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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Dark on the 18th
This is just a little note to let you know that my site will be participating in the 8hr blackout in support of the anti-SOPA movement. I passionately support the intellectual property rights of creative artists. But I do not support the agendas that lurk behind the current SOPA bill. I thank you in advance […]
Show Me, Don’t Tell Me – Unless it’s Sex.
There were some really great comments on my last post about the literary world and its aversion to including erotic sex scenes in literary fiction or eliciting arousal in readers. Laughingly, and perhaps a little brutally, I said that it might have something to do with individual authors and their own feelings of sexual inadequacy. […]
Why Good Writers Write Bad Sex: An Exploration of Literary Prudery
Last year, Arifa Akbar wrote an interesting article in The Independent: Bad sex please, we’re British: Can fictive sex ever have artistic merit? I’ll be honest, I’ve been ruminating over this piece for about a year. First, let me give you some quotes from prize-winning writers and critics as to why they purposefully write unarousing […]
Possible opening lines for Literary Erotica Novels
These days, I wax, but only out of nostalgia. _______ Lydia considered fate had been inexplicably kind to her. She’d survived the 90’s with nothing more than a mild case of chlamydia. _______ Gilles was French. But he bathed with surprising regularity. _______ On her return from the launderette, Jackie discovered strange missives scrawled on […]
“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 […]