Bookslut
Zulkey.com
The
Blushing Ladies Journal
Lust
Bites
Bimagazine.org
Cleispress.com
Sexerati
Phillyist
Susie
Bright's blog
The
Apiary
Radio Blowfish
Variety Show
Susie Bright interviewed me about Best American Erotica 2006 and femme/femme lust.
Mark Pritchard interviewed me for his What Are You Working On? series.
"Brainy beauties like Rachel Kramer Bussel don’t come along every day, especially ones who have their own Village Voice column, a fabulous and constantly updated blog, dozens of short erotic stories in a variety of delightfully dirty books (not to mention an editorship of a book dedicated to erotic spanking), and a cupcake fetish. It’s amazing she found the time to strip down and show off that fabulously natural and curvy bod of hers, but let’s just say, I’m really glad she did."
"As any parent can testify, talking to teens about sex is no easy task, especially in today's world of abstinence-only education. In this piece Ellen Friedrichs, a health educator, lays out a strong and familiar argument for informing kids rather than decreeing unrealistic mandates (i.e., waiting until heterosexual marriage to have sex). Her positions, and the helpful teen-oriented web sites linked to throughout the piece, provide a handy reference tool for parents and teens (and teachers) gearing up for that birds-and-bees talk."
"Naughty Spanking Stories from A to Z has a great collection of steamy stories to inspire your imagination while you wait for room service."
"With an inimitable mastery of her craft, Rachel Kramer Bussel ("The End") reveals a bittersweet tale of passion passing to regret."
"The calibre of the stories herein and the overall tone of the anthology, playfully x-rated rather than pornographically sadistic, is definitely an enticer to experience the ever popular past-time of spanking. If you're an admirer of blushing behinds ablaze with the patterns of handprints, than no better place to start than with this raunchy, literary, and imaginatively diverse anthology on spanking...
"I would add that all the stories in this anthology, although all centred around the same concept, are uniquely set apart from one another, highly charged, and leave you both satiated and wanting more. Read this book. Feel the sparks fly."
Featured as one of "10 Under 30," GO NYC, June 2004 issue
"The book contains 28 stories, 26 stories from A to Z plus 2 bonustories. Out of 28 stories, I couldn't read all the way through 3 of them, that's not bad at all! I've read other Best of Erotica books and compilations like that where I couldn't read a lot of the stories because the subject matter covered so much that it started to embark on territory I wasn't interested in or comfortable with. So in comparison, this book was great and totally lives up to the hype! It was also a quick read and an easy read. Most stories were about 10 pages, give or take a page or two and I believe most stories were under that.
"I commend Rachel for her wonderful job of editing. I wasn't sure if every story was going to just have spanking or if the book would contain all kinds of SM play and that concerned me. I'm not into the real hardcore stuff, so if it was, I was going to have a difficult time reviewing it. Thankfully, it was not. She said it was a spanking book and she damn well stuck to stories highlighting that.
"Even though this book was total fiction, it still gave my mind some naughty ideas to incorporate into my own sex life. It also really got me in the mindset of getting back into SM play. My boyfriend and I always had a great time spanking and tying each other up, but we haven't done it in years. Thanks to this book, I'm feeling extremely inspired!"
"If you enjoy erotic bestsellers, 'Up All Night' is worth double the price. It's not just the sex - it's the characters, it's the stories, it's the book!
"If you're like me, you're always on the outlook for ideas to make your sex life more creative and enjoyable. You can't read this book without getting ideas. What you do with them is between you and yours.
No one who's read it has a bad word to say concerning it. It's imaginative, it's sizzling, it touches that sexual nerve that runs through all of us. It doesn't just touch it, it strikes a compelling note on it! Each story is special in its own right. When you complete one, you'll find yourself moving right into the next. Feel the excitement from front cover to back."
"Rachel Kramer Bussel's 'Touch' is a heartfelt journey, describing the ecstatic wonder that can be found in a lover stripped bare, and how that profound beauty amazes her awestruck partner."
"The play party Rachel Kramer Bussel takes us into in "Never Say Never" is vivid queer-girl territory, a place where sex dramas get made into myths."
"Chances are, if you read erotica at all, she's had a hand in it. She is Rachel Kramer Bussel, and is a major voice in women's erotica. Besides running a couple of great web sites, she writes for various major publications, including Village Voice, and is editor for a number of erotica volumes as well as a major national publication. She is smart, funny, busy, and wonderfully verbose. Recently, I got the chance to talk to her about her latest book, amongst other things..."
"An incredible array of erotica from some of our favorite, most titillating writers, as well as some up and coming talent. The thirty stories, true-life experiences and pure fantasy, are guaranteed to get you and yours revved up and ready. Some faves are: 'You Swallowed My Hand, I Followed You Home,' 'Insert Three Fingers Here' and 'Family Gathering,' about children who won't go to sleep and stay out of the way of mama's first lesbian affair... whew! Some of these stories will remind you of your own memories; others will give you some new ideas. A must gift for a new lover, or an old lover you'd like to teach some new tricks. Just open up to any story and start reading aloud, with feeling-be it verbal or tactile.
"The editors' co-introduction says that their new collection "captures some of the high points of modern dyke sex." To be quite sincere and honest, I'm not sure what might have been left out. No matter what your particular sexual, sensual, emotional tweak might be, if you can't find some identification in Up All Night, you may need to re-examine your erotic paradigm, baby. Does uncertainty and the freight-train rush of spontaneity make you moist and humid? Does the grab-your-mouth-and-kiss-hard hunger of a hottie kick your temperature up past the boiling-point? Do you love the love that loves to love your love? Then this book's for you and you alone. And you. And you."
"From kinky to strictly vanilla, this collection of true lesbian sex tales will appeal to a wide range of tastes. Unlike many anthologies whose sexiest tales depict random encounters, Up All Night may inspire long-term couples to try something new with accounts such as 'Ungentlemanly Behavior,'where a butch-femme couple switch roles after years of a set role-play. Whether you're looking for love or a quick fuck, you'll find it in stories like 'The Sex Test' in which a 'straight' woman reveals her longtime crush on her best female friend, or in 'Kim,' where a hot alleyway encounter leaves the author wanting and wondering what she just lost. While not all of the stories are meant to make you come, they will make you think and give you insight into aspects of dyke culture you might not otherwise be privy to."
"First up is the excellent Up All Night. Ms. Bussel and Ms. Bias have done a grand job in their selections, which include internet dating and more strap-ons than you'll find on the shelves of Sh! Don't be deceived by the Cosmopolitan-style cover: this isn't a kissing-by-numbers vanilla-fest for the uninitiated. There are more daddies and daddy-bois between these sheets than I've ever seen facing off in one room, but enough high femmes, too, for lovers of high heels.
"Talking of strap-ons, in 'Electric Shocks/Lesbian Cocks,' Tristan Taormino describes her involvement in the TV programme Real Sex. The episode was shown in the UK while I was reading the book, and if you caught it, you'll relive every juicy moment here. As she suspected, neither Middle America nor Middle Britain is ready for the sight of a gorgeous cowdyke sporting a 'Sapphic sausage' - the images were pixelated.
"Unlike a lot of 'real-life experience' tomes, many of these stories do have the ring of truth about them. Particularly poignant is Jean Roberta's uncomfortable stare at single-mother dykedom, 'Family Gathering,' and I really want an invite to the next party Diana Cage goes to - 'The Sailor' is a must for you lovers of uniforms and voyeurism."
"It's nice to see lesbians simply celebrating true tales of tawdry sex."
"East coast editor Rachel Kramer Bussel and Pacific Northwest editor Stacy M. Bias have worked cross-continent to bring together 29 tales of lesbian sex encounters. Familiar voices including Alison Tyler, Rosalind Christine Lloyd, and Tristan Taormino tell their stories alongside an appealing assortment of newbies.
Girl/girl stories certainly aren't limited to pie-eyed romances featuring heroines in denim and work boots, although you'll certainly find femme/butch archetypes here. Along with them you'll find the exploration of diversity within this diverse demographic. Bias rhapsodizes about a dream of passionate love making, Taormino recounts the joys of strutting strap-on for HBO, Kramer Bussel writes of a virginal fisting experience, and, if the editors are to be believed, each writer tells a true tale of lust that kept them up all night."
If there's one thing we here at Femme Fatales have tirelessly promoted over the past year, it's reading. Well, reading and lesbians - not necessarily in that order. But if there's a chance to kill two birds with one stone and increase our cognitive skills by reading about lesbians, wouldn't that be great? This conveniently portable short story collection fills that bill, with 29 stories in which real, live women recount their adventures in lesbianism. Their hot-blooded encounters take place at the office, on a train, in alleys, sophisticated New York parties and in one shocking case, a pumpkin-carving get-together. That last one fits in conveniently with our pumpkin fetish.
"Experience the heat of first lust and lost controls in this steamy anthology of lesbian sex stories. Tristan Taormino relates an electrifying night in a New York club with a flaming dildo and a TENS Unit; Julie Russo spins a tale of two good-girl wage earners and the office activities after hours. Notable authors include Amie M. Evans, Bree Coven, and L. Elise Bland."
"Rachel Kramer Bussel's 'Two Guys, A Girl, and a Porno Movie' is a story that realistically captures the keen desire for bisexual experiences that don't always come to fruition as one might prefer."
"Then we had the first 'lipstick wearer' up, the adorable Rachel Kramer Bussel, Editorial Assistant at On Our Backs magazine. She read from a very cute and sexy romp entitled 'Bachelor Party,' about a stripper who catches a drag king at the party checking her out. The stripper gives it to her good!"
"Best Lesbian Erotica 2001 - New positions, situations and characters. Check out the story about Monica Lewinsky."
"These days there's plenty of S/M in anthologies of lesbian erotica. Everyone's thinking about it, apparently, even if not all of us are doing it. Who better than Pat Califia, an expert in the exchange of power, to select and introduce the latest edition of Best Lesbian Erotica, with its considerable emphasis on consensual power play - Califia's own story, 'Blood and Silver,' is the best-written in the book, a sharp-fanged, Angela Carteresque rewriting of 'Little Red Riding Hood.' Other high points include Rachel Kramer Bussel's 'Monica and Me,' in which a fan shares a night of sapphic bliss with Monica Lewinsky (who needs a cigar?), and Thea Hutcheson's 'The Stars in Her Mouth,' a tale of sexual rescue by an otherworldly woman. Although not the rawest or most innovative collection, the 2001 edition of Best Lesbian Erotica does win points for breadth of interest. There are bathroom scenes in vanilla and several more piquant flavors, a classic daddy/girl scenario, a Vampire tale, gender play aplenty, and a scattering of odes to passion of the heart, as well as of the loins."
"Rachel Kramer Bussel imagines adding another stain to Monica Lewinsky's infamous blue dress in 'Monica and Me.'"
Take these sexy tales home and let your imaginations loose during your own read-along for two while you and your partner share your wildest sexual fantasies. This is one event that will literally knock your socks off." -- Dr. Ruth
"Writers picked by Village Voice sex columnist Rachel Kramer Bussel keep the audience hot and bothered via fetish fantasias, true confessions, and erotic memoirs." -- New York magazine
"In The Flesh lures its audience with the promise of free cupcakes and tantalizing wordage. Comedians, sex columnists, lesbian erotica editors, adult stars and more confess their raunchiest, raciest, most rocking-est bedroom escapades." -- Philadelphia City Paper
"We're sure Bussel will only be satisfied if you come again and again." -- Flavorpill
Blowfish.com loves Naughty Spanking Stories from A to Z 2 and Caught
Looking! The
first book in this series was such a rousing success that when the second volume
came out, we simply pounced upon it. If you enjoy spanking -- giving them,
receiving them, watching them, especially reading about them -- then chances
are you're gonna love this book. Twenty-six stories, plus four bonus
stories,
all centered around spanking. While every story in this anthology isn't exactly
BDSM, it's hard to get around that aspect of a good, old-fashioned spanking
without indugling in a little power play. We especially liked the
retelling of the Nutcracker with the prince teaching (an eighteen
year-old) Clara a thing or two about discipline, but the stories run
the gamut from formal mistresses to BDSM clubs to happy couples
wacking away at one another's posteriors. All in all, a spanking good
time! (2006, 268 pp.)
Do you like to show off? Or maybe you just wanna watch. If your voyeuristic or exhibitionist tendencies have been sorely neglected of late, this anthology may just be the thing to get your pulse racing. Stories about folks who like to see, or be seen (or both), with a good dollop of sizzling hot sex to release you from the tease. You don't have to be the kind of person who keeps binoculars near the window that faces your shameless neighbors to enjoy these steamy tales. (2006, 224 pp.)
Glamour Girls was reviewed in Books to Watch Out For
Clit Lit
Rachel Kramer Bussel has edited and contributed stories to numerous
erotica anthologies and her passion for the genre is evident in her
new anthology Glamour Girls: Femme/Femme Erotica. She has
collected stories about femme women who are "unapologetic about
wanting other femmes," and her introduction, which is definitely worth
the read, explains that part of her goal is to prove that femmes with
femmes is not "air on air." These stories also disprove the tired
joke
that all femmes do with each other in bed are their nails.
One thing I appreciate about this anthology is that unlike most erotica collections, several of these stories are long (such as "The G-String" by Jen Collins and "The Game" by Alison Tyler), allowing the reader to sink into the characters, enjoy the buildup, the tension, and of course, the release. From bi-curious college students to dykes in their forties who already know what they want and how to get it, each story shows the many different ways women are femme and how they express their desire for other femmes. I especially liked "Gumshoe in a Cocktail Dress" by Shelley Rafferty, "Sugar" by Diana Cage, and "Cup Cake" by Tanya Turner. Bussel says it best in her intro: "Masculinity, whether in male or butch form, doesn't have to be part of our lesbian construct of desire, and we should not have to solely be defined by its absence." What she said. Harrington Park Press, $16.95, 9781560235347.
