Learn To Dance

Okay, so I need to learn to dance. This is an unfortunate turn of events, as I am extremely uncoordinated. Thing is, I have a girlfriend whose love of ballroom dancing has been rejuvenated by Dancing with the Stars. In my endless effort to stay out of the doghouse, I need to be the romantic partner who will do anything for my Sweet. Right now, that means figuring out how to dance.

Fortunately, I never learned the “girl” way to dance, so I don’t need to forget everything I know in order to lead. Sweet’s quite anxious to dump that role. When I took her by the waist and jokingly swung her around the room the other day, it was only the second time in her life she’d danced as the “lady.” The first time was with “a very gay guy” in a club about ten years ago.

So…how to dance, how to dance, how to dance? To answer these questions, I turned to the trusty internet. I’ve learned so much online. As it turns out, I’m not sure I'll be able to add dancing to that list.

Here’s what I’ve come across so far:

Learn to Dance with Napolean Dynamite
http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/napoleon
Amusing? Yes. Helpful? No.

How to Dance without Embarrassing Yourself
http://www.howcast.com/videos/1097-How-To-Dance-Without-Embarrassing-Yourself
A dude in drag shows you the ropes. Seems like this would be particularly useful for me, but no. Very funny, though.

How to Booty Dance
http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to/video/how-to-booty-dance-17873/
Really, really, really not what I was looking for.

How to Dance the Basic Salsa Step


Hey…this is it! This is exactly what I wanted to know: where to put my hands and a basic step.

Alright! The internet has saved me yet again. YouTube is my salvation. Time to get out on the dance floor and salsa Sweet’s curvy little buns off!

BIG HUGS,
Giselle Renarde

Four Seasons: Spring 2009

Just in time for the change in seasons, eXcessica has a new anthology on the market. Four Seasons: Spring 2009 is a compilation of erotic tales from some of your favourite eXcessica authors. If you've been trying to round us up, you're in luck because we are together at last!

Spring is a time of beginnings - after a gradual thaw, the melting of one season into next, comes a bright renewal - the exciting, passionate bloom of love, youth, new life, chances to begin again and all the rituals of re-birth. As the world blooms open again, so does the human longing for re-connection, both emotionally and physically. Come join your favorite eXcessica authors in this sensual, seasonal anthology, bringing you the best of all things sexy in the spring!

Edited by Selena Kitt, with stories by Molly Wens, Giselle Renarde, Amicus, Sabb, Rachelle Le Monnier, Kiki Howell, Sommer Marsden, Vicki Paradise, Jennifer Campbell, Dakota Trace, Marshall Ian Key and Karenna Colcroft

The story I've included in this compilation is "Spring Fever," a tale near to my heart. It's a work inspired by my budding relationship with my Sweet, written when she and I were still at the crush stage. In fact, as you'll find, it's a cross-dressing story. It was written before I knew her as a trans woman.

It's hard to believe that only a year ago, I knew her as a man with an innocent predisposition toward women's clothes. There were hints. There were little things--subtleties--that most people would never notice, but that I noticed because, well, I was falling in love with her.

I mention a photograph in the story. It's a real photograph. That was a true event. In a way, that's how Sweet came out to me.

This story is such a precious document, for me, of my emotions around Sweet at that time. I don't keep a personal diary, so, in a way, my work becomes my journal. Even if the events in a given story aren't true to life (and even more so if they are), when I reread the erotica I've written over time, it gives me an excellent sense of where I was at emotionally and sexually at any given time.

In "Spring Fever," I see old heartache. I see fear and reluctance to enter into a new relationship because wouldn't I just get my heart broken again? I also see my recognition of the inevitability of falling deeply in love with a wonderfully quirky individual whose secrets would soon be revealed.

I look back and smile.

Click here to read an excerpt from Spring 2009 and get your copy today!

Quick Six Interview with Missy Lyons

Quick Six Interview with Missy Lyons

1. Hi Missy! Would you be so kind as to tell us what type of stories you write?

ML: Erotic stories. I love to make the them sizzle and add an extra lover or two. Several of my romances have turned into menages.Three of my stores at Phaze Books are m/f/m. I also like to touch on the taboo, like gay romances, or fetishes.

2. What are you reading right now?

ML: I have a pretty big stack in my to be read pile. Here's a couple of good books I want to read in the next couple of days:

48 Days to the Job you Love

Dark Embrace by Brenda Joyce

3. I hear music in the background...what' s playing?

ML: Trace Adkins. You didn't know I was a huge country fan, did you?

4. Do you have a favourite naughty word?

ML: Surrender, but I do like writing BDSM stories.

5. Is there a word or phrase that absolutely makes you cringe?

ML: Every time I hear bailout on the news I cringe. I hate to even think about how much money went to save our economy and no one seems to know where the money went.

6. Be honest: What are you snacking on?

ML: Weird as this may sound, I have a pepsi and dried sweetened cranberries.

Missy Lyons

Unleash your passion

http://missylyons.blogspot.com

Just released!

French Kiss-- Two lovers, a dangerous killer on the loose. Paris has never been quite this exciting before now.

Available at phaze.com

One Touch, One Glance -- a sweet romance anthology

Available at freyasbower.com

Sign up for my newsletter:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Missy_Lyons_Newsletter/

Thanks so much, Missy!
Giselle

Quick Six Interview with Leighann Phoenix

Quick Six
Interview with Leighann Phoenix

1. Would you be so kind as to tell us what type of stories you write?

LP: Paranormal/Romance/Erotica and anything else you can think of...
I originally got a degree in writing a while back and spent a lot of time writing literary fiction. But that's not as fun.

2. What are you reading right now?

LP: I'm currently working on my next book.. I don't read other stuff while I'm writing cuz I find that my stuff starts sounding like what I'm reading. So I studiously avoid that!

3. I hear music in the background…what' s playing?

LP: Curse Icon, Nickelback. I got into Curse Icon when I thought they were a local band from my hometown area. I got a deal with them to do the music for the "Mira" book trailer and now they're going national. It's pretty cool. I can't seem to stop listening to them.

4. Do you have a favourite naughty word?

LP: Nah, I like them all! But I have a preference for "lick" on any given occasion and in the right context...

5. Is there a word or phrase that absolutely makes you cringe?

LP: I don't tend to like the word "cunt". I'll use it when I think appropriate, but it just seems so harsh.

6. Be honest: What are you snacking on?

LP: Ding dongs! I'll start my diet tomorrow.

Promo time! Flog your wares. Any exciting new releases? How can readers find out more about you and your work?

Currently I'm working on the third book in my series. It started with "Leader of the Pack" which went bestseller on eXcessica for several weeks running. After a lot of reader questions wanting more about the world, I wrote "Mira", which is kind of a prologue. It was just released. And now I'm working on "Leaders of the Pack", which is the continuation of the original.

Thanks so much for the interview!
Giselle

Mapping…or Lapping…or Slapping?

I’m sick.

Not seriously sick, just stricken with your basic garden variety spending-too-much-time-around-germy-children winter chest infection. I’ll be fine in a week or so, but right now I feel like utter crap.

As a result of having next to no energy, I’ve developed a new hobby that I tried to name in the post heading. My hobby is a simple combination of napping and listening to music. Music napping…mapping? Listening while napping…lapping? Silently listening and napping…slapping?

Whatever we choose to call it, it’s a great combination. I’m a music lover (and some might say a bit of a musician myself) and I always have music on in the background, no matter what I’m doing. There’s a huge difference, though, between setting music as the soundtrack to daily life and actually bringing life to a temporary hiatus to allow that music to completely wash over you. My new hobby (mapping…or lapping…or slapping?) is such a calming activity, I might just try to bring it into day-to-day life even when I feel better.

Who has time for mapping or lapping or slapping, you might ask? Certainly not me. That’s what I’ve always thought. I am constantly working, whether it be inside or outside the home. If I’m not working, that’s because I am asleep. But what I’m beginning to realize is that the day contains enough hours to accomplish everything in the high-priority range. If you categorize time for self, for relaxation, for reflection, as truly important, you’ll find the time for activities that unite you with self and bring you to a balance.

Priorities are hard. Napping to music is easy. Tonight, have a slap on me.


Oh, one last thing: I’m famous!

Remember the Valentine I made for Sweet? Well, “The Signal,” the radio show I listen to at night on CBC Radio Two, put out a call to artists asking us to send in work we’ve created while listening to the show. Well, my adorable animation is now featured on The Signal’s blog for all to admire!

Now that CBC Radio Two is "cool" people don't laugh at me so much for listening to it...

Hugs,
Giselle

Quick Six Interview with Sommer Marsden

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

What Can You Tell Me Six Words?

I’m a little bit fascinated by this concept of the six-word story. Have you encountered this phenomenon? I first heard about the project over at http://www.smithmag.net/sixwords/ while listening to CBC radio (is there anything they don’t know?) and it really stuck in my mind.

I appreciate the challenge of writing flash fiction. I appreciate the challenge of writing poetry. But to tell a story in six words…?

And then I read the story that started it all. Hemingway wrote what he felt was his greatest story in only six words:

For sale: baby shoes, never worn.
-Ernest Hemingway

Absolutely stunning, isn’t it? We may not be Hemingway, but let’s give it a try. Tell me a story of love or of heartbreak in precisely six words.

I’ll go first with the story of my first love:

I loved him. He was married.
~Giselle Renarde

And the story of my current love:

She will look stunning in white.
~Giselle Renarde

And a third just for fun:

Give me your heart or else.
~Giselle Renarde

What can you tell me in six words?

*As an added bonus, the first six readers to send me a Six Word Story will receive an e-copy of my delicious menage story, Cunning Little Vixens. Everyone who sends one in will also be entered to win an e-copy of a truly incredible anthology called Coming Together: With Pride. The clock's ticking, so get those stories in!*

Hugs,
gigi

Quick Six Interview with Jaye Valentine and Reno MacLeod

Quick Six
Interview with Jaye Valentine and Reno MacLeod

1. Hello Jaye and Reno! Would you be so kind as to tell us what type of stories you write?

Reno: We write collaborative works of gay male urban fantasy and BDSM, mostly. We write both erotica and erotic romance. We tend to have a bit of a darker side than most and really enjoy taking a story through twists and turns.

Jaye: What Reno said.


2. What are you reading right now?

Reno: I'm currently reading "World War Z" by Max Brooks

Jaye: "Angels & Demons" by Dan Brown.


3. I hear music in the background…what's playing?

Reno: National Treasure soundtrack

Jaye: Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus"


4. Do you have a favorite naughty word?

Reno: Ass. I know it isn't all that dirty, I just like it.

Jaye: You don't want to know my real answer, but sometimes it's just the right word. In lieu of that, I'll say "dick."


5. Is there a word or phrase that absolutely makes you cringe?

Reno: "Not to throw you under the bus, but…" Way, way overused.

Jay: Yes-- "ever so (insert any -ly adverb here)." It gives me the hives.


6. Be honest: What are you snacking on?

Reno: It's actually noon here, so I'm lunching, not snacking. Today I've got a ham and swiss cheese sandwich that Jaye made me, two tangerines and animal crackers. Yeah, it is like a little kid's lunch.

Jay: My 5th cup of black coffee.

Promo time! Flog your wares. Any exciting new releases? How can readers find out more about you and your work?

At the moment we don't have an official website, but we have all of our new release and other info over at LiveJournal:

http://reno-macleod.livejournal.com/

http://jaye-valentine.livejournal.com/

We have several books coming out over the next 2 months:

"StarCrossed 2: Opposite Ends of the Spectrum"
Warnings: m/m sex, angel/demon
Release date: Saturday, January 24, 2009 with Torquere Press
http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1618

"Soft Focus"
Warnings: This title contains graphic language, m/m sex, bdsm and attempted rape.
Release date: Monday, January 26, 2009 with eXcessica
http://excessica.com/index.php/books/soft-focus-by-jaye-valentine-and-reno-macleod/

"StarCrossed 2-1/2: Sangria and Seraphim"
Warnings: m/m sex, twincest, angel/demon
Release Date: Monday, February 2, 2009
http://excessica.com/index.php/books/starcrossed-sangria-and-seraphim-by-reno-macleod-and-jaye-valentine/


Reno MacLeod and Jaye Valentine are freelance writers currently based in a small New England town famous for producing bungee cords and a notorious ax murderess. Writing erotica and erotic horror stories are Jaye's primary endeavors, while Reno works in video production when he isn't pounding the keyboard. They live with two adorably evil cats named Anakin and Sephiroth.

What is it about cats that generates an instantaneous feeling of affinity? Many, many people have cats, and yet every time somebody mentions "my cats" my heart flutters and I respond, "You have cats? I have cats!" It's really not that huge a coincidence and yet, Jaye, Reno, Anakin and Sephiroth, I feel it necessary to mention that I also have two cats. They are bilingual and they sleep on my head.
Thanks for the interview!
Giselle Renarde

A Sweet for My Sweet

With Valentine's Day fast approaching, I knew you'd all be asking what I'm giving Sweet.

Well, anyone who was following Donuts & Desires around the holiday season will know I prefer making gifts to buying them. That's not just because I'm cheap--I mean, I am cheap, I can't deny that--but it's primarily because gifts you make yourself come from the heart. At least, that's what I believe.

I've reached a stage in life where I value time over money. While money can buy a thoughtful gift if spent wisely and not in haste, a gift made especially for the one you love is so very special because of the time and effort put into it.

So here, below, is my Valentine to my gorgeous girlfriend. It's called "i knew" and it's an original composition in the New Music genre, along with original animation that reminds me a lot of the kind of drawing a child produces for display on the refrigerator door. In other words, it's an attempt at art.

Inspired by The Happiness Project, "i knew" is an original composition exploring the melodious nature of the spoken word. Written and performed by me (Giselle Renarde...pleased to make your acquaintance), this work takes a simple but heartfelt statement and turns it into music. The composition itself is a lesbian mini-romance, complete with happy ending, and all in 29 seconds.

Okay, so the animation is a little cheesy, a little corny...but it was my first time using Pencil, so please please pretty please cut me some slack. *smile* If you stop snickering, you might find it's rather sweet.

A sweet for my Sweet...

This and other Giselle Renarde videos can be viewed at my YouTube channel, http://www.youtube.com/user/gisellerenarde

Quick Six Interview with Kiki Howell

Quick Six
Interview with Kiki Howell

1. Hi Kiki! Would you be so kind as to tell us what type of stories you write?

I write magical erotic romances. I love the paranormal genre. Mostly, my main characters are witches. I have always been interested in Wicca, and I read lots of great books about it and then let my imagination run wild. The erotic elements take the magic to another level! I love the idea of sexual magic.

2. What are you reading right now?

I just got five Gregory Maguire books for Christmas, so I started with Lost because "A Christmas Carol" is my favorite holiday movie. I am always reading a non-fiction book at the same time. I am very interested in the Law of Attraction. So, I am currently wrestling my way through The Tao of Physics: An Exploration of the Parallels Between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism.

3. I hear music in the background…what's playing?

My MP3 player – I was just screaming along with Coldplay, Viva La Vida. I couldn't possibly explain why I love the song so much, but it really gets me moving.

4. Do you have a favourite naughty word?

Wow! This is a hard one. I guess if I had to pick one it would be a word that isn't bad on it's own, but in the right context can be very naughty – "taste" Go ahead, just imagine the possibilities!

5. Is there a word or phrase that absolutely makes you cringe?

If we are still talking about sex and erotica, nothing comes to my mind. But, my heart drops when I pick of the phone and it is one of my kids schools calling! The sex was fun, the kids are stressful!

6. Be honest: What are you snacking on?

The most amazing cake ever without chocolate in it! The recipe says Chess Cake, and it is absolutely sinful! I love taking it to parties because everyone says it goes well with wine. I have to include the recipe, because it is so easy, too. 1. Mix and pour into a sprayed 9x13 pan: 1 yellow cake mix, 1 stick of butter, and 2 eggs. 2. Cream and pour on top of cake mixture: 2 eggs, 1 stick of butter, 8oz cream cheese, and 1lb box of powdered sugar. 3. Bake at 350 for 1 hour. Enjoy!

Promo time! Flog your wares. Any exciting new releases? How can readers find out more about you and your work?

Mystic Stones, An Anthology of four of my stories released Jan. 1 at Whiskey Creek Press Torrid. Also, Jan 19 my short story, "To Save A Witch" releases in the Focus Anthology at Excessica. I have a sexy short story available now at Excessica called "The Healing Spell," it is all about sexual magic and it has gotten three wonderful reviews recently! To find out about my other releases at WCPT and Excessica you can go to my website, http://kikihowell.author.googlepages.com or www.myspace.com/kikihowell or http://kikihowell.blogspot.com. Check out my YouTube videos at www.youtube.com/user/kikihowell

The Tao of Physics sounds great. I was a physics geek in high school. Just the other day I was thinking I ought to get my hands on a copy of The Holographic Universe, which I initially read in my teens. I was really into the interplay of spirituality and quantum physics; there are such clear macrocosmic/microcosmic connections between the two. Maybe I'll reread one "An Open Heart" by the Dalai Lama which I'm at it. *smile*
Thanks so much for the interview!
Giselle Renarde