Dumpster Diving

Don't worry, I didn't dive into an actual dumpster. These babies were fished out of the pile. If I haven't mentioned the pile before, it's just that. A pile of discarded books and magazines that are no longer fit for readers. Their spines are broken, pages are missing or falling out. 

Books acquired were:

• Anathem by Neal Stephenson
• The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson
• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
• Devil May Care by Sebastian Faulks writing as Ian Fleming
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules by Jeff Kinney
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw by Jeff Kinney
• The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam translated by Edward Fitzgerald (not photographed)

Along with these used freebies, I also received the latest by Rachel Kramer Bussel, Going Down. I purchased her 2008 anthology, Rubber Sex on eBay which arrived in the mail after work (or during work, as it was waiting for me at the house after work).

Funny story, when my coworkers convinced me to read Fifty Shades of Grey (which I don't recommend, as I found it completely unreadable), I bragged about how I'm not embarrassed by what I read. Today, after receiving Rubber Sex, my first thought was to create book covers for it and Going Down. Why the sudden shame? Well, first off, it's not shame. 

As you may or may not have known already, I live with my in-laws now. Not that my in-laws are prudes, but I recall one discussion where my sister-in-law stated something about not allowing her husband to watch movies with nudity. Because, apparently, seeing another woman naked is sorta, kinda like cheating. I might have elaborated a bit, but that's how I felt. I can only imagine the stink they'd create when they see me reading something called Going Down.

Oh well, I think I'm done. Wait. Lemme show you Rachel Kramer Bussel's signature. Again, maybe.

Until next time, keep on huntin'.

(Note: I apologize for the crappiness of these posts of late. Being a father is a tough job. Being a husband is even tougher. Finding time to write or a place to write where I'm left alone is down right impossible.)

Erotic Romance for Couples

As I've mentioned before, I started following writer/editor/cupcake blogger Rachel Kramer Bussel on Twitter and Tumblr. Friday, I received my third book from her. Oh happy day!

A little about the book:

Irresistible features loving couples who turn their deepest fantasies into reality - resulting in uninhibited, imaginative sex they can only enjoy together. Engage in a little sexting in A.M. Hartnett's sizzling "Safe for Work" office tryst, and follow kinky candidate for public office - and his lusty wife - in Alyssa Turner's intriguing "Hypocrites." Cole Riley's moving "Save As It Ever Was" shows that make up sex can be worth fighting for. As editor Rachel Kramer Bussel notes, the lovers in this daringly romantic anthology are "able to open up in the way they do precisely because they have another person to rely on i...We get to see how the layers of trust that have been built up get used to stoke the fire that burns between them."

Bussel states that with this anthology she "wanted to explore what happens after" "two people discover there's intense chemistry between them." 

I'm cracking open this baby the moment I hit publish. Which is now. So yeah. Until next time, keep on huntin'.

Irresistible is available for pre-order on Amazon. It hits shelves on Valentine's Day.

Best Sex Writing 2012 edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel

It's simple math, isn't it? Start off with Rachel Kramer Bussel, add in Susie Bright, mix in the sex and you have yourself Best Sex Writing 2012. 

Susie Bright selected the best of the best of the year passed, and her ability to read and choose has not waned since her departure from - and the untimely death of - The Best American Erotica. And Rachel Kramer Bussel is equally awesome. 

The collection contains articles, essays, and pieces by Thomas Roche, Amber Dawn, Joan Price, Marty Klein, Susie Bright, and Rachel Kramer Bussel. The wind range of topics extends (no pun intended) the idiocy behind banning circumcision to rape culture to growing up queer in the Meatpacking District. 

In Marty Klein's piece, "Criminalizing Circumcision: Self-Hatred as Public Policy," follows San Francisco's insane idea to outlaw circumcision in infants. It's the first - can I call it pro-circumcision? - positive circumcision piece I've read. It addresses the myths that anti-circumcision "activists" tout, and explains that any "physical" lacking a circumcised man feels is strictly psychological.

In "Losing the Meatpacking District: A Queer History of Leather Culture," Abby Tallmer reminiscences about growing up in the Meatpacking District in the midst of the queer and leather nightclubs, reminding us to never take our presents for granted because they can simply be erased. 

Both Susie Bright and Thomas Roche pieces attack the laughable "news reporting" of major newspapers that fail at fact checking and op-eds how the media fails our sexual society by filling people's minds with the Christian Right-wing agenda.

Greta Christiana, on the other hand, reports how a secular lifestyle might improve your sex life over a religious one. In "Atheists Do It Better: Why Leaving Religion Leads to Better Sex," we learn that secular households tend to do it, well, better. Not only in the bedroom, but with raising children, as well. (You'll have to read the piece.)

"Grief, Resilience, and My 66th Birthday Gift" teaches us the sex life of an older woman and author, Joan Price. From finding someone to spend her life with, to the dynamic of her sex life to the grief she felt when he passed to regaining her sexual self afterward. The piece is possibly the best in the collection - in my humble opinion, anyway. 

All in all, Best Sex Writing 2012 is worth the read and a place on your shelf or e-reader.

Purchase at [[Amazon]] [[Kindle]] [[B&N]] [[Nook]] [[Kobo]]

Obligatory First Post of 2012

I have been slacking off, I apologize. Work has me, well, working. And working has made me grow tired. And growing tired fills me with ennui. Filled with ennui, I have dropped all my writing/blogging projects - including my personal blog and my Letters to Shaun blog. However, working at the library hasn't hindered my book hunting habits. If anything, working there is exacerbating it. Worse, because now I'm on a budget - a tighter budget than I was before I became a book hunter, I should add. Jyg and me and baby makes three. Babies, I am told, are expensive and writing "ad" blogs and working part time isn't going to cut it unless I execute Project: No Spend. 

Lucky for me, I started to follow Rachel Kramer Bussel whose book, Best Sex Writing 2012, is currently being read for review. If you'd also note, I reviewed Bussel's Best Bondage Erotica 2012 last month. I love sex, what can I say? It's an interesting topic. Best part of it all, these books were free of charge. All I have to do is write an Amazon review. Presto. Life is still grand.

However, you'll also note that the picture above features a copy of The Living Shakespeare. I bought that lovely piece of work for only $2. Even sweeter. Still, I have to tie up my wallet. 

Along side Best Sex Writing 2012, I'm still working through Breathers by S. G. Browne. It's not a tough read, it's the aforementioned ennui that has me dragging. The only reason I muster up the energy to read Bussel's book is the review (well, the fact that it deals with sex doesn't hurt it, either).

This year, however, I do plan to read my 50 books as per the GoodReads Challenge. Because I started working at the children's department at the local library, I've opted to make this the year of the YA book. Not that I'm going to solely read YA novels, but there will be a stress on them. Hopefully, however, this won't turn out like last year's "year of the religion" theme. Heh. Am I right?

Oh well, until next time, keep on huntin'.

 Now that X-mas has come and gone, it's time to look forward to Valentine's Day.

Best Bondage Erotica 2012

[Amazon] [Kindle] [B&N] [Nook]

Rachel Kramer Bussel - editor of books like Please, Sir and the upcoming, Best Sex Writing 2012 - returns with a collection of dark delights for those of us who take a walk on the wild side and those who want to venture there. Best Bondage Erotica 2012 is not for the faint of heart or the sensitive, but for those who want to add a little more spice into their lives. The stories presented here are easily adapted to real life scenarios, so don't just think of it as a collection of well written erotica by some of the best writers of the genre; instead, think of it as an instruction manual - Intro to Bondage. 

In Teresa Noelle Roberts's "Suffer for Me," we learn that bondage isn't just rope and leather. That our restraints can be mental as well as physical. We also learn that being climatically controlled can cause the same yearning arousal that handcuffs and servitude bring. And best of all, it also teaches us to remember that tingling sensation of concentrated lust time and again.

In "Melting Ice," Shoshanna Evers informs us that a bondage fantasy doesn't have to have two people. A pair of handcuffs and an ice cube is all Amanda Scott needs to get rocks off. 

Kay Jaybee pushes us further from just experimenting with the kinkier side of sex in "The Cupboard Under the Stairs," when a dominate invites someone else into their sex chamber. 

And Elizabeth Silver brings in the gothier side of BDSM in "Laced," as a bartender sees a friend in a light he's never seen him before.

Each story is carefully crafted to yank on our lusts (no pun intended - or perhaps it is) and I can imagine Bussel having a hard time to select which to use. Collected here, however, are the best bondage erotica that the year has to offer. I'm on the edge to see what's in store for next year.

Until next time, keep on huntin'.

Reviewer's Copy & Other Updates

I received my "reviewers copy" of Best Bondage Erotica 2012 (edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel) in the mail today. Bussel is known for her erotica anthology such as Yes, Sir, Please, Ma'am and Women in Lust. The collection is released 13 December 2011 - pre-order yours now at Amazon or B&N. 

With less than two months left in the year, I started contemplating the changes that need to be made in the blog. The most obvious change is the placement of the book covers in reviews. They switch yearly. In 2012, they will appear on the right hand side of your screen.

Then there's the idea of using one of those dynamic - is that the right term? - layouts that Blogger is now providing its users. Which means that all posts will feature banner ads at the end - something I attempt with every post, with the exception of advertisements.

I want to keep up with the giveaways, even though this first one is quite the lackluster - I might have to break my 30 note/comment rule because of this. I apologize. I've never held a giveaway before, so I don't know how to go about it. Even though I've been running this blog for nearly a handful of years, it's not "distinguished." I've only have the one follower with the various people who find me via Google searches - usually for the film Wristcutters or the short story that inspired it, "Kneller's Happy Campers." If there were only some way to giveaway new releases of either mainstream literature or indie books - any writers out there or fellow bloggers wanna clue me in how to go about that?

The most important update will happen off blog. As most of you don't know - because you probably skip around the more "personal" entries dealing with books - my first child will be born in April. I'm pretty sure fatherhood will put a damper - though not a negative one - in my reading and updating. Fatherhood also means me getting my crap together and finding a long term job rather than this freelancing one - I need stability and security - so work will also set boundaries on how often I post. There's also the matter of my returning to school - hopefully by the summer - which will strictly be online courses from either Texas Woman's University or University of North Texas, hopefully. 

Oh well, here's to the future fellow book lovers. Until next time, keep on huntin'.

I Got Books in the Mail

As none of you know this - because I'm not very vocal about my personal life on this blog - my birthday was nearly a month ago. A few weeks ago, my friend Moises decided it was time that he gave me a gift - why did he wait until the end of March/beginning of April to buy me a gift, I don't know why. Because I showed interested in Cthulhurotica, he opted to buy me that. He asked for my advice, which I never like doing. So after he joked about getting me gay zombie porn, he purchased Lovecraftian erotic collection, as well as, Immanuel's Veins, which I've also shown interest in. 

This morning, I found the packaged in my mail box and I soared. I love getting books, especially if those books are a gift from a friend. Along with these books, I received two birthday cards from him plus two envelopes of seeds - sunflowers and marigolds - from the Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company as an Earth Day Gift. I don't smoke, but I do love the freebies that company gives away.

I'll get to reading them after I finish the load of books I'm currently reading - compiled of Doc, Please, Sir and Hungry for Your Love. I've also been working hard on my own writing, which - as I've said several times already - has put a damper on my reading and book hunting. 

I promise to keep up the blog for the handful of you who skim these pages. With either book reports or book news. Until next time, keep on huntin'.

The Naughty Book Hunt

As I promised earlier this summer, I purchased Please, Sir and Please, Ma'am - both edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel. Because I'm a fan of saving money on shipping, I threw in a copy of John Cleland's Fanny Hill: Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure. I know what most of you will say, "That's not saving money," but I'd rather spend money one an extra book than on shipping - something I can't even read. 

I've been on the hunt for a cheap copy of Fanny Hill but even used copies seemed a bit expensive. However, when the checkout told me I needed to add $4.66 to my shopping cart in order to save on shipping. I wasn't particularly looking for a copy of the book also known as Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure but there it was, glittering on my screen with the low price of $4.99. Bingo. Add it on and there we go.