New In The Flesh postcards are almost here

Want one? With the fabulous logo by Molly Crabapple? Email your mailing address (US only) to rachelkramerbussel at gmail.com - these cover September 17, 2009 - March 18, 2010.

Vibrator sex at the grocery store with Lisa Beth Kovetz reading from Lux's Practical Erotica Adventure at August's In The Flesh

Lisa Beth Kovetz reads an extremely hilarious scene of remote control vibrator sex at the grocery store from her new novel Lux's Practical Erotica Adventure. I also highly recommend it!


Lux's Practical Erotica Adventure

Tantric sex with Reverend Jen from Live Nude Elf at August's In The Flesh

Reverend Jen reads a hilarious piece about having tantric sex from her book
Live Nude Elf, which I highly recommend.


Live Nude Elf: The Sexperiments of Reverend Jen

D.L. King reads from "Family"

Shot at the last In The Flesh. See www.dlkingerotica.com for more about author D. L. King.

Very special superstar author In The Flesh September 17th

This lineup really couldn't be more outstanding! Plus we have two out of towners, who just happen to be two of my favorite writers: Diana Joseph will be in from Mankato, Minnesota and Kerry Cohen (who I interviewed for The Huffington Post) will be in from Portland, Oregon!



IN THE FLESH EROTIC READING SERIES
September 17th at 8 PM (doors at 7; we recommend arriving by 7:30 for a seat)
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)
Between Forsyth & Eldridge. Look for the hot pink awning that says "XIE HE Health Club."
Admission: Free
Happy Ending Lounge: 212-334-9676
http://www.inthefleshreadingseries.com

Featuring Susan Shapiro (Speed Shrinking, Five Men Who Broke My Heart), Amy Sohn (Prospect Park West), Julie Metz (Perfection: A Memoir of Betrayal and Renewal), Diana Joseph (I’m Sorry You Feel That Way), Kerry Cohen (Loose Girl) and Joshua Lyon (Pill Head). Hosted and curated by Rachel Kramer Bussel (Best Sex Writing 2009, The Mile High Club, Spanked). Free candy and cupcakes by Baked by Melissa will be served. Giveaways include the word game SexySlang. Copies of the authors books will be for sale by Mobile Libris.

In the Flesh is a monthly reading series hosted at the appropriately named Happy Ending Lounge, and features the country'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, Susie Bright, Lily Burana, Jessica Cutler, Mike Daisey, 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, New York Observer, Philadelphia City Paper, Time Out New York, Flavorwire, Gothamist, Jezebel.com, Nerve.com and Wonkette, and has been praised by Dr. Ruth.

Rachel Kramer Bussel is an author, editor, blogger and reading series host. She is Senior Editor at Penthouse Variations and a former sex columnist for The Village Voice. She’s edited numerous anthologies, two of which (Up All Night and Glamour Girls) have been Lambda Literary Award finalists, most recently The Mile High Club: Plane Sex Stories, Do Not Disturb: Hotel Sex Stories, Best Sex Writing 2009, Tasting Him, Tasting Her, and Spanked. Her writing been published in publications such as Clean Sheets, Cosmopolitan, The Daily Beast, Fresh Yarn, Huffington Post, Mediabistro, Newsday, New York Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Tango, The Village Voice, and Time Out New York, and in over 100 anthologies, including Best American Erotica 2004 and 2006. She has hosted In The Flesh since October 2005.
www.rachelkramerbussel.com


photo by Hilary McHone


Kerry Cohen is the author of Loose Girl: A Memoir of Promiscuity, and the three young adult novels, Easy, The Good Girl, and It’s Not You, It’s Me. Her essays have been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Babble.com, and Portland Monthly; and are forthcoming in Brevity.com, Best Sex Writing 2010, and other anthologies and journals. She lives in Portland, Oregon with her family.
www.kerry-cohen.com



Diana Joseph is the author of the short story collection Happy or Otherwise (Carnegie Mellon University Press 2003) and the memoir I'm Sorry You Feel That Way: The Astonishing But True Story of a Daughter, Sister, Slut, Wife, Mother and Friend to Man and Dog (Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam 2009.) She currently teaches in the MFA program at Minnesota State University-Mankato.
www.dianajoseph.net



Joshua Lyon is the author of Pill Head: The Secret Life of a Painkiller Addict, and a journalist who has worked for Interview, Condé Nast Traveler, V Life, and Jane. He has also contributed to Nylon, The Huffington Post, The Daily Beast, New York, Out, Vice, and Page Six magazine.
www.pillheadthebook.com



Julie Metz is the author of Perfection, A Memoir of Betrayal and Renewal, published in June 2009 by Voice/Hyperion. Her nonfiction work has appeared in The New York Times, Glamour, Publisher's Weekly, Hemispheres, and mrbellersneighborhood.com. The recipient of a 2008 MacDowell Fellowship, she lives with her family in Brooklyn, New York.
www.juliemetz.com



Susan Shapiro, a Manhattan journalism professor, has written for the New York Times, Washington Post, L.A. Times, Newsweek, Salon.com, Daily Beast, The Forward, Village Voice, People, More, Glamour, and Cosmopolitan. She's author of the nonfiction books: Only as Good as Your Word, Lighting Up, Secrets of a Fix-Up Fanatic and Five Men Who Broke My Heart, which was optioned for a feature film. Speed Shrinking is her fictional debut. She lives with her husband, a TV/film writer, in Greenwich Village, where she teaches her own "instant gratification takes too long" writing method at the New School, NYU and in private workshops and seminars.
www.susanshapiro.net



Amy Sohn is the author of the novels Prospect Park West, Run Catch Kiss, and My Old Man. She has written for The New York Times, New York, Harper's Bazaar, Playboy and Playgirl and got her start writing an autobiographical column in New York Press called "Female Trouble." She has written pilots for ABC, Fox, and HBO. She lives in Brooklyn,
www.amysohn.com



You'll be hearing from the following books:


Speed Shrinking by Susan Shapiro (her first novel)


Prospect Park West by Amy Sohn (her third novel)


Perfection: A Memoir of Betrayal and Renewal by Julie Metz


Pill Head: The Secret Life of a Painkiller Addict by Joshua Lyon


I'm Sorry You Feel That Way: The Astonishing but True Story of a Daughter, Sister, Slut, Wife, Mother, and Friend to Man and Dog by Diana Joseph


Loose Girl: A Memoir of Promiscuity by Kerry Cohen (her first memoir)

More Quickies: Short Erotica September 4, one hour

As you may know, Quickies is an offshoot of In The Flesh, held on Friday nights for a short sweet hour of 7:39-8:30. The next one is Friday, September 4th, kicking off Labor Day weekend, at Happy Ending Lounge, 302 Broome Street, NYC.

Readers include Jackson West reading Sarah Palin erotica, comedian Kelli Dunham, erotica writer Michelle Robinson, and blogger/writer Diana Vilibert.

Still booking readers - email a 6-minute sample to rachelkramerbussel at gmail.com if you're interested.

Free (21+) and free snacks!

August author photos

left to right: Zoe Hansen, Sèphera Girón, Audacia Ray, Rachel Kramer Bussel, Reverend Jen, Jennifer Blowdryer, DL King

photos from August's reading, courtesy of Audacia Ray on Flickr. video TK! And...if there are any photographers out there who'd be interested in officially photographing In The Flesh each month, email me at rachelkramerbussel at gmail.com - I can't pay in cash, but I can pay in books!

And David Henry Sterry and Lisa Beth Kovetz, who are missing from teh above photo:

Thursday, August 20th - be there!

This Thursday. Be there. We have free lip gloss to give away, along with sex toys, cupcakes and more. Unfortunately, Desiree can't make it but she will be joining us at a future date. Don't miss the hotness. I just may read one of my extra-dirty stories written under my secret male pseudonym.


In The Flesh reading series logo by Molly Crabapple

IN THE FLESH EROTIC READING SERIES
August 20th at 8 PM (doors at 7; we recommend arriving by 7:30 for a seat)
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)
Between Forsyth & Eldridge. Look for the hot pink awning that says "XIE HE Health Club."
Admission: Free
Happy Ending Lounge: 212-334-9676
http://www.inthefleshreadingseries.com

In The Flesh makes August even hotter with these real-life sex stories and steamy erotica tales. Featuring art star Reverend Jen, author of Live Nude Elf: The Sexperiments of Reverend Jen, D.L. King, editor of the lesbian erotica anthology Where the Girls Are, Lisa Beth Kovetz, author of the new novel Lux’s Practical Erotica Adventures, Ravenous Romance author Sèphera Girónand David Henry Sterry, editor of the Soft Skull Press anthology Hos, Hustlers, Callgirls and Rentboys: Professionals Writing on Life, Love, Money, and Sex, along with contributors Jennifer Blowdryer, Zoe Hansen and Audacia Ray. Hosted and curated by Rachel Kramer Bussel (The Mile High Club, Do Not Disturb, Spanked). Authors' books will be available for sale from Mobile Libris. Free candy and cupcakes by Baked by Melissa will be served and free lip gloss from Topco as well as sex toys will be given away.

In the Flesh is a monthly reading series hosted at the appropriately named Happy Ending Lounge, and features the country'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, Susie Bright, Lily Burana, Jessica Cutler, Mike Daisey, 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, New York Observer, Philadelphia City Paper, Time Out New York, Flavorwire, Gothamist, Jezebel.com, Nerve.com and Wonkette, and has been praised by Dr. Ruth.

Jennifer Blowdryer was delighted to meet other people with funny names when she moved to NYC in 1985. Spider Webb and Annie Sprinkle introduced her to the mutual exploitation hack erotica circuit, and she proudly launched Smut Fests at a lap dancing parlour in 1988, forcing performance art patrons to pass through a metered turnstile, and mix with the strangely open minded perverts of the greater new york area. Find her online at jenniferblowdryer.com, www.86edstories.com, jenniferblowdryer.blogspot.com and on Twitter as @valfreedom


photo by Stacy Lanyon

Rachel Kramer Bussel is an author, editor, blogger and reading series host. She is Senior Editor at Penthouse Variations and a former sex columnist for The Village Voice. She’s edited numerous anthologies, two of which (Up All Night and Glamour Girls) have been Lambda Literary Award finalists, most recently The Mile High Club: Plane Sex Stories, Do Not Disturb: Hotel Sex Stories, Best Sex Writing 2009, Tasting Him, Tasting Her, and Spanked. Her writing been published in publications such as Clean Sheets, Cosmopolitan, The Daily Beast, Fresh Yarn, Huffington Post, Mediabistro, Newsday, New York Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Tango, The Village Voice, and Time Out New York, and in over 100 anthologies, including Best American Erotica 2004 and 2006. She has hosted In The Flesh since October 2005.
www.rachelkramerbussel.com


photo by Hilary McHone

Sèphera Girón is the author of over 15 published novels, both fiction and non-fiction. Her fiction ranges from erotic horror to erotic romance. Her non-fiction books include House Magic: The Good Witch's Guide to Bringing Grace to Your Space as well as the Kama Sutra Seductions Deck. Sèphera is working on an occult series for Ravenous Romance as well as writing the daily horoscopes. When Sèphera isn't writing or reading tarot, she's involved in community theatre with her teenaged dancer son.
www.sepheragiron.com



Zoe Hansen grew up in London, where she befriended Boy George, who put her in his “It’s a Miracle” video. In 1984, armed with $200, she left London for New York City’s Lower East Side. She started in sex work answering phones for an escort service and eventually doing out calls. In 1999, she opened her own brothel, Sterling Ladies, which was the first of five brothels she opened during the next three years. She is now working on her first book, a memoir entitled My American Dream - Going Down in Gotham, and living in the East Village.



D. L. King is the editor of Where the Girls Are: Urban Lesbian Erotica and the up-coming anthology, The Sweetest Kiss: Ravishing Vampire Erotica, both from Cleis Press, she is also the publisher and editor of the erotica review site, Erotica Revealed. Some of her most recent work can be found in anthologies such as Girl Crazy, Swing!, Yes, Sir, Yes, Ma’am, Frenzy, Best Women’s Erotica, Mammoth Book of Best New Erotica and Best Lesbian Erotica. You can find her also in the soon-to-be-released anthologies, Like a Sacred Desire: Tales of Sex Magick, from Circlet Press and Broadly Bound, from Phaze. She is also the author of two novels, The Melinoe Project and The Art of Melinoe.
www.dlkingerotica.com


photo by Stacie Joy

Lisa Beth Kovetz is an award winning writer and producer. Her first novel, The Tuesday Erotica Club, was published by Sourcebooks, Inc. in April ’06. By 2008 the novel has been translated into 17 languages, with the sequel to be published in April 2009. The feature film rights to the book have recently been optioned by Cinergi Pictures Entertainment. Her second novel is Lux’s Practical Erotica Adventures. Currently, Ms. Kovetz is a senior producer/writer at CUNY-TV, the cable television station of The City University of New York where she creates documentaries and short form episodic magazine format segments. Kovetz is currently working on a half hour documentary on anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising and a documentary about the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
www.lisabethkovetz.com



Audacia Ray is a media maker and activist who is passionate about sexual rights. She is the author of Naked on the Internet: Hookups, Downloads, and Cashing In On Internet Sexploration (Seal Press, 2007) and is the award-winning director and producer of the porn feature The Bi Apple as well as the producer and star of the comedic film short Dacia’s Love Machine. Audacia is a former sex worker who was an executive editor at $pread magazine for three years and is a co-founder of advocacy organization Sex Work Awareness. Dacia has been writing her personal blog, Waking Vixen, since 2004.
www.audaciaray.com



Reverend Jen is a performer, painter, playwright, columnist, underground movie star, open mike host, ASS Magazine founder and elf. She lives in the world's only Troll Museum above a shoe store on New York City's Lower East Side with her Chihuahua, Reverend Jen Junior. She is a columnist for www.artnet.com and a former sex columnist for Nerve.com. Her books include Live Nude Elf: the Sexperiments of Reverend Jen, Sex Symbol for the Insane and Reverend Jen's Really Cool Neighborhood.
www.revjen.com



David Henry Sterry is a bestselling author, Huffington Post regular, award winning actor/comic, book doctor, teacher, activist, and a man who hasn’t worn matching socks in years. He is writer of and performer in the one-man show "Chicken", based on his bestselling memoir Chicken: Self-Portrait of a Young Man for Rent (ReganBooks: 2002), which has been translated into nine languages, and is being made into a series by Showtime. He is an editor of a new anthology by Soft Skull Press: Hos, Hustlers, Callgirls and Rentboys: Professionals Writing on Life, Love, Money, and Sex. www.davidhenrysterry.com



You will hear from the following books:


Hos, Hookers, Call Girls, and Rent Boys: Professionals Writing on Life, Love, Money, and Sex


Live Nude Elf: The Sexperiments of Reverend Jen


Lux's Practical Erotica Adventures


The Mile High Club: Plane Sex Stories


Where the Girls Are: Urban Lesbian Erotica


Teacher's Pet by Sèphera Girón

In The Flesh on Flickr

I know you'll be there August 20th for our crazy fabulous lineup. Quickies was short, sweet, and snack-filled, and a good lesson in the power of less. Remember, when reading, less really is more. I promise you. No idea if we will be doing another Quickies - I think not, since I'm already way overworked with running this series, but if the opportunity arises, I will consider it.


Snacks at Quickies - Baked by Melissa cupcakes will be back for In The Flesh August 20th along with many other treats

I still owe you some videos, though if you missed Mike Daisey's reading, you missed out and should make sure you mark your calendars next time. Everyone else's are currently on YouTube and most will be up here soon.

I will soon be posting a list of all 200+ readers who've read at In The Flesh since October 2005, but in the meantime, peruse the photos and add your own in our brand-new Flickr group, inspired by the Sex Worker Literati Flickr group.

The official In The Flesh Flickr account also has some photos - someday I will get it updated!

Not getting updates?

Follow us:

Rachel Kramer Bussel's newsletter (left hand side)

In The Flesh Reading Series Facebook group

Twitter

True Sex Confession by Nancy Balbirer

Above is the wonderful Nancy Balbirer, author of Take Your Shirt Off and Cry: A Memoir of Near-Fame Experiences, reading at True Sex Confessions night.




You can now also read my interview with her at The Rumpus about acting, LA vs. New York, Jennifer Aniston, spirituality and following your dreams. And Lorne Michaels.

Bonus reading Quickies TONIGHT 7:30-8:30!! Free books!

Can't get enough In The Flesh? Come out tonight for the first (of many or none remains to be seen) Quickies: Short Erotica. Readers have 6 minutes to wow us.

Please come hear me, Stephanie Schroeder, Dana Rossi, Fidencia Solomon, Rachael Nachtway and others tonight, 7:30-8:30 at Happy Ending Lounge, for the debut (and perhaps, denouement, if that's the right word) of Quickies! It's an offshoot of In The Flesh Reading Series and readers have 6 minutes to read.

TONIGHT!! Friday, August 7th
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)
Between Forsyth & Eldridge. Look for the hot pink awning that says "XIE HE Health Club."
Admission: Free
Happy Ending Lounge: 212-334-9676

Because I suck, I have done zero publicity so the first 5 attendees I will give a copy of my new book Bottoms Up: Spanking Good Stories and there will be free food.