This weekend was always going to be a fun one. Two erotica-related events were afoot: the More Bang Reading Slam on Friday night at Sh! Portobello, and K D Grace’s book launch for Body Temperature and Rising on Saturday night at Sh! Hoxton. Sounds good already, right? Well, let’s just say it far exceeded expectations.
Friday
My OH and I dashed into our London hotel, got ready then headed out to Portobello, complete with delicious cupcakes (made by my OH, not by me). There was just time for a quick drink in the pub with Lexie Bay and her OH, then it was time for the main event! Hosted by K D Grace and Sarah Berry, the event had several aims:
- To be a fun smutty evening
- A way for several erotic writers and poets to showcase their work
- To raise some cash for a worthy charity
All these aims were achieved, and then some! Each reading was timed at five minutes, and woe betide any reader that should go over the time limit – Ms. Kay Jaybee was on hand with a spanking paddle to punish any wrongdoers!
We were treated to prose, poetry and performance from the following:
- Kay Jaybee (a super rendition from her naughty anthology, The Collector)
- Lexie Bay (a smutty yet humorous snippet from her story, Taken with Consent, from Uniform Behaviour)
- Yours Truly (I read out a dirty bit from my story Caught in the Act, from Immoral Views)
- The Dragon King’s Daughter (a super piece of poetry about masturbation)
- Liz Coldwell (a yummy m/m snippet from her novella, Stranded in Paradise)
- Annie Player (two poems – one nice, and one deliciously naughty)
- Sarah Berry (a totally filthy rewrite of the old song, All that Jazz. I’ll just tell you she retitled it All that Jizz and leave the rest to your imagination. 😉 )
- Janine Ashbless (a kinky snippet from her newly released vampire novel, Red Grow the Roses)
- Ernesto Sarezale (a funny yet sexy poem read in his yummy accent, with some undressing thrown in – can’t be bad!)
- Lynn Mann (who treated us to a deliciously dark reading from a friend’s work)
- Meg Philip (a deeply naughty snippet from a true story – so good that she consented to be spanked just so we could hear what happened next!)
It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening, I got to meet some people in the flesh that I’d only ever corresponded with via email, and some completely new people. That, coupled with spending some time with my writing buddies, made for a splendid evening. And yet, there was more to come….
Saturday
After a day pounding London’s pavements, OH and I did another zip across London, got cleaned up at headed to Sh! Hoxton. Another sneaky drink was had in the Bluu Bar next door, before nabbing seats in the pink palace of Sh!, ready for K D Grace’s launch. And… what a launch! There was more fizz, more cupcakes (though unsurprisingly, the ones my OH made disappeared the night before – no leftovers!), goodies, and great company. Much of the crowd from Friday’s festivities were there, and my buddy Victoria Blisse and her lovely hubby also joined us – so it was a smut fest indeed!
K D treated us to several snippets from her novel, Body Temperature and Rising, as well as running a raffle, doing a Q&A and showing off some superb artwork – three artists had created pieces of work based on scenes from the book.
All in all, it was another successful evening. The Sh! Ladiez were awesome, the venue was fab and K D was signing books left, right and centre!
We then mooched over to a restaurant nearby to continue the festivities. Much chat and laughter ensued, but, as is always the case, time runs away with us and it was time to head back to our hotels for the evening.
I’m not quite as sad as usual to leave my writing buddies. Want to know why? Because I’ll see most of them again this weekend at Eroticon 2012! Let more smut and silliness ensue!
And there’s more!
Yes – it’s a wonder I haven’t exploded because on top of all that excitement, I’ve also had a super review of my spooky lesbian tale, Weekend at Wilderhope Manor, appeared on the FRONT COVER of Safeword Magazine and gained a silver star on All Romance eBooks for my new release, The Cottage in the Woods, as well as getting a fab first review of the same book!
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to squeeeeee in the corner. Yes, I said squee. 😉
Of course you do! And I’m happy to say that myself and my good buddies Victoria Blisse and K D Grace are going to give it to you. The smut and magic, that is.
Myself and Victoria are launching the anthology we edited together, Smut in the City – hence “smut.” And K D Grace is launching her new paranormal erotic novel, Lakeland Heatwave: Riding the Ether – which is the “magic” part.
