Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Carmine Pen Press

@carminepenpress.bsky.social

43 followers 22 following 97 posts

Indie publisher of steamy stories and poetry. 20% of proceeds go to charity. Queer owned. Founded in 2025 in the PNW.

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Carmine Pen Press @carminepenpress.bsky.social · 2d

Ebook on sale for $2.99 during Banned Books Week! 20% of proceeds go to EveryLibrary, and organization which fights book bans.

carminepen.com/books/

#Erotica #BannedBooksWeek #Smutober #BBW2025

#BetweenTheStacks by the Numbers
7 short eroticas in 1 anthology
4 contemporary
2 speculative
1 historical
3 straight
3 gay
1 lesbian
1 trans
4 libraries
2 bookstores
1 bookcon
5 spice rating 🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶

Carmine Pen Press @carminepenpress.bsky.social · 1d

Get your copy of #BetweenTheStacks and read more of
Cheeky Boutée's menage erotica "F*ckathon at the BookCon".

The ebook is on sale for $2.99 all of #BannedBooksWeek. 20% of proceeds go to EveryLibrary, an organization that fights book bans.

carminepen.com/books

"Caitlin knocked on the hotel room door. She was nervous, but she tried to appear cool, calm, sophisticated. It was not every day you got invited to an award-winning author’s private party. Especially when that author had blue eyes you could get lost in, and broad shoulders, and…

"The door opened into a large suite full of people.

"Everyone was naked."

2 2

Reposted by Carmine Pen Press

gradientdescent @gradientdescnt.bsky.social · 2d

If you’ve been looking for an excuse to support my shenanigans as an author, this is on sale!

The head librarian in my hometown kept a newspaper clipping up on his wall from the local paper accusing him of being a pornographer. He was that proud of standing up against censorship.

Carmine Pen Press @carminepenpress.bsky.social · 2d

Ebook on sale for $2.99 during Banned Books Week! 20% of proceeds go to EveryLibrary, and organization which fights book bans.

carminepen.com/books/

#Erotica #BannedBooksWeek #Smutober #BBW2025

2 4

Carmine Pen Press @carminepenpress.bsky.social · 2d

Get your copy of #BetweenTheStacks and read more of @johannestevans.bsky.social's gay historical erotica, "A Temple by Any Other Name."

The ebook is on sale for $2.99 all of #BannedBooksWeek. 20% or proceeds go to EveryLibrary, an organization that fights book bans.

carminepen.com/books

“A library is a temple as any other, as I said,” Marian purrs, taking Cassian’s earlobe between his teeth and tugging gently on it.

“I wasn’t expecting such pleasure in Crossroads,” Cassian says, breathing heavily. “I was anticipating engaging with other men only on visits to the city.”

“What does a library host but a million cities in neat and tidy order?”

4 3

Carmine Pen Press @carminepenpress.bsky.social · 2d

Ebook on sale for $2.99 during Banned Books Week! 20% of proceeds go to EveryLibrary, and organization which fights book bans.

carminepen.com/books/

#Erotica #BannedBooksWeek #Smutober #BBW2025

Carmine Pen Press @carminepenpress.bsky.social · 3d

Censorship is no 1984. To help you celebrate your right to read, the ebook of BETWEEN THE STACKS is only $2.99 all week. 20% of proceeds go to EveryLibrary, an organization that fights book bans.

books2read.com/between-the-...

#betweenthestacks #BannedBooksWeek #BannedBooksWeek2025 #Erotica

3 2

Reposted by Carmine Pen Press

MaxMagenta @realmaxmagenta.bsky.social · 9d

🌶️The last (of three) of my poems published by Carmine Pen Press.🌶️

carminepen.com/sin-eater-by...

Special thanks to
@carminepenpress.bsky.social

#poetrysky #poetry #poem #erotica #spicy

sin eater

it’s hard to talk
with a
ring gag
in your mouth
your own private
Gethsemane
at least
that’s what you try
to say
but
he
keeps hitting
the back
of your throat
and it
just comes out
like
mmmmmmphhhhpmmphh
his fingers
interlocked within
your braids
demonstrably breaking
commandments
with each thrust
finishing
he gives you
a piece of
his soul
genuflects
then
exits the
confessional
as you wait
for the next
parishioner.

1 2

Reposted by Carmine Pen Press

Fusion Fragment @fusionfragment.bsky.social · 9d

Important distinction, for whoever needs to hear it today:

A rejection of your story is not a rejection of you as a writer!

1 20 89

Carmine Pen Press @carminepenpress.bsky.social · 9d

it’s hard to talk
with a
ring gag
in your mouth...

Read all of "sin eater" by @realmaxmagenta.bsky.social at carminepen.com/sin-eater-by-max-magenta/

#Poetry

Carmine Pen Press @carminepenpress.bsky.social · 28d

Want free books? Grab these ARCs in exchange for honest reviews, including our own Between the Stacks: Stories of Lusty Librarians, Amorous Authors, and Bawdy Bookstores.

Erotic Romance: booksirens.com/bundle/eroti...

Steamy Romance: booksirens.com/bundle/steam...

#FreeBooks #ARCs

Carmine Pen Press @carminepenpress.bsky.social · Aug 28

#PoetryThursday Today's poem is by Brian Sheffield.

Brian Sheffield is a Pushcart Prize nominated performance poet and stage actor based out of the Central Coast of California. He is a co-founder of Mad Gleam Press and an editor with Moon Riot Press.

carminepen.com/the-morning-...

#Poetry

[The morning climbs a stair onto its roof] by Brian Sheffield
1.

The morning climbs a stair onto its roof,
A distance waking up its stiffened limbs
And stretching out between the earth and sky.
I can see you start your appearance here.

Your shadow grants a visit, but my eye
Can only catch a moment of your hair.
As the day ascends and begins to wane,
I think I forget your taste, your blossom.

Oh, but my lips hold you, my tongue can hear
A lingered whisper as though you were near

Enough to tell me the secrets of your door.
I am a blasphemy, a crooked spine,
You are a wind’s chorus across a moor.
Time holds me there with you in a warm line.

2.

You walk me through the white sutures of time
Where nature petals herself open, slow –
Memory grasps me firmly by the arm
And offers me a comforting squeeze.

I am still hungry for the curvature
Of your face, which rises behind me on
Each morning, and hands the light over to
Santa Lucia, who stands above Pacific Grove.

Even as the water crawls away, only
To slink back in quick leaps, I still meander

On the shifting edges of this rounded bay.
Your fingers wear the wet diamonds of your skin,
Your arms are a soft forest of calm warmth.
The rising flames of dawn lay in your hair.

The sky becomes a blushing lake. The clouds
Recount your stories. Suddenly, they weep.

Brian Sheffield

Carmine Pen Press @carminepenpress.bsky.social · Aug 25

We adore this poem by David Whyte.

onbeing.org/poetry/every...

#Poetry

Text reads: Everything is Waiting for You
Written and read by David Whyte

Listen
After Derek Mahon

Your great mistake is to act the drama
as if you were alone. As if life
were a progressive and cunning crime
with no witness to the tiny hidden
transgressions. To feel abandoned is to deny
the intimacy of your surroundings. Surely,
even you, at times, have felt the grand array;
the swelling presence, and the chorus, crowding
out your solo voice. You must note
the way the soap dish enables you,
or the window latch grants you freedom.
Alertness is the hidden discipline of familiarity.
The stairs are your mentor of things
to come, the doors have always been there
to frighten you and invite you,
and the tiny speaker in the phone
is your dream-ladder to divinity.

Put down the weight of your aloneness and ease into the
conversation. The kettle is singing
even as it pours you a drink, the cooking pots
have left their arrogant aloofness and
seen the good in you at last. All the birds
and creatures of the world are unutterably
themselves. Everything is waiting for you.

Carmine Pen Press @carminepenpress.bsky.social · Aug 21

Happy #PoetryThursday! This week's poem is from Ennis Rook Bashe.

carminepen.com/the-summoner...

#Poetry #IndiePress

Carmine Pen Press @carminepenpress.bsky.social · Aug 19

Love this!

Reposted by Carmine Pen Press

gradientdescent @gradientdescnt.bsky.social · Aug 17

If you’ve been waiting for a non-Amazon way to pick up this here book that I’m part of, now’s the time! Remember, everyone needs to own at least one physical book on hand to seductively pass to a handsome stranger with a hand-written proposition tucked inside.

Carmine Pen Press @carminepenpress.bsky.social · Aug 17

You can now buy #BetweenTheStacks on bookshop.org and support your local book shops! bookshop.org/beta-search?...

Bookshop.org US

bookshop.org

2 5

Carmine Pen Press @carminepenpress.bsky.social · Aug 17

It's now on bookshop.org!
bookshop.org/beta-search?...

Bookshop: Buy books online. Support local bookstores.

An online bookstore that financially supports local independent bookstores and gives back to the book community.

bookshop.org

Carmine Pen Press @carminepenpress.bsky.social · Aug 17

You can now buy #BetweenTheStacks on bookshop.org and support your local book shops! bookshop.org/beta-search?...

Bookshop.org US

bookshop.org

1 2

Reposted by Carmine Pen Press

Johannes T. Evans @johannestevans.bsky.social · Aug 17

What's nice about writing so many romance and erotica characters who are in various ways disabled is how many lovely messages i get from other disabled people saying how exciting and fun it is to see people like us portrayed as desirous and desired, something other than burdens or lessons for others

1 11 63

Carmine Pen Press @carminepenpress.bsky.social · Aug 17

Stream and Blood was a great panel on sex in horror and dark fantasy. Tomorrow I'll post some of the books the panelists recommended.

#SeattleWorldCon2025 #WorldCon #WorldCon2025 #WorldConSeattle

Carmine Pen Press @carminepenpress.bsky.social · Aug 17

It was a great panel!

1 1

Reposted by Carmine Pen Press

Lancer 🔞 @snunukiss.bsky.social · Aug 16

Being "wholesome" and "non-problematic" and "vanilla" won't save your ass if you're a smut artist. We're all going to be affected, so stand up for your peers even if you don't like their themes because censorship is going to kill art and then ourselves.

-A "wholesome, non-problematic" smut artist

17 720 1.6K

Reposted by Carmine Pen Press

Littleevil0ne *COMMS OPEN* @littleevil0ne.bsky.social · Aug 15

if you aren't a patreon creator but ARE a patron and want patreon to know you DO NOT WANT AI ON THE PLATFORM and Do not support creators that use Ai You can always send them an email or support note about your concerns regarding their policies around Ai support.patreon.com/hc/en-us/req...

5 230 250

Carmine Pen Press @carminepenpress.bsky.social · Aug 16

Free story by @ceciliatan.com? Don't mind if I do.

#SeattleWorldCon2025 #WorldCon #WorldCon2025 #WorldConSeattle

1 3

Carmine Pen Press @carminepenpress.bsky.social · Aug 16

They were gone within minutes.

Carmine Pen Press @carminepenpress.bsky.social · Aug 16

Left a couple copies of #BetweenTheStacks in the Freebies Lounge. Anyone at #SeattleWorldCon2025 need something spicy to read?

#WorldCon #WorldCon2025

Carmine Pen Press @carminepenpress.bsky.social · Aug 16

Left a couple copies of #BetweenTheStacks in the Freebies Lounge. Anyone at #SeattleWorldCon2025 need something spicy to read?

#WorldCon #WorldCon2025

Reposted by Carmine Pen Press

MaxMagenta @realmaxmagenta.bsky.social · Aug 14

🌶️🌶️🌶️The second (of three) of my work published by Carmine Pen Press.🌶️🌶️🌶️

Fair warning: This one is very spicy.

carminepen.com/hunger-games...

Special thanks to
@carminepenpress.bsky.social

#poetrysky #poetry #poem #erotica #spicy #adultsonly

1 1 5