Quick Six Interview with Barrie Abalard

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Did I Forget to Mention AUTUMN 2009 is here?

A new season is upon us, and that means there's a new eXcessica anthology on the market! That's right, my friends...Four Seasons: Autumn 2009 is here!

The autumn weather might be cooling things off, but you won’t need that sweater – we promise our erotica will warm you up! This time of year involves metamorphosis, from the changing of the fall colors to the places between, where the world wears thin and the strange and unusual happens. Join your favorite eXcessica authors in this sexy, sometimes spooky, seasonal anthology, bringing you the best of all things autumn!

Includes stories by Marshall Ian Key, Vivian Vincent, J.M. Snyder, Amicus, Varian Krylov, Giselle Renarde, Kenn Dahll, Sandra Fowke, Molly Wens, and Reno MacLeod and Jaye Valentine.

As you can see, my name's up there. My contribution to this baby is an Audrey & Lawrence story called "Nuit Blanche." My story will appeal especially to my fellow Torontonians, as it takes place at Nuit Blanche, our all-night contemporary art thing. Perhaps you'll recall some of the exhibitions mentioned. Remember lying on your back on Trinity College's Rugby fields to stare up at the String of Diamonds? Remember the stuffed beaver at the AGO's End of Party Party? I've never gotten so sweaty to Abba! Did you reveal all at the Secular Confessional? Did Audrey and Lawrence? Find out what they got up to while you were waiting in that huge lineup for The Ghost Station.

There's a little something for everyone in this antho, and you can get yours from eXcessica!

Big Hugs,
Giselle Renarde
Canada just got hotter!

Support LGBT Youth in 2009

How can erotica support LGBT youth?

With your help, of course!

For the second year running, between September 15th and December 15th, all proceeds from each and every purchase of GISELLE RENARDE EROTICA through the eXcessica website will be donated to the Lesbian Gay Bi Trans YOUTHLINE!


LGBT YOUTHLINE provides queer-positive, non-judgmental peer support to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, transgender, 2-spirit, queer and questioning youth. LGBT YOUTHLINE offers free services through its toll-free phone number, by email and instant messenger. To find out more about this organization, visit their website.

Please join me in raising funds to help LGBT YOUTHLINE expand its services and continue providing an open ear and an open mind to queer youth. All you have to do is visit eXcessica.com and purchase a copy of THE BIRTHDAY GIFT, TANGLED ROOTS, KANDINSKY'S SHIRT BUTTON, or CUNNING LITTLE VIXENS by Giselle Renarde before midnight on December 15th 2009. After Paypal takes its thirty-nine cents or so, every penny from the sale will go to support this righteous cause.

Last year, so many of you offered your support. Let's raise even more money in 2009. Together, we can ensure LGBT youth are supported through times of trial and triumph.

Bright Blessings,
Giselle Renarde
Canada just got hotter!
www.freewebs.com/gisellerenarde/

My Grandma Knows All the Guys

The other day I was sitting in the car with my mother and my grandmother—three generations of women all in one Ford Taurus—when I pulled out a book to read. It’s not that I’m anti-social, only that they were talking about people I didn’t know and…I don’t know…sometimes when we’re with family we regress and behave like children all over again.

Anyway, I took out my book and grandma asked, “What’s that you’re reading?” An expression of curiosity and the fact that she can hardly see anymore.

I said, “It’s a book written by a trans man—a female-to-male transsexual—about his transition from living as a woman to living as a man.”

My grandmother hit at my fingers and said, “Yes, I know what a transsexual is, thank you! What’s his name? Maybe I know him. I know a few.”

As my grandmother spoke, I thought to myself, I wish Sweet were here right now to hear this! My girlfriend Sweet, herself a trans woman, is scared of…everything? Well, maybe not everything, but she’s very cautious about who gets to know what about her gender expression. That’s because she’s convinced everybody outside the trans community will judge her harshly, or simply not understand where she’s coming from.

Sweet would never have conceived that an 80-year-old grandmother chosen at random from my genetic pool might have a first-hand association with (and acceptance of) the trans community.

That’ll show you, babygirl!

It showed me too, I must admit. I always knew how accepting my grandmother was of ethnic diversity and the gay and lesbian population, but it wouldn’t have occurred to me that she would know people who are transgender. What I very often hear from people who are advocates of women’s rights and gay and lesbian rights is, “I have nothing against transgender people, I just don’t know anything about them.” That’s the most I thought I could expect of my grandmother.

I guess I’ve still got a lot to learn about grandma.

Cheers,
Giselle Renarde
Canada just got hotter!

FREE READ! Weekly Specials. Satisfaction Guaranteed.

OoOooh...Giselle gots a treat fer y'alls!

I really like this one.

I wrote a poem--something I do every so often--using nothing but terms from the escort ads in the back section of a free weekly newspaper. It's called Weekly Specials. Satisfaction Guaranteed.

It's up today at Oysters & Chocolate , free to read, so I invite all you darlings to take a look. It already has a 5-star rating, but the more 5's the better (nudge nudge).

Big Hugs!!!
Giselle Renarde
Canada just got hotter!

Quick Six Interview with J L Dillard

Quick Six Interview with J L Dillard

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

JLD: I am a GBLT fiction writer. Focusing on the dramatic world of passionate romance, love, sex, power and money, and drama.

2. What are you reading right now?

JLD: I'm currently reading Honeymoon by James Patterson

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

JLD: Aretha Franklin

4. Do you have a favourite naughty word?

JLD: Not really

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

JLD: Absolutely - the four letter word beginning with C and ending with T with UN in the middle. That is such a vial word, although one of my characters used it in my latest novel I'm editing.

6. Be honest: What are you snacking on?

JLD: At the moment, nothing but I would love a Swiss Cake Roll.

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

JLD: Yes, there are two new exciting releases coming out, which will be available December 2009 and January 2010. My readers can find out more about J L Dillard at http://jldillard1.webs.com and you can follow me on social networking sites at www.twitter.com/jldillard, and www.myspace.com/jldillard1. I'm also on Facebook under Jl Dillard.

Thanks for the interview!

Giselle

Let's Talk About Rejection, Baby!

Remember Salt n Pepa’s 1991 hit song Let’s Talk About Sex? It’s a blast from the past, I know. I was in the kitchen stirring up some grape jell-o just a minute ago, when I had a memory surrounding that song:

I was sitting in the car with my cousin and my parents. I guess I would have been in my early teens at the time. Let’s Talk About Sex came on the radio and I just froze. I felt so uncomfortable hearing not just the word SEX in the car with my parents, but a whole SONG about sex, that I didn’t even want to breathe. I didn’t want them acknowledging the content or talking to me about sex or asking me what I knew on the topic. I just wanted the music to STOP!

My much bolder cousin spoke up right away. “Did you know this song is about having safe sex?” she asked my parents. They mumbled some response and she went on, “Yeah, it’s really good because it tells girls to talk about sex instead of just doing whatever guys want. It says people are going to have sex whether we talk about it or not, so it’s better to talk about it.”

Great advice out of the mouths of babes.

It occurred to me, as I stirred my jell-o, that I still get that same lung-freezing reaction to—no, not sex—rejection. As a writer, I see a lot of it. Don’t we all? And yet, do we talk about it? Those of us like my bold cousin and her paraphrasing of Salt n Pepa lyrics can handle discussing it in an open forum, but me? Even as I write this, I feel a little short of breath.

Writers, like actors and other artists, face a hell of a lot of rejection. More so than people in many other professions because we are constantly putting our art and our souls on the lines and because the arts is very subjective territory. An actor can easily go into an audition only to be told by the director, “Yes, you read well, you look the part, you have talent and experience, but…hmm…I don’t know what it is. You’re just not quite right.”

It’s like that for writers too. There are so many intangibles at play. How many times have I read the word, “I really like this piece, but it’s not quite right for this collection.” Much of the time, we never quite know why our work is rejected. It just is. You deal with it and move on.

Ideally.

But the human psyche isn’t that easy to contend with, is it? We get a rejection email or two and think, “Oh. Okay. That’s too bad, but I’ll just place it elsewhere.” We get the next couple and think, “Oh. Damn it. I had high hopes for that one.” We get another few and we think, “What is going on here? I guess my work just sucks. I thought it was good, but it obviously sucks.”

Rejection is a huge part of a writer’s career, but it gets us into a cycle of negative self-talk. Yes, I know that’s a pop psychology term, but it’s useful here. Even if we don’t notice it there, a little voice at the pack of our psyches starts asking, “Why even bother?” We try to write and this destructive force says, “This story sucks,” so we get up, grab a bag of chips and plop ourselves in front of the TV instead.

I would fathom to guess most writers see more rejections or non-responses than acceptances, and yet what do we blog about? Our successes. What do we send out emails regarding? Our new releases.

Am I saying we shouldn’t be proud of our successes? Not at all. It’s wonderful to feel elated about a new release. All I’m saying is the elations doesn’t kill that dark little voice that likes to tell us it’s all pointless. The voice might go into hiding for a while, but the next rejection letter will bring it back out and it’ll be stronger than ever.

That’s why I’ve chosen rejection as a blog topic today. I see a lot of rejection. We all do. Why do we hide it? Why are we so ashamed? Well, we can blame Western Culture, even if that does seem like a bit of a cop-out. Our culture rewards successes and punishes failures…so why the hell would we admit to rejection? Why? Because rejection is something we share. If we sweep it under the rug, the rug will come alive and slaughter us like an evil robot. Really, it will. So let’s stop the public pretence. It might be good for marketing, but it’s bad for our psyches.

Hugs and Bright Blessings,
Giselle Renarde
Canada just got hotter!

Quick Six Interview with Willsin Rowe

Quick Six

Interview with Willsin Rowe

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

Mainly urban contemporary erotica. While I often have romantic elements in my stories, they’re rarely classifiable as erotic romance. I like the idea of a pained yet poignant ending. Which isn’t to say there’s never gonna be a Happily Ever After.

2. What are you reading right now?

Oh dear, how clichéd! “Delta of Venus” by Anais Nin. Next up is a book called “Affection”, which is a novel-length sexual memoir by a local author called Krissy Kneen, whom I’ve actually met! Oh, ‘local’ to me is Brisbane, Australia.

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

Usually it’s Tom Waits, Big Country or The Pixies, but occasionally it’s my own band too. I’ve been known to wig out to really cheesy stuff on occasion. I often sing “Agadoo” to people and replace the titular word with their name. If my band reads this I’m dead.

4. Do you have a favourite naughty word?

I love using the word “buttocks” as an expletive. And “boobies” is such a wonderful word (“tits” is far too sharp a word to describe something so round). And “knob” is great, too. Having said all that, though, it would be very rare to see any of those words in any of my stories. I find the really dirty ones are far more useful in erotica.

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

90% of every one of my first drafts. Also, in children’s books, the overuse of “Just then”, as in “Timmy stumbled slowly down to the liquor store. Just then a steamroller whooshed past and severed his toes...”. And there’s one other, one which I particularly hate: finishing a chapter with “And then it happened!”

6. Be honest: What are you snacking on?

Choc-chip biscuits (oh, all right: cookies) and orange cake. Ooh, and chocolate peanut slab! All home-made! Not necessarily by me!

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

November 9th will see the publication by eXcessica of my first e-book in over 2 years (since my original publisher closed down). http://excessica.com/index.php/search-by-author/willsin-rowe/ “The Three-Day Hump” is a story of lust, obsession and sexual addiction. I’ve been warned that readers (especially women) may be turned off by the inclusion of the word ‘Hump” in the title, and I get that. Guilty as charged, your honour. I’m quietly hopeful that some will realise I’m referring more to the urban myth about beating addiction, that you need to get over the three-day hump to have any hope of a cure. I also have a Christmas story coming out, and that’s with eXcessica as well. That little piece is called “Hunger” and it’s still in the editing process. More juicy bits can be found at www.myspace.com/willsinrowe . I’m also on Facebook, under one of my other personalities, Log Dawkins...that’s Burnin’ Log to you, ma’am.

Where to begin, where to begin? With tits, I think. Tits can be sharp. I like them round, but sharp works for me too. In fact, I'm really not picky on the shape. I don't even mind if they're imaginary. My girlfriend's are just two water balloons and that's good enough for me.

I absolutely agree about first drafts. I encourage myself to believe I was drunk when I wrote each and every one of them, despite the fact that I very rarely drink. I must be extremely prolific when I do...yes, that's it...I'm sure of it.

Pained but poignant? I agree there too. Read my article on Unrequited Love at Oysters & Chocolate. That's not my typo on the site, by the way. Unrequited love is anything but quiet. There's usually a lot of sobbing that goes along with it.

I feel like I'm writing too much, but it's only because I love Tom Waits. See below.

Also, see above for a hump photo I downloaded a year ago for a reason that's only become clear to me today: to use it in this post.

Thanks for the interview!

Giselle

Bite Me! Now Available from Torquere Press

Well, here it is!

Bite Me, the delicious sequel to last year's Love Bites is NOW AVAILABLE from BBA/Torquere Press.

About Bite Me: A BBA Menage Anthology

Stories by: Sean Michael, Marie Carlson, Joyce Sully, Mercy Loomis, CC Bridges, Julia Talbot, Giselle Renarde, Vic Winter, J. Rocci, and BA Tortuga
Edited by: KIL Kenny
165 pages / 62300 words
ISBN: 978-1-60370-790-9, 1-60370-790-5
Available file types - html, lit, pdf, prc, epub, Sony-optimized pdf , paperback

Hidden in plain view, taboo lovers bond in ways mundane eyes cannot see. When two are not enough, "Bite Me" shows how three can seal their truest carnal connections. When Needed, by Sean Michael, starts off with Jen, whose two faithful canine companions might be more than they seem. In Like a Thousand Miles of Fire, Marie Carlson's half-demon Crystal Andraya finds strength in the arms of her vampire lovers as war between their races looms. In Joyce Sully's Roll Up, a joyless student falls for a sideshow huckster and a cannibal queen.

In Julia Talbot's Changing Shifts, Dave has to explain to his roommates why he's suddenly shunning sunlight. Mercy Loomis unmasks a vampire demon in Empusa, whose lovers don't usually live to tell the tale. A different kind of mystery hooks Monica in CC Bridges' Dog Days. Her best friend has disappeared, and the two strangers who show up in her life have secrets they want to keep.

In Giselle Renarde's Shadow People, PI Anna Fairclough is chosen to investigate the elusive Inuit Shadow People. Vic Winter's Owen thinks he might be crazy when he finds a strange woman in the park, but his lover Tommy knows what to do. In This Home We Defend, by J Rocci, Zev unwittingly brings his pack into danger when a new Alpha issues an unusual challenge. Finally, in A Family Business, by BA Tortuga, Kit has a hard time juggling the family demon hunting business with two vampire lovers.

So, as you saw above, my story is called Shadow People.

Traditional stories tell of Inuit who have crossed into the shadow world. No one has ever returned.

Paranormal Investigator Anna Fairclough hasn't had much luck in getting the interesting assignments. When her boss, Gentle Geoff, chooses her to investigate the existence of the elusive Inuit Shadow People, Anna is delighted. When he decides to come along for the trip, she's over the moon. But when their attempts to find the mythical Shadow People fail at every turn, Geoff doesn't seem so gentle anymore. In fact, he seems to think it's all Anna's fault. Will the novice parapsychologist discover the secret of the Inuit Shadow People? And have rumours of their shyness been greatly exaggerated?

Well, I hope you're all tempted to pick up a copy of Bite Me, now available in e-book and print formats.

Big Hugs,
Giselle Renarde

Quick Six Interview with D.B. Story

Quick Six Interview with: D.B. Story (aka DB_Story)

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

Simplest answer: I write the stories that I would like to be reading otherwise and just wasn't finding.

Longer answer: I write sweetly romantic, most often HEA romances that don't shy away from the sexual aspects of the beautiful characters involved in them. Because Sex is the true Final Frontier, this has moved me just enough out of the mainstream to need a publisher who really understands what my stories are all about. Fortunately, I have found just such a publisher.

Because I write Stories – not Stroke – if it were up to me I would give everything I write a heat level of delightful simmer. The only reason(s) in my mind for the required higher heat levels on some of my titles is that most of my stories involve humans in romantic relationships with robots (female, and occasionally male), mythological beings, paranormal encounters, unconventional sexualities (occasional GLBT+H/I), and fantasy creatures – all in exotic locations. As a result, while I clearly label all my work Adult 18+, I'd also give them all Heat Level 1 if that were allowed since Romance is Romance wherever you find it. While there are deeper themes in my work as well, it's presented through the romantic lens.

One thing I do require of my readers is that they have an imagination of their own. I'm not going to spell out every last second of every sexual encounter because less here is often more. What is perfect for one reader is completely out in left field for another. As such, I set the scene and let each reader fill in what works best for them afterwards. Although occasionally criticized for this, I'm more often praised for how well it works out.

But wait! You wrote "Hooker, Wife, for Life" and that only has normal human M/F protagonists in it doesn't it?

I must reply to that baseless allegation by pointing out that the beautiful prostitute with the heart of gold is one of our most endearing fantasies.

2. What are you reading right now?

"Illustrator CS for Dummies". I create my own bookcovers where possible in Photoshop and Illustrator and am trying to improve the Illustrator side of my skills. The Adobe Illustrator night class I've tried for at my local community college has now been cancelled twice out from underneath me for lack of enrolment so far.

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

My personal playlist of my favourite 453 songs, 90% of them from the 60's. There has never before been a group with the impact of The Beatles, and I don't see how there ever will be again.

4. Do you have a favorite naughty word?

Frak! (Battlestar Galactica)

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

Harsh language spoken loudly in anger, regardless of the words or phrases used, affects me the strongest.

6. Be honest: What are you snacking on?

72oz bag of Nestle Real Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels together with a 24 oz can of Mauna Loa Dry Roasted Macadamias with Sea Salt – both from Costco.

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

On Monday August 31, 2009 my newest title "Lisa's Tale – A Courtesy Suites Story" will be released to all of the main eBook vendors (except Sony, who my publisher just can't figure out how to get onto, and the new Barnes & Noble eBook store, which only carries my stories from the time of their purchase of Fictionwise). This is the first of a planned eventual 9 titles – most in print as well as eBook – in my fembot universe. If I am said to own any tiny sub-genre many of my readers have told me that it is this one. Other writer's have compared their own fembot stories as in the DB_Story Fembot Universe already.

You may find more information on all of my titles at:

http://excessica.com/index.php/search-by-author/db-story/

I've got to say, DB...I think "fembot" is my new favourite word. Reminds me of Bender from Futurama. It's right up there with "palimpsest," which they kept saying in the episode of Sherlock Holmes I just watched (The Golden Pince-Nez). I just about peed, I was so excited to hear it in conversation. Palimpsest! Also, I submit: "filigree, apogee, pedigree, perigee."

Thanks so much for the interview!

gigi