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--- Market Listings ---
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UPDATED worldwide call for submissions for an anthology of erotica featuring famous historical characters edited by author/anthologist Mitzi Szereto

The focus of this collection of speculative erotic fiction will be on famous characters throughout history from ancient times through the 20th Century. What did Napoleon and Josephine really get up to? Was Cleopatra as hot as everyone says? What went on backstage with the Bard and his actors? How much of a sexpot was Mae West? Did Elvis have much of a pelvis? Okay, you get the picture . You ve got thousands of years to work with, so get cracking!

Specifications:

1. Stories can be of any length, but generally no longer than 7,000 words.
2. A high calibre of writing is expected.
3. Explicitness is fine; crudeness is not.
4. No underage or non-consensual encounters.
5. No hackneyed descriptions or dialogue.
6. Stories may be of any sexual orientation.
7. All stylisations are welcome.
8. Give your story an edge! (To get an idea of what I am looking for, refer to my other anthologies.)
9. And please, get your historical facts right. Do your RESEARCH! Previously published material may be considered, providing you have the rights or can get the rights. Indicate where and when published, plus rights status. This means FULL DISCLOSURE OF PUBLISHING HISTORY.

Submission requirements:
Stories must be submitted in typewritten hard copy ONLY, double-spaced (with a Windows-compatible file available on request). Manuscripts not chosen will be discarded, so do not send your only copy. Include with your submission a brief author bio and your e-mail address. Please do not submit stories by e-mail.

For queries and postal information, contact: WordDabbler@yahoo.com or MitziSzereto@yahoo.com

Submission deadline: Aug. 15, 2003.

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Everything I Have Is Blue: Short Fiction by Working-Class Men About More-or-Less Gay Life
http://home.earthlink.net/~uur/call.htm

Fiction by working-class gay men is an area of queer literature that has yet to develop a voice. Although liberation rhetoric assures us that men who are bus drivers, plumbers, warehousemen, beat cops, single dads on welfare, garbage men, auto workers, ranch hands, taxi drivers, fry cooks, legal secretaries, soldiers, janitors, waiters, mailroom clerks, and residents of trailer parks are "also" gay, most of us would have difficulty recalling a contemporary gay novel or short story (leaving aside pornography) in which such gay men were important characters. And what about those of us who are, in some ways, the queerest of them all: our hearts faithful to our blue-collar roots, but our daily lives perhaps unrecognizable to our grandparents, parents, and even siblings?

Mindful of the tradition of "class-conscious" fiction by such lesbian writers as Pat Califia, Judy Grahn, Dorothy Allison, Leslie Feinberg (e.g., Stone Butch Blues, 1993), and Frankie Hucklenbroich (e.g., Crystal Diary, 1997), of "working-man" straight fiction like Allan Sillitoe's The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner (1959), and of the themes explored in such nonfiction anthologies as Susan Raffo's Queerly Classed (1998) and Julia Penelope's Out of the Class Closet: Lesbians Speak (1994), Everything I Have Is Blue is the first anthology of gay-male fiction devoted entirely to working-class themes.

The Editor of Everything I Have Is Blue encourages more-or-less gay working-class men to submit short fiction that is about somethingno "happens to be blue collar" stories hereand that speaks from and to the experiences of managing internal and external (di)visions of class, maleness, and gayness. That means: writers who submit work should identify as queer, in one of the many senses of that word; should live as male; and , perhaps most importantly, should be clear about the importance in their lives of a working-class identity.

Make your stories funny, make them horny, or make them sad. Invent your own "jumping off" points or consider some of these "situations":

· Working-class masculinity"real" men and sissy trash
· Working-class OR gay: divided loyalties?
· Hunks, lunks, and bohunks; trailer trash, working stiffs, and trade; ruffnecks, b-boys, and homieswhy we love them/why we hate them/why we are them
· Class differencesmake sex hot? Or make sex NOT?
· Conflicts in the gay ghettowho's allowed to live in Oz?
· Working-class gay men and the military
· Rednecks in love
· When race/ethnicity, class, and sexuality collide, where the hell is it that you belong?
· "A good job, a phat ride, and a big dickwhat more do you want in a man?"how we measure ourselves and each other
· Street cred and gangsta propsworking out working class queerly in the "inner" city
. "If you're so smart why ain't you rich?"getting an education, getting above your raisin', and getting the hell out of Kansas
· Judged by food: Will you dis me if I serve you Spam?
· Our real mamas and our dyke buddies
· "Classed" straight identity and homo sexwho's out, who sold out, and who just plain assimilated?
· Drinkin', blinkin', and nodding off on drugs & alcohol in working-class gay life
· Street boys, hustlers, and Goodwill queens
· "Piss elegance" & denial of working-class roots
· When a pickup is more than just a line
· How to hold onto to your man when you buy his supper with food stamps; or: gay life without credit cards

Please note: Everything I Have Is Blue is not an anthology of erotica (check Alyson for that - it's pretty much all they publish these days).

Please do not send stroke stories or work in which a sexual encounter is the entire point of the story. Any good story with a sexy theme is more than welcome, however, provided the sexuality is organic to the story and advances plot, character, or action.

Guidelines for Submission

1. Submit one clean, typed, double-spaced copy of each manuscript; one-inch margins all around, twelve-point type or close to it
2. Word count between 2500 and 8,000 words or thereabouts.
3. Unpublished work only.
4. Send SASE for my reply only, manuscripts cannot be returned.
5. Comments will be provided on all submissions.
6. No electronic submissions, please.

PAYMENT: $50-$75 plus two author's copies.

DEADLINE: 1 September 2003 (not firm). Please contact me for status.

PUBLISHER: Suspect Thoughts Press.

SUBMIT TO:
Wendell Ricketts
Everything I Have Is Blue Anthology
35 Russia Avenue - Apt. O
San Francisco, CA 94112 USA.

Write or email for further information: wendellricketts@earthlink.net

NO E-SUBS, please!

For information about editor Wendell Ricketts, please go to: http://home.earthlink.net/~uur/call.htm

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THE GOOD PARTS: PURE LESBIAN EROTICA

Are you tired of wading through all that muckety muck just to get to the good parts? Sick of all those lesbian characters who have to process their relationship for a good eight to ten pages before slipping between the sheets? Nicole Foster wants to put an end to all that with a collection of lesbian erotic stories that cut to the chase--just a quick (one- or two-sentence) setup and then the action: "I entered the locker room and there she was, a beautiful blonde with a wicked smile. I strolled over and grabbed her?." Get the picture? Good. So send Nicole your sexiest, wildest, hottest sex scenes for publication in the new Alyson Books anthology The Good Parts: Pure Lesbian Erotica. Excerpts from previously published stories will be considered. Please state whether your story/excerpt has been previously published and where, and make sure you have the authority to grant reprint rights. Up to 3,000 words. See URL (below) for full guidelines.

Address: Nicole Foster, The Good Parts, c/o Alyson Books, 6922 Hollywood Boulevard, 10th floor, Los Angeles, CA 90028

URL: http://www.alyson.com/html/02_files/submissions/goodparts.html

Deadline: July 1, 2003

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If so, please consider making a
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Order your voluntary subscription Here
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--- What I Didn't Know ---
--- Musings By C.B. Potts ---
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The Value Of Our Voices

Recently, this newsletter ran an article explaining the benefits and reasons for writing for free. This is an issue I feel rather strongly about, and I’m going to use this column to climb onto the proverbial soapbox and preach from the opposite camp. As writers, I believe we should NEVER work for free, and here’s why.

When I began to write seriously as a professional, I read tons of magazines, journals, and e-zines all professing the difficulties of breaking into print and the inevitability of writing for free. Yet when I began to work as an accountant, there were no articles touting the glory of exposure, or the expectation that long hours of work would be rewarded with the simple joy of seeing your name at the end of the 1040. Puzzled by the contrast, I looked into other professions. No where is there this expectation that labor has no value, and that intangible compensation is adequate for a very tangible product.

It is also not true. I’ve received my share of rejection letters, with reasons ranging all over the sun. But not one single one has said: We would love to take your story, but you have inadequate unpaid experience. It is simply not necessary to write for free in order to be published.

But writers do it. Why?

The answer is sad, but simple. Any moron with a sharpened stick and some wet clay can write. (Although he would be hard pressed to find a publisher accepting that manuscript format!) We are all (hopefully) taught the rudiments of literacy in school, and can construct a simple narrative structure.

Couple that with the glamorous image people have of writers. Somewhere this mythos evolved that we all live fabulous lives of wealth and ease, all from scrawling out a few lines in the morning before jetting off to Maui to discuss director’s notes with Ron Howard. Of course people want to do it.

So they try. Few, if any, devote the serious time and effort it takes to write well – in fact, few treat it as a job at all. Let me tell you, if writing is not work for you, you are not doing it right. Just scrawling down whatever pops into your mind is not writing – it’s drafting, or an exercise, or therapy. Writing occurs when you rewrite, when you edit, when you manage to impose a coherent order upon the flight of fancy.

But those loosey-goosey manuscripts, untrained, undisciplined, unedited, are still out there. They’ve been set free by would-be authors who are convinced that publication is its own reward, and an inevitable first step toward becoming the next Stephen King.

Think back to Economics 101 – what we have now is a glut of supply. When there is an excess of cheap – or free – product available, purchasers can pay less to meet their needs. The more writers who are willing to work for free, the less editors are willing to pay those who are not.

What other effect does this have on writers? Well, for one, it has created a culture where people do not expect to pay for content. The Internet hasn’t helped – with a few clicks, anyone can be reading cutting edge, fantastic literature.

People do not value what they do not pay for. Simple rule, but one that is often forgotten. I write for several publications, one of which is a regional free paper. That is the paper I see tossed in the trash or crumpled in the recycling bin. On the other hand, I see people hoard copies of National Geographic, Reader’s Digest, and other magazines for generations. Not only because the content is good – in the case of National Geographic, spectacular – but because they have paid for those magazines, they have invested in the content.

Even free publications should pay their contributors. Network TV is the ultimate example – free to all, with huge production costs. How do they do it? Do you think the cast of Will and Grace is doing their routine for exposure – for the sheer glamour of being on TV? No way. They are paid, handsomely, out of the funds generated by advertising revenue. Writers should have the same expectation of compensation.

Obviously, there are some problems of scale, and you can charge more for advertising on NBC than in the average literary mag. Writers do need to realize that stories sold to small publications won’t command the same return. Payment may be small, but there should always be payment – in recognition of your effort and in the value your work adds to the publication as a whole. The bottom line for me: if you can’t support the production and pay your contributors, then you shouldn’t be in business.

Is this view cold? Probably. But I can’t pay my bills with exposure, and neither can you. Value yourself and your work, and the world will respond. What you do is important, and there’s no one else who can tell your stories. Let them pay to listen.

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CB Potts is a freelance writer living in Upstate NY. She specializes in adult fiction, although recently she has begun to branch out into other genres. Upcoming stories are scheduled to appear in Options, Beau, and Indulge magazines, and the new Alyson anthology, Just the Sex. Feel free to contact her with questions, comments, job offers :) at comctpotts@juno.com

Rachel Kramer Bussel (www.rachelkramerbussel.com) has had her story "Two Guys, A Girl, and a Porno Movie" accepted for Best American Erotica 2004, edited by Susie Bright, to be published in February 2004. Another story, "Doing the Dishes," is slated to be published in Best Women's Erotica 2004, edited by Marcy Sheiner.

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Alex S. Johnson wishes to share his joy at selling a thoroughly nasty tale of video voyeurism and punishment, "Live Transmission," to the slave anthology edited by N.T. Morley (author of The Parlor). Slave and its companion volume, master, will appear late in the year.

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D.L. Tash's trashy little story, Private Eyeful, has gone #1 at storiesonline.com! With a 9.7 rating, it is the highest rated story of the last 30 days!

And Katy Terrega, whose web site, e-books and newsletter are DIRECTLY RESPONSIBLE for Mr. Tash's rapid descent into the morass of pornographic writing must accept a substantial portion of the blame!

Thank you, thank you!

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Congrats to all of you! Tell me what's going on. Have you made a sale? Do you have a piece being published? Let me know and I'll print it here for all to see! (It helps if you write it in the format above; makes it easier for me to just cut and paste.)

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If you sent me your Goings On but don't see it here, just let me know and I'll get it out.

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Check out my column at http://www.absolutewrite.com/ on - what else?! - writing porn. This week I wrote about the importance of keeping your stories realistic in "The Reality Factor." Check it out here - http://www.absolutewrite.com/specialty_writing/porn_101.htm

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Check out the new and improved, totally revamped story site at KatyTerrega.com and let me know what you think! Or there's always the (now free) Daily Jack-Off Stories to peruse...

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--- Q & A ---
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Send me your questions! I'll answer the most common ones here, and if I don't know the answer, I'll do my best to find a pro who does. (Of course, failing that, I'll ask y'all for help...)

Send Me Your Stories And Ideas!

I'm looking for essays/articles that will inspire and/or instruct other porn writers. Success stories, how to break into certain markets, unique views on the genre, etc. Around 800 words is good, although I'm flexible.

I'd love articles on specific markets. There are so many sub-genres of porn and it's hard to know the subtleties of each. If you've got a specialty, from BDSM to Watersports to Leg Sex to Amputeeism, feel free to share your knowledge.

You can either suggest a topic (query) or send something whole. I'll get back to you within a week as to whether or not I'll be able to use it.

Payment varies; From $5-$10 per article (depending on site income for the month) OR a copy of one of the books on the Order Form. I'll also include a lengthy bio and url if you'd like.