The Laughing Man
Men don’t cry like women. I’ve always thought that most of the ways in which people say that men and women are different was bullshit. We’re not from Venus, they’re not from Mars, and all that gender stuff? That layer’s not as thick as everyone wants to believe it is. Maybe it’s just that I’m not […]
Lucy the Scholar
People joke about love at first sight because they know love has nothing to do with it. It’s uglier than that. I met Lucy at a conference up at York the day before nature wrapped the whole of the country in the white blanket of winter. In front of a long table piled with labeled […]
In conversation with Rose Caraway on the Sexy Librarian Podcast
Rose Caraway invited me to a long, rambling conversation on erotica, eroticism, and the concept of consent at her ‘Sexy Librarian Podcast’. Her outstanding podcast is also available at iTunes. Rose is one of those very rare people who have an almost overwhelming generosity of spirit for the craft of others. She reminds me that […]
All The Sex I Didn’t Have: The Complexity of Consent
There is a pitched battle going on over what counts as consent when it comes to sex. There are feminists who insist that sex following anything that isn’t a wholehearted, absolutely sober ‘yes’ is rape. And behind it, whether intentional or not, this has had the effect of heaping sex with more complexity and misery […]
On Dominance in Erotic Fiction: A few Questions
One of my readers, Sally, left me some questions that I felt required a little more thought and more space than was available in a comments reply, so I’ve answered them here. Her questions were: 1.) As an author of erotic fiction, what assets or personality traits do you believe make the male lead in […]
Portals – 1
At the age of 32, Jeb noticed his life had been a series of portals. Looking back, he could count them off on his fingers. At high school, he’d been the fat kid. School is hard enough on everyone, but it’s worse on fat kids. No one wants you on their team and the girls […]
The Dinner Party – 9
In the back of his car, Gilles Massé watched his latest acquisition’s face as he caught her nipple between his first and second fingers and squeezed. The whimper she emitted was a satisfying combination of pain and need. Carmen, his beloved, his wife, his partner in crime, had her hand up the girl’s dress; he […]
The Dinner Party – 8
At 3 PM, Isabel phoned David and asked if he could meet her. “It sounds urgent, Izzie. Clandestine.” David had an uncanny way of making quite ordinary words sound extraordinarily obscene. Isabel laughed. “Don’t be so dramatic. It isn’t like that.” She paused. “Well, not really.” “Then what is it like? No hints?” “Well, you […]
The Dinner Party – 7
The workweek started as it always did. Isabel came into her little office at about 8 AM with two plastic bags full of iced-coffee, tied up with rubber bands and with straws sticking out the tops. There were places that sold coffee to go in swankier containers, but the coffee lady on the street, outside […]
The Dinner Party – 6
Isabel awoke at dawn feeling strange and unreal. She looked across the enormous bed to where Gilles and Carmen lay naked and spooned. There was very little she remembered about the previous night after she had come a second time. Snatches of sound and pictures flitted through her head: insidious erotic fragments, like a film […]