True Sex Confessions photos

Some of what happened at True Sex Confessions Night, in photographic form. All photos by Anya Garrett. See more here.


We ate snacks.


And Baked by Melissa cupcakes.


We got free copies of Penthouse Variations and Penthouse Forum and SexIs Magazine.


We bought books from Mobile Libris.


The lucky among us got very sexy footrubs by Luna.


I read dirty emails from an affair I had.


Rae Padilla Francouer read from her memoir Free Fall.


Slut Lullabies author Gina Frangello told us about her husband's penis size.


Kathleen Rooney took our photo and told us about getting a Brazilian bikini wax, in Brazil.


House of Cards author David Ellis Dickerson told us about finding out that some women like to have their breasts touched...and hiring a prostitute to fondle hers.


I was laughing so hard and trying not to pee during Dave and Ethan's set that I'm not actually sure what they were singing about besides dates, kissing and sex, but it was hilarious!


I read many of your true sex confessions, written on the fly on index cards. What a wild bunch!

In The Flesh ending with December 2010 show

I wanted to let you all know that you have 7 more chances to catch In The Flesh Reading Series before I bring it to a close. It'll have been 5 years of amazing readers (see master list, in need of a little updating but close, here) and countless cupcakes eaten and stories told. I've loved working with Happy Ending Lounge and am cooking up some wonderful lineups.

Published authors, especially those with new books out, can contact me at rachelkramerbussel at gmail.com with "In The Flesh" about booking. June and July are full (July announcement soon, we are partnering with New York Press for Media Sex Night), August and September have spots open, October is mostly full and November will probably be Comedy Sex night followed by Best Of In The Flesh, which I will handpick for the closing night.

The remaining 2010 dates are:

June 17 (GLBT)
July 15 (Media)
August 19 (Summer Sex)
September 16
October 21 (Orgasms)
November 18
December 16

True Sex Confessions Night authors and In The Flesh on Twitter

Follow True Sex Confessions Night authors on Twitter (yes, we are social media savvy like that). And, of course, follow
@InTheFleshNYC for all the latest news. You can also use the hashtag #itfnyc to post about the reading (as I sometimes do live the night of the event!). Full details in post right below this one.

Rachel Kramer Bussel (@raquelita)

Dave and Ethan (@DaveandEthan)

Benoit Denizet-Lewis (@BenoitDLewis)

David Ellis Dickerson (@wordboydave)

Rae Padilla Francouer (@raeAF)

Gina Frangella (@Ginafrangello)

Sex, comedy, virginity, bikini waxing and more May 20th at True Sex Confessions Night

David Ellis Dickerson writes in House of Cards about being a 29-year-old virgin (who was engaged for 6 years!), Kathleen Rooney will share a tale of bikini waxing, Rae Padilla Francouer will talk about her love affair...the rest are a mystery but they will all be sharing true stories about sex. Plus there's free cupcakes, chocolate (Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, peppermint patties, Hershey's miniatures), and chips! Yes, I am willing to pimp out the free food. Plus 200 free cupcakes from Baked by Melissa. Don't miss this, and please tell your friends (get there early, doors open at 7).


In The Flesh logo by Molly Crabapple

There is no RSVP requirement, but if you'd like to RSVP and/or spread the word on Facebook, click here for the True Sex Confessions event listing. See also the In The Flesh Reading Series fan page on Facebook.

IN THE FLESH EROTIC READING SERIES
TRUE SEX CONFESSIONS NIGHT
May 20, 2010, 8 pm - 10 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)
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

True Sex Confessions is back! Featuring comedians Dave and Ethan, The New York Times Magazine reporter Benoit Denizet-Lewis (author of American Voyeur), David Ellis Dickerson (author of the memoir House of Cards), Rae Padilla Francoeur (author of the memoir Free Fall, A Late in Life Love Affair), Gina Frangello (author of the short story collection Slut Lullabies), comedian Ryan Paulson, Kathleen Rooney (author of the essay collection For You, For You I Am Trilling These Songs). Hosted by Rachel Kramer Bussel (Editor, Peep Show, Bottoms Up). Free Astroglide samples will be given out. Authors' books will be available for sale from Mobile Libris. 100 free copies of Sexis Magazine will be distributed and a $50 gift card to online sex toy retailer EdenFantasys along with a Kissa vibrator courtesy of EdenFantasys will be raffled off. Free cupcakes by Baked by Melissa and chips, cookies and candy will be served.

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. The series was named Best Reading Series by New York Press in 2009. 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, NBC New York, New York Post, New York Observer, Philadelphia City Paper, Time Out New York, Flavorwire, Fork in the Road, Gawker, Gothamist, Jezebel.com, Nerve.com, Serious Eats, Tasting Table 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 over 30 anthologies, including the kink-themed Spanked, Bottoms Up, Yes, Sir, Yes, Ma'am, He's on Top, She's on Top, Rubber Sex as well as Peep Show, The Mile High Club: Plane Sex Stories, Do Not Disturb: Hotel Sex Stories, Tasting Him, Tasting Her, and the non-fiction Best Sex Writing series. Her books won 3 2009 Independent Publisher Awards. 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. Rachel conducts nationwide readings and erotic writing workshops. She has hosted In The Flesh since October 2005.
www.rachelkramerbussel.com


photo by Anya Garrett

Using ads on Craigslist and YouTube, best friends Dave and Ethan invited pairs of women to double date them. Two hundred dates later, their experiences have been translated into reenactments, educational songs, and valuable lessons in everything from dancing to kissing. Now, with a monthly show at the People’s Improv Theater, performances at various comedy clubs throughout New York City, and a national
college tour, they attempt to enlighten their audiences on the art of romance.



Benoit Denizet-Lewis is a writer with The New York Times Magazine who has authored memorable and controversial cover stories about teens and sex, men on the down low, fraternity boys, young gay married men in Massachusetts, and kids coming out in middle school (which one the recent GLAAD award for best magazine article of 2009). He is the author of America Anonymous: Eight Addicts in Search of a Life, about addiction in this country, and American Voyeur: Dispatches from the Far Reaches of Modern Life, which is a collection of his previously published writing about youth culture, gender, and sexuality. He lives in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts.
www.benoitdenizetlewis.com/



David Ellis Dickerson is the author of a humorous memoir, House of Cards (Riverhead, October 2009), about his life as a geeky recovering fundamentalist writing greeting cards for Hallmark. He is a regular contributor to public radio's "This American Life," and hosts a videoblog called "Greeting Card Emergency," on YouTube, which has drawn the attention of such public radio shows as "Talk of the Nation" and "Studio 360." He is currently at work on his second book, which should probably be called Thank God For Public Radio, but won't be.
www.davidellisdickerson.com



Rae Padilla Francoeur is a journalist and editor. She is the author of Free Fall: A Late-in-Life Love Affair. She has managed a number of magazines and newspapers, and she writes book reviews, essays, nonfiction articles, short stories, and novels. She divides her time between Rockport, MA and Manhattan. Read more about Rae’s adventures at freefallrae.blogspot.com/.



Gina Frangello is the author of the novel My Sister's Continent (Chiasmus 2006) and the collection Slut Lullabies (Emergency Press 2010.) The longtime editor of the literary magazine Other Voices, she co-founded its book press, Other Voices Books, in 2005 and is now the Executive Editor of the press' Chicago office. She is also the Editor of the Fiction Section at The Nervous Breakdown. Her work has appeared in many literary magazines and anthologies including Homewrecker: An Adultery Journal (Soft Skull), Swink, StoryQuarterly, Blithe House Quarterly, Prairie Schooner and &NOW: The Best of Innovative Writing. She teaches at Northwestern University and Columbia College Chicago, and runs The Nervous Breakdown Literary Experience-Chicago reading series.
ginafrangello.com




Ryan Paulson is the performer and co-writer (with Virginia Scott) of two solo shows, "Ryan Paulson: I'm Uncomfortable" and "Pentecostal Wisconsin." He has performed "Pentecostal Wisconsin" in 11 cities across the US and Canada as well completing a run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland. The show has received numerous nominations, including Best Comedy and Best Solo Performance at the Victoria Fringe Festival and Best Visiting Production by the Montreal English Critics Circle and was awarded Best Solo Performance at the Ottawa Fringe Festival. In reviewing "Pentecostal Wisconsin" Time Out New York wrote, "This categorically pitch-perfect one-man comedy has it all: music, character work, soul-searching, integrity, and honesty."
www.ryanpaulson.com



Kathleen Rooney is a founding editor of Rose Metal Press, and the author, most recently, of the memoir Live Nude Girl: My Life as an Object and the essay collection For You, For You I Am Trilling These Songs. She lives in Chicago.
www.kathleenrooney.com



Latest books by True Sex Confessions authors (some of which you will hear from at True Sex Confessions Night):


Please, Sir: Erotic Stories of Female Submission edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel


American Voyeur: Dispatches from the Far Reaches of Modern Life by Benoit Denizet-Liews


House of Cards: Love, Faith, and Other Social Expressions by David Dickerson


Free Fall: A Late-in-Life Love Affair by Rae Padilla Francouer


Slut Lullabies by Gina Frangello


For You, For You I Am Trilling These Songs by Kathleen Rooney

GLBT Erotica Night June 17th at In The Flesh Reading Series

In The Flesh logo by Molly Crabapple

There is no RSVP requirement, but if you'd like to RSVP and/or spread the word on Facebook, click here for the True Sex Confessions event listing. See also the In The Flesh Reading Series fan page on Facebook.

IN THE FLESH EROTIC READING SERIES
GLBT EROTICA NIGHT
June 17, 2010, 8 pm - 10 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)
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 goes gay for you! Our annual GLBT Erotica Night is back. Featuring Porno Bingo host and former porn star Will Clark, novelist Dario Dalla Lasta (The Three Red Lines), performer Cas Marino, PANIC! reading series host Charlie Vázquez and Girl Crush: Women's Erotic Fantasies contributors Annabeth Leong and Julia Peters. Hosted by Rachel Kramer Bussel (Editor, Peep Show, Bottoms Up). 100 free copies of Sexis Magazine will be distributed. Free cupcakes by Kumquat Cupcakery and chips, cookies and candy will be served.

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. The series was named Best Reading Series by New York Press in 2009. 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, NBC New York, New York Post, New York Observer, Philadelphia City Paper, Time Out New York, Flavorwire, Fork in the Road, Gawker, Gothamist, Jezebel.com, Nerve.com, Serious Eats, Tasting Table 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 over 30 anthologies, including the kink-themed Spanked, Bottoms Up, Yes, Sir, Yes, Ma'am, He's on Top, She's on Top, Rubber Sex as well as Peep Show, The Mile High Club: Plane Sex Stories, Do Not Disturb: Hotel Sex Stories, Tasting Him, Tasting Her, and the non-fiction Best Sex Writing series. Her books won 3 2009 Independent Publisher Awards. 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. Rachel conducts nationwide readings and erotic writing workshops. She has hosted In The Flesh since October 2005.
www.rachelkramerbussel.com


photo by Anya Garrett

Will Clark, a Wisconsin native but diehard New Yorker since the early 90s, has been entertaining for the past 20 years, first as an actor, after having earned a Masters degree from Northwestern University, and then in adult films (1995 – 1999, 2003, 48 films) and stripper at clubs around the country (1996 – 2005, 2007) then touring with his own one man show “Altered Ego” (2002 – 2005, New York, Chicago,
Provincetown, New Orleans). Since 1997, he’s worked non-stop as an MC and producer at over a thousand events featuring LGBT celebs raising money for LGBT non profits. Currently, he can be seen at his weekly “Porno Bingo” event in NYC at Pieces. This spring, he returned to his acting roots and was featured in the off Broadway smash, “When Joey Married Bobby” at the Roy Arias Theatre. You can read his blog at
www.willclarkworld.com.



Dario Dalla Lasta is a graduate of Pepperdine University and Pepperdine University School of Law in Malibu, CA (he just wants you to know he’s well-educated and once frolicked on such star-drenched sands). On the roller coaster ride of his life so far, he’s been a lawyer, a divorcee, a music industry pundit, an actor, a go-go boy, and a fetish model. For the past five years, he’s been hitting the queer scene as DJ Dario Speedwagon, spinning “cock rock and pussy pop” throughout Brooklyn and NYC. Dario resides in Williamsburg with his boyfriend Michael Bailey and their adorable dog Chavez. The Three Red Lines is his first novel, but he’s completed a second one entitled The Force of Destiny and is currently begging publishers to read the damn thing.



Annabeth Leong's erotica has appeared on the Oysters and Chocolate website and in several anthologies, including Girl Crush from Cleis Press and Coming Together: As One. Visit her blog at http://annabethleong.blogspot.com/ or follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/AnnabethLeong.

Cas Marino is an actor, singer, writer, producer and artist living and playing in New York City. He's best known for his stage work in the NYC International Fringe Festival, acclaimed revivals of "Torch Song Trilogy" and "La Cage Aux Folles", as well as cabaret and independent theater performances in and around the city. His film work can be seen in the upcoming independent shorts, "Honey" and "Tu & Eu" due out soon. Now having added Celebrity Blogger to his curricula vitae with his regular contributions to Phrolix.com, Cas is the self-proclaimed "voice of the socio-sexual intelligentsia, if not the fashionistas and the glitterati," all for a good hearted glimpse into the thoughts and actions of one man living his life proud, and out loud, in New York City. Cas’ blogs bring that one-on-one camaraderie to his fans as he discusses the adult themes of love, loss, and low-carb living with great frankness and warmth, plenty of adult language and imagery, and above all, great humor. To read Cas’ blogs, visit http://www.phrolix.com/cas-marino.

Julia Peters is the nom de porn of a very nice lady who lives and works in New York City. Her fiction has been published in Playgirl, Girl Crush, The Mammoth Book of Best New Erotica, From Porn to Poetry 2, and others. She has also been published online at Clean Sheets (www.cleansheets.com), where she was a fiction editor. This is her first published work of erotica in quite some time, and she's so happy she's howling at the moon, which would do the wolves who raised her proud.

Charlie Vázquez is a radical Bronx-bred writer of Cuban and Puerto Rican descent. His fiction and essays have been published in anthologies such as Queer and Catholic (Taylor & Francis, 2007) and Best Gay Love Stories: NYC (Alyson, 2006). His writing has also appeared in print and online publications such as The Advocate, Chelsea Clinton News, New York Press and Ganymede Journal. Charlie hosts a monthly reading series called PANIC! (in the East Village), which focuses on original queer fiction and poetry. He will be reading from Contraband tonight, his second novel, which was just published by Rebel Satori Press.



You will be hearing from:


Girl Crush: Women's Erotic Fantasies


The Three Red Lines

EdenFantasys is now an official sponsor of In The Flesh Reading Series

Very exciting news, and more free stuff for you!




EdenFantasys is a proud sponsor of In The Flesh!

Every reading features 100 free copies of Sexis Magazine (print edition) and free sex toy gift cards from EF!

Use the code "cupcake" for 20% off sex toys.