Showing posts with label Technorotica. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Technorotica. Show all posts

Saturday, July 02, 2016

Oort Cloud Reviews Likes Bionic Lover!

(from M.Christian's Technorotica)

Check out this very touching review of my Bionic Lover cyberpunk-ish lesbian romance, Bionic Lover, by Oort Cloud Reviews


Christian’s Bionic Lover sucked me right into the narrative with the very first paragraph. A very well thought out introduction to the events that were to follow. Since the subtitle had introduced it as an Erotic Lesbian Romance, I had a good idea about some of the things to follow and yet I just couldn’t quite stop. The language is so rich and captivating that at times, I was more enamored of the words than their actual meaning and that is not an easy thing to do. The sentences followed each other like pearls on a string and some of what they were saying reminded me of friends and long gone events, in other countries and other times.

I am a hetero male, and like most of the ones sharing my demographic, fascinated with lesbian encounters. Holding my breath, I kept waiting for that double female scent to emanate from my screen and envelope me. When it did occur, I was not disappointed. The strength of the encounter and the way it was depicted got me very excited. It was the middle of the afternoon and I was not alone in the house, so there was nothing I could about it. I thought that perhaps I should continue reading later on, but I just had to find out what was coming up next.

When it did happen again, I was not disappointed. It was tender, passionate, rough and dirty somehow. Without giving out too many details, I can say that besides being a story that will arouse your inner passions, it is also a story of obsession and temporal encounters. So far, so good, I will soldier on for a while though I may not have enough time to finish it all in one reading, which might be for the best. I will continue later into the night, a time when I might find myself awake when all are asleep. Things might happen.

The previously only hinted at environment is finally making an appearance. It put me in mind of a San Francisco that would have been at home in Bernard Wolfe’s Limbo just as much as in Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. The sexual encounter that was bound to come reflects that dystopial imagery. It is hard, painful and impersonal. We are looking into an abyss that we hope will never open up widely enough to swallow our heroines. Mercifully, we are granted an almost idyllic interlude.

There is a part that does a great job explaining a lesbian’s thoughts about a hetero male. It contains some sexual connotations, but they are very baffling and confusing (at least to their thinker.) For a second time, fingers find their way into assholes. Not necessarily a surprise, that paints a very arousing picture. I guess it is the socially unacceptable morality and presumed wrongness of it.

In the end, we are left with a strong sense of the wrongness of war. If this was just supposed to be an erotic romance, how did we get here? It seems that we went from Make Love Not War through Love Is War and all the way to Love Me Tender. Finding out from the Author Bio that M. Christian is a male was not necessarily surprising, though I do wish he was a female. On the overall, I have to say that the writing was exquisite, the sex was rousing and the expected ‘end of the world’ kind of scenario did not manifest which made me let out the breath I have been holding for a while – much relieved. Male or female matters not – M. Christian is a master of the craft.

Sunday, May 08, 2016

Win A Copy Of SKIN EFFECT And BIONIC LOVER!

(from M.Christian's Technorotica)

This is ultra-cool: the great folks at Wordwooze have set up a lovely promotion for my two technorotic books - Skin Effect and Bionic Lover!

Just go to this page and enter to win!


With The Bachelor Machine, M.Christian set the bar for erotic science fiction stories. Now he has returned to the genre with a brand new collection that will amaze as well as arouse: Skin Effect – tales that push the envelopes of both science fiction as well as erotica in innovative and stimulating ways. Here are stories voyaging to the near as well as the far future, exploring the ultimate limits of sex and arousal.

Where to buy: AMAZON AUDIBLE


A powerful and erotic lesbian romance exploring love, lust…and loss.

Pell was lost, alone, and lonely―until Arc appeared. Fiery, enigmatic, and with a mesmerizing cybernetic eye, Arc was everything Pell needed, wanted, and most of all, desired.

The next time Pell saw Arc the eye wasn’t the only thing artificial about her new lover. And the time after that, and the time after that: each time the passionate and mysterious Arc drifted into her life, Pell saw more and more of her being replaced by refined and precise machinery…and with each departure of her natural body for the artificial, Pell grew more and more terrified.

One day, she knew, there’d be nothing left of her lover but the cold, the engineered…the bionic.

Pell knew what she had to do…but the end, when it came, was worse than she ever could have imagined.

****

With Bionic Lover, acclaimed erotic science fiction author M. Christian spins a mesmerizing tale of bittersweet desire, lesbian romance, and all-too human frailty set in a near future San Francisco where cybernetics aren’t just commonplace but the stuff of erotic dreams.

“M. Christian’s stories squat at the intersection of Primal Urges Avenue and Hi-Tech Parkway like a feral-eyed, half-naked Karen Black leering and stabbing her fractal machete into the tarmac. Portraying a world where erotic life has spilled from the bedroom into the street, and been shattered into a million sharp shards, this tale undercuts and mutates the old verities concerning memory, desire and loyalty…truly a book for our post-everything 21st century.”
―Paul Di Filippo (author of over 100 stories and five novels)

“Rarely is raunch paired with such style and wit…this story offers the sizzle of strokebook sex combined with the dark lyricism of the perverse.”
―Lucy Taylor, Bram Stoker award-winning author of Safety of Unknown Cities

“M. Christian’s stories are the fairy tales whispered to one another by dark angels whose hearts and mouths are brimming with lust. He goes beyond the pale, ordinary definitions of sexuality and writes about need and desire in their purest forms. Readers daring enough to stray from the safety of the path will find in his images and words a garden of delights to tempt even the most demanding pleasure-seeker.”
―Michael Thomas Ford, Lambda Literary Award winner


Where to buy: AMAZON

Monday, April 11, 2016

TWO New FutureOfSex Pieces Are Up!

(from M.Christian's Technorotica)  

The incredible fun I'm having writing for FutureOSex continues - with two band new pieces live at their great site.  Here are some teases:



A Guide to Viewing Virtual Reality Sex Videos: The Hardware

Here’s how to quickly and affordably enjoy immersive sex.

Inarguably, virtual reality—that science-fiction mainstay of the 90s—has gone from being a far off dream to an actual product currently sold in stores in the space of only a few years.

Naturally—human beings being who we are—it wasn’t long before developers saw this three-dimensional technology in entertainment and thought sex!

But it’s really the announcement from PornHub, a giant of adult entertainment, that it will now feature a catalog of virtual reality movies, that’s getting many people really excited about this change in viewing adult entertainment.


#

A Guide to Viewing Virtual Reality Sex Videos: The Software

Including adult games and virtual erotic worlds.

Following our previous installment guide to virtual reality hardware, you’ve got your rig all set—high-end or Cardboard, whatever suits your needs or budget—so where do you go from here?

More precisely, where do you go to have that immersive erotic experience you’ve heard so much about?

Saturday, March 19, 2016

Out Now: Bionic Lover: An Erotic Lesbian Romance

(M.Christian's Technorotica)

Very, very fun: the great folks at WordWooze Publishing just put out a new edition of one of my all-time favorite novellas: Bionic Lover (formerly Speaking Parts).  You can pick up the ebook now and soon it will also be available in an audiobook edition!


A powerful and erotic lesbian romance exploring love, lust…and loss

Pell was lost, alone, and lonely―until Arc appeared. Fiery, enigmatic, and with a mesmerizing cybernetic eye, Arc was everything Pell needed, wanted, and most of all, desired.

The next time Pell saw Arc the eye wasn’t the only thing artificial about her new lover. And the time after that, and the time after that: each time the passionate and mysterious Arc drifted into her life, Pell saw more and more of her being replaced by refined and precise machinery…and with each departure of her natural body for the artificial, Pell grew more and more terrified.

One day, she knew, there’d be nothing left of her lover but the cold, the engineered…the bionic.

Pell knew what she had to do…but the end, when it came, was worse than she ever could have imagined.

#

With Bionic Lover, acclaimed erotic science fiction author M. Christian spins a mesmerizing tale of bittersweet desire, lesbian romance, and all-too human frailty set in a near future San Francisco where cybernetics aren’t just commonplace but the stuff of erotic dreams.

"M. Christian's stories squat at the intersection of Primal Urges Avenue and Hi-Tech Parkway like a feral-eyed, half-naked Karen Black leering and stabbing her fractal machete into the tarmac. Portraying a world where erotic life has spilled from the bedroom into the street, and been shattered into a million sharp shards, this tale undercuts and mutates the old verities concerning memory, desire and loyalty…truly a book for our post-everything 21st century."
―Paul Di Filippo (author of over 100 stories and five novels)

"Rarely is raunch paired with such style and wit…this story offers the sizzle of strokebook sex combined with the dark lyricism of the perverse."
―Lucy Taylor, Bram Stoker award-winning author of Safety of Unknown Cities

"M. Christian's stories are the fairy tales whispered to one another by dark angels whose hearts and mouths are brimming with lust. He goes beyond the pale, ordinary definitions of sexuality and writes about need and desire in their purest forms. Readers daring enough to stray from the safety of the path will find in his images and words a garden of delights to tempt even the most demanding pleasure-seeker."
―Michael Thomas Ford, Lambda Literary Award winner

Thursday, March 17, 2016

My Queer/SF/Erotic/Thriller Finger's Breadth - Out Now In New Edition!

(from M.Christian's Queer Imaginings/Technorotica)

M.Christian is thrilled to announce the republication of his queer erotic horror/sci-fi/thriller, Finger's Breadth


ebook available now!
Trade paper coming soon!
Audiobook coming soon!

Finger's Breadth may well rank as one of the most psychologically astute erotic novels since Leopold von Sacher-Masoch’s Venus in Furs, and it deserves to be just as widely read.
- JKB, from the Circlet Press site

Erotic. Terrifying. Fascinating. Disturbing. Intriguing. Haunting ... you have never read a book like Finger's Breadth. 

The cutter is haunting the streets of near-future San Francisco, drugging random queer men and amputating the tip of their little finger. 

But so much worse than this brutality is how fear transforms the city, revealing the inescapable nature of society ... and the darkest depths of human sexuality.

In a very special arrangement, M.Christian's arousing, yet terrifying novel, is currently available as an ebook, and soon as a trade paperback edition, through Renaissance E Book's Sizzler Editions imprint – and a special audio book edition will be available in a few months, through audible.com, courtesy of WoodWooze Publishing!

Here’s what some people are saying about Finger's Breadth:

"M.Christian has to be the most amazing writer I've ever read. He is a master manipulator with his words. You read his stories and begin to feel exactly what he wants you to feel - arousal, desire, anger, fear, hope. Readers find themselves surprised to feel this way, yet it is M.Christian's way of pulling dormant and primal emotions out of you. And the crazy part is that you don't mind embracing these perverse feelings as you are that pulled into the story. Not only does M.Christian push his characters in his stories to their limits, but he also pushes his readers minds to meet him in these faraway places." 
- Zee, Firepages 

"It is not that hard to come up with an idea that can be turned into a horror story and that is why horror has been part of the folklore of America and why these stories are so popular on campouts as we sit around a campfire. To successfully do this, we need a combination of characters and plot but more important than all else is a novel way to relate the story. For me that is the definition of M.Christian. This book is unlike anything I have read before and I suspect that it will stay with me for quite a while."
- Amos Lassen, reviewer 

"Finger's Breadth is a real wild ride, the sort of novel you turn to when the apocalyptic mayhem out your window gets dull, and you lust for something to remind you of what it's like to live life at full-throttle. M.Christian sends the reader hurtling like a hockey puck through a world of crime, out-of-control passions, mutilation, and madness. Terms like noir and hardboiled don't quite fit—this is more like ultraviolet, the invisible light that makes the scorpions glow in the dark."
- Ernest Hogan, author of High Aztech

M.Christian has seen the future -- and it is hardboiled! If you love crime stories -- gay or otherwise -- and you love science fiction, you will love Finger's Breadth. No other storyteller nails it quite like M.Christian does. This is a real pageturner.
- Marilyn Jaye Lewis, author of Freak Parade

Finger's Breadth is mesmeric storytelling, riveting in execution and appalling in implication.  M.Christian’s tale of erotic terror in a near-future San Francisco is imagined so skillfully that it grabs the reader with its easy familiarity, then refuses to let go as it careens to its shocking yet completely believable conclusion.  Evoking such Grand Masters as Armistead Maupin, Thomas Harris and Rod Serling while remaining strikingly original, Finger's Breadth is Christian at the height of his considerable powers.  Like Charon the ferryman, the author takes the reader down the dark rivers of human sexuality and shows us things that would normally never see the light of day.  Ultimately the most compelling aspect of this fiction is how fascinatingly and terrifyingly plausible it is. Finger's Breadth should come with a warning label: Read this before clubbing.
- Christopher Pierce, author of Rogue Slave

Currently available:
Sizzler Editions/Renaissance E Books
ebook$2.99
ISBN: 9781615086030

Trade paperback edition (coming soon)

Audibook edition (on audible.com) from WordWooze Publishing (coming soon)

#

About M.Christian:

M.Christian is -- among many things -- an acknowledged master of 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, many other anthologies, magazines, and Web sites.

He is the editor of 25 anthologies including the Best S/M Erotica series, The Burning Pen, Guilty Pleasures, The Mammoth Book of Future Cops and The Mammoth Book of Tales of the Road (with Maxim Jakubowksi) and Confessions, Garden of Perverse, and Amazons (with Sage Vivant) as well as many others.

He is the author of the collections Dirty Words, Speaking Parts, The Bachelor Machine, Licks & Promises, Filthy, Love Without Gun Control, Rude Mechanicals, Coming Together Presents M.Christian, Pornotopia, and How To Write And Sell Erotica; and the novels Running Dry, The Very Bloody Marys, Me2, Brushes, and Painted Doll.


Interested in reviewing Finger's Breadth?  Write M.Christian at mchristianzobop@gmail.com for a copy

Saturday, March 12, 2016

SKIN EFFECT: M.Christian's SciFi Erotica Collection Now in eBook, Trade Paperback, and Audiobook!

(from M.Christian's Technorotica) 

M.Christian's Groundbreaking Scifi Erotica Collection Skin Effect Out Now In eBook, Trade Paperback, And Audiobook!





Future technology’s ability to alter the very nature of our humanity—and the ways those changes interact with sex—shapes this solid collection of futuristic stories from erotica author Christian. Each story has a strong speculative element ... that’s blended with a frank expression of sexuality ... there’s plenty for sex-positive futurists to enjoy here.
—Publisher's Weekly

#

In a very special arrangement, M.Christian's collection of science fiction erotica, Skin Effect: More Science Fiction Erotica, is available as a special audio book edition, courtesy of Wordwooze Publishing, and an ebook and a trade paperback through Renaissance E Book's Sizzler Editions imprint!

In his forward to Skin Effect, the Chicano science fiction legend Ernest Hogan (author of High Aztech and Cortez On Jupiter), says: "The stories in Skin Effect are erotic, and original, state-of-the-art science fiction. They take the technological developments of recent years and plug them into the engines of human desire, taking us beyond our present day sexual issues into worlds that deliver in ways I hadn't imagined possible."

"There is much to ponder and enjoy here. Enthusiastically recommended!"
—Terrance Aldon Shaw

"In these stories, human ingenuity combined with the human desire to connect with other humans is shown to have the power to outlast whatever seems to threaten human survival. It’s an exhilarating message."
—Jean Roberta

"M.Christian’s stories squat at the intersection of Primal Urges Avenue and Hi-Tech Parkway like a feral-eyed, half-naked Karen Black leering and stabbing her fractal machete into the tarmac. Truly an author for our post-everything 21st century."
—Paul Di Filippo, The Steampunk Trilogy

"When I tell you that these stories are hot, I might be giving you an understatement. M.Christian’s erotica comes from the heart ... he has created an entire new genre."
—Amos Lassen

In her introduction to Bachelor Machine, Cecilia Tan says of M.Christian "There are only two people in the world I envy. One is the late Roger Zelazny, whose talent for an almost jazz improvisational way of writing I could never match. The other is M.Christian, for writing exactly what I’d write if only I could get off my ass. Which is to say, raunchy hallucinatory sexfuture dreams that never fail to arouse me and kick me in the gut at the same time."

#

ebook Edition (Renaissance E Books/Sizzler Editions):
Amazon: $2.99 - http://amzn.com/B00SCQ6D8C

Audiobook Editions (Wordwooze Publishing):
Audible: $13.97 - http://amzn.com/B01C3EODGW
iTunes: $17.95 - https://itunes.apple.com/us/audiobook/skin-effect-more-science-fiction/id1087126852

Trade Paperback Edition (Renaissance E Books/Sizzler Editions):
Amazon: $9.99 - http://amzn.com/1508581711

#

Reviewers interested in receiving a PDF, or a copy of the audiobook, please contact M.Christian at mchristianzobop@gmail.com

#

Calling M.Christian versatile is a tremendous understatement. Extensively published in science fiction, fantasy, horror, thrillers, and even non-fiction, it is in erotica that M.Christian has become an acknowledged master, 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 in fact too many anthologies, magazines, and sites to name. In erotica, M.Christian is known and respected not just for his passion on the page but also his staggering imagination and chameleonic ability to successfully and convincingly write for any and all orientations.

M.Christian's short fiction has been collected into many bestselling books in a wide variety of genres, including the Lambda Award finalist Dirty Words and other queer collections like Filthy Boys, and BodyWork. He also has collections of non-fiction (Welcome to Weirdsville and How To Write And Sell Erotica); science fiction, fantasy and horror (Love Without Gun Control); and erotic science fiction including Rude Mechanicals, Technorotica, Better Than The Real Thing, and the acclaimed Bachelor Machine.

As a novelist, M.Christian has shown his monumental versatility with books such as the queer vamp novels Running Dry and The Very Bloody Marys; the erotic romance Brushes; the science fiction erotic novel Painted Doll; and the rather controversial gay horror/thrillers Finger's Breadth and Me2.

M.Christian is also the Publisher of Digital Parchment Services and an Associate Publisher for Renaissance E Books, where he strives to be the publisher he'd want to have as a writer, and to help bring quality books (erotica, noir, science fiction, and more) and authors out into the world.

M.Christian: http://www.mchristian.com
Twitter: @mchristianzobop
Tumblr: http://rude-mechanicals.tumblr.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mdot.christian & https://www.facebook.com/zobopmchristian

Saturday, February 06, 2016

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!

Friday, February 05, 2016

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.

[MORE]

#

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.


Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Jean Roberta Loves Skin Effect!

(from M.Christian's Technorotica)

I'm so very touched: just check out this amazing review the fab Jean Roberta gave my science fiction erotica collectionSkin Effect:




A World in Each Character

By Jean Roberta

M. Christian’s latest collection of nine erotic sci-fi stories is a worthy sequel to his earlier book, The Bachelor Machine. While both collections show how technology can enhance sexual experience, Skin Effect actually seems more focused on the fluid nature of identity than on sex as a physical experience. This is not to say that the sex has shrunk in importance in the imaginary future; if anything, sex is shown to be the one thing that breaks down human isolation and self-delusion.

In the playful “Pret-a-Porter” (French for ready to wear), an introverted young woman buys a substance called “smartfabric” from a persuasive salesman, and no longer needs any other clothes. The substance forms itself into various garments in response to the wearer’s desire – and it knows her better than she consciously knows herself. Her visit to a nightclub named Hell could have led to a gruesome ending, but in this story, her new appearance in a new milieu is liberating.

“The Bell House Invitation” is a dizzying story, originally published in an anthology of gender-bending erotic fantasy.* Several house-mates of all genders and sexual orientations form a “pocket collective” based on a shared consciousness, and they collectively interview Sarah, a woman they hope will enhance their group relationship. This story fleshes out the theory that everyone is at least potentially pansexual, and that if we all had access to each other’s consciousness (as every reader can see the world through the eyes of different characters), we could be intimate on levels that once seemed impossible. It’s a noble premise, but this reviewer found the multiple perspectives distracting in a short story. A novel might have given the collective a more spacious “house.”
“Happy Birthday” shows multiple identities over time rather than coexisting in the present. An individual consciousness has explored different eras and environments, and has acquired enormous knowledge as a result.

Two stories in Skin Effect were reprinted from The Mammoth Book of Erotic Romance and Domination, one of editor Maxim Jakubowski’s “mammoth” erotic anthologies. “[Title Forgotten]” is about the general human desire to erase painful memories, and the parallel desire to recover them in order to understand their influence on the present. The other story, “The Subsequent State,” is the most moving story in the collection (in this reviewer’s opinion), and it brilliantly captures both the visceral effects of growing up in a culture of religious intolerance and the relief of escape into a “green” culture which is not damned but salvational.

The nine stories in this collection are bracketed by an introduction by Ernest Hogan, “Dirty Minds Across Space, Time and Beyond,” and the author’s afterword: “It’s NOT the End of the World as We Know It – And I Feel Fine.” M. Christian’s rejection of dystopian endings explains the upbeat tone of most of these stories as well as his belief that the real world is not necessarily doomed. This afterword serves as a better introduction to the stories than the opening piece by another writer. M. Christian explains his optimism:

“Pretty soon the world is not going to split into have-nots and haves but rather the smart and the dumb. Sure, the superrich will buy their way out like they always have but just look at the world right now: you have folks who are repairing, making do, making things last, buying affordable and durable, and actually having the gall to enjoy their simpler lives.” He goes on to say: “Nuclear war and/or biological attack? Pish . . As I told my hysterical friends on September 11th, the terrorists showed anything but brains in their attacks.”

In these stories, human ingenuity combined with the human desire to connect with other humans is shown to have the power to outlast whatever seems to threaten human survival. It’s an exhilarating message.

*Up for Grabs 2: Exploring More Worlds of Gender, edited by Lauren Burka (Circlet Press, 2011).



Wednesday, January 13, 2016

New At Future Of Sex: Getting to First Base in Second Life - A Virtually Fun Guide to Virtual Sex

(from M.Christian's Technorotica)

The fun at FutureOfSex keeps coming!  My brand new article on (ahem) scoring in Second Life just went live.

Check out this tease:



Getting to First Base in Second Life: A Virtually Fun Guide to Virtual Sex

Tools, tricks, and techniques to having a sexy time in the virtual world. 

Despite being created back in the sticks and stones era of (gasp) 2003, Second Life has remained a virtual second home to over one million users.

For many of its fans, Second Life’s allure is all about freedom. With pretty tolerant owners, Linden Research, Inc., and a robust and wildly various modding community, Second Life has become anything for anyone.

Especially in regards to sexuality.

While there are other MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) experiences available that are specifically designed for virtual sex play—such as 3DXChat [NSFW]Red Light Center [NSFW], and Chathouse 3D Roulette [NSFW] (all reviewed here on Future of Sex)—Second Life still remains one of the most preferred domains for digital erotic entertainment.

In addition to the already mentioned, almost unlimited freedom of creation, Second Life’s sex appeal also stems from its affordability—for basic membership, though add-ons and such will cost you—plus having the ability to bounce from adult play to non-adult play with a mouse click.

For first-timers, though, Second Life may appear a bit daunting. It’s vast artificial reality universe is easy to get lost in, and trying to decipher the social mores of avatars, alts, groups, and more can be daunting. So here is a brief intro on a few techniques and digital tools to help the virtually virginal (or at least not that experienced) have a sexy time in Second Life.

Use your imagination

Second Life is all about creativity. It’s a blank slate for anyone to create practically anything. Though blank slate also describes the default Second Life avatar, as when you first arrive you’ll be sans genitalia.

You can always do text or voice sex with someone in Second Life, but as the virtual playground is so wonderfully visual most elect to try to play using their avatars.

Unless you’re seriously into coding, you’ll need to equip yourself with the necessary equipment to have Second Life sex. Xcite! [NSFW] has an entire marketplace for all kinds of erotic Second Life additions, including nose rings for your avatar, bondage gear for your space, and all kinds of toys for virtual sex fun. Oh, and, of course, it offers the much-needed body parts for sex. It’s not the only provider of sexual equipment, though, so if you don’t like what it offers try looking around elsewhere.

Many of its avatar additions are wildly exaggerated—in ways that’ll make your digital head spin. As with life everywhere, a few will be turned off by these crazy genitals and such while others will find you the hottest thing in cyberspace. The good news is that you can change any aspect of your appearance at any time—so have fun experimenting.

Then there’s verification. The great openness of Second Life means that anyone can join, but many will not engage in virtual sex play with someone who may be underage. By verifying your account with a credit card you basically tell Second Life, and all its virtually sex residents, that you are old enough to play.

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

More Cool b.senory News: Nice Little Interview With Vocativ!

(from M.Christian's Technorotica)

The fun b.sensory stuff just keeps on coming! A few days ago I did a quick interview with Jennings Brown at Vocativ about this great new technology - combining sex tech and erotica - and the piece just went live!

Here's the link - and I'm pasting in the piece itself below:



The Future Of Erotica: E-readers That Sync Up With Your Vibrator
An erotica author explains how he will write literature made for a sex toy 
A particularly highbrow sex toy is on display this week at CES—and, of course, it’s French. 
French startup E.Sensory won a CES Innovation Award for their vibrator designed for bibliophiles. The device, called the Little Bird, will connect to the company’s reading app B.Sensory (forthcoming on iOS and Android) via Bluetooth. With the app, users can access scores of erotica stories, and each one will interface with the vibrator in exciting ways. Readers can activate vibrations on their own by caressing or breathing hard on the tablet or smartphone, or they can touch highlighted words that are especially arousing and trigger a vibration meant specifically for that part of the story. The app will come preloaded with a variety of erotic stories, and the company is working with several authors to write erotica that is specifically written for use with the “vibrating love egg.” 
“Now we have 25 authors in France and two in the United States,” E.Sensory founder and CEO Chistel Le Coq told Vocativ, “In erotica, they want to give sensation to their reader. So this is a new way to do that and make the experience better.” 
For some of the writers, this new technology is already changing how they plan to write future erotica. “One thing I will probably do is add a little more detail,” M. Christian, an award-winning erotica writer whose work will be available in B.Sensory, told Vocativ. “Instead of writing, ‘He kissed her,’ I would say ‘His lips tingled on her nipple’ or something like that, and that would be a perfect key in to a certain type of vibration.” 
Christian, who writes paranormal and sci-fi erotica, along with many other genres, said erotica written for this device would also be structured differently. “The story could have more of a thematic build [focused on] the titillation more than the actual sex act,” Christian said. In erotica, simply reading page after page describing sex acts is usually boring, he said, but this interactive format could allow for longer, more drawn-out erotic interactions to remain exciting. “You could have a tingle when someone winks. A sex scene would be much more protractive—almost musical.” 
For those interested in protractive, musical erotica, the Little Bird is already available for pre-order at the bargain price of $99. The free app, which should be available this month will launch with excerpts from Christian’s sci-fi erotica collection “The Bachelor Machine.”

Monday, January 11, 2016

Did You See Me At CES?

(from M.Christian's Technorotica)


Well, not me, per se, but rather a bit of my presence.  You see, there's this very cool tech called b.sensory: teaming a vibrator with a special app.  The way it works it that you read erotica and, as you enjoy, the app triggers certain ... actions in the sex toy.

The folks at b.sensory contacted me awhile ago to use a few samples of my work for their new product.  Very cool, eh?

I've even written about the b.sensory for the great folks at FutureOfSex, and my name has come up in a few of the companies promo materials.  

You can read about the b.sensory tech at places like The Next WebengadgetDigital Trends, and other places.

And here's an except of my FutureOfSex piece on b.sensory:


“In my sex fantasy, nobody ever loves me for my mind.”
–Nora Ephron

Technologically speaking, writing sits in a very odd place. Sure, the typewriter, then the word processor, and now ebooks have totally changed the entire business of telling stories. But the end result is always the same.

Novel or story, saga or memoir, fiction or non; you pick it up—and read it. However, has anyone really contemplated adding anything more to the actual reading experience?

This is where French company B.Sensory comes in. With its Little Bird sex toy it’s developing an app (Android and iOS) that links ebook erotic stories and sex tech. This pairing aims to enhance the reader’s experience with all kinds of arousing vibrations, buzzes, and more.


The reader, meanwhile, can control when, where, and how much of a vibratory enhancement they receive by interacting with their chosen e-reader. A By shaking stroking… even blowing on the screen, the story they’re reading takes on a whole new—and sexy—dimension that delivered through the Little Bird.

Adding to the fun, the Little bird can be synched with audio books as well, meaning that it will be possible for some truly “hands-off” experiences with the technology.

Sunday, January 03, 2016

Karla Tangh's Fun Review Of Bachelor Machine!

(from M.Christian's Technorotica)

Karla Tangh is such a very, very very fun trip: just check out her new review of my science fiction erotica collection, Bachelor Machine!  Thanks so much, Karla!

Here's a tease, for the rest just click over to Karla's site.


Book Review: The Bachelor Machine by M. Christian

Her Tangh-i-ness Does read other things besides Erotica. But since we're on the subject—there's always time for more recreational Smut. Creatives are some of the most highly-sexed beings on the planet; I mean near everything they produce is the result of an orgasm of the Creative Mind.

Take this M. Christian guy, for example. Yeah. Yeah. I started with his short story collection Skin Effect. This guy, he just keeps writing more…more...reasons to moisturize the underthings or try and hide the evidence of stimulation upon the erogenous zone of choice. There's lots of male on female action, female on female, a genuinely happy foursome (two males make out with the females and also each other). For pure male on male, do refer to M.Christian's other short story collection, one being, Dirty Words.

However, for the People of Color in the Reading Audience, be aware this collection does contain Triggers. These are Sistah-shaped ones both golden, black, and brown. I hear ya'll saying just what does she mean? Read and find out. Just remember Her Tangh-i-ness saw that the work went there and got to the end of the book. Just saying. By the way, she kept reading other M. Christian works. Consider what the author has to say about himself: "For me, being a pioneer in this area, I feel like I have to create my own respect, in a way. I'm like a missionary – at first no matter what tribe I visit, I get the hairy eyeball." So it's obviously time to start eyeballing this dude until he creams in his pants or something.

To make it easy for potential readers of this collection, Her Tangh-i-ness will return to the following rating system that came in mighty handy when describing M. Christian's Skin Effect and other works.

TAMTT *Take A Minute to Think* This means the sexiness might have to grow on you.

WT *Wet* Self-explanatory. No?

H/OA *Hand/Object Assisted* Requires immediate action after the story climax.

FAPP *Find a Partner Pronto* Try this one at home, Folks.

*Spoiler Alert*

Her Tangh-i-ness greatly appreciates pithy plot summaries. However, for those who must have a virgin reading experience, read no further, and eyeball elsewhere.

*Spoiler Alert End*

STATE

WT *Wet* Fiction. M/F Action. She-Machine meets with man. The idea of exciting the man makes the She-machine cum. And when it's over and done with all the She-machine wants to do is sleep? Ok. Can we point to this story as an example of reverse gender post-coital physiology? Maybe the real reason to read this story can be found in the music of this sentence: "Too quick, maybe, too sudden, probably, but he was hanging way down, his breathing was quick and deep, his legs were columns of meat and tension." What does ya'll think?

HACK WORK

TAMTT *Take A Minute to Think* Fiction. M/F Action. This is the story where Her Tangh-i-ness counted to a thousand before she turned the page to the next story. Yup. This is the one of the Oh-No-He-Didn't-Go-There! stories. As the dear, departed writing instructor, Blake Snyder of Save the Cat fame once told me, Her Tangh-i-ness Ain't in the Target Audience.Those that are—ya'll know who you is when you read it. A female shares her consciousness with her paying fares and finds herself taking a young Black woman for a session with a riding crop.

WINGED MEMORY

TAMTT *Take A Minute to Think* Fiction. M/F Action. Dusk, a desperate young man named without prospects sells off painful sexual memories in order to afford the cyber-whore of his wet dreams. Each time he does this. He keeps losing more and more of his essential self until the only thing left is to turn the tables on the memory merchant to whom he dealt all his unrecoverables.

EULOGY

WT *Wet* Fiction. M/F Action. Jeff and Julie, two survivors of a broken triangle comfort one another rather orally. Find more of those musical sentences here. "Our breaths synchronized, and we steamed together like a pair of heavy engines." This is the second of the mouth-whore stories.

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

New At FutureOfSex: The Adult Entertainment Technology We Lust After: Part 1 – Hardware

(from M.Christian's Technorotica)

Check it out, another very, very fun piece I wrote for the great FutureOfSex folks just went live: The Adult Entertainment Technology We Lust After: Part 1 – Hardware!


There’s no denying that the last few years have seen flat out amazing developments in all sorts of technology, especially those of a (ahem) sexual nature.

Virtual reality alone has gone from a clumsy, bulky near-joke to a rapidly rising star moving toward common acceptance. You know things are really happening when one year it’s the medium-sized-but-eager Oculus Rift and the next it’s the giant Sony with their own PlayStation VR.

Sex tech, though, has really been rocking on the hardware, where the mechanical meets the meat, so to speak. Teledildonics, like VR, used to be a pipedream—to use a silly sexual allusion. But coming very soon, the cyberpunk wet dreams of the 90s will no doubt be standard pieces of equipment for digital erotic explorers.
The state of the art… today

Just look at a few of these Future of Sex articles, which show how physical sexual technology has moved from blue-sky dreaming to some actual, functional prototypes:

Ben Barnes reported on The Teslasuit: a full-body “smart textile” garment that uses electromagnetic impulses to simulate all kinds of sensations such as “warm breeze, water submersion” and, best of all, human touch.



Jenna Owsianik added an extra dimension to haptic possibilities, one that eradicates the need for cumbersome equipment like full-body suits. She introduced us to HaptoClone, which uses airborne ultrasound tactile display to give the illusion of physical contact with holograms

Jenna also wrote about how Lovense, a sex tech manufacturer, is working with VirtualRealPorn [NSFW] , an adult entertainment website, to integrate videos and their haptic sex toys to allow users to “feel the performers’ movements from a first-person perspective.”

– I even contributed a bit to this, writing on B.Sensory’s merging of erotic literature with sex tech, adding an extra physical thrill to sexy stories.

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Publisher's Weekly Reviews SKIN EFFECT!

(from M.Christian's Technorotica)

All I can say is ... wow!  

Check out this very nice review of my erotic science fiction collection, Skin Effect: More Science Fiction And Fantasy Eroticaby the one-and-only Publisher's Weekly!


Future technology’s ability to alter the very nature of our humanity—and the ways those changes interact with sex—shapes this solid collection of futuristic stories from erotica author Christian (Eros ex Machina). Each story has a strong speculative element—such as the voluntary removal of painful memories (“[Title Forgotten]”), or magical masturbation while recovering from a cyberattack (“Double Toil and Trouble”)—that’s blended with a frank expression of sexuality. Equal time is spent on describing how a semi-sentient fabric works and narrating the ways that one character teases another into arousal. One-partner encounters dominate, but “The Bell House Invitation,” featuring a linked-experience orgy in which each person is individually aroused but shares the pleasure collectively, stands out as the best entry. Christian sometimes stumbles when he tries to be inclusive: there’s a clumsy reference to a character’s race, and a trans woman’s first sex with a man is depicted entirely from the man’s point of view. Despite these rough edges, there’s plenty for sex-positive futurists to enjoy here. (Mar.)

New Article At FutureOfSex: Future Fetishes - Five Possible Sexual Kinks for the Next Century

(from M.Christian's Technorotica)

I really, really, really like writing for the great folks at FutureOfSex - and they just posted a brand new piece on their fun site: my take on kinks of the future!  

Here's a tease - for the rest just click here.

Human beings, especially when it comes to sex, are pretty odd creatures. Unlike a lot of other species, we are often drawn to both the common and the rare.

It’s like a certain percentage of humanity says, on an unconscious level, I’ve never seen that before… and it really turns me on!

As homo sapiens continue our evolution into homo technologicus, we might one day see the eroticization of what we now consider commonplace. But for citizens of the next century, what we currently regard as banal will be unique and exotic.

So here is a playful look at what our descendants might become—and what they may find daringly, erotically outré.
It makes you look distinguished

As the possessor of (sigh) quite a few… shall we say “facial folds,” as well as having the lack of what used to be a long mane of dark hair, it’s alluring to think that as we learn more and more about the physical aging process, that sometime in the, hopefully, near future we’ll see wrinkles and gray hair as being fascinatingly unique.

While there may not be any huge breakthroughs yet, all it takes is a glance at history to see that, as a species, our lifespans are increasing at an incredible rate. Mostly due to better care, diet, education, and exercise, we have gone from a life expectancy of mid 60s (for men) and early 70s (for women) only 50 years ago, to where we are looking at breaking the 100 year mark in only the next generation.

As we push back the human biological clock farther and farther, it’s no great stretch of imagination to envision people being drawn to the rarity of physical old age.

Those with natural signs of it could be the adult entertainment stars of this niche genre—though others may very well cosmetically adopt wrinkles, gray hair, and all the rest the same way people today get breast implants, artificial tans, colored contact lenses, and the like.

And who knows, if a certain erotic writer can hang on long enough, he may very well become an adult entertainment celebrity. A man can dream…
[MORE]

Thursday, November 26, 2015

New Article At FutureOfSex: Sex in 2115 - Biohacking Bodies and Turning Ourselves into Sexual Cyborgs

(from M.Christian's Technorotica)

This is very, very, very cool: my brand new article just went live on the great FutureOfSex site.

Check out by thoughts on the genitals of the future here.


Welcome to Human Body 2.0

Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with the basic operations of both the new and improved physical structure as well as the operating system.

The first things you may have noticed are the major improvements to the physical sexual perimeters (i.e. the genitals). Don’t be alarmed. Rest assured that not only will they perform just like the previous versions, but they have been totally redesigned to improve just about every aspect of erotic pleasure.

Oh, and don’t forget to agree to the Terms and Conditions.

#

Predicting the future is, at best, hit and miss; mostly a lot of misses to a very few hits.

But that’s never stopped me before. So, after looking at a few of the remarkable innovations that have recently appeared, I’ve tried to speculate on the hot new bodies we all could be wearing in the next hundred or so years.

And, naturally, as this is Future of Sex, I’ll be paying particular attention to the erotic fun all of us might be having with our new bodies.

Elizabeth Coldwell Likes Skin Effect!

(from M.Christian's Technorotica)

This is so touching - check out this lovely review my pal, Elizabeth Coldwell, did for my new collection of erotic science fiction stories, Skin Effect: More Science Fiction And Fantasy Erotica

A woman with the ability to perfect memories – or erase them from the mind forever – offers help to people who can’t escape their past. A man tries to avenge his family’s death, and finds only a loving welcome from his bitterest enemy. And a number of friends enjoy a group sex experience in which their minds as well as their bodies become fused… 
In his second collection of high-concept science fiction and fantasy erotica, Skin Effect, M. Christian takes aspects of current technology – spectacles that enable the wearer to instantly connect to a world of data, smart fabrics, video blogging, the lurking spectre of cybercrime – and takes it to its logical extension. The characters in these stories have access to all manner of cutting edge devices, enabling them to move through time or transition their bodies, and Christian uses this overarching them to explore how this might affect love and sex. If you could routinely change from male to female, wear clothing that would adapt to suit your mood and aid seduction, or relive in perfect detail time spent with a lost lover, however painful it might prove, would you do it? And if so, would you be prepared for any unexpected consequences? 
Skin Effect isn’t an easy read. The stories are written in a style that requires close attention to extract the nuances of the text, and you may not grasp all the implications of a scenario on first reading. But as you’d expect from an M. Christian anthology, they drip with eroticism and the many and varied sexual couplings are lusciously described. If you’re looking for thought-provoking erotica that’s both cerebral and sensual, this is the collection for you.

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Wonderful Review Of My New ScIFi Erotica Collection, SKIN EFFECT By Amos Lassen!

(from M.Christian's Technorotica)

This is so very, very, very touching: my great pal Amos Lassen was so kind of post this lovely review of my new scifi erotica collection, Skin Effect: More Science Fiction And Fantasy Erotica (a follow-up to Bachelor Machine - also out in a new edition).

Thanks so much, Amos!

Christian is one of the freshest and most original erotica writer these days. I have been reviewing him for about eight years now and every time he sends me something new, it is a surprise. “Skin Effect” is the sequel to “The Bachelor Machine” that I reviewed some time ago and that that really showed the skills of the author. I asked myself then whether he would ever be able to top that and he has. ”Skin Effect” is a new collection of short stories that both stun the reader and arouse his/her libido. Christian breaks the rules here—his erotica is innovative and totally original. He goes beyond bondage and sado-masochism, he continues past fetish kind and arrives at a new spot and possibly a new genre in erotic literature. He writes of the here and now and of the future as he explores the nth degree of sex and arousal. Below are the titles of some of the stories included here: 
“[Title Forgotten]”
“Prêt-À-Porter”
“The Subsequent State”
“The Bell House Invitation”
“The Potter’s Wheel”
“Double Toil And Trouble”
“A Kiss Goodnight” and M. Christian gives us an informative and thoughtful afterword. 
In this book’s precursor, “The Bachelor Machine” that I reviewed several years ago, we had dark erotic stories of desperate individuals. Now, this new collection is more hopeful and that seems to be because of new technologies that include data that streams constantly, sensors that are worn, the cloud that now called the media-sphere and that allows for every thought and action to be available to everyone. Add to that that a human being is looked upon solely based on the number of people who follow him/here electronically. Quite naturally, what comes out of all this can be different for different people and there has not yet been any evaluation as to whether or not this is good for the people. It seems to me that we are asking the same questions today. Does technology challenge individualism and make our lives open books and if so, it this good for us? Memory here becomes fluid and can be changed or done away with at will. Sex is affected also in that gender indeed becomes fluid and be changed at will. 
We have the example in one of the stories that a character buys a piece of clothing that becomes whatever the wearer wants it to be and therefore is suitable for all occasions.
I can certainly see how what is written here can be upsetting but we must never lose sight that what we are reading is fiction and this is not necessarily how things will be (but we said the same thing about Dick Tracy’s watch way back then). I found the stories to be charming but also, without exception, highly erotic even though this is not quite the kind of erotica that we are used to. The writing and the erotica are both raunchy (for lack of a better word) and hallucinatory and the stories arouse us while at the same makes us worry about what the future may bring. 
I am not much of an erotica reader except in the cases of M. Christian and a couple of others and that is because I concentrate more on the writing than on the sex. I must say that M. Christian is one of the most inventive writers I have ever read and when we combine with good plots, we become more than satisfied with what he has to say. He manages to take us into the future in exciting, provocative ways yet the does not lose sight of how important sex is in our lives.

Thursday, November 12, 2015

Up Now @ FutureOFSex: Dressing for Tomorrow: How Designers Are Mixing Technology, Eroticism and Fashion

(from M.Christian's Technorotica)

I am having a real blast writing for the great folks at FutureOfSex ... and I'm very pleased that a brand new piece just went live there.

Click here to read Dressing for Tomorrow: How Designers Are Mixing Technology, Eroticism and Fashion!

When not protecting the wearer against the weather—or in some cases other humans—clothing has always been about sex.

While materials came and went, the basic idea of fashion has stuck around. From power ties to high heels, corsets to tuxedos, jockeys to hot pants, we’ve forever been trying to accentuate, or downplay, certain parts of our anatomy.

But now it looks like things will really be changing. Frequently using what is called intelligent clothing or e-textiles, a few innovative designers are exploring wild new territories—and perhaps giving us a glimpse of the erotic fashions for the next century.

Anouk Wipprecht

To put it overly simple, technology plus fashion, plus sensuality, equals Dutch designer Anouk Wipprecht.

One of her designs called the ParticleDress, embraces the open-source movement: where all kinds of technologies are being made available for anyone to tweak or play with.

Basically, she created a 3D printed framework/garment that supports a standardized hexagonal ‘module’—then she reached out to creative people all over the world, inviting them to design their very own modules to be attached to the dress. The final selection of these submissions then made it into the final design, unveiled at the San Francisco Maker Faire in May of this year.