Kendrick Lamar, Mothman, and Other Conspiracy Theories
February Wrap-Up!
This is my wrap-up of everything I read/watched/wrote/listened to this month that I thought you might enjoy! If this is so not your thing, you can opt out of this part of my newsletter.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
Date Night with a Vampiress was out on the very last day of January. It’s a kinky WLW story where the monster is the submissive
Monster Vibes Only this month was all about my favorite Valentine’s monster reads
I announced my first baby publication, a smutty monster charity anthology! I’m really excited 🥰
SONG OF THE MONTH:
BOOK OF THE MONTH:
I love kink, but I usually hate reading about it. I have a conspiracy theory that most romance and erotica writers have never had much casual or kinky sex. And if they’ve had the latter, it’s been with a romantic partner they grew to know and trust before kink became part of their repertoire. Casual sex and kink, especially with men, requires putting yourself in a not insignificant amount of danger. The appeal of kink for sluts like me who have had a lot of casual sex is that it requires conversations and boundaries and shared expectations. I’ve been choked, slapped, spit on, and called names consensually and loved it. I’ve also been surprised by those acts in the middle of vanilla sex with a stranger and been frightened by it. So when I read books where shortcuts are taken in these areas in the name of “the fantasy”, I often end up being extremely anxious, like any reasonable person in these scenarios would be.
So when I tell you this is some of the most fun kink I’ve ever read, I really mean it. These characters are both so attentive to each other and to their own desires. There’s never a moment where I, as an occasional Dom myself, have wondered if the submissive is actually aware of what she’s asking for or receiving. Even the moments where Elias is taking Victoria to uncomfortable places, I trust that she knows what she’s doing and what she wants. Lessons with the Mothman felt almost like wandering through a very well-curated private museum of smut. My only complaint is that I wish I could dig through the archives in the basement or go back for a second and third day to explore all the rooms I didn’t get to last time!
Other Contenders:
I was inspired to revisit some of my other favorite kink reads. So I reread the first 4 books of The Boss series by Abigail Barnette. It’s not as good a decade and a whole lot of kink experience later, but at the time it had felt like what books like the Fifty Shades and Crossfire series should’ve been. If you feel inspired to read these, I highly recommend stopping at The Ex and going no further. The author decides to torture her characters in an un-sexy way after that book that still upsets me. But the first 4 are (mostly) fun!
I also revisited my current reigning champion of kink books, the duology Alpha in the Sheets and Bound in the Streets by Tamsen Parker. I just love a bitch, and that’s what India Burke is to her core. The rest of the series (about other characters) are great too, but those two are my favorites.
Tamsen Parker also has a fun lil book about Amish kinksters that I recommend for concept alone.
FEBRUARY BIBLIOGRAPHY:
I caught up on some recent episodes of one of my favorite podcasts, 5-4. It’s three lawyers breaking down landmark Supreme Court decisions that have ruined democracy and/or are very silly. They have a paid subscriber episode that talks about the Drake lawsuits that I found especially fun!
Speaking of Drake and Kendrick, I really enjoyed revisiting stand-up comedian Josh Johnson’s breakdowns of how we got here and why Drake is suing!
Nathan Zed packed a lot of thought-provoking ideas into a 10 minute video about why pop culture just feels fun again. It also made me realize why I feel so much dread any time I encounter A.I.---I just want to watch people care about what they create. I’m sure there are A.I. artists that care and are honing their skills, but for the most part it just feels like more sludge filling up a digital landfill. Bring back artistry and craft!
One of my favorite YouTubers, funkyfrogbait, did a video about BookTok and romances. The very last 10-15 seconds are honestly worth the whole video. I am usually clenched up with my shoulders around my ears during these think pieces by non-smut readers about the social media phenomenon of smut, so if you also need a preemptory green flag to feel at ease: Funky mentions the ContraPoints Twilight video. If you know, you know. If you don’t, watch the ContraPoints video!
I wanted to take a moment to shout out my dear friend Taylor and her newsletter touchgrassfriday. She does such a fantastic job in the newsletter and IRL to encourage being present, getting off the internet, and embracing interconnectedness. Taylor and I get together every Wednesday night and write, which is sometimes the only grass-touching I do all week.
IN OTHER NEWS:
I HIT 200 SUBSCRIBERS HERE! WOO!
I’m thinking about starting a series about my novel-writing projects, talking about what they are and where I’m at with them. Does that sound like something that would interest anyone?
FEBRUARY LORE:
If you made it this far, here is some personal lore about me: Y’all I have been going through it! In the last month I have had 2 separate, unrelated leaks in my ceiling that resulted in a fair bit of property damage and several weeks of repairs. I also was without a car for over a month because of a hit-and-run, and when I could finally get it repaired… my battery had turned to blue goo. I also had to say goodbye to my first big-girl purchase of my twenties, my big gray couch. It was falling apart and uncomfortable, but I still cried for a day about letting it go because a lot of important life milestones went down on that couch. So it’s been a month.
And that’s that on that. Thanks for reading and I hope you have a very throwing beads and flashing tits March. As always, I do accept monetary good girls or thank you daddy’s. But you reading all the way to the end of this is gift enough!
Yessss, I love the wrap ups!