Erotica 101: Update

So, last year I decided to read through Susie Bright's erotica canon in an attempt to get more invested in erotica.

Here's the original reading list:

Crash by J.G. Ballard
The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty by A.N. Roquelaure  
Lost Souls by Poppy Z. Brite
Penthouse: Naughty by Nature  
The Way of a Man with a Maid
Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence
In the Cut by Susanna Moore

Here's what actually happened:

Crash by J.G. Ballard 
The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty by A.N. Roquelaure
Lost Souls by Poppy Z. Brite  
Mommas, Trembling Sisters, Puritans & Perverts by Joanna Russ
Penthouse: Naughty by Nature  
The Way of a Man with a Maid
Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence
In the Cut by Susanna MooreVox by Nicholson Baker

Crash was amazing, In the Cut was haunting, and it's no secret that I fell utterly in love with Joanna Russ last year, and desperately wish she'd written porn, or at least slash fiction. I really, really tried reading Lady Chatterley's Lover, but in the end I just wanted to stab Lawrence in his stupid face. His stupid stupid face. I read more of the Marquis de Sade then was good for me (that post is on the way), and that might lead me into reading more about the Libertine movement this year.

But, here's the real point: what should I read this year? I think I'm still going to read Lost Souls, but maybe not the rest. I had a lot more fun reading the accidental porn I stumbled into instead of the stuff I planned. My current list is:

Lost Souls by Poppy Z. Brite
Beauty's Punishment by A.N. Roquelaure
Emmanuelle by Emmanuelle Arsan

Any other suggestions?

What I Read in 2012

Books

1) Folktales in Fragile Dialects by Catherynne M. Valente

2) In the Cut by Susanna Moore

3) Vox by Nicholson Baker

4) Crash by J.G. Ballard

5) Telepaths Don't Need Safewords by Cecilia Tan

6) Doctor Who: The Stealers of Dreams by Steve Lyons

7) Vermillion Sands by J.G. Ballard

8) Cocaine Nights by J.G. Ballard

9) Doctor Who: Winner Takes All by Jacqueline Rayner

10) Odd Girl Out by Ann Bannon

11) Doctor Who: Only Human by Gareth Roberts

12) Doctor Who: The Clockwise Man by Justin Richards

13) Women on the Edge of Space edited by Danielle Bodnar and Cecilia Tan

14) Story of O by Pauline Reage

15) Return to the Chateau (Story of O II) by Pauline Reage

16) The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin

17) The Female Man by Joanna Russ

18) The Language of the Night: Essays on Fantasy and Science Fiction by Ursula K. Le Guin

19) We Who Are About To… by Joanna Russ

20) The Two of Them by Joanna Russ

21) How to Suppress Women's Writing by Joanna Russ

22) The Adventures of Alyx by Joanna Russ

23) To Write Like a Woman: Essays in Feminism and Science Fiction by Joanna Russ

24) Orlando by Virginia Woolf

25) And Chaos Died by Joanna Russ

26) On Strike Against God by Joanna Russ

27) Magic Mommas, Trembling Sisters, Puritans and Perverts by Joanna Russ

28) Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu, translated and annotated by Ursula K. Le Guin

29) Robotica by Kal Cobalt

30) The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein

31) Manners from Heaven by Quentin Crisp

32) The New Topping Book by Dossie Easton and Janet W. Hardy

33) The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty by Anne Rice

34) Delta of Venus by Anaïs Nin

35) Juliette by Marquis de Sade

36) Mary Boleyn: The Mistress of Kings by Alison Weir

37) The Discarded Image: An Introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literature by C.S. Lewis

38) The House of Sable Locks by Elizabeth Schechter

39) Real Murders by Charlaine Harris

40) A Bone to Pick by Charlaine Harris

41) Three Bedrooms, One Corpse by Charlaine Harris

42) The Julius House by Charlaine Harris

43) Dead Over Heels by Charlaine Harris

44) Clues to Christie: The Definitive Guide to Miss Marple, Hercule Poirot, Tommy & Tuppence and All of Agatha Christie's Mysteries

45) The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie

46) Nemesis by Agatha Christie

47) Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie

48) A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy by William B. Irvine

49) The Art of Living: The Classical Manual on Virtue, Happiness, and Effectiveness by Epictetus (A New Interpretation by Sharon Lebell

50) Doctor Who: Devil in the Smoke by Justin Richards

51) Doctor Who: The Angel's Kiss—A Melody Malone Mystery by Justin Richards

52) On the Shortness of Life, and Other Essays by Seneca

Short Stories

1) "Fantomina: or, Love in a Maze" by Eliza Fowler Haywood

2) "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gillman

3) "When It Changed" by Joanna Russ

4) "Poor Man, Beggar Man" by Joanna Russ

5) "The Canterville Ghost" by Oscar Wilde

6) "The Case of the Perfect Maid" by Agatha Christie

7) "Robot Dreams" by Isaac Asimov

8) "Secretario" by Catherynne M. Valente

2012 Graphic Novels

1) Mass Effect: Invasion by Mac Walters, John Jackson Miller, and Omar Francia

Erotica 101: The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty

I've written a proper review of this over at Eden Fantasys, so this will just be my general thoughts. If this whets your appetite, here's a handy widget that'll give me credit for your purchase:

$14.99The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty Book by Anne Rice writing as A.N. Roquelaure Format: Paperback Publisher: Audioworks Buy from EdenFantasys

 It took me a while to get through this one. Not because it isn't good, because it is, but because I just didn't get it at first. It just seemed so melodramatic, and the prince was a pretty terrible top, and I found myself wondering what happened when princesses strung from the rafters for two days had to pee. I might be the only person who worries about these things, but still.

Then I relaxed and remembered that fairy tale people don't have bodily functions, unless they're inherent to the plot. Then I tore through the rest of Claiming and decided that I would definitely have to read the rest of the series. As I said in the review, the part of the book that finally sold me was Beauty's final decision to embrace and perfect her own submission, even while outwardly appearing to rebel. I loved that moment so much, and I can't wait to see what happens to her next.

I love this book even more for the fact that Rice wrote it in response to anti-porn sentiment. As a purveyor of porn and a feminist, it makes me happy to know that eloquent arguments like this were being written even back in the day. It makes it an important historical work as well as a delicious kinky romp. :-)

Are We Just Writing for Ourselves?

So, seriously guys, is it just us around here? Have the literary perverts just closed in upon themselves, telling each other stories while groping in the dark?

This question came up at the Circlet Press retreat this year (go look at #PornCamp if you want some giggles) and most of the participants seemed OK with the concept. I was not.

I'm not sure if, in a post-Fifty Shades world, we can afford to be that insular. That book is decidedly not OK with the BDSM sexuality of its, uh, hero, and yet it's being held up as a stunning success in the markets of kinky and erotic fiction. This makes me think that a lot of people are not finding us, don't know what other stuff is out there, or how to find it. That makes me incredibly sad.

Every weekday I write a newsletter, Erotica Today, just because I hope it leads curious people to where all the porn's at. It can take up to four hours to put one together, and I do it so that our erotic work can be found by people outside the community who want to read it. Recently, I added tags relating to Fifty Shades to its Livejournal community, hoping that it draws new readers in. I have no idea if it's working, or if it'll ever work.

So, can anyone think of anything we can do about this? I mean, yes, Shades has made the press, but then what?

Erotica 101: Magic Mommas, Trembling Sisters, Puritans & Perverts

Magic Mommas, Trembling Sisters, Puritans & Perverts by Joanna Russ

This is a bit of a cheat, since it wasn't on my original reading list for this project. But I've been on a serious Joanna Russ kick lately, and here, finally, her work intersected with the erotic aspect of my work.

In some respects, this book was difficult for me. There wasn't a lot of pro-pornography feminism when it was written, and Russ's definition of porn as using women is definitely too narrow, and should rather have depended on the material in question. Having said that, she does acknowledge that this is a contentious issue and she might not be qualified to write a verdict on. It still says something that she was willing to bring it up and discuss it at length. It's incredibly instructive to see a feminist struggle with the tricky issue of pornography, moving from one side of the argument (for/against) to the other, and being unsatisfied with both. I have never seen a tightrope act like this before: she respects both sides of the porn debate, and elegantly explains why.

For all that she is sometimes misguided, or maybe just ill-informed, there is no denying that Russ's writing is sublime and spiked with wicked humour. A small sample: "Question: why is it so hard making friends in group therapy and so easy making friends at writers' conferences? Answer: because writers are crazy."

She's clearly not all that comfortable with larger, political broad strokes, although she is aware of the importance of these issues. Instead, she focuses on her own life to provide examples of what desperately needs to be changed. Her account of her struggles with her homosexuality and feminism in a time where these things were simply unacceptable is heartbreaking, brutally honest, and inspiring. Even when I don't agree with her, her analysis of feminism and its goals stirs me, and re-awakens the necessary anger to keep striving.

And all this leads to a discussion of what true sexual liberation would look like (Answer: Beautiful enough to make you weep). I can't even begin to explain what she says here, because Russ's way of phrasing things is half the joy of her writing, but it centres around liberation as a universal, all-encompassing concept.

Now, I have to talk about the reason I bought this book. Her essay on Kirk/Spock fan fiction, and fan fiction in general, is wonderful and is rightly famous. Don't believe me? After explaining what K/S is to her pre-internet readership, she follows up with, "If your automatic nervous system does the nip-ups mine does upon reading merely the premise of this material, it's quite irrelevant to talk about the beauty of friendship or the necessity of compassion in human affairs."

As if that wasn't enough joy for one essay, she goes on to analyze what fan fiction represents in the minds of its writers, in this case its female writers. Basically, it's fantasy. Pure, unadulterated, I-would-not-actually-want-this-probably fantasy. This is a terribly important moment for literature and women's writing and erotica and sexual expression. That sexual fantasy is fantasy, and not vicarious reality is something that can be overlooked and cause misunderstandings of intention. She gets to this point so clearly and simply that you're there before you realize, and you can see it clearly and agree completely.

I also love how fair she is to both male and female sexuality, and the troubles everyone has in a society where the attitude towards sex, and sexual fantasy, is ambivalent at best. Russ was never a misandrist, although she was unequivocally anti-patriarchy, and she knows that men is hurt by patriarchal bullshit as much as women are.

This book is, shamefully, out of print, but you can get it used in tons of places online, and relatively cheaply. If you want to read a respectful, literate, smart analysis of fan fiction, pornography, erotica, queer issues, and feminism, go get this one. I feel richer for having read it.

Erotica 101: Crash by J.G. Ballard

Once upon a time, I was the editor of my high school newspaper. My co-editor, a lovely queer man who I had a rather fraught love/hate relationship with, wanted to publish a review of Cronenberg's movie Crash in our earnest little rag. The trouble is, we were going to a Catholic high school and the, uh, content of that movie was not something that our supervisors wanted to see in print.

My partner in crime came to me for help appealing to the higher-ups, and so I sat down and watched Crash over the weekend in preparation. I remember being horribly despressed by this movie. The sex and fetishism I could deal with, but I was appalled by how empty all the characters seemed, how lost they all were and how desperate they must be to torture themselves like that. However, I manfully trooped into the principal's office that Monday and we just barely won the day. After that, I often thought about Crash, but I haven't seen it again.

I was, however, rather interested in reading the book it was based on, and this reading project gave me the perfect excuse. I suppose there's no way I could have predicted that I would have fallen so completely in love with this stark and unforgiving look into what it means to be human in the age of machines.

Crash is sexy in a way that is bound to frighten you a little. Ballard is nothing if not honest, and his meditations on the landscape and character of cars in relation to the fragile gooey reality of humans are revealing at best, a little non-consensual at worst. But I said I loved this book, and I meant it. The many shades of arousal and horror that it dragged me through were compelling, and perhaps even life-altering. The despair that I noted in the movie is here too, but there's also a kind of horrible beauty to it, a liturgy of nihilism.

It was, perhaps, wise of me to read this after Vox: I was refreshed and ready for something heavy and meaningful. Crash is those things, but not in a way that makes it a chore. I agree with Susie Bright completely about its place in the erotic canon: as with all the erotic greats, it gleefully trespasses into literature, and drags unsuspecting readers through emotional and physical states they may not have been prepared for.

Erotica 101: Vox by Nicholson Baker

Vox was not on my reading list, but it was recommended to me ages ago, and it seemed the perfect chaser to In the Cut, so I'm including it here.

The conceit of this book is simple: it consists solely of dialogue between a man and a woman who connected through a chat line. At face value, that might sound a little tedious, but it's definitely not.

The conversation ranges between fantasies and flirtation to the hopes and dreams and secret fears of both protagonists. There's bawdy demands, hilarious sexual mishaps, and touching moments of vulnerability on both sides.

I'm finding it difficult to describe because the format is so different from how erotic novels usually work. There's no plot, but there's a discernable build-up, but emotionally and sexualy, that keeps the reader interested and thoroughly entertained.

Maybe I'm not doing it justice. If you've ever wondered about how far "dirty talk" can take you, or what the potential of those party lines could possibly be; or, if you're just looking for a lighter bit of erotic reading, Vox is completely worth your time.

Erotica 101: In the Cut by Susanna Moore

I'm not going to do formal reviews of the stuff I'm reading for this project, but I am going to write down some stray thoughts as I go. I started with In the Cut, because BBC's Sherlock has me in the mood for mysteries and thrillers. (Seriously, though, the third season of Sherlock can't come soon enough. *sobsob*)

So, this book... It's been following me around for the last week or so. I devoured it pretty quickly. Moore has this dreamy style that at the same time comes across as harsh and black-and-white. It's very noir, very sexy, and very very dark. I still don't know if I'd read it again. I was stunned by the ending, although I really shouldn't have been.

A major theme in Cut was word play, and the meaning of words, and the power of slang. As a word nerd, this only made the book sexier for me. The narrator is constantly weighing the power and beauty of words, deciding whether each one is good or bad, parsing its origins, trying to make sense of her ludicrous situation using them. (Boy, I really wrote myself into a subject-verb agreement corner right there. Nevermind. This is my blog, and I'm choosing bad grammar. Nyah.)

Yeah, I would probably read it again, but only if I was in a pretty good mood to start with. In the Cut is definitely not a book to read if you're bummed out. Totally worth it, though. Beautiful book. However, next I'm going to read something a little more lighthearted.

Erotica 101. Or, How I Got My Perv Back

It should probably come as no surprise that I'm something of an erotica enthusiast. I mean, yes, I make a newsletter every weekday about erotica that requires me to flip through about a thousand blog entries; and, yes, I edit erotica for Circlet Press, which is about as iconic as erotica publishers go. However, it's not just a job for me. I once seduced a man by explaining to him the relevance of erotica as a literary genre. I'm not even kidding. So, my love for this stuff goes deep.

Which is why it's alarming when I start to feel burned out about it. Lately, I've been bad about getting the newsletter out on time, getting my daily quota of editing done, and even about answering my emails. Sometime around two this morning I decided something needed to be done. Erotica and I need to fall in love again.

For inspiration, I turned to Susie Bright's brilliant How to Write a Dirty Story. In it, she has a reading exercise that encourages the reader to explore all facets of erotic fiction. Her list of recommended reading is as follows.

Erotic Romance: The Lady's Tutor by Robin Schone, Sweet Savage Love by Rosemary Rogers

Erotic Sci-Fi: Cecilia Tan, Anything from Circlet Press, Crash by J.G. Ballard

Gothic: Anne Rice writing as A.N. Roquelaure

Horror: Lucy Taylor, Poppy Z. Brite

Plain Brown Wrapper: Anything by Anonymous, Penthouse Letters

Victorian: The Pearl, A Man and a Maid

Women's Erotica; Herotica, Fear of Flying, Delta of Venus

Modern Classics: Henry Miller, Lady Chatterley's Lover

The Classic: The Story of O

Mystery/Thriller: In the Cut, the Noirerotica series

Lesbian: Pat Califa, Tristain Taormino, Hot and Bothered

Gay: John Preston, John Rechy, Flesh and the Word, Aaron Travis

So, eliminating Stuff I've Read, Stuff I Don't Own, and People I Work For (and have therefore read extensively), here's my reading list:

Crash by J.G. Ballard
The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty by A.N. Roquelaure
Lost Souls by Poppy Z. Brite
Penthouse: Naughty by Nature
The Way of a Man with a Maid
Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence
In the Cut by Susanna Moore

If anyone feels I'm missing something (and wants to donate an e-copy of that something to me ;-) please let me know. I'll post updates as I read through.