MY BAD

A: MY BAD

I just got an email that says I misunderstood the last question. The emailer was asking which of the erotic stories that I have written are my favorites.

Okay, thanks for the question, now that I understand it.

In Carol Taylor's BROWN SUGAR series, I would have to say that NADINE'S HUSBAND is my favorite. It is well written, touching, and STORY is the most important element in it. It set the standard for all four stories I wrote for that series. STORY comes first--all other elements, including sex, must flow logically and smoothly from the story.

I also like SOUTHERNMOST TRIANGLE, which shows up in WANDERLUST (edited by Carol Taylor) because that is the first time in any of my stories (published or unpublished) I wrote a threesome scene that worked, in my opinion, because it flowed from STORY.

In my novel BOUNCE, which is an unabashedly erotic novel, the Boo-Hoo scene is tops as far as I am concerned.

In COME WITH ME, SHEBA, Chapter 19 works for me as a culmination of erotic energy--Chapter 19 is so hot I had to write it in parts. As I recall, Chapter 19 has 6 parts.

I hope that answers your question.

Thanks,

Preston

Erotica

Q: Two questions. First, you say that sex is one of those things you do not talk about along with religion and politics, but I have read with pleasure your erotic stories. What's up with that? Second, What are your favorite erotic stories?

A: I do not discuss sex, religion, or politics in public--it makes too many enemies and it usually ends up with one party espousing a belief rather than defending an argument. I do not talk about these topics but I do write about them. A lot!

The stories that I found to be so hot that I started writing my own erotica are listed here in no particular order and I apologize in advance for not including in some instances the author's name.

Michael Hemmingson's THE DRESS and THE NAUGHTY YARD. Sweet Jheezus, I still re-read these two lengthy (novella length) stories from time to time for inspiration to write my own pieces. Hemmingson is a very dirty boy with a wicked sense of humor and an even wickeder way with describing bedroom delights. I read most of his stuff in Maxim Jakubowski's MAMMOTH BOOK OF SEX anthologies. He's got about ten of them out there--and they're all full of good sex writing.

A short story called PG DIARY is also great for sexual inspiration on the part of yours truly. I apologize because I cannot recall the author's name without consulting the book which I do not have here in front of me, though she and I communicated via email for a while after her story came out in one of Suzy Bright's anual anthologies: I think it was Best Erotica of 2000? 2001? It's a great story about two pregnant girls who are roommates at one of those special schools for wayward teens. The story is sweet and sexy and poignant and it rings of truth.

In that same Suzy Bright anthology there was a story called SWEATING PROFUSELY IN MERIDIA that was DAYUMMM hot too. I need to go find that book and give you the names of the writers.

I found the book! It is Susie (not Suzy) Bright's THE BEST AMERICAN EROTICA 1994. The author of PG DIARY is Linda Hooper, and Carol Queen is the author of SWEATING PROFUSELY.

In my hand I also have Susie Bright's 2001 edition of that collection and there is a story called THE MAN WHO ATE WOMEN by Damian Grace. DAYUMM. This one took me back to college life and its wayward ways.

REASONS NOT TO GO TO FT. LAUDERDALE by Liz Clarke (clark?) was in an anthology I lost but need to re-purchase called SLOW HAND by Michele B. Slung. I used to read that one a lot for inspiration. There is another story that nailed college sex antics in the 80s.

Brian Fawcet (Fawcett?) wrote a story called Cuckoo in Maxim Jakubowski's MAMMOTH BOOK OF INTERNATIONAL EROTICA. If you want to learn how to write well and earnestly about threesomes, this is a good story to begin with. Very erotic. Very meaningful.

Marge Piercy's novel THREE WOMEN has a DAYUMM good section in it that I have seen anthologized somewhere. Or you can just buy her novel. It's the scene when Elena and Evan invite the new kid Chad into their sex games. Another good section to study to learn how to write threesomes earnestly and well. Too often in so-called erotica the threesome is drawn from cookie cutter and porn-flick cliche.

I'm a big fan of Anais Nin, so I love pretty much everything she has written--excluding her autobiographical stuff. Check out LITTLE BIRDS or DELTA OF VENUS.

Now let me tell you about the landmark collection EROTIQUE NOIR. That's my bible. The story in it I return to the most is THE THREE TOKEN STRADIVARIUS by R. Pope.

In the BROWN SUGAR anthologies by Carol Taylor (in which my works appear), the stories I return to the most are DRAG by Leone Ross, MOVIE LOVER by Michael Gonzales, and HOW I BECAME A WRITER by Lois Elaine Griffith.

Of course, THE STORY OF O is a favorite erotic read of mine--many scenes in that book are returned to time and time again.

Eric Jerome Dickey's BETWEEN LOVERS has a great threesome scene when Nicole and her wife make love to the narrator--DAYUMM.

A goodly number of my favorite erotic stories and scenes came as a surprise to me because they showed up in novels and story collections that had little or nothing to do with sex. If I have time I will make a list of them.

Three that come to mind are KISS OF THE SPIDERWOMAN by Manuel Puig, KINFLICKS by Lisa Alther, INVISIBLE MAN by Ralph Ellison, and RULES OF ATTRACTION by Brett Easton Ellis.

I'm out.


Preston

Glad That You're Back

Q: Glad That You're back! Where were you? How has your career been going since you last blogged?

A: I'm back, I guess, because I never left. I just took a little break. I am not a true blogger, you know? There are all of these fancy things that blogs can do that mine can't and never will because I am not interested in wasting time learning how to do them. I am a writer, not a blogger. So I write, and if I have enough time and energy left over I write on the blog.

Lots of good things have been happening since last I blogged. At the very top of the list is my old friends at Akashic, who are currently editing my new novel JESUS BOY, which is due out some time in early 2010.

I am pumped! And I think the readers have waited long enough to meet the horny born again teen piano prodigy Elwyn and his much older cougar lover Sister Morrisohn, both of whom have lived in my head since . . . since I was a horny born again teen piano prodigy myself.

JESUS BOY is one of those weird books--I began writing it when I was Elwyn's age, 16, and I completed it when I was Sister Morrisohn's age, 42.

Enough about that.

I attended the Algonquin Pitch Writing Workshop in New York in March. Thanks to my wife and the bad economy, I was able to stay in a swanky Manhattan hotel across the street from the U.N. dirt cheap.

I got to meet Charles Salzberg (Swann's Last Song) and had my very positive tete a tetes with editors Sandy Harding, Zach Wagman, and Tom Colgan (Tom Clancy's editor). I am hoping one of these top editors, each of whom liked my pitch enough to request a read of the novel, will make an offer I can't refuse.

The novel is called The Virgin of Biscayne Boulevard. Wish me luck (or as Elwyn might say, Pray for me).

So I took a class at the MDC/St. Thomas University's Earth Ethics Institute this past semester. For the final assignment in that class, I wrote the short story, which became the novella, which became the full blown novel, EVERY BOY SHOULD HAVE A MAN, which is about a world where man is a house pet and the real masters of the earth are the Oafs, or Giants (as in David and Goliath Jack and the Beanstalk giants). But really, the book is about the environment. More on this later.

I have a story, THREE KISSES, coming out in a new erotic anthology edited by Robert Fleming. More on this later.

And I keep re-configuring my collection of psychopath short stories and changing its title--these days I am having a hard time finding titles for my books. Writing is easy. Titling is hard.

At any rate, I'm back!

Thanks,

Preston

Characters That Are Smarter Than the Writer

Q: How do you write about characters that are smarter than you are?

Thanks,

AC

A: AC, it was great having you in class this semester. And, actually, I'm going to use your name, if you don't mind, because your short story is up for a major award--the League for Innovation Prize, and though I haven't heard back from the national judges yet, I have a sneaking suspicion that you are going to win it. We are all very proud of you at MDC, Alexander (Cherin).

Now back to your question. First of all, no character is smarter than you because you are the writer, which makes you God and thereby all powerfull and all knowing.

LOL

But never mind that. The most tried and true method for creating really smart characters is to base them on real life brainiacs. The first step, of course, is to do the research. Study the writings of the brainiac--get a bio or two on them--read up on what others have said about them, especially the writings of those who have had personal encounters with them like their friends, family, and colleagues. In this way, you will get a good feel for their personal characteristics and a sense of how others perceive them--and usually you don't need more than that to write your fictionalized clone of them. In fact, a good book about two great brains is on my list on this page--The Professor and the Mad Man--which is a really great read.

Now here is my question to you: Why do we find it difficult to write about people smarter than we are when we have no problem writing about people stronger, older, younger, sexier, braver, uglier, taller, shorter, more athletic, or more talented than we are?

Thanks,

Preston