and everything in between). Debra keeps the long-running weblog, Pursed Lips, and produces the newly launched podcast, Pursed Lips, Speaking, where she explores the intersection between sex and culture—and tells the occasional, real-life dirty story. http://www.pursedlips.com

Maxim Jakubowski is a British writer and editor of the bestselling Mammoth Books of Erotica series, which has now reached 13 volumes. He lives in London and this will be only his 3rd ever reading in the USA. His recent books include Life in the World of Women, Kiss Me Sadly, The State of Montana and Skin In Darkness, which have all been reissued in recent months in America. Appearing soon are his collection of stories Fools for Lust, his round-robin erotic novel American Casanova and, in the fall, his latest novel Confessions of a Romantic Pornographer. He has been called by no less than The Times ‘The King of the Erotic Thriller.’

Susan Wright is the author of many science fiction novels including the Slave Trade trilogy, and she is currently the Spokesperson for the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom. Her latest novel of erotic fantasy is To Serve and Submit.
http://www.susanwright.info