You've got my attention, folks -- more hot writers to read

It's time for another installment of "Go Read These People, Dammit", wherein I tell you about the lovely sensual people that've really grabbed my attention of late. Hopefully you will go check them out if you aren't already reading them, and then will add them to your own blogroll / watchlist / regularly visited sites / whatever you call it on your own journal. Because they're all worth reading.

The first should really need no introduction -- the infamous Library Vixen. This woman is so hot that she actually had her Blogger journal shut down by complainants and had to relocate to her her own domain. Apparently some people don't care for tawdry tales of lust in the library stacks, torrid stories of a woman who's got a primal current of dark sexuality running through her soul, sensual poetry that weaves a spell around the reader, and carefully-selected erotic photographs to go with the poems and stories. She also has a remarkable talent for posting not just purely hot, sexual stories -- though she does excel at that -- but also for weaving an unexpected thread of pure emotion into her tales and recollections. Many's the time I'll be reading another hot story from her and be surprised yet again by the upwelling of melancholy, wistfulness, dark hunger, or just pure joy that her tales evoke. I've been a huge fan of Vixen ever since I first started this journal and she's overdue for her time in the spotlight. She's been much on my mind of late, so she gets top billing today. Go check her out!

Next up (and the rest of these are in no particular order), we have a relative newcomer, Cheeky Minx and her entertaingly-titled journal "Love Hate Sex Cake". (Man, what would a cake like that taste like, I wonder?) This Aussie minx is fond of posting little mini-vignettes, tiny scenarios arrayed around a theme, a sensation, a quick encounter, a phrase, a mental image. It would be very easy to dismiss this sort of thing as the scribblings of a writer who doesn't have the talent for anything longer but that's definitely not the case. Rather, her brief tales whet the appetite for more. You want to see more, hear more, feel more beyond what she already has you feeling. She has a unique turn of phrase and a curiously effortless style that makes for some very smooth reading, and the little scenes she scribes are always vivid and evocative. And her avatar picture is tantalizingly sultry. :)

Next, we have a journal that's relatively new just to me, but has been around much longer than I. A concerted effort by two people who're very much head over heels for each other, Frances and Daniel's "29 Pearls in Your Kiss" is the ongoing story of two people that are hopelessly in love with each other but have a lot of obstacles to overcome. For example, both of them being married but not to each other. "Oh, another infidelity journal," you might sigh, but there's just something about these two that's captured my interest. A touching sweetness, a warmth of expression, a curiously intense combination of innocence and sensual heat. They post tales of their encounters, tell us how they deal with the obstacles in their paths, share private photos and text messages, and somehow manage to be open and vulnerable while still remaining strong and balanced.The two of them admit they're still trying to figure everything out. I'll be along for the ride, you can be sure of that.

And finally (but definitely not least), we have "Bringing my Sexy Back", the online home of the enchanting Duchess. The Duchess started her journal just over a year ago in an effort to recapture the sexiness in her life -- to recapture her drive, the fire and passion that she felt she'd lost. I recommend starting at the beginning of her archive, because it's absolutely fascinating to see the progression from somewhat timid explorer to the stunningly fabulous Duchess that's so evident in today's posts. Here is a woman who's made huge strides in just over a year, who posts fascinating, evocative fantasies, whose carefully-crafted tales never fail to make my head spin. Moreover, she truly is an excellent writer -- her vocabulary and phrasing are impeccable, her writing head and shoulders above many of the slice-of-life journals you may find out there. And what fascinates me still is that the Duchess persona she embodies so well is completely confident in her own sexuality, but once in a while we can still see a touching vulnerability that she chooses to share with us, an admission that she's still not sure of herself, that she's still working on being more open, more aggressive about getting what she wants. The Duchess, too, is one of the first journals I started reading when I began here, and she's also overdue for her turn in the spotlight. Go check her out as well.

-- PB