The ACLU on PayPal bullsh*t

Coming Together has co-signed this letter from the ACLU (one of Coming Together's charities, as are signatories EFF and Woodhull Sexual Freedom Alliance) and several other organizations to PayPal with regard to its recent moratorium on transgressive/taboo erotica:

Tell PayPal: Stop the Digital Book Bonfire

By Chris Conley (Mar 7, 2012 at 9:30 pm)

Free speech isn't so free when booksellers have to choose between hosting legitimate content and earning a living. Unfortunately, PayPal is threatening to stop doing business with several online booksellers, significantly impacting their revenue in the process, unless the booksellers agree to stop providing content that is perfectly legal but violates PayPal's policy. Please join us and tell PayPal to stop throwing books on a digital bonfire.

The ACLU of California has joined a coalition of civil liberties groups, booksellers and authors, and other organizations and individuals who care about free speech in calling on PayPal to stop this practice and encourage rather than suppress the distribution of content. We’ve written an open letter to PayPal explaining our position, which is copied below.

Please join the effort to safeguard online free speech by sending an email to PayPal telling it to reverse its policy of punishing authors, publishers, and booksellers who create and distribute legitimate content. Your voices can remind PayPal that protecting free speech everywhere is good for business.

Here's a copy of our open letter to PayPal:

PayPal, which plays a dominant role in processing online sales, has taken full advantage of the vast and open nature of the Internet for commercial purposes, but is now holding free speech hostage by clamping down on sales of certain types of erotica.  As organizations and individuals concerned with intellectual and artistic freedom and a free Internet, we strongly object to PayPal functioning as an enforcer of public morality and inhibiting the right to buy and sell constitutionally protected material.    

Recently, PayPal gave online publishers and booksellers, including Book Strand, Smashwords, and eXcessica, an ultimatum: it would close their accounts and refuse to process all payments unless they removed erotic books containing descriptions of rape, incest, and bestiality. The result would severely restrict the public's access to a wide range of legal material, could drive some companies out of business and deprive some authors of their livelihood.

Financial services providers should be neutral when it comes to lawful online speech.  PayPal’s policy underscores how vulnerable such speech can be and how important it is to stand up and protect it.

The topics PayPal would ban have been depicted in world literature since Sophocles’ Oedipus  and Ovid’s Metamorphoses.  And while the books currently affected may not appear to be in the same league, many works ultimately recognized for their literary, historical, and artistic worth were reviled when first published.  Books like Ulysses and Lady Chatterley’s Lover were banned as “obscene” in the United States because of their sexual content.  The works of Marquis de Sade, which include descriptions of incest, torture, and rape, were considered scandalous when written, although his importance in the history of literature and political and social philosophy is now widely acknowledged. 

The Internet has become an international public commons, like an enormous town square, where ideas can be freely aired, exchanged, and criticized.  That will change if private companies, which are under no legal obligation to respect free speech rights, are able to use their economic clout to dictate what people should read, write, and think.

PayPal, and the myriad other payment processors that support essential links in the free speech chain between authors and audiences, should not operate as morality police.

Signed by:

Access
ACLU of California
American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression
Association of American Publishers
Authors Guild
BannedWriters.com
Bytes for All, Pakistan
Comic Book Legal Defense Fund
Coming Together, charity publisher
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Feminists for Free Expression
Index on Censorship
Internet Archive
National Coalition Against Censorship
Northern California Independent Booksellers Association
Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association
Peacefire
PEN American Center
Southern California Independent Booksellers Association
Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance
Woodhull Sexual Freedom Alliance

Exquisite Art

Coming Together Presents: Teresa Lamai
Reviewed By: Kathleen Bradean

Coming Together has produced some of the most interesting collections of the erotic short story available. These are charity collections to raise money for various causes chosen by the author. Teresa Lamai chose Amnesty International, a cause that holds deep personal interest for her.

Editor Lisabet Sarai mentions in her forward that she first encountered Teresa Lamai on the Erotica Readers and Writers Association (ERWA) site. I also had the good fortune to read Teresa's early work there and many of her stories stay with me. Of all the erotica writers I've read, Teresa's stand out as luminescent, even though the subjects she often illuminates are the darker places in our souls. Teresa was a dancer, so many of her characters are too. But it's not the beauty that the audience sees that she portrays. It's the pain and suffering behind the art. Jealousy is a common theme. Desire, more consuming than passion, in her characters is so ravenous and destructive that it makes the reader slightly uncomfortable, yet the language is so compelling and beautiful that the reader can't look away.

I've read many of these stories before, but years ago. Teresa vanished. She became one of those memories erotica writers spoke of with wistfulness. Where did she go? Then, as time passed, we stopped asking as frequently. I never truly forgot her stories, but so many writers stop producing work for so many reasons that I regretfully accepted it. Then this collection came into my hands for review and it all came rushing back. Yes, I'd read many of these stories, and their impressions lingered, but what a delight to get to read them all over again. Words don't go stale, thankfully. Hers never lost their vibrancy.

Usually, I pick several stories to comment on, but in this case, it's better to let the writer's words speak for themselves:

From “Mirador”:

I don't bother turning away when I light my third cigarette.

By now I almost want them to see me. Or at least to suspect that someone's out here, watching.

It was surprisingly easy to get up on the warehouse roof. The rusty nitrogen tank has a nice little ladder. I can see downtown Portland from here, sparkling scarlet and sugary white across the river. The moss-scented mist settles, fine as cobwebs, over my cheeks, my hair.

I lean back and watch my old apartment.

The window glows, poppy-bright in the wet darkness. The front room is exactly the same, amps and mixing boards stacked to the ceiling. Jed sits at the tableau's center, guitar in his lap. His black eyes are trained on the music stand, his brows furrowed. He's let his hair grow out, wavier, glossier, almost long enough for a ponytail.

Fuck it. I should know by now that I'm going to cry every time I look at him. The stinging starts in my eyes and then fills my head.

My friends keep telling me how much happier I am without him. I haven't eaten in days. I live on coffee, cold air, and the anxious thrum of waiting, watching. I couldn't tell you what I'm looking for; I just find myself here every night. My life has shrunk around this bright, oblique conviction that if I wait long enough, if I watch hard enough, these barriers of glass and time will dissolve.–I'll be back inside.

The craftsmanship is enough to make another writer jealous. This is exquisite art. Like Remittance Girl, who also has a Coming Together collection, Teresa Lamai delves deep into sensuality and delivers flawlessly every time.

ERWA Review of Presents: Robert Buckley

Coming Together Presents: Robert Buckley, Edited by Lisabet Sarai
Coming Together, March 2011

Review by Ashley Lister:

Wait for a moment whilst I climb to the top of the building.  Remain silent, please, whilst I clear my throat.  Be patient whilst I produce the sheet music and draw breath for the first note.  I am now ready to sing the praises of Robert (Bob) Buckley from the highest rooftops.  Feel free to join in with the chorus.

Buckley, as you may or may not know, has been a familiar presence at ERWA since the days before the internet was available on computer.  His standing as a celebrated author, editor and general literary jack-of-all-trades has never been in doubt.  However, for those who may have wondered about his abilities, proof of his genius is now available in the anthology: Coming Together Presents Robert Buckley.  This is Bob’s second title of collected erotica.

Those of you familiar with the Coming Together titles will be aware that, as well as showcasing the work of talented erotica authors, the series also support charitable endeavours.  Proceeds from Buckley’s title go to benefit Multiple Sclerosis Association of America (msassociation.org).

But, as always, it’s the content of the book that is of most importance to anyone considering making a purchase, regardless of the worthiness of the recipient.  And I think it’s fair to say that the quality of the content in this title is superlative.  Buckley admits that the content is darker than his previous work – moving from erotic romance to an edgier style of erotic noir.  Nevertheless, the writing remains in the same high calibre fashion and the focus is always on well-written narratives, combined with strong characters and incredible prose.

If you’re only going to buy one anthology this year: make sure it’s Coming Together Presents Robert Buckley.

Available at: Coming Together Presents

Share the Love!

It starts one week from today, on February 1st, and lasts the entire month! At the end of the month, someone will win a Kindle Fire. Someone else will win $50 ebook bucks from All Romance eBooks. There will be sexy excerpts, prizes, and daily posts from 29 of Coming Together's over 200 contributors.

Where is this incredible blog bash? It's being hosted by Coming Together Presents editor, Lisabet Sarai, on her Beyond Romance blog. Make sure to visit on February 1st to learn how you can win!

Occupy Coming Together

AVAILABLE NOW: Two titles to benefit the occupy movement! We are the 99 cents... erm, percent!

Who knew bonds were that risky? When she lost her shirt in the market, Jessie was halfway to her new career. She just needed a stop-gap, a breather before she found another job. Her rent was past due, and the only assets she could depend on for a good return were her body, which was guaranteed to earn interest, and her adventurous spirit. When she meets her trick, Jessie finds herself in a delicious triangle of sex that just might pay the bills. (4,200 words)

All Romance eBooks | Amazon | Smashwords







+ + + 

Every full moon, the folk who live under the ocean waves come together in the shallows to reenact their rituals of life and desire. But poor Umbriel stays always away, trapped in dreams of being human. In "Gravity," Gayle C. Strain re-imagines one of the world's favorite fairy tales as an epic of lust and tragedy, of the passion that burns the boundaries between worlds. (7,540 words)

All Romance eBooks |Amazon | Smashwords

In Flux

Coming Together: In Flux is a multi-author anthology of erotic fiction edited by Nobilis Reed. The theme of this anthology is transformation of the body or mind. We're not talking about something as easy as changing jobs, changing homes, or even becoming a lifestyle submissive. This is about what happens to your personal and sexual experience when your body or mind changes in some fundamental way, whether natural, artificial, or supernatural. Sales proceeds and related donations will benefit the Woodhull Freedom Foundation, whose mission is to affirm sexual freedom as a fundamental human right.

Available now digitally at: Smashwords, All Romance eBooks, OmniLit and Amazon. (Paperback coming soon to CreateSpace and Amazon.)

Coming Together: In Flux contains:

• Lawman - Angela Caperton 
• Final Note - Shanna Germain 
• Actual Size - Nobilis Reed 
• Love Everlasting - Skylar Sinclair 
• Ready - Xan West 
• Upgrade - Peter Tupper 
• Meltdown - Ann Regentin 
• Transformative - Kissiah Aiken 
• Explosion - Nobilis Reed 
• Water Shaman - Jhada Addams 
• Unlock my Heart - R Taylor 
• Three Moons - Mildred Cady 
• Feast of the Incarnations - Gayle Straun

Adapting to Change

It's no secret that ebooks are changing the publishing world. Self-publishing, both in ebook and print, is having a significant impact as well. Anthologies don't seem to be as attractive -- to readers OR authors -- as they once were. Thus, Coming Together is shifting its publishing model.

We are now accepting submissions of 5,000 to 20,000 word stories for individual ebook publication. Authors can select one of our many existing charities or suggest a new one. Each accepted manuscript will receive its own cover art and will be professionally edited prior to release.

Since Coming Together does not ask for exclusivity, the author can also submit the story to anthologies not seeking first print or exclusive rights. Coming Together also welcomes reprints as long as the author owns the rights.

One of our lines, Neat, allows authors to essentially "launder" their royalties by first having them loaned via Kiva. Given that some Coming Together vendors have waived their commissions, this is a sweet option 'cause 100% of the sale price comes back to us! After the loan is repaid, the authors can take their money and run... or continue to loan it.

So, leverage your words for good. Practice erotic altruism by submitting to Coming Together. Erotica is preferred, but we will consider quality fiction in any genre.

Query by completing the form located HERE. Thanks!

Great Review for Presents: C. Sanchez-Garcia

Reviewed By: Ashley Lister on EROTICA REVEALED


The Coming Together anthologies are probably one of the worthiest causes in contemporary literature.  To date the single author collections have included M. Christian, Rob Buckley and Remittance Girl, edited under the aegis of the incomparable Lisabet Sarai.  Anthologies of erotic short stories, that benefit charitable causes, allow readers to contribute to something worthy and enjoy the pleasure of erotic literature all for the same price.  It’s like chocolate flavoured sex with a bonus of cash presented at the enormously satisfactory conclusion: it simply cannot get any better.

The proceeds from Coming Together Presents C. Sanchez-Garcia will benefit the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN). RAINN is the nation's largest anti-sexual assault organization. It operates a national hotline, educates the public about sexual assault; and leads national efforts to prevent sexual assault, improve services to victims and ensure that rapists are brought to justice.

But Coming Together Presents C. Sanchez-Garcia would be worth buying without the benefit of supporting a worthy cause.  Coming Together Presents C. Sanchez-Garcia is a bloody good book.

Because this is a collection of short stories, I’ll begin by saying that the quality is consistent and high, even though the approach varies in a range of eclectic styles and considered approaches.

READ THE FULL REVIEW

Introducing TABOOTY!

Inspired by Amazon.com's blocking of certain titles due to the fact that they contain incest, Coming Together: Tabooty is an ebook line featuring taboo relationships. Tabooty will feature erotic fiction considered taboo by current social standards. This includes not only incest but unusual fetishes and/or sex with clergy. Regardless of the taboo, all material will involve: (a) consensual relationships and (b) participants of legal age. There will be no sexual activity involving minors and no coercion (i.e., blackmail, rape, etc.). Reprints are welcome as long as the author holds the rights.

ALL proceeds from the sale of Coming Together: Tabooty titles will benefit the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom Foundation. While there are currently no plans to take this series to print, it is possible that several stories may be combined into a print anthology at some point. Titles may also be recorded for podcast & sale via Coming Together: Out Loud.

Each title will have distribution through Smashwords (and its partners: Barnes & Noble, Fictionwise, Sony, Apple iBookStore), All Romance eBooks, OmniLit, and Scribd. These titles will not be available from Amazon. Kindle users can purchase the MOBI version from All Romance eBooks, Coming Together's preferred ebook vendor. 

To launch the Tabooty line, we have the following titles from two terrific authors:

WHISPERED WORDS by Celia Kyle

Tolerance isn’t just the name of a small city in Georgia. It’s a way of life...

Jax and Abram are twins, each other’s life rafts in life. Through their parent’s death, foster homes, and the streets, they’ve clung to one another. Now they’re wondering if there’s something more.

Burke’s known the twins for years. Wanted them just as long. When they stay after closing one night, dancing, twining, whispering words he can’t hear... He’s ready to push things a littler further. Except the boys have something else in mind when they draw him into their relationship.

A BREED APART by Lisabet Sarai 

Rachel’s future as a governess is uncertain, a victim of her own desires and an unscrupulous former employer. So when a chance to revive her career appears, she can’t afford to question it, even when those questions are valid. A remote location, a couple who seem more suited to posh London society than the country, and a sweet, smart young charge who immediately feels like a daughter.

The couple are not only willing to overlook Rachel’s lascivious past, they act as though they can accept and forgive it. Their beauty and presence stirs forbidden cravings in ways her Thomas never could. Everything seems like a dream come true.

Which is exactly what makes Rachel afraid.

With Sommer

The one & only Sommer Marsden brings us Coming Together: With Sommer!

Psychic medium Martee Hollywood and the Seekers tackle three cases in this compilation to benefit The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Together, they face a house full of lusty ghosts who don't want to cross over, an Indian girl who lost her love and then her life, and a mysterious intruder who can't seem to be hurt or stopped -- all while falling in love, into bed, and into one strange case after another. The paranormal world has never been sexier.

AVAILABLE NOW:

• ALL ROMANCE
• OMNILIT
• SMASHWORDS
• AMAZON KINDLE

Coming soon to B&N, Sony, Kobo, Diesel, and Apple's iBookstore.

Audiogasm

Coming Together's audio titles which have been featured on Nobilis' erotica podcast are now being made available via Podiobooks where listeners can download them for free & donate if the earth moves. ;-)

Presents: Robert Buckley

The latest volume in the pretigious Presents series, edited by Lisabet Sarai, is now available from Coming Together & all major online bookstores!

Veteran erotica author Robert Buckley serves up a generous helping of erotica noir, featuring gangsters and private dicks, pimps and whores, cops and other sundry enforcers, each one more hard-boiled than the next. These vivid tales feature raw and graphic sex, along with violence, terror and betrayal. At the same time, they overflow with heart. Rough justice usually prevails, where the true evil-doers, the ones without souls, receive punishment, and the poor sinners who are capable of compassion get at least a chance at redemption. Coming Together Presents: Robert Buckley is a generous, arousing slice of life, well-seasoned with history and a dash of the paranormal.

EBOOK (978-1-4581-1833-2) AVAILABLE NOW FROM:
All Romance / OmniLit ~ Smashwords ~ Amazon

PAPERBACK (978-1-4515-6073-2) AVAILABLE NOW FROM:
Create Space ~ Amazon

On Caps & Feathers

Coming Together is delighted to report that it has won another award! This time, it was at EPICon 2011 for Coming Together: Into the Light as best erotic anthology!

Into the Light joins Against the Odds as an EPIC eBook Award winner. For the Cure and Pondering the Indelible were also finalists for these awards.

doing good while being bad,

~ Alessia Brio

editor

Wicked Prey

Wicked Prey by Celia Kyle is the first title in an ebook line of interracial erotic fiction called Coming Together: Colors. ALL proceeds from the sale of Coming Together: Colors titles will benefit The Eracism Foundation.

Arria moves through life, a fierce predator slithering amongst the prey. Or is she? Even the fiercest hunter can become the hunted. The pursued. The captured. The killed. But what if she wants to be snared?

This short story is one of contrasts, the differences between predator and prey, hints of domination & submission and want & need between lovers. There's a certain glory in the differences in their colors, but their cultural contrasts relate to their animal counterparts and not those that may appear in a contemporary work, addressing current stereotypes.

Arria is a black mamba, one of the deadliest, yet vulnerable, snakes known to man, while Liv is a goshawk, a natural predator of snakes. They could--should--kill one another yet can't fight the attraction, or the risk associated with becoming close. Their sex is primal, fierce, and loving, constantly changing with the ebb and flow of their control over each other. (6,990 words)

Available now via ARe, OmniLit, and Smashwords. Coming soon to Amazon, B&N, Kobo, Sony, Apple's iBookStore, and Diesel eBooks.

New Release in the Neat Line

AVAILABLE NOW at ARe, Smashwords, and Amazon!

Here's what Neat's editor, Will Belegon, posted on his blog:

Giselle Renarde's Tangled Roots is a multilayered tale about Simone, who has come to a crossroads in her life. In order to move forward, she is going to have to chose more than just a path right or left... she is going to have to confront the heritage and the past that has caught up to her at last.

Moses, the main male protagonist, is both what she wants and what she most fears. He will challenge both her assumptions and her misconceptions... and force her out of a comfort zone that has been holding her back in ways she has both cultivated and in areas of which she is completely unaware.

The short length of this piece does not keep it from being a complex, well thought-out journey through Simone's past and her state of mind. It also addresses the subject of race and pride from an internal perspective, exploring how the outward assumptions of those around Simone shape her world and affect not only how she treats others, but her own sense of worth.

A good read for a good cause; all Coming Together:Neat proceeds are used to fund micro-loans through Kiva. This work is also available through eXcessica, and if you think it sounds familiar, you might own it already.

Over the Rainbow

Available now! Coming Together: Over the Rainbow is a 200-page x9 journal (right side lined, left side unlined & interspersed with inspirational words of encouragement and empowerment). 100% of sales proceeds benefit the It Gets Better Project.

• PUBLISHER COMING TOGETHER 
• AVAILABLE NOW
  HARDCOVER ISBN 978-1-4583-4709-1
  PAPERBACK ISBN 978-1-4609-6283-1
• WHERE TO BUY HARDCOVER
  Lulu $29.99 $22.49 (Save 25% + maximize revenue)
  Coming soon to:
  Amazon | B&N | Borders | Powell's | Books-a-Million
• WHERE TO BUY PAPERBACK ($15)
  CreateSpace (maximizes revenue)
  Amazon
  Coming soon to:
  B&N | Borders | Powell's | Books-a-Million
  

Coming Together titles fall victim to Amazon's Kindle purge

I'm sure by now most of you have seen the shit storm involving the deletion of certain erotic incest titles from the Kindle bookstore (and from the archives of those who'd purchased those titles). Selena Kitt (one of Coming Together's contributors and also, via eXcessica, publisher of several Coming Together titles on Amazon) blogged about it:

http://theselfpublishingrevolution.blogspot.com/2010/12/amazon-in-book-banning-business.html

This blog post was picked up by J.A. Konrath on his self-publishing blog, where it's gotten a cubic buttload of comments:

http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2010/12/guest-post-by-selena-kitt.html

Teleread also covered the matter:

http://www.teleread.com/ebooks/amazon-removes-incest-related-erotica-titles-from-store-kindle-archive/

...as well as a Slashdot post:

http://yro.slashdot.org/submission/1417578/Amazon-taking-down-erotica-removing-from-Kindles

The Coming Together ebook titles which were removed are:

• Coming Together: The Erotic Cocktail volumes 1-3 (benefits EFF)
• Coming Together: For Her (benefits NOW)
• Coming Together: Special Memorial Edition - Colleen Thomas (benefits Hospice of Orange Co)
• Coming Together: Pondering the Indelible (benefits First Book)
• Coming Together: For Gabrielle (benefits BLISS)

Print versions are still available from Amazon (as, I assume, only eXcessica has been targeted & I pubbed the paperbacks myself through our Create Space account).

Of note, there *are* a couple incest-related short stories in the early volumes. Yui's "Sex & Candy" (v1) & 4degrees' "Does Not Do Well in Public" (v3) come to mind. Both deal with consensual ADULT sibling incest.

The ebook versions of these titles are still readily available at All Romance (ARe is Coming Together's preferred vendor 'cause 100% of the purchase price goes to charity. No commission is charged.) plus Smashwords & its growing distribution network (B&N, Kobo, Sony, Diesel, Apple's iBookstore). So, if you blog/tweet/Facebook/rant about this, please direct your readers to ARe and the other vendors. 

Stay tuned. Updates will be posted here, in the comments. Happy Holidays, y'all.

peace & passion,

~ Alessia Brio

editor

Coming Together

Traveling through Time

The submission deadline for Coming Together: Through Time, a collection of time travel erotica to benefit the Leukemia & Lymphona Society, has been extended until February 28, 2011.

We're seeking stories up to 10K words & poetry with a time travel theme. Exclusivity is not required as long as the author owns the rights. (No simultaneous submissions, please.)

The Award formerly known as EPPIE

COMING TOGETHER is delighted to announce that Coming Together: Into the Light has been named as a finalist in the 2011 EPIC Ebook Awards (formerly known as the EPPIES). The awards banquet will be held at EPICon in Williamsburg, Virginia (March 2011).

Coming Together: Into the Light is a collection of diverse erotic fiction by some of the hottest names in the genre. The theme of this volume is the revelation of secrets, and it features a moving Introduction penned by the one and only Candida Royalle! ALL royalties from the sale of this volume will benefit V-Day, which works to end violence against women and children.

100% OF YOUR PURCHASE PRICE OF COMING TOGETHER TITLES FROM ALL ROMANCE EBOOKS GOES TO CHARITY!

By Hand

Released in ebook today! Coming Together: By Hand is a collection of auto-erotic fiction to benefit the Coalition for Positive Sexuality. Contributors include:

• Lisabet Sarai
• Robert Buckley
• Allison Wonderland
• Arya Rewan
• Heidi Champa
• Jenna Byrnes
• Jean Roberta
• Giselle Renarde
• Rachel Kramer Bussel
• Michelle Houston
• Heather Lin
• Raziel Moore a/k/a Monocle
• T. Highwayman
• Thelonius Sexton
• Max Lagos
• Roger Smith
• Alessia Brio

AVAILABLE NOW FROM ALL ROMANCE and SMASHWORDS!

Presents: C. Sanchez-Garcia

The latest volume in Coming Together Presents, the single author  series edited by Lisabet Sarai, Coming Together Presents C. Sanchez-Garcia, is now available from All Romance eBooks & Smashwords! It will soon also be available via Amazon (in both print & Kindle ebook), Apple's iPad bookstore, Barnes & Noble, and Sony.

This original collection of erotic fiction includes stories that will make you laugh and others that will chill you to the bone. Some stories are outrageously arousing; others are tender and intense.

All proceeds benefit the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network (RAINN). Get your copy today!

Auto-Erotic Altruism

Coming Together is pleased to announce the contents of its next anthology! This collection of stories with a masturbatory theme features many Coming Together veterans as well as 4 Coming Together virgins.

Tresspass (Lisabet Sarai)
Start without Me (Raziel Moore (a/k/a Monocle))
You First (Roger Smith)
The Brotherhood of the Hand (Robert Buckley)
Thank God It's Friday (T. Highwayman)
Webcam Amateur (Giselle Renarde)
Quite Contrary (Allison Wonderland)
Through the Walls Dreaming (Michelle Houston)
Moonlight and a Pair of Panties (Arya Rewan)
That Next Time (Thelonius Sexton)
A Stolen Moment (Heidi Champa)
Aftercare (Maximilian Lagos)
Hibernation (Jean Roberta)
Home Again (Jean Roberta)
Bathroom Witch and the Birthday Boy (Giselle Renarde)
Moving Day (Jenna Byrnes)
Young & Crazy (Heather Lin)
Love's Tender Gender Bender (C. Sanchez Garcia)
Like This (Rachel Kramer Bussel)
Digital Manipulation (Alessia Brio)

Release is planned for Fall 2010 in ebook. Proceeds benefit the Coalition for Positive Sexuality.

Aurally Yours

Check out what's new on the Coming Together audio front! Contributing author & podcaster extraordinaire, Nobilis, is featuring a Coming Together story from one of the anthologies each month! He's pulled together some awesome vocal talent to do justice to our sexy shorts. You can listen for free on Nobilis' podcast site, or you can purchase the MP3 files for just 69 cents to download to your computer or portable device(s) for offline listening!

Leget's Despair

In pursuit of dreams, men venture beyond the world of their experience. Leget is such a man. Powerful and talented, he is also an innocent. Not sexually, but morally. He believes in simple answers to complex questions. Luckily, he has a guide and a protector.

Lancelot, hero of legend, is less naïve. Yet he finds his world view challenged by the honesty and beauty of young Leget and determines to bring the boy to Camelot. On their journey, Lancelot will remember things he had forgotten and discover that he is still capable of love.

Leget's Despair is a homoerotic tale of a knight and a hopeful squire who share more than a campsite; in which the simple honor of a country lad is tested to its breaking point. Leget will discover both the good and the evil in the world. On the road to Camelot, he will find companionship and the hope of a life more exciting than farming. He will also find that even a hero cannot protect him from everything, and that politics is quite literally a deadly business.

* * *

Coming Together: Neat is an ebook-only line of novella-length (10K-50K word) single titles edited by Will Belegon. As with all Coming Together publications, diversity is the keyword. Thus, all colors and flavors of erotic fiction are welcome.

ALL proceeds from the sales of Coming Together: Neat titles will be placed in a microlending account at Kiva (www.kiva.org), where they will help entrepreneurs in 3rd world countries launch or expand their businesses.

The contributing authors are encouraged to manage the microlending of their proceeds by joining Neat's Kiva lending team.

For more information, visit:

http://www.eroticanthology.com/neat.htm

First Served, First Come

The latest collection of erotica, poetry, and erotic romance in the Coming Together series has a ménage theme. Coming Together: As One benefits ONE, the campaign to end global poverty.

The back cover reads:

For the lovers who believe three is not a crowd, crave (at least) eight arms to hold them, and often consult the Twister mat for new position ideas, this book is for you. While some might argue that love and passion are best experienced one-on-one, this collection of trysts and verse will allow you to experience a more lascivious concept of sex as a "team effort." You don't have to be a swinger to appreciate these stories, but we hope you'll open your minds to new levels of sensual sharing and quality writing that proves many hearts can come together... as one.

~ Leigh Ellwood
LeighEllwood.com

Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

In case you hadn't noticed, Coming Together recently took flight, opting to self-publish its charity anthologies rather than placing them under a publisher's umbrella. In the process, in addition to the direct buy links changing, several titles received new (sexier) cover art. Now that all six of the re-released titles are available through Coming Together's bestselling outlets, we are pleased to share with you the new links to buy. Of course, you can also now purchase directly from Coming Together via our Google Checkout store.

Coming Together: Against the Odds is a mystery-themed collection which benefits Autism Speaks.

Available in ebook now at: ARe & Amazon Kindle
and in print from: CreateSpace & Amazon

Coming Together: For the Cure is a diverse collection of erotic fiction which benefits Susan G. Komen For the Cure.

Available in ebook now at: ARe & Amazon Kindle
and in print from: CreateSpace & Amazon

Coming Together: With Pride is a diverse collection of erotic fiction which benefits AVERT, an HIV/AIDS research & prevention charity.

Available in ebook now at: ARe & Amazon Kindle
and in print from: CreateSpace & Amazon

Coming Together: Under Fire is a heat-themed collection of erotic fiction & poetry which benefits the victims of the Southern California wildfires of 2007.

Available in ebook now at: ARe & Amazon Kindle
and in print from: CreateSpace & Amazon

Coming Together: At Last is a 2-volume set of interracial erotic fiction & poetry which benefits Amnesty International.

VOLUME 1:
Available in ebook now at: ARe & Amazon Kindle
and in print from: CreateSpace & Amazon

VOLUME 2:
Available in ebook now at: ARe & Amazon Kindle
and in print from: CreateSpace & Amazon

Finger Food

Coming Together launches its line of 99 cent appetizers with Helen E.H. Madden's "Afternoon of a Faun."

The Hors d'Ouvres line consists of single stories from Coming Together collections. Each benefits the same charity as the anthology from which it originates.

"Afternoon of a Faun" appears in Coming Together: Al Fresco, which benefits Conservation International. It is a delightful tale (tail?) of empowerment and revenge featuring a mythical creature with an insatiable appetite. (M/M)

Available exclusively at All Romance eBooks!

Presents: Remittance Girl

Presents is Coming Together's elite line of single-author titles edited by Lisabet Sarai. ALL proceeds from their sales will benefit the charities selected by their authors. In this volume, Coming Together is delighted to present Remittance Girl, whose chosen charity is the ACLU.

Coming Together Presents: Remittance Girl collects seventeen erotic stories by the mysterious and reclusive Remittance Girl. Open the cover and enjoy incredible tales of twisted desire and overwhelming lust, intricate and perfect as some Chinese jade carving.

An expat living in Vietnam, RG deftly captures the realities of life in Southeast Asia: the debilitating heat and humidity, the riotous energy and color and the loneliness of being an outsider. However, she's equally at home in gritty British suburbia or the beaches of the Costa del Sol.

Don’t expect light-hearted tales of playful sex from RG’s pen. Don’t expect romance—though sometimes it’s difficult to distinguish true love from satisfied desire. Be ready for tales with an edge, with a sting, and occasionally, with a moral. While many of RG’s stories are vividly realistic, some of her offerings are fables: unsanitized, old-fashioned fairy tales that retain a taste of terror.

RG’s writing strikes to the heart of the erotic. Her sex is strong and messy and real. She is not afraid to explore the darkest, rawest fantasies. When she writes kink, it’s not fashionable sex games—it is inevitable, compelling, inescapable, cutting to the core of her characters.

BUY NOW FROM THESE PREFERRED VENDORS: EBOOK ~ PAPERBACK

Neat: Ryder's Mate

Coming Together announces a new release in its Neat line of novellas to benefit Kiva:

Ryder James knows from the moment he meets Jesse Krantz that Jesse is trouble. Figuring out what kind of trouble is not so easy. Ryder knows his duty: to protect the people of Sanctuary, Michigan. Period. If that means ignoring his instant attraction toward the impetuous young man, so be it.

Jesse Krantz is looking for explanations – or revenge. Will the truth he finds in Sanctuary end his life or save it?

Coming Together: Neat is proud to present erotic paranormal author Wendy Stone's first venture into gay male romance with a tale of two men who want very different things – but also want each other.

SMASHWORDS | SCRIBD | ARe | AMAZON

Presents: M. Christian

Coming Together is thrilled to announce the release of the first title in its elite Presents line of full length, single-author titles edited by Lisabet Sarai.

Coming Together Presents: M. Christian benefits Planned Parenthood and is now available from the following online vendors:

• All Romance eBooks
• Create Space (paperback)
• Amazon Kindle
• Amazon (paperback)
• Smashwords (ebook)

Coming Together: Into the Light released!

100% OF YOUR PURCHASE PRICE OF COMING TOGETHER TITLES FROM ALL ROMANCE EBOOKS GOES TO CHARITY!

Coming Together: Into the Light is a collection of diverse erotic fiction by some of the hottest names in the genre. The theme of this volume is the revelation of secrets, and it features a moving Introduction penned by the one and only Candida Royalle! ALL royalties from the sale of this volume will benefit V-Day, which works to end violence against women and children.

V-Day has a presence in Haiti in the form of a shelter for battered women. It needs your help now more than ever. Your purchase of this book is just one way to contribute.

Available NOW for just $4.99 at ARe!

In memory of Myriam Merlet, Haitian Feminist Leader (1956 - 2010)