Yesterday, Ladylit saw the release of First: Sensual Lesbian Stories of New Beginnings edited by Cheyenne Blue.
The theme for First may seem obvious—you’re probably thinking this is an anthology of first lesbian sexual experiences. Well, yes… and very definitely no.
There are some very fine stories of first-time lesbian sex in this erotic collection, the majority of stories, however, have taken a different first time experience and woven the erotic around this. First times can be exhilarating, mind-blowing, breath-taking and make memories that last forever. Or they can be shot through with anxiety, fear, redemption, or anger. All of these emotions are found in the fifteen stories that make up First.
To celebrate the release of First: Sensual Lesbian Stories of New Beginnings, Cheyenne asked the contributors to tell her about a first time of their own. Here is my contribution.
The ‘first’ experience I’ll be referring to hasn’t got anything to do with my story in the anthology, because it’s about a vision-impaired woman who regains her sight and, although I have often exclaimed, in jest, Corky’s legendary words from the movie Bound, “I can see again”, I have never (thankfully!) lost my vision. 😉
The ‘first’ I’ll be talking about is the very first time I wrote an erotic story. I remember the day clearly. It was in May 2012 and, as soon as I sat down at my computer after making the decision to try my hand at writing something smutty, I felt it was meant to be.
I had just finished the long (and quite painful) process of writing and publishing my first novel and, compared to that, writing erotica felt like a walk in the park. My fingers could barely keep up on the keyboard as the words just flowed and flowed and a story came, seemingly, out of nowhere. Since then, writing a sex scene has always been my most favorite part of any story I’m writing. I’m a meticulous (some might say obsessive) words-per-minute tracker and my word count is never as high as when my characters are in the throes of passion.
From this I can only take away one obvious conclusion: I was meant to write lesbian erotica. It’s my ‘thing’. I knew it from the very first time I sat down and got in touch with my more daring side and, as far as ‘firsts’ go, it was one of the very best of my life. In fact, I believe that after finishing that very first story, I may have said to my wife, “I can see again.” 😉
Here’s an excerpt from my story, The Opposite of Darkness:
“Ready?” Doctor Matheson asked.
Erica had grown close to the man over the past year. And now he was about to give her the one thing she’d never believed she’d have again. Her sight.
Everyone was here. Lauren squeezed her right hand. Her mother did the same with her left. Erica heard her father expel some agitated breaths from a corner of the room and, although she couldn’t see her—yet—she sensed Jenny’s presence at the end of the bed.
“I’ve been ready for seven years, Doc,” Erica replied. Seven years of darkness is a long time. Seven years during which so much had changed and she hadn’t seen any of it. Erica remembered what her parents looked like, of course. Her dad’s gruff forehead with the deep worry lines. Her mother’s button nose and ever-shifting gaze. But she’d never seen Jenny’s or Lauren’s faces. She had an image in her head of what Lauren, her partner of the past four years, looked like, and she’d let her fingers flit over her face almost every day of their life together, but she’d never actually seen her. Not with her eyes.
“Do we really want our parents in the room when we first meet?” Erica had asked Lauren before the surgery.
“Don’t be silly, babe,” Lauren had whispered in her ear. “We met years ago.”
* * *
Tamsin Flowers is another writer with a story in First. Perhaps you’ve read Tamsin’s previous work in many anthologies, such as the Best Women’s Erotica collections as well as in Ladylit’s own Summer Love: Stories of Lesbian Holiday Romance.
Here Tamsin tells us about a first experience of her own:
I spent my most formative years in a girls’ boarding school—cloistered away from boys and anything of any interest at all, really, from the age of 11 to the age of 16. My most formative years, in fact… And I had a lot of first experiences while I was there but one resulted in a life-long love affair. I say life-long but it’s over now. However, I still yearn. I don’t think the craving will every really leave me. This is what happened.
It was my first term. I probably spent most of that term in a state of bewilderment, alternating with homesickness and exhaustion. It wasn’t anything like Hogwarts and, let’s face it, if you’re not ‘cool’ then a girls’ boarding school can be a hellish existence. Of course, I wasn’t cool. Not many eleven-year-olds are. But I wanted to be. So I worked out who the cool girls were and I tagged along as best I could, I don’t think they were at all impressed.
The school, like all good boarding schools should be, was in an isolated country house, surrounded on all sides by boundless woods and heathland. We were, surprisingly enough, allowed to wander the woods as much as we wanted and we roamed freely at weekends, delighted to be away from the glare of the poker-assed teachers whose only pleasure seemed to be in devising vile punishments for minor infringements. Running in the corridor? Not allowed out at the weekend. Caught talking after lights out? Stand alone in the dark in the haunted Great Hall until midnight. (That was because they always forgot they’d put you there.)
And every part of the damn place was haunted. Not by Ladies in White or Headless Horsemen, but by poor dead schoolgirls who’d suffered all manner of ghastly demises. The Great Hall had multiple ghosts, several of the dormitories and staircases were haunted and, most notoriously, the bottom lax pitch—that’s lacrosse pitch to the uninitiated. This abandoned rectangle of overgrown grass was apparently haunted by a girl who’d been hit in the temple by a lacrosse ball and dropped down dead. It wasn’t hard to imagine—lacrosse is similar to hockey, with an identical hard ball, but at head level—and only the goalkeepers got any form of head protection.
I wouldn’t go near the bottom lax pitch for love or money. Until the cool girls said they were going down to the woods beyond it, and did I want to come? Of course I did! I followed them down the steep path, past the top pitch and on towards the bottom pitch. I could have sworn I heard the sounds of a match in progress through the trees. Girls laughing and calling to each other for the ball. The thunder of boots on turf. The crack of the ball against a stick. The crack of the ball against a girl’s head. A scream…
I gasped as we emerged through the trees onto the scrappy, sloping pitch. It was empty. There was no one here, no match in progress. Just silence and mole hills. The cool girls laughed. They knew I’d been scared.
We went on into the dark woods beyond. And then they initiated me into the most glorious experience.
They gave me my first cigarette. I coughed and choked. I spluttered. And I fell in love. I was wholly seduced by the glamour of smoking. I am to this day. I was one of the cool girls then. The bottom lax pitch held no more fear for me. My only fear was getting caught sneaking back into school, stinking of cigarettes…
And what? You thought it was going to be something different? At a girls’ boarding school? Readers, you all have dirty minds.
* * *
Ha ha! Thank you, Tamsin, for fooling us! 😉 First: Sensual Lesbian Stories of New Beginnings is out now. Here are all the details:
Blurb
Dive into these fifteen sizzling tales of lesbian love and romance and experience the wonder, the joy, and the magic of new beginnings.
A woman sees her lover for the first time after years of blindness. For the first time in her life, a top trusts her girlfriend enough to let her take control. A connection forged in a bar in New Mexico encourages a breast cancer survivor to take a lover. Stories of new love and first lesbian encounters intermingle with other emotional and physical firsts, and the excitement of new experiences: an around the world flight, the thrill of a carnival, and even the first time to see the sea.
With fantastic stories by favorite writers such as Sacchi Green, Harper Bliss, Annabeth Leong, Allison Wonderland, and Jeremy Edwards, the variety in this anthology means there is something for everyone.
Table of contents
Roses and Thorns by Annabeth Leong
The Opposite of Darkness by Harper Bliss
The Talkies by Jeremy Edwards
Before the Bus Comes by Tamsin Flowers
Whole Again by Brenda Murphy
Pulling by Sacchi Green
The First Peonies by Ivy Newman
Repossession by Emily L. Byrne
That Summer by Vanessa de Sade
Amelia by Cheyenne Blue
The Ghost of She by Jillian Boyd
The Sum of Our Parts by Andi Marquette
Soar Spot by Allison Wonderland
Sea by Rosie Bower
Dissolving by Cela Winter
Available from
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Amazon DE
Amazon CA
Amazon AU
Add it to your Goodreads shelf >>
Enjoy!
