Cover reveal: Thrill Seeker

Finally, I got my man! I’m absolutely delighted with this cover and hugely grateful to my editor and her team at Black Lace for working so hard on it. My opinion was sought and Gillian completely took on board my belief we should have more men on the covers of erotic fiction.

Isn’t he swell? And what a whistle! I love her thrill-seeking hand. It’s such a neat representation of active female desire. Really, really happy with this!

Thrill Seeker is out in May 2013 (UK) and will be available in the US in June. You can read a little bit about it here.

Erotic romance writing competition

I recently sent the manuscript of my fourth novel, Thrill Seeker, to the new editor at Black Lace, so to celebrate, here’s some peen!

I love hairy bodies! Give me this over trimmed, waxed and polished any day of the week.

If you missed it on Twitter and FB, I’m one of the judges in a short story erotic romance comp hosted by Black Lace and The Daily Mail (a newspaper I don’t often read…). Portia Da Costa (who is now a Sunday Times bestseller!) is judging too. Deadline is 31st October. Click here for entry details. Prize is publication with Black Lace, so it’s a comp aimed at newbies rather than old hands.

Thrill Seeker, the novel I’ve just finished, breaches many of the comp’s writing rules, especially 4 and 9 (but that doesn’t make it an immoral book!). I’m hugely looking forward to reading the submissions, and hoping there’ll be sparks of originality in the scenarios and use of language. We’re also running a writing workshop at Random House in November where I’ll be passing on my writerly wisdom and top tips, and trying not to swear too much. See the Mail’s comp page for details.

And check out Black Lace’s gorgeous new website. Submission guidelines (novels only; no shorts) are under ‘contact us’.

I haven’t written a novel for a few years. Damn, it feels good! I really put my characters through the emotional wringer with this one. Bags of suspense too.

Before I go, how’s this for an Erotica Cover Watch success? These are forthcoming anthologies from publishers I once railed against for their sexist marketing evidenced by their refusal to put men on book covers. I have 3 – 4 super-short stories in both these books. More on that when publication is imminent. In the meantime, man-muscle drool…

Double Delight

I’ve peaked! Today sees the official UK release of The Mammoth Book of the Best of the Best New Erotica, a collection of stories selected from fifteen volumes of Maxim Jakubowski‘s bestselling series.

This is doubly delightful because a) I’m in it! And b), for the first time in the series we’ve got a guy included on the cover instead of the usual single, white, sexualised female. Awesome, no? Those of you with long memories may recall that Erotica Cover Watch, the blog I co-founded to campaign against sexism in erotica publishing, launched with a criticism of Mammoth’s covers. When we started ECW, we were concerned (and warned) that speaking out might damage our writing careers. So for me, personally, being in this book represents an artistic and political success. I’m thrilled!

It was also nice to find out about the couple-cover after hearing the sad news that Filament, a magazine that has done masses to challenge the notion that women aren’t interested in eyeing up men, are to close after a hugely successful run.

But to go back to a) I’m in it!, Mammoth is a series which, over the years, has featured fiction from Anne Rice, Kathy Acker, Leonard Cohen, Poppy Z Brite, Ramsey Campbell plus numerous well-respected names from the erotica genre. In his introduction to this new volume, Jakubowski recalls his struggle in the early 90s to persuade his publishers to take erotica on board, and makes a strong case for the validity of erotica as a genre with relevance and literary merit.

Sex was and always will be an integral part of the human make-up and I do strongly feel it is essentially dishonest to censor it out of our writings for the sake of propriety or social convenience. [...] Here are thirty wonderful tales of sex, life, hotness, passion, of erotica at its best. If you have not been converted to the sensual and intellectual pleasures of our genre already, this is your chance.

You hear that? This is your chance!

Your choices are: Amazon UK paperback, Amazon UK Kindle and coming soon, Amazon US paperback, Amazon US Kindle.

Best of the Best includes fiction from Marilyn Jaye-Lewis, Poppy Z Brite, Thomas S Roche, Matt Thorne, Carol Queen, Carole Anne Davis, Lucy Taylor, Michael Hemmingson, Lauren Henderson, M. Christian, Mike Kimera, Donna George Storey, Alison Tyler and more. I don’t think I’ve ever been in an anthology where so many of the contributors have wikipedia entries.

Anyways, Happy New Year to you all!

I’d like to wish you Happy New Rear too but, um, eyes right, our ass is currently being corrected! Alison privately confessed she’s always had difficulties with the word ‘annual’ … but anal? Alison Tyler?

Erotic fiction is BOOMING!

Despite a major player mothballing its erotic fiction lists, the category is on a recession-busting rise.

Yay!

You can read the whole article here in The Bookseller. I scanned the double-page spread from the mag because, oh boy, isn’t it wonderful to see a range of covers up there instead of the usual glut of half-naked chicks?

And great to hear that friends of Erotica Cover Watch, Xcite Books and Bookkake, are both thriving. It’s a thrill, too, to know that Erotica Cover Watch and our fab supporters were largely responsible for Xcite’s decision to start featuring guys on their book covers. Yup, see him in the top left? He’s mine! Oh, OK, then: ours. We can share. I’ll be taking a closer look at Xcite’s new Temptations line on ECW in the near future – and am very much looking forward to him it.

If you missed the news from earlier in the week, Adam Nevill, former Black Lace editor, will soon be joining Xcite books as editor. All in all, an excellent week for erotica (um, apart from my blacklisting)!

On Erotica Cover Watch today …

… there is much excitement! Come on over to see why we’re dancing!