A New Year and New Fun
I can now happily announce that ERWA (the Erotica Readers and Writers Association) blog is planning huge changes. For those of you who aren’t aware, ERWA is really the single most important erotic writers’ group on the internet. It’s public face has consisted of a website that featured, on a monthly basis, some of the […]
The Stand In: Version 2
I started this story a while ago. I thought I’d ended it and then today I realized I hadn’t; that there was another voice in the story. It needed balance. The shoulders were about right, she thought. The height – perhaps he was an inch or two shorter – but that didn’t matter for much. […]
States of Grace: Reader Innocence, Happy Endings and the Writer as Responsible Sadist
“Your virtue!” said the lady, recovering after a silence of two minutes; “I shall never survive it. Joseph Andrews by Henry Fielding Academia puts a high value on the ability to read critically; to deny the text our heart and view it with an analytical, objective mind. From the early of the 20th Century onwards, […]
“At the heart of pornography is sexuality haunted by its own disappearance”
How have representations of sex become so banal, so unthreatening, so uncritical? Because the body and sexuality are liberated as signs and only as signs. Through the sign-system, Baudrillard contends, ‘sexuality itself is diverted from its explosive finality’ and transformed into ‘promotional eroticism’ or ‘operational sexuality’. “Jean Baudrillard: Against Banality” by William Paulett I’m having […]
Better Left Unsaid – Beautifully Read by Lady Grinning Soul
This Christmas, Lady Grinning Soul has done me the very great honour of including one of my stories, Better Left Unsaid, in her Christmas podcast. She’s got a gorgeous plummy voice and the podcast includes erotic poetry and stories from Jill (of Jack and Jill), Jilly Boyd, Wyeth Bailey, some lovely pieces from LGS herself. […]
Erotic Romance Readers: What does a Happily Ever After Ending do for You?
I’ve had a marvelous time in conversation with 10 erotic romance writers. Each of them have given me wonderful insights into their craft, their challenges and their unique understanding of what constitutes erotic romance and their relationship with the genre and sub-genres. One thing that impressed me overwhelmingly was how close they feel to their […]
Why Conversations Matter: Hermeneutic Phenomenology
I’ve been having a wonderful time having conversations with writers about their writing and the uses and effects of the ‘Happily Ever After’ convention. However, in some cases, it has been difficult to persuade people to speak to me via voice with Skype, or explain why a text chat or an email exchange won’t work. […]
Erotic Romance Writers: Your thoughts, please
If you read my blog fairly regularly, you’ll already know I’m working on a research project investigating the function of the HEA/HFN ending in erotic romance, not simply as a form of narrative closure, but examining if and how it plays other roles in how you construct, imagine, character build, etc. If you write erotic […]
Closure in Erotic Fiction
“The Happily Ever After, while often decried as one of the most limiting aspects of a romance novel, provides a secure anchor to the reader and allows a romance author considerable leeway in the sorts of conflict she can present, as long as she doesn’t cross a reader’s personal line in the sand, beyond which […]
Read My Lips on 4-Letter Words
I’m very chuffed to have been invited by Harley Moore to write a monthly column for 4-Letter Words, e-Book Eros‘ lively blogzine on erotic lit and its readers. My column is called ‘Read My Lips‘ and my post this month is on the myth that women aren’t visual, sexually. This month also features a fabulous […]