Thursday 26 December 2013

Erotic stories for 77p only!!!!

For a limited period, you can now buy my erotic story collections for just 77p!!

To celebrate the impending New Year, the following titles are available at this special reduced price:

Crimson Kisses
Second Helpings
Love Bites

And if you fancy sampling some of my quirky, dark (non-erotic) tales my 7 story collection Slow Poison is also just 77p.

Just click the icons in the sidebar to buy!

Saturday 21 December 2013

Blog post rewind: Re-invention and writing erotica

This post first appeared in January 2013 on http://chantelc.com/2013/01/09/guest-post-by-elizabeth-cage/

I remember it quite vividly even though it was over thirteen years ago.  The event that launched my career as a writer of erotica.  Bizarre as it sounds, I was peering from the upstairs window of a double decker London bus (I always sit on the upper deck - you can see things from a different angle – one you wouldn’t normally access), commuting from Brixton to Streatham when I noticed a man pissing against a wall, in broad daylight.  That was it.  The Moment.

As the bus trundled onwards at a snail’s pace through the traffic clogged roads, I pondered this image.  It wasn’t sexy in any way.  In fact, it annoyed me that the man was so blatant.  But it gave me the first paragraph of my story.

She was right.  He was urinating against the wall in the alleyway beside the tube station.  Quite blatantly, too.  The question was, what to do about it.  And Kate knew she had to do something.

As a writer, you always think “What if.”  At the time, I had been successfully submitting short stories and articles to a wonderful and now defunct small press magazine called Quality Women’s Fiction.  Payment was nominal, but I didn’t care because the magazine was a labour of love from the brilliant editor Jo Good and she only published really good writers, so whenever I was included as part of this hallowed fold I always got a huge buzz, a kind of validation that I was a proper writer. (Many QWF writers went on to have successful writing careers).  Anyway, the what if became, “What if my female protagonist had an unwanted animal attraction to the man and they ended up having some kind of sexual encounter?” 

“Excuse me.”                                                           
As she spoke, the man glanced over his shoulder at her, not in the least distracted from the task in hand.
“Excuse me,” she repeated.  “I don’t think you should be doing that in a public place.”
“Why not?” was his response.
She was incredulous.
“Why not?  Because you are breaking the law.”
“Show me the sign, then, that says No Pissing.”
For a moment she was taken aback.  The man stared at her, his toffee-brown eyes brazen, and she noticed that his caramel-coloured hair looked soft and freshly washed, and his bronzed complexion reminded her of a creme brulee.  She began to feel hungry. Then she recovered her composure. 
“You shouldn’t need a sign.  It’s obvious.”
He studied her curiously, gestured around him to the numerous passers-by who behaved as if it was a normal Friday night occurrence in the rush hour.  “Do you see anyone complaining?” he asked.  “Where are the hordes of objections, then?”
Now he was getting on her nerves. He continued doggedly, “Am I inundated with protests?  I think not.” 
They had reached stalemate. Glaring at him, Kate noticed that although he was behaving like a lout, he was not dressed like one.  In fact, he was smartly attired, with liquorice-black trousers, a creamy white shirt open at the neck and a leather blouson-style jacket the colour of Bournville chocolate.  He looked good enough to eat.

I called the story “Eat Me” (so you can probably guess what the sexual activity was!) and I duly submitted it to QWF, who printed it.  However, the editor suggested I try an erotic magazine, such as Forum (sadly another magazine no longer with us).  Well, I had been a regular Forum reader since the age of 16, so I dipped into the current issue, and sent my story off.  I’ve been lucky to work with some great editors and Forum’s Elizabeth Coldwell was very encouraging.  She liked the story too, but it wasn’t raunchy enough for Forum so would I like to expand the sexual activity, with a bit more detail, and she would reconsider it.  Wow!  If there was a possibility of being published in one of my favourite magazines, I would find a way to do it!  I lacked confidence initially, but the rewritten story with extra raunch was accepted and published and became the start of a long and productive relationship with Forum (and subsequently For Women) magazine. 

Soon, I couldn’t produce new work fast enough, so I began to trawl my archive folder of still unpublished fiction to see if, with the addition of some naughtier input, it could evolve into erotica. 

And so followed a most enjoyable and interesting writing exercise, which taught me a lot about re-writing and also applying the “what if” principle to individual stories.  It resulted in one of my previous “literary” and prize winning short stories called Perfect Strangers (inspired by my years of commuting) metamorphosing (many years later) into Nice Work, a very raunchy story that appears in the Xcite e-anthology Eve’s Big Bang, (which I recently gave a reading of at one of our Wanton Words Burlesque Shows.  It went down very well and I got such a buzz reading it out loud!)

I would recommend the technique of “reinvention” to any writer.  It kick started my erotic writing career and I have subsequently used this technique on many occasions, especially if I am pushed for a deadline.  It’s just as creative as writing something totally new and a useful skill to develop.

Could your undiscovered masterpiece be reinvented as genre fiction?


A later version of Eat Me appears in Xcite e-book Ultimate Sins

Nice Work can be found in Xcite e-book Eve’s Big Bang








Saturday 14 December 2013

Isabella Johns: A Secret, a Confession and a Guilty Pleasure


As part of my occasional series, A Secret, a Confession and a Guilty Pleasure , today I'm thrilled that my guest post is from author Isabella Johns, author of  My Hot Fireman.

A Secret:

A lot of people think that my stories are based on my personal experience.  But I live a rather moderate, sedate life.  Fact is, very often I’m inspired by things that happen to my younger sister.  She is lot more impulsive.  Crazy things always seems to happen to her.  I’m not saying MY HOT FIREMAN is based on her true life activities, but she does live right next to a firehouse in New York City!

A Confession:

Sometimes I wish I could be my younger sister.  My life is so predictable, especially since getting married.  She is still single and lives a very unencumbered existence.  I often wonder what it would be like to meet someone new and have open the possibility that we might get together, that some fresh sparks could actually fly.  Of course sometimes my sister envies the stability in my life.  But I wouldn’t mind one of those hall passes for a day that allowed me to do anything I want.  Fireman Paul, watch out!

A Guilty Pleasure:

Like so many others, my guilty pleasure is watching the cable series Homeland with complete passion and loyalty.  For me it was extra intense, because we only recently signed up for the Showtime channel on cable.  Then to find out you can click on the series and see the past episodes anytime you want.  Well, that did it.  I started watching one after the other.  It was so much more thrilling to see all of the action unfurl at once and not have to wait a whole week to find out what happens next.  I’m obsessed!  I could have done all three seasons continuously, but managed to space them out over four exhausting days.  Unfortunately, now I’m all caught up and have to wait for each Sunday.  If only Carrie would stop tearing up on a dime and lose the lip quiver.  No matter, it’s a great show!
EXCERPT FROM MY HOT FIREMAN
by Isabella Johns
Or perhaps he knows I’ve undressed him from my window while fingering myself into profound dirty ecstasy.
Who the fuck cares?
I literally rip off his shirt, scattering a few buttons, because I’m so eager to see and touch his masculine fineness.
Oh shit!
It’s exactly like I envisioned from my window, imagined in my bed.
So completely smooth and hairless, it’s for sure he has done some waxing of his own.  And those nipples, perfectly brown and large, jutting with muscled strength.
But this is really not like my bedroom fantasies where I lay back and allowed him to have his way.
I’m a tigress set free as I break away from his mouth and attack his chest with my tongue, licking a set of wet stripes all over that sweet body.
I take the brownish nipples into my mouth and suck and his head goes back and he lets out a deep moan.
How invigorating that I can still make a man react like this.
How different his body feels compared to what I’m used to.
My ex was never fat, but his chest and stomach always had a sort of looseness, never toned.
Give toned a Google search and you’ll see Fireman Paul’s picture.
He’s a lot gentler with my blouse, which I’m grateful for, considering what I paid for it, but the results are the same and my blouse and bra soon join his shirt to form a pile on the floor.
He wants to return the favor with my nipples, but I just can’t get enough of this man.  I manage to reverse our positions and soon have him pinned against the wall as I lightly rake my nails over his upper body, causing lines of full blush wherever I wander.
I lean real close to lick the peaks and valleys of his muscled abs, then trail up his chest along his left side until I come to rest by his armpit where I notice a small, short, discreetly manscaped thatch of soft brownish blond hair.  I breathe as deeply as I can…as if I’ve been trapped underwater for ages and I’m finally allowed a beautiful earthly scent.
Again he makes an attempt to reciprocate—and my nipples do ache for his rough callused fingers to make them twitch—but I just can’t stop myself.
I’m on my knees, not caring if I shred my stockings, unbuckling his pants.
His head goes back, body goes limp, and I hear him say, “You’re so fucking amazing!”
I sometimes believe I am.
I can remember in college having boyfriends who thought I was a good lover and seemed to want me with an insatiable appetite.
At least that’s what I thought.
What about marriage turned me into such a dud?
The pants are soon down, off, along with his boxers and boots.
I want him completely naked, as I envisioned.
The legs are like those of a stallion.  Perhaps he works out in the basement gym we heard about on the tour, or maybe all of the grunt work from his training and probie duties have sculpted this Adonis.  I let my fingers cascade down the thickness of his flesh, the hairless feel of his legs causing my heart to hammer against my ribcage and my pussy to melt against the black lace.
I can’t stop kissing his robust thighs and powerful calves.
Kisses of lust.  Kisses of gratefulness.
Thank you, Fireman Paul! I want to shout.  For helping me remember this kind of living.  For helping me know that all of this is still possible.
And finally I take the time to stare at his bull’s eye.
More curved than I imagined, but not one iota less beautiful.
The sight of it so rigid and hard without it even being touched—simply because of my presence, my ministrations everywhere else on his body—leaves me breathless.
It seems even more powerful and magnificent because—unlike what I had envisioned when I welcomed him into my bed—and clearly not a practice from my generation—there is not a follicle of hair anywhere, the full shaft revealed along with every curvy detail of his prized balls.
The smooth skin of his cock flowing seamlessly onto his hard creamy stomach makes it that much more princely and grand.
I kiss him there.
I kiss his cock all over.
I kiss it like it’s my long lost lover and I’m just so happy we’re in the same room again.
Is it possible to fall instantly in love with a cock?
Absofuckinlutely!


Buy links:

Amazon: amzn.to/1aBnaBO 

Social media links:





Sunday 8 December 2013

A new year approaches.....

When something finishes you can't help reflecting on how it all began.

Saturday was the last Wanton Words and Burlesque Bombshells saucy cabaret show at the bijou Tom Thumb theatre in Cliftonville with the amazingly talented performers Missy Maybe and Miss Glory Pearl.  The regular audience is wonderful and a great confidence booster, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading my naughty erotic tales.

I remember our first Wanton Words show in the Canterbury Fringe Festival 3 years ago, when I was nearly sick with nerves and physically shaking when I took the stage. By contrast, I am so much more relaxed when I read, and my fellow performers tell me I have blossomed, which is lovely.

But all good things come to an end, so they say.  And inevitably, when the old year comes to a close and the new one is soon to begin, we reflect on what we have done, what we haven't and how we can do better.

2014 will be a time of review for my erotic writing career.  I've been a published erotica writer for more than 13 years, well before the 50 Shades hurricane, and blogging for nearly 2 years.  I had planned to throw in the towel in February 2014, to concentrate on my parallel writing career. However, I'm postponing this decision for one more year, since my publisher, Xcite, have decided to bring out a collection of 21 of my short stories in January 2014.  The Best of Elizabeth Cage will be available in both print and e-book format, so I will be focussing energy on promoting it. I also plan to produce a You Tube trailer with live readings.

So I wonder what (or if) I will be blogging this time next year?  Will I still decide to give up on erotica?  Or will I be writing more than ever?

Related posts:
http://www.elizabeth-cage.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/the-erotic-writers-chair.html

Tuesday 3 December 2013

Slow Poison just 99p for 7 days!

As part of the kindle countdown deals, my collection of dark and twisty stories, Slow Poison, will be available for just 99p for the next 7 days.  So if you fancy trying it out and want to grab it before it goes back to the full price of £2.01 click on the icon on the side bar to buy it now!

For a review of the book click here
http://elizabeth-cage.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/slow-poison-fab-review-from-morgen.html

For an interview about the book click here
http://elizabeth-cage.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/interview-in-female-first-how-slow.html

For more about the stories click here
http://www.elizabeth-cage.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/new-slow-poison-and-other-dark-tales.html

Sunday 1 December 2013

Last chance for saucy Xmas fun!

This really is your LAST CHANCE to enjoy the saucy larks and general rudery that is Wanton Words and Burlesque Bombshells as we have our final outing at the Tom Thumb Theatre.

If you want to escape from the C word to a world of fun and naughty humour for a few hours, then do come along and keep us company!

Join Miss Maybe and Miss Glory Pearl for the last Wanton Words & Burlesque Bombshells of the year, and our last outing at the Tom Thumb theatre.

There'll be mischief, mayhem, cake, a festive Raffle of Dreams, the wonderful Elizabeth Cage and some very special guests, including the truly extraordinary Vivacity Bliss!

Doors 7.30pm, show starts 8pm.

Tickets are £10, available in advance from the theatre on 01843 221791 or online at:

https://www.facebook.com/events/1423665224518771/

Thursday 14 November 2013

Blog post rewind: The Truth About Being an Erotica Writer


The Truth About Being an Erotica Writer 
When I am asked to give talks about writing erotica, I am still surprised at the myths surrounding the genre.  Some people think (or prefer to) that I have to get dressed up in a rubber catsuit and heels to get “in the mood”.  A nice idea, but not very practical.  Do I fantasise about sex, or reach for my trusty vibrator before I switch on the laptop?  Yes, sometimes.  Or do I grab a notebook and jot down a few sentences whilst in the throes of coitus? Now that would be really bad manners.….

On the whole, writing smutty tales is just like any other kind of writing.  (I wonder if horror writers are assumed to perform all manner of unsavoury actions before putting pen to paper?  I doubt it).  However, cultivating mystique around creating sensual prose does have a certain appeal.

When I decided to have a website for my erotic writing, I had a good look at what other erotica writers did (in the late 90s, erotica writers were nothing like as up front and public as they are now, and I am delighted that there is so much less secrecy around the genre).  There seemed to be two opposite routes to follow.  Either to use my own name and talk about my academic and literary qualifications and focus on the more scholarly aspects of writing erotica, or to promote my alter ego as a hot babe, and really market myself as an all-round erotic package.  In fact, on one of the early blogs, an erotic writer described herself lying naked on her lawn on a summer day, typing her naughty prose onto her laptop, with the possibility of a neighbour spying on her.  That made me smile……I tried to find a happy medium, although when I started, I did emphasise the “sexy” aspects of my personality (pole dance teacher, ex-glamour model and naturist, swinger, etc.) and I used a photo of my body from the waist down, showing plenty of pert arse (14 years on and I would no longer post my rather less firm butt for all to see!).  Over the years, my confidence slowly grew and I gradually changed the emphasis of the site towards the writing. 

All writing comes from the imagination, the unconscious.  Whatever we are writing about.  However, that isn’t to say that we don’t trawl our memories and personal experiences to provide ideas and research material.  Generally, the kind of erotica I enjoy writing is fantasy rooted in potential reality, if that makes sense.  The thought that it could happen is what can turn us on.  The possibility, the potential.  That is what is exciting.  Or I might take actual events and characters and then ask, “What if?” That is a lot of fun to write – and, hopefully, to read.  Occasionally, I go deeper, so to speak, and explore the beauty and complexity of BDSM relationships.

Will I be writing erotica 10 years from now?  5? 3? 1?  Maybe not.  There are probably a few more stories I need to finish and a trilogy of novellas I began a year ago but have not progressed.  I am nowhere near as prolific as I used to be.  Recently, I was in conversation with a composer who talked of some artists and writers who might only have so much to say, who may have already mined the vein of their particular creativity.  A friend, who is one of the most amazing and exquisite dancers and performers  I have ever seen, informed me that after 15 years, she no longer has the desire to dance.  She has taken it as far as she feels she can and now wants to explore new creative avenues in different fields. 

So ask me again this time next year……




Friday 8 November 2013

Diary date: the LAST Wanton Words show of the year

Saturday 7 December at 7.30pm - the Wanton Words and Burlesque Bombshells XXX (mas) Special!

Join us for our last ever show at the Tom Thumb Theatre in sunny Margate.

There'll be mischief, mayhem, cake, a festive Raffle of Dreams, and joining Missy Maybe and Miss Glory Pearl are some very special guests, including the truly extraordinary Vivacity Bliss!

Doors 7.30pm, show starts 8pm.

Tickets are £10, available in advance from the theatre on 01843 221791


https://www.facebook.com/events/1423665224518771

Tuesday 29 October 2013

The erotic writer's chair


Sunday night saw me reading not one, but two erotic stories and several poems as part of the Canterbury Fringe Festival with the wonderful Burlesque Bombshells, Missy Maybe and Miss Glory Pearl. 

The first time I did a public reading here I was terrified, shaking and nervous.  This is the 3rd year of reading at the Fringe and I can't believe how much more relaxed and confident I feel about reading to an audience.  Such fun!

And this was where I sat, in the Gothic, atmospheric Ballroom on a dark and very stormy night....

Our next Wanton Words show will be on December 7th at the Tom Thumb Theatre.  Watch this space for more info....

Thursday 24 October 2013

Slow Poison: fab review from Morgen Bailey!

I'm so thrilled that the wonderful Morgen Bailey has written a fabulous detailed review of Slow Poison, my collection of 7 twisted tales. The stories are threaded with very dark humour, which I'm glad that Morgen enjoyed. She concludes: "There isn't really a negative thing to say about this collection."

Do check out the review
http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/2013/10/23/book-review-017-morgen-bailey-reviews-slow-poison-other-dark-tales-by-elizabeth-cage/


Related posts:
http://elizabeth-cage.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/interview-in-female-first-how-slow.html
http://elizabeth-cage.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/4-stars-on-amazon-for-slow-poison.html

Sunday 20 October 2013

Wanton words at Canterbury Fringe Festival October 27th!

On Sunday 27th October you will find me at The Ballroom, a stunning, atmospheric venue in Canterbury, as part of the Canterbury Fringe Festival. 

Back for the third year running, Wanton Words & Burlesque Bombshells returns with author readings of erotic fiction, saucy British burlesque, sketches and comedy aplenty, all under the mischievous watch of Miss Maybe and Miss Glory Pearl. It's riotous good fun and really quite rude, with laughs aplenty and a lot of heart.

Tickets £8 from WeGotTickets:

http://www.wegottickets.com/event/240420

Or try the fancy app thingy on our page!

Doors 7.30pm, show starts 8pm.

https://www.facebook.com/events/612292345489515/

Sunday 6 October 2013

Tango at Female First

I have a piece of flash fiction over at Female First to celebrate their 10th anniversary - it's called Tango and was inspired by my experiences some years ago when I became passionate about the Argentine Tango and travelled regularly to Surrey and London for lessons and salons.....lovely memories........

Click here to read the story
http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/books/elizabeth-cage-307015.html

Related posts:
http://elizabeth-cage.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/argentine%20tango
http://elizabeth-cage.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Female%20First

Sunday 29 September 2013

Erotic books, models, photographers and artists


A have a little space on my bookshelf for the hard copies of my erotic work (much of it is now in e-format only, sadly).  It’s also the home of two postcards of work by one of my favourite photographers and one of my favourite erotic artists. 

When I was a student I did a range of jobs to earn money, one of which was glamour and nude modelling for a Brighton studio.  It was quite an eye opener in some ways and I enjoyed the work, although I am not naturally photogenic and actually hide when someone wants to take pics of me!  In those days (the 1980s!) I had a good figure, loads of sexy clothes (from charity shops and mail order catalogues), taught myself make-up from a book by Britt Ekland, and no inhibitions.  I’d been to nudist venues and saunas, and did nude modelling for an art class, so I was pretty relaxed.  I’ve never really had any hang-ups about nudity.  The money was good, and I still have wonderful photos to remind me I did once have a figure! 

I loved “arty” shots, and was a fan of Helmut Newton and some of the amazing pics in magazines like Skin Two.  Then a photographer associate put me in touch with a photographer called Ian Sanderson and gave me some postcards of his work, which I loved.  Sophisticated, tasteful – and they satisfied my aesthetic sensibilities. I went to see him, and would have modelled for free, but although he took a few shots, I sadly never got to work with him.  But the card he gave me (behind the green goblet) with one of his pics takes pride of place on my bookshelf and inspires me. 

I am also a huge fan of the artist Ray Leaning, and we have a large framed print of his work in our living room, a Christmas present for my partner some years ago.  On my wish list is to one day commission a portrait, but until then I look at the postcard of the girl wearing a top hat and corset whenever I get the duster out and take it to the bookshelf…..

Who are your favourite erotic photographers and artists?  What takes pride of place on your bookshelf?


Friday 27 September 2013

Kinky Halloween Special Saturday 5 October!

Wanton Words and Burlesque Bombshells 



Join Missy Maybe and Miss Glory Pearl for another night of saucy mayhem. Celebrated erotica writer, Elizabeth Cage will be reading and there will be special guests aplenty. October marks our annual 'kinky special', where we explore the darker side of human sexuality with a look at fetishes, kinks and all the naughtiness Ann Summers built an empire on.

The now legendary Raffle of Dreams returns with an array of truly extraordinary prizes, and of course, our audience competition promises laughs aplenty.

Doors open 7.30pm, show starts at 8pm.

Tickets £10, available from the theatre on 01843 221791 or online at:

http://www.wegottickets.com/event/240930

https://www.facebook.com/events/166483623537254/


Saturday 21 September 2013

A.K. Anders - A Secret, a Confession and a Guilty Pleasure


Today I'm delighted to welcome erotic writer A.K. Anders to contribute to my series A Secret, a Confession and a Guilty Pleasure and to talk about his intriguing first book, The Pimlico Tapes.

I thank you for inviting me, Eliza. It is a great pleasure to be on your blog.

As sales of my first book, The Pimlico Tapes, have continued to grow, so have the e-mails and Tweets relating to the characters in the book. Some of these enquiries are of a cautiously inquisitive nature, where as others have a decidedly aggressive and accusatory tone. I have also had letters from solicitors.
“Don’t say we didn’t warn you,” my friends say.

Let me first explain, for those who don’t know the book, that The Pimlico Tapes is a collection of transcripts, taken from a box of old cassette tapes found in a dilapidated office building I purchased in Pimlico, South West London. The basement office had been used by an eminent sex therapist during the period of the late 1960’s to the late 80’s. Listening to the tapes I immediately realised how fascinated others would be by their content. They revealed the fascinating lives, exploits and problems of patients and how the therapist had tried to help them. At each new consultation, the therapist explained that he required of his patients complete candidness. Generally he got it. Most conversations were sexually explicit; some were quite shocking. Immediately seeing their literary potential, I set about transcribing the conversations, whilst removing the real names or any other direct links to patients or the therapist. I was aware of the need for confidentiality; despite knowing the therapist was now dead. In fact I took legal advice to ensure I was on safe ground. I didn’t want to be sued, and neither did I wish to harm anyone. On the other hand, I did feel that revealing these cases might be very helpful to those with certain sexual problems. It helped justify it to myself, if not to publishers, who were cautious to the point of asking me not to use their main office entrances. Secrecy and hushed tones was the order of the day and it was this that eventually encouraged me to publish via e-book only – at least initially.

SECRETS
No sooner had the book been published, than I began to receive e-mails. Some were from people who were affronted by the general idea of disclosing such private and sensitive material, but most were from people who felt they fitted the description of a character in the book. Each assured me that their own case was exactly the same. They remembered particular things that had been said during consultation. Some said they were merely concerned to find out, whereas others were outwardly furious and threatened legal action if the book was not removed from sale. In each case, I explained that without identifying names or other more specific details (which I had been careful to remove), nobody but they themselves would know it was them – if indeed it was. In each case, I refused to remove the book, or even the individual case from the book. This has happened many times since – sometimes via solicitors. So far nobody has actually taken legal action, only threatened it. I did have a brush with certain ‘civil servants’ (those in the business of keeping state secrets), regarding a well-known politician (now dead). This was the most threatening so far, but they have since stopped making those threats. “Secrets,” one said, “should not be revealed that might harm the reputation of that sainted lady,” or words to that effect. I confess they did frighten me. I will give you some other examples.

One of the cases is about a political journalist and sometime television newsreader. I have had no less than five different people contact me, claiming that the person I named Amanda in the book, was in fact them. The woman on the tape is obsessive about her privacy and has some very strange sexual behaviour. Without going into too much detail, she enjoyed playing a lifeless ragdoll – her boss and lover finding her lying on a sofa or on bed in a spare room. She also talked on the tape about an impromptu one-night stand with a pedaloe-hire man in a Caribbean holiday resort, where she had felt safe from recognition by the paparazzi.
People would put two and two together, one complainant told me. Another who claimed it was her, was worried by a recollection from Amanda of having watched a couple have sex through a roof-light from the top of her BBC building. She could remember having told her therapist about it, she said. She had also told a colleague. The colleague might read the book and would then know that the character of Amanda was in fact her.
“My secrets are my own,” she said, “and should remain so.”
I told her that four other women also claimed to be Amanda and that all their secrets were safe, since the original name had been removed from the transcript.

Another patient, who I named Samantha, was the wife of quite a well-known London headmaster. She could only enjoy sex if it was with a stranger in a public place. On the tape, she explained numerous lurid exploits in her early years, leading up to the point she was arrested for gross indecency in a Chiswick cinema. A woman contacted me saying she was the woman in the book. This e-mail had a very accusatory tone. The tapes were not mine to use as I pleased, she said, they were private. I think she called me a rat, living in the gutter and sucking off the blood of others. She had reconciled matters with her husband through a quiet divorce, she said, but she had since become a successful woman in public life. Again, I was told people would put two and two together. Her sordid secrets would come out and she would be barred from high office. She had access to those who could make things very difficult, even painful for me, she said. I thanked her and told her I might enjoy that.

CONFESSIONS
There are numerous other examples of such complainants, but those above probably give you a fair idea. What has been more interesting for me, however, is a recent trend for people to contact me, wishing to unburden themselves (as some of them put it) of their strange or extreme sexual histories. After the initial mild success of The Pimlico Tapes, I had begun to worry about being able to follow it with a book using further material. People had immediately begun to ask when the sequel was coming out. While I do have other unpublished material that I had already transcribed from the tapes, there is barely enough for another two books. I need not have worried. The confessions revealed to me will fill a number of future books. I have, in fact already published eight single stories derived from these confessions. You can find them as part of a series named ‘Erotic Shorts by A.K. Anders’. Priced at only 77p they are proving very popular – no doubt due in large part to their uncanny sense of authenticity.

GUILTY PLEASURES
Quite a number of people I know have expressed their discomfort or even distaste for the idea of The Pimlico Tapes. They support the idea that what people disclose to a therapist should remain a secret. I disagree. Yes, I believe that the identity of those involved should be kept secret. In fact, after some deliberation I decided to destroy the tapes after I had transcribed them. The original names were never transcribed – not even in the first draft. Other names and incriminating details were also never written down. Alternative details were inserted in their place when I produced the second draft. Therefore, nobody could ever be even remotely sure of who the patients were. Secondly, I know how hypocritical people are – all of us. We are all compulsive voyeurs. This is our dirty little secret – our guilty pleasure. If we are alone and we hear a couple having an argument in the house next door, we cannot help but listen. When it comes to hearing a couple making love, we may even stand still and then tiptoe closer to the wall to hear more clearly. Can you imagine anyone foregoing the opportunity to watch two people in the throes of having vigorous sex in a haystack, if they feel confident that they cannot be seen from their vantage point? I know only one person, and she has been in serious therapy for years. This is why people read erotic stories or watch erotic films. Believe me, 99% of those who don’t, only avoid them through fear of being caught. This then, is one of our most prevalent and most popular guilty pleasures. And I for one am proud of helping people to indulge in those pleasures. Gorge yourself upon them, I say!

A.K. Anders posts, periodically, on the blog: http://theakanders.blogspot.com
He regularly tweets at: https://twitter.com/AKAnders2



Monday 16 September 2013

NEW! Slow Poison and other dark tales: FREE for 3 days

I'm taking a side step from writing erotica and have just published a collection of deliciously dark short stories that explore the darker side of human nature.  Infused with black humour, these 7 quirky, twisted tales remind us that some folk just aren't very nice...

The collection, called Slow Poison and other dark tales, will be FREE to download from Amazon TODAY until WEDNESDAY and is available in all Amazon territories. 
Once more Klaus Hartleben has produced a striking cover design. 

About the stories....

Slow Poison
There are people who nourish and people who poison. It can sometimes take a lifetime to realise that...

Keeping Mum
A cautionary tale for anyone who doubts that mum knows best. Perhaps Claire should have listened to her mother?

Puddles
Four cute puppies in the home - what's not to love? Plenty, according to houseproud Marion. But what's the solution?

Death by Chocolate
Anthony has a plan. But life rarely goes to plan. A story of thwarted ambition, soured passion and murderous intent. And lots of chocolate...

Mother Love
When a mother/daughter bond becomes disturbingly dysfunctional.

Boodle
Callie has trouble coming to terms with the disappearance of her beloved cat and blames her husband, Frank. But has Boodle really gone for good?

The Kiss
Can a lover truly forgive when his partner has an affair?


Amazon links:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Slow-Poison-other-tales-ebook/dp/B00F777Y5A
http://www.amazon.com/Slow-Poison-other-tales-ebook/dp/B00F777Y5A

Sunday 8 September 2013

Vina Jackson Guest Post: Mistress of Night and Dawn



Todays' guest post is from Vina Jackson, a prolific writing duo responsible for the incredibly successful Eighty Days series......  

By the time we delivered EIGHTY DAYS WHITE, the final volume of the EIGHTY DAYS series, we were both exhausted and run down, mentally and physically. We had completed five more or less 340 pages novels in length in under six months!

What had begun as a proposal for just two volumes, involving flame-haired violinist Summer and conflicted dom and university professor Dominik had, by acquisition time, grown into three novels when two publishers fought over the property and one attempted to trump the other by moving the proffered advance sky high if we committed to writing a trilogy. Which the other competing publisher soon matched...

At any rate, within a few weeks of the first instalment, EIGHTY DAYS BLUE, appearing and hitting the Sunday Times Top 10, our hardy literary agent was already fielding frantic requests for us, as we were still in the process of completing the third volume, to expand the series to a further two instalments. So, with an eye to our bank statements and keeping agent and publishers happy -we are ever so obliging- we agreed to write EIGHTY DAYS AMBER and WHITE, albeit featuring other characters who had made cameo appearances in the initial trilogy as we felt we couldn't string along the tortured, on/off/on/off and so on relationship between Summer and Dominik any further for the sake of our sanity!

All the books continued to be popular with multiple bestseller lists and supermarket shelves appearances and have since gone on to be translated into 21 languages, and at one stage we even had four novels in the German Top 10!

Imagine our sense of emptiness and anticlimax when this writing madness, spurred on of course by the unforeseen demand for quality racy romance in the wake of FSOG, finally came to a halt. Days became long and slow, and we quickly forgot how painful writing the novels had in fact proven. We'd become addicts/writing machines/constant spinners of words. Of course, we had to continue.

But we didn't wish to continue flogging a dead horse, so to speak, and be seen as just a BDSM erotica factory at a time when the E.L. James wave was finally beginning to ebb. We wanted to do something new and innovative, while still retaining our 'brand' for rather stronger sexual moods and quality writing that none of our many rivals could match, according to the majority of reviews.

Thus was MISTRESS OF NIGHT AND DAWN born.


In EIGHTY DAYS WHITE, we introduced a shadowy organisation called the Network which has a close connection to a mysterious ball which takes place every year in a different location and offers a cornucopia of sex and bizarre happenings. We had thoroughly enjoyed writing all the scenes taking place at the Ball as well as many of the rituals and sex scenes as spectacle throughout the whole series and decided from an early stage we wanted to concentrate on that area of our writing and increase its baroque, phantasmagorical, almost supernatural element. So the Ball became a character in its own right in our proposed new book, which publishers quickly came onboard with, understanding perfectly our wish to broaden the attraction of our novels, without abandoning in any way the erotic elements that had always attracted us.

We imagined how the Ball came into existence, which allowed us to scatter 'action' over the course of the narrative with a series of historical interludes which picture the Ball at play during the course of the centuries. Then we had to come up with the principal characters for the novel's major strand, and had to invent the Ball's hierarchy and rules, with ensuing rebellion against its strictures to power the necessary conflict and arrived at the central character of the Ball's Mistress.

At which stage the story became to take off; not so much wrote itself - one of many cliches of the writing trade - but a tragic prologue dictated the scene and mood, and a baby was born, an heir to the Ball's power, with a nod to Great Expectations, and our 20 emails back and forth a day routine resumed, as we quickly began to stray far and away from our skeletal outline and wander into exciting new directions that just made sense, and swapped scenes with barely repressed excitement as this longer novel, in which some of the Eighty Days characters make new and fleeting return appearances, took flight and dominated our life for a further three months.

The book appears in the UK on September 12th and we hope you like it. As to us, after ensuing breaks in Fiji and the Indian Ocean, we're already concocting something new; we just can't stop ourselves!



Buy link for Mistress of Night and Dawn



Tuesday 3 September 2013

Sexy Stats and New Territory

I haven't checked Google Analytics for years for my Elizabeth Cage website. Which is pretty remiss of me. Clearly I don't practice what I preach when it comes to marketing and promotion. Anyway, I'm reviewing the future for Elizabeth Cage - so thought I should see if the website is worth continuing.  I started it in February 2007, a long time before the blog.

To my astonishment, my website gets an average of 4000 hits a month, with most visitors heading for the Reviews, Extracts and Books pages.  That's 48,000 hits a year.  I've really no idea if this is good, bad or indifferent, as it's not something writers generally discuss.  When I started out, it was more like 10 hits a month, so clearly that's an improvement!  However, this does not translate into book sales.

By comparison, my blog, which is considerably younger, having started it 18 months ago, gets around 700 visits a month.

I'm undecided about the future.  Should I stay or should I go? I'm about to bring out a new collection of stories for adults - dark, twisted tales, but not erotica, so a bit of a change for me.

I'm also planning a foray into You Tube.....more new territory.

A further evaluation of where I'm going is likely to take place next February.

So, what are your writing plans, and do your website hits translate into book sales?  I'd love to hear from other writers on this topic.

Saturday 31 August 2013

Coming soon - Wanton Words Kinky Halloween!

Just an early heads-up that the last Wanton Words and Burlesque Bombshells show I will be reading in this year takes place on Saturday 5th October and is the kinky Halloween special!

For more info go to https://www.facebook.com/WantonWordsBurlesqueBombshells

You will also find me reading in the Canterbury Fringe Festival at the end of October - watch out for more info!

Friday 23 August 2013

Free Erotica for the Bank Holiday Weekend!

My trio of romantic erotic stories, Love Bites,  will be FREE to download between 23 - 26 August - to celebrate the bank holiday weekend!  So if you enjoy voyeurism, threesomes, hot sex and an encounter with a kinky vampire, click the links below!




Passionate encounters in unexpected places. Three sensual, quirky, erotic tales.

Private Dancer
Allegra loves dancing. Then she discovers she’s being watched from a window by her neighbour, the enigmatic John Goodheart. At first she’s annoyed, but then she starts to put on a private show for him, night after night. She enjoys these erotic games. But could he turn out to be a stalker – or a lover?

Room Service
A weekend in a Cardiff hotel turns out to offer unexpected delights for Cherie. While her boyfriend is at the World Speedway Championships, she anticipates spending a quiet evening in the hotel sauna and jacuzzi. But after an earlier brush with the maintenance staff, things are about to get steamy - and Cherie gets the chance to relive her favourite sexual fantasy.

Love Bites
Kelly’s rampant appetite for sex has given her a reputation as a voracious man-eater. But when she flirts with the shy deejay at a boring office party, has she bitten off more than she can chew?