Rick Reed Talks to Me

Check it out: It's my turn to be part of Rick Reed's fun author-interview series. Here's a tease:

1. If you could invite any famous person, dead or alive, for dinner, what would you eat?

I'd invite Jesus Christ to sit down at my table, with me on the left, of course. I'd then serve him up -- just to see if his body and blood turns to bread and wine in my stomach.

2. Who do you think you are?

I have a penis.

3. What’s your problem?

I have a penis.

[MORE]

Dark Roasted Science Fiction: Dune, The Santaroga Barrier and The Green Brain By Frank Herbert

Here are three brand new reviews of classic science fiction novels for Dark Roasted Blend:

Dune

Without a doubt, Dune is a legend – as is Frank Herbert, its author. The book, and Herbert, has awards; and there’s the Dune movie, the Dune miniseries, the Dune games, The Dune sequel … and the sequel, sequel, sequel (five in all). It’s considered by many to be the most successful/popular science fiction to date.

Here’s the thing, though: is Dune really (or, "simply") science fiction?

Now don’t get me wrong, Dune is a fantastic, incredible novel: wildly imaginative, brilliantly plotted, amazingly told, and totally original. It also certainly has many speculative details: a far-far future settling, an alien world, genetic memory, and so forth.

But if you strip away a good percentage of those speculative ideas what remains behind could very easily be an excellent novel. The story of Dune really has less to do with the SF details and more with Herbert’s skill as a storyteller. Dune is a carefully crafted tale of politics and intrigue: the characters – from the Savior of Dune and the Fremen, Paul Atreides (aka Muad'Dib), to the Head of House Harkonnen, The Baron – are maneuvering and manipulating everything around them on a complex social chessboard. A great example of this is the famous banquet sequence where nothing is as it appears and every gesture and manner is a carefully planned strategic exercise.

Dune is also often called an early ‘ecological’ novel, meaning that Herbert addresses what’s now a pretty common theme: that nature is an essential – and very fragile – necessity. The Fremen are a perfect example of this: they live not on their desert world but with it, respecting it’s tremendous power as well as it’s precarious health. Again, if you take out the sandworms and the spice they create Dune could still stand as a powerful statement about the need for man to also live with this plant and not just use it up and toss it away.

There are many other elements in Dune that also could be taken away from the book’s far-future settling: the book’s exploration of Islamic culture (especially in relation to ecology), an examination of collapsing civilizations and decadence, and even a chance for Herbert to further look at the world through a zen lens.

In the end, it’s because Dune can stand without it’s science fiction elements that makes it such a great, and long-lasting, masterpiece. Herbert understood humans, even though he was setting their stage twenty thousand years from today, and understood nature, even though Dune is on another world. With Dune he created a perfect allegory, one that that speaks to the truth of humanity, and nature, today just as it did when it was written – and probably will for a very long time.

The Santaroga Barrier

Something’s odd about Santaroga: sure, on the surface it might appear to be like any other community full of normal-looking people, but look a little closer – like psychologist Gilbert Dasein is hired to do – and Santaroga begins to look anything but average.

For one thing the town is far from accepting of anyone who isn’t a local. They aren’t hostile, at least not openly, but if you weren’t born in their valley they won’t buy from you, trade with you, or accept you in any way: it’s the Santaroga barrier – and what’s beyond it makes for a totally original novel and a fantastic read.

Everyone knows Herbert for his Dune books but what a lot of people, unfortunately, don’t know about this Grand Master of science fiction is that he’s written, in my mind at least, even better novels – and the Santaroga Barrier is one of them. It’s also unfortunate that many people think science fiction has to have aliens, time travel, robots, and all those kinds of flashy, shiny, and far too-often grandiose concepts. What Herbert does in The Santaroga Barrier is show that science fiction can be based on a very simple idea, an idea that – when handled by a superb writer – can be more powerful and fascinating than anything flashy or shiny or grandiose.

Without spoiling too much of the plot, Dr. Gilbert Dasein slams headfirst into the Santaroga Barrier, propelled by duty to his employers, his professional curiosity and by his own interests: a girl named Jenny who left him in Berkley, where she as a student and he a professor, to return to Santaroga.

One of the best elements of the story is a hauntingly slippery word that Dasein keeps hearing among the locals in relation to their lives and, especially, to their food: Jaspers. It takes him some time but eventually Dasein gets to see through the barrier, at the societal wall the Santarogans have put up around their town. What he sees is what makes the book to entrancing: Jaspers is a ‘consciousness fuel’ additive the locals have been culturing and using for generations. What it does, though, is create a unity among the citizens: a form of collective will.

But that’s not all: there’s something else beyond the barrier – a something else that’s killed everyone else who has tried investigating the town. Oh, sure, they might look like accidents but Dasein comes to realize that there’s nothing accidental about them, and if he doesn’t figure the puzzle out he might be next.

Okay, that’s a teaser of the plot, but there’s something else about The Santaroga Barrier that keeps this book on my ‘favorites’ shelf: Herbert’s superb skill as a writer. There’s something almost hallucinatory about the style of the book; it reads like a dream or a hallucination without resorting to overly flamboyant, pretentious language – a skill few had done well and only writers like Herbert mastered.

In the end, The Santaroga Barrier is a totally imaginative novel told with sparkling language and genius skill: the work of a master storyteller at the height of his game.

The Green Brain

Unfortunately, as with many other books by Frank Herbert, the fame and success of Dune has overshadowed The Green Brain: making it another book only hardcore Herbert fans even know about. This is really unfortunate because while The Green Brain is not Dune it shares a common theme -- as well as revealing more of Herbert’s masterful skill as a storyteller.

Herbert has often been called one of the first ‘ecological’ science fiction writers. True or not, his work definitely shows his concern about the health of the earth as well as man’s place in it. Dune explores that relationship, as does Hellstrom’s Hive, and – especially – does The Green Brain.

Set in a comfortable familiar future, The Green Brain is about a society in open war with nature – the jungle to be exact. Needing room to expand, the world has cut, carved, burned, poisoned and smashed its way into the heart of the wilderness. The characters in The Green Brain, for the most part, are soldier/exterminators fighting guerilla infestations of weeds, roots, seeds, animals and – especially – insects, all the while pushing their native habits towards extinction.

While Dune and Hellstrom’s Hive are more subtle about the ethical and moral issues surrounding man and his relationship to the environment, The Green Brain is deceptively simple: as man fights against nature, nature begins to evolve to terrifyingly fight back. ‘Deceptive’ because as with all of Herbert’s books even if the conflict is clear there are always other factors keep the story from becoming cartoonish.

One of the best things about The Green Brain is the excellently-presented idea of nature, and it’s evolving intelligence, as being alien yet familiar, like it’s a different side to the earth’s own mind – a different side that’s more than a little irked that humanity continues to be insanely stupid about not maintaining a respectful balance with it. Part of that anger, coupled with nature’s superb adaptability, comes out in the jungle’s new weapon: a collaborative hive of insects that excellently mimic what’s threatening them: us … human beings.

Yes, The Green Brain is not Dune but it’s still an excellent read and well worth picking up – as it everything else by Herbert. And, who knows, maybe you’ll start looking warily at insects … or people with very, very green eyes ….

Pauline Likes Love Without Gun Control

This is very special: a lovely review of my science fiction/horror/just-plain-weird collection, Love Without Gun Control, by my wonderful pal, Pauline. Thanks, sweetie!

I am a junkie! A poor pathetic thing, crawling up the walls, shredding fragments of wallpaper and plaster beneath my broken finger nails, screaming for my next fix. Hollow eyed, I plead with M.Christian for just one more story. He’s a hard man. He turns away, telling me it’s for my own good. Then finally, finally, he relents. And I blubber my thanks through a mess of snot, spit and tears.

M.Christian sends me LOVE WITHOUT GUN CONTROL. And like any true addict, I find a vein, stick in the needle and overwhelm myself with the fix.

I’ve read all of his stories. Every tantalising word he’s ever written. I worry that one day he’ll stop. No more stories. What the hell will I do?

You see he never fails to surprise me. His stories move seamlessly from straight erotica to gay erotica and now, in LOVE WITHOUT GUN CONTROL, he gives me a collection of science fiction and horror.

In ‘Needle Taste,’ there is haunting despair, from the disciples of Owlsley, a serial killer. They take mind bending chemicals to enhance his hideous deeds. His followers can’t leave him alone and live in a desperate, deadly fascination of what has happened to those he has brutalised and killed. Prair replays the final moments of Owlsley’s capture in his mind and repeats the killer’s mantra; “the only sin is letting them go unpunished.”

‘The Rich Man’s Ghost’, reads like a fable and Christian tells the story with the skill of Aesop. Hiro Yashido sees a ghost, and to see a ghost means doom. He has not only seen the ghost, the ghost has seen him. His wealth, his overwhelming success in high finance is nothing. He will have to embrace his worst nightmare, poverty. Hiro Yashido fears nothing. He has not achieved his great wealth by walking on tiptoe. But he does fear the ghost and it’s curse. Ghosts walk between the bite and the bytes of the datasea and they are jealous. Hiro Yashido works hard to dispel the ghost’s curse and the ghost ponders on whether, or not to release him.

‘Wanderlust’, takes us out on the road. The story reads like a classic ‘road’ film and we embark on the archetypal American journey. The landscape unfolds with panoramic camera sweeps; gasping, breathtaking images of mountains, snow, jagged peaks and windswept pines. A cheap doll, embodies the idea of perfection, of absolute love. It is conveyed to the driver in his own overwhelming, Christ like beauty. He stops at a roadside gas station. The people he meets are spellbound by the ecstasy of his beauty. But sheer love has its opposite and hatred, and ugliness and the abject fear it brings, must have its say. He wants to say sorry. But all that he can do is drive away.

In ‘Orphans’, Christian gives us a drifter, seemingly, a man without purpose. He hitches lifts and meets people. Is he running from something, or running to something? He doesn’t know. Or he won’t say. What is the virus they speak of; the wasting disease that has taken their loved ones? Is it loneliness? Or is it something else? He apologises, it’s all he can do. Is this an allegory, a story for our times? Christian doesn’t tell us; but he certainly makes us think.

As if all that weren’t enough, Christian retells the story of Robinson Crusoe in ‘Friday’.

Combining Daniel Defoe’s style with a futuristic slant, the traveller’s ship crashes into the earth. Like Defoe’s hero he is stranded, like him he has to improvise to survive and like him he has his Friday.

As I said earlier, what the hell will I do if M.Christian ever stops writing? There’s a gem here, a jewel, a real talent. Where does all of this come from? Where does he get his ideas and images? “…eyes as dark as knots in old trees…” “…titles for them were as irrelevant as trying to take apart a static charge before a lightening strike…” Beats me! I’ve saved the title story until last. ‘Love Without Gun Control,’ and I’m going to read it now! Excuse me while I drool!

Hey Webmasters: Sales Down? Stay Tuned

As I mentioned, the Cybernet Expo was a real blast and I met some very great folks and made some cool connections, including Jay and Connor of YNOT who put the whole marvelous shindig together. Especially great and cool is that YNOT asked me to put down my thoughts and observations about what adult sites and enterprises can do to increase their audiences.

Here's the intro to what I did, with the rest up here on the YNOT site.


While I was attending Cybernet Expo, presented by the great folks here at YNOT, a common complaint I heard repeatedly was how the paying audience for adult sites has been dropping, dropping, dropping to a dangerously low level.

Yes, we all know that the economy has been seriously depressed and shows very few signs of bouncing back anytime soon, but as I heard tale after tale of how sales have dropped and viewers have vanished, I realized there was a clear solution to keeping viewers, and gaining new ones – a solution that might mean the difference between profits and losses.

And what, I hear you ask, is that solution? What is the secret I have discovered that may keep your adult enterprise in the black rather than the red? What is the key to making your site stand out from the hundreds, if not thousands, of competitors?

Stay tuned, folks. Stay tuned.

But first, an observation: let's face it, men are your audience. Okay, that might not – at first – appear to be a profound observation, but bear with me. The thing with men, you see, is that we all have a pretty simple sexual response; one that's gotten even simpler during these trying economic times. Why pay for adult content when a second's search of the Web can get you whatever you need to get your (ahem) satisfaction? Why pay for the cow when the milk – in the form of huge numbers of sample sites – is not only free but largely satisfying? Even guys with very specific tastes can find whatever they want free of charge, after only a few minutes of search engine sleuthing.

[MORE]

RUDE MECHANICALS - The Cover

Okay, okay ... I know this migh be getting a tad obnoxious, what with the (ahem) number of things I have in the works. But this cover of my upcoming collection from Renaissance E Books by Wynn Ryder is just too damned wonderful not to share.

Ily Goyanes Talks To Me

Keep your eyes out for an upcoming - and very special - interview with Ily Goyanes from examiner.com. In the meantime, here's a teaser from Ily:

Christian has written everything from erotica to horror and science fiction. He pushes the boundaries of genre and style by being able to transform his voice into that of anyone or anything. In his extensive repertoire you can find trans, lesbian, and gay characters, as well as maybe some others who defy definition. Christian often writes about bondage and sadomachism in his novels and short stories, of which he has written many.

Masquerade: Page 5

Here's another preview of a very special project: Masquerade was illustrated by my great pal, and a fantastic artist, Wynn Ryder, from a story by ... well, me ... for an upcoming graphic novel anthology called Legendary.

I'll be putting up more pages from the final over the next few months ... or you can read the entire thing on Wynn's Deviantart pages.

Blogs, Blogs & Blogs

Check it out: some friends of mine - all of them fantastic writers - have just launched new blogs:

Jason Rubis - who I can't say enough good things about as a writer as well a friend - has started Pulp Transcendence: "a one-stop source for all things Rubis." His recent publications include stories in Drollerie Press’s Needles & Bones and Circlet Press’s Like Clockwork

My brother, s.a., has launched Omnibus, which is about "Lost Art, Design, Culture, Food"

And lastly, but certainly not least-ly, my wonderful friend Billierosie has begun her billierosie blog. Here's what she says about it: "The blog is for fun. My wandering thoughts. I like satire and positive thinking. My interests are in the Arts; theatre, literature, painting, sculpture. Erotica and fetish."

LOVE WITHOUT GUN CONTROL - Out Now!

While I put together a format announcement I just had to share that my collection of science fiction and horror stories, Love Without Gun Control, just went live on Renaissance E Books!
Here's the blurb about this very fun bunch of - for once - non-erotic stories:

"Unique and truly fascinating," writes Mike Resnick! M. Christian isn't as good as his peers say - he's better! This "best of" collection, featuring the cream of his fantasy, horror, and science fiction stories, is a dazzling achievement.

Only M. Christian could have imagined what happens when a boy's uncle blows Tibetan days powder in his face, or when a woman gave birth to a new species … but not one of flesh and blood, or when the Goddess of the Road gave the gift of beauty to a mortal man.

You will find these and eleven other unforgettable tales from the man Stephen Dedman, author of The Art of Arrow Cutting and Shadows Bite, hails as "A chimera, an amazing combination of tour guide and magician. Whether he's writing science fiction, horror or fantasy, he can take you to places you've never imagined, show you sights no-one else will get to see, introduce you to some fascinating people, and guarantee that the trip will be memorable from start to finish."

Among the contemporary classics featured in this stellar collection are:

Some Assembly Required
The Rich Man's Ghost
Medicine Man
Wanderlust
Buried & Dead
Nothing So Dangerous
Shallow Fathoms
Constantine in Love.

M. Christian's fantasy and science fiction has appeared in Talebones, Space & Time Magazine, Skull Full Of Spurs, Graven Images, Horror Garage, Song of Cthulhu, and other science fantasy publications.

• "Speaks with a totally unique and truly fascinating voice. There are a lot of writers out there who'd better protect their markets: M. Christian has arrived!" - Mike Resnick, Hugo and Nebula Award winning science fiction author
  
  
• "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, author of the Steampunk Trilo
  
  
• "An amazing combination of tour guide and magician. He can take you to places you've never imagined, show you sights no-one else will get to see, introduce you to some fascinating people, and guarantee that the trip will be memorable from start to finish. Buy a ticket and fasten your seat belt: you're in for a wild ride!" -- Stephen Dedman, author of Shadows Bite
  
  
• "Writes like dream whether he's creating fantastic visions or ghastly nightmares. With this collection, you get both!" -- Paula Guran, DarkEcho

Amanda Young Talks to Me

I'm excited to have been interviewed by the wonderful Amanda Young. Here's a teaser - the rest is on Amanda's site.
Q: How long did you write before you received your first contract for publication?

A: I first decided I wanted to be a writer back in high school, but it took me close to ten years before my first story appeared in print (FutureSex Magazine, if you want to know). But ten years after THAT I have 300+ stories in print, five collections, five novels, and have edited over 20 anthologies. Making up for lost time you could say.

Q: So, if you don’t mind sharing, would you tell us about your latest work in progress?

A:I’m a very hard working writer and so I have oodles of things in the works right now. And, yes, ‘oodles’ is a technical term. Let’s see: a new novel (a gay thriller), a new collection (Licks & Promises) new editions of two of my favorite short story collections (Bachelor Machine, and Dirty Words), a film that should be shooting soon, a comic project, two new anthologies (Best S/M Erotica 3 and Sex In San Francisco), my regular column on writing smut (”Confessions of a Literary Streetwalker” for the Erotica Readers and Writers site) and other stuff that’s slipped my mind ….

Q: Out of all the stories you’ve written, which is your favorite?

A:While I have some that I think came out rather well I don’t really have a favorite because … well, because that means looking back, which is something I try not to do. So I’d say that my favorite is the story I haven’t written yet.

[MORE]

LICKS & PROMISES - Out Now From M.Christian

Phaze Books is proud to announce the publication of a brand new collection of M.Christian's erotic fiction:

Licks & Promises

Licks & Promises is a new erotic short story collection from a master of the genre. If you like your sexy stories sweet, silly, scary or simply outrageous, this is the book for you!

Featuring classic M.Christian stories plus some tales that have never been seen before - as well as an introduction by the wonderful Sage Vivant - this is an erotica collection you'll read, re-read, and remember for a very long time!

Featuring the stories -

The Train They Call the City of New Orleans
Dead Letter
Dust
The House of the Rising Sun
In Control
Kiss, Kiss, Hug, Hug
Mile After Mile
The Naked Supper
Nighthawks
Regrets
The Tinkling of Tiny Silver Bells
Water of Life
The Will of Dr. Mabuse
The Waters of Biscayne Bay
The World Game
One After Another
Her First Thursday Evening

Here's what people are saying about M.Christian:

Reading M. Christian is like climbing on for a sexual magic carpet ride through different times and places, diverse bodies, and infinite possibilities.
- Carol Queen, Sex writer, speaker, educator and activist

M. Christian is the chameleon of modern erotica. One day punk, another romantic; one day straight, another totally perverse and polyamorous. But always sexy and gripping
- Maxim Jakubowksi, Editor, Mammoth Book of Erotica series

M. Christian is a literary stylist of the highest caliber: smart, funny, frightening, sexy -- there's nothing he can't write about ... and brilliantly.
- Tristan Taormino, Sex educator, author, columnist

M. Christian speaks with a totally unique and truly fascinating voice. There are a lot of writers out there who'd better protect their markets -- M. Christian has arrived!
- Mike Resnick, Hugo and Nebula Award winning science fiction author

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, these tales undercut and mutate the old verities concerning memory, desire and loyalty. Truly an author for our post-everything 21st century.
- Paul Di Filippo, author of The Steampunk Trilogy

With his amazing versatility and silky smooth prose, M. Christian helped forge the erotica revolution of the 1990s and he’s still going strong
- Donna George Storey, author of An Amorous Woman

Order A Copy Today:

Phaze Books
Paperback: $11.95
Kindle: $4.80
Fictionwise: $5.40
ISBN-978-1606591840

If you're interested in reviewing Licks & Promises please email M.Christian:

zobop@aol.com
mchristianzobop@gmail.com

Speaking of -

- my Confessions of a Literary Streetwalker column (and now the book), a brand new installment just went up on the always-great the Erotica Readers and Writers site. Here's a tease - and here's where you can read the rest.

… in our last installment, Professor Ghostly and the Wildly Gesticulating Windup Sparrows from Tomorrow's Spain were facing off against the Whimpering Menace of the Cutout Dolls while the Perpetually Perky Percy Pureheart and the Men from Boy's Own Adventure, Ltd raced against time to get the Pearl of Solvency back to the Citadel of Missing Keys and end of the reign of the Tuneless Dogs once and for all …

Ooops—sorry: wrong story. What was I talking about? Oh, yes: e- books. Though I have to admit the story of Professor Ghostly does sound kind of interesting ….

Anyway, I mentioned in my last installment that choosing a publisher—or more than one, which I'll get to in a sec—is a subjective thing. What you like, or want, in an e-book publisher might not be what someone else wants. So just what criteria should you use in selecting the e-book publisher for you?

[More]