T.A. Hines from January's In The Flesh

I'm having trouble getting the other readers' videos up on YouTube, but I did get T.A. Hines's up, so here you go:

Best Sex Writing 2008 reading/party and Erotic Love Letter Workshop!

These aren't In The Flesh events, but they are my events, and I thought they'd be of interest to you. Tomorrow night's is free AND there are more of those yummy chocolate peanut butter cupcakes we had at the last In The Flesh, along with some strawberry cream cheese ones. Yummy! Plus Rapture is a really cool cafe/space and I'm so thrilled to have these authors reading with me. Then a drag queen is interviewing us for a new website!



January 22, 7 pm - 9 pm
Best Sex Writing 2008 Book Release Party/Reading
At Rapture Cafe, 200 Avenue A (between 12th and 13th), NYC, FREE
Featuring editor Rachel Kramer Bussel, Rachel Shukert ("Big Mouth Strikes Again: An Oral Report"), Lux Nightmare ("The Pink Ghetto"), Miriam Datskovsky ("Absolut Nude"), and Liz Langley ("Sex and the Single Septuagenarian"). Free cupcakes from Kumquat Cupcakery will be serived, and books will be available for sale and signing.



Sunday, January 27, 8 pm - 10 pm
Love Letter Writing Workshop
$20
U R HOT. Want to express your feelings to your Valentine, but just can’t find the words? Spend the evening with Rachel Kramer Bussel penning romantic notes and sweet nothings for your special someone. Rachel is a novelist, editor, and columnist; editor of more than a dozen erotic anthologies, including "He’s on Top", "She’s on Top", and "Hide and Seek". Pen and paper will be provided, and a handout with suggested readings will be passed out. You will have the opportunity to read your work aloud (but are not required to), and will leave with a letter you could send to a lover (real or imaginary).
Babeland, 43 Mercer Street, NYC
Call 212-966-2120 to register or visit the store

February 21: Zane, Stephen Elliott, Nick Flynn, Michelle Robinson!

See below for our spectacular all-star lineup and readings from Zane's Succulent: Chocolate Flava II and Stephen Elliott's Sex for America: Politically Insipred Erotica.









And full bios/details soon, but also stay tuned for:

March 20 - Megan Abbott (Queenpin), Richard Aleas (Songs of Innocence), Kevin Keck (Oedipus Wrecked), Sebastian Horsely (Dandy in the Underworld), and Cheri Magid (Hide and Seek contributor)

April 17 - Suzanne Portnoy (The Not So Invisible Woman), HoneyB (Sexcapades), contributors to Dirty Girls: Erotica for Women

May 15 - True Sex Confessions Night is back with Tracie Egan (Jezebel.com, One D at a Time), Andrea Askowitz (My Miserable, Lonely, Lesbian Pregnancy), Ilona Paris (You Know You Love It: Adventures in Sexual Mischief) and comedian Giulia Rozzi.

IN THE FLESH EROTIC READING SERIES
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21st 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

A superstar erotica evening celebrating the release of two hot new anthologies. Featuring Stephen Elliott, editor of Sex for America: Politically Inspired Erotica, along with contributor Nick Flynn (Another Bullshit Night in Suck City) and New York Times bestselling author Zane (Addicted, The Heat Seekers) celebrating the release of Succulent: Chocolate Flava II, along with Succulent contributors Michelle Robinson and In The Flesh host/curator Rachel Kramer Bussel (Best Sex Writing 2008, He's on Top, She's on Top). Books will be available for sale from Mobile Libris. 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, 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 PortnoySofia 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, The L Magazine, New York Magazine, Philadelphia City Paper, Time Out New York, Gothamist, Nerve.com and Wonkette, and has been praised by Dr. Ruth. This is not Amanda Stern’s Happy Ending Reading Series.

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 anthologies, most recently Best Sex Writing 2008, Hide and Seek, Crossdressing, He’s on Top and She’s on Top. 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.
lustylady.blogspot.com

Stephen Elliott is the author of the political memoir Looking Forward To It, the novel Happy Baby, and the story collection My Girlfriend Comes to the City and Beats Me Up. He lives in San Francisco.
www.stephenelliott.com

Nick Flynn's book Another Bullshit Night in Suck City (Norton, 2004) won the PEN/Martha Albrand Award for First Nonfiction, was shortlisted for France's Prix Femina, and has been translated into thirteen languages. He is also the author of two books of poetry, Some Ether (Graywolf, 2000) and Blind Huber (Graywolf, 2002), for which he received fellowships from, among other organizations, the Guggenheim Foundation and the Library of Congress. Some of the venues his poems, essays, and nonfiction have appeared in include The New Yorker, The Paris Review, National Public Radio's This American Life, and the New York Times Book Review. His film credits include "field poet" and artistic collaborator on the film Darwin's Nightmare, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Feature Documentary in 2006. One semester a year he teaches at the University of Houston, and he then spends the rest of the year elsewhere.
www.nickflynn.org

Michelle Robinson is the mother of 12-year old identical twin boys and resides in New York City. She studied Journalism at New York University and is planning to attend film school in 2008. Her erotic short story "Mi Destino" is included in the New York Times bestseller Caramel Flava. In addition to Caramel Flava, Michelle is also a contributing author to the anthology collections Chocolate Flava II with the story "The Quiet Room, Asian Spice with the story "The Flow of Qi" and Missionary No More: Purple Panties 2 with the story "Hailey's Orgasmic Splendor." She has recently completed work on four novels, Color Me Grey, Pleasure Principle, Serial Typical and You Created a Monster, and is currently working on the screenplay adaptation of "Mi Destino." Michelle can be reached at robinson_201 at hotmail.com.
www.myspace.com/justef

New York Times bestseller Zane is the author of Addicted, The Sex Chronicles, Getting' Buck Wild, The Heat Seekers, The Sisters of APF, Shame on It All, Nervous, Skyscraper, Afterburn, Love is Never Painless and Dear G-Spot. She is the editor of Chocolate Flava and Caramel Flava. She is the publisher of Strebor Books, an imprint of Atria Books/Simon & Schuster, and lives in the Washington, D.C., area with her family.
www.eroticanoir.com

More In The Flesh photos

Here's a few more shots from Thursday's reading, and more are coming...all by Stacie Joy - I've made a little Flickr set here (if you can't view it, add me as a friend on Flickr and change your safe settings)

Me holding up a copy of my new book Best Sex Writing 2008



Nichelle Stephens on threesomes with French people:



Martha Burzynski reading a love letter:



Dashiell Bennett on what he hates about porn:



T.A. Hines with an open letter to a man who wanted to piss in her mouth:



Allison Bojarski on masturbating in the backs of taxi cabs:



Lolita Wolf reading dirty diary entries:



Jen Dziura reading a poem about BDSM:

Photos from last night

There will be more, but for now, some pics from last night's In The Flesh...all photos by Stacie Joy

A group shot of all the readers:



L to R: Dashiell Bennett (Fleshbot), Jen Dziura (Jen is Famous), Martha Burzynski (Alice Ayers), Nichelle Stephens Nichelle Newsletter), Rachel Kramer Bussel (Lusty Lady), Allison Bojarski (CrossFitNYC), Lolita Wolf (Lolia's Predictions & Predilections), T.A. Hines (Funky Brown Chick).

My fellow cupcake bloggers in our blinged-out cupcake t-shirts from Newark, Delaware's Sweet-N-Sassy Cupcakes:



Me with Funky Brown Chick T.A. Hines:



Me with Kumquat Cupcakery's peanut butter chocolate mini cupcakes:

January 17 is Blogger Sex Night!

Time Out New York says:

"The In the Flesh erotic reading series at Happy Ending on Jan 17 will give you plenty of aural pleasure."

IN THE FLESH EROTIC READING SERIES
BLOGGER SEX NIGHT
THURSDAY, JANUARY 17th 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

In The Flesh hosts its first all blogger night, with a range of readings from sexual memoir to erotica. With Dashiell (Fleshbot), T.A. Hines (Funky Brown Chick), Nichelle Stephens (nichellenewsletter.typepad.com), Martha Burzynski (Alice Ayers), Allison Bojarski (crossfitnyc.com), Lolita Wolf (lolitawolf.blogspot.com) and Jen Dziura (jenisfamous.com), who will read from the recently released anthology Sex and Candy: 22 Succulent Stories. Hosted by Rachel Kramer Bussel (Lusty Lady blog, editor of Best Sex Writing 2008, Hide and Seek, Sex and Candy). 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, 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 PortnoySofia 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, The L Magazine, New York Magazine, Philadelphia City Paper, Time Out New York, Gothamist, Nerve.com and Wonkette, and has been praised by Dr. Ruth. This is not Amanda Stern’s Happy Ending Reading Series.

Allison Bojarski is ready and waiting to kick your ass and have you pay her for the honor of doing so, at the best damn gym in New York, CrossFit NYC. Allison’s also blogged her way through Brazilian music and dance, cupcakes, the New York food scene, and marathon training. Equal parts sensual hedonist and clean-living advocate, she savors life to its fullest without looking or feeling crappy the next morning.
allisonbojarski.blogspot.com and crossfitnyc.com



Martha Burzynski a writer and photographer. Her work has appeared in The Village Voice, Publisher's News (UK), and online for Gothamist.com, Gawker Media, Mr. Beller's Neighborhood, and TheBlackTable.com. She has written about drinking and bars in the popular Drink Up column for Gothamist, and daydreamed crimes, dead cats, and unsent love letters, among other things, elsewhere. She photographs city life, events, including weddings, and portraits. She has an eponymous portfolio site at marthaburzynski.com and is obsessed with Flickr, too, where she can be found at flickr.com/photos/marthaburzynski.
alice-ayers.livejournal.com



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 anthologies, most recently Best Sex Writing 2008, Hide and Seek, Crossdressing, He’s on Top and She’s on Top. 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.
lustylady.blogspot.com



Dashiell is currently the Associate Editor of Fleshbot, but has been writing in various forms on the internet for nearly eight years. No, that is not his real name, but please don't ask him to explain. He wishes he had something more to say here, but that's pretty much it.
www.fleshbot.com

Jennifer Dziura is a comedian and blogger best known for hosting the Williamsburg Spelling Bee⎯a real, cabaret-style adult spelling bee, as featured in the New York Times. Jennifer tours nationally as a comedian with her one-woman show "What Philosophy Majors Do After College," and recently returned from a
three-week tour entertaining the troops in the Middle East. She has written for McSweeney's, appeared on the Bob & Tom Show, debated professionally for Dewars Scotch, and has sold her eggs to gay men, twice.
jenisfamous.com



T.A. Hines is a writer and blogger who has lived in London, Chicago, Amsterdam, Los Angeles and The Hague. She is a contributing blogger at Nerve.com, host/producer of the Internet radio talk show & podcast Dating Roadkill, and editor/publisher of the blog funkybrownchick.com. She enjoys passionate love affairs with far-away lands and intelligent men. Her writing frequently covers interpersonal relationships (online and offline), sex & dating, contemporary lifestyle, arts & entertainment and travel. She has traveled to more than 15 countries, and she speaks English and Dutch fluently as well as conversational French and Italian. She currently resides in New York City.
funkybrownchick.com



Nichelle Stephens is a blogger, comedy producer of Chicks and Giggles, cupcake enthusiast, freelance publicist and small business accountant. She's semi-broke, but she has the most amazing, wonder-filled friends.
nichellenewsletter.typepad.com



Lolita Wolf describes herself as a poly switch who plays pansexually. She is an activist who defends the rights of S/M practitioners, spreads the word about S/M, and helps the community grow and flourish. Yet, her goal remains "to have fun." Lolita has many specialties including bondage, impact play of all sorts, hot wax, poly relationships, social skills, communication and negotiation, CBT, etc. Lolita has presented workshops for universities and organizations across the country and she has authored two books: CBT In A Nutshell and Spanking. She is an Emeritus Board Member of both the Eulenspiegel Society (TES) and Leather Leadership Conference, former Chair of Lesbian Sex Mafia, an honorary member of GMSMA, and she is active with National Coalition for Sexual Freedom and Leather Pride Night. A six year old Princess who lies about her age, Lolita manages to stir up trouble and get her own way (most of the time). She blogs about relationships, sex and BDSM/Leather as well as life in NYC.
lolitawolf.blogspot.com and LeatherYenta.com

Abiola Abrams reading at last month's In The Flesh

Abiola Abrams read in December from her debut novel Dare.



Read an excerpt from Chapter 1 here