Reminder: Hear Me Read From 50 Writers On 50 Shades Of Grey

(from M.Christian's Classes And Appearances)

Just a reminder:

This is going to be a blast!

On Thursday, December 6th, from 7 - 8pm, join me and some other wonderful writers reading from the very fun new book 50 Writers On 50 Shades Of Grey at the Valencia Street Good Vibrations store, in San Francisco!

E. L. James’ Fifty Shades trilogy has fascinated and seduced millions of readers. In bedrooms, in book clubs, and in the media, people can’t stop talking about it!

In Fifty Writers on Fifty Shades of Grey, 50 writers—from romance and erotica authors, to real-world BDSM practitioners, to adult entertainment industry professionals—continue the conversation.

Fifty Shades as Erotic FictionErotic romance writer Sylvia Day speaks to the new opportunities the Fifty Shades trilogy has opened up for writers (and readers!) of erotica

Fifty Shades as Sexual EmpowermentRomance novelist Heather Graham praises the way the books encourage women to celebrate their own sexual shades of grey

Fifty Shades as FanfictionEditor Tish Beaty relates the process behind turning Twilight fanfic Master of the Universe into Fifty Shades of Grey

Fifty Shades as Pop CultureFifty Shames of Earl Grey author Andrew Shaffer compares Fifty Shades to sister-in-literary-scandal Peyton Place

Plus• Matrimonial lawyer Sherri Donovan examines the legalities of Christian’s contract• Master R of BDSM training chateau La Domaine Esemar evaluates Christian Grey’s skill as a Dominant (and offers some professional advice)• And a whole lot more!
Whether you loved Fifty Shades of Grey, or just want to know why everyone else does, Fifty Writers on Fifty Shades of Grey is the book for you. 

Contributors: 

• Heather Graham• Sylvia Day• Andrew Shaffer• M.J. Rose• Sinnamon Love• Judith Regan• Stacey Agdern• Laura Antoniou• Jennifer Armintrout• Tish Beaty• Mala Bhattacharjee• Rachel Kramer Bussel• M. Christian• Suzan Colón• Joy Daniels• Sherri Donovan• Angela Edwards• Melissa Febos• Lucy Felthouse• Ryan Field• Selina Fire• Megan Frampton• Sarah Frantz• Louise Fury• Lois Gresh• Catherine Hiller• Marci Hirsch• Dr. Hilda Hutcherson• Debra Hyde• Anne Jamison• D.L. King• Dr. Logan Levkoff• Arielle Loren• Sassafras Lowry• Rachel Kenley• Pamela Madsen• Chris Marks and Lia Leto• Midori• Master R• Dr. Katherine Ramsland• Tiffany Reisz• Katharine Sands• Jennifer Sanzo• Rakesh Satyal• Marc Shapiro• Lyss Stern• Cecilia Tan• Hope Tarr• Susan Wright• Editor X

Tom Lehrer - A Christmas Carol

Wonderful Time Teaching Cupping - Using The Ancient Medicinal Technique For Erotic Play At The Looking Glass

(from M.Christian's Classes And Appearances)

Just wanted to toss out a hearty thanks for the great folks who came out to my Cupping - Using The Ancient Medicinal Technique For Erotic Play class at the The Looking Glass ... it was a treat to teach and, I hope, everyone who was there had a good time as well!

Stroke The Fire Blog Tour: The Jeep Dviva

(from M.Christian's Queer Imaginings)

This is very fun - as part of the Stroke The Fire: The Best Manlove Fiction Of M.Christian blog tour that the great folks at Renaissance E Books/Sizzler Editions were so great to setup for me, the very first stop has just gone up: a very nice interview with yers truly by the great Jeep Diva.

The tour also includes a contest to get some freebie books: so check it out and see what might happen ;-)

Here's a taste of it - and just clock here for the rest:

The Jeep Diva:

Vanessa: Would you please start by telling us a little bit about yourself?

Well, I’m a male human born in 1960. I have green eyes, black hair, am circumcised, have a rather thin build, and am a little short of six feet tall.

I am a writer. Yeah, I know there are a lot of people out there who say that they are writers but when I say I am a writer I mean that I eat, drink, breathe, telling stories. I first caught the bug in high school and (yes, you may gasp) ten years later I sold my first story.

Okay, it as a pornographic story – sold to the magazine (now defunct) Future Sex, and then picked up for Best American Erotica 1994 – but that doesn’t bother me: I am a writer and I love to write pretty much anything for anyone. Sex, as the old maxim goes, sells and – no fool I – I write what people want to buy. Oh, I write all kinds of other things, from non-fiction (Welcome To Weirdsville, Pornotopia, and How To Write And Sell Erotica) to science fiction/fantasy/horror (Love Without Gun Control) but erotica is where I’ve done my most work.

Here’s a quickie bio:

Calling M.Christian versatile is a tremendous understatement. Extensively published in science fiction, fantasy, horror, thrillers, and even non-fiction, it is in erotica that M.Christian has become an acknowledged master, with more than 400 stories in such anthologies as Best American Erotica, Best Gay Erotica, Best Lesbian Erotica, Best Bisexual Erotica, Best Fetish Erotica, and in fact too many anthologies, magazines, and sites to name. In erotica, M.Christian is known and respected not just for his passion on the page but also his staggering imagination and chameleonic ability to successfully and convincingly write for any and all orientations. 

But M.Christian has other tricks up his literary sleeve: in addition to writing, he is a prolific and respected anthologist, having edited 25 anthologies to date including the Best S/M Erotica series; Pirate Booty; My Love For All That Is Bizarre: Sherlock Holmes Erotica; The Burning Pen; The Mammoth Book of Future Cops, and The Mammoth Book of Tales of the Road (with Maxim Jakubowksi); Confessions, Garden of Perverse, and Amazons (with Sage Vivant), and many more. 

M.Christian’s short fiction has been collected into many bestselling books in a wide variety of genres, including the Lambda Award finalist Dirty Words and other queer collections like Filthy Boys, BodyWork, and his best-of-his-best gay erotica book, Stroke the Fire.He also has collections of non-fiction (Welcome to Weirdsville, Pornotopia, and How To Write And Sell Erotica); science fiction, fantasy and horror (Love Without Gun Control); and erotic science fiction including Rude Mechanicals, Technorotica, Better Than The Real Thing, and the acclaimed The Bachelor Machine. 

As a novelist, M.Christian has shown his monumental versatility with books such as the queer vamp novels Running Dry and The Very Bloody Marys; the erotic romance Brushes; the science fiction erotic novel Painted Doll; and the rather controversial gay horror/thrillers Fingers Breadth and Me2. 

M.Christian is also the Associate Publisher for Renaissance E Books, where he strives to be the publisher he’d want to have as a writer, and to help bring quality books (erotica, noir, science fiction, and more) and authors out into the world. His site is www.mchristian.com.

Vanessa: What is one thing about you that your readers would find surprising or never guess about you?

I think the biggest thing that ‘throws’ folks is that, even though I have written a lot – and I do mean a lot — of queer fiction and erotica (both gay as well as lesbian) I’m actually … wait for it … a straight guy.

I’m not even that kinky of a straight guy … okay, I have a fondness for big beautiful women but I always fall in love with a woman’s mind before I fall for her body.

Now I have to be serious (for a second) I never, ever lie about my own sexuality when I write gay fiction: I am very out about being a heterosexual who happens to write quite a bit of gay fiction. It all happened rather simply: I had a friend who suggested I try my hand at writing gay erotica so I contacted the editor of a gay erotic anthology and asked if he wouldn’t mind getting a story from a straight guy – and he not only said sure but also bought the story … which then ended up in Best Gay Erotica 1994.

To use the cliché, the rest is history: one story lead to two, three, four, being offered to edit my own anthology, then a novel offer and … well, here I am. Stroke the Fire, in fact, is my own, personal, best-of-my-very best gay erotic short stories, taken from three of my best-selling gay erotic collections, Filthy Boys, BodyWork, and the rather-celebrated Dirty Words. I even kept the very touching introductions to each of the three books in Stroke the Fire: Felice Picano’s from Filthy Boys, and Patrick Califia from Dirty Words.

[MORE]

Hear Me Read From 50 Writers On 50 Shades Of Grey

(From M.Christian's Classes And Appearances)

This is going to be a blast!

On Thursday, December 6th, from 7 - 8pm, join me and some other wonderful writers reading from the very fun new book 50 Writers On 50 Shades Of Grey at the Valencia Street Good Vibrations store, in San Francisco!

E. L. James’ Fifty Shades trilogy has fascinated and seduced millions of readers. In bedrooms, in book clubs, and in the media, people can’t stop talking about it!

In Fifty Writers on Fifty Shades of Grey, 50 writers—from romance and erotica authors, to real-world BDSM practitioners, to adult entertainment industry professionals—continue the conversation.

Fifty Shades as Erotic FictionErotic romance writer Sylvia Day speaks to the new opportunities the Fifty Shades trilogy has opened up for writers (and readers!) of erotica

Fifty Shades as Sexual EmpowermentRomance novelist Heather Graham praises the way the books encourage women to celebrate their own sexual shades of grey

Fifty Shades as FanfictionEditor Tish Beaty relates the process behind turning Twilight fanfic Master of the Universe into Fifty Shades of Grey

Fifty Shades as Pop CultureFifty Shames of Earl Grey author Andrew Shaffer compares Fifty Shades to sister-in-literary-scandal Peyton Place

Plus• Matrimonial lawyer Sherri Donovan examines the legalities of Christian’s contract• Master R of BDSM training chateau La Domaine Esemar evaluates Christian Grey’s skill as a Dominant (and offers some professional advice)• And a whole lot more!

Whether you loved Fifty Shades of Grey, or just want to know why everyone else does, Fifty Writers on Fifty Shades of Grey is the book for you.

Contributors:

• Heather Graham• Sylvia Day• Andrew Shaffer• M.J. Rose• Sinnamon Love• Judith Regan• Stacey Agdern• Laura Antoniou• Jennifer Armintrout• Tish Beaty• Mala Bhattacharjee• Rachel Kramer Bussel• M. Christian• Suzan Colón• Joy Daniels• Sherri Donovan• Angela Edwards• Melissa Febos• Lucy Felthouse• Ryan Field• Selina Fire• Megan Frampton• Sarah Frantz• Louise Fury• Lois Gresh• Catherine Hiller• Marci Hirsch• Dr. Hilda Hutcherson• Debra Hyde• Anne Jamison• D.L. King• Dr. Logan Levkoff• Arielle Loren• Sassafras Lowry• Rachel Kenley• Pamela Madsen• Chris Marks and Lia Leto• Midori• Master R• Dr. Katherine Ramsland• Tiffany Reisz• Katharine Sands• Jennifer Sanzo• Rakesh Satyal• Marc Shapiro• Lyss Stern• Cecilia Tan• Hope Tarr• Susan Wright• Editor X

How To Wonderfully WriteSex (19)

Check it out: my new post at the fantastic WriteSex site just went up. Here's a tease (for the rest you'll have to go to the site):

It’s a huge no-duh that we live in an Information Age: from high speed Internet to 4G cell networks, we can get whatever we want wherever we want it – data-wise – at practically at the speed of light.
But sometimes I miss the old days. No, they weren’t – ever – the Good Old Days (I still remember liquid paper, SASEs, and letter-sized manila envelopes … shudder), but back then a writer had a damned long time to hear about anything to do with the biz. 

If you were lucky you got a monthly mimeographed newsletter but otherwise you spent weeks, even months, before hearing about markets or trends … and if you actually wanted contact with another writer you either had to pick up the phone, sit down and have coffee, or (gasp) write a letter. 

No, I’m far from being a Luddite. To borrow a bit from the great (and late) George Carlin: “I’ve been uplinked and downloaded. I’ve been inputted and outsourced. I know the upside of downsizing; I know the downside of upgrading. I’m a high-tech lowlife. A cutting-edge, state-of-the-art, bicoastal mutlitasker, and I can give you a gigabyte in a nanosecond.” 

I love living in The World Of Tomorrow. Sure, we may not have food pills or jetpacks but with the push of a … well, the click of a mouse I can see just about every movie or show I want, read any book ever written, play incredibly realistic games, or learn anything I want to know. 

Here it comes, what you’ve been waiting for … but … well, as I’ve said many times before, writing can be an emotionally difficult, if not actually scarring endeavor. We forget, far too often, to care for ourselves in the manic pursuit of our writing ‘careers.’ We hover over Facebook, Twitter and blog-after-blog: our creative hopes of success – and fears of failure – rising and falling with every teeny-tiny bit of information that comes our way.

[MORE] 

The Power of Introverts

Mind Blowing

One More Reminder: Cupping - Using The Ancient Medicinal Technique For Erotic Play

(from M.Christian's Classes And Appearances)

Just one more reminder that I'm going to be teaching my very fun (and hands-on) class and workshop Cupping: Using The Ancient Medicinal Technique For Erotic Play for the great folks at The Looking Glass on December 2nd.

Where: The Looking Glass Arts

When: December 2nd, from 2:00PM to 4:00PM

Cost: $20.00 per person, $35.00 per couple with Advance Tickets; $25.00 per person, $40.00 per couple at the door.

Cupping: Using The Ancient Medicinal Technique For Erotic Play 

For thousands of years, Asian cultures have been using 'cupping' as a remedy for a variety of ills – from muscle strains to just a wonderful way to relax. In this unique class, participants will not just learn how to use cupping safely but also how to use it to enhance all kinds of erotic – and kinky – play.  

Demonstrations will include not just how to use cupping on various parts of the body in new and exciting ways but also the different types of cupping sets that are available and what type is right for everything from advanced BDSM play to just soothing an achy back.

Fifty Impressions of Grey

Here's a fun little thing I stumbled across - which is way too apt considering that I just got my own copy of 50 Writers On 50 Shades Of Grey - which has some great essays in it - including one of mine - about the 'phenom' that is 50 Shades....

Did Someone Say ZOMBIES?

(from M.Christian's Technorotica)


Just because ... BRAINS ... zombies are ... BRAINS ... popular, I thought I'd share ... BRAINS ... an except from my own zombie ... BRAINS ... story from my non-smutty sf/f/horror collection Love Without Gun Control.

Btw ... BRAINS...

BURIED WITH THE DEAD 

All in all, Presidential Aide Lawrence Tucker thought, it had almost been one fucking successful administration. He thought this while pushing the snapping, squirming corpse of the Assistant Secretary of Urban Affairs on a gurney. The gurney had one squeaking, spinning wheel, and it echoed down the flickering fluorescents of Access Tunnel B2, deep inside Cheyenne Mountain.

Yeah, he thought, almost –

**** 

They’d managed to get Hubbel into the seat with a clear 65%. For the conservative middles they’d used a budget-cutting and job development plank. Rehabilitation and civil liberties had pulled in the sandal-wearers and the granola-eaters. A hands-off business tax approach brought in the big campaign bucks from the old white men. A couple of clean overseas “actions” had cemented Hubbel as a man who took no bull. The loss of Peter, his eldest, in a gangland shooting had gotten him in real firm with the bleeding hearts – that, and his tearful plea to “stop the killing of our children” as he dedicated a big hunk of the domestic budget to education and law enforcement.

At the door of elevator shaft C2, Tucker unholstered the heavy army automatic that Major Clark had given him. Hitting the cycle button, he stepped out of the way of Henry’s clutching hands. The straps were definitely not slipping, but he was being extra careful. He’d had to pump six rounds into Julie, the personal secretary to the Chairman of Foreign Affairs, after she’d slipped free a week or so previous.

Leaning back and lighting a precious Marlboro, he watched the shaft door slowly crack, then ponderously open. Thinking, once again, of Hubbel.

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(Sigh) If it were only THAT easy -