The Point of it All will be available on Amazon and Nook for FREE beginning tomorrow. The promotion will run for five days, so get yourselves over to Amazon tomorrow, Saturday July 7, and download a copy. It's good summer reading!
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I riff on reviews and how I'm going to stop caring, over at my publisher's blog. Check it out.
Lazy Day Publishing There is an interesting discussion going on over at Goodreads, between a couple of people trying to decide whether or not to read THE POINT OF IT ALL, as if it might explode, or get them fired if they do. It's a good book, and rather tame (the discussion is taking place under the elusive BDSM banner, which The Point of it All is decidedly not). Read it! It's a good book--great, to some. It's inexpensive--heck, it was even free for a time. I promise, it won't bite.
My new erotic novella, TO LOVE A WOMAN is available now on Amazon Kindle for $2.99. Get it while you're hot!
We live an in interesting culture. We seem, more often than not, at the mercy of those in a position of power, and much of the time that power is misused. In an effort to get the word out and promote my forthcoming book, TO LOVE A WOMAN, I created a FACEBOOK ad. I've done it before with previous works, to great success. I was just informed by FACEBOOK that my ad promoting TO LOVE A WOMAN was inappropriate, and they will not run it. What, you ask, was inappropriate? The cover art.
Now, I've got kids, and despite the subject matter I write about in my novels, I'm quite careful around them. I write under a pseudonym, and I'm very aware that I do not write for the under 18 set, so I only target those over 18 in the ads I run. I can appreciate FACEBOOK taking precautions. I can. What I would like to know is, what has FACEBOOK done about cyber-bullying? Sexual predators? These, to me, are much bigger issues than a picture of a woman's half-naked backside draped in a sheet. TO LOVE A WOMAN--Backside and all. My new erotic novella, To Love a Woman, is due for release this month. What do you think of the cover?
I had a lively discussion about erotica, spanking, and The Point of it All with the folks over at Freddy and Eddy recently. Check out this podcast:
EROTICA EXPLORED: Sex Talk From Behind Our White Picket Fence OK, so I finally did it. I read 50 Shades of Grey.
I began the book expecting not to like it, based on only what I heard, and nothing more. I felt that if I was going to comment on it, at least I should read it. 50 Shades reminds me of a song that starts just above or below pitch, and the singer never quite finds his/her way. Beautiful moments in between make you forget momentarily that something is...not right, but the overall feeling at the end is a letdown. I liked the story more than I thought I would, but big problems with the theme and the writing somewhat overshadowed what, with some major editing, could have been a very good romance. I want to begin with the idea that this is erotica and that, thanks to this book, the genre has been given new life, and that Minnie in the Midwest will soon be picking up Alta, Maren, Alison, Carolyn, et al. Uh...no. 50 Shades of Grey is not erotica. I write erotica, and to write it well, you need variety. The sex is the same every time, and it is quite vanilla. She runs her fingers through his hair--every time. He pulls her hair back so she can look at him--every time. The coupling is the same--every time. To write erotica well you need visuals, you need feelings, you need to make your reader tingle and tighten right along with her, or him. The reader of 50 Shades learns that when turned on, those tingles reached Ana all the way ‘down there’ (italics are the author’s, not mine). For some reason, the author felt that having Ana’s ‘inner goddess’ and her ‘subconscious’ rear their clueless heads throughout the book in lieu of learning Ana’s true feelings was the best route. In fact, I believe the author was hiding behind these props because the idea of writing pussy, clit, cunt and cock was undoable for her. And, I’m sorry. In erotica, this language is essential—otherwise, it’s romance. Sadly, the reader is not treated to what Ana is feeling during all the generic-same-sex, during which she climaxes every time (congratulations) in the exact same way. The author did not feel obligated in any way to switch things up, make each scene a bit different, maybe introduce some oral sex, some anal play—something else besides inserting tab A into slot B. From the kink standpoint, the scenes in the Red Room of Pain (silly) were too quick and, frankly, very dull and generic for those familiar with BDSM. The author breezed through the scenes (only 3) so quickly that the reader doesn't have time to get into the scene. It all just got glossed over somehow, in favor of the romance and the psychological twist that is Christian Grey. The book would have been so much better if we could have seen how twisted Christian was, instead of being told. Christian as a true Dominant becomes a hard sell once he threatens to spank her and then does not follow through. For fans of erotica, BDSM and spanking in particular, this was incredibly unsatisfying. For me, from that first error in judgment, the book becomes a formulaic romance with (gasp) a troubled, tortured hero and the seemingly normal woman who tries to save him. Nothing unique here. The author's unfamiliarity and obvious discomfort with a subject matter like BDSM was evident in so many ways; the most glaring to me was the heroine, Ana's, reference to a spanking Christian gave her as 'hitting'. A Dom would immediately correct her on that, pointing out the cavernous difference between hitting and spanking, yet Christian used the term 'hitting' himself toward the end when he punished her for some transgression. For a Dom to say, 'I am going to hit you...' is so wrong, that the only conclusion I could come to is that the author did not do her research—or she did, and it made her uncomfortable. So, then don’t write BDSM erotica. Write romance. But, for God’s sake (and ours), get it right. Now I’ll move on to the biggest disappointment about 50 Shades, and that is the writing. The author has not met an adverb or an adjective she doesn’t love, and so as not to play favorites, she uses them all with equal vigor, which takes the reader immediately out of the story. ‘Greatly relieved’ (is there any other kind?), ‘blond woman smiles pleasantly…’ (is there ever a smile that is unpleasant?) These are juvenile mistakes that I hope the good editors at Vintage will correct. The other habit the author must be broken of under threat of a good 'hitting', is her references to her ‘inner goddess’ and her ‘subconscious’. It’s irritating by the third reference, and downright cringe-worthy by the 333rd. The author also filled a lot of page space by the innumerable ‘oh my’s, ‘holy cow’s, and the constant reminder to the reader that Christian was good-looking and that Ana was into him. Take all the above out and you have a novella, but a good one. Oh, and it’s OK to be British in Seattle. Both characters are so obviously British; so introduce them as British. To NOT acknowledge that, yet pepper the book with so much Brit-speak, AGAIN, takes the reader out of the story. I could go on and on, but what’s the point? This book now has over 1,000 reviews, and I’m saying the same things many others are saying. That this is the book that is getting wives back into bed with their husbands is wonderful, but somewhat surprising, given the very generic subject matter and the immature writing style. I have to say that I would re-read after Vintage gets hold of it, just to see what changes they make. It will be interesting to see what the motivation was for Vintage to pick this book up. Was it to produce a better book and promote a somewhat promising author, or was it to ride on the back of a horse that has already crossed the finish line? We shall see. Rarely do I comment on other works unless I am dying for those I love, as well as those I don't know, to read it. Not the case with the new phenom known as 50 Shades of Gray, a new erotic novel that has gone viral and will now go into reprint with Vintage, along with a staggering sum to the author, E.L. James.
First off, good for her. I stand and applaud any author who can write something that gets this kind of attention. Writing is hard. Getting published is harder. Making an actual living from it is next to impossible. Now, I have not read the book. I repeat, I have not read the book. My comments are not about how well the book was written, nor will I piggy-back on comments about how often the author uses the term 'inner Goddess'. Having said that, I DID read the comments, and I have spoken to people who have read the book. I sat with three women last night who were either in the middle of reading it, had just downloaded the book, or planned on it soon. Those who hadn't gotten around to it yet said they couldn't wait. One took me off to the side and said that her Kindle is filled with some pretty hard-core stuff, but she was dying to see what all the fuss was about. I started to wonder myself. This headline from the New York Times said it all: Discreetly Digital, Erotic Novel Sets American Women Abuzz Prior to a few days ago, had I seen a woman reading the paperback on a train, I'd have thought nothing of it, so what's all the talk about discretion? Troll the books listed under the tag EROTIC on Amazon. Now, some of those titles I actually own on MY kindle, rather than in paperback. Wondering why? Look at the covers. I'm thinking that the 'discretion' noted by the NYT, and others, might be the internal kind--like masturbating under the covers, even though no one's home. The folks at Vintage, of course, have their own point of view: “We’re making a statement that this is bigger than one genre,” said Anne Messitte, the publisher of Vintage Anchor, who discovered the book when a colleague at Random House slipped her a copy. “The people who are reading this are not only people who read romance. It’s gone much broader than that.” I respectfully disagree with Ms. Messitte. Women seem to be coming out of the woodwork to read a book that sets their hair on fire in a way that the best of the best romance novels out there can not. I am guessing that many have never read a true erotic novel. That the author and the publisher are listing the book as erotica is appealing to these folks, especially since, once they've read it, they find that they haven't gone blind, nor will they be heading to hell anytime soon. And, the best part, as far as I'm concerned, is that they, according to interviews, want to have sex with their husbands--a lot. Bravo again. But, let's call a spade a spade. "The heroine doesn't even say vagina," one woman said last night, as we discussed the difference between romance and erotica over Ruby Red martinis. "Wait...what?" another said, knocking back what remained in her glass, for fortification, of course. "I heard that," I said. "She refers to her nethers as 'down there'." "You write romance and erotica, Jade," said a newcomer, who had not yet downloaded the book. "What is the difference?" "The language and the degree of explicitness in describing the sex scene." My porn-filled Kindle friend nodded in agreement. "The BDSM is just an idea without the language to go along with it. 'He tied me up, spanked my ass and we made love' is just bad romance," I said, my tone all-knowing (not that this is in any way reflective of how 50 Shades of Gray is written. Again, haven't read it yet). "Then why," asked the one who was in the middle of reading it, "is this book taking the world by storm?" "Maybe," I said, "it is just what most women need to get them revved up again. Until recently, it was hard for me to read words like 'pussy', 'cunt', 'cock' and the like. I've just become comfortable writing those words and broadening my scenes to push the book into erotica territory. The sex in The Point of it All, despite the spanking scenes, is quite vanilla. And," I continued, thrilled that I was not only asked to jump on the soapbox, but I'd become quite comfortable there, "if this 'Gray' book is getting women more in touch with what actually turns them on, then great. Because once they get through 'Gray', then maybe they'll search product tags like BDSM, EROTIC, and SPANKING on Amazon, and that, my friends, will be good for all of us." I raised my Ruby Red. "God love Ms. James for paving the gentle way for the rest of us." "The Point of it All has spanking scenes," Kindle Porn said, wide-eyed. I rolled my eyes. That, I told her, was a whole nuther conversation. Ah, the day of love. It's in the air. Can you feel it? The candles, the candy, the romance. A romantic dinner in a quiet cafe, the single candle in a room full of them reflecting in his eyes. He holds my hand in his, and we talk about us. He orders a sinfully good bottle of wine, and our meal is delivered hot and cleverly prepared by a chef who knows we are sitting in his dining room, two people in love. When we get home he will skillfully undress me, and not just with his eyes like he was doing in the restaurant. We will make exquisite love, the kind of love reserved for the one day a year that is all about L-O-V-E.
Eh. We did all that last night. In fact, we do this all the time. We show our love and appreciation for each other every day. Sometimes we lose track of each other in the mire and muck of our own stuff, and then we reconnect over that candle, over that wine, over that meal. I am lucky to have him, and I am blessed in this love. Tonight I will bring something in, or maybe I will cook--I haven't decided. We'll open a nice bottle of wine and we will watch something on TV. When we go to bed, I will have a little gift waiting for him on his pillow. It will be a gift that keeps on giving--the best kind. The love will be exquisite, or it might be wild and erotic, or we might choose to simply fall asleep in each others arms after a long talk about our day, or about nothing special. i will kiss him today the same way I do every day. I will tell him I love him in the same way I tell him every day. And he will do the same for me. Happy Valentine's day to all of you. Be good to each other. Love each other. Love yourselves. |
AuthorJade Cary writes Romantica and Romantic Suspense, on the rocks with a twist. Bottoms up! REVIEW SITES
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SITES I DIG1950s WIFE
A FADED ROMANTIC ALTA HENSLEY, ROMANCE AUTHOR ART OF AUTHORITY BASIA ROSE, AUTHOR BLACK VELVET SEDUCTIONS BOTTOMS UP BOOK REVIEWS CARA BRISTOL, AUTHOR CDD FOR LIFE/PATTY DEVLIN CELESTE JONES, AUTHOR CHROSS SPANKOLOGIST DISCIPLINARY TALES THE DISCIPLINED FEMINIST EMMA K. GARDNER, AUTHOR EROTICA CAFE FREDDY AND EDDY - A WEBSITE OF ALL COUPLES GOVERNING ANA THE HAND OF LOVE HEART AND SOUL THE IMPROVED CHAUVINIST IN DEEP KARLA DOYLE, AUTHOR KOREY MAE JOHNSON, AUTHOR LAZY DAY PUBLISHING LOOSE ID MY BOTTOM SMARTS PINK REPORT RENEE ROSE, AUTHOR SADEY QUINN, AUTHOR SARADORA'S SPANKING FICTION SUE LYNDON, AUTHOR ULTRAVIOLET HEART UNCONVENTIONAL WOMAN TROLLOP WITH A LAPTOP VANILLA EXTRACT WELLRED WEEKLY |