LUX ZAKARI

Good news to report on the ME Erotica Writing Contest front — my story, “Semiprofessional,” received the highest ratings for the month of November, thus I am now entered in the running to be a quarter-finalist! This definitely makes the year-long wait to learn the winner of  Mainstream Erotica’s Erotic Stories Writer of the Year award much more bearable, certainly!

So, so, so much thanks to everyone who voted for “Semiprofessional” — I’m so excited and so honored!

-LZ.

NOTE: For those who haven’t yet read “Semiprofessional” and would like to, please click any link mentioned in this post. You will be asked to log in, as you need to sign up for a free ME account. Afterward, revisit the “Semiprofessional” link.

Published author Aubrie Dionne wrote a lovely review for my story, “Love on the Side of the NJ Turnpike” (Paper Bag Press 2009) for her blog, Books Reviews by Aubrie.

A highlight (a.k.a., my favorite part!):

Lux Zakari’s writing is sexually and emotionally charged. The dialogue flows naturally and the situation is believable and unique to the genre. This is one fast read that delivers what it promises!

For the full review, visit Book Reviews by Aubrie at bookreviewsbyaubrie.blogspot.com.

For information of Aubrie Dionne and her upcoming work, visit her blog at authoraubrie.blogspot.com.

To purchase “Love on the Side of the NJ Turnpike,” visit Paper Bag Press at https://www.paper-bag-press.com.

Scranton, PA’s weekly The Weekender provided readers with a Lux Zakari brief in the This Just In section of its Nov. 25 issue.

The brief, currently not available online (until now! Keep reading!), is in regards to my story, “Semiprofessional,” placing in Mainstream Erotica’s Erotica Contest semifinals.

NOTE: To vote for “Semiprofessional,” you need to sign up for a free ME account and then scroll down to the bottom of the story and rate it by clicking on the stars (five being the highest score). Don’t forget to vote for the other stories as well!

And now, the brief, slimmed down for convenience!:

Good news — my short story, “Love on the Side of the NJ Turnpike,” is set to release tomorrow evening thanks to erotic e-publisher, Paper Bag Press.

“Love on the Side of the NJ Turnpike” concerns a young couple, Regina and Heath, as they take a weekend road trip to Atlantic City to save their faltering relationship. However, her boyfriend’s ornery demeanor makes doing so difficult, but Regina maintains that the mini-break will do them both good. After all, she has love on her side, as well as lust…

You bet it’s erotica. It’s one of THOSE stories. I assure you there’s plenty of action to keep you satisfied.

Check it out tomorrow at https://www.paper-bag-press.com/!

-LZ.

The first Jackie Collins book I ever read was “American Star” in hard cover — I’d never read anything like it before. Mainly because I probably wasn’t allowed. But I was transfixed! Now I’m rereading “Hollywood Husbands” out of nostalgia — I remember being really into the Silver Anderson/Wes Money relationship, and the story is everything that was sexy, ridiculous and decadently divine about the ’80s.

I found this interview she did on Craig Ferguson’s show in July and was pleasantly surprised with how funny she is. I can’t get over that she’s 72 — she looks unbelievable. You go, girl.

Excitement!

My previously never-before-seen short story, “Semiprofessional,” has been selected as one of the 10 stories for Mainstream Erotica’s Erotica Contest semifinals. This is such an awesome opportunity for me, as “Semiprofessional” is going head-to-head with nine other great short stories in order to not only score a sweet freelance writing gig, but as the winner of the coveted Mainstream Erotica’s Erotic Stories Writer of the Year award. I’m dancin’ on the ceilin’ like Lionel Richie here, people.

NOTE: To vote for “Semiprofessional,” you need to sign up for a free ME account and then scroll down to the bottom of the story and rate it by clicking on the stars (five being the highest score). Don’t forget to vote for the other stories as well!

Have as wonderful of a night as I’m having!

-LZ.

Long before I was able to muster up the nerve to write erotica, I envisioned the excitement and drama of calling myself an author of erotica. I imagined entrancing others with the novelty and inspiring intrigue by jutting out my hand and introducing myself as such with a carefree smile. I would then field any questions with the confidence of a matador.

However, my dreams of cool, fascinating poise dissolved when I was actually asked about writing erotica several months ago. My interrogators were blunt, brutal, outspoken. Tell me more, tell me more, didja get very far? They wanted all the horny details. They wanted to know if my characters were more than extensions of me. How much of my writing is actually a confession?

Despite the casual setting and party atmosphere, my face flamed. When my novelty wore off and the attention diverted, my embarrassment was replaced with anger—at myself. This was what I had wanted! I’d hoped for this limelight. Now that I had it, why was I being reticent?

In retrospect, I can think of several factors explaining my lack of candidness, but overall I learned that I need to start being more comfortable with who I am and what I do. I need to dodge uncomfortable questions with grace and self-assurance, and never looking down while shuffling my feet. Good-bye to Sandra Dee! (It’s surprisingly hard to get by without a Grease reference.)

Nevertheless, I will still–and always–maintain to my father that I write about “romance and relationships.”

–LZ.

After such a huge hiatus from updating, I feel as though I might as well start from scratch.

Hello, I am Lux Zakari, and I write what some might call smut.

Much of the work that is produced under the Lux Zakari name concerns sex in some aspect, yet it’s still a fact that is somewhat surprising to me. I’d always been interested in the concept of writing a gratuitous sex scene, having always flipped to those parts first in those bodice-ripping historicals when I was way too young to be doing so. I’d flirted with penning steamy encounters—my writing has always been quasi-sexual and focused primarily on intimate relationships. I remember taking a creative writing course in college, and a boy critiquing my work said something to the affect of “Your writing is so sexually charged… For a girl in workshop, it’s kinda hot.” That was pretty much one of the most awesome things I’ve ever heard.

But I’d become too shy to follow through. My mind would race with possibilities of what would happen if someone found what I’d written. Actually, now that I think about it, once upon a time I wrote a moronic sex farce about a romp gone wrong in a backseat with a friend about her and a boy we knew, and her mom found it and called my mom… Ugh. That surely set me back a few years.

I only got up the courage to write erotica—for serious, not for play play—at Audrey Pomeroy’s insistence of a writing collaboration back in March 2007. I remember what pressure I was under: “Does this sound too step-by-step?” and “Is this physically possible?” and, horror of horrors, “Is this actually creepy?” I put myself on the spit and e-mailed my chapter to Audrey, cringing all the while, hoping she wouldn’t laugh in my face or call me a loser or hit me with a pie while pantsing me in public or [insert extreme]. Because she didn’t, it was a huge turning point.

We finished our collaboration, which is currently in its zillionth round of edits, and then I was finally ready to start the novel that had been burning in my brain for several months. Technically, it was Everything I Wanted to Say about Sex* But Had Been Too Afraid to Write. Now, several sexy short stories of mine have been published, that novel of mine is undergoing some promising revisions and Aubrey and I have nearly completed our second opus.

I’m not entirely sure what the point of this post is–a re-introduction, mostly. Perhaps a reminder to myself.

-LZ.

Oysters & Chocolate asked me to review “A Tango in Subspace,” an erotic, hypnotic audio story by HypnoticDreams.com, and always up for something new and different, I happily obliged — only to come away from the incident having learned two things:

1. Hypnosis doesn’t work for me. (At least, not via means of laying down in my bed at night with my ear buds in.)
2. No one should listen to this audio story without knowing exactly what he or she is in for.

My mother enjoys downloading podcasts re: meditation, and my experience proves how intelligent she is for always listening to these podcasts while wide awake, sitting at her computer (likely downloading even more podcasts). This, she says, is to ensure that the meditations don’t include anything “weird.” And “A Tango in Subspace” definitely falls into that category.

I certainly try to be open-minded about most everything because I would hope the same favor would be repaid back at some point in the future. However, here’s another two things I’ve learned:

1. You can’t hope or anticipate someone to act like you or return whatever kindness you give him/her — the expectation will only drive you crazy.  (I used to think this line of thinking was a such a downer, but now I recognize that it’s smart.)
2. Sometimes you just gotta put your foot down.

Click here to read my review of “A Tango in Subspace.”

-LZ.