November Newsletter

November: Warm feet, fireplace, pumpkin soup...

The Fall has been lovely so far (chilly weather aside) with the Crucial and Amazing Fire and Ink Writers' Conference in Austin, Texas still fresh in my mind and spirit.

At the conference, I met and re-met so many brilliant and lyrical writers (ate a LOT of Mexican food) and woke up every morning just before 7 to stretch my pen in the literary chef, Marvin K. White's "Morning Stretches." Happily, I left Austin with enough inspiration to write and write and write...

The next weekend found me in Tampa for SistaExposure, a wonderful networking affair put together by GrownGurl Events. As promised, the evening was a fountain of plenty - visual artists, poets, fiction writers, even a massage therapist with her chair ready and waiting for eager bodies. All in all, a fantastic trip down south.

In other "blissful" news, while at Fire and Ink, I found out that my first book, Bliss, has been and will be used in university classrooms from Florida to the Midwest. Students have written papers on it! Amazing.

And finally, in this month of giving thanks, I cannot forget my readers, friends, and supporters: Thank You!

*********************************************

Writing Workshop - Erotica

Saturday, November 14th - 3:00 PM

Mini-Erotica Writing Workshop and Book Signing

Bound To Be Read Books

481-B Flat Shoals Avenue, S.E.

Atlanta, Georgia 30316

(404) 522-0877

Free

*********************************************

Signings, Readings, and Book Discussions (aka Love, Love, Love)

Saturday, October 31, 2009 – 2:15 PM

Atlanta Gay Pride

The Bud Light Stage

A reading with Elizabeth Anderson, Alice Teeter, and Amanda Gable

Piedmont Park, Atlanta.

Saturday, November 7, 2009 – 2:00 to 3:00 PM

Charis Books and More Birthday Bash

Charis Books and More

Atlanta, GA 30307

(404) 524 0304

Saturday, November 14th - 3:00 PM

Mini-Erotica Writing Workshop and Book Signing

Bound To Be Read Books

481-B Flat Shoals Avenue, S.E.

Atlanta, Georgia 30316

(404) 522-0877

Friday, November 20th – 8 PM

Does Your Mama Know? – The 2^nd Edition Reading with Lisa C. Moore

Charis Books and More

Atlanta, GA 30307

(404) 524 0304

*********************************************

Hot Shorts

“Fast” Part II

A week later found Jette back at the same overlook, only this time she was alone. Just her and the sea. The pounding surf below echoed the unfamiliar quiet in her blood.

She hadn’t been able to sleep tonight. Something in a waking dream had brought her back up here to brood under a sky that was on fire with the last colors of the sunset. The wind flung her thick black hair before her eyes like a veil. A full moon already hovered, pale and ripe, ready to take its place among the stars.

Beneath the sounds of the wind and surf, Jette heard footsteps. She turned and her breath stopped. To say that the woman, her sudden companion on this stretch of lonely road, was pretty would have been an insult.

She had the round, soft face of innocence, but her mouth was a dark slash of color, like drying blood, against her mocha skin. Jette drew in a deep breath just to make sure that she could. She acknowledged the woman’s slow smile with one of her own.

The stranger was all softness and warm breeze in a blue dress the color of the Mustang and the sky. Her dress was loose, but the wind molded it to her body, giving Jette an unrestricted view of full breasts with their crown of wide nipples, the gentle round of belly and honey thick thighs framing the delicate V of her womanhood.

But this was no mere honey. She was like silk unfolding on a breeze, a teasing whisper of sound and graceful motion.

Jette’s world narrowed to the vision walking toward her. Sunset, full moon, and not another soul in sight. She licked her lips. What a treat this was. She expected the woman to go straight for the car, to ooh and ahh over the butter-soft leather interior, the sleek classic lines, maybe beg her to put the top down so they could watch the sunset from the Mustang’s cozy interior.

But she walked past the car, smiling.

“You must get a lot of pussy with this car.”

Jette smiled. “I do alright.”

“Hm. I bet you do.”

Still watching Jette, the woman walked back to the Mustang and leaned back against the hood of the Mustang. She closed her eyes. The breeze ruffled her dress, lifting it away from her dimpled knees.

“I’m Luna.”

Below them, sunset-colored waves flung themselves at the cliffs. The moist spray flicked against Jette’s face, wetting her mouth and cheeks.

“So, Bridgette, have you ever been…taken?” Luna asked without opening her eyes.

Jette looked closely at the woman. She hadn’t been called that name in a long time, and certainly never by someone she’d just met. “Do I know you?”

“No, but you will.” Luna opened one amber-flecked eye. “Are you going to answer my question?”

For a moment, Jette was tempted to tell her to fuck off. But a stronger part of her wanted to know where this conversation was going. “No. I’ve never been fucked. And I don’t want to be.”

She frowned, not quite sure that she wanted to answer any more personal questions from this stranger, although she herself had asked that question of many strange women. Just before making a home inside their bodies for her fingers or tongue.

“The old saying is true, you know,” Luna murmured. Her gaze was lazy, but watchful. “You never know what you’re missing until you try it.”

“Usually I’d agree with you. But not in this instance. Not when it’s about me getting fucked.”

“So you’re going to stick with what you know? Fucking girls in your fast car then peeling out at 110 miles just to get back to your lonely little apartment?” Luna propped herself up on her elbows and watched Jette with amused eyes. “Doesn’t sound like much fun to me.”

“Then you obviously haven’t tried it.” Jette grinned.

“I’ve experienced something like it.” The woman bared her own teeth. “You feed on their fear and turn it into lust. You’re no better than a leech, or a vampire.” Luna didn’t sound judgmental. Simply like she was stating a fact.

Suddenly uneasy, Jette shrugged and turned around to squint into the darkening distance. She didn’t see anything wrong with what she did with these women as long as both of them got off and nobody got hurt. She turned back to face Luna. But the woman was gone.

[to be continued]

**First published in VA-VA-VOOM: Red Hot Lesbian Erotica. Edited by Astrid Fox, 2005.

SistaExposure in Tampa

SistaExposure

Come out one and for this delicious event at the Good Luck Cafe in Ybor City, Tampa.

Saturday, October 17th from 9 PM until 3 AM

Drink specials. Spoken Word. Great Music. Networking. Flirting. Good times!

Autumn Sonata - October Newsletter

**Changes**

When I was younger, there were things I couldn't be bothered with--vegetables, chocolates, my evening bath. Now, there are few pleasures sweeter to me than a slice of German chocolate cake, the dark, slightly sweet pastry with its silky-on-the-tongue coconut frosting and a maraschino cherry glistening on top.

Change is not only a sign of time passing, it is a sign of progress, of life moving forward, like a river, washing away the old, and bringing in the new.

My writing is changing. The things I want to explore are changing. Life is moving forward.

And tonight, after a dinner of vegetable stir-fry and tofu, I will lay back in my evening bath with a slice of German chocolate cake and think about how far I've come.

** Writing Workshop**

In Association with A.I.M.

Feeding the Hunger Within:
A Creative Writing and
Publishing How-to Workshop

Saturday, October 24, 2008 – 2:00 PM until 5 PM

The first half of the workshop will be dedicated to the craft and task of writing while the second will address publishing and the different routes to get a story to an audience.

Bring a pen, notebook, and your inquiring mind.

To make a deposit and reserve your space, contact Fiona at f.zedde@gmail.com.

Cost: $30 or $20 for A.I.M. Members

**Signings, Appearances, and Book Discussions**

Friday, October 9 – Sunday, October 11, 2009

Fire and Ink Cotillion
Austin, Texas

Saturday, October 17, 2008
9:00 PM until 3:00 AM
Good Luck Café
Ybor City, Tampa

Saturday, October 24, 2008
2:00 PM until 5 PM
Feeding the Hunger Within – A creative writing
and Publishing How-To Workshop

The first half of the workshop will be dedicated to the craft and task of writing while the second will address publishing and the different routes to get a story to an audience.

Bring a pen, notebook, and your inquiring mind.

To make a deposit and reserve your space, contact Fiona at f.zedde@gmail.com.

Cost: $30 or $20 for A.I.M. Members

**Hot Shorts**

“Fast”

Bridgette Peoples thought that when death came, it would be quick—the slam of steel and metal, brakes screaming, burnt rubber steaming on the pavement, a searing fire. But she was wrong.

Jette drove her cars fast and liked her women even faster. She loved it when they curled into her body on hairpin turns, trembling in fear at the quick downshift and the feral snarl on her lips. She didn’t believe in a speed limit.

“Slow down, Jette,” her date squeaked from the passenger seat.

The girl’s long brown legs were taut against the floor as if searching for the brakes to stop the 1968 Shelby GT 350 Mustang convertible herself. Still, her breath came quickly and her nipples were hard against the thin cotton shirt.

"It’s alright, honey.” Jette called them ‘honey’ because she always forgot their names. “I know what I’m doing.”

The speedometer inched up to ninety-five and the girl’s legs widened. Jette grinned. It was almost time. Wind pounded into the open convertible from all sides. When a soft whimper of fear leaked from the girl’s mouth, the car reached one hundred.

The coastline beyond the Mustang was a blur of trees, electric sky, and blue-green water. Jette abruptly dropped into fourth gear. Then third. In a whirlwind of gravel and sand, she stopped the car.

Suddenly it was just her and the honey. The growl of the Mustang’s engine and the girl’s rapid breath kicked her pulse into overdrive. Jette could smell the girl.

“I’m sorry I scared you.” She wasn’t.

Jette went for her, climbing over to the passenger seat. The girl met her halfway, lips parted, wet, and ready; her hands already sliding under Jette’s leather jacket.

Long legs opened to receive and Jette’s fingers slipped quickly between them, past the barrier of shorts and panties to bury themselves in paradise. With her other hand, she shoved the seat back, giving herself more room to move. The girl squirmed, gasped, panted as Jette tongued her nipples through the white cloth, bathing the straining flesh beneath. The windows fogged.

Jette’s clit throbbed harder with every gasp the girl released, with each pull of the girl’s wetness on her fingers. The honey’s bare thighs trembled. Her hips bucked in the sweat-slick leather seats and her naked foot slid against the windshield in quick, staccato squeaks.

“Let it go, honey,” Jette hissed.

The girl flung her head back and howled at the sun. Twenty minutes later, Jette dropped her off and sped away in a blur of blue.

[to be continued]

**First published in VA-VA-VOOM: Red Hot Lesbian Erotica. Edited by Astrid Fox, 2005.

**Fiona on the Web and Online**

www.fionazedde.com
www.myspace.com/zedde
www.twitter.com/fionazedde
www.fionazedde.blogspot.com
www.facebook.com/fiona.zedde

September 2009 Newsletter

The summer is falling away. Just before the Fall arrives, I am tensed for shorter days and darker evenings, dreading every sunset that brings the season closer. But what I’ve forgotten is the true beauty of Fall, that it is the time to rid oneself of the extraneous, leaving only the absolute necessities. In this season, we are naked to whatever experience the universe has for us.

In the last few months, there has been some writing, though not as much as I’d like. The new book, Dangerous Pleasures, has been pushed back from Summer 2009 release and I’m crossing my fingers that it will be ready in time for shelves and Christmas stockings in Winter of 2010.

***

The last few months have been quiet but an excerpt from Every Dark Desire was published in Fist of the Spider Woman, a wicked anthology edited by Amber Dawn and published by Arsenal Pulp Press.

Satisfy Me Tonight has come out to good reviews and is available in local bookstores as well as online. My novella in this collection was inspired by my trip to Belgium two winters ago and features an American tourist and her sexy European lover.

***

Hibernation is well and truly over. I’ve thrown off the blankets, rubbed the long sleep from my eyes, and am ready to jump back into the thick of things starting with some local signings in September. Check them out below. After that, there are tentative trips planned to Florida, DC, Austin, and Toronto so stay tuned.

September Events

Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009 – 8:00 PM

Sippin’ On Ink Interview on Blog Talk Radio

www.blogtalkradio/Sippin-on-Ink.com

Log on and listen LIVE!

Friday, September 4th, 2009 – 8:00 PM

Charis Books and More

1189 Euclid Avenue, NE

Atlanta, GA 30307

(404) 524 0304

Saturday, September 5th, 2009 - 2:00 PM

Atlanta Black Pride @ the Charis Books Table

Atlanta Renaissance Hotel

590 W. West Peachtree Road

Atlanta, GA 30303

Saturday, September 5th, 2009 - 5:30 PM

Decatur Book Festival

Decatur City Hall

Saturday, September 5th, 2009 - 10:00 PM

Dragon*Con

LGBT Panel

Hyatt Regency, Downtown Atlanta

Sunday, September 6^th – 2 PM

The Grand Atlanta Hyatt – Charis Books Table

Sunday, September 6^th – 7:30 PM

A Tribute to E. Lynn Harris

Outwrite Bookstore and Coffeehouse

991 Piedmont Avenue

Atlanta, GA 30309

(404) 607-0082

After many, many months of hyper-hibernation, I’ve gotten back enough energy to get back into writing in long streams again. I’ve finished a rough draft of the book due out next year (or so) – Dangerous Pleasures.

In the meantime, I’m getting ready for a hectic September with appearances/signings/readings at DragonCon, Decatur Book Festival, and Atlanta Black Pride.

I love productivity!

Happy Post-Valentines Day, Post-Black History Month, and Pre-Easter!

It was an eventful and deflating 2008 and I, like most people, am looking for something better from 2009. But don’t we say that every year? Near the close of 2008, I was supposed to turn in my newest book to the publisher, but because of unforeseen life-changing events (are these things ever seen?), Dangerous Pleasures is still half finished and hanging out somewhere on my computer's hard drive. This means that it will be much delayed. Instead of a June 2009 release the new book will more than likely be out in December just in time for gift giving. Something to keep winter chill from your bones.

In the meantime, check out the cover and blurb:

Erica and Maxine are best friends. Two women who’ve known each other for a lifetime and are close as they are different.

Maxine is a free-spirited lesbian and very much wanted by the ladies in and around her hot Southern California community. Erica, straight and innocent, is a woman just getting out of a painful divorce and looking for an escape from that pain.

While Max slips in and out of affairs, taking pleasure where it bites the sweetest, Erica steps into a dangerous game of anonymous sex-by-dark that transports her to places she’d never dreamed. But the worlds of these best friends are heading for a dramatic collision. At the end of it all, will they or their friendship remain standing?

In the meantime, the new collection Satisfy Me Tonight is now available in stores and online. Check out the cover and have a peek inside at Amazon.com. The threesome (Satisfy Me, Satisfy Me Again, plus this latest book) makes the perfect Springtime gift.

Which reminds me, May is National Masturbation Month. I know it’s two months away but it never hurts to look ahead and start celebrating early…

Happy reading and have a wonderful next few months.

Thank you, Philly! Thank you, New York!

A very big thanks to everyone who helped to make my trip up north a memorable one—Carleen at Bristen's Eatery in Brooklyn; Ed from Giovanni's Room in Philly; Rachel Kramer Bussel and the amazing writers and readers at "In the Flesh" ; Linda V, Yojani, and all the wonderful folks from The Center. Not to mention Starlita, DJ, Krystle, Phyllis, and Ozzy. I'm looking forward to heading that way again next year.