OGG: Survivor's Guilt

this fortnight's topic on Oh Get A Grip was guilt. i wrote a very difficult post about the guilt I have been feeling since my health crisis in 2009. it is here.

Featured in the Mammoth Book of Best New Erotica 12

i'm chuffed as hell to have a story in Maxim Jakubowski's "Mammoth Book of Best New Erotica 12." This is the third time one of my stories has appeared in the publication and one of the first stories I wrote upon my return from my erotic fiction writing hiatus.

The Graffiti Artist is about a young woman struggling to make her way under difficult circumstances and alluring men she encounters.

Thank you to Maxim for choosing another one of my stories. "Unravelling the Threads of An Ordinary Life" appeared in the Mammoth Book of Best New Erotica 2005 & "The Travellers" appeared in the MBNE 2006. It is an honour to have work in these fine collections and to be published with some of the top erotica writers of this century.

Thank you also to the Erotica Readers and Writers Association whose constant camaraderie, support & encouragement makes the lonely writing life a lot less lonely.

I have more sexy stories coming out in 2014 on line and in print. Honey, you ain't seen nothing yet...

Put on your red shoes & dance the blues

with a nod to David Bowie on the subject line...

here's a new online publication, "the Pickled Body," co-run  by former Ottawa poet, Dimitra Xidous, fellow duende appreciator & current Dublin resident. one of my poems from "Beast Body Epic" appears in its first issue, aptly titled, the Red Shoes issue.

& here is an apt photo taken by Charles of my fishnet stocking clad legs with one high-heeled red shoe showing.yes, i have found a reason to gratuitously show you my sexy legs.

congratulations to the editors & fellow contributors. i am honoured to be among you.

to learn more about "the Pickled Body," check out their Tumblr account & especially the interview with editors Patrick Chapman & Dimitra Xidous.

Dear Santa

my silly pervy letter to Saint Nick has been published for a second time in the Erotica Readers and Writers Association Gallery for its holiday-themed issue. here it is to put you in the mood for some xmas shenanigans & of course, the carols!

Dear Santa

thanks once more to Adrienne, the head hoochie honcho of ERWA, the editors & my fellow writers. it's a great group. i am glad to be part of it.

An Invitation to Trouble

TROUBLE is inspired by the poetry of Tom Walmsley & Eduardo C. Corral, the music of Tom Waits. Could be a retelling of the story of Eurydice & Orpheus, via Jean Cocteau's Orpheus trilogy. Could be the tale of a romance, a love affair. It concerns the wanderer, the martyr, the warrior & the orphan, bereavement & bewilderment. It is a long poem told in five acts.

I will be reading from TROUBLE on Wednesday, November 27, 2013 after 9pm at the Clocktower Pub, 575 Bank Street as a feature of the In/Words Reading Series. I invite you to come partake of TROUBLE & to read some troublesome poems or stories of your own at the open mic.

If you ask for trouble, I will give you trouble...in the form of a limited edition, 26-copy broadside made for the occasion.

For eight years I have been infatuated with In/Words, have admired its spirit of community, mentorship & spirit of nurturing, its attempts to bridge the world of academia with Ottawa's wider literary community. In/Words is an essential part of this community. I have had several poems published in the magazine throughout the years & last year, a broadside. I am chuffed to have been invited to read on Wednesday…even if it is past my bedtime. I thank In/Words for their support & encouragement of my writing & the writing of others.

OGG: Fairy Tales & Why They Matter

this fortnight's Oh Get A Grip topic was fairy tales. please see my post here.

An invitation to the Factory Reading Series VERSeFest Fundraiser

Talks on Writing by Amanda Earl, Brecken Hancock and David O'Meara

Thursday, November 21, 2013, Raw Sugar, 692 Somerset West

doors: 7pm; talks: 7:30pm

Admission: $8

My talk is entitled "An Essay About Writing A Talk About Poetry OR Thoughts on Play, the Other and Duende." It's a ramble & a tangle, I tells ya. Full of leaps by a bounder.

I am happy to be sharing the stage with my fellow trouble-makers:  the fine poets & charming individuals, Brecken Hancock and David O'Meara.

I am also pleased that this event is a fundraiser for the lovely VERSeFest, Ottawa's annual poetry festival, which will be in its third year in 2014, offering a full week of poetry from poets the wor(l)d over…

For further information, biographies of presenters, please visit  the above/ground press blog.

Thanks to rob mclennan for inviting me to take part this year.