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Forbidden Fruit Blog Tour: Rachel O. Esplanade interviews Allison Wonderland

September 17, 2014 by Harper Bliss Leave a Comment

Forbidden FruitBecause I just can’t get enough of Forbidden Fruit, I’m hosting another stop on the blog tour. 😉 Rachel O. Esplanade, whom I interviewed last week, is interviewing Allison Wonderland about her story ‘Ungodly Ours’ in Forbidden Fruit.

Rachel O. Esplanade: The influence of organized religion on the characters in your story “Ungodly Ours” in Forbidden Fruit is very strong and spoke to me. Was religion a strong influence on you during your formative years? Are you a religious person yourself?

Allison Wonderland: Not at all. I identify as Jewish, but I’m essentially non-practicing. The story’s protagonist, Nadine, is raised in a family of faithful and fecund Fundamentalists. You know the caveat “Write what you know”? Well, for this story, I decided to take a flying leap out of my comfort zone and write what I know nothing about. Which is why I was up at ungodly hours writing “Ungodly Ours.”

Rachel O. Esplanade: You have had over thirty stories published in a wide range of anthologies over the last number of years. Where do you derive your story ideas from?

Allison Wonderland: Divine intervention. Just kidding. You know how you always find things when you’re not actively looking for them? That’s how my ideas come to me. I’ll be somewhere – a roller derby, a theme park, a department store – and all of a sudden I’ll think This would be a great setting for a story. I can even be somewhere as seemingly uninspiring as the living room, in front of the television. That’s how “Ungodly Ours” came into creation. One of my guilty pleasures is a reality program popular in the States about a copious Christian family that expects every member to be strait-laced, straightforward, and, of course, straight. I started to wonder What if one of this family’s nearly two-dozen offspring develops feelings for someone of the same sex? It’s inconceivable. It’s incomprehensible. It’s inevitable. So if you join ‘em, you can beat ‘em.

Rachel O. Esplanade: Of the two lovers in your story, which character did you identify most with, Rebecca or Nadine? Why?

Allison Wonderland:  Nadine, for sure. She’s unobtrusive yet unmistakable, subdued but not subservient. She likes to think, rethink, and overthink, and I’m exactly the same way. In that sense, I did write what I know, and it really enabled me to embrace and embody the character.

Rachel O. Esplanade: What drives you to write, to actually sit down and bring a story to fruition?

Allison Wonderland: Deadlines. I’m a procrastinating perfectionist, so I approach writing with a mixture of fright and delight. I love generating ideas and settings and titles for stories, and there’s nothing more fearful or wonderful than the blank page. Once an idea is ignited, it has to be incited, and that’s where deadlines come in. They’re my fruition ignition, if you will.

Rachel O. Esplanade: What is your favorite fruit? If forbidden, would you care to elaborate?

Allison Wonderland: Avocado, apricot, and pineapple. Hey, there’s more than one way to be fruitful and multiply.

Excerpt from ‘Ungoldy Ours’:

“Mom and I have something we’d like to discuss with you.”

You snitched, didn’t You? I glower at God. I begged You not to tell. I even promised You my firstborn.

I scramble to get my jumbled thoughts in order. I haven’t been sinning. I haven’t even been rebelling. I’ve just been
 resisting. Gently, passively, secretly. Submissive in practice, dismissive in theory. When Rebecca comes over, my parents and siblings hold us accountable for our purity, even though they have no idea that that’s what they’re doing. It’s acceptable for girls to show each other physical affection, but Rebecca and I barely brush arms and we absolutely never kiss, not even on the cheek. When we say goodbye, we don’t frontal-hug, because that would make our breasts touch. Instead we side-hug, arms around each other’s shoulders, a perfect imitation of Thing 1 and Thing 2. At all times we are careful and prayerful.

So how did Mom and Dad discover that I am disobedient? Imperfect. Satanic. They will hate the sinner, not the sin. I will be excommunicated, exorcised, and excised from my family like bad words on TV or a filthy passage in a book. Unless I tell them the God’s honest truth. The truth is He’s got designs on us, and I don’t mean that disrespectfully. I mean we don’t get to decide how we’re designed. We only get to decide how to respond to God’s design, and I choose to respond by accepting the way He created me: in His image. Our Savior is not unsavory. So, by association, I am not guilty. Jesus already died for my sins. It’s no longer His cross to bear. Just because I’ve fallen for a woman doesn’t make me a fallen woman. It’s not like I’ve bared my body or shared it with some man. I haven’t even shared it with her. Mom and Dad have taught me well and I will show them how much their dutiful daughter has learned, so help me God.

Seriously, God—I need you. So help me. Please.

* * *

The next stop on the Forbidden Fruit blog tour is Erzabet Bishop interviewing Nicole Wolfe

Leave a comment on any post in the Forbidden Fruit blog tour to be entered into a random draw to win one of these great prizes. Prizes include a paperback copy ofGirls Who Score, lesbian sports erotica edited by Ily Goyanes, Best Lesbian Romance 2011 edited by Radclyffe, an ebook of Ladylit’s first lesbian anthology Anything She Wants, and a bundle of three mini-anthologies from Ladylit: Sweat, A Christmas to Remember and Bossy. All of these titles contain some stories written by the fabulous contributors to Forbidden Fruit: stories of unwise lesbian desire. You must include an email address in your comment to be entered into the draw.

Forbidden Fruit: stories of unwise lesbian desire is available direct from Ladylit or from Amazon, Smashwords, and other good retailers of ebooks. Check out Ladylit for all purchasing information.

EXTRA: We’re currently running a Goodreads giveaway. Enter here to win a paperback copy of Forbidden Fruit >>

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Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Allison Wonderland, Cheyenne Blue, Forbidden Fruit, lesbian erotica, lesbian erotica anthology, Rachel O. Esplanade

Hump Day Hook: Anything She Wants

June 5, 2013 by Harper Bliss 12 Comments

Anything She WantsLet me warn you before the madness starts. As of today, everything on my blog will revolve around Anything She Wants. 😉 The official release date is June 7th, but for this week’s Hump Day Hook I’m giving you a sneak peek at my story Alphas (which appears in Anything She Wants.)

“My office in ten?” Robin asks. She towers over the table. I follow the line of her cleavage because it’s impossible not to. It doesn’t give anything away though. Robin is all about suggestion.

“Sure.” At least I’ll have a few minutes to compose myself and check which case we’re meant to crack together.

I shuffle out of the conference room behind Robin and can’t help but inhale a whiff of her perfume. I’ve been trying to figure out which one it is—sniffing endless scented paper sticks at Sephora—but I’m a much better lawyer than I am a detective.

Nine minutes later I knock on her open door.

“Come,” she says, her voice measured and authoritative. She sits behind her desk like a queen on a throne, illuminated by light streaming from giant windows. Robin started at the firm barely a month before I did, but she’s always had a knack for securing things well above her status. My office is spacious and light, but not nearly as big and bright as Robin’s. No matter how hard I try—and sample different dry cleaners—my suits are never as crisp as hers. And my nerve always seems to crumble when I’m within three feet of her.

I sit down in a chair opposite her desk without being invited.

“Would you mind closing the door, please?” Robin’s eyes rest on me, a tight smile tugging at her lips. I know she waited for me to sit so she could ask me to get up again. It’s how alpha females like Robin assert their power—with the small things that get under people’s skin the most.

Want more Hump Day goodness? Head over to the official site >>

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Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Anything She Wants, harper bliss, HDH, Hump Day Hook, lesbian erotica, lesbian erotica anthology

Anything She Wants

May 16, 2013 by Harper Bliss 1 Comment

Anything She WantsIt’s been quiet on my blog for a good reason. I was up to my ears in lesbian erotic short stories (which is not a bad place to be at all), reading submissions for Anything She Wants. Today, I’m very happy to present you with the cover and the list of extremely talented contributors. Some names may look familiar to F/F aficionadas out there, while others are quite new to the scene.

Here’s the list of the twelve awesome stories (in no particular order):

The Corner Chair by Laila Blake
Cliché by Kay Jaybee
Vee’s Notebook by Alyssa Linn Palmer
Loving the Lady by Lucy Felthouse
Blurring the Boundary by Sarah Ellen
Hooked by Erzabet Bishop
Steps by L.C. Spoering
The Dress by Vanessa de Sade
Debbie Does Dalhousie by Giselle Renarde
Behind Closed Doors by Kelly Lawrence
Safer Places by Ariel Graham
Alphas by Harper Bliss

I hope to release this anthology around June 7th (which is mine and Ladylit’s birthday), so I’d best get cracking. Meanwhile, I’ll just walk around incredibly excited. 😉

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Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Anthology, Anything She Wants, lesbian erotica anthology

Q&A: Ily Goyanes on Girls Who Score

April 29, 2013 by Harper Bliss 2 Comments

Girls Who Score The cover of Girls Who Score makes me sad that I live in a shoebox Hong Kong apartment with not a lot of room for print books. Maybe I can have a poster made out if though, and hang it on my bedroom wall. Hey, I have a thing for toned women in tank tops and sport bras. (If you’ve read any of my stories, this is probably not news to you.)

No lesbian erotica anthology could be tailored more to my taste than this one filled with hot stories about sporty lesbians. (Because there are not a lot of things in life that I love more than sporty lesbians.) Please, Cleis Press, can you make this an annual series?

Obviously, I’m thrilled to have Girls Who Score editor Ily Goyanes on my blog today. Before she tells us more about this fabulous anthology, I want to give a special shout-out to the brilliant Cheyenne Blue, whose story Run, Jo, Run lingered in my mind long after I finished reading it (and is partly responsible for me starting to run again!)

Let’s hear from Ily.

1. Sell us your book in one sentence.
Smart, sweaty, steamy sex involving female athletes and the women who desire them.

2. Favourite line (or paragraph) from Girls Who Score
I hate to sound cliche, but I really can’t choose one. There are so many sassy, smart lines, and passionate paragraphs, that it would be a disservice to choose one above all the others.

3. Last book that blew you away?
Dirty Cooking by Jay Sheehan.

4. Which celebrity is at number one of your imaginary to-do list?
Ooooh. I get to choose two since I’m queer, right? Channing Tatum and Catherine Zeta Jones.

5. What’s your favourite sexy song?
Tough question. Too many. But electronica and jazz really do it for me.

6. What are you most proud of?
Being asked to participate in Miami Book Fair International as a panelist last year, and the Lambda Literary Award and Golden Crown Literary Society nominations for Girls Who Score.

7. Who’s your favourite TV Character?
Rick Castle.

8. Which author’s books are a must-read?
Megan Abbott, particularly Dare Me.

9. Anything else you want us to know?
If you find the strength (and bodies) of female athletes sexy, you’ll probably enjoy reading Girls Who Score.

10. What’s next for you?
I’m simultaneously working on two novels, one mystery, and one contemporary lit.

* * *

Ily Goyanes is a journalist, editor, publisher, and widely published erotica author. She writes about food and culture for the Miami New Times and the Fuming Foodie, her columnist alter ego, has been known to cause a bit of controversy. Her erotica appears in Best Lesbian Erotica 2012, Lesbian Cops: Erotic Investigations, Spankalicious: Erotic Adventures in Spanking, and Power Plays.  Girls Who Score: Hot Lesbian Erotica is her first full-length anthology. She calls Miami, Florida home.

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Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Anthology, Girls Who Score, Ily Goyanes, Interview, lesbian erotica, lesbian erotica anthology, Q&A

Call For Submissions: Anything She Wants

February 9, 2013 by Harper Bliss Leave a Comment

Anything She Wants Ladylit, the publishing company my wife and I founded in June last year, wants to celebrate its first birthday with a scorching hot collection of lesbian erotica, to be published in June 2013.

We have a title, a cover and an editor (although I can’t take all the credit, but the wife decided the name Harper Bliss should cover our joint effort in this case.) What we need now are… stories!

Here’s all the information you need:

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

Anything She Wants (Lesbian erotica)
Editor: Harper Bliss
Publisher: Ladylit
Deadline: May 1, 2013
Word Count: 2.000-3.500
Type: Lesbian
Payment: $30 per story
Rights: First international electronic rights

Ladylit Publishing wishes to celebrate its first anniversary with a sizzling collection of lesbian tales. We’re looking for F/F erotica of any subgenre (fiction only). It doesn’t matter how many characters end up in bed (or anywhere else) together, as long as they are all female. Make your setting original, and make sure there’s a little something more going on than just sex. Whether you’re writing about cougars, first-timers, tomboys or latebians, give us a fully-formed character. We’re open to all varieties of lesbian lust, as long as your story is well-crafted and hot.

No incest, rape, underage characters or bestiality.

Original stories are preferred. No simultaneous submissions.

The deadline is May 1, 2013.

Fictional stories only, please. No poetry. One submission per author. We buy first international electronic rights. Authors will be paid $30 per story.

Please make sure submissions include your name (legal and pen), mailing address and email address in the top left corner of the page. Send it as a Word attachment to submissions@ladylit.com with ‘Anything She Wants (Story Title)’ in the subject line. Please name your document as follows: StoryTitle_AuthorName. Include a 50-word bio with your submission. You will receive an email acknowledgement of receipt within 48 hours.

Make sure your submission is formatted properly using double spaces and Times New Roman or Georgia, 12 pt. font. Don’t put any extra spaces between paragraphs and make sure each paragraph is indented. Use quotation marks in dialogue.

For any questions regarding your story or the submission process, e-mail submissions@ladylit.com

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Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Anthology, Anything She Wants, Call For Submissions, harper bliss, LadyLit, lesbian erotica, lesbian erotica anthology

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