Erotic fiction can be all sorts of things to all sorts of people – a cheerful, effective bit of one-handed entertainment where the desired result is a satisfying wank and a nap; dreamy, sensual escapism with a comforting happy ending; filthy-but-delicious depravity… or shocking, thought-provoking and wildly off-the-wall.
Lust isn’t always the most comfortable of feelings to have. Yes, it can be joyous, but it can also scare you half to death and frustrate you to the point of tears or screaming tantrums.
This anthology is devoted to the darker side of desire. Lola Sparkles set out a challenge to her writers: come up with something different on the theme of lust. Make it scary, if you want to; make it intense, make it dirty, make it challenging… make it interesting.
I haven’t read the whole thing yet, but I know the story I submitted (which was, to my surprise and glee, accepted) was possibly the most fucked-up thing I’ve written so far. I genuinely found myself thinking, ‘I can’t put that bit in, it’s deranged.’ I read an extract from it at Sexhibition in Manchester, after which Victoria Blisse commented: ‘Zak Jane Keir gets the prize for the most fucked up.’ Lete’s say it wasn’t entirely unconnected to this thing I read about.
So, if you were at the point of giving up on erotica because everything you’ve read seems to be way too formulaic, you might want to give this collection a try. You won’t like every single story, but there’s a good chance that something you find in here will open your eyes to some intriguing possibilities, or at least take your imagination in a different direction.
Goodbye Moderation: Lust is out now