Musings

Inspiration, travel and trading

books, erotica, event, fiction, market, travel 24th January 2018 Fairs and Markets, Musings

So I took myself and the book bag to the BBB last Sunday. After an aggravating start (one train cancelled, the next one delayed, only enough credit to send one text to announce lateness) I settled down to enjoy the … Continued

Venue hunting, erotica slamming and the great club crisis

erotica, reading, reading slam. event, slam 14th January 2018 Musings, Slams

It’s been quite a while since the last Dirty Sexy Words erotica slam. This whole site was initially planned as, oh, we’ll just have a little website and put slam dates on it, yeah, only needs to be a page … Continued

2017: A Retrospective.

2017, erotic writing, flashback, porn, retrospective, sex 30th December 2017 Musings, Other Things

New Year, retrospective, flashback, erotica, #soss

Twelve months ago, we were mostly floundering: angry, scared, searching for optimism, hoping for change. Another year end approaches, and it’s safe to say that most people are in a similar frame of mind. The darkness encroaches, but there are … Continued

Small Moments of Joy

authors, excitement, joy, prize, reading, writing 28th November 2017 Musings

You may be feeling that joy is in short supply at the moment, even as we move into the most officially joy-laden time of the year. But maybe that makes it even more important to recognise, or look for, or … Continued

Reselling Review Copies – right or wrong?

ebook, piracy, review, selling 14th November 2017 Musings

There’s a fair bit of sound and fury on the writing scene at the moment over the reselling of ARCs (Advance Review Copies) of books. Some are hurt, betrayed, enraged and all the rest of it; others are less sure … Continued

Nancy Friday: a personal tribute

bloggers, erotica, fantasy, sex, women's sexuality, writing 8th November 2017 Musings, Sex stuff

Nancy Friday died last Sunday. I never met her, and I haven’t even read all of her books, but I do have to acknowledge her influence on my life, my views and my writing career. I discovered her work when … Continued

Fact and fiction: notes from London Fetish Weekend

books, bookselling, fiction, London Fetish Weekend 24th October 2017 Events, Musings

fiction, books, bookselling, fetish market, London Fetish Weekend

(Yes, OK, a little late with posting this, but it’s been a busy week or two…) For the second year running, I took the Dirty Sexy Worlds bookstall to the London Alternative Market’s special LFW event and, for the second … Continued

You CAN have lots of sex and no regrets.

casual sex, erotica, literature, regrets 2nd October 2017 Musings, Other Things, Sex stuff, Uncategorised

This Guardian piece about the way women, in particular, are always portrayed as miserable, messed up and self-hating if they have a lot of casual sex reminds me of the other tiresome old concept – that erotic fiction is only … Continued

Current affairs and genre fiction

current affairs, erotica, fiction, politics, writing 25th September 2017 Musings

It can be interesting to read old genre fiction from time to time: the stuff that was published in the 90s, the 80s or earlier. Not just because it can give you nostalgic thrills if the story is one you … Continued

Not Just A Dream After All

fiction, inspiration, m/m erotica, writing 18th September 2017 Musings

One of the earliest things any aspiring writer learns is never to finish your story by having the character wake up and discover that everything that just happened was ‘Only a dream, after all’. I remember getting that pretty much … Continued