The Big Book of Submission: Volume 2 – New Anthology Release

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Adrea Kore, Anthology Release, authenticity in writing, BDSM, conscious sexuality, Desire, erotic fiction, erotica, Female Sexuality, Kinks, multiple orgasms, rope, sexuality, Shibari, The Big Book of Submission: Volume 2

Kink. It’s an interesting word, in terms of its etymology.

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary, defines it quite thoroughly:

1: a short tight twist or curl caused by a doubling or winding of something upon itself

2a : a mental or physical peculiarity : eccentricity, quirk

b : whim

3: a clever or unusual way of doing something

4: a cramp in some part of the body

5: an imperfection likely to cause difficulties in the operation of something

6: unconventional sexual taste or behavior

 

I’m thrilled and honoured to have my story “Roped In” selected to feature in The Big Book of Submission: Volume 2, published by Cleis Press and edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel.

The overarching kink explored in this anthology is, as the title suggests, the act of submission. Editor Rachel Kramer Bussel asserts in the Introduction that there are “so many ways to be submissive” and these stories artfully reveal that the spectrum of submissive scenarios, desires, and behaviours are as broad, creative and as varied as human sexuality itself.

The anthology boasts an array of stories that delve not just into the heat and eroticism of the physical sex, but, just as importantly, the psyche, emotions and sensations of the submissive state, and the dynamics of the relationship(s) that make these experiences possible. These more complex layers, in many of the stories I’ve read so far, are executed with startling insight, imagery and intelligence.

To quote from a glowing 4.5 star review for The Big Book of Submission: Volume 2 by blogger Bitches n Prose:

“… some of the things you can expect in the way of kink: BDSM (obviously), bondage, rope, training, power struggles, pet play, spanking, a host of different toys, affairs, pegging, role play, blades, gender play, tickling, different time periods, accents/language, food, and strangers. There’s bound (pun intended) to be something on this list that sets off your fires.”

As I’ve just begun reading the stories in my glossy, newly received author copy, I’ve been reflecting on these various meanings of the word “kink”, and how they can all apply to the concept of sexual kink: in physical, psychological, emotional and cultural terms. For example, there are depictions of the mental state of submissive desire akin to (1) “a short tight twist or curl caused by a … winding of something upon itself” in stories such as Sommer Marsden’s “Lightning Strike” and Anna Sky’s “Imago”; a twist that is only released when the desire is indulged or allowed.

Many stories expound on the emotional and psychological aspects of submission as (2) “a mental or physical peculiarity : eccentricity or quirk”, such as the eroticizing of shame in Jo Henny Wolf’s “Words” and the exhilaration that is felt when it is witnessed and accepted (or punished) by their Dominant partner. These quirks and peculiarities become portals to the submissive’s pleasure. As for “whims”, these are indulged aplenty; by following an erotic whim, many a story is born.

“A clever or unusual way of doing something”(3): If that “something” is sex, foreplay, the art of arousing another … then this definition is well and truly covered by the anthology as a whole.

Many of the characters experience their submissive needs for pain, humiliation, or domination, when unfulfilled, as physical pain, akin to “a cramp in some part of the body.” The story often unfolds around easing that cramp, releasing that tension.

For some people, knowing you have certain “kinks” can make them feel like they have a secret they have to hide, or that they themselves are (5) “an imperfection likely to cause difficulties in the operation of something”. By “something”, read conventional society. Many workplace cultures. Conservative families. Anthologies like The Big Book of Submission create vital, permissive spaces for the exploration of alternative pleasures. And kinks.

As a sexual being, I’ve known I was into restraint for a long time. If I could pinpoint the first moment, it would be when I was 20 and my first serious boyfriend, a blacksmith and blues singer, tied me up in the four-poster iron bed he’d designed and made himself. Two decades my senior, he made very effective use of those four bedposts. The foreplay and the sex was electrifying, and I suppose (however unconsciously) it was then I discovered that a little restraint in the sex-play magnified both the intensity of my orgasms and the number of them.

One could say it was natural progression that I went on to blindfolding my next boyfriend, stripping him and tying him, limbs splayed, to my big kitchen table, before having my way with him. Ahem. Enough self-revelation.

These two experiences are way back in my past, before I’d ever heard of the terms “kinky” or BDSM. I was just exploratory and creative and enjoyed finding ways to enhance sensations or sensory experience – for myself and others. I say this to simply point out that even if you don’t identify as “kinky” or of alternate sexuality, you’re likely to find plenty to enjoy in this anthology.

So maybe my own brand of kink is version (3): “a clever or unusual way of doing something.”

I’ve written before that I don’t really relate to the terms “Dominant” or “submissive”, but it doesn’t mean I haven’t explored and embodied both states, in my life and on the page. Nor does it mean I can’t engage with stories employing this framework.

What I’m enjoying in these stories is that each author is defining what it means to be submissive for themselves, and through their characters. And I think this is one of the strengths of this anthology – all the more apparent because of the intent and vision of the editor, Rachel Kramer Bussel. Assembled together, the stories truly showcase the diversity of submissive experiences. And in reading them, it’s like wandering through a kink club, and being able to magically slip into the skin and sensations of many different bodies /genders in different scenes throughout the various spaces.

More recently, I’ve had a few experiences with the intricate and erotic art of Shibari (erotic rope bondage). I’ve been a rope model, as well as exploring using rope in a sexuality workshop. As a writer, I wanted to explore elements of the practice of Shibari and some of the seemingly indescribable kinesthetic reactions I’ve had to being bound. As my character Yasmin says, it felt “beyond words”: the writer in me wanted to find the words.

Much of the action of “Roped In” takes place in a sexuality workshop. For several years, a lot of my sexual growth and exploration took place in these kinds of workshops, as I was studying to be a Tantric sex practitioner. In fact, some of my peak orgasmic and sexual experiences happened in these groups. I wanted to “demystify” some elements of the sex-positive lifestyle by setting the story in a similar kind of workshop space. These spaces are where I learnt and experienced so much about my sexuality and sexual relating; I hoped to show my characters learning skills they could use to enrich their own relationship.

Below is a little preview to “Roped In” – from the opening:

I thought I knew what rope felt like. Hard, salt-roughed rope that rigged a sail. The chafe of hessian rope against thigh on a make-shift swing. And knots? Practical things. Functional elements that kept your shoes on.

But this; this seductive slither of an embrace, trailing around my neck, snaking over and around both arms, encircling my waist like a possessive lover, this, I am not prepared for.

He hasn’t even tied a knot yet.

You wanted me here. Wanted to experience more (how did you put it?) elaborate possibilities than tying my wrists to the headboard.

 

*  *  *

So, discerning reader, whether your “kinkiness” is something you explore solely on the page, or whether you dip your toes in occasionally to kinky waters, or whether you’re the 24/7 kind of kinkster, you’re sure to find stories that intrigue, arouse, and galvanize you between these pages.

A huge “Congratulations” to all 69 authors! And thanks to publisher Cleis Press and to editor Rachel Kramer Bussel for making this anthology possible.

UPDATE: I’m so excited by the news that New York’s Publisher’s Weekly has reviewed the anthology very favourably, and that my story merited a mention, alongside authors Zodian Gray, Angela R. Sargenti, Dr J, Anna Sky and Giselle Renarde. You can read the review below.

The Big Book of Submission: Volume 2 – 69 Kinky Tales

So Many Ways to be Submissive …

(Available in E-Book or Paperback – Click on the Image to go straight to Amazon, or other buy-links below)

 

Nook

Google Play

Audio Book available soon via Audible

Read the Reviews

Chrissi Sepe

Bitches n Prose

Publisher’s Weekly

 

Read More by the Editor

 

 

 

The Science of Stress, Orgasm and Creativity: How the Brain and the Vagina Conspire in Consciousness

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conscious sexuality, Creativity, Female Orgasm, Female Sexuality, Naomi Wolf, reviews, sexual relating, sexuality / healing, Tantra, Vagina

This article by Maria Popova over on Brain Pickings discusses and summarizes ideas from a book I cannot reccommend highly enough – Vagina: A Biography by Naomi Wolf.

As a young twenty-something emerging feminist, her incisive and polemic The Beauty Myth informed and shaped my intellectual and academic life; articulated clearly so many things I had observed and felt. This book has less of a “whack’ for me as a long-term practitioner of Tantra – something Wolf is just discovering in this book – but it insightfully links and co-relates many aspects of female sexual health and its relationship to creativity, productivity, and general ‘aliveness’ in women. In short – it discovers and maps the vagina-brain connection. And explores what happens when trauma occurs in a way I have never encountered before.

I haven’t been bloogging much of late – life and inner life do not seem to be pulling me towards the keyboard to write articles to share here. One of those reasons is because I myself often notice a complex interconnected link between, energy, creativity, sexual energy and focus. When one or two of these feels ungrounded or is affected in some way negatively by stress, over time it begins to affect other aspects of my life. Writing (everything excepting my journal entries) is often the first aspect to be obviously impacted. And I wonder how many other women can relate to this complex synergy of cause-and-effect.

So – if you haven’t read this book yet – please check this out – then get yourself the book to read the ideas in their entirety. Men out there who want to better understand women, and in particular have partners who have suffered sexual abuse or trauma in their past – read this to better support,  love and understand your woman. Read on …

The Science of Stress, Orgasm and Creativity: How the Brain and the Vagina Conspire in Consciousness | Brain Pickings.

Story of O – Writing the Orgasm in Erotica -2

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Adrea Kore, conscious sexuality, erotica, ERWA, Female Sexuality, My Secret Garden, sexual fantasies, shame-free sexuality, women writing sex

“I am gone in a liquid cascade; my edges

dissolved in the ecstasy

that you catch in your palm

Cupped to your mouth, then mine

The taste sweet, clear, as lychee nectar”

(Excerpt – Threshold – Adrea Kore 2013)

Welcome to Part 2 of ‘Writing the Orgasm’, which I guess could also be subtitled “Why I Write Erotica”. I’m aware as I write this, that although writers often have underlying reasons in common for writing what they do, their reasons may also be very different. For some erotica writers, it may be escapism. Some writers may laugh at my taking sexuality so seriously. But it doesn’t mean that I don’t explore the playful aspects of sex in my writing. Sex is an aspect of human creativity and self-expression – the playful is just as important as the intense or the serious.

In my erotica writing, I reach for a tryst between the truth of sensation and the tease of imagination. I’m engaged in translating the sensations of sex into imagery, in a way which will transmute back though the body of the reader into arousal. In this way, erotica is a kind of sex.

So, what are other reasons I feel called to write what I do?

For centuries, it is mostly male authors have spoken for the female sexual experience in literature. Our bodies have been filtered through male eyes, male observations. This language does not emerge from inside the female body, but outside it. How do women articulate desire for themselves? How does it differ from how men write us sexually? I agree that sometimes the difference isn’t discernible. Nin wrote about sex admirably well from the male perspective. Some of my contemporaries like author Ronnie Strong have impressed me their depiction of their female characters’ experiences and thoughts around sex.

Story of ‘O’: Writing the Orgasm in Erotica – 1

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Adrea Kore, Anais Nin, conscious sexuality, erotica, Female Orgasm, multiple orgasms, Orgasm, sexual fantasies, Tantra, women writing sex

“His topography fits my geography. The wicked curve upwards kisses that place, that place which sends me into sensory whirlpools of delirious intensity, there on the underside of my navel.

Sure now that my movements are making the most of him, I prop my body up on several pillows, opening my legs so I can see myself reflected in the mirror at the foot of the bed… I guide him in and out, giving him more daringly to that hungry place inside me, building the intensity of sensations until each dive inwards is met with an outward rush of pleasure.”

(Excerpt – Salad Days © Adrea Kore 2013. 

Published in Little Raven II and A Storytelling of Ravens) 

Orgasms. As a beginning erotica writer, it’s inevitable that at some point you encounter this challenge. You have to describe characters having orgasms. Then as you write more stories, and inevitably more sex scenes, you have to find more ways of describing them – different tones and shades to suit the context, mood, character psychology, and perhaps even the sub-genre of your erotic scene. (Is it paranormal, sci-fi or BDSM erotica, for example?) Different genres may suggest different approaches to description, different language, and even a different emphasis of the experience.

As importantly, you try to write in ways that you hope will arouse the reader.

And all of this, whilst trying to side-step cliché, purple prose or implausibility. Any of these elements risk taking a reader out of the story, and can dampen the intended effect of the more explicit parts of your story.

Touch

Tags

conscious sexuality, erotica, self-pleasuring, shame-free sexuality, Wicked Wednesday

She blooms. Blooms as she touches. Blooms as she touches herself. Blooms bouquets of fleshy scarlet-streaked lilies. Blooms deep-hued violets and whispers of honey-suckle as she meets fingers with secret skin. Blooms eloquent roses in tints of cockleshell, and the tenderest of pinks. She blooms.

She dares to hold a mirror to herself, and sees her fingers are like rays of sunlight, enlivening her  petals, opening her to receive. She sighs into that sunlight, lets it caress her, unfurl her, penetrate her with warmth. She blooms.

Fascinated, she sees the petalled folds breathing in and out with her pleasure. Rippling curiously under her touch, watching them flush crimson with shyness as they hide again. Shyness like a maiden, yearning truly to be seen … and as she continues to touch in wonderment, knowing for the first time what her lover sees, there rushes a flood of nectar from her depths, glazing her folds with honey. Breathing deep now, her posy of scents is wildflower and shaded forest floor; moss and night-blooming jasmine.  Showering in scatters of pale gardenia amidst dark tendrils of hair curled like fern-fronds, it seems she can hear her sex sigh with rapture. And she sends her fingers a-gliding, a-hiding, reappearing in her little mirror’s reflection glossed and bedewed.

She tastes herself, fingers syrupy in her mouth, and she is sweetly sharp like the cries erupting from her. She is swirls of desire (and oh the undulating patterns her sex makes in this dervish of pleasure, how magnificent her cunt is to harness so much power in movement.)

The mirror is her lover’s eye, the mirror is her proof of self-acceptance, and as she opens in release, floods in earthy ecstasy, she is both sunlight and rain nourishing herself. She blooms.

Almost without her noticing, she feels the tired brown husks of no-longer-needed shame drop away, drift silently away.

She falls back, spent, languorous, imprinting in her mind’s eye, the image of her sex in all its carnal delicacy. She blooms.

She knows she need not fear herself any longer.

This piece is dedicated to all women who are engaged at any stage in the journey of leaving behind body-shame and moving towards deeper self-love.

❤

  © Adrea Kore 2013 (Not to be reproduced or reprinted, in part or in whole, without permission of the author)

Submitted for Marie Rebelle’s Wicked Wednesday Prompt #188

“Believe in Yourself!”

Touch is also featured on Cherish the Cunt, an inspiring blog on all things cunt-wise, in a post entitled “Self Pleasuring her way to Cunt-Love” by the gorgeous Colette Nolan (October 30, 2014).

Touch is also now part of author / speaker Molly Moore’s Pussy Pride Project, and you can read other contributions and get involved by clicking the link below. I love the idea of this project, and am delighted to be a contributor.

 

Kore Desires … an Audience with You

Tags

conscious sexuality, Desire, erotica, On Writing, sexuality, sexuality / healing, women writing sex, Writing Sex

“Come into my Parlor …”

Just you. And me. At least, in my virtual parlor, we can imagine that this is so. Please, make yourself comfortable. I’ve just moved in, and I’m still re-arranging the furniture. Forgive the piles of books and notebooks. Oops, I think you just sat on my pen. And wait, I’ll shut my lap-top. Wine? Or tea?

Come into my Parlour

Kore Desires is about intimacy. It is a space where words, curiosity and desire can kiss deeply. A space for erotica, sexual politics, musings on the dark and light of sexuality. And invitations from me to you to write. Write from your body, write from your longings. Write from the silences too. French feminist and forward-thinking seeress urged:

“Write yourself. Your body must be heard.”
― Hélène Cixous, The Laugh of the Medusa

This is where I started. With the sensations and truth of my body. With the whispers in my cells. Of course, sooner or later I started wriitng about sex. Sex and desire. It had always been a subject I enjoyed writing about in my personal journals, but about 3 years ago, I dove deeper. I wrote an explicit, poetic piece about a sexual encounter, read it at an Open Mic event that very night – fresh off the crumpled afternoon-coffee draft – and had an immediate offer for it to feature on an erotica website.

My affair with erotica had begun, although I didn’t quite know it at the time. Currently, I’m in love with the short story form of erotica. I have passionate encounters with erotic poetry, casual flings with the occasional article, am steadily dating the draft for a themed collection of short erotica stories (all mine) and am regrettably, estranged from my novella project. I do, however have hopes of reconcilation in the near future.

Desire is one of my favourite words. I love the sound of the sigh in the middle of it, like the release of a lover’s breath after orgasm.

Desire is a mysterious force in the human psyche. Is it an emotion? A sensation? A thought? A compulsion?

 I wonder if desire could be a meeting-place in our psyche of past memories of pleasure or trauma, present emotions and sensations, and an intuitive future-knowing of what we need to experience for integration, growth and healing? And for sheer pleasure, of course.

If this is so, then our pleasure is also associated with our growth and healing. Sounds like good news for the pursuit of more pleasure, and the shushing of those culturally conditioned little gremlin-voices of guilt, doesn’t it?

In my erotic wriitng, desire is always an underscore. My characters are either immersing themselves in it, or working out what is needed to get there. It could be the perfect seat on a train with a perfect view, or a cucumber curved just so, or the collision of hip bones with thigh, mouth with throat. Below, a morsel about desire from my poem Threshold:

You turn my hips to clash with yours
Your tongue and teeth interrogate secrets
Embedded long ago in arteries and skin,
forcing forth a staccato litany
of savage confessions;
Erupting outside of language

What turns you on? What do you long for? What haunts your dreams, causes you to glance again (perhaps furtively) at a book cover, or two people embracing in a bar?What are we compelled to return to in our imaginings, our bedrooms, again and again?

I’m curious. Another of my favourite words. Whisper it into my virtual ear. (More wine?)

Exploring the depths of our sexuality can allow us to get beyond our social masks, our more everyday perceptions of ourselves, to feel more fully our desires, our particular form of ‘genius’, our wounds, our beauty. The ability to practice sex as a ‘consciousness-making art’ could be said to be one of the things that distinguishes us, from other species of animals.

All of these things will linger here, in my virtual parlor. I hope you will too.

Ending with another word-kiss, from author and academic Nigel Krauth:

The sensual is not delivered superficially for its titillation; it is delved into for what it reveals about the human condiiton.

It’s just past the witching hour as I finish the first post for this, my first blog. Thank you for reading, wherever you are.

Sweet and sensual dreams … xxx