Erotic Novels

[cmbs]

Originally Posted by wetterau

You've put your finger on a major problem: reviews. How do you filter out the junk? Sooner or later there will be sites that specialize in reviews (maybe they exist already) in various genres. Any book reviewed would be presumed to be up to some standard established on the site. A short review would describe the content and slant of the book and add a brief reviewer's opinion. I would love this, as a writer and a reader. Maybe you could do this for historical fiction.

I do have a book blog, and if I could find any historical fiction I think I'd be interested in reading, I'd read and review it. Some of my favorite books are of this type. I expecially like the ones where the author researched and tries to stick close to facts. But I have a hard time finding new ones to try. I get very sick of sifting through a bunch of romances set in the past, which I am very much not interested in reading (which is not to say they're bad, only that I'm not interested). I did buy "Pompeii" by Robert Harris which I haven't read yet.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by cmbs

I defined it - it's explicit. It's graphic details designed to grab your attention (and possibly distract you from the fact the story sucks) which don't move the story forward and are thus unnecessary.

Like, for example, the "Song of Solomon" in the Bible? That's "erotic" material by anyone's definition - presumably "porn" by yours? Completely gratuitous sexually explicit material which doesn't move the story forward in the least!

[cmbs]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Like, for example, the "Song of Solomon" in the Bible? That's "erotic" material by anyone's definition - presumably "porn" by yours? Completely gratuitous sexually explicit material which doesn't move the story forward in the least!

Yes Harry, that's exactly what I mean. So don't read your bible, it's filled with evil porn. Might corrupt your mind, and I would hate for that to happen.

Shouldn't you be off disputing evil truths about bookeen? Proclaiming that your cybook is perfect? Making irrational claims about things crashing your cybook? (Not bookeen's fault of course. MY fault!)

[HarryT]

<sigh>

If the Gen3 is so awful, Christine, why don't you sell it? You appear to be "torturing" yourself with this terrible machine that you obviously loath so much. You've a ready market there waiting - get rid of it!

It seems to me that what IS irrational is to keep on using a system that you clearly find to be so unsuited to your needs! Why do you carry on using it? You'll easily get back the price that you paid for it if you sell it.

Anyway, must get back to preaching the Bookeen gospel!

[spooky69]

Originally Posted by slayda

Are you aware that this typically only occurs to chimps or monkeys in captivity? What conclusions can you draw from that?

Didn't know that...the next funny story I post in this thread might involve a bunch of sex story authors on display in a zoo.
You asked what conclusions I can draw from this...I'd say it's like that the correlation with idle masturbation among confined chimps is probably indicative of an aberrant mental state brought on by the type of stimulation, or lack thereof, that chimps get in captivity. You could probably make the leap that sex story authors would tend spend a lot of their time in a limited and unnatural social setting and are probably, on average, pretty crazy bastards who've been subjected to some sort of polarizing trauma for an extended period of time and haven't used their human judgment and free will to direct their energies toward developing a richer and more diverse set of interests than one where getting themselves off is the most rewarding activity they can be engaged in.

[GeoffC]

Originally Posted by HarryT

What, as a matter of interest, is the difference between an "erotic novel" and pornography? Serious question.

Serious answer ?

Pornography is " in yer face " , often crude , degrading and disrespectful - especially to women ;

Erotica is more subtle .

[Sparrow]

Interesting discussions so far - but still a bit light on actual recommendations

We've had a few erotic classics mentioned, but who writes the good stuff today?

[wetterau]

Originally Posted by Sparrow

Interesting discussions so far - but still a bit light on actual recommendations

We've had a few erotic classics mentioned, but who writes the good stuff today?

Hlo Sparrow, see my post #15. Thx

[zelda_pinwheel]

well, i don't know if this is quite what you are looking for, but Nicholson Baker has written one or two books that can be considered erotic (i think) : Vox, and The Fermata.

Nicholson Baker is an excellent writer regardless of genre, i highly recommend his other books as well ; i started with Room Temperature and then Mezzanine and they are both brilliant.

[spooky69]

Originally Posted by wetterau

Hlo Sparrow, see my post #15. Thx

By the way, I do apologize for savaging post #15 and engaging in the same type of mischaracterization that I criticized later in this thread. I definitely understood the fact that your sex story was meant as more of an artistic exploration, but I just kind of got into a groove there, man. You might say that a certain part of my male anatomy was aroused (brain) and I just couldn't let my line of thought go until I'd gotten some things off of my chest and just kind of thrown them out there for people to taste.

[Gudy]

Originally Posted by Sparrow

We've had a few erotic classics mentioned, but who writes the good stuff today?

Jacqueline Carey. I don't know that I'd classify her works as erotica, but her Kushiel series is classic adventure/fantasy fare and contains varying (but non-trivial) amounts of sex and BDSM, which are both hot and relevant to the story. Be warned that some of her books can get dark and uncomfortable in places, but they are well worth any time and money you choose to invest in them, IMO.

[Sparrow]

Originally Posted by wetterau

Hlo Sparrow, see my post #15. Thx

Thanks - tried getting it yesterday but kept getting redirected to a different server where nothing happened.
It's working ok today though, and I've just grapped a copy - .

[cmbs]

Originally Posted by HarryT

<sigh>

If the Gen3 is so awful, Christine, why don't you sell it? You appear to be "torturing" yourself with this terrible machine that you obviously loath so much. You've a ready market there waiting - get rid of it!

It seems to me that what IS irrational is to keep on using a system that you clearly find to be so unsuited to your needs! Why do you carry on using it? You'll easily get back the price that you paid for it if you sell it.

Anyway, must get back to preaching the Bookeen gospel!

You assume that if I sold it I would suddenly not care about prospective buyers, and would stop telling them the truth about this product. Right? Or, I'm assuming that incorrectly?

All I'm doing is telling them problems that are real, and the fact that the company doesn't respond well to customer concerns, and the fact that I think it's mighty overpriced for a product with many problems and bad customer service. Why does this bother you so much? It's not like I'm making things up. But you go around insisting yours is perfect and you never have any of the problems others have, and in fact, bookeen answers your email in 2 minutes! Other than you being on the payroll, I can't think of why you're so determined to make them appear to be so perfect when they clearly aren't.

Has it occurred to you that if you'd stop saying how they and their product are perfect, and you admitted some of the problems, I wouldn't feel the need to keep pointing them out?

[spooky69]

I have never seen another e-book reader in my life besides my own, but the PRS-505 must surely exist as the best current dedicated e-book reader despite some really retarded flaws becauuuuuuseeeee the thing itself does always work.
I'm also a proponent of call-outs, so any blood-shedding only feeds my desire for more mobile reading discussion.
On the other hand, I think Harry T is a pretty good arbitrator on these forums and I've never seen him display a real agenda. Then again, why would I have?

[slayda]

Originally Posted by Gudy

Jacqueline Carey. I don't know that I'd classify her works as erotica, but her Kushiel series is classic adventure/fantasy fare and contains varying (but non-trivial) amounts of sex and BDSM, which are both hot and relevant to the story. Be warned that some of her books can get dark and uncomfortable in places, but they are well worth any time and money you choose to invest in them, IMO.

I agree completely. In addition, IMO, the Kushiel series is a well written set of stories.