Showing posts with label readings. Show all posts

I can't resist this killer SMUT lineup, can you?

I'll be in the audience on Thursday night for SMUT, and performing on Saturday! I'll make sure to read something extra dirty...been writing stories about runners, ice, wedding threesomes and more, so I have plenty to choose from. Yes, I am cutting back on readings, but this is a very special event and OMG what a lineup. A-MA-ZING. Via Greg Walloch. I have been seeing Desiree Burch perform for years, though somehow have yet to see her do a full solo show. Must fix that ASAP. If I won the lottery I'd go to Edinburgh myself, but maybe another year. She is fabulous and I'm truly honored to be part of this lineup. Also gives me an excuse to dress up and make myself blush onstage, and in a venue I've never been to, always good things.

Don't miss SMUT: A Reunion (3 NIGHTS ONLY!) hosted by Desiree Burch. Greg Walloch will be performing on 7/14 with Erin Markey, Cara Francis, and Adira Amram & The Experience.

SMUT - featuring “Art that should carry a Parental Advisory label, with some of New York City’s best writers and performers” (New York Times)

3 Performances ONLY! With:

Corn Mo (Jimmy Kimmel, Bonaroo, Austin City Limits)

David Rees (Get Your War On, Huffington Post)

Greg Walloch (The Moth, USA Network)

Adira Amram & The Experience (UCB, Funny or Die)

Clay McLeod Chapman (Pumpkin Pie Show/ SCKBSTD)

Erin Markey (LOGO/PS 122)

Nathan Phillips (NPR, BBC)

Becky Yamamoto (UCB/Ars Nova)

Daniel Ajl Kitrosser (Primary Stages, The Lark)

Cara Francis (New York Neo-Futurists/The Flea)

Rachel Kramer Bussel (Author of Surrender and Gotta Have It)

Audacia Ray (Editor, $PREAD Magazine, Founder, Red Umbrella Project)

Hosted by the original curator and emcee: Desiree Burch (Huffington Post, New York Magazine, Carolines).

The weekly Monday night performance series—a hit of Galapagos Art Space from 2003-2006 that saw the likes of Mike Daisey, Mike Albo, Marga Gomez, Rachel Kramer Bussel, David Rees, Greg Walloch, Adira Amram, Christen Clifford, Baron Vaughn, Joseph Keckler, Erin Markey, James Braly, Audacia Ray, Cecelia Tan, Physical Plant Theatre of Texas, Opium Magazine, Vivid Video and scores of others—has its 5th Year Reunion July 14, 15 and 16 at 9PM at 59E59 Theaters. These three performances will help raise funds to send the show overseas to Edinburgh, Scotland this summer, to be part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the largest open arts festival in the world.

SMUT: Art That Should Carry

A Parental Advisory Label

59E59 Theaters

JULY 14, 15, 16 @ 9PM

Tickets: $18 - available at the door or at 59E59.org

I also encourage you to check out the rest of the East to Edinburgh Festival lineup!

Ed's Martian Book, the West Village bookstore selling only Martian Summer by Andrew Kessler

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:

Yes, author Andrew Kessler set up an entire shop with thousands of copies of his book artfully displayed. What's his book, Martian Summer: Robot Arms, Cowboy Spacemen, and My 90 Days with the Phoenix Mars Mission, about? From his site:

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. ”

Watch videos and learn more at kessleronmars.com and follow him @kesslerandrew on Twitter.

Free reading in NYC tonight!

Reposted from Sad Men - see you there!

Poetry Circle Revisited

In the 1930s, the Raven Poetry Circle toured the West Village, selling their poems and hosting readings while the publishing world collapsed around them.

Every May, they hosted a poetry fair in Washington Square Park, selling poems for pennies. I think its time to do it again.

On the evening of Wednesday, April 20, I’m hosting an intimate reading at a cozy shop in the West Village, bringing together some of my favorite writers in the same spirit as the Raven Poetry Circle.

Each writer will read a single page: a story, poem, comic book page, memoir page, whatever they want to write. After they read, each writer will explain how much they would sell the one page of writing for—rekindling the scrappy spirit of the Raven Poetry Circle. After the reading, we will scheme how to celebrate the 78th anniversary of the Ravens’ poetry fair in May.

Join us at 7 p.m. on April 20, 2011 for the reading. The reader list follows below…

Ed’s Martian Book
547 Hudson Street
New York, NY 10014

Jason Boog (host): He is the editor at mediabistro.com’s publishing website, GalleyCat, and an adjunct instructor at New York University’s School of Journalism. His work has appeared in The Believer, Granta, Salon.com, The Revealer, and Peace Corps Writers.

Levi Asher: He is Chief Executive, Creative Director and Philosopher King, LitKicks.com. Published Action Poetry, an anthology (Literary Kicks, 2004), Tiger’s Milk (a poetry chapbook, 2003), Summer of the Mets, a novel (Literary Kicks, 2002).

Rachel Kramer Bussel: She is an author, editor, blogger and event organizer. She is Senior Editor at Penthouse Variations, writes a column for SexIs Magazine, and has edited 38 erotica anthologies, most recently Surrender, Gotta Have It and Best Bondage Erotica 2011. She writes about sex, dating, books and pop culture for Alternet, The Frisky, The Gloss, Huffington Post and many other publications. She also blogs about cupcakes at Cupcakes Take the Cake.

Edward Champion: He is writing this short biography just before he is about to cook a low-key dinner of tuna noodle casserole and corn on the cob, which may or may not tell you everything you know. He is one of those easily ignored people, hoping to stay violent and original in his work, who you sometimes see in Brooklyn whipping out a netbook and attempting to chronicle some phantasmagorical thought or overlooked observation on the fly. His cultural musings — often long and also easily ignored — can be found in audio and words here. His musings beyond the real are uncontainable.

Susie DeFord: Her work has appeared in BOMB, Poets and Artists, Mipoesias, Work Zine, Dog Fancy, Shampoo, the Anthology “Dogs Singing,” Pyramid Magazine,The Comstock Review, Poetry Motel, Survivor Magazine, Architrave, and Pinyon. She won the Cody Harris Allen Writing Award and was a finalist in the Muriel Craft Poetry Award and the New Letters Poetry Prize. She runs Susie’s Pet Care, a dog walking, training and pet sitting business. She writes the blog Dog Poet Laureate and is currently seeking a publisher for her first book of poems and photographs by Dennis Riley called The Dogs of Brooklyn.

Lisa Dierbeck: She is the author of two novels, The Autobiography of Jenny X (Mischief + Mayhem/OR Books) and One Pill Makes You Smaller (Farrar, Straus & Giroux), a New York Times Notable Book. Her fiction and nonfiction have been published in numerous literary journals and anthologies. A two-time Pushcart Prize nominee, Dierbeck has contributed to such publications as The Boston Globe, Glamour, The New York Observer, The New York Times Book Review, People and O, The Oprah Magazine.

Guy LeCharles Gonzalez: He works in publishing by day, world domination by night. Over the years he’s lived in Staten Island and South Beach Miami; served in the Jehovah’s Witnesses, US Army, and Dennis Kucinich’s ’04 Presidential Campaign; won poetry slams, founded a reading series, co-authored a book of poetry and believes in the power of publishing as a community service. He prefers Pumpkin and India Pale Ales, Jim Beam, and Dona Paula Shiraz Malbec, and is a devout Mets and Jets fan from the Bronx now living in New Jersey with his beautiful wife and two amazing kids.

Elizabeth Keenan: She is a publicity director at a major publisher. By night she is a writer who spends more time watching ‘Hoarders’ than writing. She was a regular columnist for the NY Inquirer, has been anthologized in Living on the Edge of the World (Touchstone Fireside), and in the GalleyCat/Scribd literary re-mix of Horatio Alger’s Joe’s Luck. A workshop leader for the New York Writer’s Coalition, she most recently ran a workshop at Serendipity, a home for formerly incarcerated women in recovery in Bed Stuy, Brooklyn.

Andrew Kessler: He 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.

London readings July 2 and 4

I'll have lineups and addresses soon, but for now, I can tell you that I'm going to London (UK) and doing my very first readings every there! I'm so looking forward to it, and as a fan of Sh! and Coffee, Cake and Kink (which has since closed their previous venue but we are cooking up something fabulous), having visited both places on my last visit there in, I think, 2007, I'm extra excited. And of course there will be cupcakes! The readings will be:

Sat 2nd July at Sh!

&

Mon 4th July at Coffee, Cake and Kink (venue tba)

And look, Sh! is excited too!

My April events

Quick run-through of my April events, click through for details (where I have a link).

April 11 - Cupcake Business Class, NYC, 6:30-9:30 pm

Cupcake Business Class will cover branding, business development and using social media to grow your business. The class will last 3 hours and will include Q&A. This class is also useful for anyone starting a specialty food business.

April 14 - This is Exodus, Bitches: A Jewcy Pre-Passover Comedy Blowout

On April 14th, Jewcy presents a night of pre-Passover horror stories and other religiously noncommittal Jewish-ish humor from several of the funniest writers and comedians in New York. Featuring Rachel Shukert, Good for the Jews (with Rob Tannenbaum of Playboy Magazine), Sara Barron, Rachel Kramer Bussel, Adam Lustick, Rose Surnow, Erica Reitman (Fucked in Park Slope) Maris Kreizman (Slaughterhouse 90210) and more! Come prepared to drink, because every bottle of beer or glass of wine you buy goes to benefit our favorite nonprofit bookstore, cafe, and event space that raises money to fight AIDS and homelessness, Housing Works.

Housing Works is at 126 Crosby Street, the event is free, and it starts at 7:00 PM

April 17 - attending CupcakeCamp Seattle

April 20 - one-page reading organized by Jason Boog

April 21 - Panelist, Game Show Speakeasy, Le Poisson Rouge, 158 Bleecker Street, NYC

NEXT SHOW: THURSDAY, APRIL 21, 8:00 PM.
On the third Thursday of every month at 8:00, at our home on the gallery bar stage at Le Poisson Rouge, Neil and Clams bring you their classic guessing game that has been a live downtown hit for over four years! A panel of NYC's nightlife favorites, from burlesquers to bloggers, join forces and attempt to guess the occupation of regular New Yorkers� and the identity of fabulous celebrity mystery guests! Past mystery guests have included Martha Plimpton, Zach Galifianakis, Mo Rocca and Randy Jones to name just a few. Who knows who you'll see next month! And every month contestants are drawn from our audience, so you just might get to come up and play the game for fabulous prizes from our sponsors!

April 22 - live interview, Sex with Jaiya (will be recorded), 4 pm PST, 7 pm EST

April 28, 6:30-8 pm - Cupcakes Take the Cake cohosts book party for Semi-Sweet: A Novel of Love and Cupcakes by Roisin Meaney.

Cupcakes Take The Cake has partnered with Hachette Book Group to celebrate the release of Roisin Meaney's new book, Semi-Sweet: A Novel of Love and Cupcakes. We will be having a book party at Solas in the East Village and eating cupcakes from Baked By Melissa. 232 E 9th St, New York, NY

Saturday in NYC: A day of FREE LGBT readings

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Babeland Seattle reading Monday, June 27th

I'll have more details as it gets closer, but in the next few months, I may be teaching an erotic writing class, will be doing a signing at Book Expo America of Gotta Have It, and on Monday, June 27th, I'll be doing a reading with some special guests at Babeland in Seattle. There might be some other summer events in the Midwest, but for now I'm focused on writing and anthology editing. Next week I have some more nonfiction I'll be linking to, and various other things are in the works. Sorry to be so vague, I've just learned not to count my publishing chickens before they hatch.

Free cupcakes and short erotica tonight at Bluestockings in NYC

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Coco de Mer photos

It's gonna be a hectic next few days as I meet the biggest deadline of my life. Hopefully after that I can get to know my new computer and kindof get back to real life. I am going to be severely curtailing my 2011 travel plans after frittering away way too many days off on this trip, which has been mostly fun, partly emotional, and now I'm ready to go home. So anyway, I am trying to "be a writer," which sounds way too laughable to my ears, but here are some photos from Coco de Mer in LA, where I coveted everything. See all of my shots here and read The Gloss on "Five Things I Learned About Sex From Writers of Erotica".

Funny story - I walked from The Beverly Center to Magnolia Bakery and then used my iPhone's GPS to lead me to Melrose, but for some reason, Google Maps thinks Coco de Mer is in the opposite direction than it is, so I wound up at this corner of Melrose and Doheny. I called a friend for a ride and no sooner had I hung up than my cousin pulled in! He randomly found me. I was joined at the reading by lots of new and old friends, 4 cousins, 1 uncle and 1 family friend. Wow! So blogging will hopefully be light the next few days as I try to force evil words out of me - well, they're not evil, but they are starting to feel evil the tougher to come by they are.

Last night at Booksmith, in photos

I have to run a few errands, like buying a case for my pretty new laptop (though I must admit, Tantek showed up and pulled out his 11-inch MacBook Air last night and it was so light, I wondered if that would't have been the better option), then catch a plane to Los Angeles - I'm on the Dr. Susan Block Show tonight, and I want to get me and all my huge amount of belongings settled into my hotel and just write. No dates, no ice skating, no phone calls, at least, for one day. I've been running around nonstop and have been feeling physically off. I Tweeted that the reading would be a success if I didn't cry. I didn't, at least, not on the outside, not there. At Booksmith I was proud of myself for reading that totally fraught story and so happy to hear my fellow authors. The after where I was a little sad, where I could recall exact phone calls made from exact streets, plans and dreams and fantasies, that was, well, after. That's another story for another time, but I was happy to remember some of the good parts, the ones that make anything not-so-good worth it.

photo of me before the reading by Violet Blue via Flickr - to be totally vain for a moment, I love this photo!

I will write more about how Booksmith is the best place ever to do readings; if you want to watch last night's, Click here. Thanks to everyone who showed up, to the guy who had me sign his birthday card with my lips, to the Sarge and Reputation and Wild Flag fan, to all my friends and to the Booksmith staff, who not only hosted a wonderful evening but really know their books. Thank you to Violet Blue, Susie Hara, Dusty Horn and Donna George Storey, who all breathed life into their stories that, much as I love the written word, it just doesn't have in the same way on the page. Dusty sold sexy calendars to benefit Lyon Martin Health Services (see photo below and, incidentally, I'll spank you anytime!). One of the highlights for me was chatting afterward with them about all manner of books.

Donna George Storey, Susie Hara, me, Dusty Horn, Violet Blue

Thanks, Josh, I hope you had a fabulous birthday! You were very cute - I kindof wanted to pinch your cheeks and make out with you, but in a friendly way. I was happy to sign your card with my eyeliner (before I was given a lovely purple pen) and lipstick.

Pin Up calendar as sold by the sexy Dusty Horn

I bought these at Booksmith (and they gave me the tote bag for free, which I will wear proudly). Looking forward to reading The People Who Watched Her Pass By by Scott Bradfield, Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin and Stuff: Compuslive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things by Randy O. Frost and Gail Streketee.

And welcome to my hotel life world (which, I will say, has been greatly improved by the use of Skype):

Since editing Do Not Disturb: Hotel Sex Stories, I always take these. I've liked the Sir Francis Drake Hotel, but think they don't need to make the staff where crazy uniforms. I booked this via Quikbook for $93/night!

I kicked these off my bed getting comfortable. Oops!

Thank you especially Booksmith, everyone at Cleis Press, especially Kat for driving me to Emeryville, and Violet Blue, for whom I promise to return for a proper vacation and longer stay and mayhem and fun!

Tonight tonight tonight! The BIG night at Booksmith - be there or watch the livestream!

Tonight tonight tonight! 3 dozen free cupcakes from Mission Minis which if what I'm hearing is true are going to go fast! It's also being covered by Litseen.

January 28, 7:30 pm
READING WITH VIOLET BLUE AT BOOKSMITH

Me and superstar author and editor Violet Blue read along with Orgasmic contributors Susie Hara, Dusty Horn and Donna George Storey!

Free cupcakes!

Booksmith, 1644 Haight Street, San Francisco, CA
415-863-8688

Official Booksmith link

I think I will read "Espionage" from Best Women's Erotica 2011, a personally challenging story, because I don't know when I'll get the honor of reading with Violet again. And because it's good for me to challenge myself, to read a story that's maybe about something deeper and more important than just sex or kink. Or maybe that's just my imagination, but I think I will read it in my velvet and leather lace up the back show off my tattoo sexy new Kardashian for Bebe dress.

I was going to tell you why it really sucks when you spend a lot of time and effort and do a reading and the store doesn't have the books that they were supposed to, but I think you can figure out why that sucks. What I have to do is be open and remind myself that that is a learning experience to micromanage and double check and make sure make sure make sure for the future.

Not complaining about anything...truly. I had to wake up at 5:30 am to test Skype and now have to try to fit a ton of stuff into my various suitcases. But first, a luxurious bath! I could so get used to this bathtub thing.

Erotic author Donna George Storey in a corset and LIVE January 27th and 28th

I met Donna George Storey via Susie Bright. We both had stories in Best American Erotica 2006 and began emailing and then she started sending me stories and over the years, I've published a LOT of them! We've also read together in New York and Berkeley and...I'm very excited to be reading with her again twice next week. Please please please tell your Berkeley/San Francisco/Bay Area friends. The aspiring writers will especially want to come hear Donna and I read at Good Vibes in Berkeley and share erotic writing tips. Then next Friday there will be free vegan cupcakes and super fabulousness as we read about orgasms and hotness. But the real reason I wanted to talk about Donna is that she did a boudoir photo shoot with my friend Laura Boyd and wrote about her experience.

She writes:

Although middle-aged women are supposed to be invisible, I knew I felt much sexier, more confident and more me than I was at 25. I certainly felt bold and beautiful as I lounged about on the sets to the sultry sounds of my favorite jazz tunes, responding to Laura’s gentle instructions and encouragement.

You may have seen Laura speak about her experience behind and in front of the camera at In The Flesh; you can read more about her posing experience for Boudoir Divas here.

Donna George Storey in a corset I hope she wears to Booksmith (hint hint); photo by Laura Boyd

Berkeley is where I lived for three years, where I was a very different person, but definitely where I read my first erotica, so it's a special place, and now my publisher, Cleis Press, is based there. So I'm looking forward to heading back to Good Vibrations, where I last read along with Mary Roach and Violet Blue and Tracy Clark-Flory from Best Sex Writing 2009, which, though it has 2009 in the title, is still pretty damn red-hot imo.

January 27, 6:30-8 pm
READING AND EROTICA ADVICE WITH DONNA GEORGE STOREY
Join me and Orgasmic contributor Donna George Storey as we read some of our favorite erotica and share erotic writing advice. Free!

Good Vibrations, 2504 San Pablo Avenue (at Dwight Way), Berkeley, CA
510-841-8987

January 28, 7:30 pm
READING WITH VIOLET BLUE AT BOOKSMITH

West Coast tour starts in 2 weeks

It's a mini tour, but since I'm flying across the country for it, I'm calling it a tour! After that I'm working to make events happen in other cities too. I'm itching to go back to Denver and Minneapolis and read at The Smitten Kitten and I'll be in Seattle in June and some other events are maybe in the works. I'll keep you posted!

January 27, 6:30-8 pm
READING AND EROTICA ADVICE WITH DONNA GEORGE STOREY
Join me and Orgasmic contributor Donna George Storey as we read some of our favorite erotica and share erotic writing advice. Free!
Good Vibrations, 2504 San Pablo Avenue (at Dwight Way), Berkeley, CA
510-841-8987

January 28, 7:30 pm
READING WITH VIOLET BLUE AT BOOKSMITH

Join me along with Eden Bradley (The Lovers), Pamela Madsen (Shameless) and Oriana Small, aka Ashley Blue (Girlvert) for a night of hot readings and free champagne and cupcakes in this beautiful setting!
At Coco de Mer, 8618 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles, CA
310 652 0311

Dusty Horn reading her lesbian erotica story "Share" from Orgasmic

Please join us, and tell your San Francisco/Bay Area friends, to join us on January 28th; here's the official Facebook invite if you want to let people know about it, but you don't need to RSVP. You'll be among the first to get your hands on Violet Blue's new book Total Flirt and copies of Gotta Have It: 69 Stories of Sudden Sex, with stories by me and Donna George Storey, will also be for sale! And free cupcakes, including vegan ones! Below is Dusty reading from her story "Share" from Orgasmic at Orgasm Night at In The Flesh. She also has a very hot story called "Subdue" in Best Bondage Erotica 2011 that I'm sure she'll sign at Booksmith too!

Free cupcakes at San Francisco reading with Violet Blue January 28th at Booksmith

To those who were at our last fabulous reading, it was packed, and we signed lots of books and gave out lots of cupcakes. I hope to do so again so pretty please, tell your SF friends about this one. I'll be reading "Espionage" from Best Women's Erotica 2011 (and it'll soon be available for your listening pleasure). Plus I get to host Dusty Horn (who Violet introduced me to at Litquake in 2009!), Susie Hara and Donna George Storey, both of whom I met via working with Susie Bright. See you at Booksmith! (And Donna George Storey and I also read the night before, January 27th, at Good Vibrations in Berkeley.)

Passion reading photos!

Check out the entire set from last night at WORD by Laura Boyd on Flickr.

L to R: Sarah MacLean, Donna George Storey, Rachel Kramer Bussel, Emerald, Monica Day

Kumquat Cupcakery made me cupcakes to match my book cover and the peppermint ones were SOOOOO good. It tasted like the inside of a York peppermint patty in frosting form!

I actually really like the black and white ones:

No more NYC event hosting for me after December 16th

I'll post more about Comedy Sex Night November 18th, where, if my non-tech brain can figure out how to upload a video off my iPhone (I know it's supposed to be "easy" but for me it's not) I will be showing a video about my sex toy collection and what my personal organizer did with it, but your last chance to see me host an event for at least a year will be December 16th at the last In The Flesh. I will be on a plane to Los Angeles next Thursday night for a project I'll be sharing about when I can, and a chance to catch up with lots of old and new friends, pose for photos, see Sugar Daddy by Fielding Edlow and attend CupcakeCamp LA. More on all the LA madness soon.

I can safely say it's very sad that I am missing Comedy Sex Night and if there were any way I could've rearranged it I would have. I've been anticipating Sara Schaefer's set for 6 months because I know what the story's about and, uh, let's just say it's a topic close to my heart (or perhaps a body part higher up). It's going to be an amazing, sidesplitting night and I might actually break my no organizing rule to host a comedy show because I love comedy and these comedians in particular

I do have an event I'm speaking at coming up at McNally Jackson in February and I'm sure there will be assorted NYC readings, but I will not be hosting/organizing anything so as to focus on my writing and to actually attend some of the other kickass events that happen in NYC, like Drunken! Careening! Writers! and Steamboat, which I've had to miss every month because of In The Flesh.

In 2011, unless something unusual comes up, I won't be hosting or organizing any NYC events. I don't have the time, energy or cash for it, not to mention can't handle the stress. I will be traveling and have confirmed plans for a January 28th reading at The Booksmith in San Francisco, and am hoping to do readings in Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles and Minneapolis in 2011.

My point was, if you want to catch me reading (probably "Vegas Treat" from the just-released Best Bondage Erotica 2011) and hosting, not to mention catch a kickass event of burlesque, cabaret, memoir and erotica and possibly music, plus nosh on 500 cupcakes and get cool prizes, don't miss the last In The Flesh on December 16th!

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 Last In The Flesh event listing. Note early start time of 7:30. See also the In The Flesh Reading Series fan page on Facebook.

IN THE FLESH EROTIC READING SERIES
LAST IN THE FLESH
December 16, 2010, 7:30 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

After 5+ years, over 200 readers, countless cupcakes and sexy moments, In The Flesh Reading Series is ending. Join us for a free, festive, sexy, cupcake-filled last hurrah, with erotica, memoir, burlesque and 500 free cupcakes to celebrate!Featuring memoirists Nancy Balbirer (Take Your Shirt Off and Cry), and Michele Carlo (Fish Out of Agua), burlesque performer GiGi La Femme (Revealed, Wassabasco), memoirist Stephen Markley (Publish This Book), In The Flesh alum and famed letter writer Samara O'Shea (Note to Self, For the Love of Letters), Lambda Literary Award winner Rakesh Satyal (Blue Boy) and romance novelist Kama Spice (Sehra's Honor). Hosted and curated by Rachel Kramer Bussel (Best Bondage Erotica 2011, Passion, Orgasmic, Fast Girls). Giveaways include copies of SexIs Magazine and 500 cupcakes by Baked by Melissa.

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 Mike Albo, 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, Julie Powell, 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, Daily Candy, 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.

Nancy Balbirer's memoir, Take Your Shirt Off and Cry, was published by Bloomsbury in April. She is the author and star of the critically acclaimed solo show I Slept With Jack Kerouac and Other Stories, the co-creator of the cult reading series, Cause Celeb!, and has co-starred on Seinfeld and MTV’s Remote Control. She is a graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and is the co-owner, designer and doyenne of the West Village boite, Pasita. She lives with remarkably few regrets in Manhattan with her husband and daughter.
takeyourshirtoffandcry.com

photo by Rob d'Entremont

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 Fast Girls, Orgasmic, 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

Michele Carlo is a writer/performer and comedic storyteller who has lived in four of the five boroughs of New York City and remembers when a slice of pizza cost fifty cents. Her stories have been published in Mr. Beller’s Neighborhood’s Lost & Found: Stories From New York, Chicken Soup For The Latino Soul and SMITH Magazine. Her memoir, Fish Out of Agua: My life on neither side of the (subway) tracks, was published this summer by Citadel Press.
www.michelecarlo.com

Since 2005, GiGi La Femme has been named one of New York City’s sultriest striptease stars and is also the co-producer of the monthly show Revealed Burlesque at the Under St. Mark’s Theater. A Golden Pastie Award winner for Best Booty Shaker 2009 and Miss Coney Island 2010, the multi-talented bump ‘n’ grinder, go-go girl, chanteuse and pin-up model has traveled the nation performing signature acts such as "Spanking", "Princess Leia" and "Sweet Leaf". She is also the host of Wasabassco Burlesque at venues around New York, New England and Washington, DC.
gigilafemme.com

photo by Greg Brophy

Stephen Markley is an Ohio transplant, who graduated from Miami University in 2006. After an eight month, 12,000 mile cross-country road trip that left him completely broke, he made the daring decision to move to Chicago. As far as he knows, he is the only person from that school in this city. He writes for Cars.com's blog KickingTires and his freelance work has appeared in the Chicago Reader, RadarOnline, the Populist Progressive, 10,000 Tons of Black Ink, Private Investigator's Magazine, Midnight Times, and the Weber Studies Journal. Most importantly, he is an author. His first book, Publish This Book, can be found on Amazon.com and bookstores everywhere.
www.stephenmarkley.com

Samara O’Shea has written two narrative non-fiction books—one on the art of letter writing and the other on the importance of keeping a journal. On her website, LetterLover.net, she offers to write letters and wedding vows for those struggling to find the right words. This is Samara’s fourth time reading at In the Flesh. She is honored to have been a part of this wonderful reading series. Samara will be reading from her unpublished book, Don’t Make Me Defriend You, about losing her cyber virginity.
www.letterlover.net

Rakesh Satyal is the author of the novel Blue Boy, a gender-bending comedy about a young Indian American boy's fascination with the Hindu god Krishna. He is an editor at HarperCollins, where he works with such authors as Paulo Coelho, Clive Barker, Armistead Maupin, and Paul Rudnick. A member of the planning committee for the annual PEN World Voices Festival, he sings a popular cabaret show in the city. He lives in Brooklyn.
rakeshsatyal.com

Kama Spice has lived in the East and the West and merges both in her stories. She considers herself a pro-sex feminist who likes to explore the point where spirit and eros converge to create power. Kama is published in various genres and has two erotic romance novels with Ellora's Cave, with a third forthcoming.
KamaSpice.com