The Queen of Ecdysiasts is Dead--Long Live the Queen!

Tempest Storm, age 80

Oh, my.

The forever-young Tempest Storm has sloughed off her exquisite mortal coil. Age 93. The Stripper of all Strippers. Her obituary is in this morning’s New York Times.

Read it here.

I have had a tendre, as the romance writers say, for more than a decade.

When I was writing Gypsy Chicks, the sixth of The Mex Mysteries, I read her autobiography and I knew, just knew, that she had to be Mex’s strip teacher. Had. To.

Well, that began a woman-hunt starting with the Burlesque Hall of Fame and taking me hither and yon through referral after referral till someone set me up in conversation with Tempest’s manager. We corresponded till we arrived at an agreement that worked for all of us.

And TEMPEST STORM ENDORSED “GYPSY CHICKS”!!!!!

Excited much? You betcha.

She was, and remains a Queen among Queens. One of my favorite facts about Tempest is that she was born on February 29th. On her 80th birthday, she told everyone she was turning 20, and she giggled when she said it. It was a joke she’d been telling for decades and it tickled her that day as much as it did the day she figured it out. I loved that about Tempest.

So, fare thee well, O Queen. We will miss you Earthside very much.

Thank you for gracing our lives.