Wednesday, May 30, 2012
BDSM Book Reviews Interviews Me
Very nice! The great folks at BDSM Book Reviews - who wrote very nicely about my gay erotic thriller Finger's Breadth recently - just posted an interview with little ol' me. Here's a taste - for the rest just click here.
1. When you first started writing, did you have any idea you’d be writing BDSM/kinky books? Do you write in any other genre?Well, let’s see … my first published story was in the late-lamented magazine FutureSex, back in 1994. The story – “InterCore,” by the way, was then picked up for Best American Erotica (same year) and it all just kind of snowballed from there. While I’ve pretty much always wanted to be a writer it wasn’t until I stepped into the slippery, steamy, world of smut that I had any real success so – surprise – I’ve done most of my work there. But I also write non-fiction (including a book of my weird history pieces, Welcome to Weirdsville, which is coming out soon, and How To Write And Sell Erotica — my book on smut writing, and Pornotopia – which is non-fiction sex pieces); science fiction, fantasy, and horror (such as my collection, Love Without Gun Control); romance (see my novel Brushes), and lots of other stuff.
Here’s a quickie bio:
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 sites.
He is the editor of 25 anthologies including the Best S/M Erotica series, Pirate Booty, My Love For All That Is Bizarre: Sherlock Holmes Erotica, 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, How To Write And Sell Erotica; and the novels Running Dry, The Very Bloody Marys, Me2, Brushes, Fingers Breadth, and Painted Doll. His site is www.mchristian.com.
In addition he is an Associate Editor for the adult industry web site YNOT, and is an Associate Publisher for Renaissance Books (which publishers groundbreaking BDSM as part of its Sizzler Imprint).
2. Are you actively involved in BDSM? If so how do you identify yourself? Dom(me)/sub? Top/bottom? Switch?
I’ve been in the scene since ’88 (1988, smartass) or so and while I seriously love the folks I’ve met there I’m actually more a sensualist than a hardcore player. One reason I love the scene is that the people I’ve met have all pretty much been in touch with their sexuality – a very refreshing thing compared to the ‘real’ world. If you want to look me up, by the way, I’m “MChristian” on Fetlife … and pretty much everywhere else.
[MORE]
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Thanks, bro!
I really do have a very, very wonderful brother. Just check out this fantastic prezzie he gave me for my recent birthday: an amazing new Gakken model of a Theo Jansen strandbeest ... thanks, bro!
Here's a video of it stately strolling across a table
Here's a video of it stately strolling across a table
Saturday, May 26, 2012
YNOT: Rising to Condoms’ Defense
Starting with this very fun interview with Phil Harvey and Chris Purdy who run a wonderful organization called DKT International that's "a social marketing nonprofit working in Latin America, Africa and Asia to improve access to reproductive health products and services."
Quick: What do you think of when you hear the word condom? For some in the adult industry, the first response may be a grimace as a few California municipalities recently passed laws mandating condom use in all sexually explicit productions.
But far too few people think of condoms — and all the other kinds of safer-sex products available today — as affirmations and indications of respect for life. For each safer-sex product made, sold and used, two people may have been spared disease or death.
While the content-production portion of the adult entertainment industry, at least in California, chafes under new condoms-required legislation, people in developing countries are learning how condoms, sex education, family planning, oral contraceptives and a host of other sexual wellbeing considerations can improve the quality of their lives. In parts of Africa, for example, traditionally poor communication about safer-sex practices has led to the spread of sexually transmitted diseases that can be life-threatening.
At the forefront of the mission to get condoms into developing countries and educate everyday people about their correct use is DKT International.
Founded in 1989, DKT International’s core mission is “to provide safe and affordable options for family planning and HIV prevention through social marketing.” The organization spearheads 19 programs in 18 countries, and in 2011 provided 650 million condoms, more than 72 million cycles of oral contraceptives, more than 14 million injectable contraceptives, one million IUDs and 12 million misoprostol pills. DKT’s statistics indicate that last year its efforts prevented seven million pregnancies, 11,000 maternal deaths and 1.4 million abortions.
[MORE]
Thursday, May 24, 2012
GLBT Live Chats with the Pros At The Erotica Readers & Writers Association!
GLBT erotica is a genre to be reckoned with, and The Erotica Readers and Writers Association will help interested authors with two GLBT Live Chats with the Pros: Delilah Devlin and M. Christian will be on hand to answer questions, offer advice, and exchange ideas with authors of GLBT erotica. Whether you're penning your first gay fiction, or are a spicy-seasoned pro, don't miss this opportunity.
M. Christian, associate publisher for Renaissance E Books (which includes Sizzler Editions), is an acknowledged master of erotica with more than 400 stories in such anthologies as Best American Erotica, Best Gay Erotica, Best Lesbian Erotica, and Best Bisexual Erotica, Best Fetish Erotica. If you want to know what GLBT editors want (and don't want) and how to make your submissions stand out, M. Christian will be happy to answer your questions.
Read more about M. Christian at www.mchristian.com
ERWA chats are held on the ShadowWorld chat server, channel#erachat.
(Follow the link above. On screen you'll see 'Connect to ShadowWorld IRC'. In the Nickname box, key in your name. Leave the channels box at #ERAChat, and click 'Connect'. A chat text box will appear at the bottom of your screen)
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Out Now: Painted Doll - The New Edition!
The good news just keeps on coming! I'm extremely pleased to be able to announce the release of a brand new edition of my erotic cyberpunk novel, Painted Doll, by the great folks at Renaissance/Sizzler Editions ... and check out the wonderful new cover by the one-and-only Wynn Ryder.
M. Christian's claimed BDSM science fiction cyberpunk novel is back in print - a tale of futuristic sexual submission and domination!
One of the pleasures of a dystopic future is the erotists, professionals who paint their clients' bared skin with neurochemicals that induce all forms of sensation - even pain. Erotists offer landscapes of ecstasy, sexual extremes, joy, and delight. Few citizens can afford the skills of the talented Domino. Fewer still know her identity is but a mask. Beneath the facade, Claire hides from a vicious crime lord who would not only kill her but her childhood lover. But the mask of Domino is beginning to crack ... strange sexual pairings and strange sexual practices highlight this futuristic noir tale, set in a wildly imaginative erotic future, exploring who we are and the sexual awakenings that occur when we become someone else.
MORE ABOUT THIS BOOK:
"M. Christian is one hell of a writer. He paints his universes and characters in full, living color, thrills the reader with non-stop action. A no-holds-barred storyteller, he embraces his reader at the start and doesn't let go until long after the end." - Mari Adkins, Apex Publications contributing editor
"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 and gripping." - Maxim Jakubowksi is the editor of the Mammoth Book of Erotica series
"A non-stop ride of precise prose and unexpected imagery. Painted Doll is another M. Christian gem; a seamless blend of the erotic with the darkly fantastic. Unpredictable, engaging, and an often startling read." - Marilyn Jaye Lewis, author of Freak Parade
"No matter how long I've been at the erotica game, M. Christian continues to surprise me. With Painted Doll, he again proves that his imagination knows no bounds. The first pages sucked me into the story, and I couldn't stop reading. Who was this woman? Who was she...really? Provocative and unique, Painted Doll is M. Christian at his finest." - Gwen Masters, author of One Breath at a Time
Monday, May 21, 2012
Chadzilla Likes Finger's Breadth
Even more cool news - I just got this fantastic review of Finger's Breadth in from my pal Chad of Chadzilla!
A mysterious figure, known only as The Cutter, is hunting the gay men of near-future San Francisco. This strange, shadowy figure drugs his victims, then amputates the tip of their little finger. As The Cutter attacks continue and spread throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, they have strange and disturbing effects on a variety of men.
Before you read any further into this review, I would most appreciate it if you would look to the right hand side of the screen and study the first two books listed in the Read My Published Writing section of this blog. You will note that the editor of both books just so happens to be the author of Finger's Breadth. Small world, isn't it?
It also explains why I am reading a book in a genre, Gay Erotica, that is somewhat far removed (to put it mildly) from my usual reading comfort zone. But it is always good to challenge oneself on occasion, and Finger's Breadth, I am happy to write, happens to be both a good and challenging read.
Finger's Breadth, while ostensibly a work of Gay Erotica, one with a very strong and distinct undercurrent of BDSM to it, is also a disturbing psychological thriller that is cloaked in the dark noir style shadows of futurist cyberpunk. It was the strength of the latter that kept my interest through all of the pages of graphically described gay sex. I'm certain that certain readers will find that kind of thing hot, but I am not one of those readers. So it goes.
While the narrative pacing is crisp and brisk, the book is a short and to the point 265 pages, the cast of characters is rather sizable. There is Fanning, a Freelance Cop (a near-future version of the Bounty Hunter mixed with the Private Investigator) trying to hunt down and catch the Cutter, for profit. There is the terrified Taylor, who believes that he has narrowly escaped the Cutter. There is Dibney, who is also hunting for the Cutter, but for personal reasons. And there is Varney, the first victim. The man who made everyone else aware of the Cutter and who is now burdened with the guilt of creating a media monster with a life of its very own.
Those are just the primary characters, though. Swirling around the above listed men are snapshots of other men cruising a San Francisco nightlife that is undergoing a strange shift in fetishistic desire. These men wander the bars, have sexual liaisons, all the while alternating between looking for the Cutter's victims and longing to be the Cutter's next victim. These snapshots chart the growth and mutation of the sexual meme. These snapshots also cast light and add shadows to the stories of the various primary characters listed above. As the number of the Cutter's victims grows, and each of the primary characters makes a disturbing discovery, the nature of the Cutter's attacks and what it truly means to be a victim of the Cutter is called into question. The answers to those questions manage to be both unsettling and empowering.
Finger's Breadth is a chilling and thought provoking read.
Amos Lassen Likes Technorotica: Stories Shattering the Ultimate Taboo
Here's a very nice treat: a fantastic review of M.Christian's Technorotica: Stories Shattering the Ultimate Taboo by the always awesome Amos Lassen!
I think of M. Christian like I think of hummus—both are acquired tastes. However, once you get to liking either, you just can’t get enough. As prolific a writer as Christian is, I never get quite enough. He is erotic and futuristic and has a sardonic sense of humor, However, above everything else, he goes where few dasn’t. In this anthology, Christian takes a step into the future and writes about bondage, fetishes, science fiction, and sex with robots and so on. In fact, we are taught by robots how to be great lovers. I suppose you could label this man/machine erotica as Christians unites sex and technology and there is a lot of Christian trademark kink. This is most definitely not your “everyday” read.
Eleven stories are sandwiched between the introduction, “Welcome to the World of Tomorrow” and the afterword, “Do You Know Where Your Children Will Be”? All of the stories are excellent but the one that stands out for me in “Blow Up” and that is all I am going to say. If you want to know why it is so special, you will have to get a copy of the book. Christian writes what I call literary erotica. He manages to infuse good writing with lots of sex and the result is almost a new genre. He is, however, the most difficult author to review because it is so easy to give away plots when discussing his writing. Therefore all I can say is for you to get a copy, clear an afternoon sit in the recliner with your feet up and the book open and enjoy every word.
“M. Christian is one hell of a writer. A no-holds-barred storyteller, he embraces his reader at the start and doesn’t let go until long after the end.” -Mari Adkins. “M. Christian’s stories squat at the intersection of Primal Urges Avenue and Hi-Tech Parkway … feral-eyed, half-naked … Truly an author for our post-everything 21st century.” – Paul Di Filippo, author The Steampunk Trilogy.
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Wanna See Something Neat?
Take a look at the book cover below for The Forest Reaper by William Tillinghast Eldridge that's right now on the front page of Fictionwise.
Nope, I didn't write it - though it has been published by the very great folks at Renaissance (who I have the great honor of being an Associate Editor for) - but there is something from me on it.
Give up? The cover image was taken my little-ole me ... from a fun expedition I took to the Ripley's Museum with my great, great friends Jean Marie Stine (the spirit of Renaissance) and Frankie Hill (the cover wizard for Renaissance). Cool, eh?
Give up? The cover image was taken my little-ole me ... from a fun expedition I took to the Ripley's Museum with my great, great friends Jean Marie Stine (the spirit of Renaissance) and Frankie Hill (the cover wizard for Renaissance). Cool, eh?
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