Cara Bruce
sits outside a Tenderloin coffeehouse chain-smoking, the contents of her purse
haphazardly arrayed across the table. She looks pretty but exhausted, and why
shouldn't she after the hard work she's put in lately?
"One day we went to, like, 10 strip clubs," she says,
motioning across the table at her colleague Charlie Amter. Together they've
co-edited "Horny? San Francisco," a self-described "Sexy, Steamy, Downright
Sleazy Handbook to the City" that hits bookstores next week.
Racier than Fodor's and a lot more fun, "Horny?"
(Really Great Books, $16.95) will tell you everything from where to get a
first-rate exotic massage to where to pick up that carefully handcrafted
acrylic dildo.
From sex clubs to the "Casual Encounters" ads on
craigslist, it's all here, and Bruce and Amter aren't complaining about the
grueling gig.
"The Dollhouse was pretty wild," Amter says of the
pair's seedier research. "It's a movie theater, sleazy on the outside, but on
the inside it's not so bad. The concessions stand has popcorn, condoms, lube --
and then a dark, dark theater where things start happening."
"The best part about doing this book," Bruce
interjects, "is that it was an excuse to go to places that you normally
wouldn't get into."
Not that these two ever had prudishly declared such
spots off-limits. Bruce and Amter are both specialists in sex writing, members
of a burgeoning Bay Area scene of, as Bruce describes them, "people who are
really looking for a sexual element when they go out, in addition to a normal
nightclub."
Bruce, 29, got her start in sex writing when she
spotted a writing contest for "cat fight" stories on the Internet. She founded
her online magazine VenusorVixen.com in
1996 and now edits Eros Guide (http://www.eros-guide.com/
), which will publish excerpts of "Horny?" on the Web. She's a fixture on the
literary scene (and the editor of "Best Fetish Erotica"), regularly reading
stories about, for instance, the day her dog ate a sample pack of Good
Vibrations condoms, at the Edinburgh Castle Pub.
Amter, 30, is a freelance writer who's contributed to
such magazines as Hustler, FHM and Maxim. He wrote an article on the San
Francisco sex scene for "Horny? Los Angeles," which sold so well the book is
now entering a second printing.
San Francisco was the next natural target.
"San Francisco is, in my opinion, the sexiest city in
the country," Bruce says. "It is the most open city. It's sex-positive --
that's where the term came from. People come here to find their sexual
identity."
"It's not about flash, like L.A. is," Amter adds. "Here
it's more 'Look, this is a real girl who lives here, and she's very sexy.' "
"Horny?" is written by real people, too. From Anne
Marino to Lisa Montanarelli (who writes "Undress for Success: Etiquette for Sex
Clubs"), a number of established local writers who just happen to love sex made
candid contributions. They speak from experience -- and even the inexperienced
may find their forthrightness refreshing.
"The book is for everyone," Amter says. "There's stuff
from the sleaziest parts of San Francisco to really upscale. I can bet there's
a handful of things even the most die-hard sex lovers in San Francisco haven't
seen."
But you don't have to be a nymphomaniac to get "Horny?"
"We're not writing for dirty old men," Bruce says.
"We're writing for people who are open with their sexuality. There are more and
more people in San Francisco who will go to a sex club, to a swingers' club."
"Although I do think dirty old men will enjoy it,"
Amter says.
Top 5 Little-Known SF Sex Attractions:
1. Porn-E-Okie: Occasional party thrown by Mission
hipster/bar owner Chicken John where patrons can show off their vocal talents
by singing bad Whitney Houston tunes over dated XXX porn flicks. (http://www.dammit.org/
)
2. Don's of Sixth Street: An oasis of calm in the midst
of Sixth Street madness, Don's offers an eclectic array of oversized rubber
fists and Little Bo-Peep vibrators.
3. The Dollhouse: The only movie theatre in San
Francisco whose concession stand offers condoms in addition to hot buttered
popcorn. Sure, most movie theater floors are sticky, but the recently renovated
Dollhouse is in a class by itself.
4. SFRedbook.com:
Forget craigslist.com. This site offers
missed connections of an entirely different sort. If you ever wondered what
that Capp Street hooker's name was and what she charges,
SFRedbook.com
is the place to find out.
5. Lush: If the word "swinging" makes you think of bad
disco music and horrendous bell-bottoms, yet you still want to try some partner
swapping, check out Lush, where the swing selection is upscale, young and
attractive.
-- Charlie Amter and Cara Bruce
