This is not true!

If you purchase the ebook via the Lyrical Press link — http://www.lyricalpress.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2_12&products_id=315 — you will be sent a .zip file that contains the book in multiple format — including a PDF that you can read from any ol’ computer or laptop.

Also, Hydra M. Star alerted me to the fact that one can download Kindle apps for free via Amazon.com. Check out the link for both PCs and Macs.

-Lux Zakari.

Hoping to snag a free copy of my erotic ebook, Coercion? Now’s your chance!

Answer the trivia question below by commenting to this blog entry or via e-mail to luxzakari@gmail.com sometime between August 30 and September 6. Only one response is necessary.

On September 6, I will throw all the names/e-mail addresses/etc. of the people who have answered the question correctly into a vessel of some sort and have an unbiased party select a winner at random. That winner will be announced on September 7.

And now! The question:

In Coercion, Valerie has Michael take her to a movie that loosely resembles his own predicament in regards to women. The movie’s title isn’t disclosed in the book—it’s up to you to reveal that now! The tag line to this 1975 movie is “Your hairdresser does it better.” What’s the film?

-Lux Zakari.

Note: “Coercion” can also be purchased via www.lyricalpress.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2_12&products_id=315.

Successful novelists do not chronicle great events but make small ones interesting. — Arthur Schopenhauer

-Lux Zakari.

Writing a book is horrible, an exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand. For all one knows that demon is simply the same instinct that makes a baby squall for attention. — George Orwell

-Lux Zakari.

Upon A Time Very Up, She Said That There Are Others After.

Before, The One.

From Only Me To Him, His Unto This All Came Down.

And My, He Has Been With, By, In You, Like God.

But Who Now? Should We Be Over?

So What More Can I Do, Lord?

Her Will Is Great, As Such People Were Not Made For Two.

Then May Any Of These Have Your Little Man.

Some Did.

It Was Us Or Them.

Unused: On At They Had Their Which An Shall If Would Those Could Its Out Into No About When Our Mr. Than

Your turn to give it a whirl!

-Lux Zakari.

What’s in it?

-Lux Zakari

LUX ZAKARI: What initially prompted you to submit your stories for the Dirtyville/Kinkyville collection?

SCARLETT GREYSON: I actually wrote Strawberry Social expressly with intent to submit it to the Dirtyville submission call. When Sommer announced the anthology, I knew that I simply had to submit a piece to her. The inspiration came to me while talking with someone about the signs of summer; as a kid, you knew summer was in full swing when the strawberry festivals began.

The Dentist’s Wife, however, was a bit of a different creature. That piece was actually written as a piece of Twitterotica, done on the fly in a handful of tweets one day. Sommer was online and grabbed it, asking me later if I would submit it to the collection, that she’d loved it. That was that!

LZ: What is Twitterotica?

SG: Twitterotica is quite simply erotica written to be tweeted via Twitter. They tend to be shorter pieces and have a different sort of rhythm, feel to them by being constrained to 140 characters.

LZ: You’re involved in Alison Tyler’s Smut Marathon. Can you tell readers more about it?

SG: Alison Tyler’s 250-word challenges were one of the big things that pulled me into seriously writing erotica. I started about a year ago participating in those challenges. When I really got into the meat of working on my serial pieces—Voyeur, now published with Republica Press, and The New Canvas, currently in progress, I ceased to participate regularly. When she announced her Smut Marathon, I knew I had to get involved. I thought it would be a great way to get my muse back into action on some shorter works again as well as getting my mind back into the game with regards to writing for submissions. I’m working on the second piece for the Marathon now and am crossing my fingers I make the next cut!

LZ: What can you share about your WIP, The New Canvas?

SG: The New Canvas is just getting into the meat of things, and I can’t wait to spin the story out more. The inspiration for the piece actually was one of AT’s 250-word contests—one on tattoos, actually—and it’s been waiting in the wings for attention since then. I’m actually not sure where it’s going!

LZ: What is one of your favorite stories in either the Dirtyville or Kinkyville collection and why?

SG: Oh my. My favorite actually seems to change every time I read through the collections, but currently I’m adoring Alison Tyler’s Population 32. I’ve lived in small towns all my life, and AT did a fantastic job of capturing the feel of it. However, I do want to add that all of them are fantastic, and next week my favorite will likely be different!

LZ: Out of everything you’ve ever written, what have you had most fun writing, or found to be the most personally satisfying?

SG: My most personally satisfying project to date would have to be one that is languishing in a file in desperate need of rewrites. It’s a novel I wrote some six years ago and was my first piece of length that I finished. The act of finishing proved to myself that I could write a book. As for the most fun, that would be Voyeur. I had a blast writing that, coming up with different ways to relay my main characters story through the lens of her kink. It was great fun and a challenge I thoroughly enjoy!

LZ: Will anything become of the six-year-old novel? What is it about?

SG: The six-year-old novel is something of a historical romance story about a kidnapped Southern belle and the pirate captain who is holding her captive. I absolutely adore the characters and am hoping to do their story justice. It’s in my queue for a major overhaul and once done, I’ll be submitting it for publishing!

LZ: What can readers expect from you next?

SG: I’m currently on a bit of a hiatus, but when things calm down, I plan to continue my serial The New Canvas. I also have every intention of doing the rewrites on that novel and see if I can’t get it published this year. Other than that? No clue! I’m not one for planning too far ahead… If I do, I’m bound to get all wrapped up in the planning and never get around to writing!

* * * *

For info about the Kinkyville collection, Dirtyville collection or both, visit dirtyvillecollection.blogspot.com.

For details about Scarlett Greyson, visit scarlettgreyson.wordpress.com.

For details re: Rosalie Stanton and her work, visit www.rosalie-stanton.com.

What I’m most excited about this review is not only that Rosalie admitted she didn’t read stories like Coercion but found it “fantastic” nonetheless, but the empathy that was shown toward the characters was really important to me. I want to depict people/love/sex in a real way but in a balanced, just-desserts way as well, and that means revealing people with real flaws and problems.

Thank you, Rosalie, for getting that!

-Lux Zakari.

For a copy of Coercion, visit www.lyricalpress.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2_12&products_id=315.

LUX ZAKARI: What initially prompted you to submit your story for the Kinkyville collection?

MAY DEVA: Little Loan is the first piece I’ve ever submitted for publication of any kind. I had written a few pieces for my blog and received some lovely feedback. That prompted me to look at calls for submission, just in curiosity, which lead me to Sommer Marsden’s blog and call for entry. I wrote the piece, agonized over it for a week and then hit “send” before my brain could veto the motion. Lol. Sommer is so lovely that I felt even a rejection from her would be kind enough to not squash my fragile writer’s ego entirely. Happily, it fit the Kinkyville book.

LZ: How did you get into writing erotica?

MD: I have always been interested in human interaction, from a simple hello down to the most intimate sex. I started writing for a boyfriend, who had gone off to college in a different town, something to spice up the distance in the days before instant internet satisfaction. (It worked really well, by the way, and to my surprise he wrote wonderful pieces as well!) I dabbled with it for a while, picking it up and putting down as the mood struck. Then I found this lovely bunch of smutters on Twitter and found so much support to actually put my writing out there to be read.

LZ: On your blog, you have two stories written in a Twitter format. How did this idea come about, and do you think you’ll continue a #wankwednesday series or develop an anthology?

MD: #wankwednesday is the creation of @Your_Dreamer, and a fabulous exercise in structured writing. The 140-character limit on each tweet makes you really consider what is necessary and what is not when writing flash pieces. I have been absolutely blessed to be surrounded by magnificent writers via Twitter, which has been quite important to me as I develop my own voice for erotica. I am continually amazed at the acceptance and willingness to share between writers in this genre. I try to participate in #wankwednesday every week, though life intrudes on that occasionally. An anthology of #wankwednesday would be fabulous though, what a great idea!

LZ: What #wankwednesday piece have you written that you are most proud of?

MD: It would have to be the first—As You Wish. It was such a challenge, for me, to keep to the 140-character limit and still make each tweet interesting. It changed how I edit my work, made me more aware of the well-placed word.

LZ: What is one of your favorite stories in either the Dirtyville or Kinkyville collection and why?

MD: I was afraid you would ask this question. I have to admit that my favorite is a toss-up between your Desert in Kinkyville and Grip by City Different in Dirtyville. Desert is such a filthy little tale with a lovely twist at the end, it amused me while arousing me, and I enjoy that in my erotica from time to time. Grip takes my breath, there is something about the way City Different wields his words that always sends me. Very different stories, but able to make the necessary connection in both cases.

LZ: What was the most meaningful feedback—positive or negative—you’ve ever received?

MD: It was both negative and positive, from a fellow Twitter-ite and writer, who told me that sometimes you can trust your reader to fill in your blanks—that not everything needed to be explained in great detail. When I write, I tend to conjure an image or an ending sentence and work from that. Sometimes that works well, but I do have a tendency to over-explain and over-analyze a scene. It’s what a reader brings to your story that makes it work, if you give them space to fill in the blanks. So, I always comb my pieces for wordiness, over-explanation and too much detail. I try to allow readers the freedom to exercise their imagination.

LZ: You mention you tend to over-explain in your stories—what is your advice to writers who do the same? How do you decide what to keep, what to cut?

MD: Usually, I write everything down that pops into my head at first, I don’t plan my stories out yet. Then I put the story aside for a while—a couple of days, sometimes more. When I do revisit it, I try to edit as if I were reading it for the first time, without my preconceived ideas of how it goes, as most authors do I’m sure. I often ask someone else to read it through, see if it flows well, when I get stuck. I try to weed out lengthy descriptions, unnecessary adverbs (I use them shamelessly in drafts) and useless asides—hopefully to leave the story clear and clean for the reader.

LZ: What can readers expect from you next?

MD: Well, right now I’m participating in Alison Tyler’s Smut Marathon, which is a blast. #wankwednesday pieces will crop up on my blog more frequently, as well as the beginning of a flash serial which starts in the next week or so, and there are several pieces in the works for submission. Oh, and interpretive tap dancing. Lots of interpretive tap dancing.

* * * *

For info about the Kinkyville collection, Dirtyville collection or both, visit dirtyvillecollection.blogspot.com.

For details about May Deva, visit maydeva.wordpress.com.

-Lux Zakari.