Books

50 Shades of Setting the Mood

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve undoubtedly heard about the new book “50 Shades of Grey” by E.L. James. In case you haven’t, it’s a story about a woman becoming submissive to a man. And that in no way fully describes the book, I know.

Catholic Church, Turns Out, is a Big Seller of Erotica

We imagine they'll have to say a few “Hail Marys.” Or something.

Texas Mom Wants B&N Erotic E-books Segregated

We get the point. But the road to censorship is paved with good intentions, you know?

Pride and Prejudice and Porn

Armed with choice words for the would-be literati who condemn her latest effort, writer Mitzi Szereto becomes Jane Austen by way of “Fanny Hill.”

Bruce Benderson: The Magic of Choosing Sides

Controversy follows international award-winning writer Bruce Benderson as the author continues raising hell on his freewheeling, dangerous literary journey into the dark worlds of self, identity, and sexuality.

Madonna's 'Sex' is Rare and In Demand

Erotica may not go out of style but it does go out of print.

Lesbian Sex Scenes, Gay Orgy are Off Summer Reading List

New Jersey school district says parents will be consulted in the future.

LA Times Readers Oppose Raunchy Version of 'Pride and Prejudice'

Erotic update of Jane Austen classic both horrifies and titillates.

Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang —Why we shouldn’t knock the quickie.

Parents Outraged, Students Supportive of Erotica-Writing Teacher

Top-rated teacher under fire for side career of 20 years.

Kink Library on Display at University of Chicago

Traveling literary history of fetishes, BDSM attract a college crowd.

Fairy Tale Lust: Mother Goose Was A Naughty Bird, Part 2

Fairy Tale Lust: Mother Goose Is A Very Naughty Bird, Part 1

“Grandma, what big teeth you have...” Even as a child–perhaps, a slightly peculiar one–I noticed there was something more provocative about the wolf’s teeth than there should've been. I could see him, hulking and hirsute in grandma’s nightie, bed frame creaking beneath his sinewy bulk as he surveyed the young girl, his sinfully long tongue wetting those ominous, luminous canines. Slavering.

British Editor-Writer Maxim Jakubowski: When Life Becomes An Adjective

Maxim Jakubowski writes, edits, and publishes in various areas of genre fiction, such as science fiction, fantasy, mystery, and erotica. He has edited the highly popular Mammoth Book of Erotica and here he discusses the difference between American and European taste in erotica as well as how the genre has changed over the years he's been writing and editing.

Residents, Police Unite against Dallas Adult Book and Video Store

Business is legal but community wants to keep it out, anyway.

DoJ Must Read Sexy Fiction to Protect National Security

Romance-mystery novel by prosecutor required top-level clearance.

Deborah Lutz Dishes the Dirt On Victorian Sex Rebels

In a quest to pull the covers off prim Victorian society, Deborah Lutz, a renowned New York scholar and Professor of Victorian literature and culture at Long Island University, researched the work and lives of a group of Victorian freethinkers who blazed a trail for many current trends in modern art and literature.

The Naked Reader Twitterotica Contest!

Another week, another hot topic, another 140 characters of steamy micro-erotic excellence. Presenting our weekly winner, runner-up and the outstanding entries for last week’s sublimely subliminal contest: “Disguises, costumes and props. Romantic role-player or kinky character, I see by your outfit that you are a…what?”

Lawrence Ross: Peddling Black Sex for Profit and/or Pleasure

The Naked Reader Twitterotica Contest!

Another week, another hot topic, another 140 characters of steamy micro-erotic excellence. Presenting our weekly winner, runner-up and the outstanding entries for last week's winter-banishing contest: Generating Heat.

France’s Hoard of Porn Going on Display

Curators to open previously forbidden section of national library.

Erotica for the Blind

Braille artist's work appeals to sense of touch.

Sex Worker Cards Used in UK Pop Art Installation

Gilbert & George revisit their roots for latest show.

Farewell to “In The Flesh”

Rachel Kramer Bussel's landmark NYC erotic reading series turns the final page.

Tokyo Might Restrict Hentai Comics

Manga and anime “unduly glorify” certain sexual acts, politicians say.

Letter From the Editor: Arse for Art's Sake?

Erotic Version of Grimm Stories Pulled from Chinese Bookstores

Oops. Wrong translation.

The Naked Reader Twitterotica Contest!

Another week, another hot topic, another 140 characters of steamy micro-erotic excellence. Presenting our weekly winner, runner-up and the outstanding entries for last week’s topic: Cream colored panties and men dressed as poodles/Silk slips and bull whips and girls bent like noodles/Dildos and strap-ons and cocks that have rings... What are a few of your favorite things?

Erotica by the (e)Book With Jean Marie Stine

Jean Marie Stine is the publisher/CEO of Renaissance eBooks Inc. One of the most successful and longest running eBook publishers (with nearly 1,800 titles currently available), Renaissance's various imprints crank out sci-fi (Futures Past), mysteries (Deer Stalker), and most famously, their Sizzler Editions, from which Stine has garnered a reputation as a publisher of red-hot erotica.

The Naked Reader Twitterotica Contest!

Another week, another hot topic, another 140 characters of steamy micro-erotic excellence. Presenting our weekly winner, runner-up and the outstanding entries for last week’s topic: The magic lamp is at your fingertips... Rub it right and the sultry genie will grant you one wish. The catch? It must be sex related. What do you wish for?

The Naked Reader Twitterotica Contest!

Another week, another hot topic, another 140 characters of steamy micro-erotic excellence. Presenting our weekly winner, runner-up and the outstanding entries for last week’s topic: “One morning, I woke up and realized I didn't need to ... (fill in the blank) to be sexy.”

The Naked Reader Twitterotica Contest!

Another week, another hot topic, another 140 characters of steamy micro-erotic excellence. Presenting our weekly winner, runner-up and the outstanding entries for last week’s topic: “The kink that (almost) got away.”

The Naked Reader Presents: Bed, BDSM and Beyond

When you take kink, not just to the next level, but to the next life—or even outer space—the paranormal erotica that emerges can have a startling effect on your sex life. In a good way!

The Naked Reader Twitterotica Contest!

Another week, another hot topic, another 140 characters of steamy micro-erotic excellence. Presenting our weekly winner, runner-up and the outstanding entries for last week’s topic: Things that go bump in the night. Scary sexy. What sends shivers up your spine?

A Brief History of Aphrodisiac Cookbooks

The Naked Reader Twitterotica Contest Returns!

Another week, another hot topic, another 140 characters of steamy micro-erotic excellence. Presenting the outstanding entries for: “When I come, it's like...”

Dian Hanson: To Boldly Go Where No Pornographer Has Gone Before, Part 2

Pornsmith Variations: An Interview with M. Christian

The Naked Reader Twitterotica Contest!

Another week, another hot topic, another 140 characters of steamy micro-erotic excellence. Presenting our weekly winner, runner-up and the outstanding entries for last week’s topic: “Girl Power! Unleashing Your Inner Sex Goddess.”

The Naked Reader Twitterotica Contest!

Another week, another hot topic, another 140 characters of steamy micro-erotic excellence. Presenting our weekly winner, runner-up and the outstanding entries for last week’s topic: “Sex with the stars. What famous person do you want to do?”

Midori's Postcards from a Sex Nerd: An Interview with Laura Antoniou

Secrets of a Sex Writer: Erotica Writes and Wrongs

The Naked Reader Twitterotica Contest!

Another week, another hot topic, another 140 characters of steamy micro-erotic excellence. Presenting our weekly winner, runner-up and the outstanding entries for last week’s topic: “Fire. Steam. Lava. Embers... How hot is hot?”

The Naked Reader Twitterotica Contest!

Another week, another hot topic, another 140 characters of steamy micro-erotic excellence. Presenting our weekly winner, runner-up and the outstanding entries for last week’s topic: “Trains, Planes, Ships...Rocket Ships?”

The Naked Reader Twitterotica Contest!

Another week, another hot topic, another 140 characters of steamy micro-erotic excellence. Presenting our weekly winner, runner-up and the outstanding entries for last week’s topic: “Get Out of Town!”

The Naked Reader: Erotica 101, Part 2

A Beginner’s Guide to Turning On Your Audience and Your Editor

The Naked Reader Twitterotica Contest!

Another week, another hot topic, another 140 characters of steamy micro-erotic excellence. Presenting our weekly winner, runner-up and the outstanding entries for last week’s topic: “Back to Basics.”

The Naked Reader: Erotica 101: A Beginner’s Guide to Sex Writing

The Naked Reader Twitterotica Contest!

Another week, another hot topic, another 140 characters of steamy micro-erotic excellence. Presenting our weekly winner, runner-up and the outstanding entries for last week’s topic: “Embracing the Strange.”

Coming in Colors: The Landscape of African-American Erotica, Part 2

From launching the niche to going mainstream, black writers are finding their market—and it's not necessarily defined by color lines.

The Naked Reader: Coming in Colors: The Landscape of African-American Erotica, Part 1

What is erotic? Ask the question of 100 people, 100 different answers volley back like flaming arrows toward a castle under siege. Each is as unique as the stripes on a tiger, some markedly more dangerous, all indisputably valid.

The Naked Reader Twitterotica Contest!

Another week, another hot topic, another 140 characters of steamy micro-erotic excellence. Presenting our weekly winner, runner-up and the outstanding entries for last week’s topic: The face in your mirror.

The Naked Reader Book Club: Spontaneous Sexual Combustion

If there’s anything that can rival the intoxication of nude bodies grinding together in a rush of passion, it’s bodies that were so wild with desire they didn’t have time to get nude.

Email from Crazy People

Instead of spam and junk email, I get email from random strangers sharing their ideas for porn and homemade sex toys.

The Naked Reader Book Club: Eat and Be Eaten

For a sexual position that so majestically mirrors the harmonious Yin-Yang, the 69 sure stirs discord between the sexes.

The Naked Reader Book Club Twitterotica Contest!

One week, 140 characters...and your imagination. Presenting our weekly winner, runner-up and the outstanding entries for last week’s topic: "You taste like..."

The Naked Reader Book Club Twitterotica Contest!

One week, 140 characters...and your imagination. Presenting our weekly winner, runner-up and the outstanding entries for last week’s topic: "I can't believe we just..."

The Naked Reader Book Club Twitterotica Contest!

One week, 140 characters...and your imagination. Presenting our weekly winner, runner up and the outstanding entries for last week’s topic: The Unknown

The Naked Reader Book Club: That is So NOT Sexy!

There is good erotica, and there is bad erotica. When it's good, it's very, very good. When it's bad...it's almost always usually good for a laugh. But why is it so hard to write the good stuff? Here's one man's theory.

Plugged In: Future Sex

The Naked Reader Book Club Twitterotica Contest!

One week, 140 characters...and your imagination. Presenting our weekly winner, runner up and the outstanding entries for last week’s topic: Anticipation.

The Naked Reader Book Club Twitterotica Contest!

One week, 140 characters...and your imagination. Presenting our weekly winner, runner up and the outstanding entries for last week's topic: Solo Sex. How tweet it is!

The Naked Reader Book Club: Bedtime Stories—Lust and Long Distance

SexFeed: Erotica Rushes in to Save the Publishing Industry

Naked Reader Book Club—This is Your Brain on Smut: How the Erotic Impulse Connects the Mind to the Genitals

It might be a graceful phrase from Anais Nin or Pat Califia, sought out or stumbled on, but as with any sexual attraction, once it chooses you, your heartbeat quickens, you’re aware of your breathing, and you become a bit stupid with horniness. That’s what reading erotica does to you—at least good erotica.

The Naked Reader Book Club: Playing the Race Card

The Naked Reader Book Club: Literary Lessons In—And Out of—Monogamy

In fiction, you get to push the envelope—and whether that's testing the waters of polyamory or having an affair—the chickens don't come home to roost in real life. That's what happens when art imitates life, but when life imitates art? That is an entirely different thing altogether.

The Naked Reader Book Club: Cleis Press Co-founder/Publisher, Felice Newman

Today, expressions of sex positivity, acceptance, and celebration of every gender and lifestyle are part of the fabric of modern society, but it wasn’t all that long ago being different often meant not having a voice to speak in public, much less sing. Pioneering publisher Felice Newman looks back from then to now and beyond.

The Naked Reader Book Club: Ars Erotica, Part 2

From censored to celebrated, erotica emerges from its dark alley and brown-paper-wrapper past to stake its claim on the bookshelves along with classic literature of every genre.

The Naked Reader Book Club: Ars Erotica, Part 1

In 1978’s The History of Sexuality, Michel Foucault coined the phrase “Ars Erotica” (a.k.a. “the Art of Pleasure”) to differentiate between the “Eastern perception of sex as an art form” and “the Western approach of laboratory and statistical.” Erotica, as old as the human race itself, has evolved on a parallel course, and like the society from which it springs, continues to be a work in progress.

The Naked Reader Book Club Debuts!

SexIs joins celebrated erotica publisher Cleis Press for some spirited reading that's sure to stimulate the body and the mind.

Where Literate Libidos Get Their Sexy On

Blood Sugar Sex Magik

Sex magic may be witchcraft’s greatest open secret, and very much real. When I first undertook the writing of this article, I thought it was something I wanted to explore with my partner. As I dug deeper, I realized sex magic is something very powerful, and best left to practitioners with more skills and knowledge than me. Nonetheless, it’s a fascinating topic, and one worth exploring.

The Sexis Interview: Tristan Taormino, Part 4

In this final installment of our interview with the one and only Tristan Taormino, she speaks at length about open relationships, nonmonogamy, and trying to shatter the preconceived notions of what relationships are.

SexVoxing: Sex for Bookworms

Today on SexVoxing: What book on sexuality do you think should be required reading?