You Win Some, You Lose Some (But Then You Win More)

Posted on October 1, 2014October 1, 2014 by Jade A. Waters

It is finally October.

*Breathes enormous sigh of relief.*

My Sexy Optimist Pencils from Alison Tyler

Alison Tyler got me these pencils from Carbon Crusader as a participation prize—with my own personal motto on them!

To be clear, September was probably the most brutal month I’ve had in years. I had a gazillion things going on (no, really, a gazillion), and I felt more challenged than the proverbial hamster on a wheel. See, I was a runner on a treadmill asked to juggle fireballs, kittens, and jello with one hand tied behind my back, wearing a blindfold and chewing gum while also singing Christmas carols. It was nuts! My day job went full-tilt chaos; I had so many events scheduled I turned insomniac again; I had a jury duty run that, to be honest, was extremely emotional and brought up some old “stuff” for me (fortunately, I was dismissed after two days); and on top of all that, I wasn’t getting my words in. I’m an extremely fast writer, but when you don’t have the time, you don’t have the words. I also try not to write when I haven’t been sleeping, because bad things happen—I get forgetful. Plot points disappear. Characters lose important traits. Dialogue gets painful. And on and on…I mean heck, even outside the writing, I was so tired I had two conversations with a friend in one day and completely forgot it was her birthday. OMG. I don’t do that, like, ever—I’m the Keeper of the Birthdays! (Fortunately, she’s not a big birthday person. She laughed the whole thing off and told me to get some sleep.)

So all stressful things aside, here’s the deal—I’m generally a super optimist. I admit, I struggled to hang on to that as the month continued, and I had to keep reminding myself what a certain family member of mine always says: “How do you eat the elephant, honey? One bite at a time.”

I would never eat the legendary Bertha, but you get the idea.

So I kept repeating that to myself…

One bite.

Come here, Bertha baby, you’re mine.

In truth, some of this figurative elephant eating was pretty kick-ass, and since there was so much goodness, I’m going to list it out for you:

♦ I got to join Rose Caraway in a bunch of readings for The Sexy Librarian’s Big Book of Erotica. It needs to be said I love reading out loud, plus, I got to read my girl Tamsin Flowers’s delightful story, “POW! It’s Shibari Girl!” Great story, great events, AND, as it turns out, reading with Rose is better than ice cream with brownies and fudge sauce on top. It’s so much fucking fun! It doesn’t hurt that she and her fabulous husband, Big Daddy, are like the nicest, sweetest people on the planet, so every event I attended and participated in was fantastic!

♦ I hung out with other amazing people at all these events, too! Of course there was the lovely Malin James (whom I’m so close to I’m convinced she is my twin separated at birth), the sassy and delightful social media guru Eva Gantz, and the charming and sweet Sinclair Sexsmith. I had so many incredible conversations with each of them!

♦ Malin James and I went to one of Rose Caraway’s events as viewers, and we ended up having drinks with Rose, Big Daddy, and the legend that is Rachel Kramer Bussel. Guys, seriously—I had drinks with Rose, Big Daddy, Rachel KB, and Malin! Holy smokes!

♦ I finished my edits for Coming Together: Among the Stars, a sci-fi erotica anthology edited by Lynn Townsend and coming soon to benefit International Still’s Disease Foundation. I’ll have details on the book and my story, “The Joy Ride,” in the near future!

♦ I joined a randy group of wild writers for an upcoming anthology called Chemical (Se)X. Details forthcoming, but for now I’ll just say chocolate and sex.

♦ I got to support my graphic memoirist friend, MariNaomi, in the release of her new book in San Francisco! Mari is a personal friend and mentor in many ways, so I loved seeing her celebrate the release of her book. So proud!

♦ I celebrated my soon-to-arrive niecey #2 or nephew #1 (to be determined!) at a baby shower. (I love being an auntie.) 🙂

♦ I wrote several erotic poems inspired by the challenge Tamsin Flowers issued at our last Pillow Talk Secrets session. This was fun and fabulous; I got to stir up my poetry roots while getting in some smutty words in seriously short time increments—and I even started a page for it! This was the bulk of the writing I did all month. You know what? It wasn’t a ton, but it still felt like a win. And speaking of wins…

♦ I shared more fabulous moments with my Pillow Talk girls. Malin James and Tamsin Flowers are, quite simply, the loveliest. I’m a happy camper having the both of them in my life. (MUAH to you both!)

♦ And then there was the ginormous feat…I completely transferred my website to a self-hosted space. This involved a whole heck of a lot of design and setup work behind the scenes that could not have been possible without my awesome teacher, DomSigns. When his dreamy wife, Molly Moore, initially offered to help, I had no idea what I was in for—namely, a bevy of delightful Skype sessions that resulted in (a) me learning a ton and (b) us laughing a lot (mostly at naughty jokes). I can now proudly say that this site is damn near done and censorship free. There are a few other little things I have planned and/or need to fix, but holy torpedo, Batman, transfer complete!

So basically, despite all the chaos, I came out smiling. I may be ragged and tired, but I’m happy and have time again—which means I can get back to the book I had half-written before The Attack of September. Yeah!

Now, I just have one more thing to say:

October, baby—you’re my bitch.

XX,
Jade

The Sexy Librarian’s Big Book of Erotica

Posted on September 24, 2014September 23, 2014 by Jade A. Waters

Hi everyone! Today I’m thrilled to be the next stop on Rose Caraway’s The Sexy Librarian’s Big Book of Erotica tour! This book is positively fabulous—it mixes genres, sex, and one incredibly sexy librarian to meet all sorts of desires. Some of you may recall that I jumped on the live book tour and did a little reading with Ms. Caraway, so I admit, I’m a tad biased. However, this book has so many delicious things going for it, I had to share!

Here’s the thing—beyond the sexy cover (on which the model is “wearing a book,” according to the very clever Ms. Caraway), this isn’t just a book of erotica. It’s a collection of carefully curated stories containing massive variety, which is what’s made it such a delightful read. It truly is a librarian’s anthology, complete with an “old-fashioned” library catalog entry to classify each story. Take, for example, the card from one of my favorites:

As you can see, this special touch not only makes the book fun, but it allows the reader to pick exactly what she or he is in the mood for. (Seriously, why has this never been done before?) In this case, I saw the name Tamsin Flowers (whom most of you know I adore), the category “Superheros” and then the subject “Spandex”—and hello. I was in!

But there’s more than clever cards making this book so great. The sexy librarian herself, Rose Caraway, has done a wonderful job of collecting beautiful, artistic, and oft-literary pieces that take the erotica genre to a whole new level. Take “Mikhael” by Angela Caperton—this was another of my favorites written in an exquisitely dark voice, a voyeuristic supernatural/ghost story with some smoking f/f scenes to spice the whole thing up. Kristina Wright’s “Vivi and the Magic Man” was another lovely twist, mixing fantasy and horror with such a rich gypsy feel I could picture Port City and everything that happened there (and you’ll have to read it to figure out what, but my hint is straight from the catalog card: “Demon Orgy”). While I have a fondness for speculative fiction stories, there were other works in here that added something for everyone— “The Mating Chamber” by Caraway herself takes us on a journey through mating customs in a matriarchal (and seriously sexy) society; “Notes on a Scandal” by Kelly Maher paints a charming library romance complete with love letters; and Kate Maxwell’s “The Skilled Technician” still has me wishing my car would break down, like, stat.

But you don’t have to take my word for it. To whet your appetite, I have an exclusive excerpt to share with you!

From Kay Jaybee’s “Taped”:

Flinging the back doors of his transit van wide open, Ryan called to his girlfriend as she unlocked the industrial-sized greenhouse where they worked. “Are you still up for helping me do the deliveries today, Beth?”

“Sure am.” Beth began to box up some plants ready for loading.

Ryan’s lips curved up suggestively as he took the first tray of flowerpots from her outstretched hands. “Good. A bit of company could be fun.”

Beth couldn’t help but smile back when she saw the mischievous glint in his mahogany eyes. “No need to look so excited, I’m only going to be carrying boxes of flowers in and out of your van.

The That’s what you think, stare Ryan gave her in reply sent a mild stirring of unease tripping down Beth’s spine.

Holding Beth’s gaze, Ryan picked up three thick blankets. “You can start by helping me lay these blankets on the van floor.”

The memory of the fantasy Ryan had shared with her the night before, as they’d rolled around, limbs entangled, on his king-sized bed, suddenly loomed large in Beth’s mind. “You aren’t serious?”

Not sure she wanted to hear Ryan answer her question, Beth busied herself with wrapping extra strips of bubble-wrap around the bases of the flowerpots, giving herself time to remember how to breathe properly. She knew precisely what that dangerously sexy expression on Ryan’s face could mean.

Two months ago, while walking along a beach, he’d shared a seafront fucking fantasy with her. The next minute Beth had been on her hands and knees, her lover’s beautiful cock easing in and out of her, while her nub was tickled with the tip of a hermit-crab shell. The memory of how scared she’d been of someone spotting them while they rutted in the sand, and how aroused the thought of discovery had made her, sent quivers of confused longing through Beth’s chest. The look he’d given her then, and the one Ryan was giving her now, were almost identical.

“You know I’m serious.”

***
Sexy, hmm? So, what you’ll want to do right now is pick up your very own copy of this book. You can buy it on Amazon, at Barnes and Noble, and at Cleis Press.

But wait! I have more news. Want to hear some of these stories live? Rose Caraway will be reading at Books, Inc. in the San Francisco Castro at 7:30pm tonight, and then again tomorrow, September 25th, at the Good Vibes Lakeshore store in Oakland, CA from 6:30 to 8:30pm. I’m extra tickled to be helping her read on this latter date alongside the talented Sinclair Sexsmith! If you can, please join Rose Caraway at one of these events—watching her read from The Sexy Librarian’s Big Book of Erotica is quite a treat!

In the meantime, don’t forget to pick up your copy.

XX,
Jade

The Sexy Librarian’s Free Erotica Reading is at Good Vibrations Tomorrow Night!

Posted on September 3, 2014September 8, 2014 by Jade A. Waters

Hey everyone!

If you haven’t heard, Rose Caraway—aka the sexy librarian—is the editor of a fabulous new anthology called The Sexy Librarian’s Big Book of Erotica. Tomorrow night (9/4), she’ll be celebrating her Book Release Party at the Polk Street Good Vibrations in San Francisco from 6:30 to 8:30! Woo hoo!

Malin James, Lily K. Cho and I will be joining the lovely Ms. Caraway to read selections from this hot book, and I’m delighted to be reading a story by my dear pal, Tamsin Flowers. It’s sure to be a fantastic time—I mean, it’s free, it’s packed full of erotica, and it’s in a toy store. Score! 😉

You can find out more about the event right here, and I hope you’ll come join us. We’d love to see you!

Please be sure to say hi!

XX,
Jade