Sexy psychological thrillers and cake!

How about this for guidelines for authors? Exciting, no?

The erotica-buying public are practically unshockable these days … I’d like [authors] to think about working against convention in terms of women’s erotic fiction. I want to dust off the traces of romantic writing and aim for streamlined, economical prose … Out go masked balls, ripped bodices and pulsing nubbins to make way for more down-to-earth, no-messing stories which take their lead from somewhere other than romance … I would like to see some stories which explore fetishistic practices or where the central female character is driven by desires which are less wholesome than ‘finding a perfect lover’.

The above was sent to Black Lace authors in 1998, sixteen years ago, when the imprint had been going for five years. The guidelines were wonderfully refreshing at the time (and would be now!), and inspired me to write my second novel, Asking for Trouble. The words poured out of me in a way they hadn’t done before and haven’t since. The book has sold more than all of my other books combined, and then some. I was possessed! Asking for Trouble has a sleazy, noirish feel, and a suspense-thriller element to it, something I’ve continued to explore in my writing to this day.

I’d love to write more erotic, psychological thrillers, with a dark sprinkling of the gothic, but that’s a hard sell when the field is dominated by kink-lite erotic romance, and when the pressure to give readers a happy ending is so strong. I’m convinced there’s a market for erotic thrillers, and I’m sure I’m not the only one.

Undone, out in September in the UK, has something in common with the newly popular and dubiously-named ‘chick noir‘, psychological suspense thrillers aimed at women, exploring how well we know the people we’re close to. I wasn’t aware these books were being hailed as the Next Big Thing in publishing until recently but it’s nice to think that I might, for a change, be almost in step with the world! Obviously, Undone has a lot more depraved, kinky sex than ‘chick noir. I’d call it ‘clit noir’ if that tag wasn’t nearly as awful.

Asking for Trouble, my first foray into erotic-not-romance is fifteen years old next week. So I was deliriously thrilled to see this tweet from bestselling crime author, Elizabeth Haynes.

@kristina_lloyd Just finished Asking for Trouble – was AWESOME. Which one next? xx

— Elizabeth Haynes (@Elizjhaynes) July 6, 2014

It’s so rare for someone outside of erotica to comment positively on our books, and getting the thumbs up from someone who’s massively successful in a genre I’m flirting with is wonderfully validating. If you haven’t yet read Elizabeth’s debut, Into the Darkest Corner, go buy it now! Or check out some of the 1,500 reviews on Amazon, and see if you can *not* buy it!

And if you’re in the South East next week, join me on Tuesday for the inaugural Dirty Sexy Words gig in Croydon, South London. It’s on the 15th July, the eve of Asking for Trouble‘s 15th birthday. I’m not yet sure if I’ll be reading from AFT or Undone or something else entirely. But there will be cake!

Also on the bill are KD Grace, Sallyanne Rogers and Elizabeth Coldwell.

Sallyanne, the brains behind this new venture, recently began blogging about erotica classics and gave Asking for Trouble a fabulous write up at the start of her series. She says:

“A part of the book’s appeal is the brilliant evocation of Brighton in the late 90s; the town is almost a character in its own right. Kristina Lloyd also captures the irrational, compulsive momentum of unwise lust. I think the most memorable thing about it, finally, is that it depicts a woman who is both sexually submissive – massively sexually submissive – but also a rounded character who is, ultimately, in charge of her own life.”

Check out the Facebook page here and the venue here.

It looks like a lot of fun, and it would be fab to see some of you there!

Mammoth Best New Erotica 12

This is my seventh appearance in the annual Mammoth Book of Best New Erotica series from Maxim Jakubowski. Volume 12 is extra special because not only is my name on the front cover – always exciting for my ego – but because this collection contains two of my stories!

My Ass is Your Ass is My Ass is the second story of mine to be selected from our popular annual anal erotica series. And my other featured story is All My Lovers in One Room from Racy Pages’ Stretched.

Maxim is passionate about publishing quality erotica, and his introductions to these volumes are always a delight to read. The stories in Mammoth 12 were published in 2012, the year of Fifty Shades.

Referring to the huge surge in popularity of erotica, Maxim writes, ‘I can only applaud this new-found recognition and hope that it is at least partly sustained after the wave of bad imitations and exploitative material that any new phenomenon generates abates and the quality authors rise to the top without being drowned in the sea of “me too” books that are currently flooding us.‘

Hear, hear!

Mammoth 12 gets its official UK release tomorrow, 7th November. However, right now on Amazon, the paperback is available and, weirdly, is actually cheaper than the pre-order ebook. No, I don’t understand either. But if I were you, I’d act fast and snag a big fat hard copy (and these books are fat!) for £5.56 with free postage. Or, you know, download to your Kindle for the costlier £6.17.

Quick before someone realises there’s a pricing error!

ETA: Apparently, the book is getting a promotional week push, hence the bargain price. Go for it!

Geek Love

Wow, Geek Love has become the 10th most-funded fiction project and the highest backed fiction anthology in the history of Kickstarter! Ain’t that amazing? With just a few days left until the project is closed to backers, I hear the next $ target is to make editors, Shanna Germain and Janine Ashbless, explode with excitement.

I got a geeky thrill last week when I learned my short story, Black Gold, has been accepted for the collection. And I’ve never played Dungeons and Dragons in my life!

Geek Love, is both an ebook and a limited edition, full-colour, hardback of erotic fic, art, photography and comics, and will be out late 2012. The project is still open to art submissions but do not send them anymore sexy gals in glasses! As ever, there is a shortage of hot dudes to display.

Black Gold is a story I wrote a few years ago for an anthology that didn’t quite happen. It’s a dystopian, bondage-and-coffee piece that I never tried subbing elsewhere, partly because I forgot about it, partly because I thought it was just too, shall we say, unusual for most anthologies. Like a true geek, my poor story languished on the periphery, unable to fit in, until fellow geeks welcomed it with open arms!

Geek Love will be funded on the 27th Sept. If you want to be part of it, go pledge some Kickstarter cash, and a gorgeous geeky reward will soon be yours!

And in the meantime, let’s celebrate this nerd-tastic project with some awesome robot pr0n:

Take the ass challenge!

Check out this super review of Smart Ass in which Harper Bliss challenges you to read the free sample (UKers go here) featuring the first few pages of my story and then not buy the ebook!

Harper writes:

The first story in this mini-anthology ‘My Ass is Your Ass is My Ass’ by Kristina Lloyd had me from the get-go. Not just because it was kinky (and I mean really very dirty), but mostly (seriously) because of the stellar writing.

I can’t even remember where the sample ended (I tried to because I wanted to use it to illustrate my point in this blog post), because all I wanted to do was continue reading. I didn’t care how much I had to pay for it ($4.49 on Amazon, I learned later), I just wanted to have it on my Kindle and finish reading it. Kristina, you’ve got yourself a new fan. Read more

Thank you Harper! We’re currently working on the fourth book in our annual anal erotica series while Susie Bright is working on making the first three books available on audible.com.

On Facebook last week I was involved in an exciting race against the clock as I scrambled to download a clip from a UK TV show before its availability expired. The clip featured a fun bit of identity confusion between the actor, Jeremy Edwards, and our very own erotic fic author, Jeremy Edwards. You can read a great write up of the drama, in which I get to ride a black stallion and am referred to as ‘Joan d’Arc on amphetamine’, on Billierosie’s blog.

The clip is on YouTube but seems as if it’s now only viewable outside of the UK so eyes left for the screen grab if you’re this side of the pond.

And this morning I learned four short stories of mine will appear in Maxim Jakubowki’s ‘Mammoth Book of Erotic Quickies’, out in 2013. Four! Go me!

This post was brought to you by a woman dithering over writing the final chapter in her novel.

So many pretty covers!

Appropriately enough, we’ve been sitting on this piece of ass news for ages. And we can now reveal that Susie Bright – yes, SUSIE BRIGHT! (seen here smoking a bong on Six Feet Under!) – is making our anal anthologies Audible!

I’m thrilled and astonished by how successful and popular these ebooks have become, and to have someone as awesome as Susie Bright backing our behinds is more than I ever imagined for these stories. Our three book bundle will also be available digitally and as a POD you can fondle. More news on release dates when we get them!

And just look at this lush line up of Cleis covers:

Out November 2012	Out January 2013	Out NOW!

Morning, Noon and Night includes my cocktail-based story, 5pm Somewhere. Check out the fabulous, round-the-clock TOC here.

The Big Book of Bondage includes my, um, pig-based story, The Bondage Pig. More on the authors involved here.

And Bound By Lust is currently on tour! This Friday (June 22), I’ll be stopping by Kristina Wright’s blog to share a little about my BBL story, No Sleep, while hoping much comedy confusion arises from us sharing a first name. And on the following Friday (June 29), I’ll be ordering in tea and cakes/adult beverages, and playing host to Nikki Magennis.

I hope you’ll be able to join us!