Words

Looking for something to read? The Words section contains book reviews, articles on sex and kink, and Jane’s erotic stories. After something specific? Please visit the Words Index.)

Free reads disclaimer: if you’re at all offended by naughty language, sex in positions other than missionary, non-vanilla sexual practices (including but not limited to those that involve the use of dairy products or gluten) and general sauciness, steer well clear. Do not pass go, do not collect £200. You’ve been warned!

06

Released! A Princess Bound: Naughty Fairy Tales for Women

A Princess Bound: Naughty Fairy Tales for WomenHow’s that for an oxymoron of a post title?

At the risk of sounding like an over-excited two-year-old … WAHOO!!!! A Princess Bound features my original fairy story Thorn King and its inclusion in this anthology of kinky, sexy tales marks a serious writing milestone for me. Why? Because it’s the very first time a work of mine has appeared in print. I’ll just say that there may have been some very (very) bad dancing around the house when editor Kristina Wright emailed to let me know A Princess Bound had been released early by the uber-efficient Cleis and you should all be extremely grateful you didn’t have to witness it.

For those who have read the Five-minute Erotica pieces I’ve posted here on Chintz, it should come as no surprise that my contribution to A Princess Bound, Thorn King, is, well, a little bit dark and, of course, a little bit kinky. Be warned: the hero of the piece is unlike any fairy king you’ve ever met before … Continue reading →

30

Ein (The Dustmother Trilogy) – Sorcha Black

Ein - Sorcha BlackTitle: Ein
Author: Sorcha Black
Publisher: Belfry Publishing (22 March 2014)
ASIN: B00J6S8YSW
Reviewer: Jane

Quiet.

That’s the word that springs to mind when I reflect upon Sorcha Black’s first solo novel, Ein. It seems like an unusual adjective to apply to an ‘erotic’ fantasy – I can’t recall a time I’ve ever thought of describing a story from this genre in such a way – but against all odds given the content (torture, sadomasochism, non-con), it just seems to fit. And this lack of literal ‘noise’ in Ein is in no way negative. Far from it. As a writer, it takes some serious, serious skill to wield a club weighed down with a heavy storyline and stop yourself from beating readers over the proverbial head with it. 

If I’m going to read fantasy, I generally prefer the urban kind. It’s not that I have a rubbish imagination, rather that I tend to enjoy those books that have some sort of link to my own reality. There’s a level of grittiness to a novel that’s only a few steps removed from real life that I just don’t seem to be able to find in one that’s infested with plagues of elves and goblins. Creatures that breathe fire and have hairy feet don’t really get my engine going. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is about my limit.

So is Ein an urban fantasy, then? Well, no. Somehow, it manages to sit smack bang in the middle of an erotic fantasy no-man’s (or should I say ‘no dragon’s’) land. And that’s a place that I’ve not visited before. It’s as if Sorcha Black’s gone a hundred metres towards Graceling, hung a left up the hill towards Comfort Food, crossed the bridge towards Robin Hood’s house, and finally pitched the Ein tent on a patch of land about a mile down the road from all three. Perhaps the reason the story feels so relatable is the mediaeval undercurrent that seems to flow gently through the world that the author has created. Continue reading →

25

e[lust] #57

*A massive ‘thank you’ to Molly and DomSigns who have been so patient with regard to my lack of Internet these past two weeks and kindly allowed this delayed posting of the April edition of e[lust].

 

Elust #57 Cammies on the Floor Image
Photo courtesy of Cammies on the Floor

Welcome to Elust #57 -

The only place where the smartest and hottest sex bloggers are featured under one roof every month. Whether you’re looking for sex journalism, erotic writing, relationship advice or kinky discussions it’ll be here at Elust. Want to be included in Elust #58? Start with the rules, come back May 1st to submit something and subscribe to the RSS feed for updates!

~ This Month’s Top Three Posts ~

I’ve Got 99 Problems

Vasectomy Blues

I’ve always wanted to call myself queer.

 

~ Featured Post (Molly’s Picks) ~

Aoyama Yuki and My Very First Times

I don’t know how to be happy

 

~ Readers Choice from Sexbytes ~

*You really should consider adding your popular posts here too*

Continue reading →

02

Gold and Dross, A.K.A. more and more (and more) of the same

Grabill_-_Washing_and_panning_gold

Image: “We have it rich.” Washing and panning gold, Rockerville, Dak., John C. H. Grabill [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Is anything ever truly original? Have we already explored every unique avenue, theme and possibility when it comes to creative content? In art? In writing?

I believe that someone who is inherently creative will always manage to show us something new. Will demand that we look at things in a different way or engage us in a manner we never expected. Which is why I think the self-publishing movement is so important: not only does it give writers permission to take risks – those that a traditional publishing house would deem unacceptable – it also allows them to explore themes that may not be in vogue or are ‘off brand’.

Self-publishing gives writers who would otherwise have been marginalised the opportunity to be noticed. To have a voice. To be heard. Often, it is those on the fringes who have the most important and interesting things to tell us.

However, all that said, I am beginning to notice a somewhat frustrating and interesting irony: the very vehicle responsible for giving us exciting and innovative reading material is also responsible for giving us a load of same old, same old. A plethora of stories that stay well within the tracks of those that have gone before them, break no new ground whatsoever, and look like they’ve been edited in crayon by my eight-year-old. For the purposes of this post, I’m going to call this phenomenon ‘theme flood’. (Aquatic references ahoy-hoy!) Continue reading →

20

Tatia Pilieva’s First Kiss: Romanticism versus Cynicism

If you follow Chintz on Twitter, Google+, or Facebook, you might have seen yesterday’s link to the short film (above), First Kiss, which was released just over a week ago on YouTube. It shows a group of people who have never met before kissing for the first time. It’s awkward, emotional and, in my opinion, absolutely breathtaking, not least because it shows just how powerful, intimate and erotic the simple act of two sets of lips meeting can be. Continue reading →

17

e[lust] #56

Another edition of e[lust], more fabulous blog posts about sex and sexuality.

 

elustheader Photo courtesy of Understanding Flutterby

Welcome to e[lust] - The only place where the smartest and hottest sex bloggers are featured under one roof every month. Whether you’re looking for sex journalism, erotic writing, relationship advice or kinky discussions it’ll be here at e[lust]. Want to be included in e[lust] #57? Start with the rules, come back April 1st to submit something and subscribe to the RSS feed for updates!

~ This Month’s Top Three Posts ~

Trick of the Light

What Does Porn Lead To

The Posh Life of a Sex Toy Reviewer?

~ Featured Post (Molly’s Picks) ~

Eleven Quarters

Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Sadists

~ Readers Choice from Sexbytes ~

*You really should consider adding your popular posts here too*

Continue reading →

12

Wicked Wednesday: Selective Revelations

“What is hidden in your life? Or what would you like to hide? Or maybe you have found a treasure that was hidden for some time? Or you would like to find a treasure? Sometimes things are hidden in plain sight…”

)

The prompt for this week’s Wicked Wednesday is both intriguing and thought-provoking – not least because for someone like me, who blogs about sex and erotica, it raises a number of interesting questions about what I reveal and what I keep hidden from people who know me in ‘real life’.

I like to think that I am a fundamentally honest person. Bluntly, I’m just not that keen on keeping secrets or holding back the real ‘me’. (As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realised that life is way too short to pretend to be someone you’re not or deny yourself the things that you find pleasurable.) It took me a long time to get to this point and I don’t want to go backwards. That said, there is an inevitable rub that comes when I have to balance my ‘me-ness’ with mainstream society. Because like it or not, there is still a lot of judgement and stigma around those of us who talk openly and honestly about sex. Continue reading →

09

Sinful Sunday: Obscenity

Over the weekend, I kept an eye on all the amazing tweets posted by those attending Eroticon 2014. (For those who don’t know, this brilliant annual event, founded by Ruby Kiddell, brings together erotica writers, sex bloggers, publishers and a host of other individuals who are interested in, to quote the Eroticon slogan, ‘writing sex right’.) There was one session in particular that generated a lot of Twitter action: a talk on censorship by Zak Jane Keir (@decadentmadamez), Pandora Blake (@pandorablake), and Myles Jackman (@ObscenityLawyer). And then I saw this tweet by @HarperEliot.

Screen shot 2014-03-09 at 21.21.38

The idea of burning a book – any book – makes me physically cringe. And if we’re talking obscenity? Well, the below image pretty much sums it up for me.

Obscenity

Continue reading →

04

Make Me Yours Evermore, Part Deux: The Michael Chronicles

Regular Chintz readers will know that, every now and then, Michael and I review books in tandem. Make Me Yours Evermore, the latest book in Cari Silverwood’s Pierced Hearts series, was one we always planned on tackling together but as our schedules have been a little out of sync recently, we’ve had to do our write-ups separately. If you recall, I was a big fan of this one (although I did want to invest in some brain bleach by the close) but I wasn’t sure what Michael would be thinking by the end of it, given that he had a hard time with Klaus in Bind and Keep Me. I mean, let’s be honest, Chris really does make the former seem like a candidate for humanitarian of the year …

*Please note that the below review does contain spoilers pertaining to books one and two in the Pierced Hearts series. You can find our previous reviews for Take Me, Break Me and Bind and Keep Me here and here.

 

MICHAEL’S TAKE

Make Me Yours EvermoreTitle: Make Me Yours Evermore
Author: Cari Silverwood
Publisher: Cari Silverwood
ISBN: 9781311900234

Okay, in Take Me, Break Me, we meet Jodie and Klaus when she comes up with a money-making scheme: Have Klaus hold her captive for a month, film the whole thing, and release it to fame and fortune. In the end, things go a bit awry but they achieve a kind of working balance in their relationship.

Skip ahead a year and we get to Bind and Keep Me. When Jodie attends a wild party and dies, Klaus kills the man responsible. Only Jodie isn’t dead. And rather than either hope the police don’t figure out what happened or even try to explain what happened, Klaus comes up with a unique solution: kidnap the one witness who can expose his secret. And hold her captive for the rest of their lives. Perhaps not the greatest plan ever, but it has worked so far. Mostly.

Which brings us up to Make Me Yours Evermore. One of the mostly wrinkles is that Kat has figured out something weird is going on. We actually met Kat at the end of the TMBM. As a character, she was kind of annoying. The other characters thought so too. She still doesn’t know precisely what is going on, but she is going to find out. Only Chris, Klaus’ business partner, is determined to stop her. Because it turns out that Chris has always had a secret fantasy: To kidnap someone and hold her captive for the rest of their lives. And so to help out Klaus, Chris volunteers to do that to Kat. Continue reading →

20

e[lust] #55

Another brilliant edition of e[lust]. Even if you don’t have time to read the whole digest, please do check out the top three posts, as voted for by the e[lust] judges, Molly’s picks, and the brilliant article by K. D. Grace on the regulation of our fantasies, which scooped this month’s Sexbytes Readers’ Choice award.

rose Photo courtesy of Sex with Rose

Welcome to e[lust] - The only place where the smartest and hottest sex bloggers are featured under one roof every month. Whether you’re looking for sex journalism, erotic writing, relationship advice or kinky discussions it’ll be here at e[lust]. Want to be included in e[lust] #56? Start with the rules, come back March 1st to submit something and subscribe to the RSS feed for updates!

~ This Month’s Top Three Posts ~

Why I Post Nude Photos (and blog about sex)
Discovering Myself Through My Strap-On
Sex Toy Shaming and Bigoted Wise Cracks, FTW!

~ Featured Post (Molly’s Picks) ~

Aftercare and BDSM Play
Two worlds

~ Readers Choice from Sexbytes ~

*You really should consider adding your popular posts here too*

Continue reading →