The Cypher Dom: Christian Grey and the Failure of Visual Media
I guess you have to thank a bad book and a mediocre film if it engenders thought on the subject of the textual and visual portrayal of eroticism. The success of Fifty Shades of Grey has certainly brought a debate about BDSM, stalkerish males, passive women and the compromise of bad sex for love into […]
Fifty Shades of Grey: A Film Review
Fifty Shades of Grey is the first mainstream film based on an ‘erotic novel’ in quite a while; the last one I can recall was Secretary, loosely based on a short story with the same title by Mary Gaitskill, but I could be wrong. There have been numerous recent art-house films considered to be erotic, […]
The Duties of an Author and the Responsibilities of a Reader
There are aspects of the rise of online booksellers, e-books, reader-reviews and the general phenomena surrounding reading and the internet that I like very much. But there are also parts of it I abhor. Self-publishing, the rise of small e-book presses and the refusal of publishers to do the marketing they once did has meant […]
Nightmares & Visions: What erotica should be – Hot and Deliciously Politically Incorrect.
‘Nightmares and Visions’ is a compelling collection of short erotic fiction pieces that invite the reader to wander the darker paths of sexuality. For a number of reasons, it is a remarkable collection. Before the rise of digital publishing and the advent of the e-book, many publishers were unwilling to publish collections of this type. […]
The Beauty and the Beast Trope: Children’s stories for Child-like Minds
I just finished reading Gabriel’s Inferno, by Sylvain Reynard and gave it a rather scathing review on Goodreads. One of the reactions this solicited was the question of why the “Bella and Edward” trope is so popular at present. I’ve given this some thought. The “Bella and Edward” trope is, essentially, a Beauty and the […]
Perfect Abs and Emo Too: Bared To You Reviewed
I decided to read Bared To You because it was sold as a well-written version of Fifty Shades of Grey. And I thought: hey, maybe the optimists were right! Maybe FSOG was a flawed but timely incursion of erotic fiction into mainstream literature. To give credit where credit is due, Sylvia Day is not E.L. […]
Fifty Shades of Twilight: a Fifty Shades of Grey Review
Over on the ERWA Blog, Donna George Storey commented that perhaps one positive aspect of the massive popularity of Fifty Shades of Grey was that women who liked it might then go and seek out books that actually fess up to being erotic fiction. My worry is that they’ll read Fifty Shades of Grey, identify […]
Interview and Giggles
I recently was interviewed by Alex over at Shiterotica. We had a very nice chat about writing, fisting, poor grammar, why I hate Stephanie Meyer and death metal bands. I wish I could say it was terribly insightful, but mostly it was just silliness. However, you do need to check out the Shiterotica blog. Alex […]
Bad Romance: Book Review
I’m pathetic at writing book reviews, and I rarely do it. But once in a while, you read something that so encapsulates the genre as you hope it will be, that you just have to grit your teeth and go for it. Hating Lady Gaga with a passion that rivals Camille Paglia’s, when Lisabet Sarai […]
Coming Together: Robert Buckley
There are few people I can point to and honestly say: ‘This person taught me how to write”. There is a good chance that you haven’t heard of Robert Buckley and, if you enjoy good erotic writing, that’s a damn shame because Bob is a masterful erotic writer with a voice like no one else. […]