last week when I went to Tristan Taormino’s book party in New York City last week. She was celebrating the release of her new book, Opening Up: A Guide to Creating and Sustaining Open Relationship, an expansive look at the many configurations that open relationships can take. The party was not, however, hers alone. Tristan shared the spotlight with fellow authors Mark A. Michaels and Patricia Johnson, co-authors of the newly released Tantra for Erotic Empowerment.
Before heading downtown for the party, I had dropped my daughter and her roommate off at The Daily Show studio. They had reserved tickets weeks prior — synchronicity that made for a perfect mother/daughter/roommate day in the city. In route, we passed the Letterman and the Colbert Report
studios. At every one of them, lines had already formed. I found that impressive, but when I got to the Happy Ending Lounge for the book party, the line there easily rivaled those uptown. When I told Tristan about the comparison, she said a good 500 people RSVPed their mass invite.
Wow. What the average author wouldn’t give for a response like that!
The party itself was great fun. To my delight, I saw cherished friends (You know who you are!) and admired colleagues as well. I chatted with Lisa Vandever of Cinekink fame, promising in the process that I’ll submit an upcoming vintage vignette to the next festival. Cinekink has grown from its initial seedling inception into a valued annual NYC film festival. It has on-going programs throughout the year and travels the country to major cities in an abbreviated format. It takes a lot of dedication to see an idea grow in my eyes and Lisa has every accolade that’s come her way.
I also spent some time talking to author Audacia Ray, congratulating her on making taking blogging to the pro-level. It’s a far cry from when I started blogging. I’m a firm believer that every generations needs its own peer-appropriate sexperts, which led me to discuss the generational differences between our age groups with Audacia. It was a fascinating exchange.
Name dropping aside, I look forward to reading Tristan’s book because I want to see if its contents have something new for this old dog. And I was pleased to discover that Michaels’ and Johnson’s book wasn’t just another Kama Sutra pictorial guide, but an in-depth exploration of a holistic enhancement of pleasure and intimacy. In fact, it has so few photos and illustrations that it strikes me as a thinking person’s guide to tantra — I look forward to delving into its pages as well.
I’ll let you know how I make out. Pun intended.
