Sex Sells (In the Literary Sense)

Last month, two of my short stories were published in the anthology Eros at Large, twenty-seven stories about the “erotic impulse” (Surprise, surprise they are all about sex).

When I received the submission call for this anthology, it said that they were looking stories about Lesbian and Gay life and how sex relates to it (Though they said they were looking for stories about sexual attraction). I tried to write something along these lines but found I couldn’t, I kept wanting to put twists on that or have a frustrating and unfulfilling ending. None of them worked. So instead I look a different take on the erotic.

I submitted two short stories about men in long term relationships. The first story dealt with a man who finds out that his lover is cheating on him, yet again, but doesn’t react in the “traditional” way. The second story was a about a couple, who’ve been together over ten years, and are trying to spice-up their love-life, with messy and embarrassing consequences (These stories are much more my take on sex and relationships). The editor obviously liked them because they’re both in the book.

Eros at Large had a book launch last month (I was tweeting about it madly in the weeks before) at the Houseman’s Bookshop, in Kings Cross, and I read at it. I didn’t read from the story about the couple spicing up their love-life, it starts with a description of them using whipped cream in sex, a rather explicit but not very erotic scene, and I didn’t have the nerve to read that out in public. So I read from the other story, stopping when the narrator finds out his lover is cheating on him.

It’s a long time since I’ve read from my own work in public and it’s always been a strange experience. When I’m reading my own writing it always feels as if there’s nowhere to hide. If it was someone else’s writing then it’s their words people like or dislike but when it’s my own work I worry that people won’t like my writing, won’t like how I deliver it or both. Yet I want people to read my writing and book launches are all part of the process.

Well, no one booed me and Martin said I read well, so someone liked it. The evening did go well, but most importantly my stories are included in that anthology. So, onward and upward...

Eros at Large can be bought here, at the publisher’s website, or you can find it on the “Bookshop” page of my website.

Drew.

Sex & Romance (Sort Of)

Last week I returned home from work to find that our front door would only part open; a parcel was stuck under it as I tried to open the door. This happens all too often. I arrive home before Martin (My hours mean I always finish work before he does) and often have to climb over the post behind our front door, parcels often get stuck under the door. It was nothing new for me having ease the front door open, trying not to damage the parcel that was stuck there, but it’s a real pain when it’s cold and wet outside and all I want to do is to get into the warmth of our home.

Finally inside, I saw that the parcel was for me and it was a book, but I hadn’t bought any books recently. When I opened it I found it was a copy of Boys In Bed, a collection of erotic gay short stories, and the fifth story in it is by me, Two in the Bed.

This is one of the best moments of being published, the moment when I receive my writer’s copy of the published work, the book or magazine that’s sent to me as part of my payment for my writing. That new, clean copy of the book with my name there inside of it. Once I have it held in my hands then I know for sure it’s real, I’ve been published and other people will be able to read what I’ve written, majority of them don’t know me and will never meet me.

I submitted my story to this anthology last year and, to my surprise and delight it was accepted. The story’s about a guy who wakes up, one Saturday morning, next to another guy in his bed. It’s about how they got there and what happens next, it could be described as the nearest thing I’ve written to romantic fiction.

Being in an erotic anthology there’s sex in the story, and that was the hardest part to write (no pun intended). There is a lot of bad sex writing out there, an awful lot, so I was very careful not to fall into many of the clichés of it. I tried to concentrate on the characters, especially the character of the narrator, and tried to make to the story realistic but still exciting. I hope I succeed; I did succeed enough for the editor of Boys in Bed to want to publish it.

You can judge for yourself because Boys In Bed is now available, either directly from its publisher HERE, or from Amazon HERE. It does contain sexually explicit material, but then that’s obvious.

 

Happy reading.

Drew.