Tonight I particpated in one of the most fun, unique readings I've ever done. I was invited by all-around cool guy and Galleycat editor and birthday boy Jason Boog to read at Ed's Martian Book. I looked it up and all I saw on Yelp was "science fiction bookstore." I arrived and this is what I saw:
Martian Summer is a non-fiction account of author Andrew Kessler’s time spent working on the Phoenix Mars mission. It’s about winning the nerd lottery--getting the most exclusive ticket to work inside mission control for a NASA mission to Mars. The luckiest fanboy in fandom gets a shot to spend three months with unfettered access to mission control--that’s a journalistic first and potential NASA no-no. It’s just your average summer trying to capture the story of 130 of the world’s best planetary scientists exploring the north pole of Mars. It’s a warts-and-all look at the Phoenix Mars mission and NASA’s space narrative from a regular guy who once dreamed of leaving the planet.
Andrew Kessler is a writer living in Brooklyn. His work has appeared in The New York Times and on The Discovery Channel. He holds a degree in mathematics from the University of California at Berkeley. This is his first book about Mars -- or any planet for that matter.
More photos. The e-book launch party is Thursday night, April 21st. I encourage you to check out the store if you're in New York, whether Mars or space interest you or not. As a book lover there is something mesmerizing and gorgeous about seeing the same title seemingly endless displayed on shelves. It makes you wonder what the book buying experience would be like if every book were given that kind of display. Plus it's fun. And the bathroom is totally charming! And, yes, Martian-themed.
(slightly fuzzy cause this giant ball was swaying in shop window)
From an interview at Galleycat on the opening of a "monobookist" bookstore (by Jason Boog):
Kessler also explained how he assembled his ambitious project: “I dipped into the old savings a bit to make this whole project happen–but who wouldn’t to live on a NASA mission and then make a giant art project about it to tell the world!? I live the frugal life to make these moments happen. But I’d be very nervous to tell others to spend their hard-earned money on art projects (although I secretly want them to).”...
He added some simple advice for authors interested in following in his footsteps: “You’re going to hear a lot of people say, ‘Wow, that will never work.’ They’ll be right, of course, but if you love books and you should do it anyway. ”
I'm SO happy with the way this book trailer, my 8th (I'm working on getting them all up on my site in one spot, but the previous trailers have been for Spanked, Do Not Disturb, Peep Show, Fast Girls, Orgasmic, Please, Sir and Passion). Below the trailer I've posted the authors who contributed to it!
Trailer contributors (in order of appearance):
Christen Clifford "After Ten Years"
Giselle Renarde "Meet Me In The Kitchen"
Andrea Dale "Wasn't It Good"
Shanna Germain "Genesis"
Elizabeth Daniels "Dining In The Dark"
Emerald "Suggestion"
Marina Saint "Eat Me"
Jeremy Edwards "No Blame, No Shame"
Heather Lin "Seven-Letter Word"
Kay Jaybee "The Advantage of Working From Home"
Vampirique Dezire "A Forced Witness"
Monocle "Plotter"
Rachel Kramer Bussel "Manners"
Kirsty Logan "Pierced"
Anya Levin "Continuing Education"
Helia Brookes "Over The Line"
Donna George Storey "Anal-yzed"
Trailer by What That Noise Productions.
Here's a screen capture from my iPhone from the Blip version (we used TubeMogul to put it up in as many places as we could):
Introduction: Fast Is a (Sexy) State of Mind (see below)
Temptation Kayla Perrin Waxing Eloquent Donna George Storey Five-Minute Porn Star Jacqueline Applebee (listen to this story read by Mia on the I Want Your Sex podcast) Winter, Summer Tristan Taormino Playing the Market Angela Caperton Panther Suzanne V. Slate Communal Saskia Walker Fireworks Lolita Lopez Flash! Andrea Dale Waiting for Beethoven Susie Hara Confessions of a Kinky Shopaholic Jennifer Peters Let’s Dance D. L. King That Girl Cherry Bomb Oz Isabelle Gray Married Life Charlotte Stein Princess Elizabeth Coldwell Chasing Danger Kristina Wright Whore Complex Rachel Kramer Bussel Lessons, Slow and Painful Tess Danesi Speed Bumps Tenille Brown
Introduction: Fast Is a (Sexy) State of Mind
I like the fast girls best/they do whatever they wanna do. —Sarge, “Fast Girls”
I named this book after a song called “Fast Girls” by an indie pop/rock band called Sarge*. That song is a feisty, punk-rock ode to a hot girl who is captivating in all kinds of ways.
I’m sure you know a girl like that. Or a woman. Or a lady. Or a butch. Or a femme. Or…you get the idea. She’s the kind of babe who takes no prisoners, who owns her life and her sexuality and not only doesn’t apologize for them, makes sure you notice her and what she’s all about.
Two definitions of “fast,” according to Merriam-Webster are “wild” or “sexually promiscuous,” and while that is the seed of what I was angling for here, I didn’t just want to read about slut after slut after slut. I wanted to read about women who in some way defy the conventional norms-whatever those are in this day and age. That doesn’t mean being shocking for shock’s sake, but following their passion, seeking out what it is that they need to be truly pleasured.
What I love about these fast girls is that even as they are bold, daring and dynamic, they have a thing or two to learn about sex and themselves.
Consider Susie Hara’s fifty-one-year-old protagonist in “Waiting for Beethoven” as she gets it on with a younger man. In current pop culture terms, she’s the cougar, the aggressive older woman seeking her sexy prey. But she is actually nervous and uncertain, as well as aroused. “And now there was no point in telling him she wasn’t going to come when she could already feel a wave of pleasure rolling inside her, kind of a pre-coming feeling, but different than usual; she couldn’t really tell what was her clit and what were the walls inside her and what was contracting and what was releasing and then she realized she must be coming because her body had taken over and been taken over in this luscious finger symphony so she just gave in,” writes Hara, in a description of female orgasm that I think will be familiar to many.
In this book, fast is as much a state of mind as a state of motion. It’s not about trying to slut it up to impress anyone, but about finding what works for you. I was intrigued to find that playing with prostitution, or whoring, came up as a theme in many submissions, as did threesomes with one woman and two men. It makes sense that fast would be associated with women who mix cash and sex, as happens in Angela Caperton’s “Playing the Market,” where the new economy mixes with the world’s oldest profession. In my “Whore Complex,” whoredom is more a state of mind, a go-to fantasy that leaps from the bounds of dirty talk to real life with some unusual consequences. There’s also exhibitionism, such as in Jacqueline Applebee’s “Five-Minute Porn Star,” and submission--there’s a lot of very hot female submission and BDSM play in this book.
These girls are fast when they want to be…and slow at other times. They want to crack their lovers’ secret codes, find out what makes them tick, as happens in Charlotte Stein’s “Married Life.” I like this story because the wife is not just passively accepting her humdrum sex life, but she doesn’t want to have an affair or get a divorce. She wants her husband, the man she loves, but she wants him openly, honestly, freely and when they both give a little of themselves and bravely bare their souls, they find true happiness.
These girls don’t give it up for just anyone. Even the ones who get around have a reason for choosing their lovers, and it’s those reasons, those images, that resonate with me. Here’s Tristan Taormino in “Winter, Summer,” rhapsodizing about the woman she’s about to seduce (or perhaps, who’s about to seduce her is more accurate):
She’s the boy I have dreamed about and jerked off to too many times to count. The one who won’t leave my fantasies, who cruises me in my bedroom, who seduced me months ago in another lifetime with her voice, who plays pool and drinks beer, who grabs my ass in crowded bars just to fuck with my boundaries and catch me off guard, who makes my brain get wet and my pussy explode.
Exactly. Though there are women on the prowl here, women who go after younger men, women who pounce, women who pursue, there are others who are excited about being the object of another’s affection, lust and desire. For them, being fast means courting the man or woman (or more than one person) they are searching for.
These fast girls speak to me on many levels. I admire them, respect them, marvel at them, raise my eyebrows at them, want them. But most of all, I’m excited that they’ve broken free of whatever messages we all receive about how a woman is “supposed” to act and instead they are bent on acting however they damn well please. And that’s my personal definition of a fast, not to mention foxy, girl.
