More On Japan Relief

Numerous authors are participating in writing projects designed to provide money to the Japanese in light of the recent earthquakes and tsunami. A close friend of mine who is a writer hails from Japan, so the devastation that country has experienced touched close to home for me. This man has told me over the years about his own personal history, his childhood growing up in a coastal Japanese town during World War II, his travels around the world, and we've shared both friendship and writing. I wanted to do something to help when news of the earthquakes and tsunami broke.

I've written two stories based on Japanese folklore, so I chose one as my personal project. I'm also participating in an invitation-only anthology project to benefit the Japanese that will be released in June. My story for that project is almost finished. In my personal project, I chose to donate proceeds from my short story Fountain Of Youth to the Red Cross.

From the press release:

Searching for a way to help relief efforts, Ms. Black and her publisher Romance Divine, LLC collaborated to earmark all sales of her short erotic story Fountain of Youth through June 15, 2011 to be donated to the Red Cross foundation to assist the Japanese in their recovery.

Fountain of Youth is particularly appropriate as it is an m/m erotic short story based on a Japanese folk tale. In Ms. Black's Americanized version, as in the Japanese original, a lesson is learned: be careful what you wish for. What if you could have a do-over; a second chance at love and romance with the object of your heart’s desire? What would you wish for? Careful, sometimes wishes do come true, but they might not always be exactly what you expect. Sydney finds romance, and changes, after discovering a secret Fountain Of Youth.

For more information, including cover art and buy links, please go to my web site - http://elizabethablack.blogspot.com/p/japan-relief.html. All proceeds from this short story sold through June 15 will be donated to the Red Cross foundation to help with relief efforts in Japan.

The second story I wrote based on Japanese folklore is Mud Licker, published by Circlet Press in its Like A Myth anthology. Mud Licker came in 7th in the "Top Ten" at the Preditors and Editors Poll Awards for "Best Romance Short Story". Buy the book and find out why!!

This anthology of erotica is based on unusual folklore. Mud Licker is a hot and sexy romp based on Japanese folklore. Suffice to say this odd little horny creature lives in bathrooms, and cleans them up - with his two foot long tongue.

You may find more information about this story on my Short Stories  tab on my web site. Scroll down until you come to Like A Myth.


So enjoy some unusual erotic tales with Japan as the focal point, and participate in a worthy project at the same time. Fountain Of Youth is rising in Kindle rankings, and it is in the top 20 at AllRomanceEbooks for my publisher, Romance Divine. Please buy the book and send its ranking even higher!


Other books by Elizabeth Black:

   
  

Women On The Edge Of Space - Cover And Release Date

Just in! My new cover for "Women On The Edge Of Space", to be published by Circlet Press. My short story, "Unfolding Her Wings", appears in this book. It will be released May 3, 2011. This is my very first science fiction story. I'm psyched! So proud of this book. :)

Keep an eye on my blog for updates as the release date approaches. I'll soon set up some release chats to promote both "Unfolding Her Wings" and "Things That Go Hump In The Night", which appears in the "I Kissed A Girl II" lesbian anthology published by Ravenous Romance. For more information on that story, please see my "Short Stories" tab on this web site.

New Release - Collective Shivers: Can You Spare a Dollar for Japan?

The entire world has been affected in some way by the terrifying events caused by the Sendai earthquake this past March. News stories continue to add more about these devastating events and the tenuous circumstances in Japan.

Upon being bombarded by these news stories, romance and speculative fiction writer L.K. Below could not bear to stand idle. Rather than indulge her feeling of helplessness, she did the only thing she knew how to do: she wrote. Two weeks after the Sendai disaster, the product is a short fantasy story called Collective Shivers.

Hailed by beta readers as an “out-of-world experience,” Collective Shivers contains an earthquake, a mysterious and resilient people, and one man who suddenly doesn’t feel up to scratch. Who knew that a people so outwardly unfeeling could have touched Gunnarr in such an emotional way?

More information about this story can be found at the author’s website, www.lbelow.net/japan. All proceeds from this book will be donated to the Red Cross foundation to help with relief efforts in Sendai and elsewhere as new tragedies unfold.

So the real question is: Can you spare a dollar for Japan?

Japan Disaster Relief - My Effort

[This is  reproduction of my new "Japan Relief" tab at the top of my web site.]

Help The Relief Effort In Japan 
& Read Some Great Fiction!

All proceeds from sales of 
Fountain Of Youth, 
By erotic romance author, 
Elizabeth Black 
to aid relief.

The world was shocked at the destruction caused by the Sendai earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan in March of 2011. What can a writer do?

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 8, 2011

Searching for a way to help relief efforts, Ms. Black and her publisher Romance Divine, LLC collaborated to earmark all sales of her short erotic story Fountain of Youth through June 15, 2011 to be donated to the Red Cross foundation to assist the Japanese in their recovery.

Fountain of Youth is particularly appropriate as it is an m/m erotic short story based on a Japanese folk tale. In Ms. Black's Americanized version, as in the Japanese original, a lesson is learned: be careful what you wish for. What if you could have a do-over; a second chance at love and  romance with the object of your heart’s desire? What would you wish for? Careful, sometimes wishes do come true, but they might not always be exactly what you expect. Sydney finds romance, and changes, after discovering a secret Fountain Of Youth

Find more about this story on Ms. Black's web site: http://elizabethablack.blogspot.com/p/japan-relief.html. All proceeds from this short story sold through June 15 will be donated to the Red Cross foundation to help with relief efforts in Japan.

Buy this story now from the following sites:

Romance Divine

Bookstrand

Amazon Kindle

AllRomanceEBooks

###

Elizabeth Black is writer who lives on the Massachusetts coast with her husband, son, and four cats. She pens erotic romance, erotica, dark fiction, and horror. She also writes articles about sex and relationships for numerous publications. You may find her at her web site, http://elizabethablack.blogspot.com. Friend her on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/elizabethablack

Romance Divine LLC is a publisher of print books, e-books and audio books; both fiction and non-fiction, in a variety of genres. Romance Divine books can be found at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, All Romance e-Books, Kobo, Bookstrand, Google books, the Apple iBookstore and at other fine on-line retailers. They are also available at the Romance Divine web site: www.romancedivine.com

Contact Information:

Elizabeth Black

trishcwilson@comcast.net

Romance Divine, LLC

Gregory Causey, Publisher

rdivinellc@yahoo.com

Other Books By Elizabeth Black

   
  

Man Candy Tuesday #10

Although "Hawaii Five-0" was not on last night, that doesn't mean we can't enjoy the man candy today. So enjoy Man Candy Tuesday #10. Today's theme - construction workers. Including a famous commercial starring model Lucky Vanous.

While you're here eyeing the sweets, don't forget to read my latest blog posts, and check out my books and short stories. "I Kissed A Girl II" continues to have strong sales. You'll find the book in my "Short Stories" tab. Coming soon: "Unfolding Her Wings" in the "Women On The Edge Of Space" anthology to be published by Circlet Press.

And finally, that famous 1994 Diet Coke commercial with model Lucky Vanous.

PopMyCherryReview.com Announces Green Sex Toy Month

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Click! A Raging Ringing Of The Bells - Continued

Welcome Ms. Magazine readers! Enjoy my blog. If you'd like to read blurbs and excerpts from my erotic fiction, please see the tabs at the top of the web site. There are buy links for these books on every page. All books are e-books, with a few paperbacks thrown in.

For those from outside Ms., here's the link to my original Ms. Mag blog post, "A Raging Ringing Of The Bells".  Here's the link to the "Feminist Portrait Blog Carnival" at Bitch Magazine.

I wanted to continue my Ms. Magazine post with what I call "reverse-clicks" - those moments when I felt most let down by feminism. And my biggest reverse-clicks involve motherhood issues and family law. Most people who are aware of my former work in this field know me by my real name. I left family law activism about seven years ago, and I have rarely looked back. Below describes why.

Then came the reverse-clicks – the ones that made me feel disappointed about feminism. Feminists don't often talk about these kinds of clicks, but they need to be said. Most of my reverse-clicks revolve around the lack of attention mainstream feminism has paid to motherhood issues, especially involving divorce and custody cases. Ignoring motherhood issues is a well-known and in my opinion well-founded criticism of feminism. I worked hard for fifteen years as a writer and activist to put a stop to family law trends that were proven to be very harmful to women and children, yet the feminist movement has not stepped up to the plate en masse to put a stop to these changes. I was rarely paid for my work, but I thought it was important enough to do for free. I've changed my mind. Now, look where we are. Mothers are losing custody of their children to abusers, control freaks, men who were never the children's primary caregiver, men who never made any kind of commitment to these moms, and other ne'er-do-wells. Funding for poor moms is slashed whilst Fatherhood Initiatives get additional funding. Mothers are subjected to assaults by psychological and legal "experts" who use bogus and mother-bashing psych theories to punish women (Parental Alienation and all its manifestations come to mind). These same "experts" – including GALs, parenting coordinators, custody evaluators, visitation centers, parenting classes, mediators, and a host of others – make their livings from divorce and custody cases, thereby creating a burgeoning industry that has taken off greatly over the past decade. Family law cases these days are much more expensive than they were a decade ago because of the interference of these people. There's money to be made in keeping two people and their children miserable for up to two decades.

Two huge clicks were when I read that Gloria Steinem and Martha Burk supported joint custody because they thought it would force wayward men to take care of their children. No, it doesn't. Listen to the women working in the trenches to see that joint custody is a means for men to lower their child support, to force mothers to live in a small geographic location for twenty years whilst dads are free to move wherever they like, and to maintain power and control over moms through the children. Writing letters to Steinem and Burk either went unanswered or countered with how the letter-writers were very wrong. I'm sorry, but older, childless women have no business telling mothers what's going on in their own lives. I left family law activism seven years ago, and I'm glad I did. It was frustrating enough dealing with angry men's rights types. The lack of attention from moms in general and feminists in particular made me wonder why I bothered. The people I expected to see working hard in my camp simply weren't there – so I figured why should I keep fighting and wasting my time? Moms today have it much harder than they did only fifteen years ago. Until women everywhere pick up the slack and do something about this, things are only going to get worse. I have since moved into another area where feminists are at odds with each other – human sexuality and erotica writing. This work is much less aggravating for me, and I avoid outright politics in doing it. I also get paid. It's important for women to be paid for their hard work. 

 I'm very much aware that I don't fit into any comfortable feminist slots, especially now that I write "naughty words" and I've penned a few sex columns. Occasionally I do take a Walk On The Wild Side, and return briefly to my old family law/motherhood activism work, but things are so bad for mothers in divorce and custody cases right now that there really needs to be much more than the small number of people working on those issues for any real reforms to take place - reforms that will stop this decade-plus backlash dead in its tracks. I don't see that happening. Until it does, and that means feminists getting behind the workers in the trenches en masse, things are only going to get worse.