Erotic devices from around the world

Found this intriguing article from end of last year about an exhibition still on until 13 September in London featuring erotic devices from around the world (and historically).

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2825345/Would-step-inside-sex-box-Exhibition-showcases-erotic-devices-collected-world-invites-try-one.html

Book stats

Here some book stats for my books:

Overall bestselling book – Submissive Training (approximately 42% of all my sales has been for this book)

Bestselling book on Bookstrand – Wife for Three (interestingly, this did better than Submissive Training which does better third party)

Highest number of ratings on Goodreads – Submissive Training with Retraining the Sub closely behind

Highest number of page views for a single post on my blog – ‘Nude & Erotic photos’ (I don’t think they are wanting to view what I think they are wanting to view….. this post was to highlight the fact that I used my own experiences having erotic photos done professionally in one of my stories The Sub Who Switched)

Highest number of page views to one of the pages – ‘Doms & Acquaintances’ series – with ‘Friends & Acquaintances’ very close behind. (These two series have cross over characters)

Longest book to write – Retraining the Dom (I was suffering from writing exhaustion before I started this and left off completing it for many months so was quite refreshed when I finally got back to it)

Quickest book to write – Marital Duties which appears in ‘The Men for Hire’ series which is out in September (I wrote this in three days!)

Oldest main character – Beth in Kink After Dinner who is very nearly the same age as me!

Youngest main character – Taran in ‘Alien Manhunt 1 & 2’ is a mere 21 (can I remember back that far…?!)

Most ménage partners – Collared by Wolves (one woman with four men)

Longest book – The Last Werewolf (approx. 60,000 words)

Shortest book – Marital Duties (approx. 8,000 words but this has yet to be edited so may well end up longer!)

Most researched – hmmm, I’ve done lots of research for the BDSM stories but probably the one with the most research was Bounty Hunters’ Captive as I have lots of references to classic sci-fi

Number of books set in Europe – three. Kink After Dinner and BDSM Weekend are both set in England. The Last Werewolf is set in England and Finland.

Number of books set in space – five. Wife for Three and Chasing Emily are both set on the fictional colony planet of ‘Duoterra’. Bounty Hunters’ Captive is mostly on board a spaceship. Alien Manhunt 1 and 2 (and then 3 to come very soon) are set on each of the characters’ home planets with some travelling between (Cinattra, and Espoonia with 3 being on Earth).

Number of werewolf stories – three. The Last Werewolf, Collared by Wolves and Torn Between Two Lovers

Favourite book to write – Friendly Seduction (I had great fun taking the piss out of my own genre!)

Reminiscences of childhood in the 1960s and 1970s

I was having a conversation with a colleague of a similar age not too long ago and we had a great time reminiscing about our respective childhoods from the 1960s and 1970s.

It was only about ten minutes’ walk to my primary school (we called them primary, junior and senior school in those days in the UK!) and every morning I would pass this young lady going in the other direction (goodness knows how old she was – could have been anything from 14-24). The thing was she looked so grown up and I longed to look like her and walk in the other direction (that meant I had progressed to senior school as it was in the other direction!)

I can’t remember now what it was about her that seemed so grown up. It could simply be the fact that she was bigger than me and went the other way LOL.

Three things I do vividly recall knowing I would be grown up when I did these things – one was to wear tights (pantyhose in the US) instead of socks, secondly to wear high heeled shoes – particularly the stilettos that my mum wore, and thirdly to watch a James Bond film (in those days it was Sean Connery or Roger Moore)!

I am pleased to say I have achieved all three of those!

Women wearing trousers was a big issue in the late 60s, particularly if you were a housewife.

I remember clearly when we were visiting my sister’s in-laws and her mother-in-law was wearing ‘slacks’ as they called them. My mother’s amazement left me with an indelible memory! And from then on you couldn’t get my mother out of ‘slacks’ outside of work. Even on the beach!

Actually, a woman was still expected to wear skirts or dresses at work (if you worked as a secretary like she and I did/do). It wasn’t until I was working in an arts centre in the 1990s that I started wearing trousers because it was so cold in the winter!

Some other things From that era include: Green Shield stamps (I LOVED licking them!), mini skirts, the insurance man who came to your house to collect weekly contributions, and black and white TV programmes (my father still had a black and white TV when I left home).

When I turned 50 a few years ago another friend had turned 50 just a few months earlier and we were comparing our lives to that of our mums at the same age. We both remembered helping our mums with the ‘twin-tub’ washing machines which involved manually taking the washing from washing compartment to put them into the spinning compartment.

Both of our mums had dentures – I am not sure if it was because we have better dental hygiene these days or if it was just fashionable to have gleaming dentures?! Mum wouldn’t have dreamed of dying her hair like me – but she hardly had any grey even when she died at 57. And I dread to think what she would have thought of the tattoo I have these days!

As for Dads – well I was lucky that my Dad lasted until he was 80 and we had some terrific times together. But my memory of him in childhood was a father who played with us (even ‘double’ spraining his ankle when we were playing squash). It was Mum who was the disciplinarian in the household. And later Dad’s role was picking me up when I went to the cinema.

Dad’s and my tastes were often similar. One of the food inventions was powdered ice-cream (I can’t find anyone who remembers this now! I believe it was from the same people who do angel delight but definitely ice cream) and Mum’s favourite was blackcurrent.



It was such a vivid purple colour that Dad and I refused point blank to eat it! But I was a very fussy eater, however, as my Mum was in her 40s when I was born and my sister (nearly 19 years older than me) left home when I was six months old, Mum just couldn’t be bothered with the hassle and let me eat what I wanted. So I had ice-cream (except the purple kind) for dessert practically every single day. The only exceptions were mousse or actual angel delight.

Talking of food, those were the days (in the UK) when certain foods were known by other names - a snickers was a Marathon and starburst was Opal Fruits. In fact there was a great little advertising song that went with the latter, “Opal fruits, made to make your mouth water.” Doesn’t quite work with the word ‘starburst’! (One food I haven’t had for donkey’s years – they used to have tiny little very sweet seedless grapes. I adored those!). And as for advertising songs, one of my favs was, “I’m a secret lemonade drinker……” now finish the rest of the line!

Favourite tv programmes included Dr Who, Star Trek, Blake’s Seven, Space 1999, Lost in Space, Buck Rogers in the 25^th century, Battlestar Galactica, Time Tunnel, The Tomorrow People …. (you can see my interest in sci-fi started young!), but also not-to-be-missed (even though Dad called them ‘sick programmes’!) were The Waltons and Little House on the Prairie.

Ah, those were the days. Goodnight everyone……

Sex secrets of the erotic romance writer

I’ve just come across this, even though this survey was done a year or so ago, but it is most interesting. It is a survey of the sex secrets of erotic romance authors and the results are most interesting….

Quite a number of us authors have had threesomes… or more. And a much larger number than the American average have had sex outdoors! Read it to find out the percentages for those practising BDSM and those having sex for research!

http://www.thefussylibrarian.com/survey

Quotes from readers

Following on from the great quotes from writers I published last Friday, here are some from readers:

(Even more so for the writer!)

(haha!)

The Strange Tale of Albert Compton

The Strange Tale of Albert Compton

Thanks to everyone who took part in my competition last week to identify the real story of the man in the photo. You gave me some terrific suggestions including: he was a prince, a teacher with gout, an archeologist, died in the war, lost all his money in a divorce and faked his own death, injured on army service, had a double life pretending he was a woman!

This is the real story (remember truth is often stranger than fiction)…

Albert Compton was born in London and married fairly young to Sarah. At this stage he was working as a plumber (but by the time of his marriage was a draper! Maybe that seemed a more respectable profession).

However, Sarah died within a few years. The inquest declared it to be natural …. Why then did Albert scarper off to Newcastle (several hundred miles away) and within 9 months elope with Polly (real name Mary Ann)? And why did he pretend he was a bachelor if there was nothing untoward? Hmmm.

Life with Polly seemed to be good – in the 1901 census he is listed as working as an insurance clerk (bit of a change from his other jobs) and they had two daughters, living in a nice house.

But when I looked at the 1911 census there was Polly and her daughters crammed into a two roomed house (that is two rooms, not two bedrooms! Probably one bedroom and one sitting room/kitchen) with her mother and brother… and no sign of Albert. Where was he? In London with a woman called Florence claiming to be his wife. In fact, I tracked down their marriage certificate on which he finally claimed to be a widower – except he conveniently seemed to have forgotten about Polly!) I had a bigamy on my hands! (Oh, and he also lied about his father’s profession).

He had two more children with Florence and for a few years led a double life (not sure if he went back to Newcastle during this time or if he had just abandoned Polly). It appears Florence found out about six years into their bigamous marriage and threw him out.

This was about the start of WW1 and Albert joined a Northumberland regiment?! Why – well, possibly to try to get back into Polly’s good books as he had this photo taken and sent to her. It clearly didn’t work as family stories tell of Polly divorcing Albert (she didn’t as there is no record of a divorce, but this could just be another way of saying they had separated).

As for life during the War – well he didn’t serve overseas so he probably had a nice desk job in the UK.

What then happened after the War? Did Albert get back with either wife – or marry another? Indeed, no. He became a dentist (!!!!) – this actually fitted with the family story I had been told. There is usually a grain of truth in family stories, but some are grainier than others!

Did this new profession give him peace? Also no, he was so depressed that he tried to commit suicide three times. By gassing himself, there was also an incident with a razor when Florence came to visit him (possibly some attention seeking going on here!!) and he finally succeeded…. by swallowing carbolic acid while sitting in his dentist’s chair!

And so that ends the sorry tale of Albert Compton – suicidal bigamist, who might have had a hand in the death of his first wife, liar, cheat, who flittered from one diverse job to another. It certainly makes a great story… except it seems rather far fetched! As I said before, truth is often stranger than fiction.

Something you never knew about me...

Jersey in 1961 (can't quite remember that holiday now....!) And then again in 1979 with my old school friend, Jacqui.

Norfolk in 1975 with my parents (I got my first wolf whistle on that holiday!)

Holland about 1981 visiting my friend Anita (who I have long lost contact with)

Germany in 1982 on a Xmas holiday with my friend Christine (what did I look like wearing that headscarf?!). Another friend I've lost contact with.

Australia in Dec 1983/Jan 1984 (this was visiting relatives - God I was so skinny then!)

Lake District 1989 (I was treking around the Lakes for 5 days staying in Youth Hostels with my friend Gabby. We had just come down off a mountain - you may be able to see the storm clouds behind me - and we walked into brilliant sunshine! We quickly took off our waterproofs)

Stratford-upon-Avon around 1994 (I LOVE Stratford) with my friend, Celeste

USA in 1996, 2002, and 2012 (including a visit to the Canadian side of Niagara Falls). The last trip included visiting writer friends, including Tatum Throne.

In the Isle of Man in 1997(or rather in the sea!). Celeste took this photo

The Maldives in 2000 (it was hot!)

Cornwall in 2005 (with my cousin)

Isle of Wight about 2011 (I think) - standing against the railings on Ryde Pier that my great great grandfather made!

The London Olympics in 2012 with my friend Liz who I'd been to Isle of Wight with.

Finland in 2012 visiting writer friend, Susan Laine

Portmeirion, Wales in 2013 and again in 2014 (one of my favourite places) - the latter trip with writer friend, Bella Settarra.

France (along with Holland and Belgium) in 2014 (this was in Monet's garden)

Scotland in 2014 (to see the Commonwealth Games and then toured about Scotland)

One thing that really strikes me is that this is almost a history of friendships over the years - as I make other friends when earlier ones lose touch or get married and go on holidays with their families or leave the country!

Great quotes from writers

No weekend reading this week… just some great quotes from writers.

Good idea!

Too true!

Haha!

Need I say more!