This week, I'm reviewing Cafe (no, I'm not doing the accent thing) Revival, by Amanda Artemis. This was written by a caller to Dan Savage's podcast, which I mentioned in a recent blogpost. I wasn't really sure what to expect -- Amanda didn't talk too much about her story specifically -- so even though I specifically sought out this story, I was flying blind.
The titular Cafe Revival is only really a tangential part of the story. It's the setting for our protagonist, Cora, to get an out-of-the-blue text from her boyfriend telling her that her relationship is over. There's a lot of emotional fallout over this, of course. Cora's new freedom leads her to experiment with her roommates and have a rebound with the barrista.
And that's ... sort of it. It's pretty short and simple, though that's not necessarily bad. The sex here is pretty quick and to the point. The roommate scenario is the longest sex scene we get, and that's only a page or two. The writing is very well done, though, and not in a "good for erotica," "all the words were spelled correctly!" sort of way. If you're looking for an introspective, literary story with an erotic charge, I recommend Cafe Revival, and you should definitely follow Ms. Artemis, as I think she's got a lot of potential. If you're looking for something more ... erm ... utilitarian to get off to, you will probably want to look elsewhere.
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
Tuesday, May 6, 2014
What a Difference a Decade Makes
Some idle thoughts for this week; we've come a long way with LGBT representation.
I know. Shocker, right? With marriage equality being passed in several states and with popular opinion being solidly egalitarian, that statement is fairly obvious. However, watching some older media recently, I realized how quickly the change has occurred.
Farscape (pretty much the best TV show ever, really) aired from 1999-2003 on the SciFi channel (that's basic cable for you non-USAians). During that time, it played with some pretty complex themes and edgy material. It was certainly implied that non-hetero aliens existed out in the universe. And yet, we never really saw them. There weren't any out and proud examples of gay Nebari or lesbian Peacekeepers, though we did get plenty of same-sex tension.
It wasn't until an episode called Twice Shy that we get our first lesbian kiss. Even then, I'm not sure it counts, as the kisser is being sort of mind controlled by the kissee. But it's presented as a heightening of that character's primary emotion -- sexual desire -- so we can assume that, yes, she does really want it. Anyway, the point is that I have to suspect this was pretty shocking at the time, 2003. Well, perhaps not shocking, but surprising and hard to get away with, even on basic cable. Now, of course, we've seen same-sex kissing on network TV plenty of times (though Modern Family somewhat controversially has only recently shown a kiss between the two gay dads). That's 10 years from "Omg, gay people on TV! And they put their lips together!" to "Uh, so what?"
If we spread our scope even farther, you can find some other hilarious examples. For instance, Queer as Folk, which started airing in 2000 on Showtime, was pretty risque and groundbreaking in its frank portrayal of queer sex. Now we've got Looking on HBO, which is similarly groundbreaking for its frank depiction of how boring and mundane queer life is. Which isn't to say it's a bad show, or that queer people as lame. It's saying that, hey, gay people live pretty much like straight people do. They have interpersonal drama and workplace problems, but mostly it's just getting along day by day. 14 years from "GAY PEOPLE ON TV???" to "I'm glad the rimjob scene is nice distraction from them talking about taxes or whatever."
And of course, before I go, I have to give a shout out to Ellen, whose show aired from 1993-1998, and whose coming out paved the way for a ton of LGBT visibility. Plenty of shows had gay characters before, even on networks -- I remember Roseanne in particular. But Ellen was one of the first, if not the first, to have its main character be gay as opposed to a quirky queer stereotype. She will always have my respect for that.
I know. Shocker, right? With marriage equality being passed in several states and with popular opinion being solidly egalitarian, that statement is fairly obvious. However, watching some older media recently, I realized how quickly the change has occurred.
Farscape (pretty much the best TV show ever, really) aired from 1999-2003 on the SciFi channel (that's basic cable for you non-USAians). During that time, it played with some pretty complex themes and edgy material. It was certainly implied that non-hetero aliens existed out in the universe. And yet, we never really saw them. There weren't any out and proud examples of gay Nebari or lesbian Peacekeepers, though we did get plenty of same-sex tension.
It wasn't until an episode called Twice Shy that we get our first lesbian kiss. Even then, I'm not sure it counts, as the kisser is being sort of mind controlled by the kissee. But it's presented as a heightening of that character's primary emotion -- sexual desire -- so we can assume that, yes, she does really want it. Anyway, the point is that I have to suspect this was pretty shocking at the time, 2003. Well, perhaps not shocking, but surprising and hard to get away with, even on basic cable. Now, of course, we've seen same-sex kissing on network TV plenty of times (though Modern Family somewhat controversially has only recently shown a kiss between the two gay dads). That's 10 years from "Omg, gay people on TV! And they put their lips together!" to "Uh, so what?"
If we spread our scope even farther, you can find some other hilarious examples. For instance, Queer as Folk, which started airing in 2000 on Showtime, was pretty risque and groundbreaking in its frank portrayal of queer sex. Now we've got Looking on HBO, which is similarly groundbreaking for its frank depiction of how boring and mundane queer life is. Which isn't to say it's a bad show, or that queer people as lame. It's saying that, hey, gay people live pretty much like straight people do. They have interpersonal drama and workplace problems, but mostly it's just getting along day by day. 14 years from "GAY PEOPLE ON TV???" to "I'm glad the rimjob scene is nice distraction from them talking about taxes or whatever."
And of course, before I go, I have to give a shout out to Ellen, whose show aired from 1993-1998, and whose coming out paved the way for a ton of LGBT visibility. Plenty of shows had gay characters before, even on networks -- I remember Roseanne in particular. But Ellen was one of the first, if not the first, to have its main character be gay as opposed to a quirky queer stereotype. She will always have my respect for that.
Friday, May 2, 2014
Review: Beatrice, by Carl East
TW: This post contains a few instances of cissexist language.
This week, I read Beatrice (The Shemale), by Carl East.
First things first. There's a slur in the title. It's gross, and I wish authors would stop using these words. That said, I can understand why they do, and it's not (generally) out of bigotry. This is the shit that sells. A story titled 'Beatrice (The Shemale)' is going to be a lot more popular than one called 'Beatrice (The Transgender Woman)'. It's sad, and it's something I hope I can help to change with my writing. But it's a fact.
Anyway, based on the title, you'd expect this to be a story about a trans woman sucking, fucking, etc. Quelle surprise. Bea is actually not trans, but intersex, born with both male and female genitalia. She's probably more like a futanari - a Japanese hentai term for sexy women with giant cocks and wet pussies, but (generally) no testicles. Bea isn't actually an accurate portrayal of intersex physiology, but given that this is a fantasy, and that it's pretty rare to hear about the existence of intersex people AT ALL, I'll take what I can get.
So, aside from the political stuff, is the story any good? Well ... it's not awful. But it didn't quite do it for me. For one thing, the prose itself needs work. It's not unreadable by any means, but it does often feel lifeless, and I was unclear about Bea's status for much of the story (which is saying something, given how short it is). I think East's writing could (or maybe already has) improve with some practice, but right now it's not evocative enough to capture my imagination.
The plot is pretty silly. Bea has an 11-inch cock. One day she decides to masturbate it, and apparently breaks her cock-hymen because she bleeds (I really hope this is something the author invented, and he doesn't actually think penises have hymens). Some time later, she attends a slumber party with her (high school? it's not super clear) friends. They talk about all the copious amounts of fucking they've done, Bea gets hard, shows them her cock and they fuck. One of the girls then calls Bea "my girl/boyfriend," which ... yeah. That's the story. It's perfectly perfunctory, and there's just as much fucking, oral and cumming as you'd expect. There are no surprises, other than that original 11-inch one. It's all fine, but when I read erotica, I really need something *more* than fine to get me off. I can use my imagination to continue scenes after the text finishes, but if I'm going to do that, I'm not going to pay $0.99 for the privilege.
If there's a bright spot, it's that Bea is fairly charming as a character. There isn't enough time for a lot of character development, but the author treats her like a human being, and there is some genuine emotion here. And I'd say the story generally is a sex-positive, tolerant one, which makes the title choice all the more unfortunate.
While I can't quite recommend this one, I do think the author is capable of some good work in the future. Just let's ditch the slurs, k?
This week, I read Beatrice (The Shemale), by Carl East.
First things first. There's a slur in the title. It's gross, and I wish authors would stop using these words. That said, I can understand why they do, and it's not (generally) out of bigotry. This is the shit that sells. A story titled 'Beatrice (The Shemale)' is going to be a lot more popular than one called 'Beatrice (The Transgender Woman)'. It's sad, and it's something I hope I can help to change with my writing. But it's a fact.
Anyway, based on the title, you'd expect this to be a story about a trans woman sucking, fucking, etc. Quelle surprise. Bea is actually not trans, but intersex, born with both male and female genitalia. She's probably more like a futanari - a Japanese hentai term for sexy women with giant cocks and wet pussies, but (generally) no testicles. Bea isn't actually an accurate portrayal of intersex physiology, but given that this is a fantasy, and that it's pretty rare to hear about the existence of intersex people AT ALL, I'll take what I can get.
So, aside from the political stuff, is the story any good? Well ... it's not awful. But it didn't quite do it for me. For one thing, the prose itself needs work. It's not unreadable by any means, but it does often feel lifeless, and I was unclear about Bea's status for much of the story (which is saying something, given how short it is). I think East's writing could (or maybe already has) improve with some practice, but right now it's not evocative enough to capture my imagination.
The plot is pretty silly. Bea has an 11-inch cock. One day she decides to masturbate it, and apparently breaks her cock-hymen because she bleeds (I really hope this is something the author invented, and he doesn't actually think penises have hymens). Some time later, she attends a slumber party with her (high school? it's not super clear) friends. They talk about all the copious amounts of fucking they've done, Bea gets hard, shows them her cock and they fuck. One of the girls then calls Bea "my girl/boyfriend," which ... yeah. That's the story. It's perfectly perfunctory, and there's just as much fucking, oral and cumming as you'd expect. There are no surprises, other than that original 11-inch one. It's all fine, but when I read erotica, I really need something *more* than fine to get me off. I can use my imagination to continue scenes after the text finishes, but if I'm going to do that, I'm not going to pay $0.99 for the privilege.
If there's a bright spot, it's that Bea is fairly charming as a character. There isn't enough time for a lot of character development, but the author treats her like a human being, and there is some genuine emotion here. And I'd say the story generally is a sex-positive, tolerant one, which makes the title choice all the more unfortunate.
While I can't quite recommend this one, I do think the author is capable of some good work in the future. Just let's ditch the slurs, k?
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