Best Of In The Flesh on YouTube!

The rest of the performances (Andrew Boyd, "Sex Scenes" by Polly Frost, Marie Lyn Bernard, Todd Levin, and Jessica Cutler) will be up later or tomorrow, but for now, you can see me reading from my story "Like This" from my anthology Hide and Seek and Samara O'Shea reading her erotic letter from her book For the Love of Letters as well as one by James Joyce. More videos from previous months are coming soon as well.

Want a free book? Come to Virgin Night on October 18th!

If you come to Virgin Night (details below), not only will you get the usual hot stories read to you, candy and cupcakes, but you'll also get a FREE copy of Colette Gale's debut novel Unmasqued: An Erotic Novel of the Phantom of the Opera. Colette got her publisher to send us 50 copies of the book! So, okay, if there are more than 50 of you, some of you may have to share, but I'll have other free books for you. Yet another incentive to come out and celebrate 2 years (we started in October 2005), plus you'll be supporting first-time readers and authors who definitely need an appreciative crowd.



IN THE FLESH EROTIC READING SERIES
VIRGIN NIGHT
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 18th at 8 PM
AT HAPPY ENDING LOUNGE, 302 BROOME STREET, NYC
(B/D to Grand, J/M/Z to Bowery, F to Delancey, http://www.happyendinglounge.com)
Admission: Free
Happy Ending Lounge: 212-334-9676

First-timer readers and first-timer authors lose their literary virginity at this very special evening of erotica. Featuring six writers you’ve probably never heard before as they dare to go where they’ve never gone before! Jasmine Clemente (velvetaddiction.com), Colette Gale (Unmasqued), Jane Lockwood (Forbidden Shores), Sean Manseau (Lapdance), Robert W. Cabell (The Hair-Raising Adventures of Jayms Blonde), and Steven Padnick (Roar of Comics blog). Hosted by erotica author and editor Rachel Kramer Bussel (He’s on Top, She’s on Top, Crossdressing, Hide and Seek). Free candy and cupcakes 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 acclaimed erotic writer and editor Rachel Kramer Bussel. It is now being held every 3rd Thursday of the month. 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. Since its debut in October 2005, In the Flesh has featured such authors as Laura Antoniou, Mo Beasley, Lily Burana, Jessica Cutler, Stephen Elliott, Valerie Frankel, Polly Frost, Gael Greene, Andy Horwitz, Debra Hyde, Maxim Jakubowski, Emily Scarlet Kramer of CAKE, Josh Kilmer-Purcell, Edith Layton, Logan Levkoff, Suzanne Portnoy, Sofia Quintero, M.J. Rose, Lauren Sanders, Danyel Smith, Grant Stoddard, Cecilia Tan, Carol Taylor, Dana Vachon, Veronica Vera, Susan Wright, and many others. The series has gotten press attention from the New York Times’s UrbanEye newsletter, Escape (Hong Kong), Flavorpill, The L Magazine, New York Magazine, Time Out New York, Philadelphia City Paper, Gothamist, Nerve.com and Wonkette, and has been praised by Dr. Ruth.

Rachel Kramer Bussel is Senior Editor at Penthouse Variations, conducts interviews for Gothamist.com and Mediabistro.com, and wrote the popular Lusty Lady column for The Village Voice. Her erotic stories have been published in over 100 anthologies, including Best American Erotica 2004 and 2006, and she’s edited numerous erotica anthologies, most recently He’s on Top: Erotic Stories of Male Dominance and Female Submission, She’s on Top: Erotic Stories of Female Dominance and Male Submission, Crossdressing: Erotic Stories and Hide and Seek.Rachel has also written for AVN, Bust, Cosmo UK, Gothamist, Huffington Post, Mediabistro, Metro, New York Post, Punk Planet, San Francisco Chronicle, Time Out New York and Velvetpark.
www.rachelkramerbussel.com

Robert W. Cabell is the author of The Hair-Raising Adventures of Jayms Blonde: Project Popcorn. Mr. Cabell has spent two decades working in the entertainment industry with giants like Time Warner, HBO, Spelling International, Columbia Pictures, and the New York Post. He has written a book on humor with the legendary Joey Adams, musical comedies like Z-The Masked Musical of Zorro, Pretty Faces, numerous plays, and served as entertainment editor for Shout Magazine.
www.jaymsblonde.com

Jasmine Clemente was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY and for a brief moment, lived on her native island of Puerto Rico for 6 months when she was 16 years old. Due to her amazing experience, her writing has become seasoned with a light amount of Latin flavor, which means that she often enjoys writing in “Spanglish.” She began her writing career at 9 years old, when she wrote letters to her family complaining about her parents’ divorce, and eventually she began writing seriously when she entered her early twenties. She realized that writing was both therapeutic and nonetheless, she had a natural talent for communication. Now, she writes various profiles and reviews for authors, singers and DJ’s on an urban website titled, www.velvetaddiction.com. Furthermore, she worked as a bookseller for Barnes and Noble Bookstores in 2006 and has attended writing courses at Gotham Writer’s Workshop, www.mediabistro.com and The New School.

Colette Gale is the pseudonym of a historical novelist. She is the author of Unmasqued: An Erotic Novel of the Phantom of the Opera. She lives in the midwest United States with her family and has seen Webber's Phantom of the Opera too many times to count. Colette was always horribly disappointed when Christine ended up choosing Raoul over the Phantom, every single time. She wished just once that Christine would have stayed with Erik! Finally, she became convinced someone had to write about the real reason Christine left the man she loved. And what happened afterward. And so she did.
www.colettegale.com

Jane Lockwood is the pen name of a multi-pubbed, award-winning historical romance author who's always been told "you can't do that in a romance" but does it anyway. Originally from England, she's worked as an archaeologist, classical music radio announcer, arts publicist, and editor/bookseller for a small press. She lives near Washington, DC. Forbidden Shores (Signet Eclipse, October 2007) is her first full-length erotic historical romance. She blogs at The Spiced Tea Party. http://thespicedteaparty.blogspot.com

Sean Manseau's stories have appeared in the Scrivener Creative Review, Killing the Buddha, and, in January 2008, the Mirrorstone Books YA anthology Magic in the Mirrorstone. His novel Lapdance will be released in April 2008 by Cyan Books.

Steven Padnick is a writer and editor working in New York City, currently working on his first novel. This is his first work of erotic fiction and his first time reading his work in front of strangers.

Photo from September 20th's Best Of night

More photos and video coming soon! Also, there were two people taking our photo, hence some of us are looking one way, some another.



Taken at In The Flesh Reading Series, September 20, 2007 at Happy Ending Lounge, NYC, by Brian Van

L to R: Jake Thomas, "Sex Scenes" performer, Polly Frost, author of Deep Inside and "Sex Scenes," Jessica Cutler, author of The Washingtonienne, host Rachel Kramer Bussel, Samara O'Shea, author of For the Love of Letters, Andrew Boyd, author of Daily Afflictions

Best Of In The Flesh tonight! (9/20)

BEST OF IN THE FLESH EROTIC READING SERIES
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 20th at 8 PM
AT HAPPY ENDING LOUNGE, 302 BROOME STREET, NYC
(B/D to Grand, J/M/Z to Bowery, F to Delancey, http://www.happyendinglounge.com)
Admission: Free
Happy Ending Lounge: 212-334-9676

You’ve heard them read at In The Flesh before, now come back for round two! Audience favorites are welcomed back to the stage to read new material, so whether you caught them the first time around or not, you won’t want to miss this spectacular lineup of people sure to make you laugh, squirm, and get turned on (perhaps all at once!). With Marie Lyn Bernard (This Girl Called Automatic Win), Andrew Boyd (Daily Afflictions), Jessica Cutler (The Washingtonienne), Polly Frost (Deep Inside), Todd Levin (Mo Pitkin’s, The Morning News), Samara O’Shea (For the Love of Letters), hosted by Rachel Kramer Bussel (He’s on Top, She’s on Top, Hide & Seek). Free candy and cupcakes 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 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. Since its debut in October 2005, In the Flesh has featured such authors as Laura Antoniou, Andy Mo Beasley, Lily Burana, Jessica Cutler, Stephen Elliott, Valerie Frankel, Polly Frost, Gael Greene, Andy Horwitz, Debra Hyde, Maxim Jakubowski, Emily Scarlet Kramer of CAKE, Josh Kilmer-Purcell, Edith Layton, Logan Levkoff, Suzanne Portnoy, Sofia Quintero, M.J. Rose, Lauren Sanders, Danyel Smith, Grant Stoddard, Cecilia Tan, Carol Taylor, Dana Vachon, Veronica Vera, Susan Wright, and many others. The series has gotten press attention from the New York Times's UrbanEye, Escape (Hong Kong), Flavorpill, Time Out New York, The L Magazine, New York magazine, Philadelphia City Paper, Gothamist, Nerve.com and Wonkette, and has been praised by Dr. Ruth. This is not Amanda Stern’s Happy Ending Reading Series.


photo by Anya Garrett

Rachel Kramer Bussel is Senior Editor at Penthouse Variations, conducts interviews for Gothamist.com and Mediabistro.com, and wrote the popular Lusty Lady column for The Village Voice. Her erotic stories have been published in over 100 anthologies, including Best American Erotica 2004 and 2006, and she’s edited numerous erotica anthologies, most recently He’s on Top: Erotic Stories of Male Dominance and Female Submission, She’s on Top: Erotic Stories of Female Dominance and Male Submission, Crossdressing: Erotic Stories, Hide & Seek: 21 Tales of Exhibitionism and Voyeurism and Naughty Spanking Stories from A to Z 2. Rachel has also written for AVN, Bust, Cosmo UK, Gothamist, Mediabistro, Metro, New York Post, Punk Planet, San Francisco Chronicle, Time Out New York and Velvetpark.
www.rachelkramerbussel.com



Marie "Riese" Lyn Bernard is a half-Jewish, half-Midwestern Farmer's-Daughter freelance aspirant. She blogs at "The L Word Online" and is a Guestbian columnist on OurChart.com. Her work has appeared in The Bigger the Better, the Tighter the Sweater: 21 Funny Women On Beauty, Body Image, and Other Hazards of Being Female, Best Women's Erotica 2005, Best American Erotica 2007, the Lambda Literary Award-winning Erotic Interludes 2: Stolen Moments, Marie Claire magazine, Suspect Thoughts, nerve.com, Clean Sheets, Fresh Off the Vine, Conversely, Desdmona.com, and The Sarah Lawrence Review. She's currently looking to change the world with a gay television show called Living it Out. She's at her best on her blog, This Girl Called Automatic Win, at marielynbernard.blogspot.com. www.marielynbernard.com



Andrew Boyd is the co-founder of the satirical political campaign Billionaires for Bush and author of several ironically serious (or is it seriously ironic?) books: Daily Afflictions: The Agony of Being Connected to Everything in the Universe and Life's Little Deconstruction Book: Self-Help for the Post-Hip, both from W.W.Norton. He's at work on two others, from which he will read tonight.
www.andrewboyd.com


photo by Bill Wadman

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.
http://www.jessicacutleronline.com



Polly Frost's book Deep Inside: Extreme Erotic Fantasies, was published by Tor in June. She just completely a tour of 10 cities across the country with "Sex Scenes: Erotic and Comic Tales of Hollywood," casting local actors in each city. "Sex Scenes" was co-written with her husband, Ray Sawhill. Together they also co-wrote and produced the erotic sci fi comedy The Fold this year, with director, Matt Lambert.

The following actors will perform from Polly's erotic soap opera "Sex Scenes:" Karen Grenke, Jake Thomas, Jerry Marsini and Francesco Paladino.
http://pollyfrost.com



Todd Levin is a stand-up comedian, a writer, and a severe disappointment to his parents. He performs all over NYC, at venues including The Upright Citizens Brigade Theater, Rififi, Mo Pitkin's, KGB, and Joe's Pub, and has appeared on Comedy Central's Premium Blend and at the 2006 US Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen. His writing has been published in Salon, Time Out, Esquire, McSweeney's, The Morning News, RADAR, and The Onion, and he is one of the contributing writers for the upcoming book, Gawker's Guide to Conquering All Media. He is also the proud father of a nine year-old personal web site, tremble.com.



Samara O'Shea has been writing letters since the restless age of seven. She launched LetterLover.net in April 2005 to save the art from extinction. The website led to her first book For the Love of Letters: A 21st-Century Guide to the Art of Letter Writing from the Elegant to the Erotic (HarperCollins, May 2007). Her work has also appeared in Woman's Day, Country Living, All You, and Pittsburgh magazine as well as the online magazines HappenMag.com and Hackwriters.com. She has appeared on Today in New York and on National Public Radio's the Kojo Nnambi Show.
www.letterlover.net

Getting to know your Best Of In The Flesh readers, or "New Jersey isn't wearing any underwear"

I'm so excited about this Best Of In The Flesh lineup, not just because each reader is a friend and the overall lineup is so diverse and fun, but because they're each other there doing interesting things. Scroll down to the end for the meaning behind my New Jersey-themed subject line (Marie Lyn Bernard). Here's a few:

Jessica Cutler gets interviewed by the incomparable Susie Bright, in a fascinating discussion at 10 Zen Monkeys (bolding mine):

SB: I want to know what your own response is to that, Jessica. Because I've also been characterized as a full-time pro. And I have not run my life as a prostitution business. Not because I think it's wrong, but it's just not my life story.

So I find when I get that sort of attitude from someone, I get kind of feisty. In many respects, I identify with whores. If I'm around other whores, I feel like part of the crew. Because we'd have some things in common, in terms of our life experience, in the way people perceive us. And I can identify with a lot of their values – their sense of the reality of what really goes on with sex that people don't like to talk about. I wonder if you feel the same way, or if you just want to be as far as possible from anyone thinking you have anything to do with it.

JC: The latter is totally not the case. When I start to feel defensive, my attitude is sort of like, if people are calling me a whore, "Well, what's wrong with being a whore?" You know? I mean, I think girls who are sex workers — and men, all sex workers — they see another side of humanity and sexuality. People who've never worked in the sex industry — people who've never done it — don't know the half of it.

I've heard girls I know who escort say, "I think every woman should do this, because you find out a lot. You learn a lot about men." They tell me, "You don't even know. You wrote a book and even you don't know the half of it." And I'm like... "Yes, I want to know all about it..."

I really don't know what the hang-up is about that. I don't know why people really seem to dislike prostitutes. I don't understand that attitude at all.



Todd Levin's tattoos - read more about them

Andrew Boyd has a great piece in the latest issue of Marie Claire (October, with Jennifer Garner on the cover) on the paying for dates conundrum:



In the old days, paying on that firs date was a simple, nonverbal way to say, “I am interested in you. I am solvent. Tonight you are worth $58.45 plus tax and tip.” Then the feminist revolution arrived, then the left-hand turn of postfeminism, followed by something about spelling “girl” with three R’s⎯and now nobody knows what rules anybody else is playing by. If you pay, will she think you are a romantic or a chauvinist? If you let her pay, are you a deadbeat or a man at ease with powerful women? If you split, are you only half interested in her, or the kind of guy who’ll do half the dishes and go down on her half the time?

Samara O'Shea looks at recent news about a letter from Mother Teresa

This week’s Time magazine offers a comprehensive look into her secret life as one who often felt denied of the presence of God. In a September 1979 letter Teresa wrote to the Rev. Michael Van Deer Peet, “Jesus has a very special love for you. [But] as for me—the silence and the emptiness is so great—that I look and do not see,—Listen and do not hear.”

It was Mother Teresa’s wish that these letters be destroyed. In a move that some might consider disrespectful, the church overruled that wish—the letters now appear in a book entitled Mother Teresa: Come By My Light (Doubleday). Yet in the same way that a funeral is for the living, so these letters are now for the living. When I hear of the doubts and uncertainties of a soldier and sage like Mother Teresa I don’t hold her in a lower regard, but it grants me solace to know that she, too, was human and had doubts as everyone does. The article purports that Teresa came to accept the doubt within her as part of Christ’s suffering. Meaning she shared in his desolate hour of, “My God, My God why have you forsaken me?” I find it beyond admirable that her work never ceased in light of her private torment. She moved forward and continued to give all of her time to those who needed it the most.

Polly Frost asks, "Why can't Atlanta get it up for erotica?"

The ad copy I wrote for radio spots went in part like this:
“Deep Inside — Dangerously oversexed fiction by Polly Frost. Ron Jeremy says of Deep Inside, ‘If I directed some of these fantasies, I’d either be the world’s greatest adult film director … or I’d be in jail. Enjoy this. I certainly did.’”

The ad played in Cleveland and in Washington, D.C., on alternative rock radio stations. Print ads ran all over the country. The only place I encountered a problem was the notoriously conservative San Diego Reader, which seemed upset by everything about my book.

So I decided to place the ad on a popular alt-rock station in Atlanta. The ad rep at the station was helpful and enthusiastic.
I was excited about getting the word out about Deep Inside to Atlanta!

Then … my ad rep e-mailed me that his station had vetoed the ad. They told him they found it unacceptable. He’d fought for it, he said, but he just couldn’t get it past the station manager.

So I’m asking: What is it with Atlanta?

Aren’t Southerners famous for — among other things, of course — their enjoyment of life and their sensual pleasure in houses, food, and drink? Then what’s their problem with erotic entertainment?
In any case, I’m not stopping my efforts to bring my erotic fiction to Atlanta. I know Atlanta audiences will get a big kick out of my work, and that I’ll enjoy meeting them, too.

And last but not least, what Marie Lyn Bernard plans to read on September 20th:

Riese's Notes for "Fucking Around Part Two," as transcribed from her notebook,
where they were written in what appears to be an incredibly drunken scrawl:

-New Jersey isn't wearing underwear. I laugh: "You're not wearing underwear," and she doesn't laugh back, she just takes mine off, and we're close but not so close that I can't look down at her fingers -- chipped black nailpolish. Then I notice she's got each middle finger painted a smooth glossy un-chipped bright purple that reminds me of Bubble Tape, and I imagine her in traffic, flicking off drivers, I imagine her in photos, flicking off the camera, I imagine her inside me, flicking off. I want to laugh at this, too, but I learned my lesson about that already. New Jersey doesn't understand irony, which is why I'm confessing she's the best I've ever had outside of you, and outside of Chelsea.

She scratched me with those nails, but when you asked me about it the next day, I don't remember what I said, all I know is what I didn't say: I didn't say it was from New Jersey.

-I can't remember if I slept with Red Hook.

-Upper East Side didn't come. He left $100 cash on the nightstand. I don't know if he did that on purpose or not, maybe he was just emptying his pockets. Maybe he didn't know the difference between hookers and pretty girls.

Todd Levin's Book Club 9/17

I've been meaning to do an In The Flesh alumni roundup, but until I get a proper chance to do that, here's an event on September 17th, three days before BEST OF In The Flesh, where you can get another chance to see Todd Levin, who actually looks more like this than the adorable little kid photo below (in the best of post).

**CBS-NY Presents "TODD LEVIN'S TV BOOK CLUB"**
TV Comedy Writers, Reading Comedy Writing Live. A perfect show for
people who like to sit still and laugh, but hate commercials.

Featuring writers from SNL, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, and more.
And hosted by How to Kick People's own, Todd Levin.

Monday, September 17th, at 8:30pm
Mo Pitkin's House of Sassifaction
34 Avenue A, b/w 2nd and 3rd Streets
Tickets: $6
to reserve tickets, go here: http://tinyurl.com/2l7ho7