THE SEX FILES: What I Did, (Not Exactly) On My Summer Vacation

(from R.Greco And M.Christian Presents)

Check out this WONDERFUL write up by Ralph on our very fun trip to Las Vegas and attending Sin In The City!

(from Short And Sweet NYC)

It rolled around just recently that my buddy, famous dirty scribe, kink class teacher M. Christian and I were invited, once again, to Sin in The City, in Las Vegas. Chris and I managed to teach at this convention three years ago, when it was held at the Riviera Hotel and Casino, a mere week before it was torn down. (This is the casino that stands in as the “Tangiers” in the movie Casino). Way back when, we had a grand old time teaching our dirty writing class, a cupping class and one on alternate bondage. This year we came in to manage the writing class and alt. bondage again, with Chris also managing double duty as one of the judges of the conventions’ International PERSON of Leather Contest.

Last time I was in town for this particular convention, I met and interviewed Dr. Victoria Hartmann at the Erotic Heritage Museum (see here) which proved to be one of those serendipitous moments for me, as I have come now to not only work for the EHM but call Dr. V one of my friends. This trip, I managed to get down to the EHM once again, to ‘take a meeting,’ as well as see my friend Dr. V. Alas, I wished I had had the time beyond just this short weekend to hang more with her and her wonderful husband Rev. Phil, a major player in infamous World Naked Bike Ride, that happens around the world). But there is just so much time during a quick weekend jaunt.

The convention happened slightly off the strip (across from the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino) at the spacious and lovely Alexis Park All Suites Resort. It’s a very comfortable, multi-building, multi-pool space, each room a suite and very welcoming to the people who attend SITC. On these weekends you will catch most of the attendees in various forms of ‘interesting’ attire (sometimes out of it) and a hotel where one feels comfortable to dress how they want is most welcomed. In fact, I had occasion to speak briefly with someone manning the check-in desk and heard how the Sin-sters were a true delight to the hotel staff.

Time and again, I hear and see how kinksters really turn out to be the most polite and sweetest folks you might ever want to meet.

Chris and I availed ourselves of Lyft the best we could, seeing how that service and Uber has taken quite a bite out of the taxi business in town (and rightly so, with taxis being so pricey). I managed some gambling, the Willy Wonka slots pulling me in (yes, I am a big time gambler, I know) but mainly Chris and I walked the strip to see what there was to see…basically lots of people about on the Super Bowl weekend, a new observation Ferris Wheel and hotels and casinos pretty much crushing on top of one another on the strip.

Now, either, Chris and I are doing things right, or the bribes we pass around are finally reaching their intended targets (kidding about this last bit) but we received quite a few compliments over our two classes. At one point a very nice lady came up to congratulate us both about the writing class (this was the first class we had for the weekend) gave us a both a big hug each and said she’d be attending our second class to be sure…which she did. We saw plenty of people return in fact, even though that second class was 9am Sunday morning. Feedback like this, as much makes you feel like a rock star (with a little r) as it is really a good barometer for us that we are doing something right. Yes, these conventions always hand out pencils and report cards for the audience to rate teachers after each class, but Chris and I never see these results. A person taking the time to say hi to us in the lobby, give us a hug or after class stop up to our table and keep asking questions, means so so much to us.

And being the sociable animals (ok sluts) that we are, Chris and I love to gab with everybody.

I got lucky, through my connections at Vintage Rock (yeah sorry, I write for other sites than just S&SNYC here) to catch Styx and Don Felder at their residency at The Venetian Hotel. It was a two-hour greatest hits extravaganza of classic rockers showing off how well they can still do that which they have been doing for decades.

I can’t rightly say how the Sin In The City dungeon play spaces were as I did not step into any and Chris and I were in our beds by the latest eleven across the weekend (crazy Vegas parties/kinksters that we are) but we had a grand time and hope Sin will have us back. Mainly, and we never say this aloud to the people who have us to these conventions (so shhh, don’t tell anybody) but for Chris and I, he living in the San Francisco Bay Area and me in Northern N.J., the best part of being invited to these conventions is that Chris and I get to hang-out and see one another where we don’t get to do this all that often. Thanks Sin In The City 2018, it was another great time!

We're Going To SIN IN THE CITY!

(From R.Greco And M.Christian Presents)

This is going to be a BLAST!  We're not only going to be attending and teaching for the upcoming Sin In The City (Las Vegas), February 2nd to the 4th, but M.Christian is a judge for their International Person Of Leather contest!

The schedule is still being worked out but we will be teaching our fan-favorite classes, Sex Sells: How To Write and Sell Erotica and Alternative Bondage: Beyond Rope And Restraints.

Info on Sin In The City is here - and below are the descriptions of the classes.  

SEE YOU THERE!

Sex Sells: How To Write and Sell Erotica

The market for erotic fiction and nonfiction is booming! There actually is a secret to writing great erotica - and you'll discover just what that is in this fun, hands-on workshop with well-known erotica writers and teachers R.Greco and M.Christian. For the beginning writer, erotica can be the ideal place to begin writing, getting published, and - best of all - earning money. And for the experienced writer, erotica can be an excellent way to beef up your resume and hone your writing skills. M. Christian and R.Greco will review the varieties of personal and literary expression possible in this exciting and expanding field. He'll also teach you techniques for creating love and sex scenes that sizzle. Plus: current pay rates, how to write for a wide variety of erotic genres, where and how to submit your erotic writing, and more.

Alternative Bondage: Beyond Rope And Restraints

While immensely popular among beginning BDSM aficionados – as well as long-time players – restraining a person always carries with it the possibility of serious injury. But that doesn’t have to be: in this special class participants will not just learn how to use rope, restraints and many other traditional bondage devices and techniques effectively and safely but also that there is an entire universe of new and exciting ways of making someone stay put ... in a very erotic and sensual way.

SEE, HEAR And Now FEEL My Stories!

Welcome to the World Of Tomorrow! 

For the first time you can not only read my stories (in print or ebook) through Renaissance E Books/Sizzler Editions but also hear them through Audible.com ... and now you can also feel them via the b.sensory system: where their Little Bird vibratory interacts with my stories to give you an extra sensory wheeeee!

Here's a bit about each format as well as links to all my books and stories that are currently available:

Renaissance E Books/Sizzler Editions

The Best In Erotica And Hot Romance

Print and ebooks

Here are all my books available

Audible.com

WordWooze Publishing

Here are all my audiobooks available

b.sensory

Interactive ebooks

Here are all my stories and books available

Two Very Special Films YOU MUST SEE

Sometimes you just have to blink, and maybe blink again, and think to yourself Did I really just see that?

There’s been a lot of talk lately about the importance of representation: how crucial it is for people to be able to see themselves in the arts ... to know that they aren’t alone.

While there’s been some truly memorable films lately that have worked hard to be inclusive of sexual identity, orientation, gender preference, cultural identity, ethnicity, and neurodiversity we in the kink community have remained unseen and, even worse, humiliated by mainstream cinema.

Until now -- and not just in one film but in two, and not just in limited run arthouse productions but in a pair of productions that are playing in many major multiplexes.

Let’s begin with a hearty and sincere yell: if you are queer, if you are bi, if you are poly, if you are kinky … or if you simply want to see two really magnificent films you have to go see Professor Marston and the Wonder Women and Tom Of Finland.

Ironically, both of these films also deal with the arts.  In the case of Professor Marston and the Wonder Women it’s a fictionalized depiction of William Moulton Marston’s creation of Wonder Woman -- and for Tom Of Finland it’s the life story of the iconic queer artist.

It’s actually hard to write a totally unbiased review of either of these productions, mostly because both of them were seen through a blur of joyous tears.  “I know this, I’ve felt this, I know this … these are my people, this is my life …” kept going through my mind.  

With both, I didn’t have to shoehorn myself into the narrative--to have the emotional pain of having to leave most of my life on the cutting room floor to fit into the worlds being projected onto the screen.

Both films have their faults---in fact both films have the same one: being biographies there is much that has been streamlined, compressed, or even outright changed to make the drama, especially fitting it into a movie’s run-time.  But this is true of any film of this type: it’s just part of the territory.

Accuracy is not important.  What is important is that both films depict, with skill and sensitivity, the pain and joy of being bi, being queer, being poly, being creative … and, especially, being kinky.  

In both we see a hostile and abusive world, punishing with emotional and physical violence those who simply want to love who they want to love.  

In both we see happiness in personal acceptance, in making a home, creating a family ... finding a tribe.  

For Professor Marston and the Wonder Women, the story is about two psychologists, William Moulton Marston (Luke Evans) and Elizabeth Holloway Marston (Rebecca Hall) who at first struggle but then come to beautifully accept their mutual love for one of their students, Olive Byrne (Bella Heathcote).  

Eventually, they create a beautiful queer/bi/poly/kinky family--and even raise 5 children together.  When faced with hard times, mainly due to William and Elizabeth losing their teaching positions because of the scandal, William pitches the idea of a brand new kind of superhero to a comic book publisher, the Amazon we all know and love: Wonder Woman.

The performances are perfectly nuanced: never once did I feel “kicked out” of the film because of a clumsy moment.  The direction, by Angela Robinson, is simple and smooth.  Reminiscing about the experience of watching it, I can’t remember it as being dramatically--and annoyingly--cinematic but rather as a series of emotionally powerful moments.  

Tom Of Finland, meanwhile directly addresses the institutionalized homophobia that far too many experienced, especially in Europe after the Second World War.

The film is painful to watch, especially through contemporary eyes--but that is its strength.  It is a reminder that for so many, for so long, even being suspected of being homosexual meant loss of job, imprisonment, or even “corrective” therapy.  

For Touko Laaksonen (played beautifully by Pekka Strang) being queer is a terrifying spy drama: where one wrong action, one wrong word, could mean the end of everything.  But instead of succumbing, denying who he is, he finds a way to reach out.

At first his sketches are illicit, done for his own pleasure, but then he makes the decision to try and find a sympathetic audience--which leads to not just his personal liberation but the creation a true artistic icon.

And, for the most part, the leather community itself.  

One of the most striking things about Tom Of FInland is that, even though it does feature English speaking actors and the latter half does take place in America, it is a Finnish production.  The director, Dome Karukoski, has created a perfect capsule of what life was like for Touko, and how he must deal with his queer identity in his suppressive homeland as well as when he discovers that the impact his artwork has had on gay men like himself.

Both of these films are currently in theaters--and you should go out and see both of them as soon as possible: not just because they are both excellently crafted, full of beautiful performances, and directed with consummate skill, but because THEY ARE IMPORTANT.  

We need to be in those seats, to show the people involved in their production that we appreciate their work and thoughtful representation of our own lives.  But we also need to demonstrate to the entertainment industry that films like this can be both be responsibly inclusive of our communities as well as profitable.  

If there’s a single message that both Tom Of Finland and Professor Marston and the Wonder Women embraces it is the one that all of us --queer, bi, poly, kinky, and more--know so well: that all of us should be proud of who and what we are--and that love will always trump hate.

Future Of Sex

CHECK IT OUT: a link to every article I've written for the AMAZING Future Of Sex: https://tinyurl.com/yd22sm3p