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The lovely authors: Rebecca - Stella - Olivia[/caption]Hotly anticipated as THE book reading of the Summer, we were very excited as we set about polishing glasses for the 20-odd guests. In fact, one Sh! Girl even came bouncing in to work with a pink t-shirt and a couple of bottles of bubbly in her bag (t-shirt for her, bubbly for the guests), despite it being her day off!
Unusually for us, we admit to being slightly tongue-tied when the authors first came in ~ but we soon got over this as they are all lovely. (Stella's unprintable jokes about the lingerie on offer also helped!)
After a feeble attempt at a humourous introduction (I mumbled something about being First Aid trained in case anyone started feeling a little too hot under the collar), I handed over to Rebecca Chance, Chief Organiser of the evening.
Rebecca introduced herself, Stella and Olivia. Stella commented that as both Rebecca Chance and Olivia Darling are alises, she felt quite confused as she knows both authors under their real names (she's very funny, that one!).
Rebecca took charge and started off with a part from her brand new bonkbuster Bad Sisters, and assigned Stella the part of the hispanic lesbian publicist, which she played with great aplomb. Lots of giggling from the audience ensued, and the atmosphere in our pink basement was fizzing with both bubbles and good humour.
Next, Stella read from her new novel Theodora: Actress. Empress. Whore. The novel follows Theodora of Constantinople on her journey to becoming the the most powerful woman in the history of Byzantine Rome ~ although we expect Stella made up some (quite a few!) of Theodora's adventures.
Olivia Darling made her erotic-reading debut at Sh! (we are honoured!) and despite claiming to feel shy, her nerves didn't show and her short, beautiful story involving a gift, a tie and a pair of breasts had us all holding our breaths... Watching someone get dressed can indeed be incredibly erotic!
'I can't say clitoris', Olivia told us - but she had no problems with the word 'dick' and used that quite a few times!
Whilst chatting between stories, Rebecca confided she much prefers a gardner to a prince ~ or 'a grower' as she called it. Ahem!
Stella ends the evening with another part from Theodora. She explains this part was written especially for her good friend Lisa, should the book ever be televised. Rebecca helps out and plays along magnicifiently.
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Rebecca & Stella signing books....[/caption]As the night draws to a close, I thank the authors and encourage the guests to get their books signed, try some spanking or check out the vibes upstars. Stella quips that with my accent, 'spanking' sounds very much like 'spunking' - and the guests may well get the wrong idea of what it is I'm trying to get them to do!
All in all it was a great evening with many giggles and a great atmopshere. And - as Rebecca will have another bonkbuster out next August, we'll do it all over again! Thank you so much Ladiez ~ you were fabulous!
**Signed copies of all three books in our Hoxton store:
Bad Sisters - Rebecca Chance
Theodora: Actress. Empress. Whore. - Stella Duffy
Temptation - Olivia Darling
