A Girl's Guide to Sex Toys - Part One

Almost every single one of my stories involves the use of some sort of sex toy. I am a huge fan, and think all couples should welcome play into their sex lives to keep things fresh, fun, and frisky. I am amazed to this day that women my age and older seem embarrassed talking about sex toys - or don't even know what they are. I mean, we all know you didn't just roll off the turnip truck yesterday.

Part one of this new series talks about the one toy most people are familiar with and have seen numerous times - the dildo.The dildo has been around pretty much since the dawn of time. The first known dildo was a siltstone 20-centimeter siltstone phallus from the Upper Palaeolithic period 30,000 years ago was found in Hohle Fels Cave near Ulm, Germany. Other implements have also been found that are MUCH older, but this is the oldest dildo that was clearly used for sexual gratification.

The Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans used them 2,500 years ago, their use clearly illustrated in pottery and hieroglyphs. Our ancient ancestors knew a good thing when they saw it. Or rather felt it.

But of course Victorian morals hit us all, and suddenly, it was improper and unethical to use such devices. Laws were created in the United States against the sale and use of sexual aids and have even been upheld as close as 2007. What, might I ask you, does the State of Alabama have against a good orgasm? All I can say is I will NEVER live there.

Of all the sex toys out there, the dildo is the oldest, and the most simplistic. A simple shaft, in varying lengths and widths, every woman can find one to her liking. Some look incredibly realistic, with veins and a sac, whereas, others may simply be a clean, smooth shaft. For a sex toy novice, I would suggest starting with a smaller dildo until you learn to understand your body, and then experiment from there.
Now, there are always variations of any toy - and the dildo is like all the others. You can also find them in double ended, suction cupped (for easy solitary use), faintingly ohmygod there is no man that huge, mechanical, and strap on styles. Heck, in my research today I even found one shaped like a woman's hand and forearm. (And after the conversation some of my author friends and I had the other day - very fitting! Or unfitting - whatever your pleasure....OUCH!)
Now of course, anal plugs are pretty much a smaller (or larger - eek!) version of a dildo, but we will discuss those fun little items later.

For pretty much any interest, there is a style, as can be found on any sex toy website. Now, one last pointer - if you use with your partner - make sure it is smaller than he is or your partner might get penis envy :) Enjoy!

Six Sentence Sunday

Okay, I am jumping on the bandwagon. Here is my first foray into Six Sentence Sunday...from my current WIP - a short titled "Going Berserk" that will then lead up to my next novel/novella.

Here goes...

He was all heavy muscle, lean waist and hips, his chiseled body a work of art. Fire raged through her, her nipples lengthening and hardening, her pussy swelling, coating itself with her juices, readying her for his cock. His very impressive cock. Oh my God. Here I am about to die, a wacko holding a knife to my throat and all I can think about is having sex with a complete stranger. A very hot stranger, but stranger nonetheless.

~Alex

Guest Blogger - Karyn Gerrard

Welcome Karyn Gerrard as our guest blogger this week, giving us a glimpse of her new release, Timeless Heart.

Timeless Heart
by Karyn Gerrard

Sandra Cranston, an elementary teacher on leave, discovers a carriage deep in the woods. Inside is a man, Jerrod Ross, who fuels all of her wicked Regency dreams and fantasies.

Ross has been torn from the only world he has ever known—1821 Cornwall, England. How will he adjust to the future and his growing desire for the lovely lady who found him? More importantly, how will he ever return to his time?

BUY HERE

EXCERPT:

Prologue

1821

It had been a miserable day, and the evening was faring no better. What had started as a slight mist that afternoon was now a raging, swirling storm, complete with howling banshee winds and skin stinging rain. Thunder rumbled ominously in the distance. Forks of lightning streaked across the heavy grey sky.

Bloody great.

Jerrod Ross knew he should have hired his own carriage, but with the skies so ominous and threatening, he did not want the bother of trying to deal with a skittish horse. Or the wait. Due to the inclement weather, there were no carriages to be had at any rate, and blast the luck of his own carriage having a cracked axle. He did not want to rent a horse and deal with the wind and rain either.

And so he was stuck taking a public conveyance. Deuce it all, what did he care? It was not like he was some arrogant member of the peerage.

He looked at the other carriage occupants. The young woman opposite him seemed positively ill, the rolling and lurching of the carriage having the same effects as being tossed about in stormy seas. The gentleman next to him, florid of face and form, also looked unwell. The younger man just stared out the window, showing no reaction to their situation.

For his part, Jerrod kept his own legs far apart, bracing himself from the swaying of the carriage, which was going far too fast for these conditions. Every time the wheels hit a rut in the now muddy road, he felt his kidneys being jarred.

The storm worsened. The leaves from nearby trees were swirling in a vortex of heavy rain and humid, oppressive air. Thunder now pounded mercilessly directly overhead. Jerrod had never heard anything like it, like twenty cannons all being fired at once.

He picked up his cane and banged on the roof, trying to get the driver's attention. "You there, driver! Slow down!" he yelled. But it was to no avail. He could not be heard over the screeching wind and roaring claps of thunder.

Lightning cracked across the night sky, giving the illusion of daylight. It struck a nearby tree, leaving a smoking mess of singed branches and smoldering leaves. The young woman screamed.

Before he could even offer words of comfort in her fright, lightning struck the carriage.

Darkness. Unfathomable, bleakness. The absence of all.

It seemed he was moving forward, but he could ascertain nothing, see nothing, nor could he move, or even blink his eyes. He was frozen in some dark place. He could no longer feel the wheels touching the ground. The storm-torn ruts seemed to have disappeared, almost like he was floating. Not bloody possible.

He assumed he was traveling at a great speed. He no sooner came to that conclusion than he seemed to slow down. The blackness was interspersed with thin ribbons of light, and in those ribbons of light he could see his fellow passengers entangled, wrapped and being pulled in multiple directions at ever increasing speed until they were gone. He began rippling slowly toward a swirling vortex of dark and illumination. He still, however, could not move.

This must be a dream. He had fallen asleep and somehow was having this bleak nightmare of floating through...what exactly? Mist? Air? The ceaseless beating of the rain was also gone, as was the howling wind.

Silence.

His scrambled thoughts were soon interrupted by faint sounds, coming from the ribbons of light. Voices. He struggled to listen.

“Fourscore and seven years ago…”

Then a different voice, lost, ethereal, everywhere and yet no where.

“The lamps are going out all over Europe.”

Another man speaking about how the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. Strange music played, changing rapidly. What the deuce?

More voices. “Don't ask what you can do for your country.” Some singing, about holding one's hand, and a hard day's night. Bloody silly nonsense. Was he at some carnival? Perhaps he was firmly locked in a cell at Bedlam, it would not surprise him. He tried to shut out the voices, someone demanding they tear down this wall. Something about...nine and eleven?

More music, now he could not make out the words, garbled nonsense and an ear-piercing screeching noise and thunderous pounding. Horrible. He tried to raise his arms, to cover his ears, but he couldn't.

Wake up, damn you! he cried to himself. But he was losing consciousness.

Darkness.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Find Karyn:
WEBSITE: www.karyngerrard.com
TWITTER: http://twitter.com/KarynGerrard
FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002338477295

Guest Blogger - Emma Shortt

Welcome Brit Emma Shortt to Oh Alex, as we are celebrating her release of The Kiss....

A kiss is just a kiss…

But it’s not. It’s so much more than that. A kiss can be a beginning, it can be an end, or it can be the inspiration for any number of artistic works.

Last year one of those works in particular captivated me. Antonio Canova’s statue of Cupid reviving Psyche with, what else, but a kiss.

I spent hours plotting how to steal the statue but unfortunately the Louvre has really, really good security. So I went home and thought instead about how I could capture such an image in a story. Before long it came to me and The Kiss was born.

The Kiss, a supernatural romance, tells the story of love locked in stone and whilst writing this story Canova’s image haunted me. I wrote feverishly to the end where the image blossomed and came alive just as imagined.

The story is my own little kiss to Canova’s genius. I hope that he would, and you will, enjoy.

www.emmashortt.co.uk

A Literary Tour de Force?? Really?

Does good news come in threes like bad news?? If so, I must be about to have something good coming around the corner, because I just got two AWESOME reviews for The Lottery!

Happily Ever After Reviews - The Lottery

Whipped Cream Erotic Romance Reviews - The Lottery

Semester OVER!!

As another semester comes to an end, I sometimes feel like I have been a student forever. Too bad my Calc teacher didn't look like this sexy guy over there - I may have done better in class!

After 13 years to get my diploma, I dove feet first into college.

My first college sucked - BIG TIME. I was only 17, unprepared to go away to University life, and so introverted, I just couldn't deal. By second semester of my first year, I stopped going to classes and ended up on Academic Probation. I was kicked out until I could bring up my grades.

So off to community college I went. In my back woods hometown, community college felt like the 13th grade. It sucked even more than University life. But I persevered, and brought up my grades and went back to the University.

Then midway through the next semester, I dropped out, thoroughly frustrated and just over the whole educational process. Plus I was young, dumb, and in love. I wanted to get married.

Which of course was a HUGE mistake. And then seven months later, as I was five months pregnant and in the process of a divorce, I had the daunting task of trying to figure out how I was going to support a baby with no education.

In stepped Momma. She supported us while I decided I wanted a degree in Culinary Arts. Forget the degree in History Education, I was going to be the next Julia Child, Emeril, and Martha Stewart combined.

Three classes from graduation, my grandmother became deathly ill. I dropped out so I could be her caretaker. Several months later, when she had passed on and I moved back home with my toddler in tow, I have mail waiting, saying it is time to pay back all those monstrous student loans (culinary school is NOT CHEAP). So, three classes to go, I gave up my dream to be the next famous Food Network star....plus I realized later that I didn't want to go to Culinary School - it had been my grandmother's dream, not mine, and I suppose I did it because I wanted to please her.

Fast forward a decade. Stuck in a dead end job I hated, I realized the only way I could get ahead was to work towards a degree. So, I quit that job, got another I liked better, and I started taking one to two classes here and there to work towards my Associates Degree in Web Design/E-Commerce.

I have been going for two and a half years now and still have nine classes to go - on my current schedule of two classes a semester will take me two and a half more years.

A couple of semesters ago, I realized I wanted to venture off, and actually get an Associates Degree in Graphic Design, but after quitting so many other times before, I REFUSE to change majors. I am going to complete this degree come hell or high water, whether I want it or not - just so I can have the satisfaction of saying I completed it!

So, once the two+ years are up, there will be another two or so years to get the other degree. Then I found that after I complete that one, I will only need about four classes for an Associates Degree in Fine Arts as well. So, what's one more year?

And heck - after that, maybe I will just go get my Bachelor's in Graphic Design....I may be ninety when I finish it all, but what the heck?

Guest Blogger - Carolyn Rosewood

The Last Soul
by Carolyn Rosewood

Faina has been dead for one hundred and fifty years, but she’s about to become human again. All she has to do is seduce Jace Blackmon, the most honest financier ever to grace the city of angels, into signing away his soul.

Jace Blackmon has fallen in love with his fantasy woman. But when he realizes she was tricked by a demon to bring about his ruin, including the revelation of a long-buried secret to the media, he must choose between his heart or life without her.

Be Warned: light bondage, sex toys.

BUY HERE


Join me in welcoming fellow author Carolyn Rosewood to my blog. Her book, The Last Soul was just published by Evernight Publishing.


Congratulations on your first novella, The Last Soul, being published. How long have you been writing?I've been writing since I could print. I was the geeky kid in English class who loved to write essays and stories. I carried a notebook filled with them around junior high and high school. But it wasn't until about two years ago I began to get serious about my writing career. I joined Romance Writers of America and our local RWA chapter, the Music City Romance Writers. I started to learn my craft and all I could about the publishing industry, and I listened to advice from published authors and industry professionals.

What tempted you to write paranormal romance?

I'm drawn to darker stories. Paranormal has always been my first love. I like reading stories about time travel and other worlds. The Last Soul grew out of a fascination with demons, and actually started as an erotic horror story. It became a romance when my editor, Emma Shortt, showed an interest in it for Evernight Publishing.

Your hero, Jace, is the human in a world filled by demons. Do you think it is harder to write an alpha male character when he is being targeted to be the victim of a paranormal crime?

The fact Jace doesn't realize the heroine, Faina, is a demon until near the end of the book helped a lot. He was so far under her spell he didn't accept what his senses were telling him. By the time she's forced to show her true form, and then again when he's confronted with the demon who's tricked her and the king of demons, he's so in love with her that instead of being fearful, his protective instincts kick in. He's an alpha hero who doesn't realize how much inner strength he has until his relationship with Faina brings it out in him.

Any projects you are currently working on?

I'm working on the sequel to The Last Soul, Hunted. Faina's best friend and fellow demon, Jahi, has been dead over four hundred years. She's attacked at Mardi Gras by a fallen angel, and rescued from this creature by a bounty hunter, also a fallen angel. She and this hunter, Dagon, must work together to stop the rogue angel, Xylan, before he finds Jahi first.

If you could pick one writer (alive or dead) to go out to lunch with and just shoot the shit about any and every topic you wanted to talk about for an afternoon, who would it be?

Rosemary Rogers. She wrote the first romance novel I ever read, Sweet Savage Love. I was an innocent nineteen, and I was hooked on romance novels from that point forward. She broke so many barriers with that book and paved the way for sweeping, epic romances. Even though a lot of what she did is now considered taboo, I'd love to talk with her.

Thanks so much for having me here today!

Master of Mine

The nine author BDSM Anthology, Master of Mine, is OUT NOW! My story, Spice It Up is included :)

http://www.evernightpublishing.com/products/Master-of-Mine.html