July 17th is the next In The Flesh!

IN THE FLESH EROTIC READING SERIES
July 17th at 8 PM
AT HAPPY ENDING LOUNGE, 302 BROOME STREET, NYC
(B/D to Grand, J/M/Z to Bowery, F to Delancey or F/V to 2nd Avenue, http://www.happyendinglounge.com)
Admission: Free
Happy Ending Lounge: 212-334-9676

In The Flesh features a range of authors, from erotic writers D.L. King, editor of Erotica Revealed, and Susan Wright (A Pound of Flesh) to letter lover Samara O’Shea (Note to Self, For the Lover of Letters), memoirist Scott Pomfret (Since My Last Confession), Jeremy Edwards, (Clean Sheets, F is for Fetish), novelist Anna David (Party Girl) and playwright/memoirist Rachel Shukert (Have You No Shame?). Hosted by Rachel Kramer Bussel (Spanked, Rubber Sex, Dirty Girls). 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, Tracie Egan, Stephen Elliott, Valerie Frankel, Polly Frost, Gael Greene, HoneyB, 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, Zane 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 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 Spanked, Rubber Sex, Yes, Sir, Yes, Ma’am, Dirty Girls, and Best Sex Writing 2008. Rachel has also written for AVN, Bust, Cosmopolitan, Gothamist, Mediabistro, Metro, New York Post, Punk Planet, San Francisco Chronicle, Time Out New York and Velvetpark.
www.rachelkramerbussel.com



HarperCollins released Anna David's novel, Party Girl, in 2007, the same year that an essay of hers appeared in the Dutton anthology Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys. Harper Perennial will release Anna's second novel, Kept Waiting, in March of 2009. Anna is also the sex and relationship expert on G4’s Attack of the Show, appears every month on the Fox News cult favorite Red Eye as a cultural commentator, has been featured regularly on The Today Show, Hannity & Colmes, and Showbiz Tonight, and occasionally pops up on MTV News, VH1 and E. Her Sirius radio show on the Maxim channel, "Sex Files," is the network's number-one specialty show. A former magazine writer, Anna is now the dating columnist for the Women's Entertainment Network's website, wetv.com, as well as the Editor-in-Chief of musician will.i.am's political blog, Dipdive. She's written celebrity cover stories, first-person essays, and reported pieces for The New York Times, The LA Times, Vanity Fair, Cosmo, Redbook, Self, Stuff, TV Guide, Movieline, Women’s Health, Ocean Drive, Vegas, The Saturday Telegraph, Esquire UK, Teen Vogue, Variety, LA Confidential, Tatler (Hong Kong), Emmy, msn.com and Maxim, among others.
www.annadavid.com

Jeremy Edwards is a pseudonymous sort of fellow whose efforts at spinning libido into literature have been widely published online (at Clean Sheets, Good Vibrations, Erotic Woman, and other sites). Some of his many anthology trysts have occurred within the pages of A Is for Amour; F Is for Fetish; Got a Minute?; J Is for Jealousy; K Is for Kinky; Mammoth Book of Best New Erotica 7; Open for Business; and Rubber Sex. Out on the newsstand, his lascivious prose has been seen in Scarlet. Jeremy's greatest goal in life is to be sexy and witty at the same moment—ideally in lighting that flatters his profile. Drop in on him unannounced (and thereby catch him in his underwear) at http://jerotic.blogspot.com

D. L. King is the founder and editor of the critical review site, Erotica Revealed. Her second novel, The Art of Melinoe, was published by Renaissance E Books last October. Her short stories can be found in several anthologies, some of the most recent being Best Lesbian Erotica 2008, Yes, Sir: Erotic Stories of Female Submission and Yes, Ma'am: Erotic Stories of Male Submission. She is currently editing a new anthology for Cleis Press.
www.dlkingerotica.com



Samara O'Shea is an outspoken advocate on behalf of the written word. She is the author of the forthcoming Note to Self: On Keeping a Journal and Other Dangerous Pursuits (July 2008) and For the Love of Letters: A 21st-Century Guide to the Art of Letter Writing. For more information or to order a letter that Samara will gladly write on your behalf, visit LetterLover.net.



Scott D. Pomfret is author of Since My Last Confession, an irreverent and lighthearted memoir in the style of Michael Moore’s Roger & Me describing three years of stalking the Archbishop of Boston during the Massachusetts same-sex marriage debate. Pomfret’s other works include Romentics gay romance novels, The Q Guide to Wine and Cocktails, and dozens of short stories.
www.scottpomfret.com www.sincemylastconfession.com



Rachel Shukert is an author, playwright, and performer. Her first book, Have You No Shame? And Other Regrettable Stories, was published in April 2008 by Random House/Villard. Rachel's plays include Bloody Mary, Johnny Applefucker, The Worshipped, The Red Beard of Esau, and Sequins for Satan have been produced and developed extensively throughout New York City, Massachusetts, and the Netherlands. She is currently starring in the live soap opera "Wasp Cove" which she co-creates and writes with Julie Klausner. She is also a co-founder of the theater group the Bushwick Hotel. Her writing has appeared in Nerve, Heeb, McSweeney's, and Babble, and featured in Best Sex Writing 2008 (Rachel Kramer Bussel, ed.), Best American Erotic Poems: 1800-present (ed. David Lehman) and The Future of Misbehavior (Chronicle Books) alongside Rick Moody, Douglas Rushkoff, and Will Self. She was born in raised in Omaha, Nebraska, and now lives in NYC with her husband and her cat.
www.rachelshukert.com



Susan Wright's latest erotic fantasy novel is A Pound of Flesh, the sequel to To Serve and Submit, published by Penguin Books. Susan is also the founder and spokesperson for the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom. She's written over 25 novels and nonfiction books on art and popular culture.
www.susanwright.info

Snapshots from last week's In The Flesh

There are more photos by the wonderful Stacie Joy, but for now, a few from last week's In The Flesh:


L to R: Carly Milne, Amie Evans, Bob Smith, Aimee Herman, Rachel Kramer Bussel, Cecilia Tan
in front: Charlie Vazquez, Cris Beam

My Vagina is for Lovers t-shirt can be purchased from the fabulous cookie maker Dana Taylor at www.vaginaisforlovers.com

Cris Beam read her "dyke" entry from Ellen Sussman's anthology Dirty Words



Carly Milne reads from Sexography:



Charlie Vazquez:



Some of the swag I gave away:



See more pics in Stacie Joy's photo set

And just for fun, my wonderful friends Allison Bojarski, Desiree Moodie, and Twanna Hines (Allison and Twanna have read at In The Flesh, and I'd love for Desiree to read someday):



More photos coming soon!

In The Flesh is this Thursday, 6/19!

IN THE FLESH EROTIC READING SERIES
GLBT NIGHT
THURSDAY, June 19th at 8 PM
AT HAPPY ENDING LOUNGE, 302 BROOME STREET, NYC
(B/D to Grand, J/M/Z to Bowery, F to Delancey or F/V to 2nd Avenue, http://www.happyendinglounge.com)
Admission: Free
Happy Ending Lounge: 212-334-9676

In The Flesh’s third annual GLBT Night offers up a wide range of the queer writing, from Cris Beam reading her entry “dyke” from Ellen Sussman’s anthology Dirty Words: A Literary Encyclopedia of Sex, to Selfish and Perverse author Bob Smith, In The Flesh: LA host and Sexography author Carly Milne, spoken word performer Aimee Herman, and erotica writers Amie M. Evans and Cecilia Tan (reading from her new collection White Flames), both based in Massachusetts, and Charlie Vazquez (Best Gay Erotica). Hosted by Rachel Kramer Bussel (editor of First-Timers, Glamour Girls: Femme/Femme Erotica, Up All Night). 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, HoneyB, 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, Zane, 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.



Cris Beam is an author and educator living in New York City. She wrote the book Transparent: Love, Family and Living the T (Harcourt, 2007) about transgender street kids in Los Angeles and has written for several national magazines as well as the public radio program “This American Life.” Cris currently teaches creative writing at Columbia University, New York University, the New School and Bayview Women’s Correctional Facility in New York. She’s now working on a book about foster care in the U.S.
www.crisbeam.com



Rachel Kramer Bussel is Senior Editor at Penthouse Variations, conducts interviews for 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 Rubber Sex, Yes, Sir, Yes, Ma’am, Dirty Girls, and Best Sex Writing 2008. Rachel has also written for AVN, Bust, Cosmopolitan, Gothamist, Mediabistro, Metro, New York Post, Punk Planet, San Francisco Chronicle, Time Out New York, Velvetpark, and Zink.
www.rachelkramerbussel.com

Amie M. Evans is a widely published creative nonfiction and literary erotica writer, experienced workshop provider, and a retired burlesque and high-femme drag performer. She also writes gaymale erotica under a pen name. Evans is on the board of directors for Saints and Sinners LGBTQ Literary Festival. She graduated Magna cum Laude from the University of Pittsburgh with a BA in Literature and is currently working on her MLA at Harvard. Evans has offered workshops at numerous conferences and universities, including Golden Crown Lesbian Conference; Plattsburgh State University; Wellesley College; Brandeis University; Cornell University and MIT. Evans is currently working on her full length memoir. She offers private and group writing instruction. She can be reached at pussywhippedproductions@hotmail.com.

Aimee Herman recently had a small volume of poetry with accompanying spoken word cd, self diagnosed lactose intolerance published by Baobob Tree Press. She has two other chapbooks of poetry, tastes like cheesecake (Butcher Shop Press) and if these thighs could talk (RoseWater Publications) and a spoken word cd, performance anxiety, available through cdbaby.com/AimeeHerman. Her erotica has been featured in oystersandchocolate.com and Cliterature Journal. Her three favorite things include peanut butter, black licorice, and Canadians (one in particular).

Carly Milne began her professional writing career at age 14 and hasn't looked back since. Her work has appeared in Glamour, Variety, AOL, Stuff, Maxim, Yoga Journal, Whole Life Times, Bitch Magazine and more. Milne has also had essays published in Virgin Territory (Three Rivers Press), Best American Sex Essays 2005 (Cleis Press) and Hooking Up: You'll Never Make Love In This Town Again Again (Phoenix Books), and curated the anthology Naked Ambition (Carroll & Graf). Her sexual memoirs, Sexography, was published by Phoenix Books in 2007. She lives in Los Angeles, where she is the curator of In The Flesh: L.A.
www.carlymilne.com



Bob Smith has appeared on The Tonight Show and had his own HBO Comedy Half-hour. His first book, Openly Bob, won the Lambda Literary Award for humor. His first novel, Selfish and Perverse, about three gay men and one lesbian in Alaska, was released in September and has been nominated for the Edmund White Debut Fiction Award from the Publishing Triangle. Armistead Maupin has said about his new book, "A thoroughly seductive and satisfying read. It makes you laugh, it makes you horny, it makes you want to fish for salmon."He can be reached at Bobscomedy@aol.com.
http://www.myspace.com/bobscomedy



Cecilia Tan is “simply one of the most important writers, editors, and innovators in contemporary American erotic literature" according to Susie Bright. She is the author of White Flames (due in May from Running Press), Black Feathers, Edge Plays, and Telepaths Don't Need Safewords and the founder of Circlet Press.
ceciliatan.com

Charlie Vazquez is the author of the queer punk adventure novel Buzz and Israel (Fireking Press, 2005), the fiction collection Business as Unusual (Fireking Press, 2007), screenplays, queer art essays and various published erotica stories, including contributions to three Alyson Books anthologies: Straight? 2 (2003), Best Gay Love Stories: NYC (2006) and Fast Balls (2007). He is featured in Cleis Press' Best Gay Erotica 2008 (2007) and the essay anthology Queer and Catholic (Taylor and Francis, 2008). He'll be re-publishing a second edition of Buzz and Israel and finishing his second novel in 2008. He currently resides in his hometown of New York City, where he also manages the website for diva-chanteuse Diamanda Galás. He can be reached at firekingpress@yahoo.com

Video interview

Not about In The Flesh per se, but a little video interview I did with Tango magazine about erotica writing and my book Dirty Girls that I thought some of you might like:

Another review of In The Flesh: LA

Note: I don't like how I look in the photo below, but am posting it anyway. Thanks, Gram, for the writeup, and it was great to finally meet you!

I wish I could attend the next one, on June 26th, as it's Confessions Night with:

Confessions Night with Jenny Block (Open), Pleasant Gehman, Regina Lynn (Sexier Sex), Maggie Marr (The Hollywood Girls Club), Rog Roberge, Eugene Robinson (Fight).

LA people - go to this! It's outdoors and there's cupcakes and just check out this amazing lineup. Very exciting.

Those in New York can catch In The Flesh: LA host Carly Milne Tuesday, June 17th at Bluestockings and/or Thursday, June 19th at GLBT Night at In The Flesh at Happy Ending.



Gram Ponante, writer for Fleshbot and other smutty sources, attended the launch of In The Flesh: LA and wrote:

The readings were an interesting combination of blog-based erotica and the more traditional kind, with a couple of stops in between.

Last night's theme was "Survival" and, though not every reader kept to the theme, cross-dresser Willem Belli started the evening with a bang with a searing story of toe-rape at the nether digits of a male prostitute. Then Bussel read her riveting account of a mostly-zipless fuck at the Atlanta airport, which was the evening's most graphic and evocative story.

British author Maxim Jakubowski read a story called "The Summer of Grant Lee Buffalo," a sexual autobiography as it related to music. The title referred to a crush his lover had on the bass player of Grant Lee Buffalo, Paul Kimble.

There was a generational divide that affected my enjoyment of the story; while two people had just read from blogs (or, as I suspect of Belli, extemporaneously), Jakubowski's reading was a chapter of his book. My attention waned as the litany of music and sex continued (Leonard Cohen, jazz, more Leonard Cohen), through no fault of his own, but through my own inability to pay attention to anything that takes more than two revolutions of a scroll wheel.