Problematic POVs
I’ve been reading through the submissions for the Under The Skin antho and doing some writing myself, and pondering the issue of problematic POVS. There are some pretty hard and fast rules about POV, but there are a lot of grey areas where the way forward is not quite clear. Literary fiction is typically (but […]
Fear, Love and Loss: Izzy’s Questions
I don’t usually go in for blog memes, but Isabella E. Marks posed a great one on her blog, originating with this quote: “Everyone you meet is afraid of something, loves something and has lost something.” H. Jackson Brown Jr. So, her challenge was: What are you afraid of? What do you love? What have […]
Best Men’s Erotica: Interview With the Editors
Will Crimson and Raziel Moore (who both post on the blog Erotic Writer) are the editors for Burning Book Press’ upcoming anthology, Best Men’s Erotica. I invited them to answer some questions on the specific of men’s erotica, and what makes it different from erotica for women. What do you think distinguishes erotica written for […]
Gender and Sexual Orientation: Authoritarian Desires to Label
I recently got caught up in a discussion on twitter with the charming Louise Sorensen over this article: “What Science Knows About Homosexuality.” As much as I applaud any survey of scientific research on a subject, I have to say that there is an undercurrent of assumption in a lot of the scientific literature that […]
The Sweet & Brutal Jouissance of the Story
Firstly, I’d like to call your attention to an interesting series of posts called On The Art of Erotica going on at EroticWriter.wordpress.com hosted by Will Crimson. The first post is by him (Three Ways to Take a Woman), the second by me (The Wages of Sin), and there will be more going up in […]
Dear Mr. Banks, I’ll Miss You or #CultureShipName GSV Inconvenient Departures
One of my favourite authors died yesterday. Iain Banks, or Iain M Banks (the name he used for his sci-fi books) took his leave of us too soon, too young, with too many great ideas left unwritten. He had a way of examining human issues by constructing stories like spectrum analyzers. Plots built to flay […]
Critical Discourse: Erotica and Why We Can’t Get No Respect
*Warning: Public Spanking* Back in early May, I wrote a post on why I felt having a ‘Best Male Erotica’ anthology was important to the genre as a whole. I said I felt that it was vital to the genre to have new, original male voices. It generated many thoughtful, interesting comments. One, however, stood […]
My Problem with Sexed Up Classics
I was recently taken to task by a commenter for being judgmental for replying that I didn’t want to read ‘yet another unoriginal retelling’ of a classic with the sex dumped in. This was in reference to recently produced and eroticised version of Wuthering Heights. This is the latest in a slew of sexed-up classics […]
My Wanna Be Elsewhere Playlist
I Should Have Known Better – Wire Rio de Mi Sevilla – Lole Y Manuel When I Am Laid in Earth – Henry Purcell – Jessye Norman Ostia (The Death of Passolini) – Coil Sick, Sick, Sick – Queens of the Stoneage Round Midnight – Julie London Black Sun – Dead Can Dance I Love […]
Why don’t we do it in the road?
This deep, murky ocean of meaning we’ve poured on top of our simple need to continue the species. Our outrageous excess of drive. Thousands of years and a million stories to gild the lily of our animal nature. What a castle in the air we’ve created. What complex labyrinths we’ve constructed to keep sperm from […]