Nancy Friday: a personal tribute
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
Musings
Fact and fiction: notes from 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.
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
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
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
Rejection: Coping and Not Being A Dick
No one likes being rejected. No shit, Sherlock. However kindly the rejection is worded, however reasonable the grounds for saying No might be, it’s always going to sting – a little or a lot. You offer something you think is … Continued
Hairy Tales: baldness, beauty and control
OK so this is currently doing the rounds. A woman used a trick photo to prank her boyfriend into believing she’d shaved her head; boyfriend shat himself with rage, etc. The young have it so much easier when it comes … Continued
Hot Topics, Taboos and Self-Censorship
Is there anything you shouldn’t write about, when it comes to fiction? I made a quick trip to Chaptercon on Friday, to take part in one of the discussion panels, and the concept of taboos was something we touched on. … Continued
Making use of ‘Piano Tuner’s Privilege’
So as not to disappoint anyone, this isn’t a woke rant about the iniquity of some people having pianos while others do not. Piano Tuner’s Privilege is a concept that comes, like several other favourites of mine from Mumsnet. It’s … Continued
Gender, archetype, canon and #DrWho
Predictably, a million entitled, stupid, misogynistic manbabies are shitting all over the Internet at the news that the next Doctor is going to be played by a woman. Equally predictably, there are some good jokes at the expense of said … Continued