Impact Play: Beyond Floggers And Canes - at The Looking Glass

Just wanted to toot my (ahem) 'horn' about my upcoming Looking Glass class:

Impact Play: Beyond Floggers And Canes!
Sunday, Jan 8: 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Cost: $20.00 per person, $35.00 per couple; $25.00 per person, $40.00 per couple at the door.

Join this workshop to receive (ahem) 'hands-on' instruction in a wide and sometimes-strange variety of different impact toys. We'll explore techniques using hands, hairbrushes, paddles, crops, wooden spoons, batons, quirts, and more! While often the physics of these toys are sometimes closely related, to use each one effectively takes particular skill and techniques that are not immediately apparent. Participants will learn not only how to inflict the most pleasure as well as pain but also how to use each item without hurting the wield-er as well as the wield-ee.

Amen, Stephen!

Stephen Fry Kinetic Typography - Language from Matthew Rogers on Vimeo.

Or They're Just Breathing Hard

 

That's Me -

 

Sex In San Francisco - Now In Dead Trees!

Here's great news for all you folks that like to read your erotica on (gasp) paper: the Sex In San Francisco anthology I edited for the great folks at Renaissance E Books/Sizzler Editions is now out in a non-ebook edition.  You can, of course, order it on amazon.

What it is about San Francisco that seems to promise, and even promote, sex: sex hot and heavy, sex tender and loving, sex straight and gay, sex kinky and vanilla, in fact, just about every type of sex that can be imagined?  Why is San Francisco considered such an attraction for lovers of all kinds and such a hotbed of steamy eroticism?  Why is this city, instead of so many others, called — with lusty admiration as well as scathing jealousy — the Id of America, Sodom by the Sea, Bagdad by the Bay, and Sin Francisco? Some of the best writers of erotica in the nation seek answers to that question in Sex In San Francisco. These writers show why San Francisco is so damned sexy, and through their stories they show you the erotic heart of the city and its residents.  Donna George Storey, PM White, Renatto Garcia, Adele Levin, Shanna Germain, Craig J.  Sorensen, Theda Hudson, Jude Mason, Neve Black, Mykola Dementiuk, Jeremy Edwards, and Anna Reed with Lily Penza have created wonderful erotic tales, each of which takes a unique approach to probing what makes San Francisco such a sexy place to be in and to dream about.  Each author uses her or his own amazing literary – and yes, erotic – vision to share with us a very personal interpretation of what constitutes sex in the city of the Golden Gate. These authors may be looking at the same city and viewing the same buildings and landscape, but for each of them San Francisco is, like sex, a very personal, and unique, thing

REVIEWS:

"Sex in San Francisco. Sex in that wonderful city is told from every angle possible -- M. Christian, the editor of this unique anthology isn’t kidding when he says that San Francisco is the sexiest city on earth. The stories are sexy and very, very hot. The only choice I have is whether to read the stories hard and fast, or try and linger and read them slow. In the end hard and fast won. I can linger next time, and there will be a next time, because these compelling tales are already drawing me back. Donna George Storey, writes of a sexy Hallowe’en in the Castro. It’s all going so well, then oopsie -- and it’s a pretty big oopsie. An oopsie that brings a tantalising jolt to married life. I hope that Sandra never throws away THAT dress. "Renatto Garcia’s metaphors simmer like hot soup on a winter’s night. “San Fran was laid out like a welcoming prostitute.” It’s a coming home story told through an irrepressible sensuality. It’s a love/hate relationship with the city and with Blair’s own past. In “Job” Adele Levin, goes back to the summer of love. We all remember that summer, even those of us who weren’t in San Francisco. It seem like the world was filled with endless possibilities; we didn’t do anything about the possibilities, just watched them drift by through a haze of hashish. And of course it’s about sex, and told in such a naïve innocent voice, reminding us that once upon a time we had a share in that innocent bliss. Who’d have thought that just one city could inspire so many tales. San Francisco is personified through the stories in this remarkable anthology, showing herself to be truly the “sexiest city on earth." And there’s many more stories, than the few I’ve mentioned here. Tales by Shanna Germain, Neve Black, Craig J. Sorenson and the wonderful M.Christian himself." - Billierosie, author of Fetish Worship

"The stories in this collection hold nothing back as they explore erotic possibilities in a suggestive setting--the San Francisco of the Castro and other infamous areas. But you won’t find many Mission-ary practitioners here; these tales go all over the local and libidinal street map. This book is so hot you’ll need asbestos gloves to read it." - Rusty Cuffs, author of Wrapped Too Tight and A Little Restraint, Please

"One of my favorite erotic writers, M. Christian, takes a break from writing and acts as editor of this anthology about sex in San Francisco. It is certainly one of the things that the city is most famous for and some of the best have come together to give us some very hot stories of Sodom by the Sea. We see why San Francisco is so sexy and we go to the heart of the city with such writers as Donna George Storey, PM White, Renatto Garcia, Adele Levin, Shanna Germain, Craig J. Sorensen, Theda Hudson, Jude Mason, Neve Black, Mykola Dementiuk, Jeremy Edwards, Anna Reed and Lily Penza. The stories are personal, interesting and above all else, very erotic. Christian has done an excellent job with the selections and you really feel the heat of the city." -Amos Lassen

"In Sex in San Francisco, M Christian has brought together some of the biggest names in erotica to share sexy tales about the uniquely steamy, sometimes kinky, and always smoking hot City by The Bay. Featuring stories by Donna George Storey, Shanna Germain, Craig J. Sorensen and, of course, M. Christian himself, Sex in San Francisco is sure to satisfy. Word of warning – if you start reading this sizzling collection in the morning, you just might find yourself taking it to bed." - Zander Vyne, award winning author of WEATHER GIRL & Other Kinky Stories

I (Heart) Books

15th Century BOOK OF HOURS - Heart-Shaped When Opened

The little book of hours of Amiens Nicolas Blairie, carefully written on a thin Ruling rose, but modestly decorated with some original illuminations in ink (folio 29), has the curious shape of an almond when it is closed. When it opens, the two halves of the almond bloom to fit the contours of a heart, concrete evocation of the heart of the person praying the prayer that opens.

Alan Moore’s Keyboard

For Sale On eBay

Out Now: Pirate Booty - Erotic Tales Of Buccaneers And Captives

"YO HO HO!"  How here's a real treasure for fans of the debauched and kinky adventures of pirates - a brand-new anthology of some sea (and even space)-fairing privateers and scallywags edited by ... well, me: Pirate Booty - Erotic Tales Of Buccaneers And Captives.

Sizzling tales of pirates and captives. Here's your chance to swing by or force others to swing by all-kinds of yardarms in this outrageous collection of erotic tales by Zander Vyne, Jude Mason, Theda Hudson, Catherine Lundoff, Billierosie, PM White, Joe Vadalma, Wade Heaton, Jay Lawrence And Harry Neptune, RV Raiment, Karen Taylor, and Blake C. Aarens - many of them our top authors - and edited by M.Christian. Full of the unrestrained, twisted passions and lusts that make pirates so hot! Populated by historical, contemporary and space-faring privateers ... plus a good dash of BDSM to spice up the brew.  Pick up this anthology and you will not be disappointed.

The Harsh Realities Of Writing Smut

I really do have some wonderful friends - just check out my dear pal billierosie, who posted my little piece on the perils of erotica writing (from How To Write And Sell Erotica) on her blog.  Thanks so much, billierosie!

Before I say anything here's a hearty and heart-felt THANKS to Billierosie for her love and support --- and for her wanting to share this little piece I wrote about the reality of being a smut writer. Little, alas, has changed from when I wrote this -- and when it was published in “How to write and sell Erotica:” sex and sex writing is still something that seems to bring out a lot of strange things for far too many people and, until we evolve as a species, everyone who wants to say anything about eroticism needs to have a very firm grasp of what that means. 

"The shock of September 11 is subsiding. Each day adds distance. Distance diminishes fear. Cautiously our lives are returning to normal. But "normal" will never be the same again. We have seen the enemy and the enemy is among us .... the publishers, producers, peddlers and purveyors of pornography." 

It didn't take me long to find that quote, just a few minutes of searching. It came from an LDS Web site, Meridian Magazine, but I could have picked fifty others. Maybe it's because of the election, or because of a few horror stories that have recently come my way, but I think it's time to have a chat about what it can mean to ... well, do what we do.
We write pornography. Say it with me: por-nog-ra-phy. Not 'erotica' -- a word too many writers use to distance themselves, or even elevate themselves, from the down and dirty stuff on most adult bookstore shelves -- but smut, filth ... and so forth. 

I've mentioned before how it's dangerous to draw a line in the sand, putting fellow writers on the side of 'smut' and others in 'erotica.' The Supreme Court couldn't decide where to scrawl that mark -- what chance do we have? 

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Yes They Do

Out Now: Pirate Booty - Erotic Tales Of Buccaneers And Captives Edited By M.Christian

"YO HO HO!"  How here's a real treasure for fans of the debauched and kinky adventures of pirates - a brand-new anthology of some sea (and even space)-fairing privateers and scallywags edited by myself: Pirate Booty - Erotic Tales Of Buccaneers And Captives.  Not only is this new anthology a delightfully kinky read but it also features many of my pals and fellow erotic authors!

Sizzling tales of pirates and captives. Here's your chance to swing by or force others to swing by all-kinds of yardarms in this outrageous collection of erotic tales by Zander Vyne, Jude Mason, Theda Hudson, Catherine Lundoff, Billierosie, PM White, Joe Vadalma, Wade Heaton, Jay Lawrence And Harry Neptune, RV Raiment, Karen Taylor, and Blake C. Aarens - many of them our top authors - and edited by M.Christian. Full of the unrestrained, twisted passions and lusts that make pirates so hot! Populated by historical, contemporary and space-faring privateers ... plus a good dash of BDSM to spice up the brew.  Pick up this anthology and you will not be disappointed.

Awwwww...

This is so sweet!  My great, great, great pal, billierosie, just posted another of her wonderful articles - this time on fem/dom - and featured excerpts from some fantastic authors ... including little ol' me.

Here's a taste:

Yes, it’s amusing -- it’s meant to be. But for some men and women, it’s a very real scenario. FEM/dom. In a world where traditionally women have had to fight every step of the way, for any sort of real recognition, the right to inherit, the right to vote, the right to have equal pay, even the right to take the initiative in terms of birth control; in the world of the FEM/dom the female dominates the male. 

For some it’s a scenario acted out playfully every few days/weeks/months.; for others, it can be a complete choice of lifestyle. The male is told by the female when he can stand, sit, eat, sleep or speak. She gives orders and he obeys, absolutely. She may control his orgasms. Sex happens when she initiates it; when she gives her permission. And heaven help him if he orgasms before she does!

Here are some extracts of FEM/dom Erotica, from some of the finest writers, penning some of the best of the genre around today.

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How To Wonderfully WriteSex (14)

Check it out: my new post at the fantastic WriteSex site just went up. Here's a tease (for the rest you'll have to go to the site):

Once in awhile someone will ask me “What, if anything, is verboten in today’s permissive, literate erotica?” The answer is that pretty much anything is fair game, but there are what are called the four deadly sins: four subjects that a lot of publishers and editors won’t (or can’t) touch. These by no means are set in stone, but they definitely limit where you can send a story that uses any of them. So here, in a special series, are theses sins, and what—if anything—a writer can do with them.

#

Of all the four deadly sins, the one that most-often cramps the style of many erotica writers (i.e. “pornographers”) has to be the use of characters that are below the legal age of consent. The difficulties are multi-fold: every state and/or country has different definitions of both what consent is and the age that anyone can give it; very few people have actually lost their virginity when legally able to give consent (and having everyone in a story or book being twenty-one when they first have sex is just silly); and there’s the scary potential that if you use a lot of characters below twenty-one you can look like a damned pedophile—and even get prosecuted as one.

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Wisdom

Connect The Dots

Out Now: BodyWork - Gay Erotica

Wonderful!  I'm proud to announce a brand new collection of my gay smut, from the always-wonderful Renaissance EBooks/Sizzler Editions: BodyWork - Gay Erotica!

There is simply no one better at writing hotter-than-hot gay erotica than the Lambda Literary Award Finalist M.Christian, and with this -- his newest collection -- you'll see why!  From cowboys looking for some same-sex love on the range to jocks working out in unique ways this book is guaranteed to reach out and give your gay desire a good tug!  Check out this brand new book my an acknowledged master of genre and see why everyone says he's an wonderful erotic writer. 

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 

M.Christian is one sick fuck – the reason I still read erotica- Shar Rednour 

Reading these tales is like climbing on for a sexual magic carpet ride through different times and places, diverse bodies, and infinite possibilities.- Carol Queen 

Rarely is raunch paired with such style and wit, M.Christian’s stries offer the sizzle of stroke-book sex combined with the dark lyricism of the perverse.-  Lucy Taylor 

M.Christian’s fiction has a sexy logic all its own.  He’s inventive and he’s irreverent.  His language can seduce, surprise, and body-slam you.- Cecilia Tan

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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