Erotica Writers: Be Passionate but Be Careful with your Facts #paypal #censorship #erotica
I am overwhelmed and delighted to see the gloriously spirited and passionate response to the PayPal censorship issue. It’s good to see so many writers of all stripes blogging so eloquently about this issue. However, there is something that is disturbing me. I’m seeing a lot of understandable but er… careless wording. This is not […]
Pragmatic Compromises & The Moral Hazard of Expediency
As you can see, my last post generated a huge number of comments from both readers and writers. I gave Mark Coker a very rough ride and, to his credit, he responded eloquently and in a very gentlemanly fashion. I want to reiterate that I think Smashwords is a vital, valuable and outstanding site for […]
Two Legs Bad: An Open Letter to Mark Coker #smashwords #censorship #erotica
This post is a public response to an email sent by Mark Coker, founder of Smashwords, asking all erotic writers to take down any books that contravene their Terms of Service Dear Mark, I thank you for taking the time to write all published erotica writers offering their work for sale on Smashwords. I thank […]
Doing Good while Being Bad: Coming Together’s Share the Love – #comingtogether
All this month, Lisabet Sarai is hosting a series of posts by writers who have participated in and contributed to the ‘Coming Together‘ Project. Coming Together is the brain child of Alessia Brio who, six years ago, came up with the idea of publishing excellent erotic writing for charity. If you’d like to read more […]
Accidentally Kinky
Michel Perkins introduced his unique survey of modern erotic literature with George Bataille’s incisive quote: “Man goes contantly in fear of himself. His erotic urges terrify him.”(Perkins 1992). What serious novelist would deny themselves such a challenge as a topic? Yet most contemporary literary writers do, either by refusing to write about the sexual lives […]
On Pornography: Towards a revised definition
I’ve complained a great deal about the way in which all sexually explicit material of any sort is called ‘pornography’. And I’ve often insisted that what I write is not pornography. Because of this, I often worry that I leave my readers with the impression that I am anti-porn. I want to stress, categorically, that […]
Kiss Me
Kiss me without reservation or calculation or malice aforethought. Kiss me like a drowning man gasps for air and takes in water. Kiss me with your body beheaded, reaching for that one sublime moment. Kiss me blind and deaf and dumb, the Helen Keller Kiss of all time. Kiss me along signals of chemistry and […]
Remittance Girl Gone Dark: #SOPABLACKOUT #SOPA 24 HRS EST
As the venerable Edward R. Murrow would have said: “Good night, and good luck”.
It’s All About Mickey Mouse: SOPA and the reality of cultural production
Someone asked me to explain why I’m blacking out on January 18th. I’d like to be upfront about this: it is not simply the SOPA bill that I oppose. It is the entire way in which the concept of intellectual property has evolved. The US Constitution was one of the few national documents to enshrine […]
Body Art/Work/Action #temptingfailure
When I was six, I was taken to the opening of an art exhibit at a gallery. This is how I was taught how to experience art: you walk into the space, grab a glass of wine, stand in front of pictures, nod, leave. Very often, the work hanging on the wall has no intrinsic […]