Sunday, December 4, 2016

Roxy Katt Likes Finger's Breadth!

Check out this really touching review of my queer/horror/erotic/SF/thriller Finger's Breadth by the one and only Roxy Katt.

And don't forget that Finger's Breath is available as both an ebook as well as an audiobook!

    


I love noir. I love noir movies. And I was pleasantly surprised by M. Christian’s Finger’s Breadth. Not that I was surprised that it was good, having already read and positively reviewed his Bionic Lover. But I did not think it would be this good. I was surprised to see a complex noir plot so deftly handled. Finger’s Breadth has a great many characters and different story lines in it, and it is difficult to write such a novel without putting the reader off. The risk is that just as one story line gets interesting, another one is picked up and the first line is awkwardly interrupted.

Not so with this book. M. Christian takes us through a gay San Francisco some time in the not too distant future where gay men are being tricked and attacked in an unusual way I will not discuss for fear of spoilers.

The plot is tense, the characters well drawn, and the suspense is strong. The text is certainly erotic, but for me the primary interest was in trying to decipher the mystery: what was going on, and who was doing it, and why. Also, the effects on the gay community add a deeper dimension to the book not usually present in a whodunit. A terrific read.

Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Boom Baby Reviews Likes Bionic Lover!

Check out this very nice review of my cyberpunk-ish lesbian noir novella Bionic Lover by the fun Boom Baby Reviews:


Pell was lost, alone, and lonely―until Arc appeared. Fiery, enigmatic, and with a mesmerizing cybernetic eye, Arc was everything Pell needed, wanted, and most of all, desired.

The next time Pell saw Arc the eye wasn’t the only thing artificial about her new lover. And the time after that, and the time after that: each time the passionate and mysterious Arc drifted into her life, Pell saw more and more of her being replaced by refined and precise machinery…and with each departure of her natural body for the artificial, Pell grew more and more terrified.

One day, she knew, there’d be nothing left of her lover but the cold, the engineered…the bionic.

Pell knew what she had to do…but the end, when it came, was worse than she ever could have imagined.

Review: 

This was a novella that had a strong feeling of allegory to it, which by the end had be wondering if it was a metaphor for the obvious or something deeper. It reminded me of Tanith Lee and the Secret Books of Paradys, which is a compliment.

At the start, it felt like the author was a little too in love with his own verbal artistry but it did fall into a rhythmic flow. The world building was fascinating, and somehow the points where there was a lack of world building just seemed to bolster the intrigue rather than hinder it.

In the end it was intriguing, although I don’t know if I could call it a romance. It balanced on the edge of erotic and grotesque, with sex scenes that were both interesting and discomfiting. I give it a 3.5 Fireballs.

Saturday, July 2, 2016

Oort Cloud Reviews Likes Bionic Lover!

Check out this very touching review of my Bionic Lover cyberpunk-ish lesbian romance, Bionic Lover, by Oort Cloud Reviews


Christian’s Bionic Lover sucked me right into the narrative with the very first paragraph. A very well thought out introduction to the events that were to follow. Since the subtitle had introduced it as an Erotic Lesbian Romance, I had a good idea about some of the things to follow and yet I just couldn’t quite stop. The language is so rich and captivating that at times, I was more enamored of the words than their actual meaning and that is not an easy thing to do. The sentences followed each other like pearls on a string and some of what they were saying reminded me of friends and long gone events, in other countries and other times.

I am a hetero male, and like most of the ones sharing my demographic, fascinated with lesbian encounters. Holding my breath, I kept waiting for that double female scent to emanate from my screen and envelope me. When it did occur, I was not disappointed. The strength of the encounter and the way it was depicted got me very excited. It was the middle of the afternoon and I was not alone in the house, so there was nothing I could about it. I thought that perhaps I should continue reading later on, but I just had to find out what was coming up next.

When it did happen again, I was not disappointed. It was tender, passionate, rough and dirty somehow. Without giving out too many details, I can say that besides being a story that will arouse your inner passions, it is also a story of obsession and temporal encounters. So far, so good, I will soldier on for a while though I may not have enough time to finish it all in one reading, which might be for the best. I will continue later into the night, a time when I might find myself awake when all are asleep. Things might happen.

The previously only hinted at environment is finally making an appearance. It put me in mind of a San Francisco that would have been at home in Bernard Wolfe’s Limbo just as much as in Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. The sexual encounter that was bound to come reflects that dystopial imagery. It is hard, painful and impersonal. We are looking into an abyss that we hope will never open up widely enough to swallow our heroines. Mercifully, we are granted an almost idyllic interlude.

There is a part that does a great job explaining a lesbian’s thoughts about a hetero male. It contains some sexual connotations, but they are very baffling and confusing (at least to their thinker.) For a second time, fingers find their way into assholes. Not necessarily a surprise, that paints a very arousing picture. I guess it is the socially unacceptable morality and presumed wrongness of it.

In the end, we are left with a strong sense of the wrongness of war. If this was just supposed to be an erotic romance, how did we get here? It seems that we went from Make Love Not War through Love Is War and all the way to Love Me Tender. Finding out from the Author Bio that M. Christian is a male was not necessarily surprising, though I do wish he was a female. On the overall, I have to say that the writing was exquisite, the sex was rousing and the expected ‘end of the world’ kind of scenario did not manifest which made me let out the breath I have been holding for a while – much relieved. Male or female matters not – M. Christian is a master of the craft.

Monday, June 20, 2016

Thorns & Ink Likes Bionic Lover!

Check out this amazing review of my lesbian cyberpunk erotic romance, Bionic Lover, by the fun Thorns and Ink site!


This was a surprising read for me. It was a steampunkish alternate modern reality. It was a little difficult at the beginning to get into. Oh my, the characters though. So well written. This universe that M. has created is simply amazing. Literally a starving artist (Pell) and a woman selling parts of her body to survive (Arc). There is this looming war in Central America and no one wants to go. You end up there through a mysterious court system.

I want to talk about Arc. I could clearly hear her mechanical eye clicking in my head. Such vivid imagery. The author creates this beautiful image in words. M. shows you her eye, he doesn’t just tell you about it. I can’t spoil it other than to say that the selling of yourself in this way is a new twist on an old tale. Pell, the lovely starving artist, out for a one night stand. Pell makes me think of one on the whimsical faerie girls without the money. She is poor, living on what we call government benefits. M. paints this world so well.

I didn’t think I was emotionally invested in the story. I was entertained that is for sure, but I wasn’t invested, so I thought. As the story moved on I realized that I hurt for Pell. She was attached, dare I say in love with Arc. This was a story that ended as it began, simply and elegantly. I wandered to thoughts of those lovers I had in the past that gave me that feeling of attachment. It was a heady to be reading this and thinking of those who left me and those I left. All ending as they began. Simply and cleanly with a spark of hope for the future.

If you are looking for something with a mechanical twist, this is your ticket.

Sunday, May 29, 2016

Q&A With Bell, Book & Erotica!

Rock and roll: check out this fun interview I just did with Bell, Book & Erotica about all kinds of thing ... including the release of Bionic Lover


Q: What inspired you to write this book?

A: I’ve always loved science fiction … and erotica has become, shall we say, near and dear to my heart. So when I heard that The Mammoth Book Of Short Erotic Novels anthology back in 2011 was looking for contributors I decided to put two of my favorite things together. I was fortunate that the editors, Mike Hemmingson and Maxim Jakubowski liked my story — then called “Speaking Parts.”

Jump ahead a few years and the great folks at Wordwooze Publishing have put it out, now called Bionic Lover, in a brand new edition … both ebook and audiobook.

Q: How long did it take you to write the book? 

A: To be honest I can’t remember. Not to brag but I’ve written quite a few things before and since. But, going by my usual rate of about 2,000 words a day I’d say I had it done in a week or so. I do remember enjoying the process quite a bit. I mean, I like whatever I write but this was one of those ‘magic’ stories that just seemed to flow out. Very special, that…

Q: Where did the ideas for your characters come from? Are they based on people you know? Do they have similar traits? 

A: I rarely base my characters on real people — though every now and again I try my hand at it just to mix things up. For Bionic Lover I felt I was creating a mixture of many people I’ve known, both real and fictional. I’ve never been a fan, both writing or reading, of one-note characters so I try to give whoever I create a sense of depth — I just hope that people reading what I do will enjoy the end result.

Q: Did you find the erotic scenes hard to write? If so, why? 

A: Nope! I don’t get (ahem) aroused doing it — in fact I try to avoid that: too damned distracting!

Sure, sometimes a lot of sex scenes can be a bit tendious but writing anything too much or anything can be. Like with characters, I really try to make the explicit parts reveal as much about the people doing it, and the story around them, as much as possible.

Sex scenes might be a key part of an erotic story but it’s not more or less important that setting, plot, characterization … everything else.

Q: Do you have a favourite scene in the book? If so, which? 

A: The whole process was really wonderful — though I do remember having a lot of fun with the character interactions. For me, when that’s working, I’m not really aware of writing: it’s people just being with one another.

I also had a lot of fun with the world-building — especially as that’s not something I usually focus on.

Q: How old were you when you started writing? 

A: I’ve always wanted to be a writer — think I wrote my first story back in the 4th grade — but it wasn’t until high school that I really tried to make it happen. Even though I tried, on and off, to write a story or so a week it took me about ten years to finally get published.

In my own defense I was trying to sell where everyone on the planet was also trying to sell: mostly science fiction, horror and mystery magazines and books. In 1993, on a whim, I took a class in erotica writing from Lisa Palac, who was editing a magazine called Future Sex. I gave her a story, my first shot at writing erotica, and she ended up buying it — and then it made it into Best American Erotica. The rest, as they say, is history.

While I never set out to become an erotica writer it’s been a wonderful place to grow and challenge myself creatively. Even though I’ve been expanding out a bit from it, writing sexy stories will always be a labor of love … or, at least, lust.

Q: Where do you get your book ideas from? 

A: Pretty much everywhere and anywhere, really. Sometimes it’s pragmatic: like when you have to write for a specific anthology, magazine, or site. But often they just kind of work their way around in my subconscious. I also like to play games with myself creatively: like making up TV show episodes, movie sequels, spin-off books, etc. I don’t actually ‘write’ them but the ideas get turned into new projects.

I’m a firm believer that writing is not for the faint-of-heart — it’s damned hard work, there are very few financial rewards, and even less recognition — so you have to enjoy yourself … and I try very hard to do just that.

Q: Does your family know you write erotica? If so, how do they feel about it? If not, why not? 

A: My father passed away decades ago and my mother about three so my only family is my brother … who thinks my kinky writing is great.

But while she was alive my mother did know I wrote erotica, and even read a piece or two. I always got the impression she thought I should be trying to be the next Dan Brown or something (shudder) but she never said anything.

Q: How many books have you written? Which is your favourite? 

A: Bio time! I’ve something like 400 short story sales — that’s sales and not stories themselves: I’m prolific but not that much.

I’ve edited some 25 anthologies (I don’t keep count) and have some 12 or so collections to my name, including the recently released Skin Effect (a sequel to my erotic sci fi book, Bachelor Machine. I’m working on novel number seven right now — which should be done in a few months.

For novels I’ve written erotic romance (Brushes), queer vampires (Running Dry and Very Bloody Marys), erotic science fiction (Painted Doll), and two — to put it nicely — weird queer thrillers: Me2 and Finger’s Breath.

I’m also an Associate Publisher for Renaissance E Books (that includes the erotic imprint Sizzler Editions) and the Publisher of Digital Parchment Services, who have been releasing the works of Ernest Hogan, Arthur Byron Cover and others — as well as being the sole publishers for the estates of Jody Scott, William Rotsler, and more.

I don’t have a personal favorite book or story — I like to think that the next one is going to be it. I think the best way to say it is that I like to keep moving forward.

Q: Are you going to write more books? If so, will you continue to do so under the erotic genre? 

A: Oh, yes — to both questions. The one I just finished isn’t erotica — and the one I have planned next is also non-erotic, but I have many sexy ones also in the pipeline. I don’t think I’ll ever stop writing erotica but I also think it’s a good idea not to write the same kind of thing. I never knew I’d like writing erotica until I gave it a shot — so maybe I’ll love penning westerns or thrillers or noir or …?

Q: Do you think people are becoming more accepting of erotica? 

A: Definitely! Well, some people: there’ll always be people out there who are anti-pleasure and joy. But I think attitudes are definitely swinging towards acceptance — in all kinds of ways. Yeah, things look bleak in some ways but when you look at the way things are moving, even in the often-backward USA, erotica will be getting more and more ‘acceptable’ (whatever the hell that means).

Q: What do you think most erotic authors do wrong? 

A: As a publisher — as well as an editor and a writer — I do see more than my fair share of work that just misses the mark. I think the main reason some erotica works and other attempts don’t has to do with the writing focusing only on the bumpy-grindy parts of the story and neglecting the, as I mentioned, essential elements like character, plot, descriptions, setting, and so forth.

Another way that writers miss that mark is when they phone it in: they think that erotica will be an ‘easy’ sell — they get lazy. Yes, getting an erotic book published is not as hard as trying to score a big-advance romance, mystery, romance or such but writing down to an editor, publisher, or — worst of all — an audience does everyone, especially the writer, a tremendous disservice.

Q: When reading, do you prefer eBook or print? Why? 

A: It may make me unpopular but I say that print may not be dead but it’s not feeling all that well. With ebooks publishers can take greater risks, as they won’t lose their company if a title fails to sell, and readers are more willing to experiment with a $2.99 book than plopping down $15 for a print one.

This doesn’t just mean it’s better for readers and publishers financially, or even creatively. I feel it’s good for literature itself. A personal case in point: Jean Marie Stine and I created Digital Parchment Services with the aim to put out into the world the authors and works we thought hadn’t gotten a fair shake originally. With a bit of hard work, and some great people, we are re-releasing the works of Ernest Hogan, Jody Scott, William Rotsler, James Van Hise, Arthur Byron Cover and many others. While we have print editions available we could never have done any of this with the old print model of publishing.

Q: In your opinion, what elements make a good erotic scene in a book? 

A: That’s kind of tough to say. As a reader I like sensuality and playfulness: a rich use of language (and not just the naughty bits), vivid descriptions, and a use of every sense. As an editor and publisher I like it when a writer clearly cares for what they are doing and are enjoying the writing process — but then that’s true of any kind of fiction.

(plug) By the way, I also penned a how-to erotica book: How to Write And Sell Erotica

Q: As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? This may sound schmaltzy but I always wanted to be a writer, even before I knew what a writer really was. My family was moderately creative: mom was an interior designer and dad was an engineer so words weren’t around all that much. Think I’ve always been over-imaginative and words just seemed to be the natural tool for me.

Q: Tea or coffee? 

A: Java! But I have been experimenting with teas lately — though I seriously don’t think I could ever give up at least one cup of the devil bean a day.

Q: Summer or Winter? 

A: I have a tendency to run hot, so definitely winter. I like to say that when it’s hot you can never completely cool down but when it’s cold you can always snuggle under the covers.

Q: What’s next for you? 

A: Busy, busy, busy! In addition to running Digital Parchment Services with the wonderful Jean Marie Stine, and also working with her at Renaissance E Books, I’m having a real blast as a regular contributor to the Future Of Sex site, teaching kinky sex classes, and working on various writing projects.

Wordwooze is also working on an audiobook of Finger’s Breadth — and they previously put out a great audiobook of my science fiction erotica collection Skin Effect.

As I mentioned I just finished one non-sexy novel but I’ve put it in a drawer for a few months. Next up is another scifi novel but I just got work that someone might want me to do a very erotic novel (with my dear friend Ralph Greco — so it looks like that might be next on my plate.

Monday, May 23, 2016

Bionic Lover The Audiobook!

Check this out: my cyberpunk-ish lesbian erotica novella, Bionic Lover, has just come out in a fabulous audiobook version from the great folks at Wordwooze.

You can get the audbiobook here -- and, of course the ebook version here as well.


Pell was lost, alone, and lonely until Arc appeared. Fiery, enigmatic, with a mesmerizing cybernetic eye, Arc was everything Pell needed, wanted, and most of all, desired.

The next time Pell saw Arc the eye wasn't the only thing artificial about her new lover. And the time after that, and the time after that: each time the passionate and mysterious Arc drifted into her life, Pell saw more and more of her being replaced by refined and precise machinery and with each departure of her natural body for the artificial, Pell grew more and more terrified.

One day, she knew, there'd be nothing left of her lover but the cold, the engineered, the bionic.

Pell knew what she had to do, but the end, when it came, was worse than she ever could have imagined.

Saturday, May 14, 2016

MORE Future Of Sex Goodness!

I've had a lot - to put it mildly - writing gigs over the years but working with Future Of Sex is definitely at the top of the list!

In fact I've just had (count 'em) four new pies up at the amazing site.  Here are teasers for them.

- and you can always track what I'm doing for them by clicking here.

Robotic Lovers and Artificial Companions: Future Sexualities Part 1

Humans have always found a wide range of things, to put it politely, to be alluring. It’s easy to imagine some early hominid looking at the very first wheel and thinking hello there, sexy…

Flippancy aside, with the arrival of groundbreaking technological innovations, we’re also seeing the emergence of new forms of sexual arousal—not to mention hints of what in the future may humans may find exciting.

And, as we’ll see, the growing acceptance of no excitement at all.

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Gender Diversity and Asexuality: Future Sexualities Part 2

In Robotic Lovers and Artificial Companions, we played with where our sexual interest in the artificial—robots, dolls software, and the like—might lead in the very near future.

But any thought experiments about what might be coming to human sexuality has to delve into the human as well as the manufactured.

Because it is what we could become that could be truly remarkable, both in regards to erotic enjoyment but also in what it means to be human.

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Sex and Augmented Reality: Part 1 — What Is AR?

Virtual reality has certainly—and loudly—arrived, making a huge splash in everything from gaming to sexual entertainment.

But while it will no doubt add a new, vivid dimension to how many people experience all kinds of pleasures, there’s another form of immersive technology that promises to give a quality that virtual reality lacks.

Namely reality itself.


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Sex and Augmented Reality: Part 2 —The Erotic Fun Begins!

In our previous article, Sex and Augmented Reality: Part 1 — What Is AR?, we had a rather quick crash-course in what AR is, how it’s different that virtual reality, and some teases of what it could mean in regards to sex.

Now it’s time to explore that erotic potential in much more detail—and see how the power of augmented reality lies not just in replacing reality but in illuminating what we hadn’t been able to see before.

Great BIONIC LOVER Review!

Check out this amazing review of by erotic science fiction novella Bionic Lover by the always-fantastic Lisabet Sarai!


Bionic Lover by M. Christian
Wordwooze Publishing, 2016

If you’re not one of the unfathomably wealthy elite, avoid the streets of San Francisco. They’re crawling with drug-addled, desperate people hustling to survive until their next Subsistence Allotment Check, people who’ll do anything to avoid being conscripted to serve in the endless Central American wars. People who will literally sell their bodies—an eye or a limb—for a temporary influx of cash. If you don’t have a steady job—and who does, in this era of chronic unemployment?—every day is a day on the edge.

This is the dreadful, hope-shattering world of M.Christian’s lesbian science fiction tale Bionic Lover—a world that’s chillingly vivid and unquestionably believable. Against this background, he gives us the story of the relationship between two women—shy, struggling artist Pell and streetwise, secretive Arc.

Pell first encounters Arc at a low-rent gallery where an acquaintance is showing his work. She’s fascinated by Arc’s magnificently crafted artificial eye:

Tourmaline, onyx, silver and gold, it was a masterpiece watch set in a crystal sphere, the iris a mandala of glowing gold. Her blinks were a camera shutter’s, as imagined by the archetypal Victorian engineer but built with surgical perfection not found anywhere in Pell’s knowledge. The woman’s left eye was jeweled and precise; clicking softly as the she looked around the gallery, as if the engineers who’d removed her original wet, gray-lensed eyeball had orchestrated a kind of music to go with their marvelous creation: a background tempo of perfect watch movements to accompany whatever she saw through their marvelous and finely crafted sight. 
Click, click, click. 
An eye like that should have been in a museum, not mounted in a socket of simple human skin and bone, Pell had thought. It should have been in some other gallery, some better gallery, allowed only to look out at, to see other magnificent creations of skilled hands. Jare’s splashes of reds and blues, his shallow paintings were an insult to the real artistry of the woman’s eye.
Then she notices Arc’s real eye, surveying her, notes the other woman’s penetrating, intelligent gaze and her lean,powerful body. Soft, vague, suburb-raised Pell falls into a dream of lust—a dream that Arc fulfills with raw precision and just a hint of cruelty.

In the morning after their coupling, Arc is gone. But before long she reappears, seeking sanctuary in Pell’s apartment and in her arms. Each time the woman of the street shows up at Pell’s door and finds her way into the artist’s bed, she has traded another piece of herself for some new miracle of prosthetic technology.

Though Bionic Lover was originally published over fifteen years ago (as Speaking Parts, a more appropriate title in my opinion) , the tale is still fresh, its dystopian visions closer than ever to the current state of society. It is, quite simply, a gorgeous story—rich, dark and arousing, full of startling images and nuanced emotion. M.Christian is at his lyrical best here, using his breathless, flowing prose to bring his heroines to life.

The book is subtitled “An Erotic Lesbian Romance”, but don’t expect a facile happy ending. The bonds tying Pell and Arc to one another go beyond love—and certainly beyond lust. Pell is simultaneously fascinated and repelled by her lover’s increasingly artificial body. And Arc—well, we never truly understand who she is or what she wants, any more than Pell does. This enigmatic tale will leave you feeling unsettled yet uplifted—as do most serious works of art.

Sunday, May 8, 2016

Win A Copy Of SKIN EFFECT And BIONIC LOVER!

This is ultra-cool: the great folks at Wordwooze have set up a lovely promotion for my two technorotic books - Skin Effect and Bionic Lover!

Just go to this page and enter to win!


With The Bachelor Machine, M.Christian set the bar for erotic science fiction stories. Now he has returned to the genre with a brand new collection that will amaze as well as arouse: Skin Effect – tales that push the envelopes of both science fiction as well as erotica in innovative and stimulating ways. Here are stories voyaging to the near as well as the far future, exploring the ultimate limits of sex and arousal.

Where to buy: AMAZON | AUDIBLE


A powerful and erotic lesbian romance exploring love, lust…and loss.

Pell was lost, alone, and lonely―until Arc appeared. Fiery, enigmatic, and with a mesmerizing cybernetic eye, Arc was everything Pell needed, wanted, and most of all, desired.

The next time Pell saw Arc the eye wasn’t the only thing artificial about her new lover. And the time after that, and the time after that: each time the passionate and mysterious Arc drifted into her life, Pell saw more and more of her being replaced by refined and precise machinery…and with each departure of her natural body for the artificial, Pell grew more and more terrified.

One day, she knew, there’d be nothing left of her lover but the cold, the engineered…the bionic.

Pell knew what she had to do…but the end, when it came, was worse than she ever could have imagined.

****

With Bionic Lover, acclaimed erotic science fiction author M. Christian spins a mesmerizing tale of bittersweet desire, lesbian romance, and all-too human frailty set in a near future San Francisco where cybernetics aren’t just commonplace but the stuff of erotic dreams.

“M. Christian’s stories squat at the intersection of Primal Urges Avenue and Hi-Tech Parkway like a feral-eyed, half-naked Karen Black leering and stabbing her fractal machete into the tarmac. Portraying a world where erotic life has spilled from the bedroom into the street, and been shattered into a million sharp shards, this tale undercuts and mutates the old verities concerning memory, desire and loyalty…truly a book for our post-everything 21st century.”
―Paul Di Filippo (author of over 100 stories and five novels)

“Rarely is raunch paired with such style and wit…this story offers the sizzle of strokebook sex combined with the dark lyricism of the perverse.”
―Lucy Taylor, Bram Stoker award-winning author of Safety of Unknown Cities

“M. Christian’s stories are the fairy tales whispered to one another by dark angels whose hearts and mouths are brimming with lust. He goes beyond the pale, ordinary definitions of sexuality and writes about need and desire in their purest forms. Readers daring enough to stray from the safety of the path will find in his images and words a garden of delights to tempt even the most demanding pleasure-seeker.”
―Michael Thomas Ford, Lambda Literary Award winner


Where to buy: AMAZON

Saturday, April 30, 2016

THE SEX FILES: M. Christian Talks Audio Erotica

Check out this really wonderful interview my sweet pal, Ralph Greco, did with yers truly on Short And Sweet NYC on the recent release of my erotic science fiction collection, Skin Effect, as a audiobook!


World-renowned erotic scribe M. Christian has just released his Skin Effect in audio book form. Published in ebook and paperback through Renaissance E Books/Sizzler Editions a year ago, “Chris” was approached by publisher Wordwooze to release the audio book version of his collection of Erotic SF short stories.

I managed to get a quick conversation with “Chris” to get his views on publishing erotica in audio book format.


This is your first venture into audio ebook, why now and who with?

It’s kind of been kismet, actually. About a year ago I really got into audiobooks, listening and enjoying but never really thinking about doing one of my own. Mostly because while I do readings now and again, and love teaching all kinds of classes, I’ve never really considered myself very ‘audio.’ Then I had this great opportunity, via the fantastic Wordwooze folks, to adapt my science fiction erotica collection, Skin Effect.

The experience has been delightful–and then some. Wordwooze did a great job producing the audiobook and Jazmin Kensington is a perfect reader/performer. I’m more than a tad tickled by all this.

There are obvious differences between reading a book, as opposed to hearing it read. Can you pick out a few of the advantages or disadvantages one form has over another?

Generally I feel there are only slight differences beyond the obvious of course, you are being read to, the other you are reading to yourself and I do notice some jokes work better on the printed page then when read aloud. But one of the biggest things I noticed, and this is not just with my own work but books I’ve also listened to, is that there’s a certain ‘music’ to the language that only really comes out when it’s performed, especially by a skilled reader.

It really has changed the way I look at writing: when I work on stories and books now I hear them in both my own voice and Jazmin’s. Kind of magical, in a way….

Do you see a future where all your titles will be published as an ebook? Or are there just some things that don’t lend themselves to an audio book?


Oh, I have definitely caught the audiobook bug! Wordwooze is working on the audiobook adaption of my queer/scifi/horror/erotic novel Finger’s Breadth (the ebook is out with Renaissance E Books/Sizzler Editions right now) and a scifi erotic novella, Bionic Lover. I’m also putting together a special erotica collection for them.

As far as what works and what doesn’t, that’s tough to answer. Off the top of my head I think that certain visual writing tricks don’t translate easily to audio, but mostly it’s a pretty lovely transition from one medium to another.

On top of your writing you are also an editor, teacher and publisher, tell us about some of those hats you wear?

Well, I write for a bunch of sites on a regular/irregular basis, am working on a couple of new novels, and still enjoy being an editor and publisher for Renaissance E Books, and am the Publisher of Digital Parchment Services. We’ve been having a blast re-releasing classic scifi books from authors like Arthur Byron Cover, Ernest Hogan, and the estates of Jody Scott and William Rotsler.

In the San Francisco Bay Area I also teach erotica writing and a slew of kinky sex classes, as well as helping run some support groups. You can see what I’m up to on my site at www.mchristian.com.

Grab M. Christian’s audio book Skin Effect here and you can listen to a sample here.

And the first three people who write us will get a free copy of the audio book, care of Wordwooze.

Monday, April 11, 2016

TWO New FutureOfSex Pieces Are Up!

The incredible fun I'm having writing for FutureOSex continues - with two band new pieces live at their great site.  Here are some teases:



A Guide to Viewing Virtual Reality Sex Videos: The Hardware

Here’s how to quickly and affordably enjoy immersive sex.

Inarguably, virtual reality—that science-fiction mainstay of the 90s—has gone from being a far off dream to an actual product currently sold in stores in the space of only a few years.

Naturally—human beings being who we are—it wasn’t long before developers saw this three-dimensional technology in entertainment and thought sex!

But it’s really the announcement from PornHub, a giant of adult entertainment, that it will now feature a catalog of virtual reality movies, that’s getting many people really excited about this change in viewing adult entertainment.


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A Guide to Viewing Virtual Reality Sex Videos: The Software

Including adult games and virtual erotic worlds.

Following our previous installment guide to virtual reality hardware, you’ve got your rig all set—high-end or Cardboard, whatever suits your needs or budget—so where do you go from here?

More precisely, where do you go to have that immersive erotic experience you’ve heard so much about?

Tuesday, April 5, 2016

E-Read Erotica Loves Bionic Lover!

Check out E-Read Erotica's very thrilling review of Bionic Lover - out now from the great folks at Wordwooze Publishing!


The medium was paper, ink, charcoal and graphite. The image was the eye on the end of a peacock feather. She’d filled its center with geometries and forms like steel gears, compass points, brass fittings, screws and miniature bolts. The form seemed to stare out at her with a cool logic, an immaculate watchmaker’s perception. 
Then she heard it, deep inside her mind, shattering the turmoil of creation: Clickclick…click. 
Then her doorbell buzzed. Getting up, numb from the hard revelation that Arc still lived deep within her, she went to the door. 
“I need someplace,” the tall woman said from the street, looking up at Pell through the heavy iron security gate with one hard, cold mechanical eye, and one redrimmed eye with a patina of tears.

This one is a lot like Blade Runner, a haunting, dystopic, morosely melodic tale of lesbian love with a woman who is becoming less so with each encounter. Her flesh-and-blood parts are sacrificed for some mechanical ideal, and her lover is the one who waits for her to return in her next, more mechanical form.

I suppose there is a metaphor here waiting to be placed upon this work, something where our culture turns us into machines, how the fake Photoshopped world is somehow more preferable than what’s real, and how we are slowly losing ourselves to the machine.

It we are not already there. Bits and bytes flow across imaginary dreamscapes, and none of this is real anymore. Our digital selves are far more important than our real selves. Our digital selves will live on well beyond us, so somehow the work we put into crafting our legend shall be the strength of our afterlife.

It makes you think.

…Later, Pell couldn’t remember if she’d come as well, the explosion from Arc being so special, so shattering, that it had torn away any memories she’d had of anything she’d been feeling. That moment was pure Arc: a night in a secret, deep church. She’d been lucky to witness the service, the ecstatic blessing of being a witness. 
Sleep came like a velvet blanket thrown over Pell. No dreams, again, but the cloudy memory of sometime during the night, a kiss landing on her cheek. 
The next morning she awoke to find Arc gone again.

Haunting. A mystery of floating through a hazy underwater place halfway between what’s real and what only exists in our imaginations. M. Christian has this way of sending your thoughts on a search, never quite succumbing to the lure of explaining it all, keeping the mystery alive, and touching the canvas of our imaginations just lightly enough we are meant to fill in the details and wonder.

And the sex is there. The promise. The flitting of a water bug upon the surface of the pond, toying with our passions, and giving us that next moment where two souls meet and try to make sense of the nature of passion and attraction. Is it ever explained? Rightly not, and as the story started in a haze it ends in a fade, yet the moments we experienced together come thought like loud and clear splashes of color on an intransigent canvas of grays and blurred tones to our yearnings and searches for that more concrete definition of what this really is.

It is, what it is.

A moment between two, lost, and then found again in those times when their lives touched.

Pell didn’t know what to say, so didn’t say anything. Half-formed words and sentences tumbled through her mind but couldn’t congeal enough to be spoken. So they sat together – quiet, clumsy – till the food arrived from a big black man wearing Kevlar body armor and carrying a huge foam container marked with the bold red swatches of Chinese characters. Pell and Arc filled the silence with quick eating. 
When the food was gone, Arc yawned: “Fuck, I’m tired.” 
She pulled off her shirt, showing breasts pale and white, beautifully shaped sculptures of pale skin. Aureoles like rough brown coins, nipples like dark fingertips. 
“Shitty day. Good night,” she said, crawling into Pell’s bed and fumbling for the line switch to her broken lamp. 
Pell didn’t move. Frozen, she watched her hunt. 
“You coming?” the woman said, finally, and not smiling, reached out and took her hand.

This. Something more than a bland description of sex and lust. You see the strokes of the bristles here, the hand of the artist, and you can pick out those individual decisions in each dab of paint and artistic choice. You never always know the intent, but the artistry is clear. In a way, the intent is to make you reflect upon the piece, a great artist never tells, and lets the meaning be up to you.

The meaning is up to you.

A wonderful journey through a future that shall never be anywhere but in our own imaginations, tied together with sex and lust, a chance encounter between two souls who fit together like two outdated standards tied together by a home-made adapter, a universal connector we know as sex.

Saturday, March 19, 2016

Out Now: Bionic Lover: An Erotic Lesbian Romance

Very, very fun: the great folks at WordWooze Publishing just put out a new edition of one of my all-time favorite novellas: Bionic Lover (formerly Speaking Parts).  You can pick up the ebook now and soon it will also be available in an audiobook edition!


A powerful and erotic lesbian romance exploring love, lust…and loss

Pell was lost, alone, and lonely―until Arc appeared. Fiery, enigmatic, and with a mesmerizing cybernetic eye, Arc was everything Pell needed, wanted, and most of all, desired.

The next time Pell saw Arc the eye wasn’t the only thing artificial about her new lover. And the time after that, and the time after that: each time the passionate and mysterious Arc drifted into her life, Pell saw more and more of her being replaced by refined and precise machinery…and with each departure of her natural body for the artificial, Pell grew more and more terrified.

One day, she knew, there’d be nothing left of her lover but the cold, the engineered…the bionic.

Pell knew what she had to do…but the end, when it came, was worse than she ever could have imagined.

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With Bionic Lover, acclaimed erotic science fiction author M. Christian spins a mesmerizing tale of bittersweet desire, lesbian romance, and all-too human frailty set in a near future San Francisco where cybernetics aren’t just commonplace but the stuff of erotic dreams.

"M. Christian's stories squat at the intersection of Primal Urges Avenue and Hi-Tech Parkway like a feral-eyed, half-naked Karen Black leering and stabbing her fractal machete into the tarmac. Portraying a world where erotic life has spilled from the bedroom into the street, and been shattered into a million sharp shards, this tale undercuts and mutates the old verities concerning memory, desire and loyalty…truly a book for our post-everything 21st century."
―Paul Di Filippo (author of over 100 stories and five novels)

"Rarely is raunch paired with such style and wit…this story offers the sizzle of strokebook sex combined with the dark lyricism of the perverse."
―Lucy Taylor, Bram Stoker award-winning author of Safety of Unknown Cities

"M. Christian's stories are the fairy tales whispered to one another by dark angels whose hearts and mouths are brimming with lust. He goes beyond the pale, ordinary definitions of sexuality and writes about need and desire in their purest forms. Readers daring enough to stray from the safety of the path will find in his images and words a garden of delights to tempt even the most demanding pleasure-seeker."
―Michael Thomas Ford, Lambda Literary Award winner

Thursday, March 17, 2016

My Queer/SF/Erotic/Thriller Finger's Breadth - Out Now In New Edition!

M.Christian is thrilled to announce the republication of his queer erotic horror/sci-fi/thriller, Finger's Breadth


ebook available now!
Trade paper coming soon!
Audiobook coming soon!

Finger's Breadth may well rank as one of the most psychologically astute erotic novels since Leopold von Sacher-Masoch’s Venus in Furs, and it deserves to be just as widely read.
- JKB, from the Circlet Press site

Erotic. Terrifying. Fascinating. Disturbing. Intriguing. Haunting ... you have never read a book like Finger's Breadth. 

The cutter is haunting the streets of near-future San Francisco, drugging random queer men and amputating the tip of their little finger. 

But so much worse than this brutality is how fear transforms the city, revealing the inescapable nature of society ... and the darkest depths of human sexuality.

In a very special arrangement, M.Christian's arousing, yet terrifying novel, is currently available as an ebook, and soon as a trade paperback edition, through Renaissance E Book's Sizzler Editions imprint – and a special audio book edition will be available in a few months, through audible.com, courtesy of WoodWooze Publishing!

Here’s what some people are saying about Finger's Breadth:

"M.Christian has to be the most amazing writer I've ever read. He is a master manipulator with his words. You read his stories and begin to feel exactly what he wants you to feel - arousal, desire, anger, fear, hope. Readers find themselves surprised to feel this way, yet it is M.Christian's way of pulling dormant and primal emotions out of you. And the crazy part is that you don't mind embracing these perverse feelings as you are that pulled into the story. Not only does M.Christian push his characters in his stories to their limits, but he also pushes his readers minds to meet him in these faraway places." 
- Zee, Firepages 

"It is not that hard to come up with an idea that can be turned into a horror story and that is why horror has been part of the folklore of America and why these stories are so popular on campouts as we sit around a campfire. To successfully do this, we need a combination of characters and plot but more important than all else is a novel way to relate the story. For me that is the definition of M.Christian. This book is unlike anything I have read before and I suspect that it will stay with me for quite a while."
- Amos Lassen, reviewer 

"Finger's Breadth is a real wild ride, the sort of novel you turn to when the apocalyptic mayhem out your window gets dull, and you lust for something to remind you of what it's like to live life at full-throttle. M.Christian sends the reader hurtling like a hockey puck through a world of crime, out-of-control passions, mutilation, and madness. Terms like noir and hardboiled don't quite fit—this is more like ultraviolet, the invisible light that makes the scorpions glow in the dark."
- Ernest Hogan, author of High Aztech

M.Christian has seen the future -- and it is hardboiled! If you love crime stories -- gay or otherwise -- and you love science fiction, you will love Finger's Breadth. No other storyteller nails it quite like M.Christian does. This is a real pageturner.
- Marilyn Jaye Lewis, author of Freak Parade

Finger's Breadth is mesmeric storytelling, riveting in execution and appalling in implication.  M.Christian’s tale of erotic terror in a near-future San Francisco is imagined so skillfully that it grabs the reader with its easy familiarity, then refuses to let go as it careens to its shocking yet completely believable conclusion.  Evoking such Grand Masters as Armistead Maupin, Thomas Harris and Rod Serling while remaining strikingly original, Finger's Breadth is Christian at the height of his considerable powers.  Like Charon the ferryman, the author takes the reader down the dark rivers of human sexuality and shows us things that would normally never see the light of day.  Ultimately the most compelling aspect of this fiction is how fascinatingly and terrifyingly plausible it is. Finger's Breadth should come with a warning label: Read this before clubbing.
- Christopher Pierce, author of Rogue Slave

Currently available:
Sizzler Editions/Renaissance E Books
ebook$2.99
ISBN: 9781615086030

Trade paperback edition (coming soon)

Audibook edition (on audible.com) from WordWooze Publishing (coming soon)

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About M.Christian:

M.Christian is -- among many things -- an acknowledged master of erotica with more than 400 stories in such anthologies as Best American Erotica, Best Gay Erotica, Best Lesbian Erotica, Best Bisexual Erotica, Best Fetish Erotica, and many, many other anthologies, magazines, and Web sites.

He is the editor of 25 anthologies including the Best S/M Erotica series, The Burning Pen, Guilty Pleasures, The Mammoth Book of Future Cops and The Mammoth Book of Tales of the Road (with Maxim Jakubowksi) and Confessions, Garden of Perverse, and Amazons (with Sage Vivant) as well as many others.

He is the author of the collections Dirty Words, Speaking Parts, The Bachelor Machine, Licks & Promises, Filthy, Love Without Gun Control, Rude Mechanicals, Coming Together Presents M.Christian, Pornotopia, and How To Write And Sell Erotica; and the novels Running Dry, The Very Bloody Marys, Me2, Brushes, and Painted Doll.


Interested in reviewing Finger's Breadth?  Write M.Christian at mchristianzobop@gmail.com for a copy

Saturday, March 12, 2016

SKIN EFFECT: M.Christian's SciFi Erotica Collection Now in eBook, Trade Paperback, and Audiobook!

M.Christian's Groundbreaking Scifi Erotica Collection Skin Effect Out Now In eBook, Trade Paperback, And Audiobook!




Future technology’s ability to alter the very nature of our humanity—and the ways those changes interact with sex—shapes this solid collection of futuristic stories from erotica author Christian. Each story has a strong speculative element ... that’s blended with a frank expression of sexuality ... there’s plenty for sex-positive futurists to enjoy here.
—Publisher's Weekly

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In a very special arrangement, M.Christian's collection of science fiction erotica, Skin Effect: More Science Fiction Erotica, is available as a special audio book edition, courtesy of Wordwooze Publishing, and an ebook and a trade paperback through Renaissance E Book's Sizzler Editions imprint!

In his forward to Skin Effect, the Chicano science fiction legend Ernest Hogan (author of High Aztech and Cortez On Jupiter), says: "The stories in Skin Effect are erotic, and original, state-of-the-art science fiction. They take the technological developments of recent years and plug them into the engines of human desire, taking us beyond our present day sexual issues into worlds that deliver in ways I hadn't imagined possible."

"There is much to ponder and enjoy here. Enthusiastically recommended!"
—Terrance Aldon Shaw

"In these stories, human ingenuity combined with the human desire to connect with other humans is shown to have the power to outlast whatever seems to threaten human survival. It’s an exhilarating message."
—Jean Roberta

"M.Christian’s stories squat at the intersection of Primal Urges Avenue and Hi-Tech Parkway like a feral-eyed, half-naked Karen Black leering and stabbing her fractal machete into the tarmac. Truly an author for our post-everything 21st century."
—Paul Di Filippo, The Steampunk Trilogy

"When I tell you that these stories are hot, I might be giving you an understatement. M.Christian’s erotica comes from the heart ... he has created an entire new genre."
—Amos Lassen

In her introduction to Bachelor Machine, Cecilia Tan says of M.Christian "There are only two people in the world I envy. One is the late Roger Zelazny, whose talent for an almost jazz improvisational way of writing I could never match. The other is M.Christian, for writing exactly what I’d write if only I could get off my ass. Which is to say, raunchy hallucinatory sexfuture dreams that never fail to arouse me and kick me in the gut at the same time."

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ebook Edition (Renaissance E Books/Sizzler Editions):
Amazon: $2.99 - http://amzn.com/B00SCQ6D8C

Audiobook Editions (Wordwooze Publishing):
Audible: $13.97 - http://amzn.com/B01C3EODGW
iTunes: $17.95 - https://itunes.apple.com/us/audiobook/skin-effect-more-science-fiction/id1087126852

Trade Paperback Edition (Renaissance E Books/Sizzler Editions):
Amazon: $9.99 - http://amzn.com/1508581711

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Reviewers interested in receiving a PDF, or a copy of the audiobook, please contact M.Christian at mchristianzobop@gmail.com

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Calling M.Christian versatile is a tremendous understatement. Extensively published in science fiction, fantasy, horror, thrillers, and even non-fiction, it is in erotica that M.Christian has become an acknowledged master, with more than 400 stories in such anthologies as Best American Erotica, Best Gay Erotica, Best Lesbian Erotica, Best Bisexual Erotica, Best Fetish Erotica, and in fact too many anthologies, magazines, and sites to name. In erotica, M.Christian is known and respected not just for his passion on the page but also his staggering imagination and chameleonic ability to successfully and convincingly write for any and all orientations.

M.Christian's short fiction has been collected into many bestselling books in a wide variety of genres, including the Lambda Award finalist Dirty Words and other queer collections like Filthy Boys, and BodyWork. He also has collections of non-fiction (Welcome to Weirdsville and How To Write And Sell Erotica); science fiction, fantasy and horror (Love Without Gun Control); and erotic science fiction including Rude Mechanicals, Technorotica, Better Than The Real Thing, and the acclaimed Bachelor Machine.

As a novelist, M.Christian has shown his monumental versatility with books such as the queer vamp novels Running Dry and The Very Bloody Marys; the erotic romance Brushes; the science fiction erotic novel Painted Doll; and the rather controversial gay horror/thrillers Finger's Breadth and Me2.

M.Christian is also the Publisher of Digital Parchment Services and an Associate Publisher for Renaissance E Books, where he strives to be the publisher he'd want to have as a writer, and to help bring quality books (erotica, noir, science fiction, and more) and authors out into the world.

M.Christian: http://www.mchristian.com
Twitter: @mchristianzobop
Tumblr: http://rude-mechanicals.tumblr.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mdot.christian & https://www.facebook.com/zobopmchristian

Wednesday, March 2, 2016

THREE New FutureOfSex Pieces Are Up!

I really, really, really love writing for the folks at Future Of Sex.  In fact not one, not two, but three new pieces of mine are now live on their site.  Here are some teases:


Nanotech Engineers Developing Condoms As ‘Thin As a Human Hair’

Plant nano-additives could improve latex while maintaining durability.


The Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN) at the University of Queensland has announced the development of an ultra-thin latex made from a native grass called spinifex.

Professor Darren Martin of AIBN said this new material shows great promise in creating condoms with the same strength as existing latex brands but that are considerably thinner—and thus much more comfortable to wear.

“We think we can engineer a latex condom that’s about 30% thinner, and will still pass all standards, and with more process optimisation work we will be able to make devices even thinner than this,” he said in a press release.


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Ghosts in Our Shells: What Anime Can Teach Us about the Future of Sex

Cyborgs, virtual reality, and more.

Japanese animation, anime as it is frequently called, has a long tradition of exploring humankind’s relationship with technology—including times when that relationship goes beyond intimate and into the obviously erotic.

In fact, if you look at any future speculations in anime, with regards to sexuality and technology, you’ll find not just that anime has delved into it but with a remarkably thorough and thoughtful approach.

While we know that an anime otaku (“fanboy” to use the Western meaning and not the literal Japanese translation) can more than likely come up with several others, here are just a few choice examples of anime’s future conjectures: virtual reality (.hack//SIGN), augmented reality (Dennō Coil), prosthetic limb replacement (Texhnolyze), artificial intelligence (Ergo Proxy), transgenderism (Shangri-La), robotics (Astroboy —one of the very first anime series), and many others.

But there’s one anime franchise that has touched on each of these, and done it in ways that show what could very well be the future of not just sexuality, but the very future of humanity itself.


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Loving in a Tiny World: How Long-Distance Sexual Relationships Are Finally Working

Gaps between lovers are shrinking as our planet becomes more intimate.


Let’s start with a cliché: the world is getting smaller.

It hasn’t, of course, in actual fact: the Earth is still basically the same size it’s always been. For many people, though, communicating almost instantly with those living at even its farthest corners has not just become possible but an everyday occurrence.

Until a few years ago, the idea of a long-distance relationship was a synonym for “it’s over.” But now we almost take for granted the idea that distance has become almost inconsequential, even in regards to romance—and especially sex.

So how exactly has this changed? And what are the tools—here now or coming soon—that will reduce the world even more, as well as bring us a new level of sexual intimacy?

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Two New Pieces For FutureOfSex!

Okay, I've said it before - but it's always worth repeating: I am having a serious kick writing for the great folks at Future Of Sex.  In fact, two brand new pieces of mine just went live there.

Check out these teasers below:



Retrofuturist Sex: How the Past Thought We’d Be Loving in the Future

How did people in the 70s and 80s think we’d be having sex today?

We’ve always been fascinated by what could be: looking at the present and thinking, “If this keeps up what’s tomorrow going to be like?” And, naturally, more than a few people have gazed off toward the horizon and thought to themselves, “If sex is like it is now, what could it be like in a few years… or a few hundred years?”

Lots of folks love to see what the past thought the future would become, otherwise known as Retrofuturism. The great Matt Novak at PaleoFuture has done great legwork compiling not just what people tried to predict for technology and society, but also for sex.

So we at Future of Sex thought it could be fun to look at some of these past projections and see which ones were wildly wrong—or even close to being right.

[MORE]

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Crowdfunding for VR Sex Game Controller Relaunched After Overwhelming Demand

A case of sex tech that isn’t just popular, but surprisingly so.

Crowdfunding, as anyone who has experience in it will say, often attracts more failure than success. In fact, The Crowdfunding Centre has reported that, depending on the platform, failure rates can be as high as 89%.

But in the case of virtual reality game controller VirtuaDolls, an unexpected and high demand for the sex device forced its developer, William Spracklin of Eos Creative Group, to pause his Indiegogo campaign so he could regroup.

VirtuaDolls is an interactive and artificial vagina. When coupled with the 3D-animated game Girls of Arcadia, the campaign page claims it will take immersion and adult gaming to a whole new level.



Friday, February 5, 2016

Terrance Aldon Shaw Likes Skin Effect!

My head is spinning! Check out this great review the equally-great Terrance Aldon Shaw did for my science fiction erotica collection, Skin Effect!



The nine stories in this intriguing, highly-imaginative, occasionally maddening collection have a deeply personal feel to them. These are not easy, breezy reads: these stories require that readers take a journey—and the road is not always direct or level or smooth. A bit of effort is required, and sometimes, more than a single reading. But, in the end, the reader is richly rewarded with beauty and enlightenment. 
This isn’t ‘hard’ sci-fi or conventional genre erotica, but, indeed, something quite extraordinary: less Frankenstein’s monster genre hybrid than the precocious love child of an optimistic speculative fiction (Heinlein, Bradbury, Asimov) and a mature, deeply self-aware literary sensualism. If it must be classified, then I would suggest a brand new subgenre: call it ‘techno-sexual.’ 
And what do we find in this brave, sometimes bewildering new world? Trans-humanism that does not—cannot—forget its humanity. Awesome technical capability with the aura of magic, though, in the end, it cannot assuage our deepest longings, our atavistic thirst for mystery. Hyper-connectedness that cannot sate our hunger to touch, and feel, and remember... 
The writing can be dense, knotty, sometimes overlong to a point where potential dramatic impact is diluted, the final ironic twists coming too little and just a bit too late to dazzle. Yet, the collection does have its share of truly amazing moments, inspired imagining, sparks of the ingenious. 'Prêt-à-Porter' tells a marvelous tale of a futuristic garment that—virtually miraculously—adjusts to the desires and moods of its wearer. 'The Bell House Invitation' brilliantly takes the ideas of collective consciousness and cyber-community to their logical—and, perhaps, a tad disturbing—extremes. 'The Potter’s Wheel' and '[Title Forgotten]' imagine worlds in which connectedness makes us omniscient yet utterly incapable of knowing our deepest selves. 
There is much to ponder and enjoy here. Enthusiastically recommended!

Thursday, February 4, 2016

Two New Pieces For Future Of Sex!

I really do enjoy writing for Future Of Sex ... and, as proof of that, two new pieces of mine just went live there.

Here are some teasers (and links to the full articles):

4 Ways Tech Is Changing the Language of Love

How we talk about sex—now and in the future.

“The limits of my language means the limits of my world.” -Ludwig Wittgenstein

There’s always been an unspoken vocabulary of caresses, glances, and sounds, of course. But we’re in the 21st century now, and our technological options for expressing desire—over vast distances and across what used to be cultural barriers—has (to use a silly double-entendre) swelled incredibly.

We don’t just have new ways to correspond with each other but entirely new languages to play with. Lovers, or just playmates, can flirt, be titillating, or even directly stimulate each other speaking or typing a single word.

So, with a touch of irony, here’s a list of four ways that technology is changing the language of love and desire, but also how the nature of sexual communication is being totally reinvented.

[MORE]

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Creating Your Own Pleasuredome: Modular Building and Smart Home Technology

Custom designing an erotic home and playground.

Recently, we looked at some possible changes to how we all may be living and playing, at home or elsewhere.

Love hotels for when sex needs a bit more room than microhomes can offer, as well as virtual and augmented reality to give the illusion of space, are certainly intriguing ideas. But there are more innovations in interactive tech and flexible design that will alter our houses of the future

So what happens when we take the concepts of modular construction and smart home technology and do a bit of future-casting?

Let’s rev up our imaginations and try to picture our sensual, and sexual, residences of the next century.


Saturday, January 23, 2016

Two New Pieces Up At Future Of Sex!

Very cool: not just one but two of pieces of mine are live at FutureOFSex! Check them out:

Man with ‘Bionic Penis’ to Have Sex for the First Time

When he was six years old, Mohammed Abad, 43, a resident of Glasgow, Scotland, was involved in a horrific car accident resulting in the loss of his genitals.

In 2012, he was equipped with an artificial penis, though it was non-functioning at that time. A total of 119 operations later, University College London doctors now say that Abad can have sexual intercourse thanks to bionic technology.

[MORE]

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Sex Tech at CES 2016: Erotic Innovations Aplenty

One of the key places for developers to show off their new tech products is at the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. This year’s event, which ran from January 5 to 8, was particularly interesting for those intrigued by sexual technology. On display weren’t just exciting new devices, but also a new acceptance for adult sex and wellness product

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

New At Future Of Sex: Sensual Technology - How Sex Tech Is Becoming All Kinds of Pleasurable

More, more, more fun at Future Of Sex: my new article on sensual technology just went live.  Here's a tease!


Sensual Technology: How Sex Tech Is Becoming All Kinds of Pleasurable

We really love technology—in all kinds of ways.

We’ve always been smitten with technology: at least for as long as it’s been around. But now our devices aren’t just handy but are becoming actually, aesthetically, sexy.

Just ask any serious gear aficionado: it’s like they’re aroused not just by what their devices can do but how beautiful they are.

But what’s coming soon in sex tech—the perfect melding of erotic stimulation and arousing aesthetics—is really going to turn you on.
Form follows function… or function follows form?

Human nature, I guess: as soon as anyone invents anything, the next generation of it gets sexy. Locomotives, at first, were steamy, clanking, greasy monstrosities. Sure, they got Victorians from point A to point B, but soon they were brightly colored, filigreed, and satin lined, as well as efficient.

In the following century or so, designers had become celebrities, and their technology lusted after for its sensual appeal and function. Raymond Loewy, for example, applied his own particular style of organic streamlining to everything from airplanes to the already mentioned locomotives.

In the 60s and 70s, German industrial designer Luigi Colani took the pleasure and sensual aesthetic of those decades into engineering. While the functionality of some of his designs for cars, trains, ships, and such is a matter of debate, you have to admit that his creations have a very arousing appeal.

But designers these days are really taking the idea of sensual technology to heart. Products are often not just functionally a turn-on but are sensual as well.
Sex tech as sexy tech

Obviously, we are seeing a lot of progress towards pure sensual technology: the melding of being turned on with and turned on by sexuality devices.

Many developers have even used the idea of sensual technology in their marketing materials as well as their design aesthetic. Co-founder/designer Ti Chang of CRAVE, an adult pleasure device, said, “If anything deserves good design, it’s the things we bring to bed with us.”

Many sex tech products mentioned here on Future of Sex reflect that concept. The Kiiroo smart vibrator isn’t just pleasant to use, but also pleasurable to look at. The OH-DOMETER by OhMiBod is profoundly intimate, yet doesn’t look at all like hardware.

With developers and designers totally embracing the idea that sex tech should appeal to the eyes and mind, as well as the body and “naughty bits,” we are seeing technology that is a perfect melding of mechanical elegance, sensuality, and practically seamless interactivity.

The question then is what’s next?