Literary Devices

20th of November is International Transgender Day of Remembrance

20th of November is International Transgender Day of Remembrance

International Transgender Day of Remembrance is a day to remember those who have lost their lives through transphobia. In the first nine months of 2011 there were 116 reported killings of trans people around the world. In Scotland, research shows that 62 percent of transgender people have faced transphobic harassment from strangers and that trans people are 7.7 times more likely to commit suicide than the rest of the population due to the prejudice they experience.

Call For Submissions: Daddy's Little Girl - Ageplay Erotica

Call for Submissions

Daddy's Little Girl:

Ageplay Erotica

Edited By Ralph Greco, Jr. and M.Christian

An anthology of stories exploring the erotic allure of older male, younger female ageplay (constructed as "Daddy" and "Little Girl" or "Daughter", to be published by Sizzler Editions (http://SizzlerEditions.com ).

Ageplay is where one or more participants in erotic play pretend to be younger than they are in reality.  For aficionados, ageplay is a way of exploring new and sometimes very powerful, dimensions of BDSM.  If you are unclear what ageplay is, please click here.

Daddy's Little Girl: Ageplay Erotica will be focused solely on male dominant/female submissive erotica – where the male, or person enacting the male role, take the role of Daddy or Father, and the female, or person enacting the female role, takes the position of a little girl or daughter.

However, authors are encouraged to take unique approaches to what female ageplay can be. For instance, at presentations on the subject, we have seen such roles enacted by straight men and women, gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgender people.

Stories may feature humor, horror, romance, or mystery but all submissions must be explicitly erotic.  Stories featuring rape, underage characters, homophobia, bestiality or 'violence porn' will not be considered.

Both previously published and original works will be considered.

Story length: 3,500 to 10,000 words

Deadline for Submissions: February 1, 2012

Rights: First North American Anthology Rights

Payment: For stories under 5000 words, $25, paid on publication; for stories longer than 5000 words, $35, paid on publication.

Email submissions should be sent to: zobop@aol.com (rtf format only, be sure to include contact information on all attachments)

Questions? Contact M. Christian (zobop@aol.com) or Ralph Greco, Jr. (ralphgjr@earthlink.net)

On Oh Get A Grip

This is very nice: the great folks at Oh Get A Grip - and I'm looking at you, Lisabet - asked me to write a little bit about writing, traveling, and my story "Wanderlust" from Love Without Gun Control - and, natch, I did just that:

Thanks again to the always-wonderful Lisabet Sarai for giving me another chance to reach out to the readers at the Grip.

This time Lisabet asked me to take a trip, so to speak. It's always odd, when you're a writer, to have a friend look at what you've written and point out ... well, 'things' that you weren't really aware of. For example, I recently learned that I like to start stories at dusk or dawn. That threw me for a loop, as I really had no clue I was doing that. Naturally when I write now I make a point of doing exactly the opposite...

But one thing I was both aware of and not really aware of is my love of traveling. I say aware and not aware because I know I write a lot about it – maybe too much, actually – but not aware because it wasn't until recently that I spent a bit of time roaming my own mind to find out why.

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I've Had Dreams Like This

Yet More Philosophy

Occupy!

Beyond Romance And I

Very nice!  The one-and-only Lisabet Sarai asked me to guest blog on her fun Beyond Romance site ... and the result is a little piece I wrote about being a straight guy who writes queer fiction: Funny But You Don't Look It...

Plus another excerpt from my new novel, Fingers Breadth.  Enjoy!

Before I say anything I want to toss out a hearty and well-deserved thank you to Lisabet Sarai to giving me this very nice opportunity to ... well, chat about whatever I'm going to chat about.

To be honest I'm at a bit of a loss about what that might be. I mean – hell – I'm a writer, right? So this kind of thing should, at least, be second nature. To be honest, though, I've never liked talking about myself. Part of it is privacy, sure, but a lot of it is that I've always wanted my work to stand on its own: that people should (hopefully) buy my stuff because they like it – and not just because they like me.
But Lisabet asked me a question that's been making me scratch my head – always a good thing. But first a tiny bit of background: while I write in a lot of genres – non-fiction, mysteries, romance, horror, science fiction, and a lot of smut – I also have written more than a few books and stories out there with gay or lesbian characters.

But here's the kicker: I'm straight.

Part of why all this happened is because of simple logistics. As any serious writer can tell you, you cannot really plan for a career in this business: you take what comes your way and, if you're lucky, that can lead to work and, even luckier, even more work. In my case I had a lot of great experiences selling stories and editing anthologies for various gay and lesbian publishers ... which, in turn, got me a few in-roads when it came time to write novels. Gay or lesbian novels, naturally.

One thing I have to mention before I go any further is that I never, ever lied about who and what I am when I worked with these publishers. Sure, I don't like to talk that much about myself (so you won't find me on Facebook or Twitter, by the way) but I was always clear with them about my sexual 'reality.'

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I Agree With You, Alan

"A sex scene is a way of getting over very important character information, just as much as a fight scene it, and the reader really shouldn’t be looking at it as, ‘Oh, this is purely thrown in for titillation.” - Alan Moore

We Are The 99%

Know The 1%

Authors Promoting Authors And Me

Very cool!  Check out this interview I did for the great Authors Promoting Authors site ... and thanks, Sascha, for the opportunity!

I took a few minutes to speak to a cohort in crime, M. Christian to pick his brain about erotica, writing and the business in general. Hopefully the answers he provided will add value to your writing and push you into erotica if you've leaned that way but were uncertain.

He took a few minutes to answer some questions. 

1. You've been around erotica for a long while. What has changed from your perspective?

Has it really been THAT long ... sheesh, I guess it has: my first story was in FutureSex (1993), which was then picked up for Best American Erotica 1994 ... and it all just sort of took off from there.

As for what's changed ... well, the biggest thing, naturally, has to be the ebook revolution. Back in the bad old days it used to take pornographers far too long to haul sexually explicit materials up four and flights of stairs – but now everything is internet this and digital that. But, I tell ya, it really is for the better: ebooks are simply better for everyone, everywhere. For readers they are cheaper and don't take any room (and no shipping costs); for publishers that are easier and (again) cheaper; and for writers they mean we all can work without having to constantly worry about needing to sell, sell, to make up our advances – AND we can do all kinds of new books because publishers can take risks they couldn't before because doing so was just too expensive.

2. How does one achieve the title Acknowledged Master of Erotica?

To be honest you make it up. Alas, the headache of the new world of publishing is that it has become harder to get yourself noticed, what with all these new publishing venues. So sometimes a writer has to do whatever it takes to get them to rise above the rest. That's not to say that writers should ever lie to get themselves heard – that's never a good idea – or become an arrogant so-and-so – which is a worse idea – but that just staying and writing in your garret doesn't work anymore (sigh).

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