April 30, 2011

Carnal Machines Blog Tour Kicks Off

Carnal Machines is out and available and I’m kicking off a blog tour with the authors.  But before I get to the particulars of the tour, I thought I’d talk just a little bit about corsets—me and corsets.

I love corsets; I own three of them.  I think the fascination began in my years doing Renaissance festivals.  Those were called bodices, though, not corsets.  Although they laced up tightly, giving me a smaller waist, accentuating my hips and making my practically non-existent breasts mound just a bit, giving me the appearance of cleavage.  (I was tiny back then.) 

Those bodices weren’t steel boned, they only had quilted cotton “ribs” but they were still constricting and body shaping devices.  And back in those days, I could put them on in the morning and work hard in the sweltering heat for ten hours and still be able to breathe.  Ah, but it did feel good to unlace at the end of a long, sweaty day.

Now, I own three steel-boned corsets. Yes, there will be no pictures.  (I’m not tiny anymore.)  Now, they help to cinch in my non-existent waist but don’t do all that much for my still non-existent tits.  But they do still make me feel totally sexy.  The first one I bought was an electric blue silk which was very elegant but somehow ended up being too large.  I traded it in for a smaller one but they didn’t have the same fabric so I ended up with a black and blue striped silk that was rather nice.  It’s too small, now.

I’ve always had a thing for leather and so my next corset was an over-the-bust, again black and blue, leather corset.  (Those colors have such lovely connotations and I still get nice and sweaty when wielding a heavy flogger.)  It’s lovely and I fell in love with the makers, S M Hertz because they actually took the bust in the following year, for free--on a leather corset!  (Yes, I really do have non-existent tits.  I’m just saying…)  In fact, I love them so much, I bought another corset from them, this time something that reminded me more of steampunk.  It too is leather, black and white, this time.  With a long black skirt and a very cool steampunk jacket, it works perfectly for Carnal Machines. 

Now, to do a Carnal Machines reading so I can wear the outfit!

Here are the blog tour authors and their dates with links to their blogs.  I can’t wait to see what everyone writes about!

May 4   Jay Lawrence
May 5   Kannan Feng
May 6   Essemoh Teepee
May 8   Delilah Devlin
May 11  Elias St. James will be blogging right here at dlkingerotica.blogspot.com
May 12  Lisabet Sarai

I have a story in the anthology.  It’s called “The Treatment.”  Knowing me, I’m sure you can just imagine what that might be about…  I think I’ll leave it to your imagination until you go out and get a copy of the book for yourself.  But let me share the introduction with you:

The Victorians wrote some of the best and most enduring erotica.  For such a tightly laced age, people spent a lot of time thinking about things carnal.  And, speaking of tightly-laced, I love the feel of being laced into a tight corset; the constriction; the way the fabric encases my body and hugs my curves. It makes me feel powerful.  But that’s a tale, perhaps best left for another time.

Jules Verne, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, H.G. Wells, et al enthralled us with their visions of new possibilities during the steam age.  They, of course, didn’t coin the phrase, steampunk.  No, that was our generation’s answer to the pressures of the technological age (that’s the age after the space age—there are lots of ages).  We find it somehow comforting to go back to a simpler time but, because we can’t do without our technical marvels, we recreate them as they might have been made in the steam age.  Steampunk.

But what was that about corsets?  Oh, yes, corsets, tightly-laced carnality.  Steampunk, even without sex, is erotic; with sex, it’s over-the-top hot.  Just think of all the deliciously erotic machines that could be run on steam power or a rudimentary form of electricity.  The authors of this anthology thought of little else, or so it would seem.

A widowed lady engineer invents a small device that can store the energy from sexual frustration and convert it to electricity to help power a home.  Teresa Noelle Roberts shows us what it can do, confronted with sexual fulfillment.

What volume of steampunk would be complete without a tale of sailing ships and the men who sail them?  Poe Von Page introduces us to the mutinous crew of the Danika Blue and their new captain.  Of course this ship sails the solar winds of space, rather than the sea and the captain has quite the interesting relationship with the ship’s redheaded cartographer, with her delicate features, ecru eyes, black lace dress and charcoal-smudged fingers.

Then there’s the very special room on the top floor in the House of the Sable Locks, a brothel where sexually discriminating men go to have their fantasies fulfilled.  Even if a man daren’t put those fantasies into words, Elizabeth Schechter’s “Succubus” will give the madam all the information she needs with which to make her clients happy.

There are brothels, flying machines, steam-powered conveyances, manor houses, spiritualist societies.  The following stories afford intelligently written, beautifully crafted glimpses into other worlds, where the Carnal Machines won’t fail to seduce you, get you wet or make you hard so, lie back, relax; a happy ending is guaranteed.

D. L. King
New York City





April 9, 2011

Jordan & Samantha Talk About Writing and Editing Erotica

Today, I have Jordan and Samantha from Oysters and Chocolate guest blogging about their new anthology, Nice Girls, Naughty Sex.  And, may I say I really like the cover, with the mistress in red with her riding crop and the sub in collar and black boots with her manacles?  I have a copy sitting right here as I type this and am really looking forward to diving in!  Thanks Samantha and Jordan!


D.L. - Thank you so much for having us on your fabulous blog! We've been engaged in an ongoing conversation lately about the nature of our industry -- smart smut -- and it's an honor to get to talk with an industry icon like you. It’s always a boost to the morale.

Our second anthology, Nice Girls, Naughty Sex, was just released. We're so excited about our newest baby, and we like to talk about it whenever we can. After all it’s packed to the brim with some of the top talent in our industry and full of salacious and sexy tales for all.

However, we've recently noticed that opening our big provocative mouths sometimes gets us slapped, and not in a fun way.

For example, Samantha was recently meeting with some legal professionals for advice. When asked what she did for a living, she cheerily replied that she writes and edits erotica and sex advice. After a short, awkward pause, voices became strained and lips pursed. One woman refused to look Sam in the eye from then on out. Needless to say, the meeting was cut short and Samantha drove home feeling both sad and indignant.

Conversely, Jordan had a great experience (which she shared in April's editor's letter) at a dinner party with what appeared to be a very conservative guest list. Although she had planned on keeping conversation steered away from her (ahem) more colorful career choices, she ended up passionately confessing she edits erotica and writes sex advice. Part of her was sure she would be booted from the party, but instead, she was embraced and became the focal point of the conversation. With her confession, the table turned from polite and formal to animated and a bit raucous; more wine was poured and smiles glowed bigger.

After we exchanged stories, we ruminated on the nature of our biz, and how many times we've encountered prejudice and (on the flip side) been surprisingly embraced. When we first started out, the Small Business Association in Boulder, Colorado wouldn't help us with our business plan because our business was "adult". And Tattered Cover, a huge independent book store in Denver (with an entire section dedicated to erotica) wouldn't host an author reading for our first book when it came out. But on the flip side, the most conservative-seeming people out there, from Mormon housewives to Midwest soccer moms have touted their undying love of erotica and all that we publish, and our own lovely independent book store in Boulder, The Boulder Book Store, actually reaches out to us and invites us to schedule signings, even before our books get off the printers.

The long and short of it is, it's hard to anticipate how we'll be received. The people we think will poo-poo us usually surprise us, and when we feel safe and confident that we're in the company of allies, ugly small judgments rear their ugly, misshapen heads.

Like it or hate it, we do feel that our presence and what we all do by writing and publishing erotica and putting ourselves out there in the world (or on the web) gives everyone else more permission to talk about sex and be more sexual, however they choose to do that. In personal circles, we notice that when we bring up what we do, it unlocks conversation that otherwise never happens. A woman hears that we edit erotica, and she then feels free to share an amazing night she recently had with a lover. A couple finds out we write sex advice, and they dish on their favorite positions. That's truly something to be proud of, no matter how many awkward pauses and disapproving looks we get.

We want to give a big thanks to all the talented men and women out there who put on their hard hats (and condoms) and descend into the coal mines of erotic writing. And an even bigger thanks to all the people who enjoy and support the smart smut, your encouragement is what keeps us going!

Nice Girls, Naughty Sex is available online and at bookstores everywhere!