Sharazade

Around Christmastime last year, I read and reviewed Best Bondage Erotica. Also around that time, I was listening (as I always do at that time) to the Mozart Requiem — which, okay, I know is not exactly Christmas music, but its sound fits December better than it does the Easter season, for me — and I was thinking about its controversial last section, the Lux aeterna, and reading that book… and so I particularly noticed the name of one author, Lux Zakari (which you could sing to the Requiem music, if you tried).

So when I had the chance to interview that very author, of course I jumped at it. She has a new novel that is just out (complete with music! really!), and has already published a number of short stories as well as another novel. So I asked her about writing, and the difference between short stories and novels, and her new book, and of course her name. For those who like to skip ahead, the dirty bits (a hot excerpt) are down there at the bottom. *wink*

Shar: I love your name! Is there a story behind it?

Lux: Thank you—and there is! But the truth is actually very uncool. Without getting into the details, I’ll just confess that similar to deriving one’s porn star name, I invented a new pen name formula: name of an intriguing female character in literature + the mispronounced name of the foxiest guy you’ve ever seen in your life (i.e., my last name is pronounced Za-KAR-ee, not like Zachary).

Shar:  I figured that’s how Zakari was pronounced, because otherwise it won’t fit to the Mozart. So, you’ve published one novel, are on the verge of releasing a new one, and have published a dozen or more short stories. I’m in awe of novelists. What, for you, are some differences between writing a novel and writing a short story? Do you always know in advance whether an idea will go long or short?

Lux: I definitely notice a difference between my short stories and my novels. My novels tend to have more dialogue and a sense of humor, while my short stories – as most short stories do – focus on one pivotal scene, usually of a sexual nature. Short stories let me test the waters, explore an idea I know couldn’t be blown up into a full-length novel. They also give me a chance to reach a wider audience; someone picking up Best Bondage Erotica 2011 may never have heard of me otherwise.

Shar: As the was case for me! So yay for that book. Now, as you sit down to type out Chapter 1 of a novel, do you have most of the plot elements already mapped out, or are you venturing out into the unknown?

Lux: Chapter one is too scary, too overwhelming! I usually don’t start there. Instead, I bang out whatever scene is most well developed in my head; that usually ensures that I’m writing at least something. Sometimes I’ll even write the ending before the beginning. It’s fun – albeit sort of challenging – to go back later and think of ways to link all the pieces together.

But usually, I do write with a synopsis planned out; it helps give me direction and focus but does leave some room for surprises. However, one year I started writing a novel with nothing more than a list of things I thought would be funny or cool to have in a story, and with zero expectations, I just went for it, and it turned into something I’m incredibly proud of. It needs a lot of editing, perhaps even a major overhaul, but I hope to someday have something come of it.

Shar: OK, now I want to read that one! So remember to let me know when it’s finished. I admit that I had never thought of not starting a novel with Chapter 1. I’m always curious about how other writers go through “the process.” Once a short story or novel is finished, how much (if at all) do you change things like plot or characters’ personality? Or is the editing you do pretty much only for grammar and word choice?

Lux: I read through the story again to get the overall picture – which is key, since I’d been writing out of order all along! – and I try to discern what’s working and what isn’t. I try to be honest with myself in terms of that and trust my gut, even if that means cutting something I love.

Shar: Now, when you write short stories, are they generally tailored for a specific publication or website, or do you write what you feel like writing, and then later look around to see if there’s a suitable place to publish them?

Lux: I do the latter – write it then look. For me, that makes sense; otherwise, if the story doesn’t get picked up, I’m stuck with a story tailored only for one specific publication. However, I often run into the problem where my word count is nowhere near the specified range! There’s a bright and dark side to everything.

Shar: So tell us about the new one! Could we have a brief description of Finale, and maybe some information about how the idea came to you, or why you decided to write this story?

Lux: The inspiration for Finale may strike some readers as obvious, but it goes beyond the bare-bones concept of a music legend dying under sudden circumstances and leaving his three children behind. This isn’t the music legend’s story. I wanted to explore the idea of what the aftermath of his death would be like for all the parties involved, and I wanted to intersperse the story with a complicated love story providing evidence behind the decision to leave the children under the guardianship of a person who never thought of anyone but herself.

And now, the official blurb:

When music legend Jonathan Levant dies in a motorcycle accident, no one is more stunned than his former lover Olivia Gray, a hedonistic ex-celebrity who learns she’s been inexplicably named the guardian of his children. Olivia’s reluctant acceptance of the new parental role obliterates her hope of resurrecting her songwriting career as she faces sarcastic teenagers, suicide attempts, and séances. The upset to her self-indulgent life forces Olivia to finally face the truth about the cruel decisions of her wild past, her now uncertain future and her secret, turbulent relationship with a man who, even in death, continues to upend her world.

Shar: You noted in an email to me that you’re working on a soundtrack for the story. Tell us about that! Will this be available somehow to readers?

Lux: It will! Music features very heavily in the story, and as a dabbling songwriter, I interspersed lyrics I’d written throughout Finale. Then I approached my talented musician friend Paul, about creating a soundtrack for the story, and he’s been working on writing the music to the tracks. We are still in the midst of the recording process, but I hope to have the music posted on YouTube and available for free via iTunes. I’m very excited about this and can’t wait for everyone to hear the project!

Shar: How about a short excerpt from the new novel? Either something that shows the tone or writing style of the book, or — heh heh — one of the “naughty bits”?

Lux: It would be an honor!

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Like it’d been my intent all along, I circled the piano, stood in front of the wine and casually refilled my cup. I was all too aware of Jonathan standing far too close on my left. I’d no sooner taken a sip when he asked, “Am I making you nervous?”

I spun around, my back against the piano and my heart pounding. “Why would you say that, Mr. Levant?”

“Ah, answering a question with a question—a sure sign of nerves.” He gave me a rakish grin and took a step closer to me, an act that made my mouth dry. “You know, before it was always ‘kiddo’ or a sarcastic ‘Johnnie.’” He placed his palms on the piano, trapping me in from all sides as he leaned toward me, unapologetically self-assured and sexy. “Now I’m Mr. Levant. What’s changed?”

“Absolutely nothing.” Faced with the inevitable and desperate for control, I closed the paltry distance between us, pressing my lips against his. Plusher than I’d remembered. He groaned softly but responded accordingly in a way that made my mind cloud with want.

We slid to the floor, trading open-mouthed, end-of-the-world kisses. My eyes rolled to the back of my head as his fingers slid beneath my shirt to cup my breast, plucking my sensitive nipples to life. His tongue licked a path down my throat, and my breath hitched at the expertise of his touch and the surprising reaction it evoked in me.

This was not the Jonathan Levant I knew, yet it was, a reminder that further triggered my arousal.

“Isn’t this the part where you push me away?” he murmured in my ear as he tore the shirt from my body with an urgency that excited me. “Aren’t you supposed to make a dramatic exit after yelling at me for taking advantage of you?”

I couldn’t believe he wanted to trade quips at such a time like this, let alone had the ability to do so. I shook the fog of desire from my head and forced myself to be Olivia again—the Olivia capable of rational thought who did not allow good-looking boys to dictate her emotions for better or worse. “Who says I’m the one being taken advantage of?” I asked, reaching between us to give his cock, still confined in his pants, a pointed squeeze.

“All right.” His body trembled with a shudder of pleasure, but he covered my hand with his and rolled us over so I was pinned to the floor, his body wedged between my open legs. “Have your way with me then.”

“That would sound more believable if you were on the bottom.” I was proud of myself for regaining a bit of self-control, but that small amount vanished once again when Jonathan reared back and tugged down my pants, taking my panties with them.

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OK, that worked for me! 😉 Purchase Finale here, her previous novel Coercion here, and be sure to check out Lux Zakari’s website here.

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Nice Girls, Naughty Sex (Seal Press, 2011) is a collection of 20 erotic tales edited by Jordan LaRousse and Samantha Sade, who run the Oysters and Chocolate erotic website.

As is the case with the stories published on the website, the stories in this collection are divided into four categories: Vanilla, Dirty Martini, Licorice Whips, and Oysters. Now, I’ve read stories on the website itself more times than you need to know. But to be honest, I never paid any attention to what category the stories were in. I either read the ones that were listed first, or sought out favorite authors.

However, when reviewing a collection, one should be a bit more focused, no? So I devised a system. I’d read one Vanilla one, then one Dirty Martini one, then one Licorice Whip, and then an Oyster; and then another Vanilla, and so on.

This system fell apart with the first story, Sommer Marsden’s A Technicality, which is the first piece in the Vanilla category. Now, this was my fault, to be sure. I did read the descriptions of the categories, and right there under Vanilla, it does say, “these stories dance with exciting lovers in daring locations.” Still, though, that word — vanilla — carries a connotation. Kinky people use it to mean “usual” or “standard.” Not quite “ordinary,” but… well, OK, it is used to mean “ordinary.” Even “ho-hum” (a connotation I resent, since vanilla is a favorite flavor and scent of mine, but it exists just the same). But this story — it’s not regular or ordinary at all, and it sure as heck isn’t ho-hum. Its two main characters meet in a hospice, where each is visiting a terminally ill relative. So the sex is tinged with those circumstances—sadness and a longing for release and an affirmation of continued living and some guilt for that continuation, all mixed in with lust and love. Plus lots of imaginative spots to slip away to and some very creative hotness. Hardly “usual.” And don’t get me wrong, it’s not only a great story, but a great one to begin an anthology with. But is it “vanilla”?

I checked the description in the front of the book again. Vanilla stories have straight sex between one man and one woman; Dirty Martini stories have… well… “unconventional” things, like toys or exhibitionism or group sex; Licorice Whip stories have a domination/submission theme; and Oysters are lesbian or bisexual. (Why no category for gay men, then? Just curious.) But honestly, I don’t seek out stories based on how many people are in them, or whether or not a toy is used. What I look for is more, well, stuff like mood, plot, character, writing… it’s like how Supreme Court Justice Douglas famously defined pornography — I can’t define it, but I know it when I see it.

So I chucked the “one of each in turn” system for the “completely random” system. I opened the book at random, read whatever story was there, and continued in this way till I’d read them all. I figured at that point I’d go back and see which ones I liked best, and see if they fell into any particular category.

Hmmm. Well, I didn’t find any stories I didn’t enjoy (which is saying a lot, for a collection of 20), but the ones I enjoyed most were those in the Vanilla category and the Licorice Whips category, with some favorites also in the Dirty Martini section  and in Oysters. From which I conclude… well, you see the problem.

Now, I can’t review every story (considerations of space and, frankly, your own attention span), and you mustn’t conclude that I didn’t enjoy the ones I’m not mentioning. I’m not even going to say that the ones I’m describing in more detail are my favorites. I think my overall favorite, if I had to pick one, was Evelyn, by Julian Augustus Finisterre. But I don’t want to describe it. It was… different (in style more than content), and while it didn’t much mirror any experiences of my own, or even my fantasies, there were still parts — small parts, tucked in here and there — that spoke to me of me. Which parts? Oh, well. Reading is very personal sometimes. But it’s a lovely moment when you read something that rings true for you, perhaps even more so when the truth is revealed in very unfamiliar circumstances.

Here’s one I thoroughly enjoyed: Serving Ms. Paden, by Talia Kelley. In this story, a stablehand gets the best of his arrogant boss-lady by essentially abducting her and carrying her off and ravishing her. On horseback. I don’t just mean the carrying off, I mean the actual ravishing! Yep, on horseback. At first the horse is walking, but at one point the word “canter” is used. Now, I ride. I can assure you that something like this … well, it’s not gonna happen that way. First off, no rider would be that irresponsible with his or her horse (let alone him/herself). I mean, if you’re fucking in the saddle—with one partner still squealing and squirming to get away because she thinks she doesn’t want it—you’re not perfectly balanced, and I don’t see how you could be holding the reins or using your legs—using them on the horse, in any case. Most horses would just stop and eat grass (they’re going over a prairie at this point); mine would probably spook and bolt off, leaving the riders on the ground. And at a canter? Please. I know these characters were riders, sure, but … I mean, I’ve tried horse vaulting (check from minute 1:45 on—that’s a canter, and do notice that someone with a lunge line and a whip is in charge of the horse at all times); it’s harder than it looks, and it doesn’t look easy!

So no, this was not a realistic scenario. And you know what? I didn’t care one bit. That’s the fun of fiction, the fun of fantasy. It’s your chance to say, instead of “Oh, that couldn’t happen,” it’s your chance to say “But what if! Wouldn’t it be hot if … ?” And it was hot.

I didn’t think at first that I would care for Behind Bars, by Saranna DeWylde, because the guy was a cop, and I’m not fond of stories with police officers (and there were three in this collection! OK, that’s my only gripe!) or uniforms or stuff like that, even though I know they’re wildly popular (and no, for the record, I am not running from the law). But this story was such fun because of the humor in the writing. Example: It’s a hot day, and the office isn’t air-conditioned. Betsy closed the logbook and took a drink of water, which seemed to be an exercise in futility. It would have been easier if she’d dumped it on the floor, cut out the middle man. She hated sweating. Actually, the writing reminded me of the American south, somehow, so much so that I even checked the author’s bio in the back to see where she’s from (it didn’t say). But there was lots of feisty verbal sparring between the two characters, which was thoroughly enjoyable, and then just raw passion, like here:

“Tell me this is what you want. Right here, right now. Me.” His breath was harsh and ragged in her ear, and it sent chills through her body.

“I want this.” Her voice was a whisper, a traitor to her mind, but a slave to her body.

See? This is why I love erotica. Because lines like that — a traitor to her mind, but a slave to her body — I don’t care how cheesy they are, they’re true. Anyone who’s been in lust knows that. It’s such a potent combination of honest and fun.

Other favorites include Blow Me (Rachel Kramer Bussel), Good Doggy (Janine Ashbless), and Honeymoon Suite (Donna George Storey).

I think there’s a tendency to look at sex writing and sex reading to see if it “means” anything about you. Are you revealing your hidden fantasies? Exposing your desires? Showing your true personality? Well, perhaps there’s some of that. So if I look that the stories I responded to the most, I can see that they’re the ones that were realistic; or totally unrealistic; or serious and poignant; or humorous and snarky. Hmmm. Seems like I like a lot of different things. I imagine most folks do too. Those folks would probably enjoy this excellent collection of erotica.

Pick up your copy of this erotic collection at Amazon or Barnes & Noble. Still want more? Then check out other books by the same editor/author team here (because how could you resist a book whose title is Penis Genius!?).

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…[A]s the poet Geoffrey Chaucer observed many years ago, folk long to go on pilgrimages. Only, these days, professional people call them conferences. The modern conference resembles the pilgrimage of medieval Christendom in that it allows the participants to indulge themselves in all the pleasures and diversions of travel while appearing to be austerely bent on self-improvement. To be sure, there are certain penitential exercises to be performed—the presentation of a paper, perhaps, and certainly listening to the papers of others. But with this excuse you journey to new and interesting places, meet new and interesting people, and form new and interesting relationships with them; exchange gossip and confidences; eat, drink and make merry in their company every evening; and yet, at the end of it all, return home with an enhanced reputation for seriousness of mind.

This is from the introduction of David Lodge’s now-dated (1984) but still hilarious Small World, a send-up of academic literary conferences, those along the lines of the mammoth MLA (Modern Language Association) affairs. All sorts of professions have these conferences — English teachers and scholars of course, but also science fiction writers, and mystery writers, and romance writers, and now… drum roll… erotica writers!

Yes! It’s the inaugural conference for authors of erotica, organized by the Erotic Authors Association.

Date: September 9-10, 2011. That’s a Friday and a Saturday, and you’d want to be there for both full days.

Place: Las Vegas! Well, of course. That means not only an exciting venue, but cheaper hotel prices and the possibility of some cheap flight deals if you are savvy. (Folks with access to podunk airports should check out Allegiant Air, which flies in and out of Las Vegas from smaller towns, but whose flights do NOT show up on places like Orbitz and Expedia.) The conference will be held at the Flamingo Hotel. Even the name sounds fun. Fla-MIN-go!

Register: Soon! This month! Because it will cost more after August 1.

Price: $165 until August 1, and then $185 after August 1. Which if you’ve ever priced conferences is a pretty good deal.

The conference website is here. There are links to the workshops and panels and readings being offered.

Me? Of course I’m going! I’m a total conference junkie. You win a free business card (because I’ve never made bookmarks…) if you can guess what I’m presenting on before you check the list of workshop titles.

The conference is here, at this hotel!

For the low-down, I went to the conference organizer, Kathleen Bradean, to ask for a little more info.

Shar: Tell us a little about the Erotic Authors’ Association. Who are they, and what do they do?

Kathleen: Marilyn Jaye Lewis started the Erotic Author’s Association to help erotica authors support each other and promote their work. Several years ago, Erastes took over as director and infused life into it. I believe that she started the blog and Yahoo! list. But many writers of erotica still weren’t aware of it. Last September, Erastes had to step down for health reasons. It was perfect timing for me, which leads into the answer for the next question.

Shar: How did the idea for a conference come about?

Kathleen: Years ago, I joined a writer’s group here in Los Angeles and went to their first meeting excited about the idea of mingling with other writers. Then I told them what I wrote. Instant pariah. Writers conventions were the same way. If I wanted to talk to people, I couldn’t be honest about what I wrote. I also write science fiction and served as a panelist at a small science fiction convention where one of the writers said, “I wanted to be published so bad that I even considered sinking to erotica, but thankfully, I wasn’t that desperate.” Wow. Back then, agents wouldn’t touch erotica (unless you called it literary fiction and were a man and your sex scenes were horribly awkward). So I started thinking about an erotica writers conference where we would be taken seriously as writers and could talk about the unique aspects of our work in an open, supportive environment. I talked to people who ran conferences. I talked to erotica writers and publishers to find out what they wanted from a conference. I thought it over for many years.

Finally, erotica and erotica romance took off in book sales. Writers didn’t hide as much. Publishers were more open to the idea of erotica. The time was ripe. I talked this over with D.L. King, who runs the Erotica Revealed review site. She was right there with me on the idea. We talked seriously about what we wanted to do, where it should be, every aspect, and decided to jump in and just do it. While were in Las Vegas to check out the hotels for the convention, Erastes mentioned that she had to step down from EAA. This was fate, I decided. EAA was an organization that already existed, and it would be a great name to hold the convention under. Then I reached out to a group of writers I’ve known through the years — James Buchanan, Jolie du Pre, Beth Wylde, and D.L. King — and asked for their help. And did they ever step up! What a fantastic group of people! They represent the full range of erotica writing with special insights to different aspects. Their input shaped my initial vision and made it better.

Shar: What can attendees — specifically, new authors, experienced authors, editors & publishers, and fans — expect to get out of the conference?

Kathleen: Quite a bit!

• New and/or unpublished authors: What new writers need more than anything is a community. That’s your source of support and information, your beta readers and the people you can turn to with questions. ERWA (The Erotica readers and writers association) and Literotica are two great online communities, but nothing beats talking to another writer in person. This is a great chance to start building relationships with other new writers and more experienced ones.

We have terrific editors and publisher’s panels on the schedule with an amazing line-up that includes GBLT, literary erotica, erotic romance, kink, non-fiction, and just about every aspect of erotica we could find someone to represent. For unpublished writers, this is unprecedented access to the people who are looking for erotica to publish.

• Experienced authors: One of the problems with many writer’s conferences is that their classes have basic information for the beginner, but not much that goes deeper. That’s why I’m so excited about our synopsis writing class, the kink class, and some of the other advanced topics. And we managed to get some terrific people to teach them! (D.L. King is the program director, and she did a fantastic job convincing the presenters to come.) These classes are as much about the craft of writing and the business side as they are the unique aspects of erotica.

• Editors and publishers: With so many erotica writers gathered together, this is a great time to listen to pitches, tell writers what you’re looking for, describe your dream submission, and connect with the community. Many editors and publishers also write, so I’m sure they’ll enjoy the classes too.

• Readers and fans: Many publishers have dedicated reading times, so fans can drop in to hear their favorites read from recent work. Most writers are also fans (myself included) so this is a chance to tell writers in person how much I admire their work. The panels will be open to questions, but don’t be afraid to bring your favorite book and ask a writer to sign it!

Shar: Is there anything else about the conference that you’d like to highlight?

Kathleen: Erotica is only going to grow in popularity. People are reading it and realizing there’s a wide array of writers producing quality work. With this conference, the community can come together and celebrate what we do so well. I hope to see you there.

So come on, people! Let’s gather in Vegas, for reading, writing, and schmoozing!

Another view of the Fla-MIN-go!

All photos courtesy of author Katie Salidas, Las Vegas native, who will be at the conference with her books, and is a terrific source of information on self-publishing and promoting. Preview her work here.

I wasn’t quite sure I should review this book at first — it’s “steampunk,” you see, and I had no idea what that actually was. I felt in any case that it was only fair to warn the author, but he seemed quite unconcerned, and that’s what convinced me. I figured if the author was that confident that someone unfamiliar with the genre would enjoy it and review it fairly, then I should go ahead and give it a try.

I’d like to say I did some serious background research into steampunk, but let’s be honest — I checked wikipedia and emailed a few friends. Most definitions seem to start with “It’s kind of like” — It’s kind of like alternate history, it’s a little like science fiction, it’s sort of like historical fantasy. Then you get a lot of examples, which apparently not everybody can agree on, so these authors/filmmakers may or may not exemplify steampunk: Jasper Fforde (I’m a huge fan), Hayao Miyazaki (can’t stand his films), Jules Verne (he’s OK), Mark Twain (what? huh? But that’s what wiki says…), The Golden Compass (a far better book than movie), Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (I enjoyed it). So it was a little hard for me to tell from this exhaustive (ahem) research whether steampunk would turn out to be “my thing” or not.

In a way, it reminded me of re-reading 1984 a few years ago (note: 1984 is not, as far as I know, considered steampunk). I first read 1984 in the late ’70s, when it was still set in the future. Now, of course, it it technically set in the past — and yet it still reads as if it’s the “future.” So it’s a sort of … “other future” that still seems nostalgic in a way, because of the past-ness in the prose and some of the setting. Steampunk strikes me like that — it’s the past, and it isn’t; it’s the future, and it isn’t; it’s our world, and it isn’t.

As such, it works nicely for me. One of my difficulties with some science fiction is how long it takes you to figure out the whole reality. You get pages and pages (and if you are unlucky, chapters and chapters) of things like “Xyr knew he had to wharrump the morytyr of Haxio, or he would never be able to enphusiate the Zingy of the grand wowzeer.” Some days… I just don’t want to work that hard at my fiction, you know? I want names I can say in my head and actions I can follow. Crazy, but there you are, that’s me. So an alternate reality in which some of the settings and background and devices are familiar helps me open up to those that are different.

This work is a collection of six long-ish short stories. I didn’t always get pronounceable-in-my-head names from these stories, but I’m going to forgive that because they were great reading. The first ones I’m not even sure I’d classify as “erotica,” really, but rather stories that had, at some point, some erotic elements and scenes. The later stories were more erotic, including one with some lovely BDSM-ish scenes, and it’s on the basis of those that I decided to put the review here on my blog. So it’s certainly not a volume of, well, wank material. But it’s got some uncanny insights into people’s motivations for having sex, and then some delicious descriptions of what they do together.

The stories, though they each stand alone, are all about the same “world,” and some characters recur, which gives the collection a nice unity. The settings are rich (although I didn’t notice much actual steam… is that necessary for steampunk?), but what I liked best were the characters and the plots. I had an e-book version, so I don’t know if I could call it a ‘page turner,’ but it was certainly a ‘screen scroller.’

I loved the literary allusions, too, which added an extra layer. Some are quite obvious (one story is a re-telling of Stevenson’s Jekyll and Hyde tale), some less so (I don’t know if people still read Bunyon’s Pilgrim’s Progress?) and others are more obscure (The Perfumed Garden, which I’ve heard of but never read). Some places mentioned exist (Samarah) and some I wasn’t sure about (Arimaspia). As is the nature of such things, you smile when you find something familiar (a character at one point sings “Pirate Jenny” — I used to sing that while mopping the floors of a house I lived in), but if the reference doesn’t ring a bell, it doesn’t keep you from understanding or enjoying what’s going on.

A nice surprise at the end of the collection was a commentary by the author on each story, with notes on where he got his ideas and why he chose some of the elements he did.

It’s an intelligent, well-written collection. I’d recommend it to those who already like steampunk, and also to those who, like me, are trying it out for the first time. Based on this collection, I’d read more.

Get your own copy of The Innocent’s Progress here at Amazon for the Kindle and here from the publisher (Circlet Press) in other e-formats. Circlet also has links there to other e-book distributors such as Smashwords and All Romance eBooks, if you have a favorite.

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I’m reposting here information from an article from Tracy Ames’ blog about a case of plagiarism (ha ha — obviously with her permission!). I highly recommend you follow the link and read the article in its entirety there, and follow her links as well. But in a nutshell, one DamonX posted a bunch of erotic stories online at literotica.com. For those who don’t know the site, it’s a vast repository of user-contributed erotica, available to readers for free. Some of it is kind of meh, some of it is excellent. I haven’t read any of DamonX’s stories (yet!), so I can’t tell you where he falls — but someone liked them well enough to not only read them, but to download them and then — hold on to your hats, good people — upload them in their entirety to Amazon under another name. That’s right, DamonX’s stories, word for word, got ‘republished’ by the name Elizabeth Summers. The same name took stories from other writers as well.

Unless you too are some sort of petty (or major) criminal, you should find that shocking. I don’t need to tell you why it’s wrong. But I think a good question is, What can you do about it? You personally, I mean. You don’t know Elizabeth Summers (who doubtless doesn’t even exist). Nor do you know DamonX. You don’t work at Amazon. (Please disregard this last point if you do work at Amazon.)

The obvious thing is a thing not to do, which is “buy a book by this Elizabeth Summers,” or any of the other names (possibly the same person?) listed in Tracy’s article.

But I think another good thing to do is to complain to Amazon. Now, I get why Amazon can’t check the content of every e-book being uploaded to make sure it’s not made up of stolen content. However, if a case of plagiarism is brought to their attention, then I think they need to investigate it. If the plagiarism can be proved, then they need to pull the book. I’m guessing that if one person complains, they might not pay attention. Tracy’s article explains why they are not holding themselves accountable. But what if a lot of people complained? Would they at least look into it? Well… we’ll never know till we try.

Finally, I’m all for giving DamonX his due. He’s apparently not after any money, because he’s already been posting his stories for free. I assume, therefore, that what he wants is to entertain people with his stories. So if any of his titles grab you, then read him! If you enjoy his stories, leave him a nice comment and let him know. Writing is hard work, and good writers deserve a return on their investment of time and energy, whether in the form of money or the satisfaction of knowing their stories reached the right audience.

Plagiarizers, though, they deserve a swift kick in the ass. And possibly a lawsuit.

Go here! Read all about it!

http://www.interracialerotica.net/erotica/articles/334/1/Plagiarism-is-the-New-Black/Page1.html

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