Censorship Isn't Anything New

In the past editors often arbitrarily cut "erotic" passages from novel manuscripts, even if the author's contract specified that his book was to be published verbatim from his manuscript. This happened to Wilkie Collins, whose The Law and the Lady (1875) was so bowdlerized. The edited version of the passage in question read: "He caught my hand in his and covered it with kisses. In the indignation of the moment I cried out for help." The "objectionable" original version read: "He caught my hand in his and covered it with kisses. He twisted himself suddenly in the chair, and wound his arm around my waist. In the terror and indignation of the moment, seriously struggling with him, I cried out for help."

- Taken from The Literary Life and Other Curiosities by Robert Hendrickson

LAMBDA Results

Good manners tells that we are supposed to say "it's 'great!' just to be nominated," but you know what? It really fucking sucks to loose. Does that make me a bad sport? or just a girl with a need for praise and adoration?

In Deep Waters 2: Cruising the Strip, Radclyffe and Karin Kallmaker, Bold Strokes Books, won the coveted Best Lesbian Erotica title at this year's LAMBDA Awards presented by the Lambda Literary Foundation. I have not read this masterpiece of smut, but plan on picking up a copy ASAP.

Guess I just have to keep writing and hope for a third nomination...they say that's a charm, right?

Lamda Nomination!

Happy news! On May 28th Lipstick on Her Collar will hopefully be chosen for the Best Lesbian Erotica in the Lambda Literary Awards!

The Lambda Literary Awards seek to recognize excellence in the field of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender literature. Each year, over 80 judges -- writers, booksellers, librarians, journalists -- assess the entries in more than 20 categories.

Nominees are:

* Lipstick on Her Collar, Sacchi Green and Rakelle Valencia, Pretty Things Press
* Periphery: Erotic Lesbian Futures, Lynne Jamneck, Lethe Press
* In Deep Waters 2: Cruising the Strip, Radclyffe and Karen Kallmaker, Bold Strokes Books
* I Dare You, Larkin Rose, Bold Strokes Books
* Thirteen Hours, Meghan O'Brien, Bold Strokes Books
* Put Away Wet, Susan Smith, Bold Strokes Books
* Best Lesbian Erotica 2009, Tristin Taormino & Joan Larkin, Cleis Press
* Purple Panties: An Eroticonair.com Anthology, Zane, Simon and Schuster
* Hungry for It, Fiona Zedde, Kensington

The final awards will be presented on May 28 in NYC.

My story Reap What You Sew inspired by my time in the fashion industry is a part of the anthology nominated. This is the 2cnd time my work has been included in a Lamda nomination. Rode Hard Put Away Wet was nominated in 2005.

"Working Girls" in Print!

Pick up you copy of Working Girls! My beautiful glossy copy arrived today in the mail and I can't wait to get it dirty!

Working Girls, Released in E-book Format and Print

Starting at: $13.95

In Print

edited by SA Clements with stories by Crystal Barela, Anah Crow, CB Potts, Stella Sandberg, Tracy Shellito, Elizabeth St. John, and Rakelle Valencia

Hot, sweaty, hard-working women. Girls who do a man's job. That's what Working Girls is all about. Six stories by some of the best lesbian romance and erotica authors out there feature cowgirls and farmer's daughter, steel workers and coal miners, who work hard and play hard, loving each other with everything they have in them.

Rakelle Valencia's horse whisperer finds out she's not as old as she thinks she is in Age and Experience. Rusted Hearts, by Anah Crow, has a girl losing her car, but gaining a lot more at the salvage yard. An uptown girl meets her match in a laborer when she goes home again in Steel-Toed Boots and the Uptown Girl, by Tracy Shellito.

The farmer's daughter teaches a wanderer that appearances don't matter as much as she thinks in the Biker and the Farmer's Daughter, by Stella Sandberg. Elizabeth St. John presents a coal miner and her working class girl, trying to get by in Black Cap. A bullrider finds out that a cowboy savior might be her salvation in the Double O Rodeo by Crystal Barela. Finally, in Jump, by CB Potts, a contractor and a cop find out that they might need a little comfort, from each other. Hot and fierce, the women of Working Girls will make blue-collars sexy again!