A quick shout out to let you know my sexy enemies-to-lovers revenge novella ‘Little Blonde Lies’ is reduced to $2.99 until August 15, available at most good e-book retailers. Grab your copy by clicking on saucy Anya …
love
Looking for a new favorite author?
Have I got some fabulous reads for you!
I’m very excited that my second Girls on Film novella, Body Double, is included in this wonderful promotion… if you’re looking for a new favorite author, click on the graphic, have a browse and share with your friends…
Body Double… A sporting celebrity, a tropical island, and the role of a lifetime – what could go wrong?
Actress Kira Fox has finally landed her big break, standing in for the fiance of the next CEO of international tech company NadarTec. It should be a simple job, but then she meets Aryan Nadar and is knocked for six. The sexy ex-cricketer is far from the spoiled celebrity she expected, and his touch sets her body alight.
When she suspects Aryan’s relationship with his bodyguard is more than professional, Kira investigates the true reason she’s been hired to play his fiance for the weekend – and ends up in a situation beyond her wildest dreams.
Contains adult themes and explicit sex scenes – recommended for 18+ readers
A standalone celebrity romance
Anaïs Nin… an inspiration
Like anyone, sometimes I feel a little uncertain about the path I’m on or a decision I’ve made. At these times, I know all I need is a small but powerful dose of Anaïs Nin – and one of her quotes was just the medicine I needed today.
“We do not grow absolutely, chronologically. We grow sometimes in one dimension, and not in another; unevenly. We grow partially. We are relative. We are mature in one realm, childish in another. The past, present, and future mingle and pull us backward, forward, or fix us in the present.”
I feel like she has lived what I am living – that she has seen the internal struggles I face as a woman and a writer:
“We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect.”
That her sprit understands mine:
“We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.”
She gives me strength to be confident:
“Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.”
And the confidence to be strong:
“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.”
To expect happiness and fulfilment:
“I, with a deeper instinct, choose a man who compels my strength, who makes enormous demands on me, who does not doubt my courage or my toughness, who does not believe me naïve or innocent, who has the courage to treat me like a woman.”
Anaïs Nin was a strong and complex woman. I am so grateful we have the legacy of her writing and her diaries to benefit from her insights and experiences.
Little Birds was the inspiration for my own collection of sensual short stories, Love, Lust & Nipple Clamps.
marathon lovemaking sessions and an e-book sale
So… as I’ve been editing my 130,000 word novel (which I have now finished and am about to send off for a structural edit). Part of the process was reducing (or removing) some of the more intense or ‘unsuitable’ love scenes. One of the scenes I cut back was at the sensual ‘climax’ of the story, the first time my heroine her dark and damaged Champagne producer give in to their lust.
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Describing each act in a night of lovemaking was a bit extreme, so I removed the little one in the middle, and edited the rest down to their scintillating essence.
Circumstances have my lovers sharing a one bedroom cottage at Henri’s vineyard, but instead of arguing about who gets the bed, they fall in to it together.
One day I hope you’ll read my debut work of sensual women’s fiction, to read the scenes that made the cut, but for now, here’s a little tease…
Parisian kisses
Slow and sensual in a sun-dappled park; enthusiastic and artless on the banks of the Seine; fast and furious down a cobbled lane-way … Paris is the ideal place for kissing, and has been for decades (or centuries?)
There are many gorgeous images of passion in Paris, captured on paper, canvas, or through the lens of a camera, but there is one that—for me—captures the essence of the City of Love.
Le Baiser de l’Hôtel de Ville (The Kiss by the Hôtel de Ville) was taken by the great French photographer Robert Doisneau. It’s a photograph of a couple kissing, in the midst of a crowd. The image was captured on the corner of rue du Renard and rue de Rivoli, across from the town hall, in the Spring of 1950.
Doisneau’s pictures made the private and the personal visible, focusing on people to make a connection with the viewer. There is an excellent article about how he used friends and actors as models, in response to privacy laws (yes, even back in the 1950’s).
http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20170213-the-iconic-photo-that-symbolises-love
As always, images have been my inspiration and I have shared some on a pinterest board…
Sexy professors and strong women
As a little girl, I loved watching Wonder Woman’s adventures on TV, but I had no idea how controversial she’d been in her earlier years. Originally known for themes of bondage and lesbianism, outraged mothers influenced politicians and educators to pressure DC Comics into toning down the erotic elements. Wonder Woman was reinvented and the feminist icon became another ‘vanilla’ superhero.
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The creator…
William Moulton Marston (psychologist and lawyer) was the inventor of the systolic blood pressure test, which became a component of the modern polygraph, or lie detector, with the help of his wife Elizabeth Holloway Marston.
He was also radical feminist. Having served in the first world war, Marston introduced Wonder Woman to the world during the second world war, in 1941, and she was initially depicted fighting Axis military forces. “He believed that the only way to save the world from war was for women to rule the world and for men to become more like women. Marston was, among other things, a noted psychological researcher and an enthusiastic bondage fetishist; he believed comic books were a great form for educational, anti-patriarchy propaganda. Wonder Woman was designed to bring the world to matriarchy through confronting abuse and modelling girl power, genderfucking, bondage play, and erotic mind control.” Continue reading
in memorium
I recently lost a very special lady from my life. I would like to celebrate her strength and wonderful independent spirit here.
As always, Mary Oliver has the perfect words…
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Like an angel, or a Buddha with wings,
it was beautiful, and accurate,
striking the snow and whatever was there
with a force that left the imprint
of the tips of its wings — five feet apart —
and the grabbing thrust of its feet,
and the indentation of what had been running
through the white valleys of the snow —
and then it rose, gracefully,
and flew back to the frozen marshes
to lurk there, like a little lighthouse,
in the blue shadows —
so I thought:
maybe death isn’t darkness, after all,
but so much light wrapping itself around us —
as soft as feathers —
that we are instantly weary of looking, and looking,
and shut our eyes, not without amazement,
and let ourselves be carried,
as through the translucence of mica,
to the river that is without the least dapple or shadow,
that is nothing but light — scalding, aortal light —
in which we are washed and washed
out of our bones.
Dear Ann, wrapped in light, soft as feathers…
I’ll miss you
the magnificent fall
One of my favourite escapes from reality is to submerge myself in the stunning images on Pinterest.
I came across a photograph which really resonated with me (aptly called ‘The Point of No Return’ by Tatyana Druz, found at 500px.com). I thought I’d share it and the visceral reaction it prompted.
I love the closeness of the couple and the immediacy of the plunge they are about to make together. I instantly recalled that wonderful, scary excitement when you’ve just met someone and you just know you are about to fall hard – for good or bad.
Or when you’ve just begun a new sexual encounter and all the pieces are falling into place – every touch is perfect and builds the anticipation and pleasure to dizzying extremes. You’re tensed and impatient for that blissful, heavenly drop – when you become an ethereal being with no physical boundaries.
Tantra / Tantric sex – what is it?
Are you familiar with the practice of Tantra? Does the term make you think of spiritual ‘woo woo’? Do you association it with yoga or religion or do you think it’s some kind of sleazy sex practice?
Embed from Getty ImagesThe first I heard of Tantra was a mention of it in the movie “Go” (starring Katie Holmes – pre-Tom Cruise). Imagining discovering tantra with the gorgeous Marcus, the character who described hours spent love making with his girlfriend, left me with pleasant associations of the term.
When I met a guy recently who admitted to being a tantra devotee I was more than a little intrigued. I started looking into a bit, and when the opportunity presented itself to participate in a weekend “Art of Love” workshop in my capital city, I couldn’t resist signing up.
So what is Tantra? Hopefully I’ll be able to tell you more in a few weeks, but in preparation I’ve spent some time searching the internet and thanks to Wikipedia and Google, I think I have a basic understanding…
Originating over 3000 years ago in India, Tantra is said to be born of the blissful practices of the god Shiva and his wife Shakti… the ‘yoga of love’ (a beautiful story if you’re interested in mythology). Tantra had a strong influence on both Hinduism and Buddhism.
According to André Padoux, “Tantrism” is a western term and notion. As the interest in Tantra has grown in the West, it’s perception deviates remarkably from the Tantric traditions. It is seen as a “cult of ecstasy”, combining sexuality and spirituality to correct Western repressive attitudes towards sex. Hence for many modern readers Tantra is now synonymous with “spiritual sex” or “sacred sexuality,” a belief that sex should be recognized as a sacred act capable of elevating its participants to a higher spiritual plane.
The practice is used to develop a deeper and spiritual connection with your partner; to build and prolong sexual pleasure with no emphasis on orgasm to enhance your physical pleasure and personal connection. It’s-about-the-journey-not-the-destination kind of sex. Sounds fun!
Margot Anand encapsulates it beautifully: “The Tantric path teaches us to embrace and unify the ordinary, the erotic, and the sacred dimensions of life…”
I’ll keep you posted 😉
Josie Baker EXPOSED 