A Fairytale Obsession

Today’s the release date for my latest fairytale Naught Nibble from Noble Romance (say that three times fast!). Love Me Like a Reptile revisits the story of the Frog Prince with a bit of a twist of the tale. Yes, it all sprang from the Motörhead song — a most unlikely source for romance, I think, but that’s how my head works. Most people get a song stuck in their heads and get annoyed; I get a song stuck in my head and I get a story.

The tagline:

Madeley thought she’d kissed a lot of frogs in her time—but this one insists he really is a prince. How far is she willing to go to find out if it’s true?

It’s set in London, like so many of my stories; I miss being there and can’t wait to be back. I watched the show Sherlock this weekend and it made me yearn for the city of my heart even more (and it’s a terrific show!).

Yes, this is going to be a continuing series of Nibbles linked by this theme. You’ll remember Spinning Gold, my retelling of the Rapunzel story. That was the first. Next up is a new version of Cinderella

Why is it always fairytales with me? Well, drop by UnBound for our Ravenous Wednesday to hear me (or um, read me) going on about the topic at length with out lovely host Dana/Inara and usual suspects like Adele AKA Hagelrat, loyal Jack and the other Ravenous stalwarts.

Spinning Gold!

Buy it now at Noble Romance:

An excerpt:
His dreams were filled with an ever-changing series of images, from the prince fighting off warriors in the holy lands or boars in the forest, to more tender images of the man beside him in the bed, their arms and legs entwined. So it came as a bit of a surprise to hear the voice call to him as Freawine struggled up from his dreams. “Will you sleep the day away, girl?”

Freawine rubbed his eyes and moved to throw back the covers, stilling his hand as he realized he had grown stiff from his lascivious dreams. The prince did not seem to notice his anxiety. He paced around the room with an energetic stride.

“May I go home, Your Highness?” Freawine managed to stutter at last.

“Home?” The prince stared into the coals of the fireplace. “Are you so eager to return there? Miss your family?”

“There’s only my father and me,” Freawine answered, willing his erection to calm itself so he could rise.

“Your father who risks your life by making drunken boasts?”

Freawine flushed. “Yes, Your Highness.”

“Doesn’t seem like much to miss.” He turned to regard Freawine. “What is your name?”

“Frea.”

He nodded, as if it were the right answer somehow. “Well, Frea, I have an offer for you.”

Freawine studied him. Something about the man seemed different. He looked as if he’d slept badly. His hair stuck up in different directions, his beard seemed even more unruly.

“One more night.” The prince returned his stare.

Freawine winced. His erection disappeared.

“If you can spin all the straw into gold tonight, I have a special reward for you.” He turned and looked at Freawine like a fox eyeing a chicken. “I will make you my queen.”

Sex Cymbals: Released!

Released today from Freya’s Bower, it’s my shortie “Sex Cymbals” which you can pick up for the bargain price of only $1.25! Like the sexy cover? Here’s the blurb:

Billie initially regrets giving up a fine Saturday to be dragged off to film her boy friend Chris’s music video, but she finds it impossible to say no to his infectious enthusiasm. While she arranges the rest of the band before the camera, Chris disappears to change his clothes. When Chris returns in a blonde wig, pumps, and very tight skirt, the band members collapse into hysterics, but Billie’s not laughing. Quite the opposite. There’s something almost obscene about his gooey pink lips, and the excitement she feels proves even more incendiary. How can she carry on filming when all she wants to do is throw Chris on the floor and have her way with him?

It’s rated “Tangy” so you know it’ll be tasty!

Reviewed by Manic Readers

Over at the Manic Readers blog, there’s a review of the anthology MEN IN SHORTS by Stephanie Wilson, who not only gives a fine review to the collection, but also comments on individual stories. Of my story “Ranger Danger” she says:

Christine is on a trip with the Junior League to a nature conservatory. Ranger Tom Rafferty is the one giving the lecture. While it is a learning experience, all Christine can do is fantasize about the young man.
Who doesn’t love a man with a naughty sense of humor? Trust me, this is one lecture you will pay attention to all the way through.

Check out the rest of the review for more comments on the collection of which Wilson says, “It is amazing that I didn’t achieve spontaneous combustion after reading these sinfully wicked tales.” Hee hee!

Coming: I Kissed a Girl

I Kissed a Girl: A Virgin Lesbian Anthology edited by Regina Perry releases August 27th

Table of Contents
Introduction
Freckles by C. Margery Kempe
Two’s Company by Louisa Bacio
Champagne by Inara LaVey
Get Thee to the Nunnery by Samantha Jones
Lady’s Maid by K. Ann Karlsson
The Tiger’s Tale by Kilt Kilpatrick
Passions, Like Storms by Nola Erus
When I Taste Like a Waste I Breathe by Farrah J. Phoenix
My New Roommate by Jen Bluekissed
The End of the World by L.A. Mistral
Show Me Yours by Lucy Felthouse
Defining Lines by Regina Perry

Introduction
Katy Perry’s hit song I Kissed a Girl brought bisexuality to the forefront. I admit I was amazed when I heard my neighbor’s five-year-old daughter singing the entire song, never missing a word or beat. Alternative lifestyles are open for discussion—no longer taboo.

Since Dr. Alfred Kinsey released his first reports on human sexual behavior in 1948, society has been in the process of accepting that almost all healthy men and women have some homosexual tendencies. Instead of hiding these inclinations in shame, it’s time to celebrate our desires and be comfortable in our own skin. No labels, no judgment—only enlightenment and tolerance.

I’m not suggesting that all humans are bisexual. As I have discovered, being aroused by an erotic story doesn’t label anyone. I can get excited reading BDSM, but don’t try spanking me in bed. Because I am passionate about same-sex erotica does not make me bisexual, but it has enhanced my ability to love and accept.

This anthology is a collection of lesbian first-time encounters. I am delighted with the diversity of this collection. I hope you enjoy and share my passion for exploring new boundaries.
Regina Perry
July 2009

I Kissed a Girl: A Virgin Lesbian Anthology

You’ve heard Katy Perry’s hit song, now read enticing stories of heterosexual women exploring new boundaries. College dormitories become breeding grounds of inquisitive minds and libidos with roommates discovering desire for each other as they relate past experiences, undress in each other’s presence, seek refuge from a storm, discover a dildo or share men. Continuing life’s path, ingenious women find ways to enhance marriage or the workplace. Champagne cellars, riding stables, tanning salons, even historical English bedchambers become hotbeds of lesbian experiments. Converting or not, all embrace the journey of sexual exploration.

Warning: Stories contained within this anthology may elicit arousal, regardless of sexual persuasion.

RR Authors Promo Video

Let us now praise fabulous Ravenous writers!

Chastity Flame back at #5!

Hurrah! Today: The Top 5 Bestsellers in the Ravenous Romance Breathless ™ romantic suspense line:

1. Stilettos Inc.
by Lexi Ryan

2. Blood and Sex, Volume 1: Michael
by Angela Cameron

3. Passionate Heat
by Rachel Kenley

4. Long, Hard, and Lethal
by Trudy Doyle

5. Chastity Flame
by C Margery Kempe

Experimental Reviewed @ Jennifer’s Random Romance Reviews

There’s a fine review of EXPERIMENTAL over at Jennifer’s Random Romance Reviews which highlights my story “Not Rocket Science” AKA the spoof of 1950s SF movies inspired by the wonderful spoof The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra. Jennifer writes that, “This entertaining and steamy anthology of erotica short stories has a little bit of everything. Each short story sticks with the theme of sex and science, but each author is able to provide readers with something different as the possibilities seem to be endless with this theme.”

About my story, she says:

“Not Rocket Science” by C. Margery Kempe changes things up a bit and provides readers with a campy tale based on a 1950s sci-fi flick. This homoerotic tale is a bit over-the-top, but is definitely fun and one of my faves.

Yay!

And don’t forget that a bunch of us will be online LIVE tomorrow at noon over on Savannah Chase’s Yahoo group to cause trouble and answer questions if people have them. More than likely we’ll just raise a ruckus!

Revision

Sit down, and put down everything that comes into your head and then you’re a writer. But an author is one who can judge his own stuff’s worth, without pity, and destroy most of it.

Colette

One of the least celebrated parts of writing is the art of revision. Working on my forthcoming sexy tarot story for Midnight Showcase last night, I was struck by the usefulness of having one more go at the piece. There’s always a little more polishing to be done. The more the story shines, the more I do, too.

The story focuses on a tarot card reader who takes more than a slight interest in a client at a psychic fair. It’s loosely based on some friends and a local psychic fair — and the diner everyone goes to afterward. The signal card is the Two of Cups. I found this charming image by artist Kathleen Lolley, who has a lovely print of it available. It’s amazing all the people who have been inspired by the tarot over the years. What’s your favourite deck?

Desire

Writing erotica has a lot more acceptance now than it did in the past, but there are still a lot of hurdles we’ve yet to leap.  It might be ‘acceptable’ but it’s often far from admired.  Like its sister genre, romance, it is often dismissed because of its largely female audience and creators, because something that’s ‘only’ for women isn’t ‘universal’ – yeah, right.

It’s surprising that even in the mainstream there’s still a discomfort linking women and desire.  Libby Brooks, writing in The Guardian about the new collection In Bed With… that features big name writers who nonetheless write under pseudonyms, notes:

It’s a weary truism that it remains taboo for women to talk publicly about what turns them on. Another of the contributors, Joan Smith, says she has been fielding scandalised callers demanding to know why a feminist such as herself would even countenance writing erotica. For all the jocular gloss, the media’s imperative to identify Lette’s writers carries an unpleasant undercurrent of the scarlet letter.

Why is women’s desire such a powerful thing that it must be hedged around with such careful language and subterfuge?  I suspect a large part of that comes from its mysteriousness.  The physiological questions about female desire remain puzzles to researchers who find it impossible to sort out the overlap between impulses from the body and those from culture.  In a recent New York Times Magazine piece, Dr. Meredith Chivers, who has spent long years working to understand the workings of female sexuality, continues to find it a perplexing problem:

“So many cultures have quite strict codes governing female sexuality,” she said. “If that sexuality is relatively passive, then why so many rules to control it? Why is it so frightening?” There was the implication, in her words, that she might never illuminate her subject because she could not even see it, that the data she and her colleagues collect might be deceptive, might represent only the creations of culture, and that her interpretations might be leading away from underlying truth. There was the intimation that, at its core, women’s sexuality might not be passive at all. There was the chance that the long history of fear might have buried the nature of women’s lust too deeply to unearth, to view.

That fear is still with us. We bear a heavy burden from cultural programming.  It affects us in ways we can’t always realise or understand.  But taking up the task of writing our desires is a positive step.  The more we take control and own our erotic imaginings, the more that fear and negativity will fall away.

The one thing that is clear from Chivers’ work is how important being desired is for women.  Tell us we’re loved, but tell us we’re sexy, too.  That’s a guaranteed turn on. As we explore these notions in our stories, we become more sure of ourselves and better able to articulate our desires, and that’s good for everyone.