American Swing

For the last few months I've been so busy I'm dangerously close to burning out, but somehow I still make time for something fun. This past weekend, with my husband and our friends, I watched the documentary "American Swing." It chronicles the rise and fall of the famous New York swing club Plato's Retreat.

New York is known for its famous clubs. Studio 54 and CBGB's are two of them. The third is Plato's Retreat, opened in 1977. In the late 1970's and early 80's disco music and cocaine were everywhere. Sex in a club out in the open - not so much, unless you frequented gay male clubs. Larry Levenson, the owner of the orginal Plato's Retreat, wanted to change that. He desired to create a place for heterosexual couples to have sex with each other. And lots of lesbian sex was encouraged also - the same way most American swing clubs operate today.

Is that right or wrong? Gay male sex in American swing clubs seen as taboo? I don't know, that's not really the focus of my entry.

What is the focus of my entry is that Larry Levenson was one of my heroes. In the documentary, I watched him being grilled by Phil Donahue. (If you're as old as I am you remember that Donahue was king way before Oprah was queen.)

If swingers are still considered "sickos" today, you can only imagine what it must have been like in the late 70's and early 80's. It doesn't take courage for me to put together a swinging erotica anthology today. It really doesn't. It's because of people like Larry Levenson who showed true bravery that I'm able to do this at all. It's because of great swingers clubs like Plato's Retreat where ordinary people, and plenty of celebrities, could enter those walls and have honest sex (sex without cheating) that swingers clubs of today are able to thrive.

Sex is as natural as breathing. Attempts to prevent people from having sex, or to force people to have sex only in monogamous situations, have proven to be pointless. In the documentary, we hear from not only Levenson and his girlfriend Mary, but Betty Dodson, Annie Sprinkle, Helen Gurley Brown and others who have always exhibited a positive attitude regarding sex.

Where would people like me be without the actions of those before me? The AIDS epidemic overtook the United States, beginning in the early 80's, forcing the city of New York to order Plato's Retreat to close as they had done with gay bath houses. However, the legacy of Plato's Retreat will forever live on in the history of sex in the United States.

~

Bill Brent says, "Swing! is a fun and frisky flip through the pages of planned non-monogamy."

Order your copy NOW! $7.99 gets you 6 formats (PDF, Mobipocket (PDA), Microsoft Reader, HTML, Word, Text)

http://www.logical-lust.com/swing.html

If you would have told me....

If you would have told me, as little as two years ago, that I would be working with a small publisher that few had heard of, I would have said you’re mistaken.

Ten years ago, when I got involved in erotica, I was all about print books. I had read erotica, but I never had any interest in writing it. That was before I read Viscera, edited by Cara Bruce. From an interview I did back in 2006:

I love art and I attend a lot of art openings in my city. One evening I was at an erotic art show and there was a woman selling copies of Viscera, edited by Cara Bruce. I bought a copy, took it home, read every story in the anthology, loved them and realized that writing erotica is what I should be doing. I also credit my husband with encouraging me to write erotica because he knew I was suited for it.

(I often wonder whatever happened to Cara Bruce, and I want her to know that her anthology changed my life.)

My goal was to get a story published in a print anthology, and I accomplished that goal with “She” published in Hot & Bothered 4. I continued to submit to print anthologies, and then I had a goal to become an anthology editor.

I wanted to edit a women of color lesbian erotica anthology, so I sent my proposal to Alyson Books. Two weeks later they responded and wanted a title. I didn’t have one, but 24 hours later I did. So became Iridescence. I had my anthology; I had my advance; I had my book tour (that I paid for); I had my book signings. Life was good – for a while, until I tried to get another anthology proposal accepted.

That was my boi antho. Alyson Books didn’t want it. Cleis Press didn't want it. Arsenal Pulp Press didn’t want it. So I quit. I couldn’t get a print publisher to accept my proposal. So I quit. I shouldn’t have, but I did.

Then one day I was emailing Jim Brown, the editor of Logical-Lust. I asked him if he would be interested in my swinging erotica proposal. That day, one or two emails later, he responded with a yes! It marked the beginning of what has been a wonderful experience for me.

Some publishers have final approval over every story that an editor accepts. I don’t have to deal with that at Logical-Lust. Jim and Zetta (Jim’s wife) share the same taste in erotica that I do and they respect and trust my decisions.

Some publishers do little to nothing for an editor when it comes to promotion. Again, I don’t have to deal with that. Logical-Lust is one of the best publishers I know of when it comes to promotion. They expect the bulk of promotion to be done by the author, as it should be, but it's nice to know that they do what they can to help.

(I want to thank Zetta for convincing me to give Swing its own domain. Swing got its own domain in February. The total hits, just for the month of February, were a little over 1,000. Now it's April, and the hits just for the month of April are currently at over 11,000.)

Some publishers take months and months to respond to a proposal. Again, I don’t have to deal with that. The line of communication I have with Jim and Zetta is open. They’re more than just my publishers, they're also my friends.

I can proudly say that the ebook Swing is just as good as any of the modern erotic print anthologies out there. Swing will probably come out in print in the future – but if you’re a true lover of good erotica – what’s the difference?

~

I'm very proud to be with Logical-Lust - a small publisher that is becoming more and more known.

Swing will be published on April 24 as an ebook by Logical-Lust! Go HERE for the direct link to buy the book!

In addition, on April 24, Logical-Lust gets a brand new look!

Finally, there will be a launch party for Swing at the Logical-Lust Yahoo group on April 24. Chat with Swing authors and win some prizes!

Friday, April 24 will be an exciting day!

While you’re here – check out the Swing Book Trailer – featuring the sexy Tara Tainton. Guys (and gals) you'll love it!
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Dear Amazon

I'm just an erotica author, and you're a big Fortune 500 company, but I'm writing this anyway.

There are three reasons I'm mad at you.

First, it's almost 4:00 in the morning, and instead of sleeping, I'm thinking about you.

Second, you forced me to start another personal blog. You see I cancelled my first personal blog because it had turned into nothing more than a way to vent about Palin and McCain. Then, once they were out of the picture, I didn't need to vent anymore. Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly aren't running for president and vice president yet.

However, here I am again, venting. Which brings me to the third reason I'm mad at you, and that's because of your latest stunt to remove the rankings of books you believed to have adult content. This spilled over to removing the rankings of GLBT books, too.

I was warned by the head of a book club that you're run by conservatives. But then I also read that a conservative said that you're "run by a bunch of effete latte-sucking liberals in Seattle."

Was it a conspiracy? Did some conservatives sneak into the system to fuck everything up and then see if it would stick? If it wasn't a conspiracy, were you really stupid enough to put the kabosh on an Annie Proulx book? You make good money from her - don't you?

It's not like you've been nice in the past. I remember that POD thing - you're telling POD publishers that you would turn their buttons off if you were not the ones printing their books. Furthermore, what about those Amazon shorts? Forty-nine cents for 2,000 to 10,000 words? Please.

Censorship is bad, and I was supposed to jump on the bandwagon with all the other authors, scream about how you're such a bad, horrible company, holler about what you're doing to the gay and lesbian community.

And the whole time I'm thinking about the small bookstores, fighting to stay alive, begging people to buy from them, while we authors check our stats over at Amazon on a daily basis and beg other authors to write Amazon reviews. You have become the place to be seen, not some little, independent bookstore.

Therefore, when our rankings are messed with - we get mad. Do we care about this terrible injustice to the gay and lesbian community, or do we care more that there was the danger of people not being able to find our books? Now that the "glitch" is getting fixed - is it back to business as usual? Some of the authors have said they'll never have anything to do with you again.

Oh, really?

So anyway, Amazon, this latest stunt of yours has cost you a bunch of money. I doubt that this type of "glitch" is going to happen again.

As for me? Don't worry. I'll continue to have a dysfunctional relationship with you - buy from independent bookstores, but at the same time check my ratings on Amazon and post author reviews.

You've brought me money. You've brought me exposure. You're my sugar daddy and I'm one of your many whores.

And when it's all said and done, small presses, I'm afraid, one day, you will indeed lose the fight for good. Because, after all, video killed the radio star.

~

Jolie