In The Flesh was a monthly erotic reading series hosted by Rachel Kramer Bussel in New York City from 2005-2010. Over 300 authors read at the series, including Susie Bright and Zane. Find out more about Rachel and her current book events at rachelkramerbussel.com.
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
Monday, August 25, 2008
August In The Flesh photos
I'll have video up for you soon too. Photos from last week's In The Flesh, all by Stacie Joy
IN THE FLESH EROTIC READING SERIES ORAL SEX NIGHT October 16th 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
Celebrate the third anniversary of In The Flesh and the joys of giving and receiving-—head, that is-—with the first Oral Sex Night at In The Flesh Reading Series, featuring readings from host Rachel Kramer Bussel’s latest anthologies, Tasting Him and Tasting Her. Readers including Tasting Him and Her contributors Tish Andersen, Heidi Champa, Emerald, Tsaurah Litzky, Michelle Robinson and Donna George Storey (author of erotic novel Amorous Woman) as well as Daniel Maurer (author of Brocabulary) and Fiona Zedde (author of Hungry for It and A Taste for Sin, among others), who will also read oral sex-themed work. Books will be available for sale and signing. Hosted and curated by Rachel Kramer Bussel. Free candy and cupcakes will be served. For more information about Tasting Him and Tasting Her, visit http://tastinghim.wordpress.com and http://tastingher.wordpress.com.
Tish Andersen (a pseudonym for this shy erotica-lover) was born in the South but now lives north of the Mason-Dixon line: New York City’s East Village/Lower East Side, to be precise. She spends the bulk of her time reading, writing, editing, taking pictures and managing the subsequent—and dreaded—postproduction work. She’s most comfortable behind a lens, focusing on the fabulous freaky folks that surround her. A fan of all things naughty, Tish is a kinky voyeur and a shameless romantic.
Rachel Kramer Bussel’s most recent edited anthologies include Spanked: Red-Cheeked Erotica, Tasting Him, Tasting Her, Dirty Girls, Yes, Sir, Yes, Ma’am and Best Sex Writing 2008. She is Senior Editor at Penthouse Variations and wrote the popular Lusty Lady column for The Village Voice. 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. She also co-edits the cupcake blog Cupcakes Take the Cake. www.rachelkramerbussel.com
Heidi Champa is a typical last-born child. Snarky, attention-seeking and rebellious, she chooses to write dirty stories to keep herself out of real trouble. Her work appears in the anthologies Tasting Him: Oral Sex Stories and Frenzy: 60 Stories of Sudden Sex. She has steamed up the pages of Bust Magazine and if you prefer your erotica in electronic form, she can be found online at Oysters and Chocolate and The Erotic Woman. In addition to her flare with the written word, she knows every last sentence of the movie Clue by heart. When she’s not writing, she can be found reading or filling her iPod with more music. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband. Her greatest wish is that her sarcasm would translate better in the written form. heidichampa.blogspot.com
Emerald has been a writer since age seven, though her repertoire did not begin to include erotica until her early twenties. Her erotic fiction has been published in Tasting Her, Best Women's Erotica 2006, Erotika: Bedtime Stories, G Is for Games, and online in GV Weekly magazine. Currently she resides in suburban Maryland with her cat and serves as an activist for reproductive justice and sex workers’ rights.
Tsaurah Litzky's erotica has appeared in over sixty publications among them Best American Erotica eight times, Best New International Erotica 6&7, Sex For America, Politically Inspired, Dirty Girls, Wicked Women 7, The Blacklisted Journalist, Sex and Candy, Women-Period. She is also a poet and her book of erotic haiku, Crazy Lust, is now its third printing. Her erotic novella, The Motion Of The Ocean, was published by Simon & Schuster as part of Three The Hard Way, a series of erotic novellas edited by Susie Bright. Now entering it's eleventh year at the New School, Tsaurah's writing class, Silk Sheets: Writing Erotica was named Best Writing Class in NYC in the Village Voice 2004. She recently completed a book of erotic short stories titled End Of The World Sex, but Tsaurah believes sex is not the end but the beginning of everything. To read more of her dirty stories go to http://tsaurahlitzky.com
Daniel Maurer is a nightlife editor at New York Magazine, where he also co-edits the food blog Grub Street, winner of a James Beard Award, a MIN Award, and nominated for a National Magazine Award. He is the author of Brocabulary: A new Man-i-festo of Dude Talk. He has appeared on television (WNBC’s “Today in New York”) and in a New York Times feature. He was nominated as a New York “hottie” by Gawker, a blog to which he has also contributed (he coined the term “Douché,” which won the Gawker T-Shirt Contest). His freelance journalism has appeared in the New York Times, Nerve.com, Un Chin magazine, Modern Drunkard magazine, McSweeney’s, Shecky’s Nightlife Guide, and the Metro newspaper. Daniel’s alter ego “Mosca” (”The Fly”) has appeared in newspapers and on national television as a world-ranked competitive eater. His personal best is 24.5 soft-shell tacos in 12 minutes. www.brocab.com
Michelle Robinson’s erotic short story “Mi Destino” is included in the New York Times bestseller Caramel Flava. Michelle is also a contributing author to the anthology collections Succulent: 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@hotmail.com as well as on www.myspace.com/justef.
Donna George Storey’s erotic fiction has appeared in many anthologies including Tasting Him, Tasting Her, Yes, Sir, Dirty Girls, She’s On Top, He’s On Top, Best American Erotica 2006, Mammoth Book of Best New Erotica 4-7, and Best Women’s Erotica 2005-2008. Her novel, Amorous Woman, the story of an American woman’s steamy love affair with Japan, was published by Orion in 2007. She currently writes a column “Cooking up a Storey,” about delicious sex, well-crafted food, and mind-blowing writing, for the Erotica Readers and Writers Association. Read more of her work at www.DonnaGeorgeStorey.com.
Fiona Zedde is a transplanted Jamaican currently living and working in Atlanta, Georgia. Her work has been published in various anthologies including Best Lesbian Erotica 2004 and 2007, Wicked: Sexy Tales of Legendary Lovers, and Best Lesbian Romance. She is also the author of four novels, the Lambda Literary Award finalists Bliss and Every Dark Desire, as well as A Taste of Sin and Hungry for It. Her novellas, "Pure Pleasure," "Going Wild" and the soon-to-be-published "Sweat" appear in the collections, Satisfy Me, Satisfy Me Again, and Satisfy Me Tonight, respectively. Readers and voyeurs can find out more at www.fionazedde.com.
You can watch the book trailer for Donna George Storey's Amorous Woman:
IN THE FLESH EROTIC READING SERIES DIRTY WORDS NIGHT September 18th 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 dedicates a very special evening to editor Ellen Sussman’s new anthology Dirty Words: A Literary Encyclopedia of Sex. Contributors Abiola Abrams, Rand Richards Cooper, Lisa Selin Davis, Stacey D'Erasmo, Michael Hickins, Victoria Redel and Sussman read about 69, sluts, silver-balling, cum, fucking, foot fetishes, and kissing. Audience members will have the chance to have their own "dirty words" entries read aloud. Hosted by Rachel Kramer Bussel (Spanked, Dirty Girls, Rubber Sex). 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 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.
Abiola Abrams is the host of BET’s The Best Short Films. A writer and filmmaker who gives motivational talks, her empowerment movement and interactive site are called the Goddess Factory. Abiola’s debut novel, Dare, a chick-lit Faust, was published by Simon & Schuster. She has a B.F.A. from Sarah Lawrence College and an M.F.A. from Vermont College of the Arts. www.abiolaabrams.com
Rachel Kramer Bussel’s most recent edited anthologies include Spanked: Red-Cheeked Erotica, Tasting Him, Tasting Her, Dirty Girls, Yes, Sir, Yes, Ma’am and Best Sex Writing 2008. She is Senior Editor at Penthouse Variations and wrote the popular Lusty Lady column for The Village Voice. 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. She also co-edits the cupcake blog Cupcakes Take the Cake. www.rachelkramerbussel.com
Rand Richards Cooper is the author of a novel, The Last to Go, and a story collection, Big as Life. His fiction has appeared in Harper's, the Atlantic, and Esquire. A longtime writer for Bon Appétit, Rand lives in Hartford, Connecticut, with his wife, Molly, and daughter, Larkin and writes a column about fatherhood, Dad on a Lark, for Wondertime.com.
Lisa Selin Davis is the author of the novel Belly and a freelance writer covering all things urban planning. She has written for the New York Times, Salon, House & Garden, and a zillion other publications and has written one other sex essay, about a pornography club, for Nerve. www.lisaselindavis.com
Stacey D'Erasmo is the author of the novels Tea (2000), A Seahorse Year (2004), and the forthcoming The Sky Below (2009). She is an assistant professor of writing at Columbia University.
Michael Hickins is the author of a sexy collection of stories, The Actual Adventures of Michael Missing (Alfred A. Knopf, 1991; iUniverse, 2000). His most recent work includes Blomqvist (iUniverse, 2006), a picaresque novel about faithlessness set in eleventh-century Europe, and The What Do You Know Contest. He lives in New York City.
Victoria Redel is the author of two books of poetry and three books of fiction: The Border of Truth as published in 2008. Loverboy was chosen in 2001 as a Los Angeles Times Best Book and adapted for feature film. Swoon was a finalist for the James Laughlin award. www.victoriaredel.com
Ellen Sussman is the editor of Dirty Words: A Literary Encyclopedia of Sex. Her anthology, Bad Girls: 26 Writers Misbehave, became a New York Times Editors’ Choice and a San Francisco Chronicle best seller. She is the author of the novel On a Night Like This, also a San Francisco Chronicle best seller. www.ellensussman.com
IN THE FLESH EROTIC READING SERIES AUGUST 21st 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
Summer heats up as In The Flesh celebrates the release of host Rachel Kramer Bussel’s latest anthology Spanked: Red-Cheeked Erotica, with readings from contributors M. David Hornbuckle,Andy Horwitz, and Madlyn March. Also featured are novelist Jessica Anya Blau (The Summer of Naked Swim Parties), comedian and playwright Julie Klausner (Wasp Cove), erotic poet Monica Day (host of A Taste of Sex) and filmmaker Tony Comstock. Copies of Spanked will be available for sale and the book trailer will be shown. Hosted and curated by Rachel Kramer Bussel (Spanked, Rubber Sex, Dirty Girls). Free candy and cupcakes will be served.
Jessica Anya Blau's debut novel, The Summer of Naked Swim Parties, was recommended summer reading in The New York Post, New York Magazine, and The Today Show. She has published over twenty-five short stories and optioned a screenplay. Currently, she is teaching at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore where she graduated from The Writing Seminars. www.jessicaanyablau.com/
Rachel Kramer Bussel’s most recent edited anthologies include Spanked: Red-Cheeked Erotica, Rubber Sex, Dirty Girls, Yes, Sir, Yes, Ma’am and Best Sex Writing 2008. She is Senior Editor at Penthouse Variations and wrote the popular Lusty Lady column for The Village Voice. 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. She also co-edits the cupcake blog Cupcakes Take the Cake. www.rachelkramerbussel.com
Tony Comstock came to New York City in the early 90’s as a journeyman commercial photographer and advertising copywriter. In short order, New York City decided his talents were better suited to film and video, and over the course of the next dozen or so years he directed films for Fortune 500 companies, international relief agencies, and circled the world several times on both commissioned and self-financed documentary projects. In 1995 he and his wife Peggy began shooting experimental erotic shorts that were to become the conceptual and technical foundation for Comstock Films. When not shooting or editing he enjoys spending time with his family and splashing in the sea. His sixth erotic documentary feature, Bill and Desiree: Love is Timeless, is slated for release in early Winter '08. http://www.comstockfilms.com
Monica Day wears many hats: entrepreneur, mother, writer and poet, performer, coach, trainer, and community leader. Her new online publication, The Sensual Life, features erotic writing and ideas about how to infuse your day-to-day life with more intimacy, sensuality – and yes, raw, hardcore sex. She is a sensuality coach who works with both couples and individuals. She also hosts “A Taste of Sex,” an erotic poetry open mic night at the OneTaste Urban Retreat Center in New York on the first Wednesday of every month.
M. David Hornbuckle is a full-time writer and musician, originally from Birmingham, Alabama. His fiction has been published in McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, Isms, Peek, Air in the Paragraph Line and Astarte. His novella The Salvation of Billy Wayne Carter was published as an e-book by Cantarabooks in October 2007. Hornbuckle now lives in NYC where he is finishing up a novel and is the leader of the M. David Hornbuckle Dixieland Space Orchestra. www.mdhornbuckle.net
Andy Horwitz is a writer/performer/producer in NYC. He has performed his comic monologues and spoken word pieces to sold out houses all over New York in such venues as P.S.122, Dixon Place and Here Arts Center. His writing has appeared frequently at Nerve.com, Heeb Magazine and other outlets. In 2005 he ran for Mayor of NYC, a campaign which is documented in the film The Promise of New York. He is the founder and editor of Culturebot.org.
Julie Klausner is a comedian, writer and actor whose writing has appeared in the New York Times, New York Magazine.com, and Salon. Her TV credits include TV Funhouse on Saturday Night Live and The Big Gay Sketch Show on LOGO, and, with Rachel Shukert, she's the creator and co-star of Wasp Cove, the monthly live soap opera, Season Two of which returns in October. She recently sold a memoir, I Don't Care About Your Band, to Penguin, scheduled for release in Spring 2010. Her website is, predictably, julieklausner.com.
Madlyn March is the pseudonym of a writer whose work has appeared in the anthology First-Timers, Spanked: Red-Cheeked Erotica, Black Table, AfterEllen, AfterElton, Complete Woman, The New York Post, Time Out New York, and others.
And a bonus - book trailers for The Summer of Naked Swim Parties and The Salvation of Billy Wayne Carter respectively.
Bottoms Up: Spanking Good Stories
Do Not Disturb: Hotel Sex Stories
Yes, Sir: Erotic Stories of Male Dominance
Best Sex Writing 2008
