Sad news came today: the death of Victoria Blisse, author of erotic novels and stories, organiser of Smut UK events and ordained minister in the Refreshing Church.
I first met her during the early months of my own erotica writing comeback, during the summer of 2013. There had been an explosion of interest in erotic romance, riding on the back of the 50 Shades phenomenon; I had noticed Victoria’s name mentioned in various news stories about the new wave of Women Writing Sexy Stuff, and she was one of the other guest readers at an erotic reading slam held in the basement of Sh! the women’s sex shop. She had a smile that lit up the room and she’d brought along some home-baked treats for everyone. I soon learned that she was more than just an erotica author, she had a big investment in building a sense of community among her fellow writers, Later that year I joined her, Lucy Felthouse and a few others for the revamped Erotica Show in London. Victoria ran a series of Smut events over the next few years: gatherings in various places for those fond of writing and reading erotic stories. I made it along to as many as I could, and we always had a fabulous time. The Smut team also booked pitches at events like Sexhibition in Manchester, opening up the space to any authors who wanted to join in: you could show up with a pile of your own books and sell them on the stand for a small contribution to the pitch fees and participate in the live reading sessions they ran throughout the shows. Everything she did was open to everyone and anyone with an interest in sexy, smutty fun. She was unfailingly kind, enormously generous with her support for other authors, endlessly patient and welcoming to the nervous and the new. In terms of religious faith, Victoria followed a god of love, the Jesus of the bible who encouraged believers to show love, to be kind, to be open-minded and open-hearted: she was a massive ally to the LGBTQ community.
She will be enormously missed. This song popped into my head a little while ago and it kind of sums her up.