In the Flesh: L.A. (the West coast version of In The Flesh founded by Rachel Kramer Bussel) is a monthly reading series held the second Wednesday of every month at Hustler Hollywood, and features the city's best journalists, authors, scriptwriters and more offering their torrid tales for your entertainment and titillation.

From secret dirty confessions to unique sexual insights (and even the odd embarrassment or two), these writers get naked on the page and will make you lust after them and their words. Readers have included Willam Belli, Rachel Kramer Bussel, Maxim Jakubowski, Stan Kent, Shana Ting Lipton, Jenny Block, Regina Lynn, Rob Roberge, Eugene S. Robinson, Marty Barrett, Seth Greenland, Nina Hartley, Jeff Miller, Colleen Wainwright, Adam Grayson, Joanna Angel, Ernest Greene, Maggie Marr and BatSheva Vaknin. We've also been written up in Metroblogging L.A., LAist, Thrillist, Fishbowl L.A., Blue Blood and others.

Themed include Survival, Confessions, Madonna, Fears, Embarrassments and many more. Complimentary snacks and desserts from the Hustler Hollywood cafe will be offered. The event is free.

In The Flesh: L.A. debuted in May 2008. E-mail stan@stankent.com for booking, more information or interview requests.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

October's Fear Night was good foreplay for Halloween

The subject was Fears and the five readers all dealt with it in their own perverse ways, pulling together a night where each story worked with the others in what can only be described as so good it was scary. You'd have thought we planned it. Oh yeah, we did.

Our fearsome fivesome of readers were Kathleen Bradean (She’s On Top), Saryn Chorney (New York Post), Jolene Hui (Open For Business), Jeff Leavell (Velvet Mafia), and me, special guest host Stan Kent (Shoe Leather series). It was cool to have a group of authors with so many books out there in print. Hustler put up a great display.


I DJed to set the mood with some appropriately Scary Monster music until Kathleen lead off with Chill a story about ice cubes boldly going where no ice cubes have (usually) gone before. The mood was definitely set. The ice was broken.


Next came Saryn who managed to captivate the room with a story that no doubt struck a fearful chord with many a person who've had nightmares about people in monkey suits wielding bananas. It's true; Saryn read such a tale and revealed it was based upon a true story. Now there's an author you'd want to have at your next party!

Jolene Hui came next. She was featured in 9 of the books on the table and read a story of backstage rock and roll love and lust that showcased her amazing eye for erotic detail where the fear was more a subtle one of being found out. Just like the first two stories made it impossible for me to look at ice cubes, bananas and monkey suits in a none-sexual way, Jolene has forever perverted the back pockets of jeans in my mind, and no doubt much of the audience, judging by the amount of shuffling I noticed on the Hustler chairs.

I read an excerpt from Violetta (Heel The Pain), the third book in the Shoe Leather series, which told how the main character, Violetta, who has the power in her feet to see, feel, and fully experience the sex people had in shoes just by putting on the fucked-in footwear, confronts her fear of why she has this power. While having the ability to peer into people's sexual exploits in shoes sounds great it also opens the door to a scary world of sex criminals and all the nasty things people do , which Violetta confronts in a shoe fetish nightclub called Spykes.

Jeff wrapped it up with an intense tale of young-male adolescent angst which tapped the fear all young males have of where the heck are all those hormones leading us and with whom.

I wrapped things up with raffled giveaways of some very full bags of Hustler swag, aided by Jolene and my backpocket ploy. I played some more tunes and people hung around to talk to the authors and munch on the last of the Schmerty's cupcakes. Jeff missed the group photo op, for which we're sorry. We all agreed that after those varied yet related readings, we were ready for some serious tricking and treating.


See you on November 20th for Wild Card night with Antonia Crane (Adventures of a Sexual Outlaw), Tina Dupuy (Fishbowl L.A.), Jillian Lauren (Flaunt Magazine), Michael Lynn (E! Entertainment Television), and more TBA. I'd be hosting and DJing again, and remember...