From the category archives:

rachelkramerbussel

intheflesh In The Flesh Erotic Reading Series, Wed., 3/21

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 21 at 8 PM (Doors open at 7)
AT HAPPY ENDING LOUNGE, 302 BROOME STREET, NYC
(B/D to Grand, J/M/Z to Bowery, F to Delancey, )
Admission: Free
Happy Ending Lounge: 212-334-9676

This month, join Cheri Crystal (Erotic Interludes 3, 4, 5), Joel A. Nichols (Dorm Porn 2, Travelrotica 2), Carol Novack (Mad Hatters’ Review), memoirist Suzanne Portnoy (The Butcher, The Baker, The Candlestick Maker), who’s making an appearance all the way from London, and Claire Thompson (Golden Boy, Slave Castle), along with host erotica writer and editor Rachel Kramer Bussel (He’s on Top, She’s on Top, Caught Looking) for hot stories from across the sexual spectrum. Free candy and mini cupcakes will be served and authors’ books will be available for sale.

In the Flesh is a monthly reading series hosted at the appropriately named Happy Ending Lounge, and features the city’s best erotic writers sharing stories to get you hot and bothered, hosted and curated by acclaimed erotic writer and editor Rachel Kramer Bussel. From erotic poetry to down and dirty smut, these authors get naked on the page and will make you lust after them and their words.

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The pseudonymous Lux Nightmare burst onto the alt porn scene as a college student at Columbia where she launched the naked-guy-and-girl site That Strange Girl, featuring stills and video of herself and numerous other models who looked like they could be her fellow classmates. At a time when Suicide Girls and Burning Angel were coming to prominence, That Strange Girl (who, full disclosure, this interviewer posed for) was a homegrown, indie entry in the genre. Cut to the present, where Nightmare has since folded her XXX business and is a member of Gotham Girls Roller Derby, teaches sex ed to teenagers in East Harlem, and runs the smarty-pants sex site Sexerati, where she conducts interviews, explores Dating 2.0, and explains terms like “the pink ghetto.” (Warning: many of the links in this interview are NSFW.) Currently, the “non porn star” is working on a book proposal about her time in the alt porn trenches.

You say on your site that you’ve been obsessed with sex since 1982. How has your sex obsession grown and changed over the years?
I’ve been interested in sex, in one way or another, for as long as I can remember. My parents were pretty good about being honest about sex and sexuality (my first book about sex: Where Do I Come From?, featuring illustrations of fat naked people and information on sex, baby making, and orgasms) and I never really got the message that sex was something I should be ashamed about or afraid of talking about.

I started doing work around sex at the age of fourteen, doing HIV/AIDS education for the Red Cross as part of a peer education program. When I got to college, I continued work in the sex education vein (working at the health education center, working as an HIV pretest counselor), but also started to branch out into other areas of work around sexuality. College was where I really started to get interested in the “sex positive” movement: I got involved with queer culture, and learned a lot about sex-positive feminism—and, in some ways, that was what really paved the way towards my work in porn.

These days, I’m more interested in being academic about sex, and examining sex and sexuality as a part of our culture as a whole. I find sex endlessly fascinating: no matter where you look, or what subject you’re discussing, there’s probably some way that sex has an effect, an impact. I find that pretty awesome, and still don’t quite get why it is that people think I’m odd for wanting to devote my life to the study of this topic.

(more…)

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cowboy Cowboy Lover anthology
For those of you who enjoy and crave the writing of longtime Carnival contributor Clayton Holiday and blog friend Rachel Kramer Bussel, you’ll be pleased to know their stories will be published in Cowboy Lover – Erotic Stories of the Wild West , an anthology co-edited by Cecilia Tan and Lori Perkins. It’ll be published in late April by Thunder’s Mouth Press book.

Clayton’s story, “Cowboy Cocksucker” reminisces about the well-hung, married cowboy he used to blow after hours in the darkroom. (“In the intimacy of the darkroom, Slim drops his tight, boot-cut Wrangler jeans to his Tony Lama snakeskin’s, and seductively pulls down his skimpy black jockstrap. Even in darkness, his cock is breath-taking in its size and shape. He sits on the counter so I may go down on him easily. “)

Rachel says her story, “Reverse Cowgirl” is about “a New York woman who visits her friend’s brother on his ranch and has to acclimate to country life, and they do this dance of disinterest all summer even though they’re really hot for each other until they finally wind up getting it on (yes, in the reverse cowgirl position) right before she heads back home.”

Table of Contents:
The View From Where I’m Standing, August MacGregor
The Magnificent Threesome, Elspeth Potter
The Unattainable, Livia Llewellyn
Gentling, Shanna Germain
Hard Lessons, Teresa Noelle Roberts
When the Rancher Needs a Loan, Andrea Dale
Pistol Packin’ Mamas, David Shaw
Angel to a Cowboy, Laney Cairo
Ace In the Hole, M. ChristianA
Dieing Breed, Rakelle Valencia
Two Visions, Connie Wilkins
The Branding of Charlotte Babington, Anna Black
Celestial, Stephen Dedman
Cowboy Cocksucker, Clayton Holliday (sic)
Reverse Cowgirl, Rachel Kramer Bussell
The Stake, Lee Crittenden
The Barning, LUCypher

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What a swell party it was! The bloggers braved the cold, and were there in force to help Audacia Ray celebrate her movie debut: Mikey Mongol (Bi Apple production mgr), Jefferson and Avah, Selina, Lolita, Boymeat and Dahling, Sinclair, Lux Nightmare, Cherry Bomb (who peformed), Jane Vincent, Rachel Kramer Bussel, Tony Comstock (looking hot in a black tux jacket and leather pants), Chris Hill, Lex Konrad and Les. Chelsea Girl was missed – the poor thing has a mysterious bug that might be mono.Sorry I don’t have better pics. I was deep in conversation with Greg of Njoy Toys at the back of the room. I’m familiar with his products but he showed me a prototype of the “11″ (as in “goes to 11“) – the head on one end of it seems around 6″ around…

Coverage (updated):

  • More of my pics at my Flickr.

  • Audacia has a first writeup on her blog. and she has party pics, too.

  • Audacia’s report, pt. 2.
  • Jefferson’s whimsical post, Blue Balloon.
  • Lolita’s writeup.

  • Mikey Mongol, the film’s production manager, has a writeup.

  • Nick McGlynn’s pics are here.

  • Fleshbot has Richard Blakely’s videos.

  • Gerry Visco has an up close photoset on Flickr.

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intheflesh In the Flesh Reading series, March 21stWEDNESDAY, MARCH 21 at 8 PM
AT HAPPY ENDING LOUNGE, 302 BROOME STREET, NYC
(B/D to Grand, J/M/Z to Bowery, F to Delancey, http://www.happyendinglounge.com)
Admission: Free
Happy Ending Lounge: 212-334-9676

This month, join Cheri Crystal (Erotic Interludes 3, 4, 5), Gwendolyn Joyc Mintz (Down & Dirty 2, Velvet Heat), Joel A. Nichols (Dorm Porn 2, Travelrotica 2), Carol Novack (Mad Hatters’ Review), memoirist Suzanne Portnoy (The Butcher, The Baker, The Candlestick Maker), who’s making an appearance all the way from London, and Claire Thompson (Golden Boy, Slave Castle), along with host erotica writer and editor Rachel Kramer Bussel (He’s on Top, She’s on Top, Caught Looking) for hot stories from across the sexual spectrum. Free candy and mini cupcakes will be served and authors’ books will be available for sale.

In the Flesh is a monthly reading series hosted at the appropriately named Happy Ending Lounge, and features the city’s best erotic writers sharing stories to get you hot and bothered, hosted and curated by acclaimed erotic writer and editor Rachel Kramer Bussel. From erotic poetry to down and dirty smut, these authors get naked on the page and will make you lust after them and their words. Since its debut in October 2005, In the Flesh has featured such authors as Laura Antoniou, Andy Mo Beasley, Lily Burana, Jessica Cutler, Stephen Elliott, Polly Frost, Gael Greene, Andy Horwitz, Debra Hyde, Maxim Jakubowski, Emily Scarlet Kramer of CAKE, Josh Kilmer-Purcell, Edith Layton, Sofia Quintero, M.J. Rose, Lauren Sanders, Danyel Smith, Grant Stoddard, Cecilia Tan, Carol Taylor, Susan Wright, and many others. The series has gotten press attention from Escape (Hong Kong), Flavorpill, The L Magazine, New York magazine, Philadelphia City Paper, Gothamist, Nerve.com and Wonkette and has been recommended by Dr. Ruth. This is not Amanda Stern’s Happy Ending Reading Series.

Rachel Kramer Bussel is Senior Editor at Penthouse Variations, conducts interviews for Gothamist.com and Mediabistro.com, and wrote the popular Lusty Lady column for The Village Voice. Her erotic stories have been published in over 80 anthologies, including Best American Erotica 2004 and 2006, and she’s edited 13 erotica anthologies, most recently Caught Looking: Erotic Tales of Voyeurs and Exhibitionists and Naughty Spanking Stories from A to Z 2. Rachel has also written for AVN, Bust, Cosmo UK, Metro, New York Post, Punk Planet, Time Out New York and Velvetpark.

Cheri Crystal enjoys reading, writing, reviewing, eating, working out, and having sex—not necessarily in that order. Since appearing in Erotic Interludes 3: Lessons in Love, Cheri has erotica in other Bold Strokes Books, Cleis Press, and Alyson anthologies. When she’s not busy raising a family or working in health care, Cheri is putting the finishing touches on her first novel, A Closet in Syosset.

Gwendolyn Joyce Mintz is a fiction writer and poet. Her work has appeared in various online and print journals as well as several anthologies. Though new to the erotic genre, Mintz has had work published in the online journal Clean Sheets as well as Down & Dirty 2 and Velvet Heat from Pretty Things Press. A very short work received an honorable mention in a contest at Katy Terrega’s Sex-writers.com.

Joel A. Nichols was born and raised in Vermont. This year stories of his will appear in Dorm Porn 2, Travelrotica 2, Second Skin, Fast Balls, Distant Horizons: Queer Science Fiction (Haworth Positronic), C is for Co-ed (Cleis), Got A Minute (Cleis), and Sex by the Book: Gay Men’s Tales of Lit and Lust (Green Candy Press), and have appeared in Alyson’s Full Body Contact, Just the Sex, Ultimate Undies, and Sexiest Soles. An excerpt from his novel in progress won second place in the Brown Foundation Short Fiction Prize 2005. In 2002, he was a Fulbright Fellow in Berlin. Joel studied German at Wesleyan University and has a Creative Writing M.A. from Temple University. He lives in Philadelphia with his boyfriend and works for an internet porn company.

Carol Novack‘s writings can & will be found in many publications, including The Penguin Book of Australian Women Poets, American Letters & Commentary, Del Sol Review, Diagram, First Intensity, 5_Trope, La Petite Zine, LIT, & Notre Dame Review. She publishes the e-journal Mad Hatters’ Review.

Suzanne Portnoy has been an entertainment publicist for twelve years. Divorced and with two children, aged 13 and 15, she is formerly from New York and now lives in London. Attractive and finally a size 8 after twenty years of yo-yo dieting, she is happily single and spends her spare time writing, having sex and acting as a one-woman car pool service. Her first book, The Butcher, The Baker, The Candlestick Maker: An Erotic Memoir, is published by Virgin Books.

Claire Thompson has written erotic fiction since 1995. Much of her work focuses on the romance of erotic submission, as well as the darker exploration of BDSM. Her most recent work focuses on the male/male romance and erotic submission. Claire has published numerous novels and short stories, both in print and ebook format. Says a reviewer for eCataRomance, “…Claire Thompson draws a compelling, graphic picture of a loving dominant/submissive relationship. Erotic and confronting, yet tender and intimate.” Visit her website for a listing of all Claire’s novels, upcoming releases, and more information.

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Call for submissions: Best Sex Writing 2008
To be edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel
Publication date: November 2007
Deadline for submissions: May 1, 2007

Email: bestsexwriting2008@gmail.com

Editor Rachel Kramer Bussel is looking for personal essays and reportage for inclusion in the 2008 edition of Best Sex Writing, which will hit stores in November 2007. Seeking articles from across the sexual spectrum, covering alternative sexuality, reproductive rights and sexuality, sex work, sex and aging, sex and parenting, BDSM, polyamory, gender roles, sex and race, sex and disability, etc. These topics are just starting points; any writings covering the topic of sex will be considered. Personal essays will also be considered.

Previous editions of the annual series have featured authors such as Susannah Breslin, Susie Bright, Stephen Elliott, Tristan Taormino, Virginia Vitzhum, and others. See Best Sex Writing 2005 and 2006 for examples of the types of writing being sought. I’m especially looking for reported pieces that are political, timely, intelligent, surprising, and insightful about sex in American culture (and its many subcultures). (more…)

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Originally uploaded by rkb1.

Thank heavens for Sexytime- the comedy show that’s ready to bone the everloving crap outta you RIGHT NOW!

Expect risque antics from cohosts Brandy Crawford and Heather Fink along with a great lineup. Comedians Dave Hill, Giulia Rozzi, and Jordan Carlos, bring their kick ass jokes to the stage along with an appearance by sexpert/former Village Voice columnist/author/fun gal Rachel Kramer Bussel, AND the musical stylings of Esther Ku. Giveaways and fun always ensues, plus the hosts wear cute outfits which they spend a lot of time selecting before the show and make messes of their rooms in the process-all for comedy! And outfits!
And SEXYTIME!

Date: Friday Feb 16. midnight
Location: Mo Pitkins, 34 Avenue A, NYC
Cost: Tickets $5.

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IMG 0077 Monday NightValentine’s Day Smut: Zaedryn and Rachel read their stories from ‘Best Lesbian Erotica 2007‘ (edited by Tristan Taormino and Emma Donoghue) at Bluestockings Cafe.

IMG 0087 Monday Night‘Under the Covers’ Premiere Party: Rachel Kramer Bussel, Christen Clifford and Lillian Ann Slugocki

IMG 0094 Monday NightUnder the Covers Premiere party: Jamye Waxman (one of the stars of Under the Covers) and her brother Ian. Not shown, her beaming parents.

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intheflesh In the Flesh reading, Feb. 21st

IN THE FLESH EROTIC READING SERIES
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 21 at 8 PM
AT HAPPY ENDING LOUNGE, 302 BROOME STREET, NYC
(B/D to Grand, J/M/Z to Bowery, F to Delancey, http://www.happyendinglounge.com)
Admission: Free
Happy Ending Lounge: 212-334-9676

February means love, lust . . . and dirty words! Join Andrew Boyd (Billionaires for Bush, Life’s Little Deconstruction Book), Reen Guierre (Best Women’s Erotica 2007 contributor), D.L. King (The Dominant’s View), and Dahlia Schweitzer (Seduce Me), along with host and curator Rachel Kramer Bussel, who will be celebrating the publication of her kinky new erotica anthologies He’s on Top: Erotic Stories of Male Dominance and Female Submission and She’s on Top: Erotic Stories of Female Dominance and Male Submission. Free candy and mini cupcakes will be served and erotic books will be given away as door prizes.

In the Flesh is a monthly reading series hosted at the appropriately named Happy Ending Lounge, and features the city’s best erotic writers sharing stories to get you hot and bothered, hosted and curated by acclaimed erotic writer and editor Rachel Kramer Bussel. From erotic poetry to down and dirty smut, these authors get naked on the page and will make you lust after them and their words. Since its debut in October 2005, In the Flesh has featured such authors as Andy Horwitz, Lily Burana, Jessica Cutler, Polly Frost, Maxim Jakubowski, Emily Scarlet Kramer of CAKE, Edith Layton, M.J. Rose, Lauren Sanders, Danyel Smith, Cecilia Tan, Carol Taylor, and many others. The series has gotten press attention from Escape (Hong Kong), The L Magazine, New York Magazine, Philadelphia City Paper, Gothamist, Nerve.com and Wonkette. This is not Amanda Stern’s Happy Ending Reading Series.

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This week, Phillyist catches up with Rachel Kramer Bussel, an NYC based erotica writer, Penthouse Variations editor, sex blogger, and self-described “cupcake fetishist” who somehow finds the time to coordinate In the Flesh, a reading series for fellow erotica mavens. We got Rachel to talk to us about her new book, Caught Looking: Erotic Tales of Voyeurs and Exhibitionists, her aversion to Carrie Bradshaw comparisons, and life after her column at The Village Voice (more…)

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intheflesh In The Flesh, January 17th

In The Flesh Erotic Reading Series
Erotic Memoir Night
Wednesday, January 17 At 8 Pm
At Happy Ending Lounge, 302 Broome Street, NYC
(B/D to Grand, J/M/Z to Bowery, F to Delancey
Admission: Free
Happy Ending Lounge: 212-334-9676

In The Flesh ushers in 2007 with true stories from erotic memoirists, who dish about everything from being a sex columnist to online dating, indulging in fine food and fine sex, BDSM relationships, loving a transgendered partner, dating as a single mom, and more. With Marty Beckerman (Generation S.L.U.T.), Helen Boyd (My Husband Betty, She’s Not the Man I Married), Ron Geraci (The Bachelor Chronicles), Gael Greene (Insatiable), Rachel Sarah (Single Mom Seeking), Susan Shapiro (Secrets of a Fix-Up Fanatic, Lighting Up, Five Men Who Broke My Heart), Grant Stoddard (Working Stiff), Virginia Vitzthum (I Love You, Let’s Meet), and Lauren Wissot (Under My Master’s Wings), along with host Rachel Kramer Bussel. Authors’ books will be available for sale from Mobile Libris. Free candy and mini cupcakes will be served.

In the Flesh is a monthly reading series hosted at the appropriately named Happy Ending Lounge, and features the city’s best erotic writers sharing stories to get you hot and bothered, hosted and curated by Village Voice sex columnist and acclaimed erotic writer and editor Rachel Kramer Bussel. From erotic poetry to down and dirty smut, these authors get naked on the page and will make you lust after them and their words. Since its debut in October 2005, In the Flesh has featured such authors as Andy Horwitz, Lily Burana, Jessica Cutler, Polly Frost, Maxim Jakubowski, Emily Scarlet Kramer of CAKE, Edith Layton, M.J. Rose, Lauren Sanders, Danyel Smith, Cecilia Tan, Carol Taylor, and many others. The series has gotten press attention from Escape (Hong Kong), The L Magazine, New York Magazine, Philadelphia City Paper, Gothamist, Nerve.com and Wonkette. This is not Amanda Stern’s Happy Ending Reading Series.

newyork, nyc, rachelkramerbussel

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Date: Thursday, December 21, 7 PM
Location: KGB Bar, 85 E. 4th St., NYC
Cost: FREE

Best! Lesbian! Erotica! 2007!
Speakers: A. Lizbeth Babcock , Rachel Kramer Bussel, Skian McGuire, Zaedryn Meade, Jean Roberta. With your hostess, Kathleen Warnock

A holiday tradition takes root in the heart of the East Village. For the third year in a row, we celebrate the publication of the annual anthology Best Lesbian Erotica (Cleis). Contributors to the book will read from their work, and copies will be available for sale (the perfect gift for grandma!)

A. Lizbeth Babcock lives in Toronto Canada. She has done extensive work in the queer community including counselling students in Canada’s only alternative school for LGBTQ youth, and managing the city’s largest supportive housing program for people with HIV/AIDS. She’s a giggler and a chocolate lover.

Rachel Kramer Bussel writes the Lusty Lady column for the Village Voice, is Senior Editor at Penthouse Variations and hosts In The Flesh Reading Series. She’s edited 13 erotic anthologies, most recently Caught Looking and Naughty Spanking Stories from A to Z 2. Find out more at rachelkramerbussel.com.

Skian McGuire is a working-class Quaker who lives in the wilds of western Massachusetts. Skian’s fiction has appeared in many anthologies, webzines, and print periodicals, and he is the founder and editor of The Shadow Sacrament, an online journal of sex and spirituality. He is currently in the process of transition from F to M.

Zaedryn Meade is a self-defined sugarbutch whose erotica has been published in Penitalia: Collegiate Erotica, Best Lesbian Erotica 2006 and 2007, Second Skin: Erotic Stories about Leather and Latex, and Secret Slaves: Erotic Stories of Bondage. Originally born in Southeast Alaska, she now lives in New York City.

Jean Roberta mercilessly tortures the young by teaching first-year English courses in a Canadian prairie university. Her reviews and articles have appeared in Girlfriends and Harrington Lesbian Literary Quarterly. Her erotic stories have appeared in 50 print anthologies, including Best Lesbian Erotica (2000, 2001, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007), and Best New Erotica 6 as well as magazines and websites. She sings in a GLBT choir, Prairie Pride Chorus, which has produced a CD (“Watershed Stories”) of original music about growing up queer, produced by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Drunken! Careening! Writers! is a reading series dedicated to the proposition that readings should be: excellent, well-read pieces that have at least one thing in them that makes people laugh (nervous laughter counts), and don’t run more than 15 minutes each.

erotica, events, lesbian, queer, New York

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Date: WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20 at 8 PM
Location: HAPPY ENDING LOUNGE, 302 BROOME STREET (AT FORSYTH), NYC
(B/D to Grand, J/M/Z to Bowery, F to Delancey or F/V to 2nd Avenue, )
Happy Ending Lounge: 212-334-9676
Admission: Free

Ring your jingle bells and get warm and cozy at December’s In The Flesh, featuring holiday erotica and much more. With Abiola Abrams (BET’s The Best Shorts), L. Elise Bland (Best American Erotica 2006 contributor), Scott Bowen (The Midnight Fish), Kevin Keck (Oedipus Wrecked), Stan Kent (Shoe Leather series, Hustler Hollywood), Lisa Beth Kovetz (The Tuesday Erotica Club), Karen Moulding (Unbox, The Untrainable Heart), Jean Roberta (Best Lesbian Erotica contributor), and host Rachel Kramer Bussel. Candy canes and cupcakes will be served, and erotic books, including The Merry XXXMas Book of Erotica, will be given away as door prizes.

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In The Flesh gets literary in October with racy words from short story writer Jami Attenberg (Instant Love), spoken word impresario Mo Beasley and members of his dirty-word powerhouse UrbanErotika, playright Christen Clifford (Baby Love, 17 Guys I Fucked), novelist Marcy Dermansky (Twins), San Francisco-based author Stephen Elliott (My Girlfriend Comes to the City and Beats Me Up, Happy Baby), and erotica writer P.F. Kozak (Passions, Sins and Secrets), along with host Rachel Kramer Bussel (Caught Looking: Erotic Tales of Voyeurs and Exhibitionists; Naughty Spanking Stories from A to Z 1 and 2). Copies of the authors’ books will be given away, and free candy and mini cupcakes will be served.

full bios here.

Happy Ending Bar
302 Broome Street, NYC

Directions: B/D to Grand, F to Delancey, J/M/Z to Bowery

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212616455 36ecac71b7 m In The Flesh reading series: Revenge of the Sex Columnists, 9/20

IN THE FLESH EROTIC READING SERIES
REVENGE OF THE SEX COLUMNISTS!
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20 at 8 PM
AT HAPPY ENDING LOUNGE, 302 BROOME STREET, NYC
(B/D to Grand, J/M/Z to Bowery, F to Delance)
Admission: Free
Happy Ending Lounge: 212-334-9676

Hear your favorite sex columnists tell all—from horror stories to hate mail to come-ons and sexcapades! With Julia Allison (“The Dating Life,” AM NY), Erin Bradley (“Miss Information,” Nerve.com), Ellen Friedrichs (Teenwire.com, Rutgers University), Laura Leu (“Sex Diary” in Penthouse), and Jamye Waxman (Playgirl), and your host, Rachel Kramer Bussel (“Lusty Lady” in The Village Voice). Books and magazines, as well as mini cupcakes, will be given away.

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