Cover Reveal - Down & Dusty: Lucky

Today I can let you into my other secret. There's another Escape Secret Confessions series with hot, hot stories! This time, instead of rich Sydney housewives, or Rock Stars, we're sharing stories from the outback.

Presenting: Secret Confessions Down & Dusty - Lucky

They say that no one has secrets in a small town – these women prove them wrong.

Eight brand-new stories from some of Australia's hottest writers in Australia's hottest genre. From the bar stools of the local pub to the wide open plains of the biggest stations in the world, these tales travel the dusty roads to the heart of Australia and the women who understand how to work hard – and play even harder.

In the latest in the wildly successful Secret Confessions series from Escape Publishing, the women of Down & Dusty invite you into their lives – and their bedrooms.

As the single female owner  of Milpinyani Spring’s only pub, Lucky has learned that her behaviour has to be above reproach. She works hard at home, and when she needs to play hard, she does so – far away from the prying eyes of her neighbours and friends. So when the hot new cop swaggers up to bar, she knows the rules: look, don’t touch. But Dare doesn’t know how to play her game, and he’s about to show her that the only rules that count are the ones that you break. 

I loved writing this story because it merged my two selves - rural and erotic. Although, there's not a huge rural flavour, I hope there's a hint of the bush, the isolation of a small town, and the secrets that happen even when it's dusty!

I really love the clouds, the light and the tree in this cover - and the bloke's a bit of all right too ;)

If you want to know more about this series, or find out the other books in the series (there are 7 more), you can go to the Escape webpage for more series information.

Phallic Friday - What would you like me to do?

This article on the news.com.au website got to me this week. It's an article all about the question women find too difficult to answer - What would you like me to do? (sexually, to you)

It horrifies me that women cannot answer that question. What does it say about society's attitudes towards women and sex? It shows that women are uninformed about the choices available to them. It shows that not only do they not know the choices, but they've never discussed the choices with others (men or women). Or at least the writer of the article hasn't - although I don't think she's alone with her views.

I led a rather sheltered life. I was brought up in a conservative household, with parents who held strong religious beliefs. But I was lucky in that we were raised to be independent, to think for ourselves, and to analyse what we were taught/told.

In high school, I did sewing (because Mum was awesome at all sorts of craft, including sewing) and it was one of the best subjects I did - not because I learned to sew, but I was in a group where we could sit around and chat while we worked. The girls in my class were so much more worldly than me, and I absorbed everything they said. We were together between the ages of 13 and 16, and some of the girls in this group were sexually active in this time and, man, were my eyes opened. I learned things in that class that I'd never have heard elsewhere. I don't know if I ever spoke, but I soaked it all in like a sponge, then it filtered through my brain and was stored for later use.

In my 20s I met a guy who was so incredible interested in all aspects of sex, it kind of blew my mind. We started by discussing agriculture (I was doing study on soils; his was on sheep sperm) and ended up discussing every topic you could possibly imagine and more. We were scientists, so we discussed clinically at first, before a trust developed and we could speak more personally. He was very much into sexual equality. And was quite horrified, and unbelieving, about how sheltered many women's sexual lives were. He was always saying things like, "But don't you talk to your girlfriends about this stuff?" That made me realise how little women talked about sex (except in sewing class!).

I began to talk about sex more after that. Slowly. It's not something you can just bowl right in and start yarning about! But slowly my friends and I began to talk about sex. We discussed the merits of different acts, and how different people changed your reactions. Usually we were drunk when we had these D & Ms!

I think these events (and many others) led me to writing erotic stories. As women, we need to be aware of sex, we need to know what we like and what we don't. We need to know our limits. We need to know where we might like to explore. We need to be able to have discussions with friends, maybe even sober, and we need to know what we'd like a man to do to please us.

With books, you can read as many and varied sex scenes as you like. Let your imagination go wild while you read. What turns you on? What scares you? What makes you curl your lip and/or nose up? What makes you want to try it? What makes you want to steer well away?

Read and explore with words. They're powerful. Open your mind to that.

Then start to know your body.

Maybe even explore.

And when the next guy asks you want you'd like... come up with a list and work your way through it!

And maybe think about keeping that guy - the ones who care what you want aren't so easy to find! :)

Tonight She's Yours

Back in August, I wrote a post about cuckolding (here). I'd been doing a lot of research on it because I'd seen Rose Caraway send out a request for submissions to this anthology she was planning. It intrigued me. She'd earlier had a submission process for her Sexy Librarian book but I hadn't got a story written in time. I was determined to make it for this one. The trouble was that I was caught in the historical sense of cuckolding and I needed to update the terms!

A few years ago I was in a Rachel Kramer Bussel anthology - Gotta Have It: 69 Stories of Sudden Sex - and Rose Caraway was responsible for bringing this anthology to the ears of readers. She produces audio books. I downloaded it at audible and her voice brought Pain Surfer to life. I thought I'd written a blog post about that but I can't find it if I did. I'm an Aussie and Rose is American, so immediately the accent threw me but once I got over that, she was good. Sexy. Sultry. She sold the story with her intonation, pauses, and melodious tone.

Over the last few years, Rachel has said how well her anthologies have sold as audiobooks because of the narration by Rose. It's that kind of 'publicity' that's priceless. As an Aussie introvert, promo is difficult. Promo into the USA is almost impossible. To be included in an anthology like this is amazing and gives me hope that I might reach a new audience.

More than that, though, being accepted for publication is a thrill. It's someone choosing your words, your character, your story. It's validation. It means you've connected with someone. Connecting with readers is what we all aim to do. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

I'm so thrilled that this story connected with Rose. I can't wait to hear my story read in her sexy voice :) (It will be an ebook also - but the novelty of audio excites me still!)

Wildlife Wednesday - St Andrew's Cross Spider

Spider's webs intrigue me, but none more than this one. I mean check out that zig-zagging...it's better than a sewing machine!

You can find out about them at the Australian Museum's website here.

They're named after the patterns they make in their web. The yellow and red on the abdomen indicate that this is a female - the males and smaller and brown and cream.

Oh, you mightn't see these in WA, Lily, as it says they're only in NSW, Qld and Vic.

Mating occurs from summer to autumn. The male sits in the corner of the web and attracts the female by vibrating a mating thread it's previously attached to the web. If the female is unreceptive, she may attack him. If not, mating occurs and the egg sac is placed into these threads often among leaves.

I have lots of spiders in my yard and I really enjoy them. Mr E on the other hand is quite terrified of spiders and does this incredible panic-dance when he touches a web. I really do try not to laugh, but I usually fail!