Can SEX & LITERATURE really get along?

by | Jul 18, 2011 | books, dracula in love, sex, women

No Sex, Please, We’re Literary!
I originally wrote this piece for Publisher’s Weekly but it was cut in half for space.
Here is the unedited version.

No Sex, Please, We’re Literary!

Sex sells. But what about sexy storylines? When it comes to fiction is sex in one category and literature in another, and never the twain shall meet? In this provocative essay, author Karen Essex takes on the issue and responds to critics of her literary thrillerDracula in Love. So get ready … things are about to heat up.

During an auction for the audio rights to my new novel, Dracula in Love, my editor forwarded me an email that was sent from one of the bidders. “This book is so hot that I can’t wait to get home to my wife!” he proclaimed, and then outbid everyone else and presumably went home and made his wife happy. (Mrs. Audio Rights, you owe me.) ... Read more.

Egypt: Then and Now

by | Feb 12, 2011 | history, kleopatra

I have been having conversations with Egyptian friends and scholars, readers who are revisiting my novel Kleopatra, and book clubs that are reading it for the first time. It’s just amazing how history is repeating itself two thousand years later. “Egyptians have never been passive,” says an Egyptian friend. “We have attracted despots and dictators throughout our history but we have always rebelled against them.”

In Kleopatra, the unruly populace stages multiple demonstrations against King Ptolemy XII, Kleopatra’s father, who has overtaxed them in order to help the Romans finance their wars of conquest. The king had reason to be afraid; the Egyptians had been so aggravated with his predecessor that they slit his throat. The riots escalated, and Ptolemy XII was forced to go to Rome to demand support for his continuance on the throne. In my book – and in the minds of some scholars, owing to epigraphic evidence- the young Kleopatra accompanied her father to Rome, forever changing her attitude toward governance. ... Read more.

Holiday Giveaway & Other Cheer

by | Dec 13, 2010 | dracula in love

Greetings from New York, the best place on earth to be for the holidays! I am here with a broken ankle, which many of you know I acquired by falling on the plane on the way to my Italian book tour. It was a sorry way to find out that I am not a vampire after all.

On Sunday, 12/19, I will join 30 fellow fiction writers in a marathon reading of Dickens’ A CHRISTMAS CAROL at the Housing Works Bookshop Cafe in Soho. In the spirit of Tiny Tim Cratchit, I will hobble up to the podium around 3:30. Refreshments after! Here’s our notice in THE NEW YORKER: ... Read more.

Halloween Hollywood Crawl with Amber & Karen

by | Oct 26, 2010 | dracula in love, other adventures

Please join me with Amber Benson and friends from the cast of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” for a performance of the short play “Asylum” from DRACULA IN LOVE, and then party with us from venue to venue through Halloween evening. The music, food, and entertainment gets better as the night goes on. If you haven’t sampled the delicacies and wine at Allston Yacht Club yet, you haven’t lived!

LA Lit Weekend; New Orleans, SF

by | Oct 24, 2010 | dracula in love, other adventures

Please join me this weekend, Oct. 22-24 at the BEVERLY HILLS LITERARY ESCAPE, a chance to dialogue salon-style in café conversations, lunches, teas, and dinners with myself, Mona Simpson, Abraham Verghese, Joseph O’Neill and many more. I have a few passes ($100 value) to giveaway! If you’d like one, please post your desire on the blog. Not sure how many I have but first come, first serve. I’m doing a Sunday morning chat with other authors at the Saban Theater and a Sunday lunch with Robert Goolrick (A Reliable Wife).

http://bhliteraryescape.com/join-us-weekend-incredible-book-club-experiences
NEW ORLEANS FRIENDS! See below for book events leading up to Halloween.

OCTOBER 31. AMBER BENSON & FRIENDS FROM BUFFY WILL PERFORM “ASYLUM” FROM DRACULA IN LOVE AT A LOCATION TBA WITH A PARTY AFTERWARDS. STAY TUNED!

SAN FRANCISCO, NOVEMBER 3:
Karen Essex’s Dracula In Love
7:30p
Books Inc.
1344 Park St.
Alameda, CA 94501
In-store performance of scenes inspired by Karen Essex’s Dracula In Love, entitled Asylum Scene. Participating in this event are student actors from Encinal High as directed and supported by Teacher Gene Kahane.

NEW ORLEANS:
Wednesday, October 27th, 4-7pm
Boutique du Vampyre
Location: 633 Toulouse Street, New Orleans, LA 70130
Program: Reading and Signing
Contact: Marita Jaeger, maritavampire@yahoo.com, 504.561.8627

Thursday, October 28th, 6:30pm
Octavia Books
Location: 513 Octavia Street, New Orleans, LA 70115-2055
Program: Reading, Q&A, Asylum Performance, Signing
Contact: Tom Lowenburg, tom@octaviabooks.com, 504.899.7323
Friday, October 29th, 7:00pm
Vampire Film Festival
Location: Shadowbox Theater, 2400 St. Claude Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70117
Program: Reading from Dracula in Love, followed by an introduction to film screening (The Thirst for Blood — A Collection of Vampire Shorts)
Contact: Asif Ahmed, asif@reelenergy.com, 626.616.6771

Saturday, October 30th, 3:00pm
Vampire Film Festival
Location: Shadowbox Theater, 2400 St. Claude Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70117
Program: Panel (Why Do Women Write Bloody-Good Vampire Fiction? Rice, Meyer, Harris and Beyond with Sue Dent, Karen Essex and Gabrielle Faust) , Q&A, Signing, followed by Reception with the authors
Contact: Asif Ahmed, asif@reelenergy.com, 626.616.6771

Thanks to all for your support. It’s been so much fun to catch up with so many of you around the country.

Above, just some of the readers from Kathy Louise Patrick’s Pulpwood Queens & Timberwood Guys Book Club (the largest book club in the world, people!) who turned out in costume for our Victorian banquet in Jefferson TX. That’s Kathy’s daughter dead center, who read the Mina role when we performed ASYLUM, and she was phenomenal! Kathy, the Queen herself, is in the hat next to her daughter in the splendid steampunk hat.

Hope to see you on the road!
As ever—
Karen