In the meantime I’ll be honest, I’m not quite sure whether I’m writing this for my readers or for me. Usually I write to impart knowledge, or argue ideas; today I’m writing what is effectively a list of reminders. Or perhaps it’s a list of promises. Either way, it is a list which will probably prove more useful to me than to you. On the other hand, if I’m having trouble keeping up with my various projects, I can only imagine how lost you are. And I remain convinced that I do still have a handful of readers who care where my work is, and what I’m up to. So, in the spirit of being a good host, here goes…

• Bad Porn Club is the new podcast from Mister Gryphon and myself, wherein we talk all things bad porn. In our pilot episode we discuss the curry house in Wimbledon that has seen fit to distribute condoms with their kormas, we review the seminal 1976 classic, Alice in Wonderland (pictured right), and we introduce our twisted audio quiz, Porn or Labour.

• The Novice Non-Monogamist, my Life on the Swingset (pictured below) blog, is one place where I have been writing fairly consistently, and will continue to do so. In my weekly Friday articles I discuss the lessons I’m learning, and the mistakes I’m making, as I traverse the landscape of non-monogamy.

• (It Girl. Rag Doll), you may have noticed, is currently over-populated by Protected Posts. With a new job under my belt I’m having to up my privacy a little, but with some tweaking of my online presence I’m hoping that won’t be the case for too much longer. Meanwhile, if you want access to these posts, email me on harper (at) itgirlragdoll dot com, and I will take your request into consideration.

• The Reading Press has also been neglected in the month of May, as I was completing coursework and revising for exams, but now that June has arrived it’s business as usual. For those of you who don’t know, I read approximately 100 blogs, and The Reading Press is a twitter-based digest of the best writing and media around.

• Sex Bytes – of which I am honoured editor – is an interactive reading digest, where you can submit blogs and articles – by you or others – and vote for your favourites. Every month, the top voted post will be featured in the e[lust] digest as the reader’s choice.

• The (It Girl. Rag Doll) Podcast has also been quiet throughout the heavy coursework/revision season, but will be back very soon! In the meantime there are two full episodes there for you to listen to, and if you subscribe to the blog and/or iTunes, you will be notified of new episodes as soon as we’re back in the swing of things.

• Send Harper to Eroticon USA! is going incredibly well. Thank you so much to everyone who has donated. It looks like the trip is going to happen! but I still need to reach my goal in order to book flights and confirm everything, so if you are able to donate to this worthy cause, it would be much appreciated.

• Strummed, which features my story And the Midnight Trio, is available as both an eBook and a paperback, from Amazon and Smashwords. Grab yourself a copy, and if anyone feels like writing a review, let me know and I will give your blog/site/post a little shout out.

• For a Few Dollars More, a slightly more transgressive piece of fiction, is available on Ether Books for a mere 69p. Again if you read it and feel like writing me a review, let me know and I will promote your blog along with the review.

And I think that’s all I have to say for now. Times are changing, and I’ll keep you updated on everything as it happens. Watch this space.

The post News: Bad Porn, Novice Non-Monogamy, and Reading Digests appeared first on (It Girl. Rag Doll).

• I have set up a GoFundMe page, and am striving to raise enough money to get myself to Eroticon USA in October. If you can, please donate and help me get across the pond.

• Strummed (left) – which contains my story, And the Midnight Trio – is now available as a paperback as well as an eBook.

• In addition to my work here, I am now writing for Life on the Swingset as well. My weekly blog, The Novice Non-Monogamist, is about my experiences in non-monogamy, and how I am navigating alternative takes on relationships.

• Somehow I managed to persuade the glorious Molly Moore to come on board and co-host the all new (It Girl. Rag Doll) Podcast with me! A new episode every month, full of laughter, filth, and thoughtfulness.

• About seven months ago I posed for artist, JP Rakehorn. Last week I was delighted to see that the photographs he took of me had yielded something good (right). You can find more of his work on his site, or you can ‘Like’ his Facebook page.

• Speaking of Facebook pages, you can ‘Like’ mine too – Harper Eliot’s It Girl. Rag Doll. You’ll get all my updates as well as reading recommendations via @TheReadingPress. (Although I won’t lie to you: following @HarperEliot on twitter is still the best way to stay in touch with me.)

The post News: Donate, Perv, & Listen appeared first on (It Girl. Rag Doll).

Ether Books describe themselves as ‘a new mobile social reading platform, connecting Writers and Readers around the world. Ether publishes “made for mobile” Quick Reads straight to Smart Phones, the fastest growing digital reading device on the planet. Discover talented new and bestselling writers right from your pocket.’

I found the Ether Books team friendly, professional, and extremely helpful, and would definitely recommend that you all start using their app and – if you’re a writer – submitting your work to them.

Long time readers may remember the first part of this story which was once published here on (It Girl. Rag Doll), but this is the first time the full version has been available anywhere. For a Few Dollars More tells the story of Sally, “sixth form whore” whose customers range from her curious classmates to older, more experienced men.

Sally doesn’t meet strangers in the middle of the night, but she has met this man once before. Eric is balding and a little tired looking, tall and thin as though he has been wrung out by too much experience. But Sally doesn’t mind; he offered good money and kisses her cheek as she slides into the passenger seat of his car.

“Are you okay?” He asks, a look of slight concern on his face.

Sally flashes him a smile, straightening her grey skirt. “Peachy. And you?”

It’s not unusual for the older men to be worried about her. Sally finds it amusing that each client feels protective, as if he is any less perverse when he requests her school uniform and shyly asks that she wear her hair in bunches. She feels lucky to never have encountered much nastiness; most perverts are just bored.

Compared with my other published stories, this is much darker, and contains explicit depictions of non-consensual sex. Long time readers will be familiar with the kinds of transgression which my fiction engages, but new readers should know that this story is not for the faint of heart.

I would love to receive feedback and comments on this story, so if you read it and have something to share, please do come back and leave me a comment here. Or you can email me on harper (at) itgirlragdoll dot com.

The post Published by Ether Books: For a Few Dollars More appeared first on (It Girl. Rag Doll).

“[We're] not sure if Erotica is the right genre. Erotica, from our point of view, is to titillate so we are uncomfortable with publishing this particular piece in that category. Would you be happy for me to change the genre to Contemporary rather than Erotica […]? Contemporary is for modern-day, generally realistic life stories, which can venture into bleak territory and confront controversial issues.”

This message could be taken in a variety of different ways, some of which I have since pondered. On the one hand, it seems to suggest that ‘controversial issues’ don’t belong in Erotica; that Erotica is closer to Romance in that it should deal with largely happy situations and sensual sexuality, and therefore my story of prostitution and rape does not conform to that framework. This view could be based upon the idea that people read Erotica in order to be aroused, and that ‘controversial issues’ are not generally considered to be arousing. This, then, makes assumptions about what people find arousing, and for me that poses two problems. First of all, it is difficult because everyone has different arousal triggers. For some that socially acceptable sensuality may genuinely be the gateway to their sexuality; but for others – myself included – the transgression and difficulty of those ‘controversial issues’ may be far more intriguing. Secondly, if Erotica is there to cause arousal and has no place confronting its readers with conflict, then I would argue that the term ‘Erotica’ has become almost synonymous with ‘pornography’.

But I want to step back from Ether Books, because I believe this question is much larger than one company making a decision about genre, and, in fact, it may be that they consider stories on a piece-by-piece basis, and that ‘For a Few Dollars More’, which is a particularly gritty story, is simply a step too transgressive for their idea of Erotica – which may still contain some conflict and/or difficulty. To know where they really stand on that issue I – or you – would have to read a lot of what they publish as Erotica.

I also want to point out (once again) that I do not believe that literary, or contemporary, or conflict-ridden (whatever term you wish to use) Erotica is any better or worse than pornography. Pornography is a damn fine tradition, and takes very particular skills to create. This is not a matter of quality, but a matter of definition.

When I replied to Helen I wrote:

“That’s absolutely fine. I actually agree – as the genre stands, very little of my work fits under ‘Erotica’. […] I would be delighted to be placed elsewhere as, I agree, my writing doesn’t really belong there.”

And I stand by that. I think, in this case, Helen is completely right. And the problems with the Erotica genre are not about any one publisher or writer, they are deeply ingrained in the genre, and as it stands, Erotica unequivocally misrepresents my writing – and the writing of many brilliant authors.

With Erotica now very much in the public eye – spearheaded by that trilogy we will not name – it has also become synonymous with terms such as “Mummy Porn”, seeming to highlight the kind of literature published by Mills & Boon, and other similar companies. Generally speaking, these publishers are not dealing with conflict; drama and obstacles, yes, but not conflict. And my writing sure as hell does not fit in with this kind of literature. In fact, I would argue that, in terms of content – I am not making qualitative comparisons – ‘For a Few Dollars More’ is much closer to Vladimir Nabokov and Angela Carter than it is to Maya Banks and Michelle Reid.

There was a discussion on twitter a couple of weeks ago about creating a new genre, but this is so rife with problems, and just seems to open yet another erotic genre to exploitation. So, for myself, I am more than happy to be put into a genre titled Contemporary, because it does not set up as many assumptions about content, or emotional or sexual response. It simply puts my work in with other pieces that are difficult to define. And that suits me down to the ground, because as it stands, I don’t think Erotica has space for conflict, and I have no interest in writing without that kind of difficulty.

Genres may just be another form of labels, but they certainly bear thinking about, particularly when eroticism and (perhaps) arousal – two very intangible subjects – are involved. Because we cannot know what our readers consider erotic, but it is the job of publishers to label your work; after all, that’s how you sell it.

• • • • •

Despite the initial uncertainty about Ether Books displayed in this piece I actually recommend them quite highly. They are friendly, professional, and (most importantly, to me) unlikely to censor you for dealing with difficult subjects. That alone is pretty rare, and therefore precious, in the publishing world.

In order to purchase ‘For a Few Dollars More’, download the Ether Books app, and find Harper Eliot under Authors.

The post Why What I Write is Not Erotica appeared first on (It Girl. Rag Doll).

I don’t remember much of what I did during the Summer of 2012, but it would seem that I spent quite some time writing ten thousands words of a rather salacious story about sex and jazz in midnight London.

Strummed, the new collection from Sweetmeats Press, contains five stories written by five different authors – Amélie Hope, B.Z.R Vukovina, Percy Quirk, Stella Harris, and Harper Eliot – which all contain, in some way or another, a musical theme.

Despite being a prolific reader, I am currently knee deep in my degree, so I haven’t had a chance to read through Strummed in its entirety yet; but I hope to do so, and to provide you with a little write up, as soon as possible.

For the time being, I can tell you about my story:

Set in a somewhat rundown jazz club in the heart of London, And the Midnight Trio tells the story of Violet, a young singer who is already worrying about the passing of time. As she sings she ponders what she will do when the shine of being the new girl wears off, and the suits no longer rush to watch her perform every evening. Her deliciously demanding lover sits at the piano behind her as she sings, but when their set is over, he is quickly forgotten, disappearing between the velvet curtains, and she finds herself in the midst of an elegant seduction with two polished businessmen…

And the Midnight Trio is teasing, and a little gritty, but also far more palatable than my usual stories; hopefully it touches on both the darkness I usually write and the simplicity of a more ordinary life, whilst not being too complex or unsettling for the collection. But you’ll have to be the judge of that.

As an eBook it is available from
Smashwords
Amazon UK
Amazon US

It is set to be published as a paperback on March 15th, and you can pre-order it from
Amazon UK

You can also buy my story, And the Midnight Trio, on its own from
Smashwords

All feedback, reviews, and/or questions about And the Midnight Trio are welcome; you can contact me by email on harper (at) itgirlragdoll dot com.

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the collection…

The post Published by Sweetmeats Press: Strummed appeared first on (It Girl. Rag Doll).

It is a collection of micro-fiction, edited by Ruby Kiddell, and featuring the work of Lori Smith, Aisling Weaver, Heather Day, Kay Jaybee, Blacksilk, Janine Ashbless, Mina Lamieux, Molly Moore, and myself. It’s just a little thing, but full of teasing fantasies, and lascivious thoughts to keep close at hand.

My story – Neat Little Rows – is extremely atypical for me, but hopefully it will still tickle you in the right ways. A very interesting piece for my first published story, if you ask me.

The post Dirty thoughts from the back of the room appeared first on (It Girl. Rag Doll).