Snog for Sommer on Smut for Good!

Sommer Marsden is one of my favorite writers of erotica, and I feel honored every time she contributes a story to one of my anthologies. Now I’m posting a snog scene of my own for the Smut for Good campaign to support Sommer and her family in their fierce battle with cancer. To find links to dozens and dozens of  steamy snogs, and to find out how to donate if you can, go to http://smutforgood.co.uk

This snippet is from my story “Crème Brulee” in the new anthology All You Can Eat, edited by Andi Marquette and R.G. Emanuelle, a book chock full of tasty (and satisfying!) goodness.
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The newcomers seemed to be busy building a fire of driftwood on the beach. I moved my car to the far end of the parking lot. In the glow of the overhead light I leaned over the front seat into the back to get my treasures out of their chilly container. Raf took the opportunity to knead my upturned butt and tease between my thighs, but with a steel-willed effort I got the ramekins safely onto a towel folded on the front seat between us.
“Crème brûlée!” I said triumphantly. “Have you ever had it?”
“Just seen it on restaurant menus a time or two without paying attention. What’s it mean? Bruised cream?”
“That sounds intriguingly kinky, but no. More like broiled cream. The top is covered with raw sugar, melted under a broiler or a propane torch, and then it hardens like glass.” I dug some plastic spoons out of the side pocket on the door where I tend to shove them when I get drive-through coffee. “Dig in,” I said, knowing what would be likely to happen.
Raf’s spoon broke on the mottled golden surface.
“You’re the stonecutter in this crew,” she said. “You do it.”
I took out my pocketknife, covered it in the plastic wrap that had protected the desserts, and brought it down hard on one sugar-glazed portion. Cracks rayed out, letting glimpses of the inner custard showed through. “That’s yours. Now you break my shell.”
She did it with one hand, while the other pulled my head close for a long, sensuous kiss. Finally, she pulled away. “So did I break through?”
I couldn’t even remember whether we’d done anything as slow and sweet as kissing last year. “Oh, yeah.” I was breathless. “No shell left at all.”
“Looks like some crunchy bits left in the dishes.” She took my spoon and scooped up some of the rich creamy custard along with fragments of sugar glaze. “Mmm. Now I know what you see in this. Such rich, smooth cream inside that stony exterior.” She took another bite, then offered me one. We alternated with the spoon, feeding each other, until the last bites were accidentally-on-purpose smeared across our lips. The licking and kissing that followed got us so revved up that driving all the way back to Wellfleet without relief was out of the question, so I pulled off at the Pilgrim Springs Trail parking lot, mercifully unoccupied.
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Go Ahead. Taste that Forbidden Fruit! An Interview with Emily L. Byrne

Cheyenne Blue has been one of my very favorite writers of erotica for what seems like forever, contributing stories to nine of the anthologies I’ve edited, and now she’s one of my favorite editors as well. Her brand new anthology Forbidden Fruit: stories of unwise lesbian desire is a gem, and the fact that it includes one of my own stories would be beside the point if it weren’t that now I get to participate in the Forbidden Fruit blog tour, and interview another of my favorite writers, editors, and long-time friends, Emily L. Byrne. (Read the interview to find out the name I’ve known her by all these years.)

Check out https://forbiddenfruitbook.wordpress.com for details of this book launch, including a list of all the writers on this tour, as well as the prizes to be won by the luckiest commenters on any of these blogs. Hint: one of these prizes is a paperback copy of my anthology Wild Girls, Wild Nights: True Lesbian Sex Stories, which has the double honor of including a story by Cheyenne Blue, and winning a Lambda Literary Award.

So onward to the interview!

1. How is taking a pseudonym for your erotica writing working out? I sometimes regret using one myself, but I’ve done it right from the beginning of my erotica career. You’ve already got a fine and substantial body of work in the genre out in the world under your own name.

Emily: It's early days on that but year to date, I've had acceptances for all 4 stories that I've written and submitted as "New Me," which is nice since it suggests that I'm not coasting on what name recognition I possess. Taking on a pseudonym seemed like a good idea for marketing purposes (all my new erotica and erotic romance will go out as Emily L. Byrne, everything else will stay under Catherine Lundoff), as well as for day job sanity. When I first began publishing erotic fiction, it was preGoogle and the likelihood that anyone was going to look me up online was slim to none. That's no longer true and I've had a few potentially awkward moments at work as a result, so I'd like a bit more control over who I encourage to read my work in different genres. What I'm working on now is getting Emily L. Byrne enough name recognition that I can get some traction for the novel that I'm hoping to release under that name in the very near future. Toward that end, I'm submitting short fiction as Emily, doing publisher profiles and hosting guest blogs on my new blog (www.writeremilylbyrne.blogspot.com). Please consider being one of my guests if you've got new F/F work out or coming out soon or have something to say about reading F/F!

2.        With all the turmoil and uncertainty in the traditional publishing world these days, have you considered self-publishing or starting a press of your own?

Emily: It's almost like you read my mind. :-) Why, yes. I recently recovered rights to my first several books, then had a book deal for some new novels fall through, so I've decided to explore releasing those works myself. I'm a former bookseller and the idea of running my own press is one that I've been thinking about for a while. I'm currently in the early stages of exploring what I'd need to make that idea viable so I don't have a timeline or an official announcement yet, but I hope to in the next couple of months. I’ll be announcing under both Emily L. Byrne and Catherine Lundoff because I hope to doing some genre-crossing and filling some niches that aren’t very crowded. You can follow me under either name on Twitter and Google+, as Emily on Blogspot (link above), as Catherine on Facebook and as http://catherineldf.dreamwidth.org/on Dreamwidth mirrored on the same name on Livejournal.

3.         I know that speculative fiction is important to you, and you’ve had considerable success, as success goes these days, in that genre. I also know that you’ve written specfic that is also erotica. Do you plan to focus more on one genre than the other in the future, or on blending the two? Does it make a difference to you which name you use when your story fits into both genres? (Okay, this really goes under Question 1, but I’m padding this one a bit.)

Emily: Well, the dividing line on names will be erotic content, not sfnal content. I like to read in a bunch of genres so it stands to reason that I'd like to write in them, too. I look forward to writing lots more science fiction, fantasy and horror, with and without erotic content. The novel I'm working on now is erotic romance science fiction, but I'm also working on a sequel to my werewolf novel, "Silver Moon," which has little erotic content and is closer to being paranormal romance. So, a book for each Me, essentially. I've also written a lot of short fiction in a variety of genres and I expect that to continue, And, in my copious free time, I'm looking at a possible nonfiction book project. We'll see what I can pull off out of that assortment.

4.        You and I met at a science fiction and fantasy Worldcon in 2000, both doing a signing as contributors for a non-erotic fantasy anthology called Such a Pretty Face: Tales of Power and Abundance, and recognizing each other’s name from a shared table of contents in a volume of Best Lesbian Erotica. Both books could be seen as feminist in their own ways. Fourteen years later, do you see any progress or lack thereof in the status of women’s writing? (In, oh, let’s say twenty-five words or fewer? Trick question, of course. Feel free to link to your own blogs, etc.)

Emily: Urgh. A trick question! That's an emphatic yes, no and maybe. I think that women's writing in a whole bunch of different genres hasn't made the advances that many of us hoped it would 15-20 years back. It's still a struggle to get award and review recognition for women-authored books, outside of a female-dominated genre like Romance. In terms of respect for published work, male writers still write "classics" and "canon" while female writers write "fluff."  On the plus side, I think there are more women writing in multiple genres and more women getting published, under their own steam if not by major publishers, so I think that creates more possibilities. What I'd like to see: a lot more diverse female voices seeing their work published and celebrated on a par with similar work by male writers by editors, publishers, readers, reviewers and award committees. And that’s something we can all work toward by voting with our reading and review choices, promoting works we like and supporting other authors.

5.        Tell me about your story "The Further Adventures of Miss Scarlet" in "Forbidden Fruit: Stories of Unwise Lesbian Desire ". I already know that it’s terrific.

Emily: Aw, shucks. Thank you! Detective Kendra McClain is hot for Miss Scarlet, a jewel thief who models her nom de guerre on the character from "Clue,” after a seemingly chance meeting at a bar.

“The Further Adventures of Miss Scarlet” - Excerpt

Kendra could almost feel someone’s eyes burning a hole in the back of her head. She didn’t even need to turn around to confirm the feeling, thanks to the mirror over the bar. If it had been any other bar, she would have been more surprised. But Riley’s was a cop bar and it attracted a specific clientele, mostly law enforcement and their families and friends. Plus the occasional groupie.

Whatever this woman was, she wasn’t law enforcement, at least not any kind that Kendra had seen before. Or could imagine. She was beautiful: heart-shaped face, arched thin eyebrows over wide dark eyes, bright red kissable lips. Her red dress set off her curves, accentuating her small, full breasts and curved hips, even sitting down. And what was she looking at? A big African American butch with dreads, a broken nose and shoulders like a linebacker’s. For a minute, Kendra wished with everything she had that she was cuter and bit back a sigh.

But that moment passed; she was cute enough to stare at, so that was as cute as she needed to be. At least for now. She could turn her attention to wishing she was less shy around pretty ladies instead. That wish settled down into her crotch with a dull, aching thud of thwarted desire. It had been way too long, and she was uncertain and out of practice.


The next stop on the Forbidden Fruit blog tour is Axa Lee (http://leighwantsfood.blogspot.com/2014/09/guest-author-laila-blake-and-forbidden.html) who is interviewing Laila Blake.

Leave a comment on any post in the Forbidden Fruit blog tour to be entered into a random draw to win one of these great prizes.  Prizes include a paperback copy of Girls Who Score, lesbian sports erotica edited by Ily Goyanes, Best Lesbian Romance 2011 edited by Radclyffe, Wild Girls, Wild Nights: True Lesbian Sex Stories edited by Sacchi Green, an ebook of Ladylit’s first lesbian anthology Anything She Wants, and a bundle of three mini-anthologies from Ladylit: Sweat, A Christmas to Remember and Bossy.  All of these titles contain some stories written by the fabulous contributors to Forbidden Fruit: stories of unwise lesbian desire. You must include an email address in  your comment to be entered into the draw.


Forbidden Fruit: stories of unwise lesbian desire is available direct from the publisher, Ladylit (http://www.ladylit.com/books/forbidden-fruit/) or from Amazon, Smashwords, and other good retailers of ebooks.  Check out http://www.ladylit.com/books/forbidden-fruit/ for all purchasing information.
 

Cheyenne Blue has been one of my very favorite writers of erotica for what seems like forever, contributing stories to nine of the anthologies I’ve edited, and now she’s one of my favorite editors as well. Her brand new anthology Forbidden Fruit: stories of unwise lesbian desire is a gem, and the fact that it includes one of my own stories would be beside the point if it weren’t that now I get to participate in the Forbidden Fruit blog tour, and interview another of my favorite writers, editors, and long-time friends, Emily L. Byrne. (Read the interview to find out the name I’ve known her by all these years.)

Check out https://forbiddenfruitbook.wordpress.com for details of this book launch, including a list of all the writers on this tour, as well as the prizes to be won by the luckiest commenters on any of these blogs. Hint: one of these prizes is a paperback copy of my anthology Wild Girls, Wild Nights: True Lesbian Sex Stories, which has the double honor including a story by Cheyenne Blue, and winning a Lambda Literary Award.

So onward to the interview!

1. How is taking a pseudonym for your erotica writing working out? I sometimes regret using one myself, but I’ve done it right from the beginning of my erotica career. You’ve already got a fine and substantial body of work in the genre out in the world under your own name.

Emily: It's early days on that but year to date, I've had acceptances for all 4 stories that I've written and submitted as "New Me," which is nice since it suggests that I'm not coasting on what name recognition I possess. Taking on a pseudonym seemed like a good idea for marketing purposes (all my new erotica and erotic romance will go out as Emily L. Byrne, everything else will stay under Catherine Lundoff), as well as for day job sanity. When I first began publishing erotic fiction, it was preGoogle and the likelihood that anyone was going to look me up online was slim to none. That's no longer true and I've had a few potentially awkward moments at work as a result, so I'd like a bit more control over who I encourage to read my work in different genres. What I'm working on now is getting Emily L. Byrne enough name recognition that I can get some traction for the novel that I'm hoping to release under that name in the very near future. Toward that end, I'm submitting short fiction as Emily, doing publisher profiles and hosting guest blogs on my new blog (www.writeremilylbyrne.blogspot.com). Please consider being one of my guests if you've got new F/F work out or coming out soon or have something to say about reading F/F!

2.        With all the turmoil and uncertainty in the traditional publishing world these days, have you considered self-publishing or starting a press of your own?

Emily: It's almost like you read my mind. :-) Why, yes. I recently recovered rights to my first several books, then had a book deal for some new novels fall through, so I've decided to explore releasing those works myself. I'm a former bookseller and the idea of running my own press is one that I've been thinking about for a while. I'm currently in the early stages of exploring what I'd need to make that idea viable so I don't have a timeline or an official announcement yet, but I hope to in the next couple of months. I’ll be announcing under both Emily L. Byrne and Catherine Lundoff because I hope to doing some genre-crossing and filling some niches that aren’t very crowded. You can follow me under either name on Twitter and Google+, as Emily on Blogspot (link above), as Catherine on Facebook and as http://catherineldf.dreamwidth.org/on Dreamwidth mirrored on the same name on Livejournal.

3.         I know that speculative fiction is important to you, and you’ve had considerable success, as success goes these days, in that genre. I also know that you’ve written specfic that is also erotica. Do you plan to focus more on one genre than the other in the future, or on blending the two? Does it make a difference to you which name you use when your story fits into both genres? (Okay, this really goes under Question 1, but I’m padding this one a bit.)

Emily: Well, the dividing line on names will be erotic content, not sfnal content. I like to read in a bunch of genres so it stands to reason that I'd like to write in them, too. I look forward to writing lots more science fiction, fantasy and horror, with and without erotic content. The novel I'm working on now is erotic romance science fiction, but I'm also working on a sequel to my werewolf novel, "Silver Moon," which has little erotic content and is closer to being paranormal romance. So, a book for each Me, essentially. I've also written a lot of short fiction in a variety of genres and I expect that to continue, And, in my copious free time, I'm looking at a possible nonfiction book project. We'll see what I can pull off out of that assortment.

4.        You and I met at a science fiction and fantasy Worldcon in 2000, both doing a signing as contributors for a non-erotic fantasy anthology called Such a Pretty Face: Tales of Power and Abundance, and recognizing each other’s name from a shared table of contents in a volume of Best Lesbian Erotica. Both books could be seen as feminist in their own ways. Fourteen years later, do you see any progress or lack thereof in the status of women’s writing? (In, oh, let’s say twenty-five words or fewer? Trick question, of course. Feel free to link to your own blogs, etc.)

Emily: Urgh. A trick question! That's an emphatic yes, no and maybe. I think that women's writing in a whole bunch of different genres hasn't made the advances that many of us hoped it would 15-20 years back. It's still a struggle to get award and review recognition for women-authored books, outside of a female-dominated genre like Romance. In terms of respect for published work, male writers still write "classics" and "canon" while female writers write "fluff."  On the plus side, I think there are more women writing in multiple genres and more women getting published, under their own steam if not by major publishers, so I think that creates more possibilities. What I'd like to see: a lot more diverse female voices seeing their work published and celebrated on a par with similar work by male writers by editors, publishers, readers, reviewers and award committees. And that’s something we can all work toward by voting with our reading and review choices, promoting works we like and supporting other authors.

5.        Tell me about your story "The Further Adventures of Miss Scarlet" in "Forbidden Fruit: Stories of Unwise Lesbian Desire ". I already know that it’s terrific.

Emily: Aw, shucks. Thank you!
Detective Kendra McClain is hot for Miss Scarlet, a jewel thief who models her nom de guerre on the character from "Clue,” after a seemingly chance meeting at a bar.

“The Further Adventures of Miss Scarlet” - Excerpt

Kendra could almost feel someone’s eyes burning a hole in the back of her head. She didn’t even need to turn around to confirm the feeling, thanks to the mirror over the bar. If it had been any other bar, she would have been more surprised. But Riley’s was a cop bar and it attracted a specific clientele, mostly law enforcement and their families and friends. Plus the occasional groupie.

Whatever this woman was, she wasn’t law enforcement, at least not any kind that Kendra had seen before. Or could imagine. She was beautiful: heart-shaped face, arched thin eyebrows over wide dark eyes, bright red kissable lips. Her red dress set off her curves, accentuating her small, full breasts and curved hips, even sitting down. And what was she looking at? A big African American butch with dreads, a broken nose and shoulders like a linebacker’s. For a minute, Kendra wished with everything she had that she was cuter and bit back a sigh.

But that moment passed; she was cute enough to stare at, so that was as cute as she needed to be. At least for now. She could turn her attention to wishing she was less shy around pretty ladies instead. That wish settled down into her crotch with a dull, aching thud of thwarted desire. It had been way too long, and she was uncertain and out of practice.


The next stop on the Forbidden Fruit blog tour is Axa Lee (http://leighwantsfood.blogspot.com/2014/09/guest-author-laila-blake-and-forbidden.html) who is interviewing Laila Blake.

Leave a comment on any post in the Forbidden Fruit blog tour to be entered into a random draw to win one of these great prizes.  Prizes include a paperback copy of Girls Who Score, lesbian sports erotica edited by Ily Goyanes, Best Lesbian Romance 2011 edited by Radclyffe, Wild Girls, Wild Nights: True Lesbian Sex Stories edited by Sacchi Green, an ebook of Ladylit’s first lesbian anthology Anything She Wants, and a bundle of three mini-anthologies from Ladylit: Sweat, A Christmas to Remember and Bossy.  All of these titles contain some stories written by the fabulous contributors to Forbidden Fruit: stories of unwise lesbian desire. You must include an email address in  your comment to be entered into the draw.


Forbidden Fruit: stories of unwise lesbian desire is available direct from the publisher, Ladylit (http://www.ladylit.com/books/forbidden-fruit/) or from Amazon, Smashwords, and other good retailers of ebooks.  Check out http://www.ladylit.com/books/forbidden-fruit/ for all purchasing information.