New Year - New Sex - New Format - Big Hit

Change came to In The Flesh with a new format and new, regular hosts for the series. Stan Kent and Jolene Hui took over from Carly Milne and introduced a couple of new features to the series - Phone Sex and the Erotica Review of the month courtesy of the Erotica Revealed website.

Hustler Hollywood is our host for our monthly writers/readers/and any other perverts salon, and we can't thank Hustler Hollywood and their staff (Theresa, Steven, Tameka, Cheryl, Hollie, Justin et al.) enough for the space. We host In The Flesh the second Wednesday of every month at 8pm, and thanks to Hustler for the freedom to say "Fuck" out loud in a crowded room. Hustler does a great job of promoting the events (as you can see from all the flyers) and provides very desirable swag bags for giveaways.

The Hustler Hollywood Cafe, besides having truly tasty desserts (which we got to sample) and an amazing selection of coffees and smoothies also has a fine selection of written and visual erotica. They're doing a great job of finding the collections and novels the authors (and hosts) have published, and whether you come to In The Flesh on any given month, we encourage you to go by the cafe, hang out and score some fine erotica for your reading and viewing pleasure.

After spinning some tunes for some 25 people who we'll call 'The Audience,' Stan introduced Jolene, pointing out what can happen when you read at In The Flesh. Jolene entertained well in October and is now a co-host. Little does she know what she is in for... but judging by the story she read, it will all be very hot. Notice how she gets the microphone to stand up very erect.

Jolene read a spicy lesbian story. 'The New Neighbors' from Ultimate Lesbian Erotica 2008 by Alyson Books, edited by Nicole Foster. It set the standard for 2009 in hot words, cool stories for all to follow and had more than a few of the audience squirming in their seats. In her own word, "Sometimes I don't realize how graphic my work is until I'm reading aloud in front of an audience in a very public place. " Now there's a story to be written and the basic reason why we work our butts off to bring you In The Flesh. Erotica authors need a place to expose themselves and their work besides all that time spent on the computer, reading to the cat or other loved-one(s).

If you're wondering why there is a cellphone sitting next to Jolene on a chair as she reads, then keep reading and all will be revealed. Next we unveiled a new feature. It will be a regular monthly short segment where we have one of the reviewers from the Erotica Revealed website read a review, promoting what we hope will be a lively discussion of what makes good one-handed reading material. To kick the series off Stan read Steven Hart's humorous and insightful review of 'Frenzy: 60 Short Stories of Sudden Sex' edited by Alison Tyler on Cleis Press. Steven made the point that short and sweet can facilitate great sex writing and that lead to the next feature where one of the authors from Frenzy (who was sitting in her bedroom on the East coast wearing ...) read her story over the phone. D.L. King captivated the audience via cellphone with a wonderful night-time story to keep the night rolling - 'Hard Wet Silk.' Made us all want to jump a stranger on Sunset Blvd., and the audience loved this new feature as you can see. If you want to be one of our phone sex operators and read your stuff over the phone then contact Stan. Just be prepared to tell us what you're wearing...

At the end of her story D.L. King let the audience know that she's compiling a Vampire Erotica collection and to submit stories by February 24, 2009. And to encourage all of you to put something together we publish the call here and pledge to do a night of vampire erotica at In The Flesh - probably in October...

D. L. King is looking for super-erotic vampire stories

The allure of the vampire... There’s no denying our fascination with immortality, with the eternally beautiful, strong and sexy. Creatures who take what they need; stealing the life force from those unlucky enough to cross their paths—or possibly those whose luck leads them to the most thrilling experience of their lives. What makes these lust-filled creatures so irresistible to our kind?

We’ve seen lots of romantic vampires of late. Those aren’t the ones I’m looking for. I want blood quickening, heart pounding, dangerous, intelligent, maddeningly beautiful, hot as hell vampires. I’m not looking for love, or maybe I’m looking for love in all the wrong, bad, scary places. Think of beings whose carnality can’t be sated, innocence caught in lust’s snare, those who can’t help taking a walk on the dark side. Send me something different; something we haven’t seen before, something molten.

This anthology is primarily heterosexual, but I’ll consider GLBT stories. Remember, no underage characters, please. Stories should be between 2,000 and 4,000 words, double-spaced, 12 pt Times New Roman or Courier New. Please indent the first line of each paragraph one-half inch and do not include extra lines between paragraphs.

Send your story as a .doc or .rtf attachment and include the title, pseudonym (if applicable) and your legal name and mailing address to vampantho@gmail.com. Subject line should read: Submission: TITLE. Please include a 50 to 75-word bio and direct any questions to the same address. Original stories only. You must own all rights to any reprints.

Okay, meanwhile, back at In The Flesh ...

Colleen O'Hare read the next story - the story of the loss of her virginity - 'Fresh Fish: A True To Life Accounting of the Role Cod Played in Losing My Virginity.' Which will probably win the prize for the longest and most curious title of any In The Flesh reading this year. It made us all laugh even though it had a true fishy stench. She was extremely animated, which she said was her way of controlling nerves, which to Colleen we say 'don't control that energy!' It was great to see and hear such a performance. It's what reading erotica aloud is all about. Good sex reading - like good sex - should be frenzied, loud and definitely out-of-control!

Caroline Ryder made her first-time erotica reading/writing debut telling us a very sexy story about the newly appointed first couple ... her first whack at erotica worked well, giving us Secret Service hidden camera view into the Michelle and Barack's bedroom.

It was about half-way through the story when it became clear who the couple were, and the conceit worked perfectly. It also provoked many a discussion at the afterparty at the Rainbow about whether Michelle (and her figure) is sexy or not. Let's just say there will be a follow-up story from one audience member extolling the virtues of the old saying 'The bigger the cushion - the nicer the pushing.'

As Jolene and many other audience members satisfied their craving for sugar courtesy of Hustler Hollywood Cafe's Triple-Berry torte, the Hustler Hollywood swag bags were given away to audience members daring enough to try their hand (mouth) at reading erotica aloud. Stan and Jolene chose a paragraph at random from the erotica Hustler had on display and two ladies just blew the room away with their sexy delivery. Wow is all we can say and enjoy you goodie bags, Hannah and Tasha.

The night didn't end there. Everyone hung around chatting and even dancing to some more tunes from Stan.

The authors and the hosts got together for a group photo - Jolene, Stan, Caroline and Colleen.

And then the impromptu readers - Tasha and Hannah - were called up to join the ranks of those that have said 'fuck' and a whole lot more out loud, in public.

And then those lucky enough to have scored swag started going through their bags ... what happened afterwards will just have to wait for someone to write a story about...

The next In The Flesh is Wednesday February 11 at 8pm. The subject is Valentine's sex. If you're interested in submitting, performing (or reading) contact Stan or Jolene.