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Adam Wilcox posts on www.xxxwasteland.wordpress.com – Penthouse publicist and columnist Lainie Speiser calls upon her two decades-plus of experience as a member of the adult industry in her latest book, Confessions of the Hundred Hottest Porn Stars, a tell-all release from Quiver Books featuring interviews with one hundred of the most recognized and popular adult talents on the planet, who unabashedly share their deepest (and, at times, humorous) sexual stories and fantasies with the well-respected author.

Confessions, which has quickly become the “It” book among on and off-screen members of the porn business since its release in June, is available from Quiver Books, at PenthouseStore.com here and through Amazon at this link, where you can also purchase Lainie’s previous three books, The Little Bit Naughty Book of Blowjobs, Threesomes: For Couples Who Want to Know More and Hot Games for Mind-Blowing Sex: Erotic Fantasies You and Your Partner Can Try at Home.

Lainie kindly spoke with XXX Wasteland on the afternoon of August 5 to discuss Confessions, her duties as publicist and writer for the Penthouse brand and more.

You can follow Lainie on Twitter @MissLainie.

(Lead photo courtesy of Lainie Speiser’s Facebook account)

Q: Let’s begin by discussing your latest book, Confessions of the Hundred Hottest Porn Stars. Can you tell us what made you decide to write it and how the book came about?

I had been writing for (Quiver Books) since about 2006. I had written other books for them that were more how-to sex books for couples, like threesomes for couples who want to know more – there was a threesomes how-to book, I did a role-play book called Hot Games. I had done a couple of books for them. I did those two and I had wanted to do something with the Penthouse Pets that is my day job, for lack of a better word – I’m the publicist for Penthouse magazine.

We were playing around with something like sex advice from the Penthouse Pets or whatever and I was telling them the best part of my job are the stories or the “hangout time.” It’s not really the glamorous parts that are so much fun. Those are fine – going to clubs and events, traveling. But the most fun we have is when we’re trapped in planes, hotel rooms and Denny’s and stuff, and we really relax and tell each other stories.

It just sort of went from there – not just doing a book about Penthouse Pets, but porn stars in general: Their real lives, their real sex lives, their humor, all of that. What do they like to do when they’re not on camera? And obviously, it was easier for me to do this as opposed to someone else because most of these people already knew me already. Even if they didn’t work for me, they knew of me. And we also have the Penthouse DVD division, so Nick Manning, for instance, does a lot of work for our DVDs. I knew Evan Seinfeld since he was just dating Tera Patrick way back when. So, it was a fun time to sit and just talk and reveal what they really were like and what they did enjoy.

Q: Did you conduct an exclusive interview with each performer featured in Confessions for the book?

Oh, yes. It wasn’t all face-to-face. A couple were – mind you, I live in New York – but they were phone interviews. There were one or two people that insisted on doing the E-mail interview, but usually I would follow up with the phone. I just don’t feel you can get a sense of a person through an E-mail interview. I don’t really do that as a rule. Even when I write my column for Penthouse and I need a quote, I don’t want them to E-mail me a quote back; I want to actually hear what people have to say. You lose so much in translation.

Q: Yes, there is a better flow with telephone interviews as opposed to E-mail.

Definitely. There was Skype also. Some people wanted to see me to talk even if I wasn’t in L.A., so we did Skype as well.

Q: Did you personally have a favorite performer to speak with or a particular favorite story from the book?

I like all of them just because of the fact that these are some really busy people that took time out for an hour. Everyone gave me about an hour of their time, if not more.

A lot of the people that I loved were people that I didn’t work with, so I was sort of interested, because … Aria Giovanni I know like the back of my hand because we’re also friends and when she’s in town she stays at my house. So, even though there were some things I didn’t know but I did know because we’re friends.

So, I loved people I didn’t know, like Angelina Valentine. I loved talking to her. She has a really sexy Southern accent and she reminds me of a lot of people I knew from art school that were from places like she is – from Kentucky and stuff, who are like wild, but creative. She is a very wild woman, but she is also a very creative woman. She told me about these visions that she has and those are her ideas, and these dreams she has and she acts these dreams out. I loved that, I thought that was awesome. That was great.

I actually became friends with people through this book, like Brittany Andrews. We had mutual friends and stuff, but she never worked for Penthouse, or at least not when I’ve been here. In the interview I thought she was hilarious and she doesn’t hold back – and she doesn’t want to hold back. She is who she is and she doesn’t sugarcoat anything. So, I loved talking with her.

Someone that I did know but just hadn’t hung out with in a while whose interview touched me was Tera Patrick. Unlike a lot of people, she really showed a vulnerability. What really made Tera Patrick such a big star when she was working wasn’t just her beauty. Even though she wasn’t the craziest woman on-screen, she gives this vulnerability that you don’t see in a lot of porn stars. And I realize now after reading that – that was what made her the superstar that she was: She wasn’t afraid of being vulnerable. Hers was about sex after a divorce, which I think a lot of people can relate to. That was fun.

I like Ryan Keely’s (interview) also. She’s a Penthouse Pet. She told me some wild stories. She’s young and just getting into it – she’s only 25 – so it’s coming from a 25-year-old’s perspective of finding out what you like.

I also got close with Stoya during this book, who doesn’t work for Penthouse either, but hopefully she will – we’re definitely working on it. Stoya also came from that young person’s place of discovering what you like to do.

The underline thing I found from everyone – including the men – was that people who get into porn are people that are sexual and want to explore their sexuality, and porn is a very safe way to do that, as opposed to going out to bars and picking up strangers and putting yourself at risk for diseases or murder. But being at a place where you are supervised, where there is AIDS testing and all that, and being paid for it and making friends for it.

Q: How has the book been received by both readers and members of the adult industry?

They love it. That’s been the best part. They love it. I was scared to death, I’ll be honest with you. I’ve been a publicist for years and just as a publicist there is always someone who says, “I didn’t say that.” They don’t like the way they came out. There are so many people I’ve repped that are like, “Lainie, you call these people because that’s not what I meant. That’s not what I said.”

But, I was (wary). But, you know what? Knock wood, everyone has been great and in fact, what we are going to do – me and the Penthouse store, which isn’t the only place that carries (the book), but is one of the places that carry it – we’re actually working on getting signatures from all one hundred porn stars and then we are going to auction it off and give all the money to cancer research.

We were getting signatures from it one by one. Jeff from the Penthouse store was telling me that at Exxxotica in Chicago – he was there working, but he brought a few books. He went to every porn star who was there that was in the book and he kept giving me reports as we went along that weekend and I just couldn’t believe how happy everyone was. They can be … their toughest customers are them because obviously they want to make sure they are not being misrepresented. It happens a lot, especially in this industry. But, everyone was happy.

I didn’t print any gossip. There was definitely some gossiping going on in these interviews – porn stars talking about other porn stars. And I didn’t print that. I’m glad that I chose not to do that because it wasn’t about that. So, I was careful.

Q: The book to me definitely appears to have been very, very well-received by the entire industry. I have seen it mentioned everywhere – by the stars, on websites and elsewhere. Everybody seems to be enjoying it a lot.

Yes – so far, so good. I really can’t wait to do another one, like a Part Two. There are so many people that I didn’t get a chance to interview. There are one or two that said no that I want to go back and bother. It’s actually harder to get a hold of the men than the women, believe it or not. Which is strange, because the girls are so much busier than them, in my opinion. But then again, there’s only the same ten guys that they use, so they are spread kind of thin, so to speak.

I definitely want to speak with Evan Stone. It wasn’t because he said no, it was just schedules conflicting. Tommy Gunn is another one I want to speak to. Belladonna declined very nicely, but I want to bother her again about that. I want to talk to Janine, but I understand with all her legal battles … I think she is a little wary. (Laughs) But I’d love to do more because the industry is so thriving – there are new and interesting people who come along every month.

Q: To transition a little bit, can you tell us about your background and how you entered the adult industry?

It wasn’t really an ambition, it just never struck my mind. I went to the School of Visual Arts in New York. I was a Journalism major; I wanted just to be a writer, basically. What I thought I would end up doing is being a music journalist; I interned at Spin Magazine, New York Press and stuff like that. I wrote for a lot of counterculture-type magazines.

The economy was bad. I had a couple of jobs I didn’t like that weren’t really a good fit for me as a person. A lot of these straight publishing jobs. I worked for an art book publisher and surprisingly I didn’t like it. It wasn’t that they didn’t like me, I just felt, “This isn’t quite me.”

I just kept answering ads and one day this ad answered. I thought it was an art magazine, but it was a porn. It was called Gallery. I think someone else took it over, but it’s been around since like 1971. I never had heard of it and they had to explain to me what it was. (Laughs) I didn’t know. I went in for an interview and I remember coming home to my boyfriend at the time – I was living in Brooklyn – and I said, “You know what? I’m getting this job and I think I just found something.” And I just stayed in the industry ever since.

Q: This is probably an all-encompassing question, but can you describe some of your duties and responsibilities at Penthouse?

Oh, absolutely. Mainly what I do is publicity for the Penthouse Pets, which is a never-ending, churning thing. I am continually getting as many girls as I can on the radio – I specialize in radio. Radio, doing interviews, we do Howard Stern a lot, we do Opie and Anthony a lot. We’re doing a lot of hot podcasts now, podcasts are the big thing now. So, I book all the girls on there. I get them other gigs. Right after I finish this conversation, I’m going to meet with a Penthouse Pet and set up an interview for her with The Daily News, and we’re going to be promoting the Penthouse swimsuit calendar.

So, basically, I travel with the girls. On Monday, I’m going away with Ryan Keely and Nikki Benz and we’re going to be at the Sturgis motorcycle rally. I’m sort of a jack of all trades when it comes to the girls.

I’ve also brought a couple of girls into the magazine. In doing this book, I met Isis Taylor and I thought she was wonderful. Four months later, she’s a Penthouse Pet and it’s because of this book.

Some people joke around – they call me the “Pet wrangler.” Some people call me “The babysitter.” A publicist does a little bit of everything.

Then, I also write for Girls of Penthouse. I do a column there every month called Pet News, where I get little stories about the girls that they’re not going to see anywhere else, like snapshots on the road and doing different things.

I also write for the regular Penthouse, an ongoing column called Pet Projects, where I talk about whatever mainstream stuff the girls are up to.

So, it keeps me busy. I can lose this cell phone ever because my life would be over. (Laughs)

It’s a great job. Sometimes it can be a 24-hour job, but I love it. It doesn’t feel that way to me.

Q: Awesome. Are there any upcoming projects in the works that you would like to mention?

I’m working on a book right now as we speak. Literally, while (Confessions) came out I was already writing another book for Quiver. The working title is going to be Sex Secrets From the Manhattan Madam. Basically, the Manhattan Madam Kristin Davis, I had ghost written her autobiography back in 2008 and it came out in 2009. She wrote a blurb in the back of the book and my publisher was like, “Oh, I didn’t know you knew her.” You know, she ran for Governor of New York … I was like, “Yeah.” He said, “Would you like to write something totally different to do with her?” I said, “Yeah, I love working with her.” I interviewed her, but more about sex advice; it’s not really about her personal life. I interviewed her, the women who worked for her and the women who are still working girls, asking them “What do you know that I don’t know? Why are the Charlie Sheens of the world coming to you?” So, it’s really interesting. I’m doing interviews pretty much every week with these women and all of them are still working – obviously not for her.

But it’s been a really interesting book. When women read this, it’s going to make them feel like, “Wow, I don’t put enough value on myself.” It’s kind of ironic because people don’t think of prostitutes as women to put a value on themselves, but they really are. Women these days … men don’t even buy them dinner anymore. I consider prostitutes old-fashioned, and call girls. They are, “Yes, you are going to buy me dinner, you are going to pay for my time because my time is valuable.”

Q: It sounds like a very interesting book.

Yeah, definitely. And hopefully, I’ll do a Part Two with that. And then all my stuff with Penthouse. Next week, me, Nikki Benz and Ryan Keely are going to be at Cadillac Jack’s all week in Deadwood for the motorcycle rally. We’re going to do autograph signings and a charity carwash, so you can ride up your bike and have Nikki buff your bike in a bikini. (Laughs) So, it should be fun. You know, just Penthouse – Penthouse number one, book number two! (Laughs)

They have been very supportive here. They are very supportive and I always send books to the owners. They’re really cool. I definitely give the affiliation with Penthouse(credit). I’m writing my sixth book right now and even though I wrote for a bunch of porns before that, this is the major leagues. And they’ve just been great.

Q: To finish up, is there anything you wish to say to readers?

Buy my book! (Laughs)

You can pick up the book on Amazon, but if you go to PenthouseStore.com and use the offer code “100 Stars” you can get it at a twenty percent discount. And while you’re there, I was told that if you use that code you can get other stuff, too. We’ve got a lot of cool stuff there, not just DVDs. We have a shoe line, a clothing line – we’ve got everything.

I have my other book there to pick up also. I wrote a blowjob book that came out last year called The Little Bit Naughty Book of Blowjobs, so … if you want to just bone up! (Laughs)