Archive for March, 2010

We start rehearsals this week and I'm so excited to be bringing this production back to New Jersey! Tickets have already started selling for both shows! There is LIMITED seating so if you're in the area and you want to check it out DO NOT WAIT UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE! The last time we were in New Jersey (for the premier), opening weekend was sold out! So, don't delay as there are only two shows this time: May 7 and May 8. Tickets are $20 in advance and will be $25 at the door. Click here to reserve your tickets Today.

WHAT OTHERS HAVE SAID:

"Take a sexy, sultry book brimming with drama and deceit, add actors and a set to bring it to life, and you've got yourself a play worth paying for!" – GO Magazine

"The brilliance of Cheril N. Clarke is astounding." – Out IN Jersey

"Lesbian novelist creates success out of Chaos." – Philadelphia Gay News

Intimate Chaos (the book) brings us dyke drama in all its glory as it chronicles Sadira and Jessie’s roller-coaster relationship. – Curve magazine

This question (or some variation of it) consistently attracts visitors to my blog. Several months ago I wrote an entry entitled Stud 4 stud, Femme 4 femme, are you a gay lesbian? etc. It got a lot of feedback on Twitter and Facebook so I’ve decided to write a new piece to piggyback and hopefully satisfy those who are searching and wondering what an AG is or what a stud dresses like.

With all that being said, I’m going to assume that those who are seeking answers to these questions are either young and new to ‘the life,’ or are from a different region and are just curious about the terms of their fellow lesbanians!

 An AG (Aggressive) and stud are both descriptions of lesbians who are more on the tomboy side of things when it comes to manner of dress and gender expression. She may be smooth GQ or she may be more urban—baggy jeans, baseball caps, etc. Either way, this is the box most people speak of when they’re talking about AGs and studs. I’m not going to get into sexual roles because I believe that is personal and unique to each woman. Also, I don’t believe intimate pleasures should be restricted or bound because of what on “expects” an AG or stud to do because of how she chooses to dress and express herself.

Unfortunately, a lot of younger urban lesbians tend to believe they must dress and behave this way if they’re naturally attracted to more feminine women—mimicking heterosexual relationship models of masculine/feminine pairing. To be honest, I once fell into this box. Well, to be more honest, it was actually a little bit of the following: 1) My attraction was to feminine women 2) If I dressed like a ‘girly girl‘ I would attracting studs, AGs and butches, all of whom I had no desire to attract and 3) I had self-esteem issues and felt more comfortable in bigger clothes because I felt safer and less noticed. I will admit that I have always been more comfortable in a hat and jeans than a skirt or dress, always trying to be like my one brother rather than any of my four sisters. But I’ve reached a level of comfort and maturity that I feel A-okay in either attire (except bikinis and such, that’s still a no-no:). To live in a box that only matters to a few (the urban LGBTQ community) is not for me. Through continuous improvement of self and being lucky enough to have the wife that I have, I am very secure and content with my ability to be versatile. I go about my days according to how I feel. Sometimes it’s more masculine and sometimes it’s more feminine. The point is that I dress for me and I hope that you will too.

Never continue to befriend people who are insensitive and closed-minded because they will only keep you where you are rather than encourage you to grow and define yourself. Don’t tolerate people who make jokes and make you feel less than because of your style. They will suck the joy out of your life if you allow them to. If feminine women is type of women you like then you’ll love the ones who accept you as you are and care more about what’s in your heart than what kind of sneakers you’re wearing.

For a deeper look at AGs you, might want to check out the documentary  “The Aggressives.”

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I swear I didn't know the launch date for Equally Wed was going to be today. Just when I was talking about my wedding pictures the article comes out!

Check out the magazine here! I feel so humbled to still be doing interviews about my wedding.

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Good news for my international friends! You can purchase the electronic version of
any of my works by using Amazon's Kindle app. You do NOT need to own the device to be able
to read the books, all you need to do is download Kindle for PC for FREE and then visit
Amazon for your respective country. Alternatively, you can also download the Free Kindle
app for iPhones, Blackberries and Macs. There will soon be a free app for the iPad as
well.

   
To find my books, you must have an account with Amazon.com. After you sign-in, go to
the Kindle Store and search for my name. On the left, you will see a drop-down menu that
will allow you to select your geographic location. The following regions have rights to
my work: United States, United Kingdom, Africa, Asia & Pacific, Australia, Canada,
Europe, India, Latin America & Caribbean and the Middle East!

Prices in the Kindle Store are reflected in U.S. Dollars (USD) and most major credit
and debit cards are accepted for payment. At this time my work is only English, but I
hope to have translations available in the future.

   
For more information and help please click here.

So there it is! Check it out now. You will be able to download free excerpts of Intimate Chaos, Tainted Destiny, Losing Control, Illusions of Love AND Love and Marriage, all of which include lesbian romance, romantic suspense, lesbian erotica, obsessive love or non-traditional dating ideas.

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Isn't it funny how you find things when you're not looking for them but when you were looking for them they were nowhere to found!? Well, that's the deal with these pictures. I was looking high and low for them just a few months ago and couldn't find them. Yesterday while going through old files I stumbled upon the disc! Even though there are many pictures from my wedding floating around the net, these represent the digital version of our actual wedding album.

ALL photos by Joel Greenberg and Wendy Stewart photography. The venue is Oheka Castle in Huntington, New York. Hair by Visions Hair Salon of Mt. Laurel, NJ and make-up by Ginger Jones.

Click images twice to view full size. (thumbnail below and on attachment page)

Hi all!

This is actually something I wrote to help me plow through some writer's block (thus it's roughness:). Calvin is a brand new character and I'm not sure if I'm going to develop him any more yet. This is a short, humorous piece. What do you think of him? Would you like to read more or should I just put him away? lol. He's quite different from my current roster of characters except for Devonte'.

Life with Calvin

Bathroom Etiquette

(c) Cheril N. Clarke 2010

Don’t you hate when you go to the restroom and there are like ten empty stalls but someone goes in the one right next to yours? You know, when your stomach isn’t feeling right and you even go to the lengths to use the handicap stall all the way at the end the row? Yeah, and some asshole still decides to sit down in the one right next to you, I hate that shit! I hate it with intensity. Why must some people suck the privacy out of everything? If you’re one of these people: look before you sit, okay? PAY ATTENTION. Don’t ruin someone’s moment of silence on the porcelain throne. Don’t walk by a row of empty stalls and then go in the one with a set of feet under it.  For the next person who does that to me, I hope the automatic flush malfunctions and sprays you with your own waste. Asshole.

            If you must sit next to me I’m going to need you to either flush as you go, light a match or spray something to cover up your stench because now not only do we have mine but we have yours. And since you didn’t know enough not to sit next to me in the first place I’m going to assume you don’t know this rule either. Look up, there ain’t no fan in here! Don’t just sit there farting and dropping plops in the toilet without sense enough to notice the funk emanating from your non-etiquette having ass. As a matter of fact, flush your shit before it hits the water so I don’t have to hear that nasty plop. Time it!

And wash your damn hands. I don’t know why people continue to ignore this rule. I don’t care if you think your hands only touched the toilet paper and not your body or whatever other strange ass rationalization you have for not completing this simple sanitary action. Wash your hands! It’s a bathroom and there are germs from other nasty people like you all over the place. It’s bad enough to see strangers do this in public, but it’s even worse when it’s a co-worker. Why? Because instead of concentrating on my job I’m developing OCD; I’m constantly wiping down my office. I can’t walk by you people without wondering what else you’re touching with your dirty, filthy, disgusting, germ-ridden hands. I don’t even want to touch the fridge because one of you probably touched the handle. Great job.

            And one more thing, don’t talk to me when I first walk in the bathroom at work. Better yet, don’t talk to me at all, especially not once I’m already in the stall. I just don’t understand why people don’t know this shit already. It’s common bathroom etiquette in the workplace. I don’t care about your day, I don’t care about your kids, I don’t want to talk about a project, I want to use the bathroom and I want to use it in peace. Don’t start all that chit-chatting just because we happened to go in at the same time. That’s intrusive. It’s weird! I need you to have the decency to wait the few minutes it’ll take me to handle my business before you bore me to death with meaningless shit.

I’m just saying,

Calvin

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I haven't had time to post anything recently but just wanted to leave a quick note to thank everyone who purchased Illusions of Love: Two Erotic Vignettes featuring Kenya (from my third novel, Intimate Chaos)!  I really hope you enjoyed it and for those of you who haven't gotten it yet – what are you waiting for?! You can get it from Amazon.com or Smashwords.com for only $1.99!

I'm already working on the follow-up to that collection, which will be entitled Ecstasy. It will pick up right where the Swinging left off. As soon as it's ready to go I'll let you know! It'll be available for ereaders such as Kindle, iPhones, Blackberries, Smartphones, etc.

If you read Illusions of Love and enjoyed it, please rate or leave me a review on Amazon.com or Smashwords.com. Thanks!

Synopsis:

Imagine being able to do whatever you want whenever you want. Imagine living by your own rules, never feeling guilty and never apologizing for what you do. Imagine being so charming and smooth you effortlessly move in and out of your lovers' lives and bank accounts, giving them the illusion of love and stability. Can you imagine, being cunning and charismatic yet cold and calculating?

Meet Kenya, Clarke's firecracker character from Intimate Chaos and the lead in Illusions of Love: Two Erotic Vignettes. In addition to feverish passages of lesbian sex and seduction, we get to know Kenya for the chilling individual she really is: an emotional parasite with a stunning lack of conscience and voracious appetite for women.

Relax, read and revel in this bold new collection of stories from novelist, Cheril N. Clarke.

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"Illusions of Love" is now available for Amazon Kindle, iPhones and Blackberries (via free Kindle app), PCs (via Kindle for PC) and Sony ereader, etc. for $1.99. Visit: www.amazon.com or www.smashwords.com where you can download up to 20% of the content for free before purchase.

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Excerpt:

CRUISING

I couldn’t sleep. Though the blinds in our cabin were drawn, I could feel the pulsating energy of a new day developing as I lay next to Angela. It had been a while since I’d been to Florida but my return couldn’t have been under lovelier circumstances, five days at a private villa on Marco Island before being chauffeured to Miami to board a luxurious ship. For the last week, we’d had a leisurely cruise of the western Caribbean. Mingling with an exclusive crowd, 24-hour service, waking up in a foreign land every morning and all the fine food I could eat, now this was living! It was too bad things were beginning to wind down; I could live like this forever.

I eased out of bed carefully, not wanting to awaken Angela. Early morning is my favorite time of the day and I liked to enjoy it alone. I really wanted to smoke a cigarette on the balcony but there was no way I could open the sliding doors quietly, so I just tiptoed across the crème colored floors to the bathroom, settling for solitude and the beauty of myself. As I leaned forward against the marble sink to take a look in the mirror, I couldn’t help but smile. I’d been on three cruises already this year, perhaps over twenty in my life, but this is the first time I’d been on one this grand. Angela Gottlieb was a hell of a catch!

She was loaded, yes she was. In her mid-fifties, Angela was an esteemed professor at an Ivy League university, author and public speaker. Between her tenure, book deals and $10,000-per-event speaking fees, Angela had almost everything she wanted. Her problem was that she craved what money couldn’t buy: love. Despite her outward image of success, she was divorced, lonely and unhappy. Typical. But that’s where I come in.

“Kenya?” Angela spoke softly from the other side of the door.

“Yeah, babe?” I sighed. There goes my privacy.

“I’m sorry, but would you mind if I slipped in there for a minute?”

“No problem. Just give me a few seconds to wrap up.” I took a moment to stretch and take a deep breath, not wanting to get too worked up over anything. Today was going to be a great day because I’d already made up my mind to make it one. “Good morning, sweetheart,” I said as I opened the door.

She smiled and winked at me. “Hey, you.”

“It’s all yours. Hurry back to bed when you’re finished.” I ran my hand up the length of her arm as I stepped out of the way.

“I will,” she said and blew me a kiss.

Angela wasn’t bad looking either. Half black and German, she bore a lovely blend of her mixed heritage. Her skin was rich almond and her eyes were dark chocolate. I loved running my fingers through her silky auburn hair and tasting the sweet vulnerability that shimmered against her body. It was as if her yearning to be loved was a sweet glaze on the surface of her most delicate parts and I couldn’t get enough. For the last three months, being with her had made me feel like the most powerful woman on the planet. I glanced in the walk-in closet at all of the shopping bags I’d amassed at our stops in Key West, Mexico and Belize. Shoes, dresses, bikinis—you name it, she bought it. She loved spoiling me.

“Come lay next to me,” I whispered when she emerged from the bathroom. She’d slipped into enchanting lingerie. “Come,” I beckoned, becoming aroused by the sight of her in violet and black lace.

Though Angela was middle-aged, she was no stranger to plastic surgery. Her breasts were ample and firm and her stomach looked more defined than I knew it should have been. She actually looked a decade younger than she was, thanks to her slender frame and cosmetic enhancements.

She smiled broadly as she made her way to the queen-sized bed. “Do you like what you see?”

“Of course.” A genuine smirk spread across my face. “How could I not?” I pulled the covers back to reveal my nudity. “Do you?” I gazed at her seductively as I lay against the Egyptian cotton white sheets.

“Yes.” Angela grinned and walked toward me while I got on all fours and crawled in her direction.

We met at the edge of the bed, my lips to hers as she stood above me, on the verge of ecstasy. I was hungry for her, eager to delight the core of her womanhood with a lambent and expert tongue, but not yet. I wanted Angela to ache for me before I gave in. That kind of dominance gave me a rush that was almost better than the sex itself. I reveled in it and planned my escapades so that they could satisfy my desire for power.

-End of excerpt, read more on your Kindle or through the Smashwords link above!-