Terrance Aldon Shaw Likes Skin Effect!

(from M.Christian's Technorotica)

My head is spinning! Check out this great review the equally-great Terrance Aldon Shaw did for my science fiction erotica collection, Skin Effect!

The nine stories in this intriguing, highly-imaginative, occasionally maddening collection have a deeply personal feel to them. These are not easy, breezy reads: these stories require that readers take a journey—and the road is not always direct or level or smooth. A bit of effort is required, and sometimes, more than a single reading. But, in the end, the reader is richly rewarded with beauty and enlightenment. 

This isn’t ‘hard’ sci-fi or conventional genre erotica, but, indeed, something quite extraordinary: less Frankenstein’s monster genre hybrid than the precocious love child of an optimistic speculative fiction (Heinlein, Bradbury, Asimov) and a mature, deeply self-aware literary sensualism. If it must be classified, then I would suggest a brand new subgenre: call it ‘techno-sexual.’ 

And what do we find in this brave, sometimes bewildering new world? Trans-humanism that does not—cannot—forget its humanity. Awesome technical capability with the aura of magic, though, in the end, it cannot assuage our deepest longings, our atavistic thirst for mystery. Hyper-connectedness that cannot sate our hunger to touch, and feel, and remember... 

The writing can be dense, knotty, sometimes overlong to a point where potential dramatic impact is diluted, the final ironic twists coming too little and just a bit too late to dazzle. Yet, the collection does have its share of truly amazing moments, inspired imagining, sparks of the ingenious. 'Prêt-à-Porter' tells a marvelous tale of a futuristic garment that—virtually miraculously—adjusts to the desires and moods of its wearer. 'The Bell House Invitation' brilliantly takes the ideas of collective consciousness and cyber-community to their logical—and, perhaps, a tad disturbing—extremes. 'The Potter’s Wheel' and '[Title Forgotten]' imagine worlds in which connectedness makes us omniscient yet utterly incapable of knowing our deepest selves. 

There is much to ponder and enjoy here. Enthusiastically recommended!

Sex Sells: How To Write And Sell Erotica (The BDSM Edition)

(from M.Christian's Classes And Appearances)

This is going to be a LOT of fun: for the first time I'm going to be teaching my erotica writing class, Sex Sells, for the SF Citadel - but this time with a BDSM twist.

Here's the info - see you there!

Sex Sells: How To Write And Sell Erotica (The BDSM Edition)

For the beginning writer, erotica can be the ideal place to begin writing, getting published, and - best of all - earning money. And for the experienced writer, erotica can be an excellent way to beef up your resume and hone your writing skills.

M.Christian will review the varieties of personal and literary expression possible in this exciting and expanding field.

Including:
• Current pay rates
• Creating memorable characters
• The five deadly sins to avoid in writing erotica
• How to handle editors and publishers
• The pros and cons of self-publishing
• How to write for a wide variety of kinks
• Where and how to submit your erotic writing
• and more!

Thursday, February 11, 2016 · 8:00 PM –10:00 PM

SF Citadel

181 Eddy Street

San Francisco, CA

$20 at door
$15 pre-registered: (Purplepass) http://tinyurl.com/hovc9ny

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M.Christian has been an active participant in the San Francisco BDSM scene since 1988, and has been a featured presenter at the Northwest Leather Celebration, smOdyssey, the Center For Sex and Culture, The National Sexuality Symposium, San Francisco Sex Information, The Citadel, The Looking Glass, Floating World, Winter Solstice, and lots of other venues. He has taught classes on everything from impact play, tit torture, bondage, polyamory, cupping, caning, and basic SM safety.

M.Christian is also a recognized master of BDSM erotica with more than 400 stories in such anthologies as Best American Erotica, Best Gay Erotica, Best Lesbian Erotica, Best Bisexual Erotica, Best Fetish Erotica, and many other anthologies, magazines, and other sites; editor of 2t anthologies such as the Best S/M Erotica series, Pirate Booty, My Love For All That Is Bizarre: Sherlock Holmes Erotica, and more; the collections Dirty Words, The Bachelor Machine, Love Without Gun Control, Rude Mechanicals, and more; and the novels Running Dry, The Very Bloody Marys, Me2, Finger's Breadth, Brushes, and Painted Doll. His site is www.mchristian.com

Two New Pieces For Future Of Sex!

(from M.Christian's Technorotica)

I really do enjoy writing for Future Of Sex ... and, as proof of that, two new pieces of mine just went live there.

Here are some teasers (and links to the full articles):

4 Ways Tech Is Changing the Language of Love

How we talk about sex—now and in the future.

“The limits of my language means the limits of my world.” -Ludwig Wittgenstein

There’s always been an unspoken vocabulary of caresses, glances, and sounds, of course. But we’re in the 21st century now, and our technological options for expressing desire—over vast distances and across what used to be cultural barriers—has (to use a silly double-entendre) swelled incredibly.

We don’t just have new ways to correspond with each other but entirely new languages to play with. Lovers, or just playmates, can flirt, be titillating, or even directly stimulate each other speaking or typing a single word.

So, with a touch of irony, here’s a list of four ways that technology is changing the language of love and desire, but also how the nature of sexual communication is being totally reinvented.

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Creating Your Own Pleasuredome: Modular Building and Smart Home Technology

Custom designing an erotic home and playground.

Recently, we looked at some possible changes to how we all may be living and playing, at home or elsewhere.

Love hotels for when sex needs a bit more room than microhomes can offer, as well as virtual and augmented reality to give the illusion of space, are certainly intriguing ideas. But there are more innovations in interactive tech and flexible design that will alter our houses of the future

So what happens when we take the concepts of modular construction and smart home technology and do a bit of future-casting?

Let’s rev up our imaginations and try to picture our sensual, and sexual, residences of the next century.

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