Fairy Tale Lust reading

Some pictures from my first Fairy Tale Lust reading Friday night at Bean There Cafe in Norfolk, Virginia. It was a lovely evening with champagne, fairy tale cake, chocolate, a signature "Lusty Latte" (dark chocolate, cherry and amaretto), body painting by Jeff Edney Studios and a lively and supportive crowd of friends and strangers.

I read Charlotte Stein's deliciously spooky "The Return" and my own demonic "In the Dark Woods." I was in a dark mood, apparently.

The woodland faerie Pyper and me after the reading




Pyper and Fairy Tale Lust




Taking a reading break to enjoy a Lusty Latte




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My book on a cake! (And beautiful flowers from my best friend Sheri.)

Interview: Carol Hassler

I'm delighted to have published Carol Hassler's first story! "GIngerbread Man" is an eerily delicious tale that shares some similarities with Charlotte Stein's "The Return." There is something about a man who is more than what he seems that is incredibly appealing. Carol's contribution to Fairy Tale Lust demonstrates the power of love... and desire.

What inspired you to retell this particular fairy tale?

A few years ago I had a very vivid dream and when I woke, I scribbled it down in the journal beside my bed.  Many of the elements of Gingerbread Man are still true to that dream: a grieving widow, a spice-choked kitchen and swift, desperate sex.  I knew I had to tell it eventually.  But how?  Dream logic almost never works in a sharable story. 

When I thought about turning my dream into something usable, I turned to the old stories of the gingerbread man.  In the children's story, the gingerbread man runs from each pursuer taunting, "you can't catch me," until he is finally defeated by a wily fox and a frightening river.  The story format was far too short for a fox-like enemy (and I wanted a happy ending), but the destructive threat that water posed caught at me and ultimately became both enemy and savior.

Beyond the gingerbread man (who was created, chased, then met his end in the river), I also nabbed elements from other fairy tales.  The most obvious is Pinocchio, where the character must do something unselfish to become real.  (In my story, husband David braves the rain to save his wife Emily from death by car.)  Anyone who's read any small number of fairy tales will also recognize the kiss as magical instrument, when Emily wakes her husband-sculpture with a kiss.


Are there any other fairy tales you’d like to see retold?  Why?

Twelve dancing princesses.  I have always loved this story about a band of sisters sneaking off and dancing every night in a mysterious subterranean kingdom. There's so much creative room in that tale.
 

If this is your first published story, share your path to publication.

I used to be dreadful about finishing stories.  Like many people, my hard drive and notebooks are littered with story fragments.  But recently I hit a crisis point.  I'd been talking a lot about wanting to write but not actually writing much of anything at all.  Around the time I saw the call for submissions to Fairy Tale Lust, I knew two things.  1) If I was going to seriously write, I had to write and send in a story for this anthology.  NO excuses. Otherwise, I decided, I was just a poser who needed to move on.  And 2) sexiness and gingerbread men were unforgettably intermingled after that dream I had and I knew that Fairy Tale Lust would be a terrific home for my story.


What authors have inspired, influenced or mentored you?

I have recently started reading Emma Holly's fabulous Demon books.  I'm a fan of Meg Cabot's flirty dialogue and Julia Quinn's Very Nice characters.  I love finding unique takes on the common supernatural, like the werewolves in Jacqueline Carey's Santa Olivia.  I even admire (in the astonished round-eyed way) Susanna Clarke's dissertation-like approach to storytelling in Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell.  I'm always on the lookout for inspiration.
 

What is your writing routine like?

I light a candle, fill a glass of wine.  Turn on some music.  And then I'm ready to write.
Just kidding.

I'm busy and, as nice as it sounds, a routine has not yet happened.  Instead, I carry a variety of small to tiny moleskin notebooks everywhere I go and I cuddle up with my computer in the garden or in coffee shops after I have set down a basic story outline.  I write where I can, when I can.  I've learned that a break in a story can come at any time and if I don't write it down, it's lost. The biggest change I made since I set my personal ultimatum about a year ago is that once the story is outlined, I set myself a deadline to write and edit it, and then I send it out somewhere right away.


Do you write to music?  Did you have a song or soundtrack for your Fairy Tale Lust story?

If I do listen to music, it's usually because I need to jump start a writing session.  I begin with the same music I use to run.  My heart pumps and my fingers jump.  More importantly, the adrenaline kills my strong critique reflex.  I rock out until I get absorbed into the story, at which point the sound gets knocked down to nearly inaudible until the next writing lull.  Then up goes the volume ...


Why do you think erotic fairy tales are so popular right now?

I have adored myth and fairy tale for my entire life.  I see fairy tale references everywhere across genres so I'm more inclined to say that there are more erotic fairy tales because there is more erotica in general. 


What do you enjoy reading? Favorite authors? Favorite genres? Recommendations?

I love fantasy, science fiction, romance, pop-science and history books, and just about everything else.  I love authors who paint rich, strange worlds with a dose of humor, like Neil Gaiman.  Or who craft finely tuned, analytical tales, like Rosemary Kirstein.  I adore Laura Kinsale's romances, and any other romance that rolls off the usual track.  This week I finished reading the fascinating pop-science Parasite Rex, by Carl Zimmer.  It was fabulous!

Thanks, Carol!

You can follow Carol's thoughts on her Twitter stream at http://twitter.com/dreamysusan.

Review: 4 Stars from Dirty Sexy Books

Rebecca at Dirty Sexy Books gave Fairy Tale Lust a lovely 4 star review. I'm thrilled!

She singled out a few stories as her favorites:

There are too many stories for me to review them individually, but I will say that they were all decent, with several rising above the rest. My particular favorites were “The Pub Owner’s Daughter” by Alegra Verde, which closely mimicked a traditional fairy tale, “Sleep Tight” by Janine Ashbless, where a blue collar worker finds a sleeping beauty, “In the Dark Woods” by Kristina Wright, with a woman who may or may not be sleeping with a demon, and “The Return” by Charlotte Stein, where an unhappy wife is seduced by a man masquerading as her husband.

Thank you, Rebecca!

I'm delighted at the overwhelmingly positive response Fairy Tale Lust has received pre-publication. July is going to be a very exciting month!

Interview: Charlotte Stein

Charlotte Stein is a talented and prolific writer of erotica and erotic romance. Her story "The Return" is one of the eighteen fabulous fantastical tales in Fairy Tale Lust: Erotic Fantasies for Women. Blending mystery and eroticism in a modern setting, "The Return" leaves the reader pondering what she might do if the man she married returned from a long trip and was not at all like the man she remembered...


Give the basic premise for your story. Is it a contemporary, historical, fantasy setting?

It's a contemporary story, and though it's not really based on a fairytale, it's based on something very fairytale like (for me, anyway)- The Return of Martin Guerre.

[Editor's note: The true story of Martin Guerre is a fascinating tale, indeed.]


What do you think makes your story a fairy tale? How does it fit in the fairy tale genre?

Personally, I just think the idea of someone returning from somewhere, suddenly not the person they were before, is very fairytale-ish. The Return of Martin Guerre is so rich with what I think of as the visuals of fairytales, but it's the story at the heart of it that I find somehow creepy and romantic and magical and twisted all at the same time. That, to me, is the essence of a fairytale.


How long have you been writing erotica?

Seventeen years. Two of them actually trying for and getting published. Yeah- I know. I was a scaredy-cat.


What is your favorite story you’ve written so far? Why?

Tigerlily. It's technically a novella that should be out through Total-E-Bound in July, and it's my favourite because it's about that fairytale world I love so much, and because it made me sob at the end. I have others that made me cry writing them, that pushed me to carry on, that meant a lot to me, but Tigerlily means more because it's about all the things I loved as a child- Labyrinth, Return To Oz...all of that nonsense.


What advice would you give to aspiring erotica/erotic romance authors?

Love it. Don't try writing erotica/erotic romance unless you love it. And no matter what, don't give up. You are always, always two minutes away from someone somewhere saying yes.


What is your writing routine like?

Like the routine of a mental case. I work in the afternoons and evenings, come home, start writing around midnight. Then I write until sometimes as much as 11am, before sleeping until 4-5pm.

Some days, I don't see the sun. I stumble out into it, like a mole.


Are you a full-time writer? What is your “day job?”

I lecture in creative writing at a local college.


Do you write to music? Did you have a song or soundtrack for your Fairy Tale Lust story?

Over At The Frankenstein Place, and the soundtrack to Starman. The usual things.


Why do you think erotic fairy tales are so popular right now?

I think it's in part because all those little girls like me who loved Labyrinth and Princess Bride and Company of Wolves and all of those great eighties fantasy films are now grown up and wanting more!


What do you enjoy reading? Favorite authors? Favorite genres? Recommendations?

I love anything fantasy, sci-fi, horror. Any mix of those and erotic romance/erotica and I'm all over it. But in particular I love Emma Holly, Stephen King, Christopher Pike, Madison Hayes, Margaret Atwood, Megan Hart...



What’s next for you? Upcoming publications and current projects?

There's Tigerlily, a sci-fi/futuristic thing, and a Menage novella with Total-E-Bound. Another sci-fi space thing with Ellora's Cave. And my novel, Control, with Xcite.

Am exhausted, but so thrilled at the idea that I'm actually going to be published more.