D. L. King Reads From "Family"

I've been immortalized on film--well, video!

So, I read at Rachel Kramer Bussel's In The Flesh NYC on Thursday, August 20th and a video was made. I chose an excerpt from my story, "Family" from the Phaze anthology, Broadly Bound.

I think it was well received but you can be the judge. Now you can see me and hear me read the opening to my story. Check out the video and let me know what you think.

Short Story Contest!

The amazing Amie Evans asked me for help spreading the word about a new short fiction contest being sponsored by the Saints and Sinners Festival. I (finally) attended Saints and Sinners this past May and let me tell you, it was a revelation; it was life-changing. If I can possibly swing it next spring, I'll definitely be going again.

If you write, you owe it to yourself to attend Saints and Sinners. Let me say that again: If you WRITE, you owe it to yourself to attend Saints and Sinners. And it doesn't matter what you write. If you're serious about writing as an art, a craft, a business, or if you're a publisher, you will find it the most amazing professional conference around.

The quality of the Master Classes and Panels are more than worth the price of admission. Then there's the camaraderie of time spent with fellow professionals, not to mention the parties. I'm just sayin'... This festival is held in New Orleans: party, anyone? SAS knows what writers like...

Now that my little neophyte commercial is done, on to the writing contest:

First Annual Saints and Sinners GLBT Literary Festival Short Fiction Contest

The Saints and Sinners GLBT Literary Festival’s First Annual Short Fiction Contest is soliciting original, unpublished short stories between 5,000 and 7,000 words with GLBT content on the broad theme of “Saints and Sinners.” The contest is open to authors at all stages of their careers and to stories in all genres. The entry fee is $10 per story with a 3 story limit per author. One grand prize of $250 and two second place prizes of $50 will be awarded. In addition, the top stories will be published in an anthology from QueerMojo, an imprint of Rebel Satori Press. There will also be a book release party held during the 8^th annual Saints and Sinners Literary Festival in New Orleans May 13-16, 2010. The deadline for the receipt of manuscripts is January 2, 2010.

Contest details at a glance:
Theme: Saints and Sinners
Entry Fee: $10 US per story. Limit three stories per author.
Deadline: January 2, 2010
Word Count: 5,000 to 7,000

Send 2 copies of each story with a completed entry form. Submissions should be in standard manuscript format. Your name and contact information should NOT appear on the manuscript.

Entry forms available at: www.sasfest.com

I Was Interviewed--Twice!

Well, actually, I've been interviewed three times recently, but I already talked about the first one by Ily Goyanes. But just today (OK, it's tomorrow now. Yes, I realize it can never be tomorrow but you know what I mean. Or maybe you don't.

All right, I'll start over. Two interviews with me went up online on Monday (that would be 8/24--in case somebody wants to know the actual date--you know--for legal reasons...). They're both pretty cool and somewhat similar. After all, I'm the same person in both of them. I'm just sayin'...

Alan Chin, the San Francisco GLBT columnist for the Examiner.com interviewed me here.

(Art is always nice to have and since I didn't have any pictures in my last entry, I thought I'd add this picture I took in San Francisco while I was on the book tour. I promise to write about that. It'll be next, I swear!)

And the publishers at Logical Lust interviewed me here. Logical Lust put the subtitle of "Smut Specialist" under my photo. Pretty cool, huh?

Have a look and let me know what you think because, after all, I crave knowledge of all kinds!

Out of the Frying Pan and Into the Fire

Actually, the west coast book tour wasn't a "Frying Pan." It was quite a good time! I met a lot of people, did a lot of reading and ate a lot of Jack In The Box Tacos.

What the blog title refers to, actually, is the weather here in New York. I'd been keeping in touch with friends back here while I was on the road and they'd been telling me how hot it was (like, "It's three hundred and seventy nine thousand degrees.") and I knew it was hot and disgusting, but man, it's hot and disgusting! (This is where I'd insert a lot of *expletives deleted*)

I'm going to sit down and write some good entries about the tour, but right now I really just want to chill for a while. I did want to remind people about In the Flesh on Thursday, though.

Yes, I'll be reading here in New York tomorrow night, Thursday, August 20th at 8:00. I'm not completely sure what I'll be reading, but it might be something from my story in Broadly Bound since it got such a terrific review! So, here are the particulars:

Thursday, August 20th

8:00 p.m. (get there early if you want a seat...)

Happy Ending Lounge

302 Broome Street, NYC

Click here for the link to the In the Flesh blog

Book Tour!

My first official book tour starts in two days. I have a lot to do, not the least of which is get a pedicure. I'm just sayin'...

But I'll be winging my way across the country, to the left coast (I, of course, live on the 'right' coast) on Wednesday. My good friend, Kathleen Bradean, will be picking me up at LAX and then, with a stop for Jack In The Box tacos, it's off to In the Flesh LA to read. Hopefully, after that, there'll be alcohol and more tacos* before hitting Kathleen's couch.

The tour is for my new book, Where the Girls Are, along with Sacchi Green's books, Girl Crazy (which I'm in) and Lesbian Cowboys. (I'll tell you what, Cleis books are known for their nice covers but Lesbian Cowboys has one fucking great cover!) So, if you're near any of the venues, please come out and say hi and get your books signed.

*I'm addicted to Jack In The Box tacos. Je les adore! But there are no Jack In The Boxes in New York, so when I go to California I make people take me to as many Jack In The Boxes as I can squeeze in. I collect Jack In The Box antenna toppers. Remember antenna toppers? I even have a scuba diving Jack. I decorate my Christmas tree with JITB antenna toppers.

Tour Dates and Locations

First stop-Los Angeles

Wednesday 8/12 @ 8pm

In the Flesh LA-Hustler Hollywood

8920 Sunset Blvd. West Hollywood

San Francisco

Friday 8/14 @ 7pm

The Center for Sex and Culture at 7pm

1519 Mission Street

Portland

Sunday 8/16 @ 2pm

The Q Center

4115 N. Mississippi Avenue

Seattle

Monday 8/17 @ 7pm

Center for Sex Positive Culture

1602 15^th Avenue

I'm back in NYC and reading at In the Flesh!

Thursday 8/20 @ 8pm

In The Flesh

302 Broome Street

To Begin

So, I've been threatening to write a blog forever. And now I suppose it's finally gotten to the point where I can't hide from it anymore. My first anthology, Where the Girls Are: Urban Lesbian Erotica, was released July 1 and my second, The Sweetest Kiss: Ravishing Vampire Erotica, will be released October 1. I guess that means I have to get serious--or something. I told people (and they know who they are) my first blog post would be about the lesbian erotica reading in Toronto, When She Was Bad.

How cool was this poster???

The reading was arranged by Evan Mora (who's in Where the Girls Are, by the way) to kick off Toronto Pride Week. The lineup of readers was awesome and I was thrilled and honored she asked me to join them. Big Mama's Boy restaurant hosted the reading in their upstairs dining room and the mood, food and booze were all just right. I was the first to read because, well, because I'm a ham. But I was followed by quite an amazing lineup of writers.

Nairne Holtz

Tamai Kobayashi

Evan Mora (the hostess with the mostess!)

Jean Roberta

Andrea Zanin

I was there when the owner of Big Mama's Boy told Evan that she would be happy to host erotica readings every week, if she wanted to arrange them. Well, I don't know about every week, but how about monthly? C'mon Evan! Become the new erotica maven of Toronto. And besides, then I could come back and have more of those great raspberry martinis at Byzantium. What were they called, Satisfactions? Mmmm